"God you're a sight for sore eyes."

Settling into his office chair, she smiled at the web cam and met his eyes. "I've missed you too."

He shifted in his seat as she watched her. It'd been two weeks since he'd last seen or talked to her. Two long weeks that was turning out to be too many. In all the years he'd spent traveling to different parts of the world for work, he'd never quite missed someone as much as he was missing her right now. It wasn't a physical ache; though that was there; but something much deeper.

He'd never been to India. Hadn't expected to actually be here now but with Juliet going on three months pregnant, they'd needed someone more senior for this conference and it'd fallen to him. The first few days had been rather boring. They hadn't exactly been prepared for his arrival and so he'd spent some time visiting some of the historical aspects of the country. As he'd wound his way through some place or another, he'd found himself wishing Ruth was with him. She'd love the sights, the significance behind so many things. He'd wanted to write to her and share them but he wasn't fully trusting of the security of the connections he'd managed to get and so not wanting to put her in any kind of harm's way, he had forgone any messages. But now he didn't have to. Now he could see and talk to her. If only for a few minutes.

Focusing on the small screen in front of him he smiled. She looked good. A bit tired but that was understanding. From the video briefing he'd just had with Adam the team had been working almost around the clock the last few nights following up on a new lead. And if he knew Ruth as well as he thought he did, she'd barely taken any time to sleep. Probably a few hours in one of the back rooms; nothing substantial. In the end, the lead had turned out to be rather minor but it had given them another angle to pursue.

"How are you?" she asked softly.

"I'm alright. How are you?"

"I'm alright too."

"Now that we've gotten through that, how are you really?"

"Harry..."

"Ruth, I know you just as well as you know me. We're both alright but there's more. So tell me how you are."

She smiled at that. "I'm alright. Honestly. Tired but that's normal. We've been here the better part of 96 hours so I could use a decent shower and a good night's sleep but I'm okay."

"You should get out of there. Head home and get some sleep."

"I will in a bit. There's still some things I need to do."

"And I'm sure they can wait till morning. Go home Ruth."

Shaking her head at him, she looked at him. "And how are you really?"

"Like you a bit tired."

"Not sleeping well?"

"Truthfully? No. It's always been hard for me to sleep somewhere other than home. This might be a secure compound we're in but that doesn't mean anything in this day and age. Add onto that the constant flow of Indian food is beginning to bother my indigestion. I'm just counting the days until I'm back on British soil."

"Is that the only reason?"

Thinking for a moment, he grinned as he answered her. "Of course; what else is there?"

Playing along, she smiled and lifted her hand to brush a stand her hair behind her ear. "I don't know; I was kind of hoping you were missing me a little."

About to tell her exactly how much he was missing her, he paused as a flash of light caught the diamond on her hand. Surprised, he frowned as he met her eyes again. "You're wearing your rings."

Confused at not only the conversation change but also his look, she glanced down at her hands. "What?"

"Your rings. You're wearing them."

She'd forgotten that she'd put them on in all honesty. After the rather public outing of their relationship during the cross-examination and Peter's subsequent release from all charges, she'd gone home with Danny. That first night she'd been mortified. Firstly that after all he had done to her, Peter had gone free and was even now roaming the streets of London. But secondly that people were going to find out that she and Harry were sleeping together. It was only a matter of time before word of what'd transpired got back to the people she worked with.

During the ride home, Danny had been quiet; leaving her to her own thoughts. As he'd quietly pulled the SUV into the driveway, he'd turned the car off and looked at her.

"I'm coming in with you."

"What?" Pulling herself from her thoughts, Ruth glanced up out the windscreen and found them sitting in the driveway of Harry's house.

"You shouldn't be alone tonight."

"It's alright, really. You don't need to go to any trouble. I'll set the alarm. I've got the dog and the cat. I'll be alright. Go home. Get some sleep."

Unbuckling his seatbelt, Danny pulled the keys from the ignition before looking at her. "I'm not leaving. If you won't let me inside I'll stay out here in the car. Either way, I'm going to keep an eye on you."

"Really Danny. There's no need. I'm perfectly safe. And Harry wouldn't want that."

"We both know that's a lie but I'm not doing it for Harry. I'm doing it for you. You're my friend, I care about you. After what happened today, you shouldn't be alone."

"I..."

"Ruth, I'm coming in with you."

Meeting his eyes she saw the determination and stopped. There was not pity there. No judgment. Just good old fashion concern. "Alright."

