As Harry has no reason to doubt Ros's ability to cope without him and as Ruth understandably isn't in the mood to argue, within ten minutes of Beth having brought them a cup of tea and having closed down their computers, he and Ruth are heading down the back stairs to the underground carpark, her in the hope that she will be able to blank out what happened earlier in the day and Harry to try and ensure that despite what happened, she won't experience what almost everyone does no matter how hard they try or how many times they see someone die in front of them, which is to experience reruns on repeat.
A thought which is reinforced when, 'only two days gone and it feels as though I've never been away,' she says, once they are in the comfort of the house and he is filling the kettle just as he had on the day when Mick Maudsley had jumped in front of the train, except that this time they are in their kitchen and he doesn't have to leave her or does she mention sweet tea which he sees as a positive. As is the fact that their relationship has by some miracle reached the point where whatever he says he knows she'll accept for what it is and without him having to resort to remembering what Malcolm had told him on the morning after he had left her standing on his landing, whilst wishing not for the first time that when he goes back work in the morning that the man he's relied on for so many years will be there itching to tell him that he has the answers to what are a growing list of questions, when the reality is that he needs to remain in the here and now and is why when Ruth responds to his smile after what seems like hours rather than just minutes, he suggests that she has a long hot bath to help her unwind.
A bath that once they have finished their tea he runs, without her questioning why or that he intends staying with her. Something which he well remembers he had been prevented from doing and rightly so on the day when George had been shot and certainly despite not wanting to leave her, when she had been cradling Danny's head in her hands with tears streaming down her face, only for him to be called away. Whereas now depending on how she seems after dinner which he knows she'll insist that they cook together, although cook might be a stretch having looked in the fridge so at best it will be eggs in some way shape or form or a takeaway, another drawback to working unpredictable hours which means that they need to find a way to shop more regularly, but for now he hopes will be a night during which depending how much sleep Ruth gets will determine whether or not he asks Ros to take Jo with her to the American Embassy in the morning rather than he go.
Only for him to discover that unlike the night at Malcolm's when Ruth had not only told him about the George's coercive behaviour but had suggested that in some way that she thought she was to blame, she doesn't want him to treat her as though she's broken or for him to imply that it's having drunk more wine than is probably wise which has determined her preferred route to oblivion, one that he himself has used as a means to forget, and on more than one occasion when the woman he had woken up with the following morning especially during the time when his marriage had been on a downward spiral from which there had been no way back, was someone whose name he couldn't remember, whereas Ruth's name is etched on his heart as his is on hers, bound together by a love that against all the odds has grown stronger, which means that however many times and no matter the reason, tonight won't be a memory that in the morning will be dismissed as having had meaningless sex, far from it.
.
Had the world order not been hanging by a thread, Harry would in all probability once he woke up the following morning given that Ruth was still asleep, her hair spread out on the pillow next to his, after what had been a night that interspersed with breaks during which they had struggled to imagine that they would ever find themselves in this situation, stayed in bed until Ruth had woken up and in the hope that like him she would want to stay there which would mean ringing Ros to say they were going to be late and suggest that she take Jo with her. But as things stand and needing a pee, he reluctantly drags himself out of bed, grabs his dressing gown and heads downstairs where he uses cloakroom, before still in an attempt not to wake her he heads into the kitchen and makes himself a strong coffee. Before as he always does, he opens the back door to clear his head which is a habit from the days when Scarlet had been the outlet for his questions, whereas today despite the rush of cold air which assaults him, for the first time in his life, he finds himself contemplating a future which doesn't involve going into work.
A thought which he quickly dismisses as indulgent and instead turns on his phone to see he has a message from Tariq, telling him that Russell Price head of CIA Europe is in London, which implies given that it was sent a three in the morning that not only has Tariq worked all night but that maybe he is the person who he and Ros should talk to concerning Samuel Walkers death and who if anybody else he thinks might be a member of Nightingale which surely given his status he must be aware of.
Only for his contemplations to be interrupted when Ruth walks into what by now is a very cold kitchen and says, 'Rather than stand here and watch you freeze to death Harry, why don't I refill the kettle and make us both a hot drink and then we both go back to bed where you can tell me why you've resorted to getting up at this ungodly hour when we don't need to leave here until seven, unless of course something stratospheric has happened overnight in which case I'm sure you would have woken me so that we could share the burden, because somewhere during the breaks to get our breath back during what was an incredible night, I'm sure that's what we agreed we do from now on.'
'You're right,' he says unable to prevent the smile which emerges because there is no early reason that he should be facing anything alone anymore, or that he hadn't simply climbed back into bed, even if he had woken her up in the process.