Notes: Scruffy - they are adorable. And I loved the mental image of the two of them getting things DONE. :D
"Mr. Fisk Makes an Appointment"
As the school year steadily approached, there was plenty to do around the mansion to get ready while students started to trickle in — though on top of that, Kate was facing a huge party at work. The start of the school year was a big boost for book sales, from textbooks to reading material, and as the fall calendar was just getting into full swing, Bishop Publishing had a big bash lined up.
"It's for all the employees at the home office," Kate was telling Kurt as she brushed some nonexistent dust off of his jacket and straightened his lapels. "I'm even bringing K. She's officially on my payroll now, by the way, so people will stop questioning me when I call her my secretary." She flattened his jacket one last time and then stood on her toes to kiss his cheek. "It was a lot of fun last year."
"Well I guess we should go try to have fun then," Kurt agreed, though he didn't look entirely convinced, especially for how much Kate was fussing over him for what she said was a simple party.
She kissed him once more and grinned his way. "You're the one dating the businesswoman, sweetheart. You've had plenty of chances not to be stuck with me and this … crazy," she said, waving her hand with a teasing grin before she slid her arm through Kurt's. "Come on — we're taking a limo this time. I can't show up like the boss of my own company in a tiny purple bug."
The two of them met K on the way out of the mansion — and she looked just as well-dressed as ever, at least when it came to pretending to be Kate's 'secretary'. She'd chosen a dress that made her ring seem to sparkle that much more, as the blue was the exact same shade as the gemstones around the diamond in the center.
The two of them grinned at each other, and Kate tipped her head K's way. "I like the shoes. New?"
"Always for an event," K replied before she tipped her head at Kurt, who still looked uneasy over the whole thing. "Hey. Relax. Sie können mit mir verstecken."
"He's mad because I told him no inducer," Kate teased, though Kurt didn't look all that amused at her antics.
"Does that mean I'm your 'secretary' tonight too?" K asked with a little smile Kurt's way.
Kurt just raised an eyebrow at her. "Wenn du es sagst."
"Ja, mache ich."
Kate grinned at both of them and pulled Kurt along to their waiting ride, unable to stop smiling at how protective both of them were.
The drive down to Bishop Publishing headquarters wasn't too long, but it did seem that way at times with Kate readjusting Kurt's jacket or collar every once in awhile with a thoughtful look on her face the whole time. What she hadn't told him — and what K knew — was that she was trying the look on for size… the married look. She wanted to see how her business associates would react to her soon-to-be-fiance. The last thing she needed was to find out someone at her company was going to, like, try to kill her future husband or something.
It wouldn't stop her from marrying him. Obviously. But she wanted to know about any problems before they arose so she could deal with them. Kurt already had it hard enough waiting for her to get her act together. She didn't want marriage to come with any other problems for him when he had been so patient with her. She wanted this to be perfect for him.
When they did finally arrive at the party, Kate made it a point to grab hold of Kurt's hand and simply didn't let go the entire time they were making their way inside, so that by the time she made her triumphant entrance, there was no mistaking who her date was.
The beginning of the party was marked by the usual pleasantries, which meant Kate had to talk with the heads of her different departments — marketing, acquisitions, that sort of thing — though after a few rounds of small talk, Kurt was starting to notice that Kate was stealing glances K's way to see whether or not K would shake her head after any given interaction.
Kurt tipped his head at Kate to catch her eyes for a moment after her fiction editor had left and he took a moment to smile at her. "What is it you're asking K to do?" he asked softly. "Is there some sort of problem you're trying to track down?"
"Just trying to make sure there's not a problem," Kate said off-handedly. "Don't worry about it," she added as she gave him a quick peck on the cheek. "If there is one, it won't be for very long."
When Kurt frowned a bit her way, K stepped a hair closer to him and tipped her head toward his shoulder so it would be close and quiet. "Die Bedrohungen haben nicht aufgehört," she half whispered. "Precautionary measures — she's thinking ahead instead of reacting."
Kurt's frown deepened, but he nodded slowly. "Gut. Halten sie sicher," he whispered back.
"Always," K said with a nod.
Kate looked between the two of them for a moment before she let out a sigh. "You two are cute when you're overprotective," she said before she threaded her arm through Kurt's.
"Then we must be adorable right now," Kurt told her as he covered her hand with his on his arm.
"Oh, very," she agreed, smiling. "So cute I'm thinking of taking you to more of these." She gave him a wicked, lopsided grin. "You just seem to enjoy them so much."
