Disclaimer: I own nothing of Green Street Hooligans. Le sigh . . . if only I did, Pete Dunham would never leave my room.
Summary: A young Yank set adrift in Great Britain finds her purpose in a family divided.
Note: This story takes place post Green Street Hooligans. It's an AU story in which Pete is not killed. Feedback is always welcome.
Steve Dunham watched his little brother pace the kitchen. He'd been doing it for the last ten minutes and not only was it beginning to make him dizzy but it was also rather obnoxious. Finally the sound of trainers on the tile became too much. Clearing his throat he shot his younger brother a look that had him halting in his tracks.
"Been trying to get her on her mobile all day." Pete muttered shortly. Waking up he'd found himself cold, only a blanket draped across his shoulders. The pleasant warmth Katie had radiated throughout the night was gone. At first he'd thought she'd merely snuck off to the loo. She'd been drinking, obviously, and even the best wound up with a queasy stomach after a night of over indulgence. After a couple minutes when she hadn't returned he realized the hard truth. He had always been praised as a bright lad in school. He knew she was gone. The reason why, though, escaped him.
True enough, things had spun from his control slightly the previous night but she'd wanted him and that had to mean something. A person was apt to do something out of character when pissed but to do something that they didn't want or mean on some level, well he just didn't believe that she'd only thrown herself at him because she was shit faced.
He'd been trying to get a hold of her all morning. He'd rung her repeatedly, even going as far to leave a pair of messages, but still no call back. With a frustrated sigh he finally sat down.
"I think I mucked up." He said after a moment of silence.
Steve looked thoughtful. "Chin up. She'll be 'round eventually." He stated finally.
"You don't understand." He muttered shaking his head. "Not entirely sure I understand."
"Ain't the first time some birds ever run off in the morning." Sitting down himself Steve asked. "So who we talkin' about?"
Pete wondered for a moment. Should he come clean? No, that would bring to many questions. All he wanted to do was take her out for a bite to eat, maybe to a match. It shouldn't be this difficult. It never had been before. If his rep hadn't impressed a girl, in the past, than he'd always been able to charm her pants right off. It was frustrating, leaving him with the feeling he'd done something wrong. She was the one who'd come onto him. She should be praising his upstanding moral values for not using her like a cheap slag and disappearing the next morning.
"It's that blonde down at the corner bakery, isn't it." Pete had to smile as his brother held his arms in front of his chest. "The really busty one. She's a looker. A little porn-staresque but if that's your bag than it works."
"You're an incorrigible one. You know that?"
Steve smirked, "That's what Mum has been saying for years." The smirk quickly over took his face causing Pete to take notice. His brother had been so solemn lately. Only one thing could get him so happy. "So, I talked to Shannon yesterday."
"Congrats mate. What'd she have to say?"
"She's bringing Ben around over the holidays." Shrugging mildly he added, "Says Ben misses me, she does too." Steve's grin was infectious and Pete soon found himself returning the gesture.
"Again with the congratulations."
"You think Kate would watch Ben for a night so I can take Shannon out on the town?"
"Not sure, think I'm going to stop over at her place. If you want me to ask I will." Pete offered not explaining his own reasons for needing to see her. If she wasn't going to answer her phone than he'd make it so she couldn't ignore him.
"Yeah that'd be good, thanks." Steve watched curiously as his brother pulled his favorite trench on and headed out the door. "Let me know what she says."
"Will do."
Something was up with his little brother, that he knew. What was up, was another question entirely.
Katie listened to the message for the third time in under an hour. 'Hey Katie, it's Pete. You laying dead somewhere? That's the only reason I can think you wouldn't answer. I certainly hope not because it's really hard to take a dead girl out on a proper date. Call me.'
She stared at the phone dumbly. What did she do now? When she'd woken this morning, everything had been wrong. As the realization had slowly come to her and memories and feelings flooded back she'd panicked. She'd left as quietly as possible refusing to even go say bye to Claire.
She was sure she'd made a raging fool of herself. He had stopped her. She'd offered herself up like an idiot and had been rejected. Or so she thought. She glanced at her phone again letting the message play back over the speaker. Maybe it was still the large amount of alcohol tainting her blood but she was dumb founded.
Ok so maybe she was wrong. It wouldn't be the first time. The possibility that Pete actually was interested brought up a whole new batch of concerns. What did it mean for her financially? She couldn't date a client that was for damn sure. The last couple months she'd been flirting with inappropriateness but to actually date the man would be out and out crossing the line.
