When Diana Taverner had presented Slough House as a fate worse than being fired from MI5, Georgie had blindly assumed it was Taverner's way of pushing her out of the service, of allowing her to think that leaving MI5 entirely was the best outcome.
But as she stared up at the exterior of the unlikely location for a branch of MI5 to be based she was quick to conclude that Taverner was being brutally honest. Calling it an office was generous, it was a crumbling shell set above a workman's cafe that Georgie deduced would only fill the office with wafts of grease and fat.
The weather didn't do the building any favours, beads of rain hitting her body and the pavement like ping pong balls on a wooden floor. She was grateful for her brother's insistence that she take an umbrella despite her stubborn refusal earlier that morning, because she was sure that turning up to work resembling a drowned rat wasn't the first impression she wanted to present to her new colleagues.
There was only so long she could stand outside the building until it got weird, she knew that she had to bite the bullet and head inside. She followed the instructions that had been sent to her by Catherine Standish that morning and made her way towards the back of the building, heading up the steps to the door that she had been informed required a firm shove to open.
"You're here," A petite older lady smiled as Georgie crossed the threshold, immediately startled by the welcome.
"I'm here," Georgie nodded, "You must be Catherine."
"That's me," She replied, delighted not to be called by her surname for once, "I'll take you up to Lamb, he runs things around here."
"Jackson Lamb?" Georgie sighed, having heard many tales of the legend himself throughout her years as an agent.
"Just take everything he says with a pinch of salt," Catherine smiled as the women made their way upstairs, passing a handful of rooms that she assumed were used as offices, "He means well, but he just has a...unique way of doing things."
"Sounds familiar," Georgie muttered as they continued making their way up the stairs.
"Georgie?"
Georgie looked over her shoulder to see the face of a friend that she hadn't seen in almost three years. Sid had been her best friend throughout her time as an agent, and she was there when she was at her lowest. But people drift and circumstances change, while Georgie attempted to juggle life as an agent and a mother, floating between various departments in an attempt to avoid someone she'd rather forget, Sid was busy rising through the ranks of MI5.
"Sid," Georgie smiled, glancing between Catherine and her old friend, "It's good to see you."
"You too," Sid nodded, "They said we had a new inmate, didn't think it'd be you."
"Life likes to keep us on our toes," Georgie answered.
"I just didn't imagine either of us ending up here," Sid remarked, which given their records of exceptional performance over the past six years, was a valid statement.
"Yeah," Georgie toyed with the rings on her fingers, "And I assume you know why I'm here."
"Well, we're not really meant to ask, it's like prison," Sid replied with a smile of reassurance, even though she knew enough of what the press had printed.
"I'm starting to see that it's not dissimilar to prison," Georgie remarked.
"Georgie," Sid exhaled with a change to her tone and sense of urgency in her voice, "There's something I need to tell you."
"Standish!" The bellowing voice from upstairs startled the three women, "Where's the new girl?"
"Come on, Georgie, he doesn't like to be kept waiting," Catherine gestured for her to follow her up the stairs.
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VERTIGO | River Cartwright
Fanfiction❝and I won't confess that I waited but I let the lamp burn as the men masqueraded I hoped you'd return❞ Only screwups get sent to Slough House...and Georgie Knightly, she's one of them. Six years after River Cartwright broke her heart, the pair find...
