A/N Please disregard any medical inconsistencies/fantasies.
(Harry) With the loss of Danny, we need to get our numbers back up as far as field agents go so Zafar Younis has joined the team permanently. Very quick thinking and creative young man with a number of usable skills and he already knows Adam and Fiona from when all three of them were over at Six. I must say that I do not like the way he looks at Ruth. I'm sure any woman would melt at his million-pound smile. But you're not jealous, are you Harry?
(Ruth) Zaf is such a good addition to the grid team. He already knows Fiona and Adam and has slid himself into the team without a hiccup. He said that he'd consider staying as long as he had a desk by mine, the flirt. He does have a wonderful smile though…it lights up his entire face. I don't know why Harry glares at him so much though.
Harry scared me a bit last week when he said that he was sending me back to GCHQ. For a few minutes I thought he meant he was sending me back for good but he was just sending me to help Adam and I got the chance to go out in the field. Me going out in the field turned out to be not a good thing. Adam and I ended up being found out and had to run for our lives in the woods while being chased by a psychopath/crazy person with a crossbow. I hit the bastard chasing us with a tree branch. When I asked Adam if I should hit him again, he had the cheek to say back to me "Only if you want to, Ruth." It took more than 10 minutes for my heart to stop racing and it wasn't just from the running. I can't really remember being so sure that I was going to die.
(Harry) I actually thought Ruth would be safe going to GCHQ and then checking up on our sleeper agent. Turned out I was wrong and it almost cost both Adam and Ruth their lives. Adam told Ruth to run and if she hadn't circled back to Adam, he would have been killed by Moran. Ruth hit him over the head with a tree branch. She's a desk spook and yet refused to leave Adam on his own, becoming his backup and saving his life. That woman is truly wonderful and I think I'm falling in love with her.
(Ruth) Fiona thanked me for saving Adam's life in the field but it really wasn't necessary because I see us all as family here. That's what family members do, don't they? Look out for one another?
(Ruth) Harry looked upset a few days ago so I went into his office and he was reading a printout from the BBC News website. I glanced at it and asked him if he knew the man mentioned in the article and Harry said he did; in fact, had known him for a long time. I did not expect it but when I offered to listen if Harry ever wanted to talk about his friend, he accepted the offer and asked me to go for a drink with him after work that day.
Harry continues to surprise me. He opened himself up to me more that night than I ever thought he would and it wasn't because of the alcohol. I think he has started to trust me more and I am so delighted that he has. It has been such a long time since I had a really good friend and I treasure his friendship.
He took me home and was with me when we discovered Gary Hicks in my flat. Bloody Gary Hicks. It seemed that Gary saw something he shouldn't have and now was being chased by god-knows-who and because Gary came to my flat, he and I had to go to a safe house until the stalkers were identified. If it hadn't been for a free-lance journalist Adam had met earlier being curious about him, we would all be dead. She used a very creative way to warn us by setting multiple car alarms off. All those gunshots in the dark...so terrifying.
(Harry) God! Ruth was almost killed again! I almost dropped to my knees when Zaf called to tell me about the shooting at the safe house and that Ruth was in hospital but was OK. They were going to keep her overnight. By the time I got to the hospital, Ruth had been checked out and was settled in a room by herself although still unconscious. She would be fine the doctor said but that was all the information I would receive, as I wasn't "family." I couldn't recall being this terrified of losing someone since Graham had meningitis when he was a child. Now I am sure that I love her and she means so much more to me than just a friend or colleague. I needed to stay with her so I sat by the bed and held her hand in mine. I was so pleased when she finally woke up, looked at me and then smiled.
(Ruth) I just remembered the noise and the flashes of light until I woke up in hospital with a massive headache and Harry holding my hand. Seemed I didn't duck quite enough and a round grazed the side of my head and knocked me out. Harry was there with me, holding my hand and looking very worried. When I smiled at him, a grin erupted that lit up his entire face and he looked at me with such…love. Could it really be happening? Is he in love with me?
When I asked him why he looked so worried, he (very uncharacteristically) told me that he was scared that he was going to lose me. I was shocked. I mean I know I am very good at my job but I could tell that wasn't what he meant. He was scared he would lose me, Ruth. Now I am sure that I do mean more to him than a friend or colleague but what do I have to offer him really? What does he see in me that he can't find in a plethora of other women-beautiful women? He and I need to talk so we agreed to do just that after this Clive/Gary mess is cleared up.
(Harry) Ruth could have been killed and lost to me forever. It was just luck that she wasn't killed. We talked briefly about that and then agreed that when this case was done and dusted, we'd schedule some time off the grid and talk about our where we want to go with our friendship.