AN: Been swamped with school work so I haven't been able to up-to-date my other fic, Endless forms of beauty. (Really sorry but that's the beauty of A- levels, zero spare time.) But have been working on this little prequel to it! This is a separate one shot that just lets you have a bit of an insight into Emma and Sherlock's time in Serbia.
Serbia
It was golden. The light of the rising sun shone through the Heligan arched windows as she awoke. Taking a deep breathe, she became aware of the firm reassuring weight of his arm comfortably wound around her waist pulling her against his chest. For the first time in her life she felt content here with him in their own little world, the thought of the reality of the world outside of this room caused a painful feeling to appear in her chest.
"Good morning" Sherlock's voice thick with sleep mumbled into her long brown hair. "What are you thinking about?" he said. At this stage of their "relationship", Emma had realised that asking Sherlock how he knew about something would only lead to a lengthy explanation where he could show off how smart he is. Deciding to spare both of them, Emma softly mentioned how she wished she could stay here with him forever. Moving her body she turned so she could rest her head on his chest listening to the soothing noise of his heart beating steadily. "Where did you go last night?" She asked while running her hand through his long dark curly hair. Curling her finger around a strand of his hair, Emma tugged sharply on it when he didn't answer her. She hated when he wasn't completely honest with her, when he kept secrets about what he was doing in Serbia. She hated his ability to deflect from a question as she knew more than anyone how dangerous secrets could be.
"Im close to finding them". Sherlock said, his English accent still sounded so foreign to her but it was a refreshing sound amongst the harsher Serbian accent that she was surrounded with every day. Emma signed quietly feeling suddenly sick as she mentally counted down the days they had left together. As if he was reading her mind (Emma wasn't entirely convinced he wasn't physic) Sherlock placed a sensual kiss on the side of her neck, promising that he would be back in a minute after he made her a cup of tea.
Getting out of bed and walking towards the window, Emma looked out seeing the morning sky and remembered a time when looking out the window and seeing the sun was a privilege. Feeling some of the bad memories involving her past creeping back into her head, Emma forced herself to remain in the present were everything was good and happy. Find the thing inside of you that makes you want to live. Find the thing inside of you that makes you want to live. This phrase had stayed with her through everything and willed her to keep on moving even when she felt like the world was too dark, too mad and just too much to keep on going.
Lost in her thoughts, Emma didn't feel Sherlock come up behind her and place a cup of steaming tea in front of her face. Signing contently Emma realised that right in this moment Sherlock was her reason to live, weirdly they somehow fitted together perfectly both with complicated pasts and their even more complicated hearts.
Trying not to dwell on what was going to happen once his time in Serbia was over, Emma turned her body towards him revelling in the comfort of being in his arms again. It had been many years since she had seen him before he turned up in Serbia, a completely different person to the curly haired boy she once met. "Was it fate?" Emma whispered while placing a kiss on his collarbone. "Us, meeting again?" Sherlock laughed and just held her close because whatever anyone wanted to call it, it didn't matter. All that mattered was the two of them here together before reality caught up with them, and he had to return to London and she to New York. Standing there holding each other for just a minute they revelled in the ability to just be themselves, together.
