El Al 318 Part I

[Silktie]

Spoilers for season 9

I started writing this before season 9, but decided to hold it back and see what happens in the new season first. I've decided to place it just after 9.3, because the tension between Harry and Ruth at that point was just too interesting to pass up. Seems the Spooks writers and I wanted to explore similar themes with Harry and Ruth in the end.

Characters: Mostly Harry and Ruth, but the rest of the team also features quite a bit.

EL AL 318

PART I

Friday 20 August
Ben Gurion International Airport, Tel Aviv

The woman stands at the tall windows in Shakim Hall, staring thoughtfully at the Boeing 777 being loaded below her. She has shoulder-length dark hair, and the olive complexion of the Middle East. A man comes to stand next to her, short, dark and with wiry grey hair. They don’t look at each other.
“Everything is in place.” It is the woman who speaks first.
“Good. The peace talks will start in two weeks. We need to strike before then.”
The woman nods. “It will be done.”
Still without looking at his companion, the man stands for a beat longer.
“God be with you,” he finally says, softly, before turning and striding off briskly.
The woman stays at the window, staring at the plane below her.

* * *

Monday 23 August, early morning
Thames House

Harry steps through the sliding doors onto the Grid. His eyes turn to Ruth’s desk, but she is not there. He tries to summon the energy to reprimand himself for once again seeking her out as soon as he arrives, but even that is beyond him. He sighs heavily, and trudges to his office, wondering when this numb, dead feeling will lift from his chest, and allow him to breathe fully once again.

As he slides into his chair, his eyes involuntarily flick to her station again, from where her dead screen seems to mock him. He rubs his hands over his face wearily. His inability not to look at her desk depresses him, especially as he knows she won’t be there today, or for the next three weeks. And because he knows it is too much in this uneasy, awkward limbo they find themselves in of late. That he has, as she put it so eloquently, forfeited the chance. Harry stares at his empty desktop blankly. How had things between them become such a terrible mess? He experiences flashes of emotion, where he wants to shout and rail against everything – the too many funerals he’s had to attend; the terrible decisions he’s had to make; his inability to figure out this thing with Ruth. But in time they pass, leaving only the dead weight in his chest.

Perhaps her absence in the next three weeks will allow him to find the answer, find a way to work with her every day, knowing that he can never have more than that, without it hurting so very much. He tries to ignore the little voice telling him that he is deceiving himself; that her three year absence last time round wasn’t enough time for him. Instead, he drags the first file from the pile in his in-tray, and begins to read.

* * *

Same day, mid-morning
Heathrow Airport

Ruth sits in the departure lounge, a novel open in her lap, but she is not reading. She is absentmindedly watching a mother trying to control her young son, the boy just a little younger than Nico. When the woman catches her eye, she smiles sympathetically, her mind for a moment lost in sunny Cyprus. But then the woman’s husband sits down next to her, slightly older and balding, and the illusion is shattered. She turns her eyes back to her novel, but her thoughts continue to wander, and with the best will in the world she cannot prevent them from finding their way to Thames House, and a glass-walled office on the Grid, and the man inside that office.

When the JIC had requested that she be seconded to MI6 for the duration of the Middle East peace talks, Harry left the decision to her. If she accepted, it would mean going to Tel Aviv for three weeks to help with translation of source and news reports. At first she was tempted to decline, because she knows that she is needed on the Grid, and because she is worried about Harry, still. He is not himself, and hasn’t been since Ros’ funeral and that awful conversation between them. Ruth has seen the toll it takes on him each time he has had to make a difficult decision since, and she wants to be there, to support and guide him until he finds his strength again.

