Thicker Than Water

[A Cousin]

What kind of arrogant, competitive, egotistical person would challenge you to write a certain kind of fic? As if it's any of their business what you choose to write. The gall! Must have been a cousin....

Wait a minute.... I'm A Cousin!

Joking aside, I have to admit that this is a very good whack at it. Why am I not surprised that it came from you?

Aside from that, I quite like Caroline Carver as an actress and always hoped to see her again at some point.

I agree with SweetTea that Catherine is the only other person in his life that would have caused a similar reaction in him. As a parent myself, I will suggest that it would have been more devastating for Harry. Although I am not sure that it would have evoked quite the same emotions in the viewers themselves.

Then again, it was The Wall and not Ruth's death that got to me. I do miss The Wall tribute to officers past. Maybe a trip to The Wall could have factored into a little scene-lette in which he comes to terms with the sacrifice of Catherine somehow?

Just to play "what if" for a moment, I think for it to have worked in the series as a whole, Catherine would have to have been integral to the Tourmaline series arc from at least one earlier episode if not the whole series. Parachuting her in for the last episode makes her feel too much like a device to me.

I do like that you left Harry devastated but not desolate. Ruth's understanding of the wall he puts up afterwards is a good way to come full circle in their relationship but more importantly for her character.

I love the scene when Ruth lays it all on the table (or his desk) for him - including the key. I agree about the epilogue being left to our imaginations. That office scene was just the right pitch and plenty for me. And, without your albeit beautifully pitched epilogue, it is open ended enough, for viewers to take it where they will, either as you did or in other ways as well.