Thank you to those who have reviewed. I found myself needing to get up early and really put this one to bed! Short but concluding.

Epilogue

Emotionally charged silence, or brutal open honesty: those had been their default settings for the last twelve hours; and now, after little sleep, they find themselves at the very least, exceedingly late for work.

Across the bedroom, on a small chest of drawers is a framed picture of Nico, it is to that that Ruth is looking, as Harry, half propped on one elbow, lies watching her…not for the first time that night.

"Regrets?" he asks softly.

"I miss Nico," she says, "…and swimming …and the sun on my back."

And suddenly she is on her back and he above her.

"I said the sun on my back, not being on my back.," she laughs.

But he smiles that smile and she feels the radiance of the sun on her front instead.

"No, Harry. No regrets."

"With no caveats?" he asks.

"Kiss me and I'll think about it," she pulls his lips down towards her.

He is obliging. He has been unselfishly obliging all night and what yesterday she honestly described as 'better than she could ever remember' had been superseded beyond all expectation.

"Oh, yes!" she breaks the kiss, "One final caveat."

He rolls away, pulling her with him, until they are side by side, face to face, breath mixing.

"Name it, Ruth. Name anything."

"No more secrets."

His face clouds.

"I'm made of secrets."

Her fingertips run back to the scar on his shoulder.

"From now, Harry, from this moment… I'm not asking you to tell me every 'eyes only' thing you read …I mean between us… in our lives…together."

"Our lives," he repeats.

"…Together," she smiles.

"…Together," he smiles.

It is like an oath.

It is an oath.

And when they step on to the grid, it is with no secrets and no shame and no subterfuge. They step on together and he kisses her briefly on the cheek before they both cross to their desks and begin the work anew.