Rat bastard father actually I think, brother seems to have been a fairly decent guy killed during the Spanish intervention. Don't forget that Germany OTL has a couple of dozen other royal families as well:- Bavaria; Saxony; Brunswick; Wurtemburg; Hanover; Baden; Hesse; Oldenburg; the two Mecklenburgs plus numerous smaller fry. The wicked prince is probably as common a trope in Germany as the bad baronet was in Victorian and Edwardian England
Stupid Luck and Happenstance, Thread II
- Thread starter Peabody-Martini
- Start date
I think this is the moment when Ben needs to grow a pair.
Laddie when your mother and your girlfriend square up, this is the moment to take the dog a long, long walk. Or visit the bathroom..
Part 98, Chapter 1553
Chapter One Thousand Five Hundred Fifty-Three
2nd April 1963
Tempelhof, Berlin
Though she had been invited, Nadine still felt a great deal of trepidation over the idea of entering the house of the Tigress.
Walking across the alleyway for Nadine was always a fraught experience. There was simply no telling what would greet her when she entered the Gräfin’s back garden. It could be something pedestrian like Katherine’s daughter pushing a baby carriage with the family dog in it which was what had happened the last time Nadine had come around. Or it could be the older women of the house doing something outlandish. There had been any number of times when she had seen the latter. This time the garden was mercifully empty. Walking up to the kitchen door, she was greeted by Housekeeper who opened the door before she could knock. “She’s in the parlor” The Russian woman said before she went back to whatever she had been doing before.
Walking up the stairs, Nadine couldn’t help but notice that this house seemed to be on a larger scale than hers was even if both houses seemed to have the same floor plan. She saw in the library that Kat’s youngest daughter, Marie, was reading from a book to another much younger child, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Not quite what she would have figured for Marie to have selected, but it was of a similar vein. The child looked at Nadine with big brown eyes, ignoring the story that she was being read.
“Hello Nadine” Kat said when she entered the parlor, she didn’t look up meaning that she had been expected. Instead all of her attention was focused on a baby that seemed to be only a couple weeks old in her arms. “This is my niece Petra. Her mother wanted a break for a few hours.”
“Is she really your niece or the daughter of one of your nieces?” Nadine asked. That was far more pointed than she intended, though Katherine didn’t seem to notice, or care if she had.
“Petra is my brother Stefan’s daughter” Katherine said, “I have Marie entertaining Petra’s older sister and should probably check on them soon.”
“Marie was reading to another child when I walked past” Nadine said.
“That would be Elke” Katherine said, “Nizhoni is up in one of the guest rooms sleeping while Stefan has business in the city. She could have done anything she wanted and that was her choice. I do not miss that aspect of having a baby in the house.”
“What sort of name is Nizhoni?” Nadine asked.
“Nizzi’s mother is Diné, from the American South-West” Katherine said. Nadine had no idea what that meant but didn’t want to give Katherine the satisfaction of catching her out, so she didn’t ask.
The two of them sat in awkward silence for a long moment until Nadine finally spoke. “I’m sure that you have talked to Kristina by now” She said, “What she did on Sunday.”
“It was a foolish thing for her to have done” Katherine replied, “She placed a staggering amount of trust in you, all in some effort to win your approval. In my experience that sort of effort is often misguided.”
“Your experience?” Nadine asked sourly.
“Douglas’ mother doesn’t approve of her son’s marriage to me” Katherine said, “There is an extensive list of things that Margot thinks is wrong with me, religion and nationality are at the top.”
“I am nothing like that” Nadine said, “My problem with Kristina is that I cannot trust anything that comes out of her mouth.”
“Because she didn’t tell you who she was when you met her?” Kat asked, “What do you know about the Rome incident? Or how Kiki broke her nose when she was thirteen?”
“I don’t know what you are talking about” Nadine said.
