So I've had this fic idea for a while now, and I started writing it some time ago, but after some tweaking I've decided it's just about adequate enough to post. :)
Title/theme of story inspired by Good Girl- Carrie Underwood.
Sophie Moran always had a loving relationship with her older brother Seb. Jack Moriarty had anything but that with his older brother Jim. A twist of fate, and neither teenager would be leading a normal teen life again.
Characters belong to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle/BBC Sherlock/Me.
Sat silently in the back of a black Mercedes Benz, Sophie Moran mulled over how the course of her life had changed so drastically over the course of the past 2 months. On the 1st of February 2012, her parents had been caught in a car crash along the M26 and passed away. Sophie never had a particularly close relationship with either parent, not like what she had with Sebastian, anyway. But Sophie hadn't seen Seb in 5 years now, and at 16, she knew she was about to have her life changed forever.
There were still some blanks in the picture, but Sophie knew Sebastian was employed in a 'shady' business. He was rich, he'd made a point of explaining that to her over the frequent phone calls they'd shared over the past month, his employer apparently ran some cooperation or something that helped with peoples 'problems' as Seb put it, whatever that meant. It didn't matter that Sophie was 16 and Seb was 31, they still shared a relationship that put most sibling relationships to shame. Essentially, they were the antithesis of each other. Sophie was quiet, but had a fiery temper (just like her fiery red hair, as Seb always joked) when the time was right. Seb however had a type of fire in him that was alight most of the time, but could, again when the time was right, be just as timid as his sibling. But back to the point- after the loss of their mother and father, Sebastian had demanded she came to live with him. Sophie was overjoyed that she finally got to see her older brother, the contact between them during their time apart had been futile- but Sebastian did have a strong brotherly defensiveness over Sophie. Like how at just 13 after the Moran's house was burgled, Seb 'pulled some strings' and got Sophie into a course on how to 'defend' herself against people (which in Sophie 's mind meant kill, come on- who 'defends' themselves by throwing a knife? It was obviously a kill-course as Sophie called it in her mind). It took a while, but now at 16 Sophie knew how to have a bullet in anyone's skull in a matter of seconds. 'Disarm, be armed, and don't be alarmed' had been the cheesy phrase her instructor had used to drill into her memory how to use guns, throw knifes, and what to do in hand-to-hand combat.
Of course- no one at her school knew anything about this side of Sophie. At her privet comprehensive school in Scotland the Moran's had paid for her to attend, Sophie was just the quiet loner girl who kept her head down and studied. But it still made her smirk to herself that if anyone were to try any funny business with her; she could pull the handgun out from her blazer and shoot them there and then. Don't get the wrong idea- Sophie wasn't violent. She was shy 70% of the time, and the thought of throwing a knife at something other than one of the body models at the kill-course made her stomach turn. But she supposed it was a good thing to know.
"Miss. Moran, we've arrived." The chauffeur tore Sophie from her thoughts, the thirty-something man who Seb had sent to bring her to his and this James or something's place out in God-knows-where said with a smile as he left the vehicle. Opening the car door for her, Sophie smiled politely as the man strode to the boot of the vehicle, collecting her luggage.
"Thank you, um, I can take th-" Sophie couldn't finish her sentence as her eyes fell on her big brother standing just 15 metres away from her, a stunning mansion looming behind him, and a short black haired man to the right of him. Without thinking, the biggest smile Sophie had worn in a long time beamed onto her face as she ran to Seb and threw herself into her arms, enveloping her into a huge brotherly hug. "Sebastian!"
"Hey Sis." Sebastian spoke with a warm chuckle as he pulled the teenager out of his arms and grinned down at her, turning his attention to the man beside him. "This is James Moriarty. Jim, Sophie, Sophie, Jim."
Sophie turned to the man who was barely two inches taller than her, stood wearing what was blatantly very expensive tailored suit and a grin exposing an array of pearly white teeth that resembled that of the Cheshire Cat. It didn't take much thought to see that this was the man who employed Seb, the air around him was air that felt of authority. Holding out a firm hand, Jim peered at the nervous teen and genuinely smiled down to the red head.
"Um, hi James, pleased to meet you." Nervously, as if offering her hand to a lion, Sophie took the black eyed man's hand and shook it politely.
"Please darling, call me Jim. Wonderful to have you living with me and Sebby, I promise you, you won't be bored for a second!" Jim practically sang the last word, and at the name 'Sebby', Sophie couldn't help a smile evading her lips. "Regrettably, you're not the only teen staying with me and Bastian now. But we'll get to that later."
