A/N: Kind of a transitionary chapter...and to think, this was actually going to be quite a short chapter when I started. Stupid characters and their constant need to pick fights. :) I hope to be up with more (and much better) stuff early next week!
Easing down the hall in her bare feet, Katie looked around the corner to try to locate Murphy. The living room was empty but she could hear the coffee maker going. She found him at the kitchen table with his back to her, inhaling a cup of coffee and reading the morning paper. The bottle of Tylenol on the table next to him told her he wasn't completely without a hangover.
She moved into the kitchen wordlessly and noticed that the four bottles of alcohol had simply been moved to the counter, instead of being put away. With a small sigh, she put each back in the cupboard and grabbed her own coffee mug. After filling it with coffee, she turned to the table to find that Murphy was still engrossed in his paper. Or at least he was pretending to be.
"Murph, I'm sorry."
"Humm?" He kept his eyes on the paper.
Katie set her mug down on the table too hard and hot coffee splashed onto her hand. She winced. "Fuck. I said I'm sorry." She waved her hand in the air to cool the burning coffee down.
"Ye don't have to burn yourrself to make a point." He smiled but still kept his eyes down on the newspaper.
"Murphy!"
"What? Okay, so ye're sorry. I get it."
"Didn't we already have this fight once?"
He looked up finally and leaned back in his chair. His eyes landed on hers and held her gaze. "Yeah, I thought we did too."
She took another drink of her coffee and stared down at her hand. He wasn't budging an inch on this. "Well fuck, Murph. Why does everything have to be so secretive with you two?"
"What do ye mean?"
"I was followed yesterday. Since it was Connor, it shouldn't be a big deal. Except the fact that it fuckin' scared me. For no reason. Because I didn't know it was him until over twelve hours later. That's why I was yelling at him."
"Katie, don't take off and we won't have to follow ye." He leaned over and grabbed the pack of cigarettes, tapping one out into his left hand. "It's really quite fuckin' simple. Problem solved." He returned his attention to the newspaper, signifying the end of the conversation.
Forcing herself to take a deep breath, she set her cup down slowly and got to her feet. They were both quiet as she poured herself a bowl of cereal. She leaned against the counter, waiting for some further response from him, but nothing came.
"Fine, Murph. Whatever." She walked out to the living room. Turning on the television, she put her legs up and set the bowl on her lap. Murphy listened her go but just sighed, shook his head and went back to reading his paper.
By the time Katie was done with her cereal, Connor had shuffled down the hallway, looking only half awake. He half nodded at her before going straight to the coffee machine and getting himself a cup. He sat across from Murphy and grabbed one section of the paper. He was partway through his coffee before he finally looked up at his brother.
"I think Katie's got a point."
"Huh?" Murphy asked, his eyes still on the paper.
"Put the damn paper down for a sec. I said that Katie's got a point."
"Got a point?" Murphy finally set the paper down and reached for his coffee cup again. He took a drink and frowned at Connor. "What point?"
"About all the shit that's been happening."
"What are you fuckin' talking about?"
Connor reached for a cigarette with a frown. "Katie, did you tell Murph what ye told me?"
"Nope. Problem fucking solved, I guess." Her voice calmly echoed in from the living room. Connor narrowed his eyes. Murphy looked at him innocently.
"Katie, come in here, please."
"Conn, I'm comfortable. If you two want to chat, come out here."
Shrugging, Connor got to his feet. He looked over at Murphy who just raised an eyebrow.
"Get up, Murph. We're moving this conversation to the living room."
"What fuckin' conversation? I'm reading the paper." He pointedly picked it back up and started reading.
"Were you this difficult when you talked to her?"
"How is it difficult to want to read the paper?"
"Put the fucking paper down and get out here to talk."
"Fuck off, Connor. I'm not in the mood to talk."
"Gee, and you hide it so fuckin' well. There are more important things here than your fuckin' moods." Connor turned and left the kitchen. Murphy focused back on the paper but found he couldn't concentrate. Soft voices from the other room kept working their way into his brain.
