"… and this is where I leave you." Osgood announced, pausing in the hallway and motioning to the office door in front of her. "Ms Stewart's office."
"Thank you." The young woman smiled brightly, reaching out to lay her hand on Osgood's arm. "I'm absolutely useless with directions and this place is like a maze. I have no idea how you can possibly find your way around. It's a good job I'm a munitions expert, not a cartographer!"
"Maybe if you were a cartographer you'd be better at finding your way around."
Laughing loudly, the blonde flipped her hair over her shoulder and laid her hand on the other woman's arm again. "Perhaps you're right, Osgood. Maybe you could show me around later? I don't think I'll ever master getting around UNIT otherwise."
"I'm sure I can find a spare half hour." The scientist agreed good-naturedly. "I know it seems a bit like a rabbit warren, but it's not really so confusing once you get used to it."
They both turned their attention to the office door as it opened suddenly, Kate looking coolly between the two younger women loitering in the corridor. Osgood immediately smiled warmly at her girlfriend, but the expression fell slowly from her face at the realisation that Kate was less than happy about something. Her eyebrows were furrowed over her slightly narrowed eyes and her lips were pinched into a near-scowl.
"Fiona Carson." The woman Osgood had delivered to her commanding officer introduced herself, holding out her hand in greeting, apparently completely oblivious to the older woman's bad temper. "I'm so sorry I'm a little late, Ms Stewart. As I was just telling Osgood, here; following directions is not my forte and the woman at the reception desk spoke so quickly I was completely lost after the second left turn. Luckily my guardian angel found me wandering around in a panic and took pity on me."
"Ah, Miss Carson." Kate nodded, shaking the outstretched hand. Her countenance lightened a little, but she still seemed to be deeply annoyed about something. "Yes, I've been expecting you." Turning to the scientist, she smiled tightly. "Have you finished the report on the electromagnetic conductivity of the sphere that landed in Kent on Tuesday?"
"Very nearly, Ma'am, I just need to–"
"On my desk by two, please, Osgood." The Head of UNIT requested, stepping aside and ushering the younger blonde into her office. "Thank you."
Blinking in confusion, Osgood stared at the now closed office door and tried to work out what had just happened. The blinds were down over the glass panels on either side of the wooden door and there was no way she could see what was happening inside. Wondering whether Kate had been forced to deal with the Prime Minister, or the threat of even more budget cuts, before their arrival, Osgood headed back to her laboratory to finishing running tests on the metallic sphere so that she could complete the report her boss had asked for.
She buried herself in her work and didn't realise that her lunch break had come and gone until Malcolm placed a neatly wrapped baguette beside her notebook on the workbench. She smiled gratefully, taking a large bite as she put the final touches to her report and began ordering her papers, tucking them neatly inside the folder ready to give to Kate.
"Rather you than me." McGillop told her as she walked towards the door.
"Why?" Osgood frowned, unsure what he could possibly mean by that.
"Apparently Stewart's in a terrible mood." He replied, smirking as his colleague instinctively frowned at him for the, slightly less than respectful, use of their commanding officer's surname. "Johnson in Lab C said that she almost bit his head off when he asked her about the grant they were promised for their research into sustainable off-world technologies. He said that she told him that if he was that bothered about the grant he could go and ask the Minister of State for Energy about it himself, if not he could get on with the job he's being paid to do."
"That seems perfectly reasonable to me." Osgood defended her girlfriend, managing to keep the grimace of her face. "She's under a lot of pressure at the moment to keep expenditure and costs down."
"Right… so it has nothing to do with the new munitions expert you showed to her office this morning?"
Osgood frowned. "Why would it? Miss Carson apologised for being late and Kate accepted her apology."
"Johnson said she was absolutely gorgeous." McGillop said with a sly grin.
"Johnson should learn to keep his mouth shut." She muttered, opening the laboratory door. "I'm going to hand in this report. I'll check the output on the quantum coherence plasma modulator on the way back. Malcolm said the readings were a little high during this morning's observation."
McGillop chuckled, shaking his head and returning his focus to the slide under his microscope. "You do that, Osgood."
Furrowing her eyebrows in irritated confusion, the female scientist left the room and headed along the corridor towards Kate's office. Changing her mind, she headed towards the canteen, deciding to take her girlfriend coffee in the hopes of brightening her mood a little. On impulse, she picked up a couple of chocolate brownies as well.
"The Kent sphere report you requested." Osgood announced after hearing Kate calling her into her office.
"Thank you." The blonde nodded curtly.
Smiling, the scientist placed one of the takeaway cups and one of the brownies on the desk. "I thought you could do with a caffeine and sugar hit."
Kate barely glanced away from her computer screen long enough to acknowledge them. "That was very thoughtful of you."
