Richard got the phone call early one morning. He snuck out of Kitty Reilly's apartment, as he had been doing for days to avoid questions. He'd make sure people knew Jim was real… but not yet. He wanted to bury his brother, sort himself out, and he wanted to find anyone who wasn't Kitty Reilly to tell about Jim. He would tell people, but not yet.
So when he got the phone call his pulled out his shoes and jacket and went to catch the tube. He dearly missed his car. Jim had destroyed it. It wasn't that Richard couldn't afford a new one. He was inheriting most of Jim's legal funds (which Richard was surprised at how much there actually was in those accounts) and he could buy his own car. Richard had decided what he'd do once he did get the money. He considered just being dull and just setting up enough to keep himself with a flat and from starving and giving the rest away. He really didn't want to live of Jim, he never had. He just hadn't ever been able to live any other way. He was unlikely to ever get a part again when everyone thought he'd sold his soul to a fake detective for money. When people found out about Jim… well, he honestly wasn't even sure that he wouldn't be killed for the honor of being Jim Moriarty's twin.
Richard rode the tube away from Kitty's home and toward the crematorium he'd picked for this. It was more outside the city than in because of the nature of the work. He didn't mind, he liked the place. He'd hung around a lot when he was younger and thinking about maybe going into the business. He'd honestly considered becoming a mortician, because he liked the idea of helping people deal with their grief and he knew he could be good and he didn't want to just let the skills Jim had taught him to with dissection and body manipulation to just go to waste. It turned out that his discomfort with the dead was insurmountable, and he'd decided that he'd rather be an actor anyway. It was nice to be someone who wasn't Richard Moriarty for a while.
"Hello Richy," Natalia said, allowing her accent to slip because she knew he liked it.
"Hello Natty," Richard teased back, smiling at the petite woman, an ex-girlfriend. He opened his arms and allowed her to walk into them. The small Russian woman fit beautifully into his arms, as she always had.
"Bad days, huh?" she asked. She was part of the reason why he'd picked this place. They already knew about his brother, and they already knew how to keep their mouths shut. Some of Jim's body disposals had gone through their crematorium.
"I've had better," Richard murmured, pressing a kiss to Natalia's forehead. She smiled sweet and took his hand, tugging him to the back.
"I was sorry when I heard. It's a real mess you got yourself into," Natalia said.
"You've no idea," Richard said. "How's Tim?"
"Ricky and Sasha are driving him nuts… so well as ever," she said with a bright smile.
"And that's why it never would have worked out between us. No way I could have been a house wife," Richard said, earning an elbow in his gut from the small woman.
"Like you have a lot of choice now. Can you even get employed?"
"Not thinking about that right now," Richard said, looking back down at her and smiling. She knew him. She knew that he was playing his part. She knew that the reason they'd broken up had nothing to do with her falling for Timothy before she and Richard had broken up. She knew it had everything to with the fact that Richard knew that her parents had been defected Soviet spies before he even knew he name. She knew it have everything to do with the fact that Richard had played so many parts that he no longer seemed to know how to play himself. She knew it had to do with the fact that Jim had told her to stop seeing his brother. She knew these things, and so did Richard.
"I missed you," she said.
"I missed you too," Richard said. "Will you come to the funeral, there's someone I want you to meet."
"New girlfriend?" Natalia asked. Richard only smiled. "What's she like?"
"She's not my girlfriend yet. She doesn't really know me yet, except that I'm Jim's brother."
Natalia's eyebrows headed into her hair line. "She knew Jim?"
"She dated Jim," Richard said.
"Really? Jim dated people?"
"Jim did his best damn impression of me for her, from what I got," Richard said, grinning a bit sheepishly. "You think I've got a shot?"
"I don't know… are you happy going after Jim's left overs?"
"Oh no, Doll, she broke up with him."
"And she's still alive?"
"Beautifully breathing," Richard said with a sweet and innocent smile. Those smiles always made Natalia the most unhappy. She wasn't ever sure if that was really Richard or if that was the mask he'd created to fool Jim, the mask he couldn't seem to figure out how to remove.
