Archive of Our Own ^beta

‘Harry, I’ve got those files you – oh, you’re going out, sorry.’

‘I have to meet Juliet,’ he grimaces. ‘Leave them on my desk, I’ll read them when I get back.’

‘Oh, ok.’ She puts the pile down, tidies them when they slip across the bare wood but misses one. Harry stoops to pick it up, adds it to the pile and smiles at her stammered apology.

‘Here, let me just - ’. Ruth reaches out hesitantly, adjusts the knot of his tie until it’s straight. She gently brushes dust from his jacket and her hands linger on his lapels for a moment, a heartbeat, before she drops her gaze and steps away.

She turns back on the threshold. ‘Good luck.’

He smiles tightly. ‘Thanks. I’ll see you later, Ruth.’

She nods, hesitates again and then walks back to her desk.

Malcolm glances up from where he’s sorting out cabling at Jo’s workstation and catches sight of them, watches surreptitiously. Such an intimate, domestic gesture, he thinks. One that could so naturally have been followed by a kiss goodbye

*          *          *

Another late night on the Grid, just the two of them left. Except Malcolm, quietly working away in the corner. Not hiding - not as such. Just out of sight, choosing not to draw attention.

He watches as Harry leaves his office, pulls on his greatcoat and picks up another coat and scarf from the stand, as he stops beside Ruth and talks to her softly. She seems reluctant, but eventually stands. Harry wraps her scarf around her neck, carefully arranging it so there are no gaps, then helps her into her coat, settling it onto her shoulders. It isn’t the first time he’s done this – can’t be, the gesture looks too familiar, as if it’s a long-established nightly routine.

It would be so easy, Malcolm thinks, for you to leave arm in arm or hand in hand. So easy to believe you were going home together at the end of a long day, just like every other night.

But they don’t, of course. They exit side by side, leave Thames House together and walk out into the cold, clear night under pin sharp stars, and go their separate ways.

Would it be such a big step? Malcolm muses as he gathers his things. If we weren’t all spies I’d be suspicious.

*          *          *

‘We’re going to be late, Ruth!’ Harry calls up the stairs.

‘I’m coming, I’m coming,’ she replies, tripping and almost falling into him.

He holds out her scarf, winds it around her neck.

‘Here, your tie,’ she mutters, fingers fumbling with the blue silk, and then with the buttons of his greatcoat.

She turns around, lets him help her into her coat as she checks her hair in the mirror. His arms slip around her waist and he presses a kiss to the top of her head. ‘Ready?’

‘Almost, just one thing.’ She turns and stretches up to kiss him tenderly. ‘Ready,’ she smiles.