He gave her a little look. "If I did, I don't think you'd need your secretary to accompany you."
She laughed outright and shook her head at him. "Come on, you party pooper. There's still a few people I'd like you to meet, and then I promise we can have champagne and you can sweet talk me or something."
Kurt gave her another look but allowed her to take him through the party to speak with other members of her staff — and as always, she would look past them to K after every interaction to get either a nod or a shake of the head. And Kate was keeping track of everyone who got a 'no'. Anyone K was picking up anger from just from seeing her with Kurt? So did not need to be working for her, considering her plans for the future. She wasn't going to let anyone hurt Kurt, and she especially wasn't going to let it be for a reason as stupid as the simple fact that he wasn't human. That was just idiotic.
There was only one instance where K didn't respond to anything one of her editors said ... except to smirk. When the conversation ended and Kate had moved on to mingle, K crossed over to Kate, put her hand on her shoulder, leaned in and whispered. "He has a crush on you. He's angry ... but … I don't think it's a problem."
Kate raised both eyebrows high and let out a little breath of a laugh before she nodded. "Yeah, that — that'll resolve itself. Thanks."
K smirked at her and shook her head. "No worries, Elf," she said as she peeked over to Kurt, who was watching the two of them with a pursed-lips kind of frown as it was clear he was starting to piece together what they were up to.
Kate was just chuckling at the expressions on both of their faces when there was a ruckus of a disturbance at the door. A group of well-dressed men was pushing its way through Kate's security and into the building, and Kate had to narrow her eyes when she recognized the man at the center of it — it was impossible not to recognize Wilson Fisk, after all — as they simply pressed their way past the partygoers to make themselves at home in her office.
"It's a good thing I keep everything at my home office," she muttered so low only K could hear, her eyes still narrowed.
"I think your security needs work," K said, watching the office door as several suited men stood guard outside it as if it belonged to their boss. "Maybe have your little friend in the metal suit help you out."
"I'll be sure to talk to him about it," Kate said, still frowning toward her office door.
"Do you want me to tell him to make an appointment?" K said with a smirk.
"Someone should remind him of his manners," Kate agreed with a small sort of nod. "But if he's insistent on staying, he can just wait. I have a party to attend to," she added, her tone obviously annoyed.
"I can inform him of what I think of his upbringing if you like."
Kate chuckled low and just shook her head. "Let's just… play by the rules. For now. Polite business brushoff if we can."
"That's easy enough. I'll go inform him of your office hours." K gave her a little smile and put on her best no-nonsense strut to let herself into the office while Kate and Kurt watched the show out of the corner of their eyes, not quite able to pretend that they were enjoying the party when they were watching out for their friend. Through the window, they could see as K brushed off the assistant that tried to talk to her first and went right up to where Fisk was sitting behind Kate's desk.
Kurt could easily see that K was smiling the whole time, though she didn't seem to blink once as she had a few brisk words. Fisk looked a bit taken aback, but after a moment, he nodded and K shot him a little smile before she left the office with a spark of trouble in her eyes.
"They all have guns. Every one of them," K said. "Not that I'm surprised."
"Yeah, doesn't surprise me either," Kate muttered darkly. "Doesn't exactly make me want to meet with him either."
"I have no problem telling him whatever you want, including advising him to shove that little weasel of an assistant up his ass. Just say the word."
Kate thought it over for a moment as she considered how to handle it. After all, not everyone knew how much of a slimeball Fisk was, and this was a public party. "Did he tell you why the heck he couldn't make an appointment to talk to me? Like a civilized person? With an appointment? And no guns?" She tipped her head at the office. "Because I also have no problem telling him where to shove it."
"He tried to tell me that he was a very important person, to which I said how proud his parents must be, but that office hours are posted on the front door, and this is a private party." The words barely left her mouth when Fisk's entourage spilled out into the party. "I don't think they like me very much. Odd."
Kate smirked the slightest bit, though her eyes were narrowed as she looked over the group. "Kurt, if he tries to start anything, can you get the bamfs here to help?"
"If he tries to start anything, I can 'port you out while I assume your secretary stabs his eyes out," Kurt replied.
"Accurate description of events," K agreed.
"I meant for the guests," Kate said, though she was chuckling at both of them.
"They'll run," K promised. "Once they see the arsenal I'm hiding in my arms."
