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The incursion had been messy.
The scout ship had come down hard, carving a blackened scar across the Yorkshire moors. Its hull, sleek and obsidian under normal circumstances, now lay twisted and broken, jagged edges glowing faintly with residual energy. Smoke curled from the wreckage in thick, acrid coils, mixing with the heavy sheets of rain that had begun to pour, nature's feeble attempt to wash away the evidence of their battle.
Around the crash site, UNIT operatives moved with practiced efficiency, their waterproof gear glistening under the dim emergency lights. Containment teams worked to neutralize the ship's unstable power core, while medical personnel checked the wounded. The rhythmic chatter of radios and the hiss of fire suppressants filled the air, but Kate Lethbridge-Stewart heard none of it.
She stormed across the ruined field, her long coat drenched and clinging to her frame, the hem spattered with mud. Her boots sank into the churned earth with every furious step, the ground protesting as if even it knew better than to stand in her way. Behind her, Osgood stumbled in pursuit, her own coat flapping wildly in the wind, her glasses nearly useless against the downpour.
"Kate—ma'am—wait!" Osgood called, her voice nearly swallowed by the storm.
Kate whirled on her so sharply that water flicked from her hair. Rain streaked down her face, indistinguishable from the furious tears she refused to acknowledge. "What the hell were you thinking, Osgood?" she snarled, her voice raw. "Charging into that ship alone? You could have been killed!" Osgood flinched, her breath coming fast. She pushed her rain-smeared glasses up her nose, blinking against the deluge.
"I…I had to," she stammered. "The containment field was failing. The core breach would have taken out half the moorland if I hadn’t—"
"That’s not your job!" Kate snapped, her hands clenching at her sides. "Your job is to analyse, to advise, not to throw yourself into danger like some…some reckless…" Her voice broke, the words choking off as if the storm itself had stolen them. Osgood stared at her, stunned. She'd seen Kate angry before. Frustrated, even terrified. But this was something else. Something deeper. Something raw.
"...Kate?" she whispered. Kate exhaled sharply, raking a trembling hand through her soaked hair.
"Do you have any idea," she ground out, "what it would do to me if I lost you?"
The words hung between them, heavier than the rain, more electric than the distant thunder. Osgood’s breath caught in her throat. Kate’s voice dropped, barely audible over the storm.
"I can’t. I can’t, Osgood. Not you." Osgood stepped closer, the mud sucking at her boots, her heart pounding so hard she was sure Kate could hear it.
"Why?" Kate let out a broken laugh.
"You’re really going to make me say it?"
Osgood swallowed. "Yes."
"Because I love you, you impossible woman!" Kate shouted, the words tearing free at last, ripped from somewhere deep and unprotected. "Because if you’d died in there, I…"
Osgood didn’t let her finish.
Right there, in the rain, in the mud, with the wreckage of an alien ship smouldering behind them and UNIT personnel shouting in the distance, she grabbed Kate’s lapels and pulled.
Kate froze for half a second. Then kissed her back, hard, her hands tangling in Osgood’s-soaked scarf like it was the only thing keeping her grounded. The storm raged around them, indifferent, but Osgood barely noticed. All she knew was the warmth of Kate’s mouth, the desperate press of her fingers, the way Kate’s breath hitched when Osgood’s cold hands found the nape of her neck.
When they finally broke apart, both gasping, Kate glared at her, her chest rising and falling rapidly. "...That’s not how you win an argument," Kate muttered, her voice rough. Osgood grinned, rain dripping from her nose.
"Worked, didn’t it?" Kate groaned, dragging her close again, her forehead pressing against Osgood’s.
"You’re insufferable."
"And you love me." Kate exhaled, long and slow, her grip tightening.
"...Yeah," she admitted softly. "I really do."
The rain kept falling. Around them, UNIT carried on, oblivious.
And for once, Kate didn’t care who saw.