6.
Elspeth knew she wasn't alone in the flat when she woke up to the sound of Moriarty's voice. He was on the phone, making an obvious effort to keep his voice down even though he was getting more and more agitated as the conversation went on, and when Elspeth slowly sat up from her spot on the sofa, she could see he was in the kitchen.
It was difficult not to laugh at Moriarty. As intimidating as he sounded, he looked like he'd just woken up; he had a serious case of bed head and all Moriarty wore were a pair of pyjama trousers.
Gazing at him, Elspeth wondered if Moriarty realised how hot he looked. She then wondered what was wrong with her.
"Just do your job and stop wasting my time," Moriarty snapped down the phone, turning around to see that Elspeth was awake. She tore her eyes from him and looked down at the blanket that had been thrown over her, playing with the edge while thinking back to the previous night. Moriarty's voice brought her out of her daydream. "You're awake."
"Yep," Elspeth said. She glanced over at Moriarty. "And you're half naked."
Moriarty smirked. "Does it bother you?" he asked teasingly. Elspeth didn't respond. "Want some breakfast?"
"I don't think I'm hungry."
Strolling forwards, Moriarty put a cup of tea down on the coaster on the coffee table, and Elspeth thanked him, taking a sip. She scrunched her nose up. "The extra sugar is for shock," he told her with a grin.
"It's disgusting," Elspeth said. She put the cup down next to the coaster and Moriarty frowned. "What?"
"The coaster is right there," he said. Elspeth raised her eyebrows. "I'm just saying." Moriarty relaxed a little more when Elspeth placed the cup on the coaster, leaning back in his seat while he gazed at her. The bruises looked even worse in the morning light, which Elspeth was blissfully ignorant of at that point in time, and the scratches had reddened overnight. She'd looked as if she had been in a fight – and lost. "So," Moriarty drawled. "What do you want to do today? We've got the whole day together."
Blinking, Elspeth stammered, "You're – you're staying here?"
"Well yeah, I want to spend the day with my special girl."
Elspeth decided to ignore the pet name. "I don't want to do anything today," she said. "I just want to lie in bed, curl up in a ball and not wake up for another year."
"No, no, no. That's exactly what we're not going to do, we are not going to sit around and feel sorry for ourselves."
"I look terrible," Elspeth said. "And I feel even worse. If I take one step out of that door, everyone's going to see me and they're going to stare and they're all going to know –" Elspeth cut herself off when she felt tears threatening to make an appearance, shaking her head and running a hand through her unruly hair. "I don't think I can do it."
Moriarty stared back at Elspeth for a few seconds. "Get dressed," he said to her.
"Did you not hear what I just said?"
"Yep, but I'm choosing to ignore you. Get up and get dressed." Elspeth didn't move, glaring at Moriarty with a stubborn frown, and he stood up. "Come on, Ellie, don't make me repeat myself."
Elspeth reluctantly rose to her feet, brushing past Moriarty as she walked through to her bedroom. She didn't know what Moriarty was up to or what he was planning, and though she really didn't care to find out, Elspeth decided it was best to just go along with it. She got dressed, shimmying into a pair of jeans and pulling a t-shirt on over her head, striding out of her room with a jumper in her hand.
Turning the corner, Elspeth nearly walked straight into Moriarty. His hands on her arms kept her steady but she didn't notice as she stared at him, biting her lip and trying not to laugh.
"You're wearing jeans," Elspeth pointed out with a wide grin. Moriarty slowly took his hands away and looked down at his clothes, wondering what was so amusing to her. He'd worn jeans before; when he was posing at Jim from IT, he had worn jeans and a plain t-shirt, not unlike the ones he was wearing now.
"I'm wearing jeans," he agreed. "What's so funny about that?"
Elspeth giggled. "Nothing. They – um . . . they look good, they suit you." Moriarty watched in amusement while Elspeth tried to compose herself. "So where are we going?"
"You'll see."
The wind was blowing in Elspeth's hair while Moriarty sped down the empty road, music blasting out of the radio speakers. Humming, Moriarty glanced over at her, feeling something akin to relief when he saw the faint smile she wore. He reached out and tucked her hair behind her ear.
"Both hands on the wheel, please," Elspeth murmured, her voice barely audible over the music.
Moriarty smirked, pushing the accelerator down even more. "Am I scaring you?" he shouted over the music and wind, noticing Elspeth's cheeks turn pink. She gripped the edge of her seat. "Should I go faster?"