“An Italian Mafia family had the idea of kidnapping Kiki along with her sisters. The Italian police foiled the plot, but the plan was to send Kiki back to her father a piece at a time until he paid a ransom to get the three of them back” Katherine said, “She broke her nose when her bodyguards were less than delicate in getting her out of a church in the midst of an assassination attempt on her mother. Those were merely two major attempts on her life, there have been dozens of others including one just a month ago.”
Nadine was shocked to hear that. Sure, she didn’t like Kristina’s casual relationship with the truth, but she didn’t want to see harm come to her.
“Last Friday Kiki learned that two of the men involved with that last attempt died by her hand. She spent most of that evening crying over men who didn’t deserve it” Katherine continued, “Something that played a role in her decision to tell what she did.”
“I had no idea” Nadine replied.
“The thing you fault Kiki for, withholding information. Have you been paying attention to your son’s career?” Katherine asked, “If he follows through on his ambition to remain a Reserve Officer in the Luftwaffe do you think that this will be the only time that you find out that you were left out in a need to know situation?”
Nadine was about to say that would be different, but realized what Katherine was getting at. It really wasn’t.
“Besides all of that” Katherine said mildly, “If you reveal anything about Kiki’s personal life to the newspapers, I will destroy you.”
2nd April 1963
Tempelhof, Berlin
Though she had been invited, Nadine still felt a great deal of trepidation over the idea of entering the house of the Tigress.
Walking across the alleyway for Nadine was always a fraught experience. There was simply no telling what would greet her when she entered the Gräfin’s back garden. It could be something pedestrian like Katherine’s daughter pushing a baby carriage with the family dog in it which was what had happened the last time Nadine had come around. Or it could be the older women of the house doing something outlandish. There had been any number of times when she had seen the latter. This time the garden was mercifully empty. Walking up to the kitchen door, she was greeted by Housekeeper who opened the door before she could knock. “She’s in the parlor” The Russian woman said before she went back to whatever she had been doing before.
Walking up the stairs, Nadine couldn’t help but notice that this house seemed to be on a larger scale than hers was even if both houses seemed to have the same floor plan. She saw in the library that Kat’s youngest daughter, Marie, was reading from a book to another much younger child, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Not quite what she would have figured for Marie to have selected, but it was of a similar vein. The child looked at Nadine with big brown eyes, ignoring the story that she was being read.
“Hello Nadine” Kat said when she entered the parlor, she didn’t look up meaning that she had been expected. Instead all of her attention was focused on a baby that seemed to be only a couple weeks old in her arms. “This is my niece Petra. Her mother wanted a break for a few hours.”
“Is she really your niece or the daughter of one of your nieces?” Nadine asked. That was far more pointed than she intended, though Katherine didn’t seem to notice, or care if she had.
“Petra is my brother Stefan’s daughter” Katherine said, “I have Marie entertaining Petra’s older sister and should probably check on them soon.”
“Marie was reading to another child when I walked past” Nadine said.
“That would be Elke” Katherine said, “Nizhoni is up in one of the guest rooms sleeping while Stefan has business in the city. She could have done anything she wanted and that was her choice. I do not miss that aspect of having a baby in the house.”
“What sort of name is Nizhoni?” Nadine asked.
“Nizzi’s mother is Diné, from the American South-West” Katherine said. Nadine had no idea what that meant but didn’t want to give Katherine the satisfaction of catching her out, so she didn’t ask.
The two of them sat in awkward silence for a long moment until Nadine finally spoke. “I’m sure that you have talked to Kristina by now” She said, “What she did on Sunday.”
“It was a foolish thing for her to have done” Katherine replied, “She placed a staggering amount of trust in you, all in some effort to win your approval. In my experience that sort of effort is often misguided.”
“Your experience?” Nadine asked sourly.
“Douglas’ mother doesn’t approve of her son’s marriage to me” Katherine said, “There is an extensive list of things that Margot thinks is wrong with me, religion and nationality are at the top.”
“I am nothing like that” Nadine said, “My problem with Kristina is that I cannot trust anything that comes out of her mouth.”
