Authors Note: Start of a ten chapter series spanning Robert and Katherine's friendship. Enjoy!
Peter was showing Robert Langdon a rare book on symbols that he had procured but they stopped talking as they heard a female voice shouting from the front entrance, "Peter, are you in here somewhere?"
"We're in the study." Robert raised an eyebrow, wondering if his friend had found himself a romantic partner. Peter gave a small smile and shook his head to answer the questioning look, just as a young woman - closer in age to him - glided in to the room.
"Robert, I would like you to finally meet my baby sister Katherine. Kate, this is Robert Langdon."
He held out his hand and she took it to shake, both their faces mirroring a small grin as they tried to subtly check the other out, both appreciating what they saw. Katherine knew he was about three years younger than her but he looked older with a smart shirt, jacket and loafers on that she couldn't stop herself. All the guys she came into contact with in school were science geeks that could barely form a sentence when near any member of the opposite gender so to be near someone like Robert was a nice change and she attempted to forget that he was a good swimmer as that had the potential to make her more flustered than she already felt.
She was wearing jeans that were almost worn through near the knees and a The Who tour t-shirt, her hair was in a messy ponytail with a little wisp that fell over her face before she tried to sweep it behind her ear. He was surprised by her clothing as he thought she would always be sharply dressed like her brother, yet the casual look made her seem so much more natural and it was somehow accentuating her shapely figure instead of hiding it
Peter went away to the kitchen to get drinks for them, Katherine guessed he would get distracted at some point on his mission so she sat herself down next to Robert, placing an arm on the back of the sofa and rested her cheek on that hand so as to face him when he began to talk.
"Your brother has spoken a lot about you."
"I hope he hasn't told you everything and left you wanting to run a mile from me now. Pleasure to meet you; you are Peter's little project and he barely stops for breath when talking of you." He smirked and shook his head; he had wanted to meet her since hearing Peter had a sister as the rest of the family was lovely.
She started to talk again with her lovely soft voice, "So what dark secret of Peter's do you know, because I could never have imagined him exhausting so much effort on a Princeton student?"
"Are you saying that while I thought the two of us here were getting on beautifully, you are quietly thinking I am not worthy of this company?"
"Maybe just a little," she said with a grin, making him know she was just messing with him. As they had guessed, Peter had got held up as he had found his mother and started a conversation with her, forgetting he was supposed to be entertaining.
"What are you studying?" Robert decided he should move the conversation to something that did not make him feel as though they were flirting.
"Psychology and Physics with a touch of Biology."
"Odd mixture, isn't it?"
"I can see the overlaps now and then, and how the brain works fascinates me and that brings in elements of all my classes."
He was about to speak about his own education but she got there first, clearly having been told all about him by their mutual acquaintance. "I guess you're religious in some way to be most interested in the symbolism of your lessons?"
"I am not a member of any religion which allows me to be objective but I do understand why man does seek solace in something beyond themselves. How about yourself, religion versus science?"
"Science; I don't believe in God but I believe there are invisible forces that have an impact of humans - such as souls and thoughts."
"Okay, I don't think I expected an answer like that. Are you also one who thinks everyone has a predetermined destiny?"
She smiled across to him, knowing that they were hugely different but enjoying the discussion. "I believe we are given pointers and that is the voice in your head that we call a conscience. And before you wonder, I do think there is such things as soulmates but it sometimes takes a while to find them and the reasons for it are different for each person, for example I could not guess what your soulmate would be like just as you and I don't have a clue about mine. I just do what you do: I look for connections in the seemingly unrelated."
He had not thought of it in that way but he supposed it was true.
They continued in this way for a little while longer yet she stood up and grabbed her shoulder-bag from the floor almost as soon as Peter arrived back.
"I had better be off, Physics class in thirty minutes." She looked back to Robert and smiled, not trusting herself to have a discussion with him while in the presence of someone who knew them both.
"Bye, it was lovely meeting you."
"Goodbye Katherine. I hope we see each other again to carry this on and see how many more opposing views we have.
She had the same shade of gray in her pupils as Peter did but there seemed to be more of a playful glint to them and he couldn't stop himself staring into them.