Home Run - Chapter 7

[Tea Lady]

Here is lucky 7. Thanks for the Beta JHyde. Two naughty words in this one.



Chapter 7

Having eventually fallen asleep with darkness fading, Ruth woke only a few hours later to the familiar sounds of Nico running round the house and of George impatiently yelling instructions to him about breakfast.

After gulping down a semi-warm cup of tea, Ruth finishes washing the last of the breakfast dishes just as the mobile phone starts ringing.

“Hi Jo…yes, yes, we are all fine thanks. What, he’s coming over…NOW? Did he tell you why, Jo? Oh…ok…thanks Jo. Bye.”

Ruth is about to throw the phone back in the kitchen drawer but she can not help herself and, with George out of sight, checks the phone for new messages.

Damn, empty. Harry must have read my text by now... and now he's on his way over!

“George,” Ruth calls through to the lounge.

“What is it?”

“A couple of people that I used to work with are on their way over. They will be here soon.”

“What do they want? Is it about going home Ruth?”

“I - I don’t know George…yes it must be about that.”

The noise of the doorbell ringing startles Ruth even though she is expecting it. This is quickly followed by the sound of George shuffling from the lounge to the front door.

“I’ll get it, Ruth,” George calls out.

Shit, shit... George is going to the door…at the door will be…Harry. Her husband and the man she…oh God!

Suddenly Ruth’s legs become extremely difficult to manoeuvre, as she tries to make her way from the kitchen to the lounge. It is only a few metres but it feels like miles.

********

Harry is first out of the car as it pulls into the driveway of the safe house, Ros following, giving Harry the lead. Ros has kept her thoughts to herself during the journey from Thames House, but she is seriously worried and cannot help but think that this meeting with Ruth and her new family, has the potential to go badly wrong in so many ways. No, spectacularly wrong, she corrects herself. Ros does not trust Harry to keep a level head, to keep his emotions under control. Not where Ruth is concerned anyway; she has been witness to that before. Harry had insisted on coming though, to give Ruth and George the news and had waved away Lucas’ and Ros’ protests that they could handle the meeting.

Now, as Harry stands rigid at the front door, he is expecting - wanting - Ruth to answer it. He has not responded to her text. He was going to, when he got to the office, but when he had found out about Cyprus, he had not known what to say via a text message.

As the door opens, there standing in the hallway instead of Ruth, is George. Harry can feel his chest contract and his mouth open and then close again involuntarily, having seemingly lost the ability to speak for the moment. Thinking he must look like a goldfish, Harry suddenly senses Ros standing close, at his right shoulder, silently urging him on to address the man now standing in front of them.

Harry clears his throat. “George, I presume?”

Silence.

“My name is Harry Pearce. I believe you were expecting us? Can - can we come in?”

Giving the appearance that he is contemplating whether or not to invite the pair inside, George lets the seconds tick by and cannot help but stare fixedly at the older man who has suddenly arrived on his doorstep. Deciding he has little choice if he wants to get back home to Cyprus, George reluctantly opens the door wider and gestures for the two visitors to enter and go into the lounge behind him.

Realising that they must be spies as they worked with Ruth here in London, George keeps quiet. Instantly he does not trust them. Not one bit. Especially the older man. There is something about him George does not like but he cannot immediately put his finger on it.

All George wants to know is how they are going to put matters right, and get his family home. He does not care anymore about reasons or excuses. They will probably be lies anyway. He just wants rid of the lot of them and as much distance between them and his Ruth as possible.

There are two battered brown leather sofas in the lounge which look about as old as the house itself. As Harry sits down next to Ros he immediately feels that someone’s eyes are upon him. Looking up towards the doorway, Harry finds himself staring into the familiar and now tender eyes of Ruth. Those were the eyes he remembered. Not the eyes that were upon him yesterday, full of anger and hate.

Harry knows he should not, not here, not now, but he just can not pull his eyes away from her. It has been so long since he has been able to just rest his eyes on her. With his heart hammering in his chest, Harry realises that she is not looking away either. Not this time. Not like yesterday when they were on the stairs in the warehouse. In fact Ruth silently maintains her eye contact with Harry all the way to her seat on the other side of the room. Then, as suddenly as it arrived, the moment is gone as George joins Ruth on the sofa.

For the first time, George gets a proper look at the two spies sitting opposite him, and suddenly he realises that he has seen them before. Yes, the woman was in the car park, at the warehouse yesterday taking to some police and him…yes…he was there too. I remember, just as I climbed into the car to leave I saw him. He was standing on his own. He was staring at us…staring at Ruth.