Glancing at the table Katie noticed the offer again. It had come with the post a few days' prior. She'd been shocked when she'd opened it. She'd been sending out resumes for a while now and finally here was an offer of a position with a fairly well known home care service. It was just too convenient. If Pete was serious, she might not need to be as worried as she'd thought.
Her hand rose to her forehead in a vain attempt to rub the ache away. Her stomach growled in sync with the throbbing in her head. She wanted a shower desperately but the fact that she had no hot water was putting a damper on the situation. The thought of filling the tub halfway with the ice from the faucet and filling the rest with boiling water from the stove had entered her mind earlier but she was still feeling far too lazy to actually begin the process. Maybe after a nap.
With the promise of a nap firmly planted in her head she began to make her way to the stairs only to be stopped by a knock. Skulking toward the door, she sighed. If it was someone trying to sell something she was fucked. Instead, opening the door revealed a smiling Pete Dunham. The groan of dismay that escaped her didn't go unnoticed.
"Morning Sunshine" He said gently pushing his way in, chuckling a little at her mumbled protests.
"Make yourself at home"
"I will, thank you." Shrugging off his coat, he made his way to the kitchen he began to rummage thru her fridge.
"Can I help you?" she asked sitting down at the small dining table, again, resting her head in her hands.
"Well here I come here thinking I'm going to whip up a proper English breakfast for you and you ain't got shite." A sharp whistle had Katie lifting her head just in time to catch the small white bottle that had been lobbed her way. "Here's some aspirin. It's a start."
Pulling a stool up to the table, Pete began to rattle off the day's agenda. "I figure you can run upstairs throw something cute on and I'll take you out for a bite since your pantry is so poorly stocked." Katie stared dumbfounded at the Englishman for a moment trying to follow what was going on but finding it exceedingly hard.
"About last night . . . " Before she had a chance to go any farther, she was shushed.
"I told you we'd talk about it in the morning but apparently you were in a rush to get home. We'll talk about it at lunch, k?" Standing up from his own chair he pulled Katie's out for her. "Now off with you. I expect to see you down here in ten minutes flat. You'll feel better after we get some grub into you."
Pete chuckled to himself as the dazed Yank made her way upstairs. Her table was a mess and though he wasn't the neatest person he couldn't help but begin to shuffle the different papers into a pile, separating the rubbish from the important. The glossy gold embossing of some companies logo caught his eyes. Pulling it from the 'keep' pile and toward himself he quickly scanned the offending item. It was a job offer. She hadn't mentioned searching for a new gig.
The sound of footsteps pounding down the stairs disrupted his train of thought.
"Ok, is this cute enough?" She asked cheekily before blowing a stray strand of hair from her face. There had been no way she was going to leave the house with her hair down and in the state it was. A clip had taken care of matters but still, stray bits slipped out and tickled at her cheeks.
"It'll do." He mumbled. She looked more than cute. She looked delicious. His eyes raked over her body. She had an effortless beauty about her, one which he was only beginning to realize. The black turtleneck she'd thrown on accentuated her God given attributes. Like a piece of yummy fruit he wished he could peel it off and reveal her flesh to his eyes. Clearing his throat as well as his mind he met her at the base of the stairs. Pulling her coat off the rack he helped her slip it on before doing the same with his own. Wrapping her arm around his own the two made their way into the chilly British afternoon.
"So how'd you explain the lack of clothes to your Mum?" Katie asked eagerly. Their food had arrived a while ago but neither had done much more than pick at it, too wrapped up in their conversation to notice it.
Pete smirked at the question. "I didn't. Steve decided to walk in the door at the moment. What was more of a priority; a nearly naked boy or one with a couple black eyes and a split lip?" Taking a swig of his ale, He added. "Taught me a valuable lesson though."
"And that would be?"
"If you go home with a girl and it looks like a bloke lives there she's probably not single." Pete shook his head with a laugh. "That was a cold jog home."
Katie stared at the man across the table from her. "You're a scoundrel you know that?"
"I've been told." The Brit responding before plucking a chip from her plate and popping it into his mouth. "You best start noshing, your foods getting all cold and eaten."
"So I see." Katie said sarcasm tainting her voice. She had to admit. It had been really thoughtful of Pete to take her out. He was actually doing his very best to be a gentleman. It was funny but he didn't do half badly. It all made her wonder though. What was it all about? They hadn't spoken about what had transpired the night before and as much fun as she was having she was still a bit on edge about it. She was about to broach the subject when her companion spoke up.
