A/N: I was kind of sick on and off all week and as such my original writing suffered a bit, but on the bright side (depending on how you look at it), the motivation for this seemed to slide on through, so you all get another chapter, and a longer one at that.
Special thanks to FitchSwitch for reading it over and betaing and generally encouraging it (even when I'm supposed to be writing other things).
Oh, and I suppose I should give a kinda granny/work/school warning, though it's not as racy as last chapter.
Disclaimer: I don't own Skins or the characters.
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The ride back to the flat they shared took just over an hour. Katie's mind raced both with Stone's offer and ways to get out of it, and all the things she wanted to say to her fucking sister. She held her tongue, though, because she had no doubts that as harmless as Freddie looked, anything they said in the car would get reported back to Stone. She settled for shooting occasional scathing looks in her sister's direction, and otherwise looking out the window.
Despite Stone's warning, she did at first attempt to catch the street signs or any noticeable landmarks, but when she started seeing familiar street names, she realised that Freddie was doubling back on certain parts of the route and then taking a different way out of them, and she gave up.
Fuckingmobsters, she thought bitterly. Can'tdoanythingsimply.
It wasn't until the door to their flat was closed and locked behind them that Katie finally turned on Emily.
"What the fuck were you thinking?" she demanded at the same time that her sister said, "I think we should do it."
"Do what?" Katie asked just as Emily was saying, "I was thinking that I could help, and then I wasn't doing much thinking at all."
They stood there and glared at each other for a minute before Emily took a deep breath.
"We won't get anywhere if we keep talking over each other. You go first," Emily sighed.
"How could you just jump into bed with the mob like that? So fucking literally, too?"
"I didn't jump into bed with the mob. I jumped into bed with Naomi. And it wasn't like I planned it. She's...she's special, Katie," Emily attempted to explain.
"Yeah, she's a shag that can kill you and get away with it," Katie retorted.
"She's not just a shag, Katie! And she wouldn't hurt me! She wouldn't hurt either of us," Emily muttered reproachfully.
"What about James? Would she hurt James? Break his arm, maybe, because his debts to Stone are so high?"
"Not now. Not now she knows me," Emily replied.
"Really, Ems? You positive about that? You've known her, what, a week? And what, I'm supposed to believe you've fallen in love or some shit?"
Emily blushed bright red. "No, of course not, I'm not delusional, Katie."
"Could've fooled me," Katie muttered under her breath.
"I'm fucking not!" Emily growled. "Look it's obviously not like we're in love, but she is special. She's...she's a good person, Katie, no matter who she works with or for. She's not cruel. She's kind and she's...I want her, Katie. And she wants me, I know she does."
"She wants you to work for Stone. She wants you for your skill with a knife," Katie spat back at her sister. How could Emily be so blind? "Maybe she even wants you for a good shag in the future."
"She wants me for ME!" Emily insisted. "You don't know her like I do, Katie. You don't know her at all. What, you said all of three words to her? I spent a whole week with her!"
"A week during which I was fucking worried sick about you!" Katie reminded her. Emily was not acting nearly remorseful enough for that. Didn't she fucking care that Katie had almost lost her mind worrying about her? That she'd had to go into horrible fucking places to deal with the greasiest little fuckers to track her down, all the while not even knowing if Emily was even going to be alive when she found her?
"I'm sorry about that, Katie, but I'm fine, and now you've found me, so can we possibly move past that?"
"Maybe if you properly apologised without a 'but' after it," Katie replied.
Emily sighed.
Katie looked to the ceiling, feeling all of the worry and all of the anxiety that she'd been trying not to feel for a week finally flooding over her. She'd imagined so many worst case scenarios while she was looking for Emily and she'd had to push each one of them away to carry on, and Emily hadn't even been in danger, or not really, apparently. It was just too fucking much. She felt tears welling up in her eyes. "I thought you were dead," she murmured, voice cracking. "Every club or crappy rundown house I approached I'd get a flash, a mental image of you lying dead out back, a bullet in the back or through the head, or face all bashed in, or..." Katie cut herself off with a sob, and a moment later Emily was there, in her arms, holding her close.