Awkwardly, Harry starts to wriggle in his seat, eventually perching himself on the edge of the sofa. Christ, Pearce, come on, be professional, there will be time, but later. Clearing his throat, Harry begins the speech he has rehearsed several times in his head. “I think you know who we are, George and I believe that Ruth has explained that as a matter of National Security for the United Kingdom, we are only in a position to tell you a few details about what has gone on, with regards to you and your…family, in the last few days.”

Again, Ruth is mirroring Harry’s actions, perching herself on the edge of the sofa, gripping the hem of her blue cardigan to keep her hands occupied. She cuts in, “When can we go back to Cyprus, Harry?”

Harry draws a breath.

“That’s what we are here to talk about, in part. I am afraid there have been some - some complications. You may have to stay in England for the time being.”

“What? What complications, Mr Pearce? I don‘t understand.”

Harry flinches slightly at hearing George’s voice for the first time but presses on. “Well, we are still trying to track down one of the people involved in Ruth’s abduction. He is CIA, well ex-CIA now. The authorities are after him though. He won’t be on the run long. Also the men that attacked you on Cyprus, we believe they are still on the island. We can’t guarantee your safety if you return there right now. I can assure you, the British Government is working closely with Greek intelligence services and they hope to have them in custody very soon.”

Through all this, Ros is silent. She is happy to let Harry do all the talking, but she is starting to feel uneasy about the direction Harry is going with this. Libby McCall is reportedly on the run in South America and Mani’s men are just low grade criminals. They will be long gone by now, once they found out there would be no pay off. The danger on Cyprus has surely passed, she says to herself.

“Harry, how long?”

“I don’t know Ruth, maybe a couple of weeks. Maybe longer.”

George opens his mouth to speak but Harry gets there first.

“There’s something else, Ruth. I am afraid I have some bad news….for you both.”

Ruth is frowning, her eyes fixed on Harry.“What’s happened Harry?”

“After you left Polis…well, it seems your house was set on fire. I’m sorry. The damage…it’s, well, bad.” Harry takes a deep breath and continues. “Also, there is no easy way to say this…but I’m afraid they went after your family. They must have figured they may know where you had fled too. Your sister-in-law Adelphi…was killed, George. I’m so very sorry.”

TBC

[Aria]

Another great chapter, TL. I feel so sorry for poor Ruth and even George. Loved the tension between George and Harry, with George starting to wonder about Harry and Ruth's relationship. Hopefully you will have finished this story by the time I get back from my hols

[A Cousin]

No, no, a thousand times, no! And then George goes ballistic.... Oh this is going to go SO bad!

So much I liked about this,

- Nice R/H eye locking moment. Deliciously excruciating, actually.
- Loved the echo of that "something else." I almost wanted her to say, "Something else is your middle name!" But I suppose Ruth is not spiteful.
- He's the man you LOVE, Ruth. LOVE! Get with the program! (Sorry. Immature moment...)
- The Ros/Harry relationship: she really has his back. She may not agree with his direction, but, as so nicely established in S6 and S7, she is his right hand man and clone.
- The choice of the word "spectacular" for Ros' trepidations about Harry breaking the news is a nice echo of Harry's words to Ruth when Tom went bad. The best and the brightest indeed.
- Loved Ruth cutting to the chase and asking when they can go back to Cyprus. Interesting that she doesn't call it "home."

Just overall great suspense, character and choice of words. I am very much looking forward to the next installment.

[Kazters]

poor george! love the tension to! the instant dislike ;-)

[Elphie]

I havent commented before, but I've been reading this series so far and its brilliant!! very well written and the hate that george has for harry is really well written!!

Can't wait to read more!!!

[Tea Lady]

(19-07-2010 04:11 PM)Aria Wrote:  Hopefully you will have finished this story by the time I get back from my hols

Good grief, I hope so too Aria !!

Thanks for your kind reviews guys.

[lwhite53]

Poor Harry just keeps digging himself deeper and deeper into a hole. It's certainly like him to want to deliver the bad news (and see Ruth, too, of course) but, c'mon Harry, let someone else do the dirty work once in a while!

Loved the eyes locking moment. Really nice development, TL.

[Silktie]

Ah, so sneaky Harry is trying to keep Ruth in London a bit longer then? Excellent plan, Harry!
Nice chapter, TL.

I have no sympathy for George, lol, even though none of this is his fault. Didn't like him thinking of Ruth as "his". Hate it in general when people do that, makes it sound like the other person is an object to be owned, and not a real person. Hopefully he'll learn soon enough that a person is only "yours" as long as they choose to be...

[newagent]

Nicely done, and you left us with a cliffhanger.

"George" has to be most annoying male character on my list, even though he only appreared in one episode and died tragically.

[Beatriz]

ooooh, this is going to be terrible, I don't want to watch it

Ruth must be into pieces, and a sea of doubts now... I don't feel pity for George either, there's something within him I don't like...

Looking forward to the next chapter! Well done, T!