Hey guys, just wanted a quick head's up before this chapter starts- I think I might have given people the wrong idea with my last A/N, this is not going to be a "religious themed" story, so no worries about that ok? I'm still debating starting over with that chapter but it's done now so…. Onwards and upwards! Also all your suggestions as to what should happen next have been great and really gotten me back on track!

Chapter 18

February 19th

Katrina stood joined the steady stream of people exiting the church as behind them the last bars of Abide With Me rumbled from the organ. As she left the building shrugging on her jacket, the cold wind whistled around her, throwing her long hair into disarray, sticking it to her lip-gloss.

Katrina dug around in her handbag for her cell phone. One text from Tommy flashed up on the screen and she felt herself smile as she opened it. This smile quickly turned faded as she read- he wanted her to meet his brother? Katrina didn't know much about the Conlon family history; Tommy wasn't exactly loquacious and didn't like to talk about the past. She did know however that he and his brother were very close, the very first place he'd gone after getting out of the Marines. Katrina felt herself getting apprehensive; this was all going a little fast wasn't it? Given Tommy's relationship with his father meeting Brendan was kind of like going home to his folks.

She blew out a long breath into the cold air and watched it curl away like smoke. It'll be fine, she tried to reassure herself, they're lovely people and you'll all get along perfectly.

She didn't give her insecurities time to get the best of her but texted back her answer immediately.

She looked at her phone again, one missed call from her mother. She'd save that conversation for later, still a bit too angry to be grown up about the situation. Katrina's child hood, isolated on the tiny islands of Maine had been molded and defined by her mother's break with her own family.

As an adult Katrina could see how a scared, single seventeen-year-old mother would welcome the small tight-knit community of North Haven. She could see how the church became her backbone and its teachings her guidance. Nevertheless, there came a time when you had to take off the training wheels. You only live once right? Katrina looked up at the sky as though it might give her some sign, the sun was starting to break through the lowering clouds. That's good enough for me she thought.

Katrina was made sure to be ready long before six when Tommy's brother was due to pick them up. Her apartment was littered with clothes that she'd tried on and discarded.

Knowing Tommy she doubted that this would be any sort of fancy affair but she wanted desperately to make a good impression. After all, she thought, you only get to make a first impression.

She settled on wearing her hair down as she'd just been to the hairdresser the other day and it was looking reasonable for once. She'd just decided on a pair of flats to go with that white top she'd worn for her first date with Tommy when the doorbell rang.

It was Tommy; looking slightly tense Katrina realized that this must be nerve-wracking for him too.

"Hey, come on in." she said.

He pressed his lips to her cheek as he passed her, he'd shaved, and Katrina could smell the Imperial Lather soap he always used, clean and fresh. She caught his hand to stop him moving away and kissed him properly.

"I'm sorry about this morning." She whispered between kisses.

"S'okay." He replied, his voice more felt than heard.

"No, I was being… weird, I'm sorry."

Tommy's eyes flickered up to meet hers; he was frowning slightly as he always did when he was thinking about what to say. Then he shrugged, expression clearing.

"No need to apologize."

The pair of them moved against the couch, the back of Katrina's knees hit the seat and she almost collapsed into it. Tommy was absentmindedly rubbing the nape of her neck with one callused hand and she leaded into him in silent encouragement. Outside a car horn sounded, catching Katrina's attention.

"Time to go" Katrina said, checking her watch.

It wasn't until Tommy squeezed her hand that she realized that they'd been shaking.

"Nervous?" he asked with a wry smile.

Katrina nodded, and felt rather than heard his quiet laughter rumbling through the both of them.

"Don't be."

Brendan's house was a real reflection of the man himself Katrina thought to herself as they arrived.

It had been a quiet drive, eager to beat the traffic they hadn't stopped for proper introductions just hopped in and got on the highway. Brendan was different to his brother in looks, much fairer and less angular, a kind and open face, perfect for a kind and open-hearted man.

The house was inviting, all caramel woods, and warm colors. There were kid's toys in the front yard and finger paintings in picture frames along side the family pictures. Before she'd had time to take in much else a pretty blonde woman who could only be Tess appeared, beaming at the end of the hallway.

"Tommy, it's great to see you!" she rushed up and hugged Tommy who reciprocated with a smile.

"So you must be the girl Tommy wanted us to meet huh?" asked Tess turning to her.

Katrina smiled a little, feeling shy, "Yeah, I'm Katrina, its lovely to meet you- you have a really great house here."

Tess beamed again, "Well its lovely to meet you too Katrina- can I call you Katy?"

"Yeah sure, everyone does." She found herself warming quickly to Tess's unstoppable charm.