Sophie had almost forgotten the presence of her brother as she was interacting with the man beside him, it didn't need to be said that this man was a force not to be reckoned with. The way his eyebrows arched and the black iris pinned into Sophie inclined to her that he was dangerous. Or, as Seb put it, 'the most dangerous man she'll ever meet.' He didn't look like much at first glance, he was attractive, not quite like Seb (the Moran's had always been an attractive bunch), but in a way that demanded all the attention in the room. He wasn't tall and muscular like Sebastian, but again, the presence he had was overwhelming. He was definitely in charge.
In a second, Moriarty turned on his heel and began to stroll towards the mansion, Seb and Sophie following instinctively. The soft wind blew one of Sophie long red curls out of her porcelain white face and she looked up to her big brother, smiling, but with a questionable look in her eye.
Rolling his eyes, Seb chuckled, shaking his head and looking up to the place she could now call home. "You'll get used to him. He likes you, I can tell. You don't, uh…" Sebastian's tone dropped to one of seriousness as he rubbed the back of his neck with his right hand. "… Don't need to be afraid of him. Ok, that's a lie, he is to be feared, but you don't need to be afraid of him. But you need to understand he, in a nutshell, can do anything he wants. I mean, the guy's my best friend but he's still a madman. He likes you, like I said, but you need to know that. He's the most dangerous man you'll ever meet, but being in Jim Moriarty's good books means you're safer than anyone else on this entire planet, untouchable, as Jim likes to put it."
"Oh Sebby, you do make me sound like such a horrible piece of work!" Sophie jumped slightly at the sudden Irish voice of Moriarty joining their conversation, but was relieved to see playfulness in his eye. "No need to worry Sophie, you're in my good books, darling. Actually, 'books' is a bit of an oversight, it's more like my good piece of paper. Rule number one in this world, dear, you can count the people you can trust on one hand."
Sophie grinned as she stepped into the lavish mansion, looking around at her stunning surroundings in awe. "Welcome hoooooooooome!" The madness in Jim's voice actually made Sophie giggle, he was undeniably probably the most insane man Sophie had ever known, and she'd only met him 10 minutes ago. Somehow Sophie knew the madness surely didn't stop there. "Sophie, the help will sort your things out dear, I'll have someone show you your room later, I can't wait to get acquainted with you, honey."
Seb rolled his eyes and laughed as he followed Jim and Sophie into their front room, modern and lavish with an enormous flat screen TV and a grand piano sitting in the corner of the tremendous room with walls laden of shelves crammed with books. "Jim, do the kid a favour and let her breathe."
Jim made an over exaggerated look of sadness and stuck out his bottom lip to Seb, who signalled Sophie to sit down on the cream couch below. Biting her lip, Sophie perched down as Seb sat in the chair opposite, laughing internally at the insane image in front of him. Jim lowered himself down onto the couch with Sophie, not helping her nerves in the slightest.
"So I suppose Sebby's told you very little about me, Sophie dear. Am I right?" Jim's head lolled to one side as he raised his eyebrows at Sophie, nibbling on her lower lip as she always did.
"Oh, um, he told me you run a kind of business of fixing things, nothing much else…" Sophie's mind was racing, she didn't know what the right or wrong thing to say was, but she had a feeling nothing you could say to this man could ever truly be the right thing.
An eruption of giggles left Jim's mouth before he sighed and ran his tongue over his teeth with a grin. "A bit vague but I suppose that's the general idea. I won't lie to you, Sophie dear; I am, in a nutshell, a 'criminal', as ordinary people like to call it. But you're a bright girl; I can tell you already had some inclination of that."
Sophie nodded and glanced up to her brother who was as it appeared barely listening to their conversation and was busy lazily examining his favourite handgun. "I, yes, I had a feeling." Sophie looked up from fiddling with her fingers in her lap to smile politely at Jim.
"Well I'm glad that's settled!" Jim's voice had it's what Sophie guessed was his normal sing song tone to it and smoothed the lapels of his Westwood. "Now here's the not so wonderful news. As I said earlier, you're not the only teenager occupying this residence. My delightful younger brother got himself thrown out of school, and being the good hearted man I am, have agreed to let him stay here. Just a warning, he's almost as naughty as his big brother!"
Sophie nodded and felt herself slowly ease into having a conversation with the madman, Seb obviously trusted him enough to let them talk freely, so Sophie knew she could feel almost comfortable around him. "Oh, that's nice of you."
Again, James Moriarty chuckled and rolled his head in an almost reptilian fashion. "I won't say any more about brother dearest, I'll let you form your own opinion of that bundle of joy." With a wink, Jim stood from the couch and swept out of the room whistling some song from the 70's.