Everyday People (Colleen)

[Colleen Christiansen]

It was a huge relief to tell anyone. But she hasn't told him.... Not really. He guessed for himself, and that made her feel less guilty about burdening him with her problems. People probably paid him a lot if money for the kind of attention he was giving her now.

"I'm almost three months... I'll be showing soon and then I'll have to tell everyone. Won't be able to hide it anymore." She paused here, glancing towards the back where Joe was. "It just raises questions. And what people will think of me... I haven't been to a doctor yet. I didn't think I could handle it, and I know that's bad, but...."

She trailed off, eyes settling on a spot in the middle of the table between her and Walter.

[Dr. Walter Everett Burkhardt]

Walter turned slightly for a moment, pretending to contemplate the situation, while he really was looking over at Josephine. He hoped she'd get comfortable enough with his presence here that she wouldn't change her habits. He had an idea for how he could make contact with her, but it wouldn't work if she got spooked and decided to go to another coffee place on a regular basis.

Turning back to Colleen, he feigned a sympathetic smile. "You should check in with a doctor to make sure the baby is healthy. I can arrange for you to see one of my colleagues at the hospital. She'll be very discreet."

He glanced around again, then leaned in and spoke in a confidential whisper. "As for what everyone will think of you, you shouldn't worry about that. You were engaged, and your fiance was killed. I think most people will be very sympathetic to your situation. If he hadn't died, you might have been married by now and no one would think anything of it."

[Colleen Christiansen]

Colleen shook her head quickly at his advice, unaware that his attention was anywhere but on her. She barely even noticed the brunette come in, especially since she went straight to the counter and ordered. While Joey had chosen to sit at a table with a direct line of sight to theirs, Colleen didn't even pay attention.

"No. I can't do it yet. And thank you, but I think it's best if I go to a muggle hospital. That's far more discreet, isn't it?" It was almost too natural, the way she trusted Burkhardt instantly and so unquestioningly. He seemed the part of a concerned father or mentor in her eyes, and it was just natural to deflect to him, and a huge part of her just wanted him to tell her what to do. Taking the decisions out of her hands would have been such a stress relief. Unfortunately, she was an adult and things really didn't work that way.

[Dr. Walter Everett Burkhardt]

It was almost too easy to get her to trust him. That, of course, was why she'd never been one of his better pupils, but now that she had practically fallen into his lap--with a baby, no less--well, he was definitely going to have to exploit her. Oh, the possibilities...

Meanwhile, there was Josephine. She was there, so close, and yet unreachable. She would not be as easy to win over, which made her even more worth the effort. He'd come up with a plan for approaching her, and while it wouldn't exactly win her trust, it would at least get him close to her. But now that she had seen him talking with Colleen--and despite her deliberate non-reaction, Walter knew she had noticed him here with Colleen--Walter wondered slightly whether the cover he'd planned might not be as effective. He might need to send in Roman instead, who would at least have the cover of anonymity. He'd have to take the matter under study.

"Fair enough," Walter replied, nodding as if he sympathized. "But do it soon. You want to make sure that both you and the baby are healthy."

[Colleen Christiansen]

Colleen was sure that she would know if either her or her child were not healthy. Mothers were supposed to have that instinct, right? But she supposed there were a thousand things that could go wrong. The problem with going to a doctor was that she was going to have to admit this for real, and deal with it.

When she started dealing with the baby, it meant she would have to admit how very alone she was.

"Right. Well. I should get back to work. Sorry to have taken so much of your time... I really appreciate you listening, though. Call me over if you need anything." With a wide, warm smile, she left him, sort of in a hurry because it was one more conversation that was becoming all too real.

[Josephine Elwel]

Joey, meanwhile, had taken a seat that was carefully chosen so that she could discreetly keep on an eye Walter. It wasn't that she had a bad feeling about him- Joey had a bad feeling about everyone. It was an occupational hazard, because it was inevitable that one day, she would have a bounty on her head. And until she knew this man and his habits better, she was going to be wary.