Kate let out a sigh and then nodded as she took Kurt's arm. "Come on, sweetheart, let's see what the impatient little twat — I mean, very important person — wants, shall we?" With that, rather than wait for Fisk to bully his way over to her, she strode over with a slowly gathering, practiced business smile that Kurt had seen her use on JJ on television.
"This party is for employees and their families only, Mr. Fisk," she said coolly as she arrived close enough to his rather large influence of gravity that it would be considered a private conversation without getting any closer than she had to. "Unless you're looking to join the family?" She tipped her head at him. "We do have an HR department if you'd like to leave your application when they open on Monday morning. I know times are hard, but surely one weekend isn't too long to wait for a job option."
"Very humorous, Miss Bishop, but I think you'll find that I only need to take a moment of your time," Fisk said brusquely. "If we could just share a private word." He glanced toward Kurt and then K, who was smiling up at him and looking perfectly relaxed. "I'm afraid this matter is pressing."
"If you wanted to speak to me in private, you only needed to make an appointment," Kate said sweetly. "But we must have different definitions of privacy if the number of your… assistants are any indication."
K leaned toward Kate and stage whispered so that she was sure Fisk heard her. "For such a pressing matter, there is no record anywhere of any attempt from any of Mr. Fisk's associates contacting you until just now." She turned Fisk's way. "Thursday next, 11:30 work for you?"
Fisk openly glared at her as K smiled sweetly up at him. "Be that as it may, it's still quite important that we share a word."
Kate crossed her arms for a moment. "As you just heard from my secretary, my schedule's full. It's the school season — busy time for publishing. And I don't take well to meetings under a gun," she said pointedly.
He narrowed his eyes at her. "I'm sure you've found the need for increased security," Fisk said. "My associates mean no harm while they do their jobs." K quickly covered her mouth with her hand to hide the little laugh that tried to escape her as she shook her head.
"Yes, it seems you've reminded me why I'll be tripling my security division," Kate said with a thoughtful look around. "Though I do hire the best. It takes some time to sort through the roughage." She gave him a glance for a long moment. "If you want privacy, Mr. Fisk, I'd be willing to talk. But if you want me to leave my associates behind, yours will have to leave too. I don't do lopsided business deals."
"I can go along with that — though my assistant, Wesley, is a bit overprotective about sticking close," Fisk said, indicating the slight man beside him, who looked down his nose at the entire group of them.
"Then my secretary will insist on staying as well. With my being a young woman in this business and all, she's a bit worried about my being alone," Kate said just as easily.
"Of course," Fisk said with a practiced smile. "With the attempts that have been made lately, I understand perfectly."
Kate glared at him for a moment and then made it a point to kiss Kurt on the cheek. "Won't you entertain the guests for a while, darling? I'll only be a while," she said in her best, airiest voice.
"Of course, liebling," Kurt replied calmly, though the very tip of his tail was switching. "I'll be waiting for you."
"Won't be long," she promised again. "Do tell our friends why I was delayed so they don't go spreading rumors of my untimely demise again. They're so worried sometimes." With that, she strode past Fisk toward her office. "I believe you know the way," she said as she passed him without really looking at him, K just behind her with that same sweet smile.
When they got into the office — after Wesley had held the door for the two women and pulled the blinds in the office — Fisk wasted no more time with pleasantries. His expression changed into a harder one, as did his tone as he leaned toward Kate. "You must know that my company had some ongoing interests in this company when your father was running it. It is my intention to strengthen those ties."
"It's a very different company now from the one my father ran," Kate said with a frown — since if Fisk wasn't going to bother with business smiles, she sure wasn't going to either. "And my lawyers have been through my records thoroughly to make sure my interests are represented — not my father's. I'm sorry you lost a business partner, but I lost a parent, so your 'interests' don't really seem to hold much weight in comparison."
He looked as if he was trying to hold back his anger as he spoke between clenched teeth. "You misunderstand, Miss Bishop. This new direction you're taking is causing problems. I can't allow you to continue down this path. I won't let you drag this company that I helped to build into the dirt."
She didn't drop his gaze and in fact drew herself up a little taller. "You and I must be seeing different numbers. Sales have never been better, marketing is through the roof—"
"It's not the numbers," Fisk growled.
Kate narrowed her eyes at him. "I'm well aware of what your problem is. But I guess giving you a polite way out of admitting to being a total bigot just isn't how things are done anymore."
"What you do still reflects on the ties that I had with Bishop Publishing," Fisk said evenly, though it was clear he was getting angrier with every word. "I won't be lumped up with your little ... side interests."