Laying the paper down, he leaned back slightly and listened.
"I don't know for sure." Katie's voice was soft and slightly muffled. There was a pause. Then he heard Connor speak up again.
"Did you do any sort of job where you could have learned any dangerous information?"
"Dangerous?"
"Yeah, as in important than and life-threatening now."
Murphy sighed and got to his feet. He stood in the doorway and leaned his head against the door jam.
"So what is Katie's point?" He directed his question to Connor who sat in Da's chair across the room. Katie had moved down to lean against the arm rest nearest him. They both looked up at him.
"Don't worry about it, Murph." Katie sighed and looked back at Connor. "You were saying?"
"You got me out here. Now what's the fuckin' point?" Murphy moved away from the door way and walked to the other edge of the couch. Katie turned and glared at him.
"There is no fucking point, Murph. Remember? Such a simplistic answer. Problem fucking solved." She got up and walked down the hallway without another word. Connor shot an annoyed glance at Murphy.
"Yer being a real asshole, Murph."
"Ye don't fuckin' even know what we talked about."
"What did ye talk about?" Connor raised his eyebrows and leaned back. Murphy put his feet up on the coffee table.
"She was pissed because you following her scared her. So I told her not to leave without us again and it won't be a problem."
"That's why she said she was pissed?" Lighting another cigarette, Connor leaned slightly forward.
"Yeah, what did she tell you?"
"What she would have told you if ye hadn't ended the conversation like that."
"Am I gonna have to beat it out of ya?" Murphy glared at him. Connor was silent for a moment before pointing his cigarette at him.
"Are ya gonna fuckin' listen to me?"
"Aye, if ye actually start talking about something."
"She thinks they followed her here. And that's when they left the messages and trashed the place."
"And fuckin' jumped her in the alley."
"Yes, although the attack might have been mostly to give them more time to do it."
"Why wouldn't they have done it all before they got here?"
"Because they fuckin' followed her, Murph. That's one of her points. Direct or indirect, this was about her."
"All the more fuckin' reason for her to stick with us."
"Look beyond the immediate, ya idiot. We need to figure out why they are doing it and who they are after."
"They are after her." Murph pointed his finger down the hallway.
"But are they?" Connor leaned back again, happy to have gotten to the main issue. Murphy frowned at him.
"What?"
"They left two messages that would have only meant something to us, but wouldn't have known where we lived if it wasn't for her."
"Okay." Murphy brought his thumb to his mouth and started chewing on the skin around his thumbnail. He looked at Connor again. "Are they using her to get to us? Or are they just trying to kill two birds with one stone?"
"And that first possibility is why she's pissed."
"What? Oh, fuck."
Connor nodded. "Exactly. She's really pissed because she's afraid someone may have seen me following her."
"Why the fuck does that matter?"
"Think about it, Murph. The only pictures they have of us are those courtroom drawings. Smecker's managed to take care of anything else."
"Okay." Murphy frowned again. "So, through her, they might actually figure out what we look like."
"Exactly."
"Again, why the fuck does that matter?"
"Do ya want life to go back to how it was in those month's after the trail? We can finally go out into public now safely. No one remembers what we look like anymore. Our faces are not in the fuckin' immediate memories of the public."
"But why does it matter that the Mob figures out what we look like?"
"They can use it one of two ways. They find a way to make sure the police can find us. Smecker's not going to be able to get us out of anything that big in this town."
"We can deal with that. We've been skirting the police for nearly a year now."
"Aye, but I don't want to deal with the second option."
"Which is?" Murphy asked. Connor looked at him and saw that he already knew. He still said it anyway.
"Which is another Papa Joe style ambush."
"Fuck."
"Yeah, fuck."
"So, wait, she said all of that?" Murphy glanced down the hall where she had disappeared. They heard the shower go on.
"No, not all of it. She may have been dealing with the New York Mob for over a year, but I still don't think she quite realizes just how much of a threat they can be."