“Because she didn’t tell you who she was when you met her?” Kat asked, “What do you know about the Rome incident? Or how Kiki broke her nose when she was thirteen?”
“I don’t know what you are talking about” Nadine said.
“An Italian Mafia family had the idea of kidnapping Kiki along with her sisters. The Italian police foiled the plot, but the plan was to send Kiki back to her father a piece at a time until he paid a ransom to get the three of them back” Katherine said, “She broke her nose when her bodyguards were less than delicate in getting her out of a church in the midst of an assassination attempt on her mother. Those were merely two major attempts on her life, there have been dozens of others including one just a month ago.”
Nadine was shocked to hear that. Sure, she didn’t like Kristina’s casual relationship with the truth, but she didn’t want to see harm come to her.
“Last Friday Kiki learned that two of the men involved with that last attempt died by her hand. She spent most of that evening crying over men who didn’t deserve it” Katherine continued, “Something that played a role in her decision to tell what she did.”
“I had no idea” Nadine replied.
“The thing you fault Kiki for, withholding information. Have you been paying attention to your son’s career?” Katherine asked, “If he follows through on his ambition to remain a Reserve Officer in the Luftwaffe do you think that this will be the only time that you find out that you were left out in a need to know situation?”
Nadine was about to say that would be different, but realized what Katherine was getting at. It really wasn’t.
“Besides all of that” Katherine said mildly, “If you reveal anything about Kiki’s personal life to the newspapers, I will destroy you.”
Casual threats? In this situation? That's the opposite of good.
Now Nadine has additional ammunition to throw at her son and Kiki in so far as "She had her pet Tigress threaten to kill me", regardless if that is the truth or not.
She was on the cusp of understanding, Kat had almost made her see things from Kiki's perspective and understand it, but with just doing that she snapped her right back.
This isn't a foreign agent, this isn't a crime lord, this is a normal, everyday housewife who is scared for her only child and hurting. Kat, of all people, should know that a threat in this situation is a zippo into a gas tank.
I have a nasty feeling that Nadine is not as naive as we might think and has anybody other than our dear author thought of the fact her husband might actually be "Mithras"!!!!
I fully agree with you that her Kat's last statement is kind of counter-productive.
However, she is taking no chances and wants to let Nadine know: Don't you ever talk to the press!
In that, Kat is gladly accepting the possible collateral damage that Nadine tells Ben how awful she has been treated by the "pet tigress".
She can try. A little. Ben is an adult, and I suspect all that Nadine would succeed in doing is thoroughly driving Ben into Kiki's arms.
ferdi254
Banned
She is treating his son, who is a war hero, meaning has killed several people, like a 15 year old... agree, mothers tend to do that but she is so out of her league by now, that Dunning Kruger might be an important factor. Time to reread "all quiet on the western front" that part where Paul visits home...
Paternas
Donor
I don't think Nadine is being utterly unreasonable. Kiki does tend to string Ben along, saying their relationship is impossible but not using her significant resources to deal with these (partly imaginary) problems. It seems Ben is more committed to the relationship then her. We as readers might be able to see Kiki's thoughts, but the characters in universe cannot. Kat is also way out of line threatening Nadine with death. A reminder about the power of the imperial family might be reasonable, but Kat's way of handling this shows that she still has not learned some lessons.
Last edited:
Personally I find Kats threats to Nadine completely understandable... Kiki is very much an adopted daughter of Kats, so she is going to be very protective. Its also not an explicit death threats Kat has a lot of room to destroy someone without killing them, especially a hausfrau who trys to push her.
I agree.
I would think that Kat could deliver a much more subtle threat.
Something like "When we decide on a course of action we should always consider the consequences of those actions"
That comment from Kat would send anyone with half a brain running for cover.
Remember, Kiki is someone Kat killed and bled for, mentored and helped raise.
It makes sense she slipped into Mama Tigeress Mode.
It makes sense she slipped into Mama Tigeress Mode.