This turned out a lot more angsty than I had planned. Enjoy anyway!

Harry opened the door to a wonderful sound. Music was drifting from the front room and he took a second or two before moving further into his house. Ruth's back was to the door and he watched while she played a complicated tune on her violin. He never knew she had even learnt to play so he was very surprised to hear her playing so competently. Suddenly she heard him move and turned around, the music cutting off with a scratch of strings.

"I didn't think you'd be home yet," Ruth said feeling embarrassed that she had been caught.

"Why did you never tell me you could play the violin?" Harry asked. He hated that she had been hiding something like this from him and wondered why she had. And that hurt him more than he could ever say.

"I can't really play," she said modestly. "I just pick it up every now and again and experiment."

"That's a lie," Harry said. "No one plays like that without serious practice. Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because George taught me," she said quietly, looking at the floor.

"Ah," Harry replied. That sticky subject he never liked to think about. He now knew why she had been hiding it. It led to awkward moments between them and they had already wasted enough time. "Why?" Harry asked and she knew what he wanted to know.

"I was so lonely Harry," she said sitting on the sofa as he sat down next to her. "I had lost everything in my life in a matter of days. About a year after I left I couldn't take the silence anymore. I had a job which was fine but it wasn't important. Not like the work at Thames House. My day consisted of total silence and boredom. I needed something else in my life. He was the first man who ever paid me any attention out there. So I settled for someone who was less than who I truly needed. I never I'd see you again, but I never stopped missing you Harry. Please believe that."

"I do believe you," he said quietly, waiting for her to continue.

"He knew my heart wasn't really his and he knew that I'd left someone behind in England but neither of us ever mentioned it. Someone I just couldn't forget. Anyway, he didn't want his wife to work so I quit my job at the hospital, even though I never married him. But I needed something to do at home so I started to learn the violin and he helped me. That's why I didn't tell you. I'm sorry."

"I understand," he told her. And he did. It hurt him deeply to know that she'd been with another man during her exile. It was easily the hardest thing to accept about her return to the country and it had taken many months for him to be able to even think about it without his heart completely falling apart. "I'm sorry but I have to ask. Is it different? With us, I mean. Do you really feel more for me than you did for him?"

"Yes," she replied in a hurt voice. But she knew why he had to question it. She would if she were him. I fact, she would have done it before now. "It is different. George was there in my life. I cared for him, I honestly did and he didn't deserve to die like that. But I never really loved him. I wouldn't let my heart go there. I just… I couldn't."

"Okay," Harry replied calmly. He believed her because he inherently knew her to be an honest person. The most honest spy he had ever met. "Is there anything else about you I don't know?"

"I hate chocolate," Ruth said after a beat of silence. He looked at her questioningly. "I always have, but you bought me that lovely box of chocolate pralines and I didn't know how to tell you." That admission had broken the tension in the room and he kissed the top of her head.

"I love you," he told her quietly. She was about to reply when he continued speaking. "Now play me something."

"Are you sure?" Ruth asked.

"I'd love to hear you play." She nodded and slowly picked up her discarded violin. It took a long minute before she put the bow to the strings. But when she did, they both floated away on the melody.

V is for violin. Please review!