This is what I spent a three hour train ride writing. Another take from the end of 10-6...

Ruth smiled. She'd just asked Harry to leave the service with her, and he had said nothing at all in response, her had simply looked at her. But the look on his face spoke volumes. His hand was clasped tightly in hers and his warmth was at odds of the cold air around them. Ruth turned as she felt someone watching her, spook instincts on full alert. Sasha Gavrik was approaching them, and to say he looked unhappy was an understatement.

"Go back to the bunker," Harry said immediately. She ignored him. She wasn't going to leave him alone, she couldn't.

"You gave him the key didn't you?" Sasha said to Harry.

"I had no choice," Harry replied. "Go back to the bunker," he repeated to Ruth. Again she ignored him.

"You knew he'd kill her," Sasha continued. "Didn't you?"

"I'm sorry Sasha," he said sincerely.

"Harry…" Ruth started, the warning tone clear in her voice. "Sasha, it was me. I gave the key to your father. Its not Harry's fault."

"She's lying," Harry said instantly even though ice was filling his veins at what Ruth was trying to do.

Everything then happened exceedingly quickly. Ruth stepped in front of Harry and Sasha lunged towards her. He stabbed her. Dimitri quickly shot Sasha in the leg to disable him and both injured people fell to the ground at exactly the same second. Harry closed the gap between them and held Ruth just before she hit the earth.

"No, no, no," he said almost to himself. "This can't be happening, please."

"Harry…" she whispered quietly.

"You're going to be okay," he said reassuringly. "I promise."

"I can't breathe."

"Okay," Harry said. He applied pressure to her chest wound and she moaned quietly. Distantly he heard Erin calling for medical help but he couldn't pay that any attention now. He had to concentrate on Ruth, who he would make sure would not be dying in his arms. Not like this, not when they'd got so close.

"That hurts," she complained in a quiet voice.

"I know," he said. "I have to keep my hand there to stop the bleeding."

"I'm not stupid Harry, I know how it works," she said, a ghost of a smile on her face. He smiled back even though it felt like his heart was breaking. She closed her eyes and he felt total fear grip him.

"Look at me," he demanded. Her eyelids fluttered slightly but didn't open. He slapped her face lightly with his free hand and shouted at her this time. "Open your eyes! Now!"

"Don't shout," she whispered.

"Okay," he agreed. "Talk to me," he said. "I need to keep you conscious until the paramedics get here."

"That bad?" she asked. He was silent. "Oh God," she whispered. "I don't want to die. There's so much I want to do yet."

"Then keep talking," Harry replied, trying to buy time. "Because I don't want you to die either." He cradled her face, shocked by how cold her skin was. "Tell me about your house."

"Okay," she said. "Its got a gorgeous green front door. The paints all peeling and it looks really old. Its perfect. I love it. She said I'd want to change it, but I'd leave it exactly how it is."

"I don't doubt it," he said with a smile, trying to hide his fear for her life. "What else? How many bedrooms has it got?"

"Two," she said with a gasp. It was clear that breathing was becoming increasingly difficult for her and he pushed on her wound harder. "One's not really big enough for a bedroom though. I thought it could be your study."

"What?" he asked quietly.

"I wanted it for us," she admitted shyly, with a slight smile. "I wanted us to leave all the lies and the double lives and the spying behind. To have something normal for once. It was my dream. Maybe it was naïve."

"You're not naïve," he said, thinking of that time all those years before when he asked her to dinner on the rooftop.

"How long until help…"

"No, no, no," he said instantly as her eyes shut and she was no longer gasping for breath. In fact it looked like she wasn't breathing at all. "Open your eyes Ruth, come on!"

"Harry move," a voice said behind him. He did a fraction but it was enough. Dimitri injected a vial of adrenaline into her and they all waited for her to respond. She didn't.

"No," he said quietly. "Please. Please Ruth don't do this to me. I can't bear it." No response. The tears started from a man who hadn't cried in years. He leaned over her beautiful figure and pressed his lips to hers, something he should have done a hell of a lot more often when she was alive. That was when he felt it. A slight rush of air against his lips. He couldn't believe it. He drew back and put his fingers across her mouth, waiting for it to happen again. Inexplicably it did.

"She's still breathing," Harry said to Erin who was just behind him.

"Are you sure?" Erin said in surprise.

"Yes, slightly but its still there." Suddenly the peace of the countryside was broken by the noise of a helicopter approaching. "Keep breathing," he whispered to her. "Please don't give up. Just keep breathing." He had no idea if it had any effect at all but it was all he could do.

Harry was sitting in the hospital waiting room, clasping his shaking hands together and trying to get hold of some semblance of normality. He had used every trick he had in the book to try and get him updated of Ruth's condition as fast as humanly possible. The safety of the nation depended on it. He had a knighthood, and needed to know how she was doing. The Home Secretary's most prized and valued worker could be dying. It was essential that he know the details of her condition. However, one of the surgeons had not been intimidated by him, and correctly pointed out that he was sure Harry would prefer their best surgeons to be working on saving her life, rather than delivering messages to him about her condition. He had conceded that that was in fact correct, leaving himself in a state close to nervous collapse while waiting for news.

Erin was opposite him, waiting news as well. Dimitri and Callum had returned to the grid, both men thinking that she had much more tact than either of them put together should the worst happen. "She'll pull through," Erin said. Harry ignored her. He wasn't able to put words into a coherent sentence, so he wasn't going to waste time trying. "The longer they take, the better. If she'd… if it was bad news you'd know by now."

"I know Erin," he said, trying to get her to shut up. She seemed to take the hint and fell silent, while they waited for news. Waited for anything.