Katie grabbed hold and squeezed Emily tightly, taking comfort in the feel of her sister in her arms.
"I'm sorry, Katie. I really am sorry," Emily murmured, emotion cracking her voice as well.
"These are dangerous people, Emily. They aren't people we should get involved with," Katie attempted to reason with her sister, still holding her close, not ready to let her go yet.
"I think we're involved whether we want to be or not," Emily replied.
"But we don't have to work for them. We're not criminals, Ems," Katie argued, finally pulling away, but keeping her sister within grabbing distance.
"No, but you can't tell me that the money wouldn't be nice, since I've been out of work for almost six months now and you know Dad can't afford to keep sending us the small checks that don't even cover half the rent anyway, and how else are we going to get James out of debt and out of trouble, Katie?"
"There's got to be another way!" Katie insisted.
"What? What is it? Maybe we can talk to Stone and to Naomi. Maybe we won't have to do anything that'll be really breaking any laws," Emily suggested hopefully.
"Yeah, because knives and brass knuckles are always used for such upstanding, lawful tasks," Katie shot back sarcastically.
"Katie, I really don't think we have a choice. I think it's a good idea."
Katie sighed. She didn't want to argue with her sister anymore that night. She was tired. Really tired. Now that she knew that Emily was safe and she'd had her emotional breakdown, she was finally feeling the toll that the late nights tracking Emily down while being ridiculously stressed had taken on her. "Let's just talk about this tomorrow, Ems."
"But, Katie –"
"Tomorrow," Katie cut her sister off.
Emily's face fell and Katie sighed again. She leaned in and gave her sister a kiss on the cheek.
"We'll think clearer after a good night's sleep," she said a little sweeter. "I'm sure you haven't had one in a week," she added under her breath as they headed down the hall.
"True," Emily replied with a small smile on her lips.
There was no power on earth that could've stopped the groan that Katie let out.
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She really thought that Emily would be more reasonable the next day, but, instead, Emily was worse. She was stuck in her mindset and she was moping. In fact, two days later Emily was still moping.
It was getting rather annoying, if Katie was honest. It was one fucking woman. One. It wasn't like there weren't more out there. Plenty of whom seemed to be more than willing to fuck other women.
What was even more annoying was the way that Katie felt like she was always on edge, always looking over her shoulder when she was out of the house. Stone had warned her not to take too long making up her mind, and she couldn't help thinking that Stone wasn't above attempting to speed up that process. As a result, Katie found herself calling her stupid brother to check up on him a few times a day. James, however, didn't seem to appreciate her concern. He snapped at her on the phone and even flat out hung up on her a few times. Worm. Here she was sticking her neck out to fucking help him and he didn't even say thank you. He was lucky he was family or Katie'd consider killing him and saving Stone the trouble.
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Day three since their encounter with Stone rolled around and Katie and Emily still seemed to be at an impasse.
Katie knew it was a bad idea to work for Stone. Emily thought it was a good idea. Unfortunately, Katie couldn't come up with a better alternative. Hard as she tried, she couldn't see a good way out of their situation. Not one that resulted in her, Emily, and James getting away in good health and with all of their limbs, at least.
Emily's strongest argument in favour of Stone's arrangement (besides the finances, which Katie had to admit was quite a draw) was that Stone and Naomi wouldn't hurt them. They'd gone out of their way not to hurt them, even (Naomi decidedly more out of her way than Stone, but Katie was pretty okay with the fact that she hadn't ended up tied to a mobster's bed, thank you very much).
Katie had to admit, though, that while she'd gotten the distinct impression throughout all of her time with Stone that the woman COULD hurt her, she didn't especially WANT to do so. Why, she didn't know. Nor did she know how long that would last if they turned down Stone's offer.
