Whether he will be dismissed or asked to resign Harry no longer cares when less a half an hour since Dimitri called to say that Ros hadn't survived the blast and with no sensitivity whatsoever towards his stricken colleagues or Ros herself, Dolby marches onto the grid and calls him incompetent, his reaction instantaneous in that he throws a punch which connects with Dolby's face causing him to topple backwards and with his dignity in tatters lands in a heap on the floor. What he does know is that until they find his replacement which in a system that delves into every nook and cranny even when it comes to deciding how much they should spend on basics, such jars of coffee which is why as a section they buy their own, it will be months rather than weeks, which means the plans that he and Ruth have tentatively been putting into place for a quiet exit, will for now have to be parked along with their dreams.
Knowing how sad this is making him feel, doesn't change the fact that without Ros he has a decision to make, which based on her previous record and longevity in the section is that Jo is the obvious candidate to step into her not inconsiderable shoes and is why having sent all but her home and when Ruth having made the three of them a restorative cup of tea, unlike the old days when he would have reached for the whisky bottle, is applying a cold compress to his hand, he calls her into his office.
'We'll all deny seeing anything you do know that,' his choice when it comes to a new Section Chief tells him, with a watery smile that allows him to believe that she will accept the position.
Sufficient for him to reply, 'and we'll both support you Jo no matter what happens in the future.'
Who he means by we, because it had been obvious from the first time that she had seen them together which at this moment feels as though it had been in another lifetime, that their relationship hadn't been the joke that she and their colleagues had made it out to be Jo parks, because more importantly she needs Harry to know that in her new role she is also looking to the future so says, 'the fact that Ros managed to drag the Home Secretary out onto the fire escape before the explosion, surely means that not only do we have an unexpected and grateful ally, albeit one that at this moment is in a hospital bed, but has the power to ask questions and demand answers from first and foremost the CIA and in the form of the Ambassador without being fobbed off, even if means that Ruth has to go with him and feed him his lines as she had at the previous meeting.'
Your right thinks a weary Harry looking at his watch which tells him that the night shift are about to arrive so just nods, before Jo heads home with the intention not only to see if Beth is feeling better but to ask her what if anything else she can remember other than what she has told them which was that Price had been conspicuous by his absence at Samuel Walkers funeral, whilst Harry when Ruth is helping him on with his coat is thinking about the latest funeral to add to the dozens of others he has attended over the years. But this time when the team discover by whatever means who it was that made the decision to blow up the hotel, for Ruth's sake he will need to step back from being the avenging angel that he will undoubtedly want to be.
Thoughts which he is still mulling over in the morning, as he is the fact that despite Ruth having insisted that he slept with his hand plunged in a bag of ice chips it hurts like buggery, the upside being that they have a valid reason to visit the hospital without anyone who might be watching from the side lines knowing that they are also going to pop in and have a word with the Home Secretary. Something which is not dissimilar he reminds Ruth when they are sitting in the waiting room after he has been radiology of the time when she had unashamedly told the nurse in reception that not only was she in love with him but was expecting his child. The first of which despite his best efforts he fails to get her to admit to as being true and the second he is rewarded with a smile that suggests perhaps she did.
Either way the doctor who eventually examines his hand with an expression to suggest that he thinks he has been in a fight and at his age should know better, tells him that, 'his wife is right to have brought him in because his index and middle finger are broken just below the knuckles.'
Fingers which when he is strapping them together along with telling him he will write him a prescription a for heavy painkillers Harry no longer hears, because marriage to Ruth has with that single statement taken up residence in his head.
Sharing the lift to the third floor with a couple who are pushing a young child in a wheelchair, prevents either of them from commenting on the doctor's mistake or when they are following the arrow to where in room six of what are ten private rooms to where the Home Secretary is propped up in bed with an expression to suggest that he would rather be sitting behind his desk at the Home Office does it feel appropriate
But to say that Harry has blanked it out completely might be a stretch too far even when having told him that Ros hasn't survive the blast, his response of, 'I am truly sorry because before I was rendered unable to move by Price's goons who incidentally had refused to let me call you, right up until the time Ros found me and dragged me along the corridor before bundling me out onto the fire escape, she seemed confident that we would both get out,' reminds him of what Jo had said in terms of him being an ally.
Only for any further conversation to be cut short when the nurse who is looking after him comes back in and tells them that he needs to rest and it will be a further three days before he is discharged, in other words that they need to go. Not though before he has a chance to tell them that he wants to attend Ros's funeral and that if Harry needs to contact him to ring his personal number because there will be less chance of them being overheard and to call him Andrew.
.
'He's a survivor in shock which makes him even more vulnerable, so I think we ought to take a look at his personal protection and maybe suggest that Dimitri transfers to the Home Office for a while,' says Harry, once with Ruth driving they exit the hospital carpark and turn in the direction of the embankment, coinciding with the sun coming out which in itself feels oddly out of place given that Ros has joined the long line of those that Harry believes he should have been able to save but hadn't, as Ruth well knows. Just as she does by the expression on Harry's face in that his optimistic nature has taken a huge hit and with so few resources to call upon they have little or no chance of finding out who the culprit is unless 'we need Malcolm,' she tells him, before with reasoning that only Ruth can produce and without further thought she adds, 'why don't you give him a ring because if he and I put our heads together it will free up the others to get out there and who knows it might even speed things up, what do you think?'
That she is a genius and for that alone she is going to get a proper kiss, is what Harry's thinks, but waits until they are in the privacy of the underground carpark at Thames House. A kiss that is not only heartfelt and certainly not the sort that you would want anyone else to witness, but comes with the added determination that at some time in the future, when none of this matters any more, if someone refers to Ruth as his wife, that he will be able to smile in the knowledge that she is.