But she also knows that she is a large part of the problem. Probably not the biggest part, because with Harry that will always belong to his work and its impact on him, but a significant part nonetheless. She never meant to hurt him, but she knows now that she has, more deeply than she would like to admit. Ruth isn’t sure anymore what she thought their relationship would be like after she refused his marriage proposal. She never thought it would be like this; this awkward, stilted interaction they have now. She knows, now, that perhaps she rather naively expected that nothing would change, that Harry would accept it and move on and pretend those few minutes never happened between them, and they would still maintain the emotional intimacy that’s been growing between them since her return. The fact that he hasn’t been able to do that tells her more about the depth of his feelings for her, than perhaps he ever could in words. So she accepted the secondment, hoping that the few weeks apart would give them both a chance to gain some clarity on the situation.

Her rumination is interrupted by the PA system.
“Flight El Al 318 to Tel Aviv is now boarding through Gate 15.”
Mechanically, Ruth gathers her stuff and moves towards the gate. As she walks, she reflects on how much she misses the little things that used to happen between them. They used to always find time to talk, about everything and anything. She remembers witty text messages going back and forth on topics ranging from the election to their various pets, and suddenly she misses him very much. Taking out her mobile, she begins to type a text message until, halfway through, she remembers his request that they keep their interactions to work. Slowly deleting her simple message, she refuses to acknowledge the lump that lodges in her throat.

* * *

Same day
Flight LY 318

Ruth stares out of the window as the plane begins to taxi towards the runway. She was supposed to have the aisle seat, but rather meekly gave it up after the old Jewish lady seated next to her shamelessly played the age card to manipulate her. She is angry with herself for falling for it. One of the air hostesses bustles quickly down the aisle, followed by a serious-eyed young man, disappearing through the curtain towards the front of the plane. Ruth turns her head back to the window, resolutely ignoring any attempts from the woman next to her to start a conversation. Plane journeys is the one place where she refuses to be drawn into banal conversations, even if that means being rude, because there is simply nowhere to escape to.

She frowns as they taxi past the first runway, and then past the aircraft maintenance hangars to the runway furthest north from the terminal. Ruth knows, from attending numerous airport security briefings with Harry, that that runway is mostly used for cargo aircraft. Craning her neck, she glances around, but everything seems in order. The air hostess comes back down the aisle, catching Ruth’s eye briefly. She has shoulder-length dark hair, and Ruth has the feeling she’s seen her somewhere before. As she watches, the air hostess is joined by two more young men, this time disappearing through the back curtain. Glancing out the window again, Ruth sees that they are taxiing towards the most remote part of the airport, and she realises with a terrible certainty that something is wrong.

As casually as possible, she fishes her mobile out of the seat pocket in front of her. Obscuring her actions with the novel in her lap, she switches it on, and types out a message, suddenly extremely grateful that Harry’s was the last number she accessed.

* * *

Same day
Grid, Briefing room

Lucas is in the middle of his briefing when Harry’s mobile beeps discreetly. He motions to Lucas to carry on as he retrieves it from his pocket and glances at the ID on the screen. His heart soars for a moment when he sees her name, thinking she may have sent a brief goodbye message, before he manages to remind himself of their reality and tamp it down. Curious, he opens the message, and feels the earth tilt as he reads the words:

hijacked keep line open

tbc

[HellsBells]

Brilliant, just brilliant. What an excellent scenario. Can't wait for the next update.

[Aria]

Brilliantly interesting premise, Silktie. Lovely writing and characterisation. I really feel for poor Harry, wanting Ruth despite what his head is telling him. Can't wait to read more!!

[Tea Lady]

Great start Silktie. Poor Ruth, why on earth does she leave the Grid Loved the part where Harry is unlikely to forget about Ruth in 3 weeks, because 3 years didn't work. Poor Harry.

[A Cousin]

I could almost hear the theme song playing after that first scene between the woman with the olive skin and the man with the wiry grey hair and fading into Harry entering the Grid.

You are always just so spot on with characterizations and motives without being imbalanced in any way.

Nice cliff hanger! It is very nicely cinematic.

Can't wait for more!

[Byatil]

Brilliant Can't wait to read more, your cliffhanger has me on edge!

[lwhite53]

Great cliffhanger, great premise, great H and R. More soon, please!

[JHyde]

Yay! Great start. Can't wait to see where you take this.