"Well, then I have to meet her… you sure she's going to be there?"
"Yes, she will be," he said as they finally got to the cremation room.
"How do you know?" she asked. She waited now, wanting to see that little piece of Jim that seemed to have dug its way into Richard's whole person, so deeply buried that Richard didn't even know it was there. That little piece of Jim, Jim sanitized, Jim safe, that was Natalia's favorite part of Richard. That was the reason why Jim told her to stop seeing Richard.
Richard smiled, on Jim it would be a smirk. "The same way to know Dr. Watson will come to the funeral as well… because there really isn't anyone who can tell me no when I play it right," he said. For just a moment he was so beautifully confident. And then he sighed heavily and it all slipped away and he seemed sad.
"Come on, time to say goodbye," Natalia said, taking Richard inside.
Jim's body was already in the box to be cremated. His eyes were shut and he looked peaceful, something he never was when he was alive. Richard moves over to Jim. Jim had clearly been kept in some kind of deep freeze to still not be rotting after three weeks of being dead, yet he hadn't been properly contained from probably the last day, because there was the hint of death on him.
Richard slipped his hands into the box. He preformed the same check on Jim's body that he did at the morgue. He checked the wound (the body had long since stopped bleeding) and then for the three scars that Richard used and touchstones to be sure that the body he was seeing was Jim's. He wasn't bothered by the ugly stitching on the body from where Jim had been cut open for autopsy.
"Burn him," Richard said simply. He stepped back, letting Natalia put the lid on the box and pushed the button so that the body would be rolled into the oven.
"There's something the man who brought him left for you," Natalia said. She led Richard out. The body would take some time to burn. She took him back to her office, picking up the small parcel that had been left for Richard. The box was so nondescript that it was a bit unnevering. Richard accepted it without fuss. "What is it?"
"Jim's phone," Richard said, taking it out of the box. He flipped it on, discovering, as he'd suspected, that it was completely blank. He slipped the phone into his pocket. He needed a new one anyway.
"And?" Natalia asked, knowing there was no way a box that big would only have a phone in it/
"It won't mean the same thing to you that it means to be," Richard said, shutting the box. That was the end of the discussion.
Richard spoke with Natalia for a bit longer, telling her when the funeral was (two days, it'd probably last ten minutes, and the ashes would be buried at a plot that Mycroft Holmes had purchased). He went to Jim's apartment after that.
"Jim?" Sebastian murmured sleepily from the couch, waking up when Richard opened the door. Richard shut the door and padded over to Sebastian.
"Back to sleep Bastian," Richard murmured, imitating Jim as he lightly trailed his fingers down Sebastian's side as he past. Sebastian went back to sleep on command. Richard didn't know if it was a kindness, what he'd done. He hoped Sebastian just thought of it as a good dream… mostly he'd done it because he didn't want to face Sebastian's questions either.
Richard walked back to Jim's room and crawled under the bed, getting the box of stuff he'd left there. It was his very special shoe box, the one even Jim wouldn't touch because it would destroy Richard to lose anything out of it. He'd put it under Jim's bed when he had to go to live with Kitty. Richard didn't trust Kitty not to go through his box.
Richard sat on Jim's bed and opened the box. Nothing was moved, though he noticed a slip of yellow on the inside of the box. There was a Post-it under the lid. No, I didn't touch anything, idiot. –JM. Jim had added a little heart and his favorite smiley: a smiley face with a tongue sticking out a little vampire fangs. Jim had copied it from a girl at school. Jim had a bad habit of borrowing things and never giving them back.
The painful smile that tugged Richard's lips was unbidden but Richard didn't try to stop it. He set the box id aside carefully. Jim had unknowingly added one more special thing to the inside of Richard's special box. Richard was about to add something else as well. He opened the box that had been left for him at the crematorium, pulling out the cleaned bone that lay inside. It was a rib, Jim's rib. Richard set the rib inside, lay next to Richard's own that also lay inside the box.