He'd stayed that night and the next in her old guest room. And she knew that when she did leave tonight, he'd be there too. They'd talked that first night. Not only about the trial and Peter but about Zoe and about her relationship with Harry. She'd admitted that he'd asked her to marry him and she'd said yes. His response hadn't been what she'd thought it would be. Instead of disbelief or negativity, he'd asked if she was happy. When she'd said yes, he hugged her tightly and placed a kiss against the side of her head as he told her that was all that mattered. That's when the conversation had turned to Zoe and missed chances. That talk had convinced her to stop hiding from the fear and she'd put on the ring Harry had so carefully slipped on her hand that night.

She hadn't taken them off since. Those that mattered to both her and Harry were happy for them. A bit surprised at the speed it had all occurred at but not at the news of their engagement. That didn't mean everyone had reacted in a positive way. There were those who made snide remarks when they thought she wasn't around and rumor had it Juliet had hurled a stapler through the window of her office when the news had reached there. But it didn't matter. The core team; aside from Sam; were happy for them.

"I put them on the other day and forgot that it was there."

A bit hurt, he watched her."You told everyone? Without me?"

Lifting her gaze sharply, she shook her head. "I didn't do it on purpose. It all came out during the trial..."

"What trial?" he asked quickly, cutting her off.

Realizing that she hadn't talked to him since before she'd gotten notice of the trial, she sighed. "Peter's trial."

"What do you mean Peter's trial?"

"His trial; it was last week."

"And you didn't think to tell me before I left?"

"I didn't know! They served me notice of my testimony the morning after you left. There was nothing I could do. You'd already left and I didn't have a secure way of getting in touch with you. Lord knows I didn't want to keep it from you. I wanted you there."

Taking a deep breath, he wished they weren't 5,400 miles apart right now. "I'm sorry." he said softly. watching as she lifted her eyes to his, he continued. "I didn't want you to go through that alone."

"I know you didn't. That you would have been there if you could have been. Danny was there."

"Good. I'm glad you had someone with you and I know you two are close. I'm glad it's him that was with you when I couldn't be. How long did he get?"

"He didn't."

"What do you mean he didn't?"

"He was found not guilty." Looking down at her hands, she twisted her engagement ring. "They let him go that night."

"There must be something wrong with the connection. For a second there I thought you said he got off."

Lifting her eyes to his, she nodded. "He did. There's nothing wrong with the line."

"Excuse me?" Harry asked, his voice going deathly calm. "That...man...is out walking the streets?"

"Yes."

"Get me Adam."

"Harry..."

"Ruth, go get Adam."

"I'm not getting Adam."

"Go get me Adam. Now!"

"I'm not getting Adam for you Harry. There's nothing he can do."

"Like hell there's not. For starters he needs to arrange protection for you. At least until I'm home."

"It's already done. Danny's been staying with me since that night. And he's planning on being there until you're back. Adam's also ... err... forged your signature; with the help of Malcolm; on a few documents and Mark's been driving the two of us to and from work. I'm safe. I promise."

"Good. You're protected. Now get me Adam."

"Why do you need Adam?"

"I just do. Go get him."

"Harry."

"Ruth, I'm not going to fight you on this. Please. Get me Adam. If you don't I'm going to be on the next plane to Heathrow."

"Harry please. Don't make a big deal out of this. I'm okay. I swear."

"Ruth I love you. I miss you like crazy. More than you can possibly know. And I cannot wait until I'm home and can hold you in my arms instead of watching you through a crappy camera on a little screen. But I need you to go get Adam."

Realizing it was a losing battle she was fighting, she sighed and pushed the chair back. Watching him for a moment, she noted the cold fury evident in his eyes and was glad that it wasn't directed at her. Reaching a hand out, she brushed it against the camera.

"I love you." she said softly as she stood.

"I love you too."

Nodding, she crossed the room and pulled open the door. Stepping through the frame, she looked out into the Grid. Spotting Adam bent over a folder on his desk, she sighed again before calling out to him.

AN: Thank you all for your reviews on the last chapter and I'm sorry for the delay. The last chapter was a bit hard to write; it kept coming out like a legal brief; and so I needed to take some time and beat IRAC out of my head before continuing. I also want to thank TheOofOof, Loubelle04 and Spooks75 for your input over on Tumblr - a bit more plot with defiantly more Harry/Ruth moments it is. :) I think next up is Harry's return so we can wrap up March and move onto the sad month of April.