Georgie wasn't actively trying to avoid River, yet she wasn't exactly concerned by how good of a job she was doing of it. It had been a whole week since she started working at Slough House, and on three out of those five days, it had rained, which could be considered as pathetic fallacy or just usual British weather, depending on which way you looked at it.

It was yet another one of those rain soaked days, and as Georgie stood in the small mold ridden work kitchen, waiting for the kettle to boil, she found herself contemplating the benefits of waterproof trousers as she inspected the damp ankles of her blue jeans. She tugged on the cuffs of her green cardigan for warmth, even though it was already two sizes too big.

"Have you seen River?" Catherine entered the kitchen as the kettle finished boiling.

"No," Georgie sighed, shovelling three teaspoonfuls of hot chocolate powder into a mug and pouring hot water over it, "Maybe he's been hit by a bus."

"I should hope not," Catherine exhaled, disliking the conversations that regarded anything remotely violent.

"Should you?" Georgie scoffed as she focused on stirring her chocolate based drink in the mug that Nellie had painted for her on a trip to one of those pottery painting cafes last October.

"Georgie, I know you have your grievances when it comes to River, but for your sake as much as his, perhaps you should try to get on with him," Catherine suggested as Georgie discarded the teaspoon in the sink.

"I'll try to tolerate him," Georgie retorted, her tone sharper than usual because she was exhausted from being up half of the night tending to Nellie who'd had yet another nightmare about the 'bad men in the walls.'

"That's a start I suppose," Catherine nodded, knowing better than to push any further. Sid had told her enough to fill in the blanks, leaving out the key detail of the daughter that River knew nothing about. It wasn't that Sid was gossiping, it was that Catherine had quickly read the dynamic between River and Georgie, and simply asked Sid if there was anything she should know.

With little more to offer on the topic of River Cartwright, Georgie made her way back through the office in search of the safety of her desk, despite being the only one in the same room as River's. Sid had offered to swap, but Georgie didn't want to draw attention to her predicament, as far as she knew it was only the women in the office who knew about or at least suspected her history with River. She knew that if Roddy had even a slither of suspicion regarding a potential romantic history between her and River, he'd be doing an online deep dive into their relationship.

As she returned to her office, Georgie was hit by a stench fouler than usual smell of Slough House, and as her gaze trailed from River's empty desk to the man crouched over a pile of rubbish in the middle of their office it became clear where said smell was coming from.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Georgie asked, covering her nose with her hand as she placed her mug on her desk.

He looked over his shoulder at her, happy that she was talking to him, regardless of the context, "Sorry."

"First time I've heard you say that word," Georgie sighed, taking a seat in the half functioning spinny desk chair, still awaiting an apology for what he did to her, "I assume it's a Lamb thing."

"Yeah," River answered, glancing down at his yellow marigold gloves in despair. 

"And you thought that the best place to rummage through the contents of a bin was our office floor?" Georgie remarked, her brows furrowed as she watched.

"Yes, actually," River sighed, even though he knew that it was a pretty flawed idea, especially given his unspoken need to get back into Georgie's good graces, "I don't know why he didn't get you to do this."

"Why would he get me to do it?" Georgie frowned, glancing between River and the pile of rubbish that decorated the middle of their office.

"I've been here eight months, you've been here a week," River huffed, his rain damp hair falling onto his forehead.

"Yeah, but I didn't blow up Stansted, I just fucked the primary," Georgie reminded him, oblivious to how his jaw tensed up at the mention of her being bedded by a man that wasn't him.

"It was a training exercise, which-" He ended his sentence before letting himself say something thoughtless that would inevitably push them further apart, which he was doing his very best to avoid, given that they couldn't be further from each other in terms of emotional proximity, "Doesn't matter."

"Alright."

River let his eyes wander over to her again as she sipped her tepid hot chocolate, even with the foul stench of bins that filled the air, he could notice the familiar scent of her beloved hot chocolate, reminding him that the old Georgie was still in there somewhere. He didn't recognise the mug, it wasn't from the office's eclectic collection of mugs 'acquired' from various local cafes, it was quite clearly decorated by hand.

"Where did you get that?" River asked, gesturing to the mug in Georgie's hand, assuming that making lighthearted small talk was the best first step.

Georgie glanced at the mug in her hands and then back at River, "Nellie painted it for me."

"Your brother used one of your favourite baby names for his kid?" River frowned, surprised by the suggestion that Alex would do such a thing.

"You remember that?" Georgie muttered, picking at her already chipped plum purple nail varnish (chosen by Nellie).

"I remember everything, Georgie," River answered, letting his eyes linger on her longer than he perhaps should.

"What are you looking for?" Catherine appeared in the doorway, approaching River's desk with a heavy box full of unfiled documents.

"A reason not to blow my brains out," River huffed, earning a slight smile from Georgie.