"Look Jim, I've got a matched set," Richard said. He took the box lid and settled it back on before slipping the box back under Jim's bed. He snuck out after that. He still wasn't ready to deal with Sebastian, not yet. He'd call him later.
John wasn't 100% sure why he was attending Moriarty's funeral. He was even less sure as to why he was bringing Molly Hooper with him. He'd gotten a text message from Richard two days before (It'd taken him forever and a day to figure out who the hell RM was. When it finally connected he felt a simple sense that it was understandable for Richard to want to claim connect to Jim Moriarty, at least when he was planning the funeral.) with the address and time for the funeral, and a reminder to bring Molly Hooper.
"Will you come?" John had asked Molly in person. He didn't think asking Molly to come to her pretend ex-boyfriend's funeral was something he should do over the phone.
"He asked for me to come?" she asked, hardly believing it.
"I think he has a crush on you," John said.
"That's hardly funny."
"Only because I'm serious," John said. Molly blushed then.
"You can't be," she said.
"I am," John said. "He said that it seemed less creepy if he could find a way to ask you that wasn't over his brother's dead body."
"I don't understand."
"Molly, the man has mentioned you at the end of almost every conversation I've ever had with him," John said a bit forcefully. "Will you just come?"
"Okay," she said. "But… I'm not sure it's a good idea for me to… well."
"Thank you can tell him," John said.
That was all it took to get here there. They met a predetermined tube station and took a cab out to the little plot of country where the funeral would be. It wasn't easy to find the small procession in the cemetery. When they did find it, there was one more person than John had been expecting: a very lovely, small, dark haired woman. She was talking quietly to Richard (who'd found a suit that didn't make him look like Jim at all). She stopped talking when she saw them and Richard turned to them. He smiled, weakly, but it was a smile. John wondered if it was real strain that made the smile so tired, or simply Richard's acting.
"Dr. Watson, Dr. Hooper, thank you for coming," Richard said politely. He spoke as softly as he did in the hospital. "Dr. Watson, you remember Colonel Moran," he said, nodding to the soldier who was standing a bit off from the rest of them. "And this is Natalia Price, an old friend."
"Pleasure to meet you," John said, extending his hand. He noted the wedding band on her finger. It was in good condition, though a few years old. She'd been married for a while, though she was still happily married. John wondered if Sherlock would be proud if he could have heard John's thoughts.
"Richard's being coy," Natalia said. "I'm his ex-girlfriend," she said, shaking Molly's hand now and flashing a smile.
"Ah," Molly said. "Molly Hooper," she said, smiling weakly. She was clearly uncomfortable with this very beautiful and very forward woman.
"It's a pleasure to meet you," Natalia said with a grin. "Ah, here he comes," she said. A pastor walked across the grass, headed for their small party. The man lead them back to a plot of earth with a very beautifully polished black headstone reading the name "James Moriarty". John felt and uncomfortable lurch at the recognition of how it looked exactly like Sherlock's headstone. Mycroft had paid for it, how could he allow the headstones to look so similar? It had to be on purpose.
The pastor opened his little book of worship, starting to read the funeral ceremony. He said no more and no less than the full ceremony. He gave no speech and gave no one time to say something about Jim. The service didn't last ten minutes. The man gripped Richard's arm as he passed, but he spoke no more and simply went on his way.
Richard was smiled weakly still, as he had for the entire service. His hand rested on his side, seeming to push into his ribs. He didn't cry. He didn't really show any emotion at all. The closest thing he showed to emotion was dragging Colonel Moran into a hug before the man could walk off on his own. Moran smiled weakly (breaking form the sullen and blank expression he'd worn before) and tousled Richard's hair as if he were a little kid. When Richard let him go, Moran walked away without speaking to anyone.
"There's a café not far from here. They make good hot chocolate," Richard suggested, slipping his hands into his pockets.
"Oh, I remember that place," Natalia said, slipping her arm through Richard's like it was the most natural thing in the world. John instantly felt bad for bringing Molly. Richard had seemed really interested, but then he brought an old girlfriend to the funeral and allowed her to hang all over him.
