Friendly Advice Part 1

[SPOOK91]

Set in series 9. Around 9.3/9.4ish

She knew she shouldn’t be doing this but it felt so right, it was what she needed to do. Only he would understand, there was nobody else she could turn to. Everyone was gone. Dead, Jo, Zaf, Adam and now Ros, what she would give now even to be able to speak to Ros; frankly it stunned her. So now here she was stood outside his door, knowing that just this would be enough to have her removed entirely from active duty, she brought her hand up to the wooden panel and knocked lightly on the door.
The hall light flickered on and she could make out his silhouette gliding down the hallway to greet her, he opened the door cautiously, the chain still on. Once a spook, always a spook, on seeing her his face lit up, his eyes sparkled and she grinned as he thrust the door open and pulled her to him, initially she was shocked by his affectionate outburst, but soon settled into his embrace and followed him as he beckoned her inside.

“Ruth.”

“Malcolm.”
“It’s so good to see you.” He couldn’t stop smiling, neither of them could.

“I wasn’t sure if I would be intruding.” She began to fidget nervously as her actions caught up with her and she realised the predicament that she might have put him in.

“Preposterous. You could never intrude. Wine?”

She smiled gently and replied with a nod.

Bringing in a bottle of particularly expensive red wine and two glasses Malcolm sat down on the opposite end of his plush sofa to her before pouring her a generous glass and handing it to her.

“So Ruth, What brings you here?”

“I needed somebody to talk to.”

“What about Harry?”

“I can hardly talk to Harry about this.”

“Why not?”

“Because it’s about him.”

“Oh. Right.” He looked at her inquisitively, trying to gage her emotional state and noticed her mouth pulled up into a slight smile. He smiled and nudged her arm with his elbow in a friendly gesture.

“Ruth, are you and Harry courting?”

“No. Well, not exactly, to be honest Malcolm I don’t actually know. That man he baffles me!”

“Well what’s happened? Come on, tell me.” He smiled and placed a hand over hers; she squeezed it gently and smiled at him.

“A few months back I asked him if he wanted to go for a drink, we went, and it was, it was so nice to be with him again, but also the most frightening feeling I’ve ever felt. I knew I still felt something for him, but I didn’t realise it would become so intense again, so soon after... Anyway we’ve been out numerous times since; he just seems to be holding back it’s as if he is worried that he’s going to offend me.”

“He is probably worried that his advances won’t be welcomed.”

“Or he just doesn’t want me anymore.”

“Nonsense, in three years there was nobody else who even kept his attention for longer than 30 seconds let alone anything else. It was always you Ruth.”

“I had to move on Malcolm, as far as I was concerned I was never going to see him again, I couldn’t live my life waiting for him to come and rescue me.”

“And he respects that Ruth, he respects you. He loves you. He always has done.”

“I’m sorry to put this on you Malcolm; it’s so selfish of me.”

“Don’t be absurd, like you said, there is nobody else anymore and we’re friends.” He rubbed her hand with his.

“What shall I do?”

“From what you have told me, I would guess that he is playing it safe and allowing you to take the lead.”

“I did, I asked him for drinks.”

“No. I mean, in order to develop the relationship to the next level, it’s you that has to take the initiative.” Malcolm had gone a bright cherry hue in the face at his explanation his words stuttering as he expressed them.

She smiled back at him.

“It’s so nice to see you Malcolm, really it is. How is retirement treating you?”

“Unbelievably tiresome and repetitive.” He allowed a small laugh to erupt from his mouth.

“You could always come back.”

“Ah. Making executive decisions for him now! That wasn’t the initiative that I meant!” She laughed and hit him on the arm playfully.

“No. I’ve done my time, I’ve had enough.”

“That’s fair enough.”

“How is he? The boy?”

Ruth grimaced slightly and Malcolm went to backtrack on the conversation before being shushed by Ruth.

“He’s fine, well as fine as you can imagine given the circumstances, but he’s alive, and that’s down to you Malcolm.”

He blushed at her praise and smiled sheepishly

“He was a very sweet child.”

“Yes.”
“Anyway, would you like more wine?” He gestured to her empty glass and proceeded to hover the bottle over the rim of the glass.

“Please.”

“So what do you and Harry have planned next?”

“Cinema”

“Ah, most definitely a date.” He grinned cheekily at her.

“Shall I ask him for dinner? Would that be better?” She mused worrying slightly.

“Why? You can sit on the back row and re live your misspent youth.”

“Excuse me, my youth was not misspent!”

“Perhaps not, but I would bet my life Harry’s was.” She chucked at the thought of a teenage Harry pushing his luck with the girls of his youth.

“I really should leave.”

“It’s been a pleasure having you here, please. Call again, and with good news!” He smiled and embraced her once more as she attempted to free herself from her tangled coat.

“I will. Goodbye Malcolm.”




Anyway I hope you enjoyed it, there will be other parts to it too. I am also on fanfiction.net as c0123 if you are thinking this may seem familiar!

[HellsBells]

Lovely writing. Malcolm always seemed to want Ruth and Harry together, and you've captured them really well.

[Tea Lady]

Yeeh Malcolm! Glad we are getting some more.

[lwhite53]

Awww . . . Malcolm! Ruth is clearly flummoxed if she's risking her job by going to Malcolm. C'mon Malcolm -- we need some good news for H & R. Loved the idea of Harry's misspent youth -- that could make a great story all on it's own! And M's use of the word "courting" -- so right for him.

Looking forward to further installments.

[SPOOK91]

Thank you all for your comments, I'm glad you like the inclusion of Malcolm; he is a "sweet" character in the words of the great man himself! I can definately imagine Harry having a misspent youth! The image is somewhat amusing!

[Silktie]

I read this on ff.net earlier, it's lovely! I think it's spot-on that Ruth would go to Malcolm for advice. Looking forward to the next chapters - I hope you'll let Harry & Ruth see some action...