Exactly where Lucas has been and what he's been doing since Ros's funeral, none of his colleagues who have been manning the grid know. Harry and Ruth on the other hand, have been presuming that in their absence, everything has been ticking along as normal. Only to find out within moments of Tariq appearing with a tray of drinks, which coincides with the man in question siding open the meeting room door, that it hasn't.

Although why Lucas chooses to say, 'good to see you finally making an appearance,' other than it being professional suicide, is not only a mystery to the newly arrived Dimitri and Beth, but an eye opener to what can happen if you dare to cross Harry.

That his remark is directed at Harry and doesn't appear to include Ruth, is just as well. Even so, Harry's hand slams down so hard on the table that it's a wonder it doesn't bring the ceiling down. Had it included Ruth, then their colleagues might well have witnessed a response which would have seen the entire building reduced to rubble, rather than to hear Harry demand an explanation.

'I meant,' was as far as Lucas got, before Harry asked, 'if anyone else had tried to get hold of him when they'd been in Cambridge?' Which he knew they hadn't, because not once during the time that they'd been away, had he turned his phone off. Which in his eyes makes him a saint.

The fact that no one replies, doesn't help during the testosterone filled standoff which follows. Or does it prevent it kicking off again, by which time all but the two of them have fled to the safety of the grid.

'How dare you speak to me like that, and more to the point what the hell are you suggesting I've been doing for the last few days, other than consoling Ros's mother. Who by the way asked if Ruth and I would visit her. Which for your information was not only gruelling, but opened wounds from a time when you're weren't even here. And I know how much the Nightingale operation cost you personally, but you told me that you'd move on. Now get out of my sight and don't come back until you've calmed down.'

'What was that all about,' Ruth asked Beth, following her colleague into the kitchen with the intension of putting the kettle on. Grateful that their own news hadn't preceded what had just happened, because that's what she and Harry had intended in advance of the meeting.

'I'm not absolutely sure, but Sarah Caulfield's name came up in a conversation I overheard when you were away. That and I think Lucas had been expecting to be made the new Section Chief as soon as Ros died. Fat chance of that happening after this morning's performance I would have thought.'

So did Ruth but she wasn't about to say so, she was far more worried about the effects Lucas's outburst was having on Harry.

She didn't have long to wait, because within moments of putting the kettle on, 'mine's a coffee,' said Harry, breathing heavily, before plonking himself on the one and only stool. At which point Beth couldn't help but notice that there were two pairs of eyes which were holding a look for longer than perhaps they would have done, had they not already decided to spill the beans.

During what was left of the morning, Harry forced himself to pigeon hole what had happened and concentrate on what else had arrived on his desk since he'd been away. As did Ruth but to a lesser extent, as she took herself back to the day of Ros's funeral and more precisely what had happened after they'd come out of the church.

Who for example were the elderly couple who had made up the numbers and where had Lucas and Tariq gone after she and Harry had set off for their stroll around the grounds?

Had Lucas known what Harry was about to ask her? she eliminated as unlikely and after a short pause changed to impossible.

Had he like her found out that it was Nicholas Blake who had ordered the hotel to be bombed and did he know that Harry had driven up to Scotland? Were altogether different questions. As were Lucas's true feelings for Sarah Caulfield, who according to Ros at the time, he'd remained in love with despite her being part of the Nightingale plot. Feelings which she herself knew only too well having watched George die, but in her case has come to accept as destructive. Which is why she and Harry are more in tune than they've ever been. That and she's very much alive, whereas Sarah is dead.

.

As someone who has inadvertently and regularly succeeded in getting them to spring apart as though he's caught them in enjoying the pleasures of the flesh. An expression which his granny had used when she'd caught his granddad watching something that if she'd stopped long enough, might well have pepped up their relationship, the alternative which is to be sitting in a café and asked what he'd like to eat by his boss, would had Tariq not been in possession of information that he hadn't known what to do with, made him very wary.

But having watched Harry walk to the counter and order fish and chips for three, because that's what he'd said he fancied, he settles himself down to consider what Harry might consider to be his finer points and the reason that he's been invited to have lunch with him and Ruth. Things which almost as soon as he'd arrived, Harry had accepted not only as useful, but had accepted him as an adequate replacement for one, if not the best technical expert the service has ever had, he views as positives.

Besides he likes and respects Harry. His dedication to the job. His sense of humour and his honesty in admitting more often than not, that he doesn't understand whatever it is he's explaining. Unlike Ruth who generally does, but responds in such a way that won't embarrass him. Which means that as far as he's concerned, what they do or don't do when they're not on the grid, he sees as their business and nobody else's.

Which doesn't apply to Lucas who in his view behaved appallingly. Enough to tell Harry, depends on why he's being treated to what is far better than the sandwiches he usually eats, until Ruth comes to his rescue.

'Beth suggested to Harry that Lucas's behaviour might have something to do with Sarah Caulfield's death, but she's only been here a short while, whereas you haven't Tariq. What we really need are facts, so we'd like you to cast your mind back to the day of Ros's funeral, or at least what happened when it was over.'

Needing reassurance and probably showing it, was why 'none of this will come back to bite you I promise,' Harry told him. 'But what we also need you to tell us, is what if anything unusual has happened between us leaving to go and see Ros's mother and coming in this morning.'

'Well, when we left the church after the funeral, I sort of knew you weren't going back to the grid, so I told Lucas that I thought we should,' didn't provoke the visible reaction or deconstruction of his ability as a human being he was expecting. That and because he could see their meals being plated up, gave him the courage to continue. 'He'd been acting weird all day and he said we didn't need to because Beth and Dimitri were there. I tried persuading him by saying they were new, but he just ignored me as though my opinion didn't matter. Worse than that, he pulled up at the first pub that we came to and well you know I don't drink much, but he kept lining them up. I was waiting for him to go to the loo so I could do a runner, but the only time he moved was when he received a phone call. He went outside which made it pretty obvious that he didn't want me to hear what was being said. Eventually I told him I was meeting a friend and got a taxi back.'

'And since we've been away?'

'We've hardly seen him, so it's just as well that things have been quiet, otherwise I would have had to rung you I promise.'

I know you would, said the expression on Harry's face.

The following morning.

Lucas walked onto the grid and straight to his desk. That there was nothing in his expression to suggest that he felt he needed to explain his behaviour of the previous day, or to apologise, only Beth whose desk was at an angle from his could see. Everyone else had their heads down, including Ruth who was buried under a pile of the latest intel.

Had Harry been there it might well have been different, but he wasn't. Because after he'd dropped her off, with the promise that he wouldn't be long and she was to ring him if there was a problem, he'd driven across London to commission Alec White to dig into every aspect of Lucas's life, going as far back as his childhood. To give him a backdoor opinion as to why Lucas had seemingly gone off the rails. Having already made a phone call before they'd left the house to Malcolm. Inviting him to come and stay for a couple of days and do what if he hadn't been one of their own, he'd have asked Tariq to do. Thus, eliminating his current team from any fallout that might result from their findings.

Malcolm who had jumped at the chance of seeing them both again and the resulting smile on Ruth's face when he'd told her, was worth all the pain which might follow he'd thought. Whereas Alec White was an altogether different kettle of fish, but if it boiled down to a one on one with Lucas, would be the extra muscle he hoped at this point he wouldn't need.