Unsure how to proceed from there, slightly wary of the tension that was radiating off her girlfriend, Osgood cleared her throat nervously. Kate looked up, peering at the brunette over the thick black rims of her glasses, evidently waiting for the younger woman to say something. When Osgood was not forthcoming with another statement or request, she sighed deeply.
"Was there anything else, Osgood?"
"No, I…. no, Ma'am."
"Well," Kate returned her attention to the monitor, "I am rather busy this afternoon. Thank you for the coffee and the brownie."
Totally confused by what could possibly have caused the coldness with which she had been received, Osgood slowly backed out of the office pulling the door closed behind her. Part of her thought that maybe she should try and work out what was wrong with her girlfriend, but another part hoped that if she pretended nothing was happening it would all go away. Knowing that burying her head in the sand wouldn't solve anything, Osgood sighed and reluctantly resolved to try and figure it out.
After casting through her brain to make sure she hadn't missed a birthday or anniversary or any other event that would have annoyed Kate, Osgood finally gave up and admitted that her scientific mind was perhaps unqualified for this particular problem. Pulling out her mobile, she selected the number she needed from her favourite contacts and hit the call button.
"I need your help… Café Rouge by the Tower in twenty minutes?"
Twenty minutes gave her just enough time to run the observations on the quantum coherence plasma modulator and note her findings in the file, before grabbing her coat and bag and heading towards the café. Emily was already sitting at a table when she arrived, two drinks sitting on the surface between the comfortable armchairs.
"What's wrong with her?" Emily asked with a knowing smirk, setting her mug down and looking at Osgood closely. "What symptoms is she displaying?"
"Hmm?" The older woman tried to play innocent, pretending she didn't know what the teenager meant.
Emily rolled her eyes. "Oh, come on, Os. You need my help, probably because Mum is being weird and you don't understand why."
"Well, that's… perhaps…"
"Right. So, what's she said or done that made you think there's a problem?"
"Um…"
The teenager sighed, leaning forward and resting her elbows on her knees. She fixed Osgood with a look that made the scientist feel reassured and nervous all at the same time. Emily smiled, reaching out and patting her stepmother on the knee; probably in the same way that she would pat a dog's head, Osgood thought to herself.
"You talk, I'll listen." Emily offered. "To be honest, Os, I think that once you start you'll be able to figure out what the problem is by yourself. Sometimes you just need a sounding board before you can see what's going on."
"Right." Osgood nodded slowly. "OK. She was absolutely fine this morning… on the way to work she was shouting at the radio because the Prime Minister was making a speech about the defence budget and–"
"And we all know what Mum's like on that subject." Emily finished the sentence for her with an understanding nod.
"Then… we walked in together. We had a short conversation with Reg on the gate about his wife's retirement party. She's been working for Natwest for fifty years now! Would you believe that? I can't imagine ever working for a bank–"
"Focus, Os."
"Yes. Sorry. Right…" The scientist screwed up her face as she thought carefully. "We walked to her office and I said goodbye. She was supposed to be on a conference call with Sam Bishop in Australia at ten. I didn't see her again until I took Fiona down to her office at about half past eleven. She came out of her office and saw us. That was when she was in a bad mood…"
Emily arched an eyebrow. "Fiona?"
"New munitions expert. She was supposed to be meeting Kate, but she got lost. I found her in the West corridor so I took her down. I wanted to speak to Kate anyway, but then she just asked me for a report I was working on and shut the door on me."
"This Fiona? What's she like?" The teenager asked meaningfully.
Osgood furrowed her eyebrows. "Well, she's a munitions expert so I'm assuming–"
"No, I mean…" Emily widened her eyes and leant forward a little. "What is she like…?"
"I don't know… blonde… about five foot four… symmetrical?"
"Symmetrical?" Emily burst out laughing at the assessment. "You're hilarious, Os."
"What? Scientifically, symmetry is one of the key factors in assessing attractiveness." Osgood explained.
"So she's attractive?"
"According to McGillop."
Emily arched an eyebrow, a smirk playing about her lips. "And according to Osgood?"
"She wasn't… unattractive."
"No," the teenager grinned, "she's symmetrical."
"Scientific findings have demonstrated that symmetry is a visual cue for attractiveness in humans." Osgood told her, falling back on her extensive scientific knowledge as a defence; relying on facts and figures always put her back in her comfort zone. "In fact, the Evolutionary Advantage View proposes that symmetric faces are attractive because symmetry is directly linked to how healthy a person is. Our genes are designed to develop symmetrically, while disease and infections during physical development cause asymmetries. That means that the people who have the strongest immune systems have the most symmetrical physical traits. There was a study in 2003 that found that–"
"Loving the lecture, Os, but I'm not particularly interested in why I find people hot."
"Oh, it's probably not why you find people attractive. Studies show that there isn't as much effect on same-sex faces, mainly because opposite-sex faces are an example of mate-choice relevant stimuli.
