October 22, 1924, Philadelphia, PA
"We should be there in an hour."
Kate glanced up from the book she had been staring at but not really reading to see Max string his tie around his neck. Without really thinking about it, she set the book aside and stood, reaching for the tie.
"It looks cold out there," she commented as she wrapped the wide end of his tie around the thinner end, beginning the knot she so often tied for Peter.
He had been a near constant thought since Harry and Jack Pritzker shuttled them off to the train station with two of Harry's bodyguards. Or, more accurately, since Max had walked into the room with blood trickling down the side of his face. She had never had much of a problem with blood before, but the sight of it, the sight of Max bleeding, had ripped a hole in the carefully constructed wall she had placed around her memories of the night Peter and Dutch were shot.
"We'll find you a coat." Max's voice was soft, reminding her of his proximity to her.
She paused in the middle of the four-in-hand she was tying, realizing that her fingers had begun to tremble. She shook her head, hastily dismantled the knot, and crossed the wide end over the front in the beginnings of a Windsor knot instead. The symmetry of the less traditional knot seemed more fitting for Max anyway.
She could feel Max's eyes on her as she gently pulled the tie tight and smoothed his collar over it. She forced herself to look up at him, forced a small smile, but faltered when her eyes settled on the bruise that had settled just next to his eyebrow. It had turned a deep purple, nearly black, overnight. The color was only intensified by the two perfectly white butterfly bandages that Harry had put over the cut. Harry had said Max was lucky. Had the punch landed square, he probably would have been knocked unconscious. It was simple enough for Kate to finish that thought through. If he had been knocked unconscious, those men probably would have killed him.
She quickly looked away and blinked back the tears she had been fighting against all morning. She sat back down next to the window and wrapped her arms around herself, staring out at the gray sky.
She wouldn't be so emotional if she'd had a proper night's sleep, if she hadn't spent the entire night on the train constructing more and more dreadful versions of the family's curse her mother had believed in, wondering if everyone close to her was destined to die.
"Katherine, what's bothering you?" Max sat across from her, tilting his head to try and make her look at him. She grit her teeth and focused on the view from the window.
"It looks like it might rain," she said dismissively. "I really will need to find a coat."
"I don't think that's what is bothering you."
"I'm just tired," she lied.
She closed her eyes against the silence that stretched between them. It was against her nature to shut someone out. But she didn't know how else to handle the situation.
Unlike their arrival in Chicago, their arrival at Philadelphia's Broad Street Station was uneventful. Max had directions to the Bureau—a 20 minute walk straight down Chestnut Street. She followed him silently after turning down his offer to borrow his coat. She just tugged the thin sweater she had around her shoulders and focused her attention on the tall buildings instead of the chill in the air. And she wasn't even surprised when Max turned down a narrow alley between two brick buildings and knocked on an unmarked door.
They were greeted by young man, 17 or 18 at most, who seemed to be made of mostly knees and elbows. He and Max exchanged a greeting, another code of the Order, and they were quickly led down a short hall and directed to an open door. The young man disappeared almost immediately, and Kate waited a step behind Max as he knocked on the doorframe to the office. She peeked around his shoulder to see a small desk cluttered with books and papers, bookshelves full of more books and a few other odds and ends, and a man in a dark suit sitting at the desk with his nose in a book. He set the book down and waved them in when Max knocked.
His hair reminded her of nutmeg, except for the few streaks of silver at his temples. His nose was straight and just a trifle long, but it still seemed to fit with his cleft chin. His eyes were a warm hazel, and the lines around them suggested he smiled quite a bit. Which surprised her, given his occupation.
But he did smile when they walked into the office.
"I've been expecting you two." He held up two pieces of paper, one a letter, the other a telegram. "So is it Maksim? Or…" He glanced at the telegram before his welcoming smile shifted into something more like a smirk. "Nick?"
"It is Maksim, sir." Maksim bowed his head slightly, folding his hands behind his back. A few days ago, Kate might have rolled her eyes at his formal tone and posture. Instead, she ignored it.
"And Kate, is it?"
"Yes, sir." His smile widened when she nodded to him.
"Charles Shearer," he stood finally, offering his hand across his desk. "Charles is fine. I don't do 'sir.' Welcome to Philadelphia."
When Kate reached out to shake his hand, he shook his head slightly and added, "I never thought I'd meet Mags's little girl."
"You knew my mother?" Kate blinked at him.
"I did," he said, waving them to the chairs and sitting back in his own seat. "I worked out West for a while…oh, a couple dozen years ago, I guess. I met your folks a few times, too," Charles continued, shifting his attention to Maksim. "I was sorry to hear about your father's death. Nikolai was a good man."
That answered one of the questions Kate hadn't had the nerve to ask Max. She watched from the corner of her eye as Max bowed his head slightly and thanked Charles.
"So," Charles said, leaning forward and resting his elbows on the desk. The smile had faded from his face, leaving him looking as serious and somber as Max. "O'Malley's letter said you were coming to look into your family, even though he told you we have no records here. Harry Pritzker mentioned trouble in Chicago. And I can tell from looking at you," he nodded at Max, "that Pritzker wasn't wrong. I'm not sure what you expect to find here or why you were even in Chicago and using false names. So why don't you start from the beginning."