"So I was thinking about something the other day." He started hesitantly.
"And what would that be?"
"Well you know what's what with me but I really don't know much about you." He shrugged "Yeah. I know the small things but nothing really important." Pete watched her watch him, an unreadable look in her ever expressive eyes.
"What would you like to know Pete?" She asked quietly pushing her food around her plate.
"Well why'd you come here?" He said glancing at her plate again. "Eat your food. You're all skin and bones. You could stand to put on a bit of weight."
Katie rolled her eyes, "Yes, Mum."Taking a small bite she made sure to make a show of it, chewing and swallowing dramatically. "Better?"
"Much."
Setting her fork down she wondered where to begin. "Have you ever been in love?"
Pete choked before taking a quick swig of his drink. "I thought I was asking the questions?"
"Don't be such a prat. Just answer the question." Katie said watching her companion lean back in his chair.
"I guess I can't say I ever have." He shrugged mildly.
"Ok then. Well that makes it a little harder to understand." Suddenly she didn't have much of an appetite. Pushing her plate toward Pete, she continued. "I thought I was in love once. I think it was really because he was the only thing I'd ever known." Her eyes wandered the room in a vain attempt to keep from making eye contact with the man across from her who suddenly seemed very interested.
"Go on Love." He prodded gently.
"Robby and I went together all thru out high school. Afterwards things just progressed as they naturally would. We got an apartment together and played at being a family. I just kind of let the stream carry me along. Looking back now I see what a poor decision it was but you live and learn right? " She paused for one second glancing up and finding herself momentarily caught in the molten chocolate eyes that watched her. Her stomach tightened and flipped. In the background the shattering of a plate broke her reverie.
"Robby is not what you'd call a stand up kind of guy. He wasn't 'sweet' and definitely never romantic but I thought that's what was destined for me." The next part took a bit to spit out. Deciding there was no good way to go about it. She just let it flow.
"I got pregnant. It wasn't that joyous moment that it was supposed to be. He yelled and carried on. For a second there I thought he was gonna deck me. He blamed me. Said I was trying to trap him." Pete's look was unreadable and unsettling. "Anyway so things eventually calmed a bit. I was going to have a baby." She said with a small bitter smile. "I was about three months along when I came home from work one night to find Robby on the couch with my cousin. Apparently he was the reason we were never close." Her voice had grown very quiet in an attempt to hide the emotions that were being dredged up. The next part still hurt to talk about even after nearly a years time.
"The doctor said that sometimes stress can cause you to miscarry. Robby, well Robby was to busy fucking his way thru my family tree to care." A single bitter tear ran down her cheek. Pete received a weak smile when he handed her a clean napkin. "Thanks"she mumbled. It took a moment but she gathered herself and forced a smile toward her companion.
Her voice shook gently as she tried to sound chipper. "So I figured a change of scenery was a must and here I am." She finished.
For his part Pete sat quietly, inside though he seethed. In front of him sat a beautiful, bright, lovely girl. The fact that anyone would have the gall to treat her so poorly was something he couldn't quite fathom. Reaching across the table and gathering her hand into his own, he gave her a reassuring smile and a squeeze.
"You know it kinda feels nice to talk about it." She said quietly.
"Yeah? Anytime you need me. I'm here."
"Thanks"
Leaving money for the bill, Pete stood offering her his hand. "Want to go for a walk?"
"About last night" Pete began as they sat themselves on a bench over looking the water. The wind was crisp and cold and Pete wrapped an arm around Katie to ward off the chill. "Well it was a bit of a fluke. It shouldn't have happened like that." He watched as her eyes dropped to her lap and quickly went to work righting the situation. "Hey, look at me." Tilting her chin up he went on.
"Next time that happens between us you can sure a shite that neither of us are going to be trashed. Now, I'm not saying I want to get married or some rubbish like that but you can't deny there's something sparking between us. I want to know what it is."
Katie watched Pete for a moment unsure of what to say or to do. Instead of thinking she let her instincts carry her. Leaning up she placed a chaste kiss on her companion's cheek. He chuckled deliciously.
"Am I to take that as agreement?"
"Yes"
"Well good because I've been wanting to do this all day." Pulling the small woman into his lap and wrapping his arms around her. He tucked a stray bit of hair from her eyes before his lips met hers in the first of many searing kisses.
A/N Finally! That took a life time.