"You have no legal say in what I do with my company," Kate said, her eyes flashing. "And you know it."
"Then I suppose I'll need to appeal to your more delicate sensibilities," Fisk replied sharply.
"You'll find I'm not as delicate as you seem to think," she shot back, her voice raising.
"Apparently not," he replied before he leaned forward and his voice dropped dangerously low. "Are your affairs in order, Miss Bishop? The world is a dangerous place."
Now it was Kate's turn to look as though she was barely keeping her own anger in check, and she clenched her fists at her sides. The attempt on her life back in New Orleans was still fresh in her mind, still in the back of her dreams, and a death threat, even implied — from someone she knew would follow it through — had her usually eloquent sass temporarily dried up.
"What happens, Mr. Fisk," K interrupted, stepping in when she clearly could see that Kate had been dealt an emotional blow and needed the cover. "If something were to happen to you, I wonder? Are your affairs in order?"
"I'm sure Mr. Fisk has done what all of us in the business world do — beef up security and keep our lawyers on speed dial," Kate said through her teeth.
"I think he believes himself above that," K said as she made her way over to Kate, a physical show of solidarity on top of everything else.
"Yes, well, my father thought that way as well," Kate said, waving her hand casually but with steel to her tone. "But I learned from his mistakes. You can never be too careful."
At that, both Fisk and Wesley looked at the two women with a bit of a frown. "Indeed," Fisk said.
Kate smirked at him for a moment and then stood from behind her desk. "Thank you for your obvious concern for my well-being, but I have an event to attend to," she said. "As you pointed out, I am taking my company in a new direction, and that needs a little attention."
"I'd be happy to show you out if you think you may get lost," K offered with a hard grin.
Wesley frowned hard her way before Fisk declined, remembering his manners suddenly, though he fell short of offering Kate his hand to shake. "I'll be in touch, Miss Bishop."
"You know the number of my office," Kate replied with a practiced near-smile and a nod.
Wesley held the door for the two women again before both he and Fisk rejoined the entourage, both of them with practiced 'public' expressions that didn't quite hide the frown as K and Kate rejoined Kurt, whose tail was still switching, even if he did look slightly more relaxed on seeing the two of them emerge from the office — and even more relaxed when Fisk and the men he'd brought with him finally left the building.
"K, I think I'm going to call Tony after all, see who he recommends for security detail," Kate said softly as soon as Fisk's men had left. "And then maybe talk to Matt Murdock, make sure we're ready in case he tries to make a move on my board or my assets some other way."
K was still glaring toward the elevator as Kurt put a hand on Kate's arm. "Was wollte er?" he asked quietly.
Kate frowned hard for a moment and then let out a breath. "To remind me that he used to own my dad, and that he'd like to either own me or replace me with someone he does own," she said in his ear, low enough that the other guests couldn't hear, though it was clear that the party was more or less over, as many of them were shaken, and several had left after the showdown.
Kurt frowned as he looked over Kate — taking in how upset she looked as well as the way K was still sticking close to her. "Perhaps it's time to call it a night," he said very gently as he pulled her a little closer to him.
"Yes, I think so," she agreed, leaning her head on his arm.
"Do you two want the limo to yourselves?" K asked with an unreadable look on her face. "I can find my own way back if need be."
"Or we could always take the fast way and let you have all that space to stretch out," Kate teased lightly without looking her way.
"I can stretch out without the limo," K assured her with a smirk.
Kate just grinned and nodded before she wrapped her arms around Kurt's middle. "Come on, Kurt. Let's go home. I'll ask the driver to go slow. I'm tired."
"Of course," he said, kissing the top of her head as he pulled her a little tighter to him.
"Tell Logan I won't be too long," K called out their way as she gave them a little wave and slipped off, only to disappear into the crowd.
"Remind me to give her a raise," Kate said with a little smirk, still with her head on Kurt's shouder before he simply teleported the two of them into the limo, deciding that enough was enough with the public appearances when Kate was clearly done.
"Are you sure you're alright, liebling?" he asked gently as she just seemed to melt that much more into his shoulder and wrap her arms around him that much tighter once they were out of scrutiny.
"I'm just tired," she promised as she tipped her head back to steal a kiss.
"Well then. We should get you home… perhaps find some ice cream…" He trailed off when that got a solid smile out of her, and she snuggled into him.
"I've mentioned how much I love you, right?" she whispered.
"Oh, perhaps a time or two," he said lightly.
"Well, I do," she said.