She had a cup of coffee in hand, a pastry on a plate in front of her, and she was watching the people outside as much as she was watching anything else, until Colleen stood up to go back to work. She seemed... lighter. As if whatever conversation Walter had with her made her feel somehow better and not as tragic as the girl always appeared to be. She watched Colleen disappear behind the counter, and let her eyes shift back to Walter, now alone at his table.

[Dr. Walter Everett Burkhardt]

Walter was completely aware that he was being observed. He could feel Joey's eyes on him, studying him, trying to figure him out. In fact, he would have been highly disappointed in her if she hadn't been. But he had trained her well, and he knew without so much as a glance in her direction that she was at full attention--studying him, studying Colleen, probably glancing all around her, just in case... all while appearing to all the world as if she simply was enjoying a cup of coffee and a pastry.

In a further attempt to appear benevolent and unsuspicious to her eyes, Walter waited a long time before even glancing in her direction. Instead, he watched Colleen, a look of fatherly concern in his eyes. He could use her innocent trust in him to help him win over Josephine.

Even after Colleen disappeared behind the counter, he continued to look in her direction for a long moment. Then he shifted his gaze, looking down at his coffee cup as he picked it up and raised it to his lips for a drink. As he did, he raised his eyes and looked squarely in Joey's direction. Before he took a drink from his cup, he smiled softly in her direction before turning back to his newspaper.

[Josephine Elwel]

Joey noticed the fact that the barista was sitting with the stranger. That's what he was named in her mind for now-The Stranger, because it kept her alert. Not that she needed help with that particular state of being, but there it was, anyway.

The barista- Colleen was her name. She was very friendly and liked to talk, and she never got far with Joey, who was the opposite in every way imaginable. She was physically different, of course, brunette versus the redhead, shorter, leaner, sharper. But she was also darker in her intensity, distrusting, quiet, reserved, and secluded. They didn't know it, but the two of them had grown up together for some years, and couldn't have turned out more differently.

Even aware of how open the girl was, Joey still felt a weird, inexplicable reaction to the fact that she was making friends with the man.

She took a breath and stood up, moving quickly and smoothly to slide into the seat opposite him. If he was on her tail, there wasn't a lot she could do about it now. If he wasn't... well, she didn't care what happened if he wasn't. It was that look right at her over his coffee mug, the split second before he smiled dully in her direction. She was too paranoid, maybe... but she was also still alive and wanted to keep it that way. Still, this may have been a risk she shouldn't be taking.

"You said I looked like someone you used to know. That's a lie, isn't it?" Her tone was low so that only he could hear her, her eyes narrowed a touch and her gaze unwavering.

[Dr. Walter Everett Burkhardt]

Walter's expression changed to one of innocent surprise, and to one who didn't know better, he would have looked quite taken aback by her sudden words.

But of course, it was all an act. A well-crafted act, certainly, but an act all the same. He knew she would approach him even before she did, and he never needed to look up from his newspaper to know the instant she left her table to join him.

Ah, Joey. How he had underestimated her all those years ago. Younger than most, smaller and leaner, she had a will of iron, and it was that will, that inner strength, that destined her for greatness.

"What a curious question," he said mildly. "You don't trust easily, do you? You do, indeed, look like someone I used to know. I might even suggest that perhaps you are someone I used to know. Perhaps you know me as well... you just don't remember."

[Josephine Elwel]

Joey's heart started to pound in her ears at those words. It would have been a curious answer to a curious question if there wasn't a huge chunk of her life that she actually didn't remember. "I don't trust you," she replied, emphasizing the last word. "And you don't know me."

Her blood might have been pumping, but she remained still and calm- nonreactive in almost every way. She started to categorize the level of threat she saw in him. He the fact that he seemed to think he knew her put him at a very high level. But then, he'd only tracked her to the coffee house, so if she was a target for him, he wasn't very good. The possibility existed that this was just the only place he let himself be seen, but she doubted it. If she stopped coming here, she was fairly confident his trail would be cold.

"Whatever you're after, drop it," she said, her voice low in her throat. Was it to kill her? To find out who she worked with? Use her? "I'm better than you... Faster."

She meant, of course, the hitwizarding. And to that end, she was probably right. To her, there was no other game being played.

