Chapter twenty-seven: Waking the Witch


Kate hums cheerfully as she uses pins to secure her hair away from her face, but she hasn't pinned it up. Her hair is hanging down her back, the way she and Thomas prefer it. A bubbly sensation in her stomach, again reminds her that she's looking forward to seeing Thomas Shelby this morning.

Kate moves to head down the stairs when she hears belligerent yelling. Kate frowns and heads down the stairs just as a gun is fired! The crowd downstairs lets out a scream and she runs down the stairs as she hears Christopher shouting. "Let Abigail go!"

"Then," she comes down the stairs to see Anton, her brother, pressing a gun to Abigail's head. "go get Kate! I know she's here!"

"I'm here Anton!" Kate snaps, vexed that he's found her so soon and easily. She prays that the men Thomas has watching her place are already on their way to fetch him. "Let Abigail go, this instance."

Her brother gives Abigail a shove, which sends her sprawling to the ground. Kate glowers at him. "What the hell are you doing here among rabble like this?" he demands. "Father's been turning over the city looking for you!"

"I live here now!" Kate declares. "Put that gun away, you're scaring my customers!"

He looks around. "You own this place?"

"Yes!" she states. "Put the gun away."

"Right, sorry." He puts his gun back in his holster.

"What are you doing here?" she asks as she gets off the final step. "I thought I made it clear I didn't want to see you or father again!"

"Well, father sent me to come and get you." he inhales. "A woman called our home last night," Kate's ears went up. "said she knew where you were."

"What woman?" she demands.

"She didn't say. She was very soft spoken."

"Grace." Kate hisses as she stomps towards the front door. She opens the porch door to see her brother has brought his car down here.

"Hold it," her brother grips her arm. "what are you doing?"

"There's someone I need to punch." She snarls.

"You'll have to do it later." He declares. "I promised father that I'd bring you back."

"No," she shakes her head. "I'm not going back with you. I don't want to leave here."

"Tell father that," he opens the car door and tries to get her in the car. "and then you can come back here."

"No." Kate says firmly as panic sets in now. "I know how this goes. He'll do what he did with Emmett; lock me in my room until he decides that I've learned my lesson. I'm not going!"

Her brother groans as he grabs her around the waist and lifts her up, preparing to throw her in the back seat of the car. "Sorry about this Kate."

"I said no!" she screeches.

"Hey!" Christopher shouts, approaching Anton with a knife. "Let her go!"

Anton does, only to pull out his gun and shoot Christopher in the chest! Everyone screams as he flies backwards, clutching his chest! "You shot my chef!" Kate screams as she hits Anton. He brings back his hand and slaps her hard, causing everyone to gasp in shock. "How dare you hit me!?" she shrieks as she clutches her stinging cheek.

"Sorry about this Kate, but I'm not leaving you here. Now unless," he points his gun back at Christopher. "you want me to put another bullet inside him. Get in the car!"

"Alright! I'll get in!" Kate shouts. "Just…stop hurting people!"

Her brother holsters his gun as he gets into the car, slamming the door behind him. Kate peers out the window as the chauffer starts the engine to the car. A crowd is milling around Christopher's body and she inhales deeply as they pull away from the restaurant.

"You're a bastard." She spits out.

"Sorry about that Kate, but, he had a knife."

Kate looks ahead of her just in time to see Thomas running towards the pub and restaurant. Kate's heart rises in her throat as their eyes meet. He stops and turns on his heel and starts running towards her, shouting after them. At that moment, a foolish idea pops into her head and she decides to go with it. She glances at her brother, who's now lighting a cigarette. Kate flings her door open and jumps out of the moving car!

Her brother curses and she vaguely hears screams from the crowd as she hits the muddy, pebble covered ground. She groans as she hits her elbow hard. She looks up to see that Thomas is still running towards her with Arthur right behind him.

"What the hell Kate?" Anton demands as he gets out of the car and kneels beside her. "What made you do that?"

"Hey!" Kate smiles at the sound of Thomas's voice. Kate knows that venomous look on Thomas's face all too well. Thomas already has his gun out. Her brother attempts. "Get your f**king hands off her!" Thomas shouts furiously as he approaches them.

