"Shall I be mother?"

"Of course," Dorothy gave a nod amd let out a pleased sigh as the tea splashed into her cup.

"You have the best chrysanthemum tea," she complimented.

"Specially imported," Hetty told her friend, putting the teapot back down.

"Of course."

As if Henrietta Lange would ever get anything else. Honestly. What had she been thinking?

The two of them just enjoyed their tea for a few minutes. They did so in silence, though it wasn't awkward or stifling. It was comfortable and relaxing. Like tea between old friends should be. She and Hetty had to have been friends twenty, almost thirty, years now. How time flew.

"Anything interesting happen this week?"

That made Dorothy look sharply at her friend. That tone implied that Hetty already knew something. She knew her friend. Tnat was far too even a tone. But did she know the details? You never knew with Hetty.

"I had to go down to the police station."

A raised eyebrow but still not surprised.

"Oh? Did something happen to you?"

Why did Dorothy get the feeling that Hetty knew a lot more than even she did? Which really wasn't a surprise. But still. Sometimes a girl liked to shock people and Hetty Lange certainly didn't allow for that.

"Oh, no, nothing like that," Dorothy assured her friend. "I was fine. I was reporting a crime." She frowned. "A possible one, anyway."

Hetty took a sip of her tea. "How intriguing."

Dorothy gave her a look. "You could at least pretend to be shocked, you know."

Even if Hetty already knew everything she could at least be a good audience.

"Now, Dorothy, that would just annoy you."

She sighed. That was true. There was nothing she hated more than people putting on a mask just for the sole purpose of being dramatic. It was useless and annoying.

"Now," Hetty said, bringing Dorothy out of her thoughts. "Knowing what happened does not make your side of the story any less interesting."

Dorothy squinted at her. "Just how much do you know?"

"Perhaps less than you think."

That she couldn't believe. Another unladylike snort left her.

"I am well aware that you keep tabs on the LAPD, Hetty Lange," she said in an almost scolding tone.

"Yes, for people of interest."

That got her friend an eyeroll. Dorothy didn't know how she kept everyone she had a marked interest in straight. She could barely keep track of one young man.

"And is this man that I came across one of these people?"

"He most definitely is now."

Huh. Dorothy wondered what that meant but knew if she asked Hetty she wouldn't get an answer.

Instead, she told Hetty of her conversations with that nice, young man. Her friend listened carefully and without interruption. See, this is why Hetty was so easy to talk to. That police officer really should take note. Dorothy even told Hetty of how she went to the police to report him missing.

"Sounds like you had quite a bit of excitement."

"They wouldn't even let me know if they found him," she grumbled.

"That tends to be the usual procedure when dealing with cases like this."

Dorothy snorted in an incredibly unladylike manner. Good thing her mother had been cremated so she had no grave to roll in. It may be procedure but that didn't mean it was right! She was worried, surely the police should abate her worries? That's what they were there for!

"I just want to know if he is alive."

That should be easy enough to tell her, right? That wasn't violating any of those nonsensical privacy laws, was it?

"Maybe they don't know that."

Dorothy could have done without that thought. She hadn't thought about it that way. That was rather distressing.

"I told him not to get himself into trouble," she said with a long sigh.

"He could have got himself out of it," Hetty pointed out.

Dorothy gave her a sceptical look. She may be old but she was definitely not naive. She knew that if you got involved with those drugs people it was hard to get out. It was why she had told him to be careful, after all.

"I haven't seen him again on that street, thankfully. Hopefully that means he's got himself a good job and hasn't got tangled in that silly gang and drug nonsense."

She liked to be hopeful, even if the rest of the world wasn't. Dorothy frowned and shook her head at the thought of that nice boy getting himself into trouble. It just shouldn't happen.

Hetty hummed non-committedly and topped her cup up with more tea.

"Always a good thing."

"There's far too many young people on the streets," Dorothy continued.

It was something she was very passionate about. It just didn't seem right that so many young people had nowhere to turn to. The country was failing them. Everyone was failing them. Oh, she knew that was a simplistic view of things but that was the heart of it. She knew a lot of this people wanted to get themselves sorted out but, for one reason or another, they simply couldn't.

She didn't want that young man to be another number. She didn't.

"That young man will be okay."

Something in Hetty's tone made Dorothy look up sharply. Of course, her friend gave nothing away in her face. She never did. So she would have to believe that he would be okay. Hetty had never broken her word yet. Dorothy Miller was no fool, she knew that that young man was important to Hetty. And Hetty kept those who were important to her safe. So, yes he would be okay.

"Good," Dorothy said with a nod. "He seemed extremely nice."

"He is, almost falliably so," Hetty told her.

"But he will he okay?"

"Yes, he may be one of the few in the world striving hard to do the right thing when everything else is against him but he is strong."

That didn't exactly sooth Dorothy's worries for the blonde man.

"Strong enough?"

"Life will make him so."