[Dr. Walter Everett Burkhardt]

Walter's expression remained as unflappable as ever, unmoved by her response. "You think me an enemy," he said mildly, as though they were discussing the weather. "I assure you, my dear, I am not your enemy. Rather, I have been wanting to speak with you regarding a certain... Business matter."

It was partially a guess, but it was an educated one, and although Walter usually didn't like to take gambles, it seemed the best option to keep her here. So knowing what he knew of her background and temperament, Walter decided to take the gamble and see if he was right about Joey's profession. It worked out well, because he had a little situation regarding dear Kylie. The boy she'd been seeing needed to go. And while he wasn't opposed to the idea of triggering Kylie to do it herself, he felt that her situation was still too delicate for that.

And so, Joey provided a useful option, one that could help him on several levels.

"I know what you do. And I wish to hire you."

[Josephine Elwel]

Joey didn't move. She wanted to glance around and see if anyone had heard his near incriminating statement, but just that action would prove him right. For the moment, she decided to play dumb, and raised an eyebrow, as if to let him know she was doing it on purpose.

"I don't have services for hire."

She didn't trust him- that much of her statement was true. She didn't like the way he brought it up, in a cafe with a lot of people around. Casually, like she owed him something, and he was sure that these were the magic words to get what he wanted. It wasn't that easy, and if he was serious, and he did know what she did, she had a lot of questions for him first.

"You really do have the wrong girl."

[Dr. Walter Everett Burkhardt]

Walter remained unfazed. He sat calmly, a pleasantly bland expression on his face as he stirred his coffee. They might very well have been discussing the weather or interior design if anyone were to observe him from a distance.

"Do I now?" he said. "My mistake. My information says you're just the girl I'm looking for. But perhaps I was mistaken, and you really do look a lot like the person I'm looking for. In which case, I wasn't lying at all, now, was I?"

He didn't look away from her as he spoke, his pale blue-gray eyes slowly boring into hers as if drawing her in. Some of the "children" could be hypnotized by that look, but he didn't expect that Joey would be one of them. It worked on some of the weaker among them--Siobhan, for example--but Joey would most likely only be momentarily unnerved by it. In any case, he broke the eye contact after he had finished speaking, and released any hold he had on her as he focused his attention on his coffee cup once more.

"I am willing to pay any price," he said in a very low, gentle voice. "But perhaps this is a discussion we should have in private?"

[Josephine Elwel]

Joey could only watch him for a moment, piecing together what she could about this man.

He knew what she did. But he also had not given her any of the code words, so to speak, that she could have recognized, so he wasn't a referral from her more consistent customers. She always knew when Marco Valentin would send someone her way.

So he got her name from someone else she'd done business for. But he also tracked her here to find her, and, knowing he had her in his sights, he deliberately lied to her. It had happened before, someone claiming that running into her was a mistake. He was the first one who kept showing up, however, which really put her on edge. She still had not dismissed the idea that someone contracted him to kill her, especially when he looked at her like that. She didn't like that look or the chills it sent up her spine. For that alone, she shook her head. "I don't do private meetings."

Joey sat back in her seat, assessing him. Both hands were above the table where she could see them. He had no problems making eye contact. If he was intending to kill her, he was incredibly confident about being able to do so.

Or, he was telling the truth.

"I meant it, what I said. If you're planning anything funny, I can do it better than you. But if you're serious, there's a park down the way."

[Dr. Walter Everett Burkhardt]

Walter didn’t say a word, allowing her to assess him. He could see the wheels turning in her head as she tried to piece together this information. She was understandably suspicious of him, and he honestly would have expected nothing less. Few of his “children” were easily trusting—Colleen and Siobhan were rather rare in this way. But Joey, who’d always had to fight for everything, who constantly had to prove herself, was especially guarded. She had no way to be sure that he was honestly trying to engage her services and that he wasn’t planning to kill her.

She didn’t know that the last thing he’d want to do with her was hurt her. No, he had other plans for her. After she had done away with this Ewan character that was making Kylie so happy, he’d be one step closer to getting the children all back for a “family reunion.”

And what a reunion it would be….

“I can assure you, I am never ‘funny’,” he said, smiling mirthlessly. “I’ll meet you in the park in an hour.”