Self Control. Self Denial. Part 5

[MandyM15]

"Oh God, Harry..that's not my….!"

Harry puts his foot down and screeches to a halt outside Ruth's house. Firefighters on ladders hose water into Ruth's bedroom where most of the smoke seems to be escaping from.

Running from the car Ruth stops just short of her garden path before Harry catches up with her and wraps her up in his arms. She fights against him, arms flailing and hysterical.

"My house Harry! Get off…I need to get my stuff…. My books! Harry….. my books! My photos…Fidget! My cat…I need to get my cat….leave me alone Harry!"

Harry holds tight as one of the firefighters comes over.

"We got here in time to contain the fire to just the room at the front here" he says pointing upstairs to Ruth's bedroom "The rest of the house, as far as we can see is untouched although we will need to check the structure of the ceiling below that room before you could go in."

Ruth, having calmed a little sobs a brief 'thank you' to the firefighter before he continues.

"Any idea what could have caused the fire?"

Ruth shakes her head.

And yet as her hair shakes from side to side a she suddenly remembers the hair straighteners.

"Oh God…how could I have been so stupid" she says burying her head into Harry's chest

"Sorry Madam?"

"I…it's …I... think my hair straighteners may have been left on"

Feeling completely stupid for doing something so ridiculously obvious and ditzy, Ruth moves away from Harry, unable to face either of the men standing before her now. Walking back to Harry's car people are standing in their front rooms looking at the scene, some have come out of their homes to watch from their front gardens. Ruth doesn't know any of them. Since she moved down from Cheltenham she hasn't had a chance to acquaint herself with any of her neighbours, not with the hours she puts in on The Grid. Ruth looks over at Harry who is still on the pavement talking to the firefighter.

"Most common call outs these days.." the firefighter says

"What's that?"

"Hair straighteners, hair curlers, that kind of thing"

"Oh…um, what do you need us to do now?"

"Just need a mobile number, we'll arrange for a locksmith tonight and call you tomorrow when we've assessed the damage."

"OK, here this is my number" Harry says giving him a fake business card with a real number on it

Harry looks down as he feels something brush against his leg. Picking up the cat he hopes with all his heart he has just met the famous Fidget for the first time.

Walking over to his car, cradling the cat he can see Ruth sitting in the passenger seat, her head buried in her hands. He silently opens the drivers door and allows the cat to hop onto his seat. It meows. Ruth's head shoots up "Fidget!" she exclaims relieved "Oh Fidget!"

Harry gently smiles at them both as he ponders on the most extraordinary evening. "Come on, let me take you both back to mine."

"But what about my stuff?"

"Ruth, you can't go in until tomorrow at the very earliest. They have put the fire out now but they won't know until tomorrow if it is safe to go in."

"I don't know how I could have been so stupid Harry. I feel like such an idiot"

Taking her hand and stroking the back of it gently with his thumb he tells her that she is not an idiot, that it was completely worth it because her hair looks amazing (he got a gentle punch on the arm for that remark) and that everything would be OK because all her really valuable stuff was downstairs, safe in her living room. He would take her home and in the morning he would take her shopping for all the things she needed. There was fish in the freezer if Fidget was hungry and she should just let him take care of everything.

Giving in to someone else's control was not something Ruth was used to but she decided, in this case she really didn't have a choice.

"I gave them my mobile number, they said that was all they needed." Harry said as he buckled up and started the car.

The short journey to Harry's would have been a sombre one had it not been for Fidget, who living up to his name entirely would not sit still, no matter how hard Ruth tried to keep him so. She eventually lets him go when he digs a cautionary claw into her thigh.

Arriving at Harry's Ruth quickly undoes her seatbelt and goes in search of her fidgety cat, finding him cowering under her seat she gently teases him out with a high pitched promise of fish.

Harry goes round to the passenger side and takes Fidget from Ruth "Come on you daft cat.. let's get you some fish and then I can take care of your Mum properly."

Ruth smiles inwardly, shrugs her shoulders and takes Harry's outstretched hand allowing him to take control, no not control…but to take care of her. It's about time she let someone do that. 'someone like you' she thinks to herself looking at Harry juggling door keys and her cat. Opening the door and dropping Fidget Ruth gets her first look at Harry's house and it is nothing like what she expected.

XXX-XXX

More to come….