Chapter twenty-two: Love on the rocks

Kate chews her bread, while Charlie is content to play with one of the broken toys they had thrown in the cell. He'd started crying an hour ago and the food and toys had help placate him. His bedtime would be in an hour and there was still no sign of Thomas Shelby. She'd been all right for the first four hours, but now it was getting late. No doubt, he was trying to come up with a plan to get Charlie out safely, but she'd almost gnawed her nails off, waiting for the cell door to open.

It did.

Kate picked up Charlie and stood up. However, it wasn't Thomas who stepped in. it was the man who'd originally brought her here. "Hand over the kid." He orders.

Kate shakes her head and holds on tightly to Charlie. "No, I won't."

"Look," he cracks his knuckles and exhales deeply. "I don't mind roughing a woman up. So this is your last warning. Hand over the brat."

Kate stills for a moment. She doesn't want to get hurt, but the idea of someone hurting Charlie was worse than the beating that was coming her way. She shook her head and said as strongly as she could. "I'm not handing Charlie over."

"Suit yourself." The man drew back his fist and punched her hard in the stomach. Kate flies backwards and hits her head on the cell. Her world is spinning, her mid-riff is in extreme pain, but she holds onto Charlie. Whatever happens to her will be minimum in comparison to whatever will happen to Charlie in Hughes's care.

The man draws back a first and punches her in the face, striking her left eye. She lets out a cry as pain explodes throughout her face, but she won't let go of Charlie! Charlie promptly begins to scream as the man grabs ahold of Charlie, while pushing on her face. She doesn't let go. Kate brings her foot up and kicks him in the balls! The man crumbles, clutching himself as she stands again. Pain is coursing through her every inch. She brings her foot up and kicks the man in the head before hobbling towards the cell door.

To her luck, it's unlocked!

She pushes the door open and runs out of the cell, ignoring every ounce of pain coursing throughout her. Charlie is still crying in fright as she runs as fast as her agony allows, towards the entrance of the church. The front door opens and there's Luca Changretta, a gun in hand. Kate freezes in place, staring at him as he looks at her. He brings his gun upwards, aiming it at her head!

He fires his gun.

Kate instantly drops to the ground.

There's a thud behind her and Kate spins around to see the body of her kidnapper on the ground.

A bullet straight through his left eye.

Her eyes widen as Luca offers her his hand. "Are you coming with me?"She hesitates. "This your only chance or you take your chances with father Hughes."

Kate takes his hand and inhales sharply as he pulls her up from the ground. Kate moans in pain as he moves her rapidly out of the church and down the stairs. Charlie is now sniffling loudly as Luca puts her in the back seat of his car and abruptly orders the driver to drive.

She groans in agony as pain pulsates through her body. Her head feels as if it's splitting in two. "You alright?" Luca asks.

"Yes. Thank you."Charlie started crying for 'Daddy' and she shushed him gently. "We're going to daddy, it's alright Charlie."

"Doctor first." Luca says as he turns her face towards him. "He hit you?"

She nods, her eye starting to swell shut. "Yes, but, it's nothing a pack of ice won't fix."

"Then we'll get you some."

"No, let's get Charlie home, please. Thomas must be worried sick."

"Do you love him?"

"Yes," she kisses Charlie's cheek as he cries into her shoulder. "he's a sweet boy when he's not crying."

"I mean Thomas Shelby." Luca's tone goes cold. "Do you love him?"

She turns and looks him dead in the eye. "I've been in love with one man and unfortunately, that man is dead."

His eyes narrow. "Then why the attachment to the boy?"

"I couldn't have children." She croaks as Charlie clings tightly to her. "And as you can see…he's attached to me as well." he touches her eye, causing her to hiss in pain. "No Charlie."

"Are you hurt anywhere else?" Luca asks. "I was gone for several hours."

She shakes her head. "I'm fine." she's silent for a moment before asking him slowly. "What made you do such a thing?"

"Do what?"

"Come back and rescue me? After all the history between us, you were under no obligation to help me."

"I know. I called your father and when he said that he didn't want you held by Hughes, he offered me a reasonable sum for your freedom."

Kate blinks. "What made my father decide that all of a sudden?"

"I gather," he reaches into his pocket for a cigarette and lighter. "it was your sister screaming at him that made him reconsider allowing you to rot in a place like that. His orders were just to let you out of the cell; I wasn't to help you anymore than that."