"For both her and us."
Connor nodded. Murphy ran a hand through his hair with a sigh.
"Guess I fucked that up with her."
"Aye, ye did. Try listening for a change."
"Yeah, yeah. So what should we do, Charlie?"
Grinning, Connor looked up at him. "I don't think we have much use for rope here."
"Wow, I'm fuckin' speechless."
"That'd be a miracle. But honestly, we need to talk to Da, we need to talk to Smecker and we need to sit down with Katie and actually talk to her."
"Gee, sounds like a fuckin' fun filled day. Da said he'd be back before lunch. I guess Smecker left a message for him last night." Murphy put out his cigarette.
"About an apartment? Or a job?"
"Don't know. He didn't say."
"Well, we need to fill Da in on all of this as soon as he gets here."
"And we need to see what Smecker thinks about the possibilities here."
"Yeah," Connor nodded. "He'll want to talk ta her too."
"That should be fun. Introducing Smecker to Katie." Murphy looked down the hallway again before getting to his feet. "I'm gonna go talk to her."
Connor raised an eyebrow at him. "Right now?"
"Yeah."
"Murph, she's in the fuckin' shower."
He just grinned. "I know. Captive audience. If I'm gonna fuckin' apologize, I'm gonna do it where I don't have to chase her to get the words out."
"I'm not defending you if she goes after ye for it."
"Some fuckin' brother you are." Murphy just smiled and walked down the hall. The shower was still running. He raised his hand to knock. This could be entertaining.
She thought she'd heard a knock on the door, but she didn't realize it was real until the cold air hit her as the door opened. Katie looked around the shower curtain to find Murphy peering at her through the steam.
"Can I come in?"
"Fuck, Murph. You're already in. Why bother asking?" She ducked back behind the shower curtain and tried to ignore the fact that she was naked and only a few feet away from him.
"I'm sorry I didn't listen to ya."
Katie sighed. "Whatever."
"No, really. I am sorry. Connor made me see that this is more complicated than I was making it."
She stayed silent, unsure of what exactly to say. Hearing him sigh, she couldn't help but smile. "Okay, apology accepted."
"We're gonna have ye talk to Smecker about this. Maybe he can see something we're missing."
"Wow, I finally get to meet the infamous Smecker."
She heard the smile in Murphy's response. "Yeah, that should be interesting."
"Fuck!" Katie winced as she got soap in her eye.
"Are ye okay in there?" She heard his concerned chuckle.
"Yes, fuck! I just got soap in my eye. Dammit, that hurts."
She heard more laughter. "Need help?"
"Murphy!"
"Sorry, just wanted to make sure. When ye get out, come down and we'll have an actual conversation. Since I interrupted you and Connor's attempt, too."
"Wow, I'm trembling with excitement." Katie offered but couldn't help but laugh. "Hey, Murph. Remember that question you asked last night that I wouldn't answer?"
He was silent for a moment. "The racy job one or the cuter twin one?"
"The cuter twin one. I've got an answer for you."
"Shoot." His voice was wary.
"Well….I've decided…Connor's cuter because he's nice to me!"
Katie listened for an answer but only heard a soft chuckle. The blast of hot water hit her only half a second after she heard the toilet flush.
"Murphy! You are fucking dead!" She screamed as she dodged the scalding water. His laughter echoed down the hallway as he left the bathroom.
Murphy was still laughing when he plopped down on the couch. He looked over to see that Connor was giving him a hard look.
"What did ye fuckin' do to her this time?"
"Nothing." He grinned. Connor narrowed his eyes.
"Then why did she scream?"
"Oh, well, she decided who was the cuter twin."
"Murph!" Connor started but didn't finish his sentence before Katie ran into the room, jumped on the couch and managed to pin Murphy to the cushions before he even realized she was coming. They both stared at her, surprised that she'd been able to get there fully dressed in that short amount of time. She started hitting Murphy but he just kept laughing.