Katie sighed heavily and shook her head. Emily was off at a job interview and she was sitting there at home fucking thinking herself in circles.
Her mobile ringing startled her, and she picked it up off of the end table by the couch and looked at the screen.
It wasn't a number that Katie recognised.
Her heart began to race. She had no doubt who was calling her, even though she'd never given Stone her number. She briefly considered letting it go to voicemail, but given that she didn't know what exactly Stone would interpret from that, she opted just to suck it up and answer. "Hello?" she said, attempting to sound fierce rather than nervous.
"Katie, so glad I caught you," Stone's voice was velvety smooth. There was something in her words and her tone, though, that let Katie know that the number of rings before she answered hadn't gone unnoticed.
"What do you want, Stone?" Katie demanded, wanting to get straight to the point.
"Not one for small talk, are you? I can appreciate that. Just thought you might want to know that your brother attempted to borrow more money from one of my men today. We turned him down, of course. Can't have him getting in even more debt, can we?"
Katie frowned at the conflicting emotions inside her. On the one hand, she was annoyed that James had gone against her and Emily's order to NOT borrow any more money from anyone. On the other hand, she was relieved that he hadn't actually succeeded in borrowing any more money. On the other hand, she was worried that Stone seemed to be keeping tabs on her brother and presumably on her too if she'd gotten her mobile number. On the other hand, she was kind of grateful that Stone had bothered letting her know about her brother. On the other hand, she was suspicious of Stone's reasons for letting her know. And Katie was aware that that gave her five hands, and that was a problem.
"Thank you," Katie replied uncertainly.
"It's my pleasure, Katie. Have you considered my offer any?"
"Yes."
"Have you and Emily come to a decision yet?"
"No," Katie said as coldly as she could.
"Didn't think so. I'll be in touch soon, Katie. Oh, and do wish Emily luck on that interview for me," Stone replied smoothly.
The information was clear. Stone knew exactly what they were up to. She wouldn't just disappear if they turned down her offer. Katie swallowed hard.
"Do take care," Stone added before the line went dead.
Katie threw her phone down on the couch.
"Fuck!"
It was looking more and more like there was only one way out of this situation, and she was not happy with it.
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A noise that night roused Katie from a restless sleep. Had she imagined it? She sat up sharply in bed.
A thump.
No. It was real. Fuck. Was someone in their flat? One of Stone's men come to threaten them a little more obviously? Come to persuade them into working for her?
Katie climbed out of bed and was at her door before she heard something that made her blood run cold. A cry. Emily's cry.
Whoever it was must have gotten to her. They must be hurting her.
Katie pulled open her bedroom door, crossed the hall, and threw open Emily's door expecting the worst.
What she saw, however, quickly made her blood boil.
Naomi, as in Stone's right hand woman Naomi, was in her sister's room. A mobster was in her fucking sister's room. On her bed. Naked. Handcuffed to the headboard.
Naomi's head was tilted back, her mouth parted as Emily kissed along her throat, her left hand braced against the bed and her right hand disappearing between Naomi's legs. One of Naomi's legs was bent and pressing up between Emily's thighs, and Emily's hips were grinding down on it hard.
It was all just way too fucking much for Katie to handle. They didn't even have the fucking decency to have a sheet up around them.
"What the FUCK, Emily? What is it with you two and fucking bondage? And where the HELL did you get handcuffs, Ems?" Katie yelled.
"Jesus, Katie, don't you knock?" Emily demanded, her cheeks flushing bright pink as she clambered quickly off of Naomi and scrambled to pull the sheet up from the bottom of the bed and over the two of them.
Naomi, for her part, seemed unfazed by the fact that Katie was viewing her in all of her glory for the second time.
"Not when I think my sister's being harmed, possibly by the mob, though apparently she was fucking being pleasured by it instead," Katie retorted vehemently.