"No. No!" Elspeth laughed when the car sped up, Moriarty pushing it to its limits, and felt herself being pushed back into her seat. Adrenaline coursed through her and she screamed and laughed at the same time, her hair whipping in the wind while her eyes stung so much she could feel them watering. Moriarty's grin was so wide that Elspeth could see his teeth and she didn't think as she grabbed hold of his hand, clinging to him because if she let go, she felt like she might fall out of her seat.
When the car slowed down to a stop, Elspeth let go of Moriarty's hand as quickly as she had grabbed it and punched him in the arm. "You're a bloody psychopath, you know that?"
"And you pack a hard punch," Moriarty replied. His hand felt empty without hers and he clenched his fist to try and distract himself, taking the key from the ignition. Elspeth's cheeks were pink. "Come on. We've got lots to do today." He got out of the car but Elspeth stayed in her seat, gazing out of the window with a bemused frown, and Moriarty opened the door again, poking his head inside. "Come on," he repeated impatiently.
"Why?" Elspeth asked. "Where are we going?"
"Come with me and you'll find out!"
Moriarty was like an excitable child and Elspeth found it hard to say no to him, climbing out of the car; her stomach twisted with trepidation. Brushing her hair behind her ears, Elspeth looked around at the empty car park, giving Moriarty a thoroughly unimpressed frown. He wasn't looking at her for once, though, but over her shoulder, and Elspeth turned around to see what he was gazing at with such a smug grin.
"You brought me to the beach," Elspeth blurted out, stating the obvious, and Moriarty smirked to himself as she gazed out at the sea in front of her. It had been a long time since she'd been to the beach, and Elspeth couldn't stop herself from taking a few steps forwards, her hands resting on the fence that separated the open car park from the sand. She could feel the wind in her hair, smell the unmistakable scent of salt, hear the seagulls cawing above her . . . it was just how Elspeth remembered a beach to be. In the distance, she could see a cluster of rock pools.
The sky was clear and it was a warm day, but the beach was nearly empty. There was a couple walking their dog in the distance, but they were so far away that they were barely specks on the horizon. It must've been a week day, when everyone was at work and school, or the beach was so secluded that not a lot of people knew it was there.
She knew that Moriarty wouldn't hurt her, not now, but still Elspeth hoped it wasn't the latter reason. She still had a bruise on her hip.
"You just going to stand there?" Moriarty teased, brushing against her as he strolled past. Elspeth turned to him with an excited shine in her eyes, the most animated he had ever seen her.
There was a small, sandy hill on the other side of the fence. Moriarty walked down first, turning to offer his hand to Elspeth. She hesitated for a moment, then put her palm in his, giggling when she slid down the smooth surface and stumbled to a clumsy stop in front of him, nearly colliding with Moriarty.
Her giggles subsiding, Elspeth craned her neck back a little so she could look Moriarty in the eyes. His own eyes flickered over her face, taking in her features – they lingered a second longer on Elspeth's lips – before meeting hers, and Elspeth was taken aback by the intensity in his dark gaze. She gave him a nervous, embarrassed grin and let go of his hand, ducking her head as she tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear.
"Um –" Elspeth inwardly cringed, but Moriarty looked patient. "Thanks," she settled on with an awkward laugh, taking a step back and sweeping her eyes over the landscape because she wanted to look anywhere other than at him. An idea sprung to her mind and before she could stop herself, Elspeth blurted, "Last one to the sea is a loser!"
Moriarty watched in amusement as Elspeth stripped off her shoes and socks, racing across the beach, and realised a second too late that she was being serious. He considered himself too mature and too dignified to engage in such childish behaviour, but Elspeth stopped at the end of the shore to roll her jeans up, turning and giving Moriarty such a bright smile that he felt compelled to join her.
Leaving his shoes and socks next to hers, Moriarty joined Elspeth. She was jumping up and down, trying to leap over the waves as they rolled towards her.
"I won," she announced, sticking her tongue out at him and kicking the water in his direction.
"You cheated."
Her eyes wide, Elspeth stared back at Moriarty. "Are you telling me that you, Jim Moriarty, worlds only consulting criminal, has a problem with people cheating?" she teased.