"Who the f**," her brother shouts as Thomas grabs him and punches him in the face! Her brother curses again and sinks down to the ground. "what the-

Her brother goes flying backwards as Thomas yanks him up from the ground and punches him in the mouth! "It's my brother!" she shouts, not wanting Thomas to have another episode from last night. "Thomas!"

Thomas lets her brother drop like a stone as he kneels beside her. Arthur has his gun out and aimed at her brother's head. "Kate?" he asks as he brushes back her hair. "Don't move, where does it hurt?"

"My elbow, but…it's not too bad. I just landed on it." she exhales as she struggles to sit up from her position on the ground. "Help me."

Thomas pulls her up into a sitting position, moving carefully. "Does that hurt?"

"Nothing I can't handle."

"Who is this Kate?" her brother demands.

"The name's Thomas Shelby." He states as he helps Kate up to her feet. "I've got you."

Kate wraps her arms around his waist and holds onto him tightly. "Oh, thank God for you."

She can practically feel her brother's brain exploding. "Wait a minute. Who is he to you Kate?"

Thomas answers that question for her. "She's going to marry me."

Kate smiles faintly as the whole town murmurs in shock at Thomas's bold words. Yes, she was going to marry him at some point in the future. She turns towards her brother, who is shocked beyond all belief. "Are you serious?" He demands. "Father is going to have a problem with you marrying someone like him." Thomas rolls his eyes. "He's probably one of these half-bred gypsies."

"Well, then it's a good thing you're not the one marrying him!" Arthur lets out a laugh at her choice of words. "You know I don't care anything about that."

Her brother exhales. "I know, I know. It's just…you went from Emmett Webber, this…quiet little crippled, storeowner to this…gypsy gangster. Your tastes in men changed."

"I doubt it. I just happened to meet a man who loved me and got me to love him back."

"Well, you could have spared me a beating by tell me the truth, Kate. It wasn't that you didn't want to leave here. You didn't want to leave him." Arthur moves the gun away from Anton's head, allowing him to stand up. "Alright, you win this go round. I'll tell father that it was a dead end, but…you will have to face up to him at some point."

"And will," Kate assures him. "I want it on my terms. I don't want you two controlling my life anymore."

Anton nods. "Understood." He smiles at her. "I can see that Mr. Shelby's had quite an effect on you. You've become quite the firecracker." Thomas lets out a snort, which causes her to smile. Thomas knew better than him, she'd always been a firecracker. Her brother extends his hand. "Take care of her, Mr. Shelby?"

Thomas nods and shakes his hand. "I intend to, for a long time."

With that, her brother turned to get back into the car. "I'll be going; it's a long ride back to London."

Kate nods at him before turning towards Thomas, who is intensely studying her face. "Are you sure you're alright?"

Kate nods. "Yes, I can bend my elbow; I don't think anything's broken." She smiled at him. "You arrived, just in time."

"Don't ever jump out of a moving car, again." he states as her brother's car pulls away from them.

"It wasn't moving that fast. Besides, as my brother pointed out," she places her hands on his shoulders. "I didn't want to leave you." Thomas says nothing; he just pulls her against him. With a deep exhale, Kate holds onto him tightly. "Besides, you would have come after me."

"Damn right I would."

With a tilt of his face, Thomas kisses her deeply, right there, in the middle of the street for everyone to see.

Kate's slightly embarrassed that he's making such a public display of affection in the streets in front of all of Birmingham. Kate finally decides that she doesn't care and throws abandon to the wind and returns his kiss. She can vaguely hear people murmuring in shock at the spectacle unfolding before them.

He broke the kiss, flashing a rare smile at her as she confessed again. "I love you." He smiled broader and kissed her again on the nose. As he broke the kiss and pulled her into a hug, Kate noticed something. Grace was standing in the doorway of the garrison, a look on her face that screamed guilt.

Kate pulled away from Thomas and exhaled as she rubbed her fists together. "Excuse me, there's someone I need to punch."


Idcam: That will be revealed in the next chapter and Thomas is going to be up to his old tricks.

Shariebery: He had a good point actually, Kate's in different world and with a different man, so she's not the same girl.