A smile? River considered that to be progress.

"He hasn't told me yet what I'm looking for," River added as Georgie glanced at her phone that buzzed on her desk, a message from Lydia that she'd make sure to check later.

"Dumping the rubbish this side of the room," Catherine remarked, placing several files on River's desk before handing Georgie a stack of her own, "Does Georgie find this as amusing as you do?"

Georgie looked up from the files she was flicking through, "She certainly does not."

Her tone was familiar to River, comforting yet unsettlingly familiar. He found himself studying the details of her face anytime she wasn't looking, the ways she had changed, grown into herself. He hated himself for what had happened, that was inevitable for a man with a heart like his, and he had often wondered in the past week whether it was going to do them any good working in the same building.

She was so distant physically and emotionally, their back and forth over the rubbish was the most words they'd exchanged since she'd arrived. If he was honest he was grateful that Lamb had asked him to rummage through Hobden's rubbish, just for that moment of progress, for the minuscule step closer to normality.

Since her return to his life his dreams had been haunted with memories of her. Well some nights they were memories, like a film reel replaying their happiest moments, but other nights they were blurry images of a potential future that he had set alight.

He had dreams of their wedding night, their first holiday as a married couple and then a glimpse of the fictional family that would never exist. He'd woken up some nights, expecting her to be laying beside him, caught up in the false narrative written by his very own dreamland.

River stood up, hovering over the pile of rubbish, the stench causing him to gag as he covered his mouth with his wrist, "Fuck, fucking-"

Before Georgie could comment on the situation, three thumps reverberated through the ceiling, a summoning from the big man above. No, not God, Lamb.

River glanced at Georgie with little expression as she frowned back at him, "Why are you looking at me like that?" She asked.

"Like what?"

"Like you're going to ask me for something," Georgie answered, because it may have been six years but she knew him better than anyone, and she could always read his eyes, no matter how much he tried to hide it, she could always see him.

"He likes you more than he likes me," River sighed, "Can you just go up and see what he wants?"

"You're asking me to do you a favour?" Georgie scoffed, "Do I need to remind you of what you-"

"I'll go up, it's fine," River sighed, making his way towards the open doorway that led to the staircase up to Lamb's office.

"For the record, he doesn't like me more than he likes you," Georgie called out, stopping River in his tracks.

"How did you reach that conclusion?"

"He hates me less than he hates you," Georgie smiled before she began to work on the files bestowed upon her by Standish.

"Thanks for the reassurance." River nodded before making his way towards the staircase.

"Who said anything about reassurance?" Georgie smiled. 

After several hours of sitting in an office that was plagued by the smell of Robert Hobden's bins, Georgie had decided she couldn't take much more of it, making her way to a nearby cafe for a quick lunch. As she ate her panini she took the time to respond to Lydia's text inviting her to drinks with their friends that evening, encouraging her to invite Sid too. Alex was already due to look after Nellie that evening so she supposed it couldn't do much harm.

Upon returning to the office she was met with the smell of the same rubbish and the sight of the same ex fiancé, sitting at his desk, marigold gloves still donning his hands.

"Are you planning on cleaning this up?" Georgie remarked as she returned to her desk.

"No, I thought I'd just leave it there," River mused.

"You don't get to play the sarcasm card," Georgie warned, her expression remaining blank.

"I'll clean it up," River assured her, "I promise."

"Well I know better than to trust your promises, River Cartwright," Georgie retorted, watching as his smile faltered.

"The full name thing, really?" River recalled that very same thing she'd do whenever he'd do something that annoyed her, no matter how big or small

"The making promises you can't and won't keep thing, really?" Georgie quipped as she stood up from her desk.

"Georgie," River's voice stopped her from moving any further, "One drink tonight, let me explain everything, that's all I'm asking for, and then after that we can put it all behind us."

"We can, can we?" Georgie laughed humourlessly, using humour as a defense mechanism to deflect from how she felt whenever she laid eyes on him.

"I don't mean it like that, I just mean-"

"Save it," Georgie cut him off, "Where's Sid?"

"She's gone for coffee...again," River told her.

"Right."

The three knocks came again, and Georgie shot River a look that spoke a dozen words, and rather than choosing to dispute what her eyes told him, he saved them both the bother of bickering over who's turn it was to face Lamb, promptly leaving the office of his own accord.

As Georgie listened to River's footsteps up the stairs fade into the distance she retrieved her phone from the desk, her eyes lingering on the photo of her and Nellie on her lockscreen that filled her with dread. She needed River not to find out the truth, it was better that way, the professional distance was just about working, and knowing him the way she did, he'd feel a need and a want to 'step up' and be the father he never had.

Before she could resume the work Catherine had given her earlier that day she was startled by another three thumps from upstairs, suggesting that Lamb wasn't satisfied with the agent standing before him.