"Great, come on in out of the cold and we'll introduce you to the girls."

The girls it turned out didn't need any introducing as next moment two tiny creatures came sprinting down the hallway with twin cries of "Daddy!" and "Uncle Tommy!" They threw themselves on their uncle and Katrina was treated to the sight of Tommy well out of his depth. He hoisted both girls up into his arms and gave them a hug.

"How've my favorite girls been huh?" he asked them.

"We've been good!" the older one replied, pigtails askew.

"Glad to hear it." Tommy chuckled before setting them down and crouching down so that he didn't tower over then.

"I want you to meet my friend, Katy."

Katrina blushed at being introduced and held out a hand for them to shake.

"I'm Emily," the older girl said, shaking Katina's hands solemnly.

"And I'm Rosie, my birthday is next week." Said the smaller girl, her words slightly muffled by the thumb in her mouth.

"Nice to meet you Emily and you too Rosie, have you thought about what you want for your birthday?"

Rosie shook her head, eyes wide; "Daddy says it's a surprise so I hope it's a puppy." She smiled, showing astoundingly grapy teeth.

"I'll keep my fingers crossed for you." Katrina promised, both girls giggled happily and darted away into the sitting room.

"They're sweet." Katrina said.

"Yeah, they're great." Smiled Brendan, leading everyone into the family room where the Emily hurriedly switched the TV from a re-run of Mean Girls back to the game before taking her little sister's hand and scampering off for the play room.

"You're good with them." Murmured Tommy, his hands finding that favorite spot on Katrina's waist as he passed behind her.

"Thanks," she whispered back.

The two brothers settled themselves on the couch to watch the pre-game talks and match analysis as Tess led Katrina into the kitchen across the hall. Pouring Katrina a large glass of white wine she turned to her in a conspiratorial manor.

"So," Tess began, "tell me all about yourself."

"Umm," Katrina flushed again, not knowing what to say, "I dance with the Pittsburgh ballet company…"

Tess interrupted her, "For real?"

"Yeah, for real."

"Wow, a real live ballerina," Tess laughed and Katrina knew that they would be friends, "what about you and Tommy?"

Katrina took a sip of her wine before answering, "I met him the day he moved in, just bumped into each other… I guess one thing just lead to another?."

"That's sweet" said Tess, topping up their wine glasses, Katrina could feel the alcohol bringing a flush to her cheeks. "He must like you a lot to bring out all the way out here."

Katrina giggled self-consciously, "Well I don't know about that, but I do like him."

"Good." Said Tess, "I haven't know Brendan's brother a long time and lord knows we didn't meet under the best of circumstances but if anyone deserves a happily ever after then it's got to be Tommy."

Katrina took a gulp of wine, "well I'll have to see what we can do about that." She changed the subject, curious suddenly, "so tell me all about you, did I really see a prom picture of you and Brendan on the mantelpiece?"

Tess settled herself on the kitchen counter top and regaled Katrina with the highly amusing story of her and Brendan's first date at a McDonalds down town. Only half way though she leapt up with a curse and sprinted to the oven only to wrench it open and be engulfed suddenly in a cloud of smoke.

"Do you want some help?" Katrina asked.

"Sure!" Replied Tess from somewhere in the cloud, she managed to rescue a slightly burnt pie from the oven before turning on the smoke extractor above the range.

Katrina busied herself locating knives, forks, and plates from the cupboards. She was surprised at how clean the place was considering that they had two children; she didn't think that her own house had ever been a tenth this orderly when she was growing up.

Katrina helped Tess and the girls set the table; Tess gave the girls the cutlery and then had to go around after them fixing when they put the knives and forks the wrong way around.

"Its still kind of early to eat don't you think?" asked Katrina, looking at the clock on the wall.

"We'll wait until the game is over I think." Replied Tess, motioning to the two men on the couch both waving their arms and shouting at a perceived injustice by the umpire.

"Don't worry," smiled Tess, "the boys have to do the washing up."

"Oh I see how this household works, I like your thinking Tess."

With the food safely in a warming oven and the places set Tess was free to go back to her story about her first date from hell with Brendan but instead she topped up Katrina's glass, ignoring her protestations and turned to her with a very serious expression.

"So Katy, you know that Tommy's a fighter don't you?"

Katrina nodded, not knowing where Tess was going with this.

"And you're okay with that, because I know when Brendan was fighting it really tore me apart to see that."

"Brendan is a fighter?" asked Katrina, looking over at the man on the couch in surprise. Brendan was a big guy for sure but he seemed far to gentle to make a living with his fists.

"Was a fighter… Tommy didn't tell you?" Tess's eyebrows disappeared into her fringe.