"I may be a consulting criminal, but I do have some honour," Moriarty retorted. He'd rolled his jeans up and stepped into the sea, trying not to flinch when the water froze his feet. "And I don't appreciate cheating." He kicked water in Elspeth's direction in retaliation and she squealed, crouching to splash him. "Oh, I see how it is."
Somehow Moriarty and Elspeth reverted back to their childish ways, splashing and chasing each other in the water. A passing dog walker glanced their way and smiled at how young and carefree they appeared. Elspeth's squeals echoed when Moriarty swept her into her arms, lifting her up so he could hold her dangerously close to the water, threatening to drop her at any time. She clung to him, laughing, begging for him not to throw her in the sea, and Moriarty's laughter mingled with hers. One arm was hooked under her legs and the other wrapped around her waist, holding her securely, but it was fun to tease Elspeth, make her laugh.
"No, no, no!" Elspeth laughed, hooking her arms around his neck so if he dropped her, Moriarty would fall down as well. "Jim, stop it!"
Smirking, Moriarty lowered Elspeth to her feet. "You've never called me that before."
Elspeth gave him a blank stare. "What?" she asked, then realised. "Oh! I thought we sort of past the stage where I call you Moriarty, didn't you? Besides," Elspeth added with a small grin. "You've been calling me Ellie since we met."
"Would you prefer it if I called you Holmes?"
"Do that and I'll punch you."
Moriarty believed her, thinking back to their first meeting; he'd been posing as Jim from IT, Molly's office romance boyfriend, sitting in her office when Elspeth knocked on the door. He remembered thinking that she was very pretty, but he'd also realised there was another way to get to Sherlock. In any other world, Moriarty mused, things would've been easier for him and Elspeth. If he wasn't a consulting criminal, if she wasn't Sherlock's daughter, if they had met under different circumstances, things would've been different.
None of that was an issue for Moriarty; if he wanted something, then he took it. Elspeth, however, had the tendency to overthink. She was far more wary than Moriarty was and she'd been hurt in the past, and she'd only just started to trust him. So he had to careful what he said and did.
"I'd like to see you try," Moriarty murmured. Elspeth laughed, flexed her hand, and grimaced.
"Yeah, I think my punching days are over," she said. "I just like to scare people."
"Because you're absolutely terrifying, aren't you?"
Elspeth smiled. She had been terrifying when she was driven by her hatred and revenge, but now she was back to her old self, and Elspeth didn't know if she could say boo to a goose. "Come on," she said quietly. "I want to look at those rock pools."
Moriarty watched her walk away with an appreciative smile, then joined her. "When was the last time you went to the beach?" he asked. Elspeth gave him a dubious look. "Just asking."
"I can't remember," she admitted. "Dad was never the type to plan days out and it was almost impossible to organise stuff with my friends at college, and one day, I just picked up my sketchbook and hopped on the first train out of London." Elspeth smiled to herself wistfully and crouched by one of the rock pools, running her finger along the water's surface. "It was one of the best days of my life because I could sit and sketch, and when I got back, it was like I'd never even gone."
"What do you mean?"
Shrugging, Elspeth sighed and said, "No one noticed I'd left, not even Dad. It was one of those things . . . it really pissed me off that he was so wrapped up in his own world and I tried to forgive him, I honestly did, but I never could. Not completely."
"All seems a bit trivial now," Moriarty commented. Elspeth nodded and gave him a small smile, as if pleased that he could show some semblance of understanding, then turned away to pick up a small crab that was struggling to make its way across the rocks. Moriarty watched her gently handle it, holding it so the crab couldn't pinch her and placing it on a smoother surface that was easier to walk on. "You're too kind sometimes."
"Really?" Elspeth retorted, flipping her hair over her shoulder as she raised her eyebrows at him. "Are you really saying that? To me? The girl who put a load of your clients and network in prison?"
"Technically the police did that –" Moriarty gasped in shock when Elspeth hit on the arm. "Did you just punch me?"
"You weren't taking me seriously."
"I always take you seriously."
Elspeth snorted. She didn't want to go back to who she was after Sherlock's death; she hated herself for becoming so bitter and twisted, and Elspeth was even a little afraid when she thought about how angry she'd been. She didn't want people to think that she couldn't stand up for herself or take care of herself, though.
"Who's to say I'm too nice anyway? Maybe you're not nice enough," Elspeth suggested.
"Don't be absurd, Ellie, I'm not nice at all."