"You are so fucking dead. Seriously." She sat back slightly and moved her glare to Connor. "Do you know what he fucking did? He flushed the toilet. I got fucking scaled!" She reached down and slapped Murphy's arm. He grabbed her wrists to stop her. She noticed he was still only cupping her arms, instead of grabbing them.
"I'm telling ya, Murph. I'm not protecting ye." Connor grinned. He got to his feet and moved the coffee table out of the way as a precaution. Katie raised an eyebrow.
"Are you encouraging this?"
"No, I just know what's coming next." Connor had barely gotten the words out when Katie felt Murphy move quickly. He'd managed to twist his body and roll them off the couch. His hand covered the back of her head as they hit the floor. Katie found herself pinned and looking up at a triumphant Murphy.
"What the fuck was that?" She managed to gasp. He pinned her arms with ease.
"Say it!"
"Say what? What's the fucking code this time?" Katie tried to sound pissed but couldn't help but laugh. He'd definitely surprised her with that move.
"Say…Murphy's the cuter twin."
Connor started laughing. "So ye did declare me cuter, huh?"
"Yes, that's why he fucking flushed the toilet. I decided to judge by personality too."
Murphy leaned closer. "Say it!"
She just smiled and kept her mouth shut. The sound of a key in the lock made him look up and she used the distraction to knock his elbows out again. She managed to flip him and rolled on top of him with a laugh.
Da walked in the door and nodded to them all. "Morning." He continued on past them into the kitchen. All three of them looked surprised at his failure to notice that his son was pinned on the living room floor. Katie started laughing and felt Murphy join in. She looked down at him again.
"Humm…what should I make you say?"
He just shrugged with a grin. She noticed then that he wasn't even trying to get away. "Murph, this is no fun if you won't even try."
"Too bad. I'm not having a repeat of yesterday."
"Repeat of yesterday?" Connor raised his eyebrow at her.
"What? Murphy didn't tell you?" She rolled her eyes. Connor moved his questioning look to Murphy who just raised his eyebrows.
"Turns out that the bruise on her eye isn't the only bruise she got yesterday."
"Okay." Connor said slowly, still not quite understanding.
"Murphy was freaking out because I got a few bruises from this yesterday. I never would have even mentioned it if I thought it was going to be this big of a fucking deal." She let go of his arms and leaned back. He took the opportunity to slip his arms around her waist and flip her that way. Katie just laughed when she realized what he'd done.
"Sneaky bastard."
Murphy shook his head. He nodded at Connor. "That's the sneaky bastard. I'm the fucking asshole." He stood up then and held his hand out to help her up.
"I'll be sure to keep that straight." She laughed as she stood up and ran a hand to smooth her tangled wet hair. Connor met her eye and shook his head.
"Katie, did you even finish yer shower?"
Nodding, she grinned. "Murph picked a good time to torture me. Or well, bad time, depending on how you look at it. I was done showering."
Connor just shook his head and followed Murphy into the kitchen with a grin. Katie paused at the door and saw all three men were sitting around the table. Da had pulled out a cigar and both twins were in the midst of lighting their cigarettes. She stayed where she was, unsure if this was a family meeting or not. The McManuses never seemed to need to discuss anything like that. Somehow, they just knew.
Da looked around the table slowly. "I got a call from Smecker last night. Wanted ta meet me this morning."
"Aye, Murphy told me that. What about?"
"First, a possible apartment. He'll know later today. He loaned us a car in the meantime that we can to move our stuff without drawing nearly as much attention to ourselves. Also, he has a job for us."
"What are the specifics?" Murphy tapped his cigarette against the ashtray.
"Well…" Da paused and moved his eyes to Katie. She tilted her head and saw all three men look toward her. "Lass, why don't ye go back to yer room for a while."
Katie stared at him for a second before moving to look at both Murphy and Connor in turn. They both looked at her waiting, neither of them jumping up and wanting her to stay. Finally, she nodded slowly and walked down the hallway to her bedroom. Once inside, she sat on her bed and stared around the room.
