Nervously adjusting her skirt as the elevator rose, Kara told herself to be cool. Be super cool. It was going to be OK. No big deal. Just another briefing.

Right?

When the doors opened she walked with confidence, her head held high an her heels making little sound on the carpeted floor and she glided towards the meeting table where those in power sat talking quietly.

Be super cool Kara Girl.

She was almost to the table when the heels…those same heels she had worn for the past two fucking years and were considered faithful hounds, failed her and Kara found herself on her hands and knees in front of the last man she wanted to gain attention from.

"Drop a contact lens soldier?" came an amused question and she knew she was blushing as she looked up at the Silver Fox but she was unable to answer as she meekly held out the top file in the pile she was gathering up.

"Why thank you, but I appear to already have a copy here on my boot" the voice was still full of amusement as he reached down, his shirt growing taut and his trousers along with it, giving her his angled back and arse she had noticed was ample more than once. For a man his age he was shaped like one half that and she tore her gaze away to find his eyes locked onto hers in silent question.

"Sorry sir, I noticed your jacket has a button loose" she blustered, "Me GrandDa was a master tailor ya know, I might mend that for you before you leave?"

He sat back and reached behind himself to pull the Great Coat from the chair and he looked at the buttons, noting the one she had clocked once her eyes had swung from his arse and he grunted, handing it towards her.

She got to her feet and placed the remaining files on the desk and accepted the coat, then to her complete horror she dipped a small curtsy and fled the room. A curtsey.

What the fuck was that?

Kara berated herself as the elevator slowly descended, how the fuck could she be any more….oh shit.

The small pinging noise of something metallic hitting the grating made her look down with horror, the brass button winking before it slid between the elevator door and the small venting area that this military base had in all elevators in case of chemical evacuation for air to be pumped into the escape pods the elevators also served as.

"NO!" she was again on her knees, her fingers feeling for the button but it was to no avail. She knew before her knees had landed she was fucking doomed, had known that morning actually when her parking space had been taken by the huge hulking black fucking beast of an SUV that meant she would walk an extra length from the outer carpark in these god awful betraying heels that today was going to suck.

She rose to her feet and wracked her brain, then realised there might be a way out. The doors opened and she ran for the cubicle that was hers and her hands shook as she snatched up the phone and dialled the only number she ever called off base.

"Sweet Pea? Everything OK?"

"Taddy, I have a code red. I repeat a code red. I am in deep shit, tell me you have a world war II Great Coat button. Circa 1940? Gods, please!" she sobbed and she heard that intake of breath her Tad did when trying to remain calm for her.

"Hold on Karaline, I will go check my button tin" he replied calmly, her feeling the chocolate laced vowels sliding over her nerves as his welsh accent took her to that happy place it always did. She listened to the clinking and scraping of buttons being poured into that little tray he kept for such a purpose, so prepared this lovely man, then humming which meant he was close and categorizing brass buttons.

Kara closed her eyes and saw him sitting primly in the chair, his shirt open at the neck and his sleeved rolled. Probably had been doing the morning dishes. Tad didn't believe in dishwashers, his prized English Dalton hand washed. Gods, she had asked why they didn't keep it for best and just buy a cheap arsed set for everyday use and he had looked at her like….

"I have two"

"Oh Taddy, you wonderful thing" she gushed, "Oh I love you so much."

She then started to make a begging noise, not unlike that of a puppy and she heard his soft laughter as he promised to be right there.

One of the beauties of living just outside the base was the driving distance was less than ten minutes. Kara relaxed in her chair as she knew the meeting was tabled for the entire afternoon and Taddy would be here, bring his kit as he also felt hers was inferior thread, fix the button and by the time the mighty Silver Fox demanded his coat back he would once again be gold. Super gold.

It was so important to make that man happy, after all the new taskforce was about to be assembled and her application was in for the tech sergeant vacancy.

Despite the rumours and accusations she really wanted to work for him, those that survived were always placed in seats of power and if it was one thing Kara had promised herself it was that she would not give up, she would make her Tad proud.

And the only way to do that was to work for Captain Jack Harkness.

And survive the hell he would lead her through.