"I wouldn't say that." That took Moriarty by surprise, and he turned his head to meet her earnest gaze with a confused frown. Elspeth elaborated, "Well, you haven't killed me even though I gave you plenty of reason to, and you didn't let Roscoe kill me. You've given me a roof over my head, a bed, food – I'd say that's pretty decent, all things considered."
"I don't want to alarm you, my dear, but you're beginning to sound fond of me."
"Don't flatter yourself."
Moriarty laughed. "It's hard not when only a few days ago, you told me you hated me."
Her cheeks turning red, Elspeth ducked her head and stared at her reflection in the water. She barely recognised herself past the scratches and bruises; she couldn't stop herself from slapping the sea, watching ripples spread across the rock pool.
"I didn't mean it," Elspeth whispered. "At least . . . I don't know if I did. I was angry." And Moriarty was confusing to her. She wanted to hate him for all he had done, but then he'd act kind and normal and human, and it was hard to feel angry at someone who saved her time and time again without expecting anything in return. "I don't hate you."
"Good."
His voice was so soft and sincere that it made Elspeth lift her head, once again caught under his intense gaze. Moriarty frowned back at her.
"Are you afraid of me, Ellie?" he asked.
Elspeth didn't hesitate. "Yeah."
"I don't want you to be."
"I know," Elspeth murmured. She didn't look away from him and Moriarty could feel the weight in her words, watching her stop briefly to consider what she was going to say to him next. "But what you . . . what you did . . ." Elspeth swallowed past the lump in her throat, closing her eyes when she felt tears welling. "Not just to me, but to Dad and John and all those innocent people – that old lady, those people in the flat . . . you destroyed lives, Jim, and I don't know how you can live with that because I still have nightmares, and that's why it's so hard not to be afraid of you."
Moriarty considered Elspeth's words in silence. She opened his eyes to a whole new perspective and perhaps it was because she sounded so sad and forlorn that he felt guilty.
"I'm sorry."
It took Elspeth a few seconds to comprehend what Moriarty had said to her, and when she finally did, she stared at him with wide eyes. He didn't look back at her. Instead, Moriarty determinedly avoided her gaze, looking ahead of himself while she studied his profile, amazed that he'd been genuine when he apologised. Without thinking, Elspeth reached out and held one of Moriarty's hands in her own, their fingers interweaving as their palms pressed together.
"Thank you," Elspeth said under her breath. Moriarty gave her a questioning look and she smiled. "I think that's all I needed to hear, so thank you."
They didn't speak for a long time after that.
The fish and chip shop was crowded and cramped, and Elspeth found herself pressed between the wall and Moriarty as they sat at the one of the last tables that was free. He was close, intimately so, and she could feel his arm brush against hers when he reached for the menu. She laughed.
"It's a chippy, not a five star restaurant."
"I like to keep an open mind," Moriarty replied with a grin, making Elspeth laugh again. She had to lean against him in order to read the menu as well. He raised his arm, draping it over the back of her chair so – to the other customers – it looked as if he was casually embracing her. "Order what you like, love, I'm paying."
"How very chivalrous of you," Elspeth remarked. She plucked the menu from his hands and leaned away, but Moriarty didn't move his arm. He reached up and started to play with her hair, laughing when she pushed his hand away. "Stop that."
"Oh, I'm sorry, am I distracting you?"
"Yeah, so stop it," Elspeth grumbled.
Moriarty ran his fingers through the ends of Elspeth's hair, catching her hand when she tried to stop him. Elspeth's cheeks burned when he kissed the back of her hand.
"Play nice now, my dear," he warned. "I would so hate to ruin a perfect day, wouldn't you?"
"I wouldn't call it perfect."
Elspeth didn't pull her hand away, though, and Moriarty didn't let go, running his thumb along her knuckles in an absent minded manner while he looked at the menu over her shoulder. His breath tickled the back of her neck. He only looked away when their waitress, a girl not much older than Elspeth, arrived; Moriarty ordered in a quiet, authoritative voice that Elspeth knew all too well. Her hand fidgeted in his, and she was hyper aware that the waitress' eyes kept flickering towards her.
"She thinks you're beating me up," Elspeth said under her breath when the waitress walked away.
"What makes you say that?"
"It was written all over her face. Plus, young girl with bruises all over her face sitting with a guy old enough to be her father –"
"Watch it," Moriarty warned in a low voice.