"I know," he replied as he lifted her chin with the knuckle of one hand to bring her mouth to his, and the two of them fell into a much less talkative — and much more efficient — form of communication.
But while Kurt and Kate were headed back to Westchester, K was discreetly tailing Fisk and his men. She'd taken off her heels and was rushing behind them silently, sticking to the dark shadows in alleyways and between buildings. The further she got, the more she was frowning to herself, since they weren't headed anywhere near Fisk's office building. But there she was anyhow — going into one of the older areas of the city that still had brownstones up and down the block.
When the caravan of black cars got caught up in traffic, K rushed up a fire escape — her shoes discarded in a dumpster so she could keep her hands as free as possible while she climbed. It was a good move, too, since not five seconds after she reached the top of the building, Fisk's men got out of one of the cars and did a quick security sweep of the area before loading up and driving off again with traffic.
She kept after them at a run — leaping the small spaces between buildings as she did so, all the way until he made a right turn, which had K thanking the gods that be. She watched from the edge of the rooftop as Fisk finally got out of the car and headed into a building two blocks further down.
She didn't hesitate to climb back down. Gaps between buildings she could handle — jumping across entire streets, not so much.
Again, she was aware of the men Fisk had brought with him — though the scent of gun oil was heavy in the air anyhow in this area. She frowned to herself, wondering why the hell that would be the case, but continued on anyhow. When she got to Fisk's building — she was irritated to see that there was no fire escape there.
"Figures. Can't keep up with codes," she muttered to herself before she simply started to scale the dark side of the building using mostly sills and gaps in the bricks. She was grumbling to herself at the fact that she'd likely have to scale at least another wall to find out where they were, but halfway up, she was joined by someone else that nearly had her shouting.
"What are you doing here? In a dress? On the side of a building? Is this some weird kind of date night …. No. Nevermind. I don't want to know the details? Just … why are you here? Wall-scaling's my thing, remember?" The friendly neighborhood wallcrawler asked from a few feet above her head, stuck to the wall and facing downward.
"I'm following Wilson Fisk. I am not trying to horn in on your game," K told him, and that got Spidey to perk up.
"Oh, really? That … sounds … why would you do that?"
"Because he was creeping on Kate and threatening her business, so … here I am," she replied, only slightly annoyed by his antics.
He was nodding his head to himself and had sat back on his heels, chin in his hand. "Uh-huh, uh-huh, I can see now why you'd go after him. But is this your new hero suit? Because I gotta tell you, we really don't have enough girls in skirts for hero suits? And it might do the X-Men some good at this point if—"
"Hey. Focus," K said, wondering why she'd climbed the building again at this point. "Can you check the other walls for which room the guy went into? I got this one."
"Oh. Sure! Why didn't you say so?" Peter said brightly before swinging down the alley to look around the building.
K shook her head and started upward again, finally pausing when she heard a familiar voice. She didn't know where they were in that floor — they very well could have been on the other side, but Fisk's angry, booming tone was unmistakable. She looked around her and found a better grip to pull herself up a little further, peeking in the window just enough to see that it was heavily curtained and filled with candlelight when her phone buzzed insistently.
She startled and very nearly let go, knowing that it would continue. She took one hand off of the wall and carefully dropped her head out of sight to answer it in a whispered. "What do you want?"
"Where the hell are you?" Scott asked from the other end. "I thought you knew better than to run off and follow a wild lead without backup."
He continued along that same thread for a minute or two, but K had bigger problems as one of the men in the room was headed her way. She looked down and knew she didn't have a good way to hide on the open wall. And before the guy got to the window, she made her decision to just let go. She'd be fine. More or less.
She'd barely let go of the wall when someone grabbed her.
"You really shouldn't try wall crawling without the right equipment," Peter said as he swung her a few blocks away from Fisk.
"Is that Spider-Man?" Scott asked a second or two after Peter had spoken.
"Yes. Yes it is," K replied, letting out a little breath of relief. Two birds with one stone, as it were.
"Is that Logan?" Peter asked before he sang out a cheerful "Hi, Logan!" that had K smiling widely at him.
"No, it's Scott," she told him before she turned her attention back to the call. "You really need to relax. I was just getting to the good stuff when you called and tanked my scouting mission."
"I wouldn't have called if you'd have told someone what you were up to. All Kurt and Kate had to say was that you were following Kingpin. Which — I have to tell you…."
"I know. I won't do it alone. Thanks, Scott. Tell Logan I'll be there in a little bit. Spidey's going to help me find a ride."
