Outside Buckingham

TtH100 prompt # 005 - pets

By lindseyjo

No profit made; characters belong to Mutant Enemy and the Stargate people, respectively.

Rupert Giles strolled along the pavement at the edge of Hyde Park, still wondering how on earth this could possibly have happened to him. At his side, on the inside of the pavement from the busy street, of course, walked an incredibly gorgeous blonde woman named Major Samantha Carter – or Sam, as she insisted he call her. The look on her face as she gazed across the street at Buckingham Palace was pensive, and Rupert thought that he had never seen a more beautiful thoughtful look in all his life.

"What must it be like to live in a palace, or a succession of palaces, all your life?" Sam asked, shaking her head a little bit. "To have the scrutiny of an entire nation—and a whole bunch of nations outside your own—on you every minute of every day…"

Rupert smiled slightly. "It is understood that, growing up in the royal family, there are things you must do, things you must not do, and things you must tolerate to stay as they are. To do or be anything less is simply unacceptable."

Sam stopped walking and turned to him, a slight frown creasing her forehead. "Do you actually believe that, Rupert? That royalty is born into a life that can't be changed, and that these specific people have special rights that no one else has, just because they belong to a specific family or bloodline?"

"Of course not," Giles scoffed immediately. "There was a time and place for a monarchy like that, far past in Britain's history, but in modern society it's merely fodder for the gossip columns. There is no such thing as merely being entitled to the best that any life could possibly offer."

Sam turned and started walking again, still studying the palace as they drew nearer. She took off her leather jacket, revealing a simple white sleeveless cotton shirt, and Giles felt his heart thump a little more heavily in his chest.

"I suppose the idea does hold a certain amount of romance," Sam mused, slinging the jacket over her shoulder smoothly. Giles' breath hitched in his throat for a moment and then he reminded himself to keep walking. "Having everyone defer to you; having the power and the money to do whatever you want; the thought that if you need something done, you can do it yourself, but you don't have to—you can pay someone else to do it."

She tossed a glance back at Giles, a small smile turning up one corner of her mouth. "That might be nice, don't you think, Rupert?"

Giles returned the smile as he came even with Sam on the pavement. "I think it might have its moments," he agreed, sliding his own jacket off over his arms. "But I also believe it would be horridly tedious and stifling as well."

Sam turned back and looked out over Hyde Park. She gestured to a "No pets" sign on the low fence. "Then again, you could probably take your dog for a walk and let it take a crap in Hyde Park without getting a fine."

Giles felt his eyes widen in surprise at this beautiful, cultured woman's sudden crudeness, but when she turned back to him, he saw the brilliance of her smile and the mischief in her eyes. Suddenly he was reminded of several other young women he'd known in his sojourn as a Watcher—his main charge most of all. "Yes, that would definitely be a perk—you could likely let all of your pets shite wherever they wanted and not have any sort of difficulty with the law."

Sam giggled, her cheeks turning a very pale pink. They continued along the pavement, passing outside Buckingham Palace in companionable silence.