"Could you be any cruder?" Emily growled.
"Probably!" Katie replied. "And what the fuck were you thinking? She works with Stone, Emily! And James is fucking trying to borrow more money off Stone and Stone called and she said good luck with your job interview, and now you've just invited her fucking right hand woman into our home!"
"She has a name, and I missed her, Katie, in case you hadn't noticed," Emily shot back.
"Oh, well, that makes it all better then. Silly me. I'll just go back to bed, then, and pretend there's not a mobster handcuffed to your bed, shall I?"
Naomi glared icily at her. Katie wouldn't have thought that it was possible for someone to look threatening while handcuffed to a bed, but somehow she was pulling it off. Perhaps it was just because Katie wasn't the one with the keys to the handcuffs and she had no doubt that her sister wouldn't think twice before letting Naomi free.
"She's an adult, yeah? She's allowed to make her own decisions about who she lets into her room," Naomi said.
"Not when it affects the safety of both of us," Katie retorted.
"Sorry, but what threat exactly do you think I pose to you while naked and handcuffed to a bed? Am I supposed to be hiding a weapon up my arse? I think Emily can vouch that I haven't hidden one anywhere else," Naomi shot back.
Katie grimaced at the visual that produced as Emily blushed, but, to Katie's dismay, she also snuggled into Naomi's side, draping a possessive arm across her stomach over the sheet.
"Too much information," Katie groaned, staring pointedly at a point on the wall above and to the right of the pair on the bed, unable to look at them any longer.
"Feel free to leave before we give you any more information," Emily invited.
"We were in the middle of something that I, for one, would really like to get back to," Naomi added.
"Me too," Emily assured her, and, when Katie made the mistake of glancing back at them, she saw that her sister had sidled up even closer and was kissing Naomi tenderly on the lips.
"Ugh, fine, but we'll talk about this in the morning, Emily," Katie warned.
Emily rolled her eyes.
Katie shot them both one last disgusted look, then turned on her heels and left, slamming the door behind her to demonstrate her annoyance.
Honestly, what the fuck was Emily thinking? Well, she wasn't, obviously. Not with her brain at least.
Katie sighed heavily as she climbed back into her own bed. That cunt Naomi had better be gone by the morning.
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"Good morning, Katie," Naomi greeted her in a sickeningly sweet voice.
She was sitting at their kitchen table in nothing more than an oxford shirt and her knickers reading the paper. The fucking nerve of her.
"Looking up your recent bad deeds? Seeing if you made any headlines?" Katie suggested in a matching fakely sweet voice.
"We're far too careful to make the news, Katie," Naomi replied evenly, reaching around the paper to grab the piece of toast on the plate in front of her and take a bite.
Well, she'd certainly fucking made herself at home, Katie thought bitterly. The message underneath her words hadn't escaped Katie either. If something were to happen to her or to Emily or to James, no one would ever be able to trace it back to Stone and Naomi.
"Sorry, but what the fuck are you still doing in our flat?" Katie demanded, dropping all pretence of politeness, even from her voice.
"Emily wanted me to stay the night," Naomi replied, still not looking up at her.
"Well, night's over, so, like, good bye," Katie retorted, gesturing towards the door.
Naomi dropped the newspaper and looked at Katie with icily calm blue eyes. She raised one eyebrow. "I think I'll wait until Emily's up. Don't want her thinking I simply showed up for a shag then abandoned her."
Katie glared hard. The fucking bitch had a point, and she knew it. If there was one thing Katie didn't want, it was Emily getting hurt, and Naomi had obviously picked up on that and was taking full advantage.
Katie turned back to the fridge and set about making herself breakfast, doing her best to pretend that Naomi wasn't there.
"You really should take Stone up on her offer, you know," Naomi said as Katie sat down across from her.
Katie picked up a section of the newspaper that Naomi had already discarded and began scanning through it in an attempt to ignore Naomi.
