Timeline: BtVS: Post-Chosen & anytime after Alden Parker joined NCIS.
Disclaimer: Nothing copyrighted belongs to yours truly.
Author's Note: Written for Day 8 of the 2024 August Fic-A-Day.
"Can I help you with something?" A tall bespeckled man with dark hair was giving her a questioning look from over a body he was busy sewing up. From what she could see from the doorway, he appeared to have been shot, execution style.
Buffy smiled a little more demurely than she normally would have, "Yes, I'm looking for Special Agent Alden Parker, but I think I'm a little lost." A little was probably an understatement. Especially as she was reasonably certain she wasn't supposed to be down in the morgue. It was a kind of comforting interlude though.
She had been given directions to what the person at the front desk had referred to as the bullpen, and those instructions hadn't involved going down any stairs. Instead, he had told her to take the elevator up. Which she had done, but then she had gotten confused, gone out on the wrong floor, and ended up going down several stairs and now she was definitely in the wrong place.
"You're definitely lost then. He's up on the fifth floor, not down here in the basement."
Buffy sighed, "I can't believe I managed to get lost when all I had to do was get into an elevator, push a button, and then get out. I'm never going to hear the end of this."
"Probably not." He gave an amused smile and a light chuckle. "I'm Dr. Jimmy Palmer, the Head Medical Examiner at the Navy Yard. Why are you looking for Agent Parker?"
"Buffy Summers. Alden's my uncle, and he promised to take me out to lunch if the current case didn't keep him too busy."
Dr. Palmer's eyes widened slightly. "The only other relative of his we've met is his father. It's very nice to meet you."
"Likewise, and that reminds me; I should probably go visit Grandpa, too. Maybe. If I have time." She shook it off, that would have to happen during another visit. "Anyways. Does the elevator out in the hall reach this elusive bullpen?"
The man smiled again, "It does. Just go inside, push the button with the number '5' on it, and it'll take you up there. He should be pretty easy to find once you get out."
"Thank you, you've been very helpful, Dr. Palmer."
Buffy backtracked the few feet she had gotten into Autopsy and then walked the short distance to the elevator. This time she managed to get off on the right floor and even managed to find the correct area after asking a random passing person. Only to discover that there was no one there.
Rather than leave she decided to have a look around, and it didn't take long to find her uncle's desk. The immediate area smelled vaguely of flowers and dirt, something she distinctly remembered from her childhood. It brought back happy memories.
She made herself comfortable, pulled out her phone, and began answering texts and emails while she waited for her relative to hopefully return to his desk sometime soon.