"Tell me what?" asked Katrina, curiosity piqued.

"Yeah tell her what?" Came a deep voice from the doorway, it was Tommy leaning on the frame. "Brendan said there's beers in the fridge… "

"Oh, right yeah there is," Tess stepped aside, "I was just talking about you and Brendan in the Sparta finals. You guys didn't talk about that yet?"

Tommy fixed her with an inscrutable look. "Nope we didn't." Then he sloped off, Katrina could read the defensiveness in his posture, could see that his walls were already springing back up.

"Shoot," said Tess.

Katrina could only nod in agreement. Neither woman brought up Sparta again in their conversation as the football match slowly wound up to it's conclusion, the Pittsburgh Steelers wining the day.

Dinner started off relaxed, the positive outcome of the football match giving them all lots to talk about around the table and the questions of the little girls putting them all in fits of laughter. Katrina was sitting in between Tommy and Emily, who had taken pride of place at the end of the table. She could see Tommy smiling and laughing along with the others but could also feel the tension radiating off him.

Eventually the conversation turned to work, Brendan told them a little about his time as a physics teacher, he'd been promoted to the head of department at Monroeville High. Katrina could hear the pride in his voice as he talked about the students who were making so much progress before their mid-terms. It was nice, she thought, that a man could have such a vocation that even after becoming as rich as Croesus he still devotes himself to the day job.

Tess fired a few questions at her about her life as a dancer and she was happy to oblige, sugar coating it shamelessly for the benefit of Emily and Rosie who were listening with rapt attention.

"So you're like Angelina Ballerina?" asked Rosie, eyes like saucers.

"Yes just like that."

"Do you think I could be a ballerina?" asked Emily, gazing up at Katrina with big blue eyes.

"Of course you can doll, maybe you could come and see where I work someday?" She glanced at Brendan and Tess to see if that would be alright. They smiled and Emily nodded enthusiastically.

After desert, a slightly singed pumpkin pie, Tess put the kids to bed and Brendan opened another bottle of wine. The conversation fell into a lull and Katrina could feel Tommy's incessant need to fidget starting to get the better of him. His leg was tapping under the table at increasing speed. She put her hand on his knee.

"So are you getting pumped up for your first fight then Tommy?" asked Brendan.

Katrina choked slightly on a sip of wine and Tommy patted her hastily on the back.

"Yeah, I guess, I only found out today…"

Katrina turned to Tommy, finally able to breathe. "You're fighting again? You didn't say!"

"Yeah… found out this mornin'. Forrest Griffin." He replied somewhat gruffly. Under the table Tommy's leg started to bounce again.

"Griffin?" Brendan asked, eyebrows raised, "the ex-sheriff?"

"Yep. In three weeks."

Three weeks? Katrina thought.

"That's really soon." Said Brendan, voicing what Katrina was thinking.

"I s'pose so. Fight's in Pittsburgh so I don't have to travel for this one."

"You ever seen Tommy fight?" asked Brendan to Katrina who was glad of the escape from her thoughts.

"Not yet but I guess I will be soon."

"You never got curious and Googled him?" said Brendan with a wry smile. Katrina felt Tommy up tense slightly next to her.

"Nope." The conversation lapsed again. Katrina was starting to feel really awkward; she could tell that Tommy didn't want to talk about his past fights so she let silence fall.

Tess broke it, ever polite and seemingly un-phased by Tommy glowering over the table at her husband.

"How's about you guys get to cleaning up while Katy and I have more girl-time." She cast a slightly forced smile in Brendan's direction. Before leading a helpless Katrina into the family room.

From the room behind them they could hear the brothers arguing in terse under-tones, too quietly for Katrina to make out what they were saying. Not that she was eaves dropping or anything.

Tess was chatting a mile a minute, seemingly her defense mechanism whenever things got awkward. Katrina nodded and smiled, not really taking in what she was saying. After about twenty minutes of watching home movies of the little girl's last school-play, a shadow fell across the doorway. Again it was Tommy, scowl lifted slightly. He looked rueful if anything and Katrina hoped that he and Brenan's argument had managed to sort it's self out.

"We've gotta go if we're gonna get the last bus into town." He said gruffly, nodding at Katrina who felt half-relieved and half sad to go.

They said their goodbyes quickly before slipping into the freezing night air. They walked in silence for a few minutes, breath clouding in front of them like unfilled speech bubbles. They'd almost reached the bus stop when Tommy's hand found hers and squeezed it tight. She knew that tonight was not a night for questions, the argument was still too fresh and painful, but with his hand in hers she knew that they could bridge the gap.

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