Naomi chuckled softly. "Oh, Katie. Neither of us is trying to hurt you or Emily."
"You might be trying to fuck her to death," Katie muttered under her breath. She heard the rustling of the newspaper and the next thing she knew Naomi's hand slammed down the section she was pretending to read. "Do you mind?" Katie demanded.
"Yes, actually. I happen to like your sister. I don't enjoy the constant insinuation that I don't have her best interest in mind, and she doesn't either. If it's the fact that I'm a woman that bothers you –"
"You're hardly the first woman she's slept with," Katie scoffed.
"So what, then?"
"Have I not made this clear? You're in the mob! You work with Stone. For all I know you fucking run the organisation with her!" Katie cried.
Naomi tilted her head in a way that more confirmed that suspicion than denied it.
"So tell me in what way is it good for Emily to get involved with someone like you? You must have enemies, and I don't just mean the police. Emily being with you will only put her in danger."
Naomi didn't respond right away, and Katie could tell that she'd struck a nerve.
"Stone and I are careful, Katie."
"Well, with Emily you have to be more than careful," Katie replied.
"Doesn't she deserve to be with someone she likes? Someone she wants? Someone who makes her happy?"
"And you think that's you?"
"I think it could be," Naomi replied staring Katie straight in the eye.
Katie swallowed hard. She hadn't expected that. She hadn't expected to see legitimate caring in Naomi's eyes.
"I think it already is," Emily's voice emerged quietly from the hallway.
Katie looked up as her sister stepped forward in an oversized T-shirt and a pair of knickers. She looked simultaneously hurt and hopeful, and Katie knew that the hurt had been caused by her.
"Have either of you heard of trousers?" Katie asked because she couldn't say anything about the look on her sister's face.
Emily ignored her and walked right past her to Naomi's side. She wrapped her arms around Naomi's neck and leaned down for a quick, but tender kiss.
"I happen to like Emily in as little clothing as possible," Naomi replied, and Katie wished that she'd just ignored the comment too.
"Lovely," Katie muttered. "Emily, why is she still here?"
"I'm not allowed to have my dates stay the night? Or am I just not allowed to let them eat breakfast," Emily replied with a glare.
"Didn't she eat enough last night?" Katie shot back.
Naomi smirked and Emily blushed, then held her head high, defiant. "For your information, I did most of the eating last night."
Katie dropped her piece of toast onto her plate and pushed it away, her appetite suddenly vanished. "Emily, why are you ignoring the most important thing?"
"Do tell, Katie, what's that?" Emily asked, sounding suddenly rather weary of the conversation, though Katie thought that if one of them should be upset it should damn well be her for that overshare from Emily.
"She's in the mob, Emily. She's one of the people James owes a debt to. She's one of the reasons that his arm's going to be in a cast for the next four weeks still," Katie said pointedly.
"I had nothing to do with his broken arm, and I certainly had nothing to do with the amount of debt he managed to get himself into," Naomi interjected coldly.
"And if we took Stone's offer we'd be in the mob, too. We could protect James. And we would still be us. It's not like we'd magically become bad people," Emily said, taking a seat in Naomi's lap and keeping her arms around Naomi's neck.
Naomi reacted by wrapping her arms around Emily's waist and kissing the side of her neck gently before turning a calculated stare on Katie.
"Urgh!" Katie cried out a strangled noise of frustration and she pushed her chair back. "Whatever. I'll be in my room. I told mum I'd double check her books this weekend. Let me know once she's gone," Katie requested, putting as much disgust into the word 'she' as she could muster, then she stood, grabbed her mug of tea, turned, and marched down the hallway, her breakfast abandoned as she quietly seethed.
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She tried discussing her very valid points with Emily one more time after Naomi left, but it backfired. Emily finally blew up at her (and really it was an overreaction, Katie felt – she'd only said that she thought Naomi might be a bit beneath Emily, she was just looking out for her). She'd given Katie a fucking earful then stormed out of the flat, her knickers all in a twist.