"Sitting with a guy who is slightly older," Elspeth corrected. "looks a bit . . . dodgy, you know what I mean?"
"You're overthinking things."
Elspeth gave him a sideways glance and took her hand from his, leaning as far back as she could manage in such limited space. She looked around the small restaurant and focused her gaze on a couple not so far from her and Moriarty, her lips twitching into a smirk as she said, "See that man over there? He's having an affair."
Moriarty, pretending he wasn't peeved she'd moved her hand so abruptly, glanced over. "How do you know?"
"It's easy – look as his body language. He's leaning really far away from her, his fists are clenched, and he can barely stand to be in her company. His phone is on silent, which is why he keeps checking it when she's not looking, and that's only so she won't ask whose texting him. She doesn't know, poor cow," Elspeth ended with a sympathetic grimace, but Moriarty grinned, gazing at her. "It's really simple once you know what you're looking for."
"Who taught you that?"
"Mostly Dad, but sometimes Mycroft when we were bored. He had to pass the time babysitting me somehow."
Moriarty smirked at the thought of Mycroft looking after a young Elspeth. His nickname for the oldest Holmes was well deserved, in Moriarty's opinion. He didn't say so; he didn't want to upset or offend Elspeth. The thought was rather strange. It had been a long time since Moriarty stopped himself from hurting other people intentionally.
"I do believe it's your turn to take me out next time," he murmured instead, a lazy grin spreading across his face when Elspeth looked at him, startled by the proposition.
"I didn't realise I was obligated to," she retorted. "We're not dating, after all."
"Who said this was a date?"
There was a gleam in Moriarty's eyes and Elspeth stared back at him for a few seconds before glowering. "You are so annoying," she told him, cheering up slightly when the waitress returned with their food. "You know what I meant."
Moriarty picked up a chip and bit into it. "There's no need to beat around the bush, Ellie, I know you fancy me," he said. "I mean, I am irresistible, after all."
"Do you really lack so much confidence that you have to give yourself an hourly ego boost?"
"Ellie, you'll hurt my feelings if you say stuff like that." Moriarty sounded offended but his eyes were too wide, giving his shocked expression a comical edge, and Elspeth snorted as she shook her head. "We've been having such a nice time, I thought we were friends now."
Elspeth couldn't imagine Moriarty having friends. If she hadn't seen it first hand, she wouldn't have thought that his and Sebastian's friendship was genuine; there was no faking the way they acted around each other though. Stabbing a chip with her fork, Elspeth wondered how long Moriarty and Sebastian had known each other, how they'd met, when they decided to work together . . . there were a lot of questions that Elspeth planned on asking Sebastian. He was less likely to tease her.
They ate in comfortable silence. Moriarty watched Elspeth while she looked around the restaurant, making silent deductions in her mind. His arm was on the back of her chair, fingers drumming against it, and it felt comfortable to Elspeth. Safe. She realised that she should've minded that Moriarty had his arm around her but she didn't.
"What are you thinking about?" Moriarty asked Elspeth, who blinked at him in surprise. "You get this little look in your eyes when you're thinking."
"What are you talking about?"
"I know you, Ellie," Moriarty sung quietly, under his breath so other people wouldn't hear. "I know you better than you think. I know when you're happy, I know when you're sad, I know when you're thinking . . ." his voice trailed off and he gazed at Elspeth expectantly, waiting for her to say something, but she just shook her head in silence and turned away.
Sebastian was there when Moriarty and Elspeth arrived home that evening, his eyes narrowing. "I was wondering where you two had gone," he said casually. "I'm making dinner if you two want some."
"Give me time to shower, Tiger," Moriarty called, wandering through to the bathroom.
"Come on," Sebastian said to Elspeth. "You can make yourself useful and chop some veg up for me." He gestured towards the small pile on the counter and Elspeth smiled as she took off her jacket, flinging it over the back of a chair. She took the knife from Sebastian. "So, where did you two go today?"
"Oh, just to the beach," Elspeth said casually. Sebastian frowned, looking at her sideways. As far as he knew, Moriarty didn't like the beach. But no angry words had been exchanged and they hadn't been giving each other angry, sideways glances, and Elspeth looked as if she hadn't cried that day, so perhaps the trip had been good for them both.
His mind wandered to the conversation he'd had the previous night with Moriarty. "You and Jim," Sebastian began with a hint of trepidation in his voice.