No one spoke again until they were out of the cemetery and headed to the coffee shop. Richard was the one who broke the silence. "Let's stop for a moment," he said. Natalia let go of his arm and he went to Molly, offering her his arm. She blushed and bent down, pulling off her shoes. John blushed a bit himself. He'd been rather absorbed in his own thoughts and hadn't realized that Molly was limping. Richard held her shoes for her and allowed her to lean on him as they walked (at a much slower place) the rest of the way.
The café itself was more like a diner, but none of them minded. Richard helped Molly to a seat before taking the opposition. Natalia sat by Molly, leaving John to sit next to Richard. "Thank you for coming," Richard said before looking at the waitress. "Surprised us," he said with a very large smile. The smiled dimmed down to nearly nothing the second the woman was gone.
"It's no problem," Molly said, her voice coming out a bit too loud out of nerves.
"No, it was a kindness," Richard said. "I know none of you really like Jim, probably hated him. That's fine, I still hate him, and I love him," he said.
"Has it been… um… very hard?" Molly asked.
Richard looked away for a moment, looking lost, looking like he was looking for something. "I don' know what to do with myself yet. When I can find something to do it'll become easier."He turned his eyes to John. "How have you been doing?"
"Keeping busy," John said. He realized how this table was set up. Richard was the ringmaster. No one spoke who he didn't want to, and yet Richard made it seem like there was nothing unnormal about the situation. It was an unsettling realization, especially since John was sure that Moriarty could do the same thing.
"That's good, smart," Richard said. "I wish I had that option."
"I'm sure work will come along," Natalia said.
Richard scoffed. "Unlikely, the last job was terrible."
"The story teller?" Molly asked before blushing. She seemed to realize she'd spoken out of turn. Richard turned a very tired smile on, and it was aimed at her. She was the only one at the table who wasn't being directed, but her natural awkwardness made her just as quiet as the rest of them. Richard would have been happy to let her chatter away.
"I take it you found the DVDs in the bargain bin?"
"Yes," Molly said.
Richard sighed heavily. "I think Jim set it up. It was a really bad job, really boring. I've never read such boring children's stories… but then our copy of the Grimm Brothers was the uncensored version," Richard said, rubbing his temple. "I'm not sure I'm a good judge of child normal."
"I'm sure you're fine," Molly said.
Richard smiled, looking unsure though. "You're being kind," he said. Meaning that she was lying. There was no way he could understand normal, not with who he was related to.
"No, I'm saying what I think," Molly said, huffing up a bit. Richard grinned.
"You're adorable," he said before blushing. Natalia let out a beautiful laugh, which earned her a very Jim-like glare that she just ignored.
"I'm sorry," she chuckled. "I just forget that Richard's like a love struck girl when he's got a crush on someone." Both Richard and Molly blushed. Even John was chuckling now.
"Natalia," Richard said in a warning snarl. She'd stopped playing her part and he didn't like it.
"Molly," Natalia said, standing up. "Richard thinks you're adorable, and honestly it's impressive as hell that you break up with Jim and not be dead, so be a dear and join Richard for coffee Monday at lunch. There's a nice coffee bar near St. Bart's that should suffice," she said.
The waitress came with their drinks and a plate of biscuits. Two of the cups were to-go, which Natalia picked up. "Thanks Cherry, you're a doll," Natalia said, slipping a ten pound note in the waitress's apron. "I've got to get home, Tim will be antsy by now. We're going to the Opera this evening," she said, beaming.
"Have a good evening Natalia," Richard said, setting aside whatever antagonism he felt, kissing the woman's cheek when she bent over near him. "Send my love."
"Will do sweety," she teased, tweaking Richard's nose before walking out.
"Sorry… she's known me forever ago," Richard said, seeming shy.
"Yes," Molly said.
"Yes what?" Richard asked.
"I'll meet you for coffee on Monday," Molly said, picking up the second to-go cup and copping a biscuit in her mouth. She grabbed her shoes and followed Natalia out.
"Well…" Richard said, sitting back in his chair. "What do you know…"
