Kate walked along the corridor steadily, her heeled shoes clip clopping as she did so. She checked behind her occasionally to make sure her companion was following and keeping up with her pace. Kate entered the laboratories and took a moment to look for her colleague.
"Osgood?" Kate called out, hoping the other woman would make herself known.
"Kate! Hang on a sec, I'm just in the middle of…." There was a bang, an expletive and some clattering of glass.
"Are you alright? Where are you?" Kate poked her head round the corner of a room but couldn't see anything. After a moment the younger woman popped out from seemingly nowhere and greeted her visitor.
"Sorry, I was just analysing that compound we picked up from Dover the other week. Turns out it's highly combustible." Osgood shrugged her shoulders knowing that sometimes she got it right and sometimes she didn't; which was the point of experimenting.
"Clearly. I've got a favour to ask of you, a babysitting job." Osgood stifled a groan. When Kate said 'babysitting' it usually meant a very green UNIT officer who needed to do a stint in the labs for a few weeks. Most of the people she'd 'mentored' hadn't been at all interested in science and were just itching to get out into the field. She didn't like them being there and they didn't either but it was a necessary part of her job. Kate called out behind her "You can come in now…" Osgood was momentarily intrigued by the electronic, whirring sound that followed before she saw a nose followed but the rest of him.
"K9!" She exclaimed happily.
"I thought you'd be pleased." Kate shook her head in amusement.
"Good afternoon Miss." K9 was as polite as he ever was.
"Osgood, please."
"Very well. I have a message from Sarah Jane." K9 raised an antenna from his ear and a small holographic video played just above his head.
"Hello Kate. Osgood too, if you're there? We hope you're both well? Maria and I are off on a little holiday, yes I know what you're going to say, that we don't really have time for holidays but she insisted and I couldn't refuse." Kate and Osgood could see Maria come into shot and she waved into whatever had been recording the message. Osgood deduced that it was Mister Smith from the angle of the shot and what else she could see in the room.
"Yes of course I'm insisting, it's our anniversary!" Maria poked Sarah Jane playfully in the side. "We'll repay the favour if you should ever need it." Maria winked and then was swatted away by Sarah.
"Sorry about that. Anyway, I thought K9 deserved a bit of a holiday too and remembered how well he'd gotten along with Osgood. Hope you don't mind looking after him while we're away? I'm sure you'll find plenty of science related things to get excited over together. We'll let you know when we're back and make arrangements to pick him up." Sarah Jane changed her tone and looked down to the bottom of the screen, as though she was talking to K9. "Be a good dog K9."
"Yes Mistress." And with that K9 ceased the transmission and his antenna retracted back behind his ear.
"This is going to be fun!" Osgood exclaimed in excitement and K9 twirled his ears, flashed the light in his nose and swished from side to side in agreement.
"Well, I seem to be redundant. I'll leave you two to get on with it." Kate turned on her heel and began to walk away, unsurprised when neither of them called after her to say goodbye.