The truth was, though, that Katie was losing her grip on her points. She kept saying them, and she knew they were true, but somehow, the more time passed, the more she thought about them, the less they seemed to matter. The more she thought about their situation, the more one conclusion presented itself.
She'd been thinking about it for two hours now, trying desperately to come up with some last ditch plan that'd be just crazy enough to possibly work that would get them out of this, but there wasn't one. Her best option was to get into bed with the very people she had been trying to work against a few days ago. Not literally. Not in her case, at least. She wasn't Emily.
Still, though...
She sighed heavily and looked at her phone in her hand. She'd scrolled through her call history to the number that Stone had called her from ten times in the past twelve minutes, but at this point it felt a bit like she was simply postponing the inevitable.
She took a deep breath to steel herself, gave herself a brief pep talk that she was doing the right thing for her (or at least for her family), and pressed send.
"Glad you decided to accept my offer," Stone answered the phone.
No 'hello'. No 'how are you'. No 'glad to hear from you'. Just a fucking assumption, albeit the correct one, Katie glowered.
"I – Fuck. Fine. Yes. I'm accepting your offer. But Emily doesn't have to. She –"
"Is a big girl and can make up her own mind," Stone supplied for her.
"Yes, fine, thank you. I'm aware," Katie bristled.
"Be downstairs in ten minutes, Katie," Stone instructed.
"Pardon?"
"We need to meet. Be downstairs in ten minutes. I'll see you soon."
That was it. There was no 'good bye'. There was no waiting for Katie to respond. Just an order. "Be downstairs in ten minutes," Katie muttered, attempting to imitate Stone's voice. "Fucking mobsters."
She tried not to think that she now probably qualified as one as she made sure she looked presentable in the mirror, smoothing her silky dark blue top that plunged between her breasts to reveal just enough cleavage to entice any man, but not enough to not give anything away, really, and adjusting her black trousers. She slid on some comfortable shortish black heels, and touched up her makeup. She took one last look at herself, grabbed some silver hoop earrings off her dresser, put them in, and then headed downstairs a few minutes early.
Despite her earliness, a familiar car was already sat out front, Freddie leaning casually against the door, cigarette in hand. He stood up straight and dropped his cigarette, rubbing it out with the heel of his shoe, as soon as he saw Katie. He nodded slightly.
"Afternoon, Miss Fitch," Freddie greeted her, opening the rear passenger door and stepping aside to let her in.
"Thank you," Katie muttered reluctantly as she went to climb in, and then she froze.
Emily already sat in the car on the other side.
Katie glared, then sighed heavily. "Of fucking course," she growled as she climbed the rest of the way into the car.
"Hi," Emily greeted her, at least having the decency to look a tad sheepish.
"Hi? That's all you have to say?" Katie demanded.
"I'm glad you realised I was right," Emily said, holding her chin high.
Katie sighed and turned to the front, only to find the divider down as Freddie climbed into the driver seat, and Naomi sitting just in front of her, white fedora perched at an angle on her head, blue eyes gleaming in the mirror of her flipped down sun visor.
"Hello, Katie," Naomi said with a small wave and a smug look on her face that Katie had half a mind to wipe off. "Welcome to the family."
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You know the drill: feel free to click the link below and let me know what you thought of the chapter, if you think I should keep writing it, etc...I love getting reviews, and the feedback I've been getting so far has really fuelled me updating this so much so quickly despite being more or less retired. As dorky as it sounds, I get excited by each and every one, and I love you all for them. :)
Also, if, for any reason, some of you have yet to read FitchSwitch's 'What the Heart Sees' or check out the awesome Doctor!Naomily drabbles she posts on tumblr under ohmightysmiter accompanied by kickass illustrations done by crazyconversations, what the hell are you waiting for? Go do check them out!
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