"Right, are you just boring me with evidence because you have something to hide, or–?"
Osgood frowned in confusion. "Why would I have something to hide?"
"Age?"
"You know I'm thirty-six."
"No, Os, her age. Symmetrical Fiona."
"Oh… about the same… mid to late thirties?"
"Ah…"
"Ah?" Osgood frowned at the teenager. "Em, you've got to help me out here."
Chewing her lip, Emily made herself more comfortable in her chair. "I think there may be a combination of factors behind Mum's bad mood."
"What factors?"
"Well… I might have accidently called her old this morning when she was feeling a little bit insecure about the age difference between you and her." The younger brunette admitted. "She was commenting on the age gap between Dad and his latest bimbo girlfriend and I pointed out that the age gap between you and her is nearly the same." She winced. "I didn't mean to… it just… came out."
"But why would–?"
Emily sighed deeply. "She's obviously jealous, Os."
"Of who?" Osgood asked in confusion.
Rubbing her forehead tiredly, the teenager tried to work out how to explain the situation to the clearly oblivious scientist. Emily knew that Osgood would never look at anyone else and probably had no idea that her actions had caused alarm bells to ring in Kate's mind. It would have been easier if she could explain things to her mother herself, but Emily knew that it had to come from Osgood. She would just have to coach her through the situation and hope for the best.
"Right… imagine you're a normal person." She started, raising her hand to stop Osgood arguing. "Your ex-husband was a cheating shit who left you for a woman practically half his age. Your current, much younger, girlfriend who, bless her, is totally oblivious to most social norms, is accidentally flirting with a hot woman her own age on the same day as your totally thoughtless daughter accidentally called you old." She shook her head. "Imagine what's going through Mum's mind now?"
"So Kate's jealous of… Fiona?" Osgood frowned. "I don't even know her."
"It's not a rational thing."
"But I would never… I love her."
"I know that. She does too… she's just… worried."
"So, I should…" Osgood trailed off, looking to the teenager for confirmation of what she was thinking.
"You should remind her." Emily nodded. "Just… go and put her mind at ease. She's not unreasonable, she's just been hurt too many times before."
x-x
Taking a deep breath, Osgood raised her hand and knocked firmly on Kate's office door. There was a pause and then she heard the blonde calling her in. Inhaling sharply again, the scientist entered the room, smiling weakly and pulling the door closed behind her.
"Yes?" Kate looked at her sharply.
"I was wondering what time you were leaving tonight." Osgood told her, ignoring her girlfriend's frown and smiling warmly. "I've booked a table at our restaurant and I thought that–"
"What?" If the brunette wasn't very much mistaken there was fear in Kate's eyes. "Why?"
"I thought it would be nice?"
"Nice?"
Sighing, Osgood decided to do the one thing that Emily had warned her not to do. Moving further into the room, she rounded the desk and perched on the tiny space that was free of coffee mugs and papers and various other bits of paraphernalia that Kate had collected to litter up her surface. The blonde looked at her curiously, finally twisting in her seat so that she was looking at her girlfriend rather than the computer screen.
"Kate… Emily told me that she called you old this morning." She admitted calmly, spotting the defences rising behind the blonde's eyes. Deciding that she might as well bite the bullet and get it over with, she took a breath. "You're not old and I am not remotely interested in Fiona Carson." At that admission, Kate looked shocked. Osgood chuckled softly. "I'm so oblivious I didn't even realise that you thought I might be. I was actually thinking about the prototype transmat portal that I've been working on while I was bringing her to your office. Did you know that–?" She stopped talking as Kate cleared her throat, a tiny smile playing about her lips now. "Yes, well… anyway. I'm not your ex-husband and I have absolutely no intention of cheating on you with… well… anybody. I've loved you for years and I don't plan to change that. Ever."
"Well, that's…" Kate looked down at her hands, twisting them in her lap. "Right."
"So… are you going to stop sulking now?"
"Sulking?" The blonde looked affronted. "I am not sulking."
"Try telling that to your face." Osgood told her, grinning.
Rolling her eyes, Kate pushed her leg gently. "Stop talking to my daughter."
"So? Are you OK?"
Nodding, Kate sighed deeply. "I'm sorry. I should have known that I was being stupid. I just–"
"It's OK, I understand." Osgood assured her, leaning in and pressing a lingering kiss to her girlfriend's cheek.
Cupping her face, Kate captured the brunette's lips in a tender kiss. Pulling away, she rested their foreheads together and smiled.
"I love you."
"I love you too."
A/N: Hello! It's been so long, I'm so sorry! My only excuse is that I struggled with inspiration for a while and my job is MENTAL, so whenever I did have inspiration I had no time :(
Good news is I've had to spend a couple of days in hospital, so I had a chance to write a couple of chapters! I hope you enjoy them and there aren't too many painkiller-induced mistakes!
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