'What's happening?' Ruth asks Harry when he finally puts his phone down having spoken to Alec, who as she is about to find out has suggested that enough is enough and that the team are bringing the Op forward to as early as the next day. A decision which leaves Ruth with the feeling that it is far from over and the quiet day that they had been looking forward to as Malcolm and Caroline have gone home, is out of their reach. Until Harry suggests that rather than sit around thinking about their once colleagues or the outcome of what they themselves have no control over, that they should walk down to the beach and get some fresh air in their lungs. Not though before he rings Malcolm back as he promised he would.
'In that case we'll stay where we are and Caroline can continue with her deliberations as to what she wants to take with her when her house is sold,' Malcolm tells him, once Harry has relayed Alex decision. During which he had also confirmed that Lucas was currently on the grid and if he did leave again before the end of the working day, that Dimitri would be tailing him. Before agreeing to call him again in the evening, but with the option that they are welcome to come back if they change their minds.
The necessity to change into some warmer clothes and when Ruth suggests they make a flask of coffee and some sandwiches, means that by the time they do set off there is a fair chance that the sun might have come out. As is the possibility that Harry will still be thinking about what might be happening on the grid which knowing him as she does, combined with her own negative thoughts, Ruth sees as a good reason to steer the conversation in an altogether different direction as they take what is now a familiar path across the field. At the same time acknowledging that Harry was right to suggest that the prospect of some sea air and the view would help to release the tension in her shoulders after what has been a busy and life changing week in so many ways. Something which is reinforced when they are approaching the style and the constant which has always been Harry when it comes to how he treats her, sees him holding out his hand as if to say let me help you. Not that she needs any help as he well knows but who is she to reject her own knight in shining armour. A title that he never really wanted and now that they have moved here will never be spoken of. Other than at the moments such as this when she allows herself to reflect on his years of devoted service and how proud this makes her feel.
When the path changes direction to deter walkers from trampling over what is listed in the Parish Records as one of the countries few remaining ancient meadows with nothing but birdsong to keep them company, Harry taking her hand is not only a comfort, but highlights that despite what is going on elsewhere, their plan to let part of their garden run wild in the hope that Jacob from a young age will understand that the need to maintain the environment is just as important as the small patch of ground where they are going to let him choose what he wants to plant is what matters. As is the way Harry sighs when they finally reach the deserted beach and head to the spot which has become a more than adequate replacement for their much-loved bench in St. James's Park. A solitary rock which over the years has been shaped by the endless ebb and flow of the tide and is out of the prevailing wind and tucked amongst the dunes.
Leaning back and briefly closing her eyes Harry surprises her by saying, 'any more thoughts on how you'd like us to spend our first Christmas together?'
A subject which apart from wondering how they can include Sally and Jacob and still make it about them, takes her back to the Christmas's of her own childhood. The snow on the ground when they had walked back from church after the midnight service. Her worrying that because it was past her bedtime that Santa would add her to his naughty list. How upset she had been when Peter had told her that there was no such person as Santa and her father's reaction which had been to banish him to his room. The row which had followed. Wondering now what her parents had they been alive would have made of her relationship with Harry and would they have been be happy for her? Before she answers question saying, 'not really, other than decorating the tree together and going to the midnight service on Christmas Eve.'
'Me too,' he says, having somehow managed to move closer without her noticing and with an expression that she knows only too well. His hand under the blanket with his fingers drawing patterns on her thigh. Which unless he stops, will almost certainly see them indulging in something which is quite probably illegal on a beach. Not to mention that she is visualising her parents who thought kissing was something that should be kept to birthdays and then only the cheek and in this instance her father saying get your hands off my daughter.
And is why she says, 'would you like a sandwich?' which at least halts Harry's progress if not his ability to have the last word by saying, 'it's November, it's Thursday and I was only warming my hands.'
.
At the same time as their once esteemed leader and senior analyst are breathing in the sea air with more than a ham sandwich and a cup of coffee on their minds, on the grid the roles of all bar Lucas are being manipulated as a means make it look as though it is business as usual. Which given that it is less than an two hours since Alec made the decision to bring things forward, the fact that the conversation is much as it usually is, is down to the fact that he had called Beth who had told Dimitri who had told Tariq and so on. And is why Beth is responding to Alec's question about an asset she has been cultivating and Dimitri about a cache of what look to be World War Two weapons which have been dug up on a building site.
Until Tariq comes in with the coffees and says, 'we've run out of biscuits,' which tells them that he has been in touch with Abby who is going to pretend to be Ruth and that the car which even at a short distance will look like Harry's, is being driven to a lock up in the road where Alec lives.
Which is the signal for Alec to dangle the carrot under Lucas's nose by saying, 'as serious as our running out of biscuits might be Tariq, I have more important things to worry about.'
'Such as?' asks Beth as though she cares.
'I'm already late for my meeting with the Home Secretary, I've got an appointment at the dentist this afternoon and to top it all Harry messaged me to say that he and Ruth are coming back tomorrow evening, which knowing Harry means he will be sitting behind his desk on Saturday morning. And I for one would like to keep my job, so make sure that your reports for the past couple of weeks are on his desk by close of play today.'
.
Harry's inability to mentally take a step back after years of being in control, despite pretending otherwise, Ruth knows by the time that they get back have reached the point where he is just as likely to jump in the car and drive down to London as he is to stay put. Until Sally rings to ask if she can come to them this afternoon because one of her other clients is going into hospital in the morning and has asked her to go with her. Which means that Jacob the perfect distraction that Harry needs will be there not only for however long Ruth can persuade Sally to stay, but again in the morning.
What happens after that, Ruth refuses to think about other than she is just grateful that Sally called in advance. Because had she just turned up it would have been to find them in bed and there is a limit even when it comes Harry and how he feels about her, before she would have been reaching for the painkillers again despite him refusing to admit that his back still hurts. That and she feels mildly guilty that she was the one to instigate what she can honestly say was the best sex yet and with minutes if not less to have a shower and get dressed, that her panicking is only making the situation worse. Unlike Harry who has a huge smile of satisfaction on his face and the unspoken suggestion that if they shower together it will speed things up. Along with an imagined sign over his head saying I bet you didn't visualise your daughter doing this did you?