"Me and Jim," Elspeth repeated. She put down the knife and looked up at Sebastian.
"What's going on with you two? It's like you've got some weird connection. I've never seen Jim act like this around someone before – when he wants something, or someone, he goes out and he gets it." Sebastian frowned and shook his head, pausing to look over at Elspeth, who was watching him with a frown of her own. "Jim doesn't look after people, or protect them, or care about anyone."
Elspeth bit her lip, shifting her weight from one foot to the other as she folded her arms, hugging herself. She couldn't wrap her head around it. "Today – today wasn't a date," she choked out. "It wasn't even anything special, it was just a day out because of what happened."
"That doesn't strike you as odd at all? This is Jim Moriarty we're talking about."
"You know him better than I do," Elspeth pointed out.
"Exactly, and I know it's weird."
Running a hand through her hair, Elspeth leaned against the counter and considered everything that happened that day. It had been a nice day out, she supposed, and when she thought over Sebastian's words, she realised that was odd. Moriarty's apology stuck in her mind. She'd thought about his apology all day because she'd hated him for years, and after those two simple words – I'm sorry – it felt like it was all over. Elspeth didn't know if she could forgive and forget, but she could at least try.
"Has . . ." her voice trailed off uncertainly as she bit her lip. "Has Jim ever . . . apologised to anyone before? As in, properly apologised and meant it?"
"Not that I know of. Why?"
"Because he apologised to me today," Elspeth murmured, the words sounding strange even as she said them. Sebastian stared at her for a few seconds, so shocked that he was rendered speechless, and Elspeth gazed back at him, her eyebrows pulling together. Both of them knew that Moriarty didn't apologise.
Elspeth remembered how she had held Moriarty's hand on the beach, and how natural it had felt to reach out and took his hand in her own.
Sebastian was thinking about his conversation with Moriarty again, and Moriarty's words – "my world would be so boring without Ellie Holmes in it." That was practically a confession of love coming from Moriarty, in Sebastian's opinion, and it worried the sniper to consider the possibility; Elspeth was still so young and vulnerable, easy to take advantage of. Would Moriarty know if he was taking advantage? Would he listen to Elspeth if she told him no? Sebastian didn't know.
Her hand shook as Elspeth reached for the knife again, and she was about to pick it up when Sebastian covered her hand with his own, stopping her.
"You're going to chop one of your fingers off," he joked. Elspeth didn't smile.
The sound of water running stopped, and Moriarty wandered through to the kitchen to check on Sebastian and Elspeth. She glanced his way, blushing when she realised he was shirtless for the second time that day, his hair a damp mess. After her conversation with Sebastian, Elspeth found it hard to look Moriarty in the eyes.
"Everything alright? You two aren't flirting, are you?" Moriarty teased them both, grinning when he saw how uneasy Elspeth appeared. She tightened her arms around herself.
"Wouldn't dream of it, boss," Sebastian assured him.
Seemingly appeased with the sniper's answer, Moriarty turned and left to put a shirt on. Elspeth watched his retreating back.
"What were you trying to say, Sebastian?" she asked, her voice so quiet that it was barely audible over the noise in the kitchen. "What was with all the questions? Because there is absolutely nothing going on between Jim and I, if that's what you're worried about, and –"
"Maybe not for you," Sebastian muttered. It took Elspeth by surprise and she stopped, trying to get her head around what he meant. There wasn't anything between them. Moriarty had apologised and Elspeth admitted to him that she didn't really hate him, but that didn't mean anything because at the end of the day, they were just words.
Sebastian regretted his words, however, the second he uttered them. He didn't mean to scare Elspeth, but now she was staring up at him with those wide eyes of hers, clearly confused and even a little bit scared. He sighed. He'd messed up.
"What do you mean?"
Elspeth's voice was barely a whisper. Sebastian shook his head. "Look, Ellie, I didn't mean anything, just ignore me."
"What do you mean?" Elspeth repeated with slightly more force to her voice, her heart racing against her chest as she unwrapped her arms from around herself, letting them hang by her sides. Her hands shook so much that she clenched them into fists and Sebastian struggled to meet her eyes, feeling guilty that he had put them both in such an uncomfortable situation. Moriarty would kill him if he knew what Sebastian was saying.
"Look, Ellie, ignore me if you want but . . ." Sebastian's voice trailed away uncomfortably. He rubbed the back of his neck. "I think Jim is in love with you."
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