"Briefing room twenty minutes."

Fingers pausing over the keyboard, Ruth watched as Adam stepped onto the grid. Cheeks red from his time outside and hair ruffled, he looked much too young to be in charge of the Grid. Or maybe it was just her missing Harry that she was thinking that. It'd been a week and three days since he'd left for India. She'd been missing him desperately for about a week.

The first three days had been almost easy. An hour and a half after his flight had taken off from Heathrow they'd received intelligence of a possible threat to the Tower of London. Nothing too specific but it'd been enough that they'd taken it seriously from the start. With Harry gone, Adam had been left as not only Section Chief but also Acting Head leaving Danny and Fiona to head out into the field.

Those first five hours Ruth; along with Sam and Malcolm; had spent the time watching CCTV footage of all comings and goings from the Tower. A large project, none had seen anything to rouse their suspicions. It wasn't until Fiona had called in with a list of temporary employees that they had something to investigate.

One name in particular jumped out to the team. Ari Gaidea. He'd been hired as a temporary worker in the maintenance department for an unidentified period of time as coverage for another temporary worker who'd suddenly needed to leave the country. No specific reason had been given. Things were starting to look up.

And then they weren't. For three days they'd followed Ari Gaidea to and from work. They'd followed him when he'd gone out to do his shopping and to the book club he'd joined at the local community center. They'd followed him to religious services and on random walks. Nothing out of the ordinary had occurred. As far as anyone on the team could figure, he was up to no good.

So they'd backed off. Surveillance continued. They'd managed to wiretap his flat one afternoon so monitoring of that continued. And all the other little things they did with a suspect continued. But things quieted down. And so Ruth had time to miss Harry.

They'd only been together for two and a half months. And yet in that time they'd developed a connection. It'd been rocked, it'd been challenged, but their lives had started to weave together. That fourth morning; when she'd woke alone; she had come to realize how cold and vast the bed was without him in it. The night before she'd been so tired she hadn't thought about it but in the early light of day there was plenty of time.

The bed wasn't the only problem. Most mornings they worked together to get ready. While Ruth was getting her shower, Harry started the coffee and walked the dog. By the time he was done, Ruth was finishing in the shower and he could hop in. While he was under the warm spray, she had time to do her hair and brush on a touch of makeup and as he finished, they'd get dressed together and eat together. Getting ready just wasn't the same.

Before he left, he'd tried to get her to have Mark drive her to and from work but she'd refused. No one else at her pay grade had the option of being chauffeured to and from work. And she shouldn't either just because she was sleeping with the head of Section D. He'd argued that they just weren't sleeping together; that sometime in the near future she'd be his wife and the mother of any other children he had but it hadn't worked. She wouldn't budge. Instead she'd made a concession that she'd take his SUV and park in his assigned spot.

Being on the Grid wasn't too bad. There was always more than enough work that no one had to worry about having nothing to do. Between active cases and keeping the registry current, she was able to spend ten hours a day not thinking about how much she was missing him. Sure there were the glances towards his office where she'd find it dark. Not used to not seeing him there, head bent over his desk as he worked on whatever it was he did all day brought back that ache. But then something would happen and she'd forget.

It wasn't until she was on her way home that everything hit her again. She was used to heading home alone. As Head of their Section, Harry had various meetings and events to attend. Three to Four nights a week Ruth found herself alone for at least part of the night. For someone who had spent her entire adult life on her own, these evenings didn't bother her. In fact, she cherished them. They gave her time for choir practice. Time to curl up with the animals and a good book without worrying about offending Harry.

With Harry five hours ahead of her and 5,400 miles away things were different. Choir practice didn't hold the same distraction. Books didn't hold her interest as well. The house was too quiet. And it wasn't just her who was missing him. Scarlett sat by the front door for at least an hour a night waiting for Harry to come home. Fidget; though only living with him for four months; sat in his spot on the couch and meowed as though Harry would suddenly appear.

And when it was time for her to finally head up to bed, she was greeted with the same cold space she'd left in the morning. Without Harry the space wasn't as inviting. She'd even considered sleeping in the guest room after that first night. But she couldn't bring herself to do it. At least in their room, his scent lingered on the sheets. In his pillow. In the guest room there was nothing. So wrapped in one of his t-shirts she curled under the duvet in the middle of the bed, longing for his warmth.

So lonely was she that she'd finally brought the animals to bed with her. With Scarlett curled against her stomach and Fidget behind her knees, the three found sleep together.

But what made it the worst was she hadn't talked to him since he'd left for the airport. They'd broken their rule of keep their relationship out of work and spent twenty minutes wrapped together behind the locked doors and closed blinds of Harry's office. Nothing aside from soft caresses and long kisses had taken place.

But the thought of three weeks without seeing one another had prompted her to seek him out. He'd been thinking along the same lines and as soon as she'd stepped through his door, he'd pulled her into his arms, backed her against the wall and kissed her.

She knew there was more than a chance they wouldn't get to talk while he was away. Getting a secure line was difficult enough. Putting one through because they missed each other was impossible. There had been a few emails sent from secure accounts. One to say he'd landed okay and another to say visiting the city of Delhi wasn't the same without his ideal travel companion but that'd been four days before. At this point she wasn't sure how she would make it another eleven days.

"Ruth?"

Snapping out of her thoughts, she looked up. Seeing Adam leaning out of the briefing room doors, she blushed and quickly gathered her notes. Twenty minutes had passed quickly while thinking of Harry. Crossing the room, she paused as Adam shot an arm out and blocked her from entering. Frowning, she glanced up at him.

"You're going to have to sit this one out."

Frown deepening, she wondered exactly what she'd done to warrant being excluded. As if sensing her thoughts, he lowered his arm to rest a hand on her shoulder. Turning her around, he walked her down the hall a short distance.

"You've got to be at the court house in an hour to testify."

She'd forgotten. The day after Harry had left she'd received notice that she'd be expected in court on the 11-March to testify against Peter. Without Harry there she'd gone to Adam with her request for time off. And instead gotten a promise that not only would she have her time off, someone would be going with her. But that was before they'd gotten nowhere with the case. She was sure she'd be going alone.

Reaching into the folder she carried, she pulled out her notes and handed them to Adam. There wasn't much to report honestly. Nothing new had happened since their last meeting twenty-four hours earlier.

"Thanks Ruth." Taking the report, he looked it over briefly before looking back at her. "And everything's going to be fine."

"I know. Just a bit nervous. I'm going to go lock down my computer and head out. Thanks for the reminder."

"Danny's going to go with you. We'll see you both tomorrow morning unless something else happens tonight."

"Alright."

"And Ruth? Call me when you're done and let me know how it went."

Meeting his eyes, she smiled. It was nice having people who cared.

.

AN: Sorry for the delay in posting; this is the first time I've been on the computer since last Tuesday night. Tried flying off the front walk the other morning on the way to work but was stopped by the driveway. I'm okay for the most part but it's hard to find a comfortable position with the computer so I don't know how often the updates are going to be the next few weeks. Good news is I've managed to outline what's going to happen for all of March, April, May and part of June as well as starting an outline for a new Harry and Ruth fic. It's just getting on the computer to write them up. Thank you all for the reviews - hope this isn't too bad.