When she'd finally gotten accepted into the outer rankings of the New York Mob, it became common for her to need to leave the room like this. Back in New York, she could only figure it was for their own protection. If she didn't hear anything, she couldn't testify against them someday. She wondered now if this was for the protection of the Saints or to simply protect her.
"Simple job, boys. Three Mafioso who went rouge several weeks ago."
"Why haven't they been targeted by their own?"
"The boss seems to still feel they are under his control. But they're dangerous, possibly a citywide threat."
"So, when do we do it?"
"This afternoon. They meet every few days at two in this old apartment building. The place is deserted now."
"Okay, what about Katie?"
"What about her?" Da raised an eyebrow. Connor and Murphy both exchanged a look.
"Ye need to talk with her. We can't leave her here."
"Go get her then."
Murphy got up before Connor even started to and left the kitchen. He paused only slightly before knocking on her door.
"Come in."
He opened the door to go in but stopped short when he saw the piles of clothes on her bed. He started at them for a second before turning to look at her.
"What the fuck are ye doin'?"
Katie looked up at him surprised. "What? I'm sorting laundry. What did you think I was doing?"
"Sorting laundry?"
"Yeah."
"Not packing?"
Katie smiled then, understanding. "No, Murph. I'm not planning on running."
"Oh, I thought maybe ye were mad or something."
She shook her head. "Mad?"
"Well, we only made ye leave for yer own good."
Laughing, she just started sorting again. "I know why. God, even my brothers used to do the same thing to me. That type of thing, I understand."
"Da wants to talk ta you now."
"I figured. First though, do you have any laundry that needs done?"
Murphy raised an eyebrow. "Yer gonna do laundry for us?"
"Murphy, it's not like it's not like I have to go down to the river and wash them against the rocks. Besides, I only have enough for two small loads. Of course, I'll do laundry for you…as long as it's not a truckload full."
"Connor's gonna love ye. He hates doin' laundry."
Katie just shook her head. She pulled out the large flowered tote bag she'd gotten a few days before. "Go get your laundry. I'll meet you in the kitchen."
She stared in the bathroom mirror for a few seconds before letting out a sigh. The bruise was still there. No matter how long she stared, it hadn't gone away.
Katie had almost forgotten that she'd gotten elbowed at the bar. The guys had stopped staring at it the night before, and there was only the one mirror in the entire apartment. Yet she knew she would draw attention to herself in public because of the bruise. She needed to be nondescript. Unnoticable.
Even from her position all the way down the hall, she could still hear mumbling and soft laughter. For needing to keep this all so secretive, they really aren't trying too hard. None of the words she could hear made any sense. 23-B, 23-B. That was a number/letter combination she'd heard now at least twice. She couldn't help but wonder if it was important, or if she was just looking too hard for clues as to what they were doing exactly.
Reaching into the cupboard behind the mirror, she pulled out the foundation and powder she'd gotten a few days ago. If she was as good with makeup as she had been in high school, than this bruise might be able to be hidden. Leaning closer, she looked at her actual eyeball. No sign of bruising or damage there. She'd definitely be able to cover this up then.
Her talk with Da had been short and mostly unnecessary. It seemed that he, unlike his sons, had actually come to their conclusion much sooner. He had offered a new theory, which had only succeeded to make Katie more nervous. Da thought it was quite possible that New York Mafioso had made contact with Boston Mafioso. It would explain how she and Janie had gotten kidnapped in the New York Mob's territory. That also might mean that Katie knew something about this linkage, whether she realized it or not. Basically, when it came down to it, Da pointed out that the attacks might be for both reasons, to intimidate Katie as well as to take down the Saints. She was the only complete linkage from New York to Boston to the Saints.
"So, what is it that I know?" She leaned closer to smooth out the makeup on the edge. Satisfied, she leaned back and saw that bruise was hidden fairly well.