Georgie slowly made her way upstairs, reaching the top of the stairs and entering Lamb's office to see the aforementioned sat at his desk while River stood opposite.

"You thumped?"

"Deliver this," Lamb gestured to the flashbox that was sitting on the corner of his desk.

"Who?"

Lamb looked up at River and then at Georgie, reaching his own conclusion of who remained the most competent between the two of them.

"You can call it babysitting," Lamb told Georgie.

"I don't need babysitting," River huffed.

"149 dead and 212 injured suggest otherwise," Lamb remarked, leaning back in his chair, "Knightly didn't blow up Stansted, she just fucked a government minister, she's less of a fuckup than you."

"Do you really need two of us to deliver this?" Georgie frowned, far from delighted by the prospect of spending more time than necessary with River.

"Call it post-almost marriage fuckup bonding," Lamb muttered, observing the mutual looks of astonishment on both Georgie and River's faces, "Yeah, I know about that, so I suggest that unless you want that getting back to the others, you do what I asked, capeesh?"

"Where's it going?" Georgie sighed.

"Regent's Park," Lamb answered as Georgie retrieved the box from his desk.

"Oh, so this Hobden thing is Regent's Park?" River looked up in intrigue. 

"Yeah, of course it bloody is, we don't run ops from Slough House," Lamb sighed.

"Why would they get us to do it?" River frowned, "And why do they want me to deliver it?"

"They don't, they want Sid or Georgie, so I'm sending you with her in an attempt to restore workplace harmony." Lamb told him, although Georgie wasn't entirely convinced that she believed his reasoning.

"Who's the contact?" Georgie asked.

Lamb leant forward over his desk, checking the notes sent over by the Park, "Webb, isn't he an old mate of yours?"

Georgie glanced up at River, who's face told her that he was wishing, hoping and praying that the ground would swallow him up. His history with Spider ran deep, they were friends once, the three of them had been in the same training ranks, Georgie had never truly liked him but she'd always attempted to make an effort for River's sake.

"Let's just get this over with, shall we?" He muttered, leading her out of Lamb's office.

"Don't leave it on the bus," Lamb called out.

The pair shared an almost silent tube journey over to Regent's Park, the quietness being drowned out by the sound of wind and the rails in the tunnels, which Georgie had never been so grateful for.

Upon arriving in the area, River had insisted on stopping off at a nearby stationery shop, which Georgie thought little of, assuming he wasn't content with the quality of pens over at Slough House. But when he reemerged from the shop clutching a padded envelope, she was deeply confused.

"Do you mind if just..." River gestured to the public toilets as the pair strolled through the park, approaching MI5's headquarters.

"You can't hold it in until we get to The Park?" Georgie frowned, "Where they have toilets that get cleaned daily and toilet paper that doesn't resemble sandpaper."

"Not really," River told her, turning to enter the toilets, flashbox in hand.

"Where are you going with that?" Georgie remarked as he turned back to face her with the same eyes Nellie gave her anytime she was in trouble.

"I just..." River glanced down at the flashbox, unsure what Georgie would think of his idea, but knowing that six years ago she would've seen no fault in a plan of his, "I think we should see what's on it."

"I'm starting to see why you got sent to Slough House," Georgie exhaled.

"What's that supposed to mean?" River frowned.

"It's a stupid idea," Georgie scolded him, unbothered by the people passing them by, "Have you ever actually tried to open one of those before?"

"Well-"

"Do what you want with it, just don't come crying to me when you've blinded yourself," Georgie sighed.

"Your empathy knows no bounds," River smiled sarcastically before heading into the gents.

Georgie stood outside the public bathroom for at least ten minutes, wrapped in her black coat that stopped at her knees. She watched the people who passed her by, wondering how many of them worked at the Park, wondering if they knew she was an MI5 fuck up. She was still processing having River back in her life, well she supposed he wasn't necessarily 'in her life', he was someone she worked with. She was still carrying the pain he'd caused her, and he'd yet to apologise for that, although if Georgie had dwelled on the matter much further she would've realised that she hadn't actually let River apologise.

"All done," River held up the laptop with a proud smile on his face as he walked, discarding the flashbox in a nearby bin.

"The damage?" Georgie frowned, having heard various horror stories of colleagues who'd attempted to open flashboxes illegitimately.

"It'll heal," River held out his burnt hand and Georgie tried her hardest not to roll her eyes at him.

"Want me to kiss it better?" Georgie quipped with raised eyebrows.

"I mean..." River's voice trailed off as he scratched the back of his neck. 

Before River could utter anymore words, Georgie smacked her palm against the back of his hand, causing him to recoil in pain, "Idiot," She muttered with the slightest smile.

author's note: thank you for reading! and hope you're enjoying the story so far! so much more to come!!!