She nods. "Thank you for breaking my father's orders."

"I thought at first, that maybe your father would want to help you out, but," he shook his head. "I was surprised when I heard his first reaction to your situation."

"I've not spoken to him since the day I married. Nor, have I seen my sister." She exhales. "He was never going to forgive me for losing all that money and powerful connections."

"I'd have rather that you come to me willingly." He's silent for a moment before looking ahead. "maybe one day you will."

Kate says nothing. She just offers him a smile and closes her eyes. She's exhausted and wants to get Charlie home. Luca doesn't go to Thomas's country estate. He stops the driver in front of a small brick house in Birmingham.

As he helps her out of the car, he says. "This is Shelby's betting house. His family is here."

She frowns. "How do you know that?"

"I make it my business to know where everyone is." she groans as Charlie accidently kicks her sore spot on her stomach. She nearly crumples, but Luca catches her, his grey eyes running over every inch of her. "So, you are injured."

"I'll be fine Luca, there's a nurse on staff back home." Kate stretches up and gives Luca a peck on the cheek. His eyes widen slightly, so she adds calmly. "I only meant that as a thank you. Nothing more."

"Then why feel the need to clarify it?"

"So I don't you false hope." She says firmly. "I owe you that much at least. I didn't say anything last time. Even though I'm beholden to you, I will not treat you as I did the last time."

He smiles quietly; this smile has a hint of darkness behind him. "Good to know." he tipped his hat at her. "I will see you later."

She just smiles at him, not saying anything as she taps on the door of the house. She can hear footsteps and the door was wrenched open, to reveal a worried Ada and Polly standing there. Both the women started screaming as Kate handed a shrieking Charlie over to them. Ada and Polly both hug Charlie tightly; Kate enters the building and closes the door.

"Oh good God," Polly declares as she hugs her tightly, causing her to wince. "what happened?"

"Luca Changretta, helped me escape." Ada and Polly stared at her in shock. "It's a long story and, I'm exhausted."

"Understandably so." Ada says with a nod. "Come, we'll put you up here."

"No, let's get Charlie back home, where it's comfortable for him." She smiles wearily. "Where's Thomas?"

"Down a tunnel."

Her eyes widen. "What? What's he doing down a tunnel? He had horrible nightmares in the hospital, why would he ever go back down?"

"To get the two of you back." Ada explains as she hugs Kate. "Hughes said that you willingly got into the car with his men. Is that true?"

"Yes. I wasn't going to let Charlie be taken."

"They could have shot you."

She smiles faintly. "No one would have dared to shoot me, no matter how upset my father is with me."

The door opened and Michael enters. Polly moves towards her son. Kate sees the body language between the two of them and knows that something is seriously wrong. She steps away, needing to give them privacy as the phone rings.

"I'll get it." she says as she moves softly across the room to answer it. "Hello?"

Kate? It's Thomas on the other end. Oh, how it did her heart good to hear his voice. Kate, is that you?

"Thomas, yes, yes it's me!"

Are you all right?

"Yes, I'm fine." she beckons towards Ada, who hurries forward. "I've got Charlie; do you want to talk to him?"

Yes.

Kate holds up the phone to Charlie's ear. "It's daddy."

Hello Charlie.

"Daddy." Charlie's eyes light up as he hears his father's voice.

Hello son. Can you hear me?

"Yes. Miss you."

Yeah? You all right?

"Tired."

Yeah, you go to back to bed. Good boy. Kate takes the phone back from Charlie. Kate, you still there?

"Yes, I'm here. I'll stay in the nursery with him until you get here, alright?"

No, you go get some sleep.

"Not till you get back home." she says with a warm promise. "I'll watch Charlie."

Alright. Thank you.

"Thank you." she said gently. "I heard you got into a tunnel to get us back." Silence on the other end. "Strength like that, almost makes men like Samson seem weak. We'll be at home when you get back."

Right. Can't wait to see the pair of you. Goodbye.

"Goodbye." Kate hung up the phone. And that was when she was hit with the strongest of feelings that she'd felt in the longest time.

In addition, those feelings were all for Thomas Shelby. God, she couldn't wait to see him again, even though a part of her was warning her not to develop any feelings for the man. This situation had brought them to light that maybe there was some truth to the rumors after all.

Because maybe there had always been something between the two of them, after all.

KatherineThomas: And here you go! I was going to post it last night, but I fell asleep on my laptop again!