Kate hesitated. She didn't want to start with the night the rum-running deal went bad. She wasn't prepared to tell that story, but somehow she knew that's where she needed to start. And, almost as if he'd read her mind, Max spoke before she could. She watched him as he calmly retold the story of that night from his perspective. When he finished explaining about Caldecott, he looked over at her, giving her the faintest of nods, and she picked up the story.
Charles frowned when he heard that everything had been kept a secret from her. And that frown deepened when Max explained what happened in Chicago. Kate dropped her gaze to her lap when he got to the confrontation at the hotel.
This was the first time Charles interrupted with a question.
"Are you're sure it was the same man from the train?"
"Yes," Max nodded. "His eye was swollen half-shut."
Kate looked up at that, eyes wide. Max hadn't mentioned that before.
Max had one of those rare, slight smiles on his face when he glanced over at her.
"Apparently Katherine is good with her fists."
She couldn't tell if he was mocking her or not, but she felt the heat rise in her cheeks.
Charles chuckled, "Mags had a nasty right hook, too."
"Mom didn't teach me how to throw a punch," Kate spat. "Mom didn't teach me a damn thing." She regretted the words the moment they were out of her mouth. She closed her eyes and took a breath. "I'm sorry," she said, looking across the desk at Charles. "I…I haven't slept well."
"I understand," he smiled kindly. "How about we stop here for now. We've got a couple of rooms set aside for your two. Perhaps you'd like to get settled, and you and I can talk more about your family later?"
"I…yes," Kate sighed. "Thank you."
He nodded. "James should be in the front room. Gangly, blonde kid in need of a haircut. He can take your bag up and show you to your room." Then, to Max, he added, "Mind spending a few more minutes with me before I let you go?"
Kate didn't look at Max; she just thanked Charles again and left them to find James and her room.
James, the same young man who had answered the door, was exactly where Charles said he would be. He was gregarious, and Kate let him chatter away and lead her through the Bureau and up a flight of stairs.
"There are two rooms on the left, you can take whichever you'd like. But I recommend the last one down. It's bigger." He didn't even wait for her to acknowledge the suggestion before dropping the duffel bag in that room, talking the entire time. "Washroom's at the end of the hall. And the kitchen's always open. Just don't leave a mess, or Charles'll put you on night duty for a month. And you need anything else, just let me know." He gave her a funny little bow and a grin before leaving her alone in the room.
After unpacking her things, she took the duffel with Maksim's clothes to the other room. James had been right about her room being bigger, though both had nearly identical furnishings and neither had a window. She ran into Maksim in the hallway just as James finished the same speech and headed back down the stairs.
They both stopped and looked at each other for a moment. Then both spoke at once.
"Are you alright?"
"I'm sorry, Max."
Kate shook her head and quickly said, "I'm fine."
Max's lips twitched down, but he just nodded. "Charles was heading to the kitchen to make tea, if you wanted to speak with him."
She nodded in return and stepped past him. She wasn't actually planning on looking for Charles just yet, but leaving the awkwardness of the hallway seemed like the best option.
Charles was dumping tea leaves into a cheerful orange teapot when Kate found the kitchen.
He glanced up at her and smiled. "Tea?"
"Please," she responded and watched as he pulled a second cup from a shelf behind him.
"I was surprised to hear from O'Malley that you were coming," he said casually, turning to check the kettle on the stove. "I assume he told you that the records books were stolen a while back?"
"He did. But I work…worked in a library, and I'm good at research. I guess I just hoped I might still find something." She looked down at her hands. "It's hard to find out that everything you believed about yourself was a lie."
"Ah," Charles sighed. She looked up at him to see a mixture of sadness and sympathy in his eyes. "I'm sure you've been told that your mom was trying to protect you already. I wish I had a better explanation for you than that." He shook his head.
"She was trying to break the curse."
"Curse?" Charles tilted his head.
Kate nodded. "My grandmother told me about it. Mom believed we were cursed because of some artifact that got lost."
"Christ," Charles laughed. "I forgot about that story." He turned to the kettle that was now steaming and poured the hot water into the orange teapot. "I hope you don't believe there's any truth to it."
Kate frowned. "My mom died doing something I don't understand. My two best friends were shot by Templars three months ago because of me. Peter died. Dutch nearly did, too. And Max…Maksim could have died yesterday because of whatever this…thing is." She shook her head and let out a bitter sigh. "I don't know if it's a curse, but I need to know what the hell is wrong with my family."
Charles crossed the kitchen to her and put a hand on her shoulder. She looked up at him, met his gaze, and found the warmth in his eyes inexplicably comforting.
"I know you don't know me from Adam. But your mom and I were friends once, Kate. And I promise you that there is nothing wrong with your family. None of this, none of it is because of you. The blame is not yours."
She felt her lips curve up in a small smile. "You sound like Nana," she said quietly.
He dropped his hand and laughed. "I never met your grandmother, but from what I've heard, I wouldn't dispute anything she said."
A/N: Bonus Tuesday post! Because...reasons. And new characters means new faces on tumblr! And Kate will be in Philly for a while (ten or so chapters), so settle in. And, as always, thanks for all of the reviews and follows and favorites!
