misse: (Default)
Miss E ([personal profile] misse) wrote2011-12-02 02:32 am

Connections

Disclaimer: Don’t own or claim rights to Buffy the Vampire Slayer or NCIS:Los Angeles

Notes: Written for 365 Drabbles, Prompt - Autumn



“I miss the turning of the leaves,” Giles sighed.

“I hear Devon has a lovely showing this time of year,” the positively diminutive woman responded.

The Englishman gave the woman a sharp look. “Quite,” he murmured noncommittally. “Not too many garden gnomes, though, thankfully.”

The woman nodded at the jab, then sighed. “What is it that you want, Dr Giles?”

Giles raised surprised eyebrows at the woman’s sudden capitulation. “Tea, Ms Lange?”

“I would love some,” Hetty agreed with a wide smile. “And an explanation of what the Watchers Council requires of me.”

Giles smiled as he made a fresh pot. “Simply to re-form connections. You know, of course, that things have changed?”

“Things always change, Dr Giles,” Hetty nodded, “it is a condition of our existence.”

“I would like to think that these changes are beneficial to our organisation, and to the world in which we live,” Giles offered.

Hetty shrugged. “That remains to be seen. I still fail to understand what that has to do with me.”

“I believe someone once said that old agents don’t retire, they simply go deeper under cover,” Giles mused. “You have had significant exposure to our world; this will never leave you, and I simply want to assure you that we are available to help. Also, we would like to be able to call on you in certain situations.”

“Unlike you, I am not ultimately in charge, and may not be able to assist you as you require,” Hetty argued.

Giles smirked at one of the most extraordinary people he’d ever met. “I do believe, Ms Lange, that you are limited only by whatever it is that you choose to be limited.”

Hetty took a delicate sip of her tea, and smiled. “You are such a flatterer, Rupert.”


~~~~~


For those not obsessed with minutiae, Hetty's Cold War nickname is given in episode 2.09 Absolution as gartenzwerg, which means garden gnome.