Chapter Twelve
"Stealin' One More Kiss Tonight"
For her birthday, which was just a few days away, Anabeth decided on something simple this year.
For Mrs. Hudson, she got a beautiful little necklace. For Mary, a pair of earrings. As always, for John she got a couple of sweaters. For Damien, she bought a laptop to do his studies on. Of course, Payton got his pick of things he wanted, which ended up being a shopping spree in the Disney store.
And for Sherlock, well, the simplest of them all: she gave him music. Or at least that's what she wanted to do.
Rubbing her temples, she sighs at the mostly blank sheet music before her. She'd been working on it for a week and yet, she still could not piece together the right notes.
"Take a break."
She glances over her shoulder and grins at Sherlock. "Easy for you to say, you don't have a deadline to finish a composition."
He sits on the bench next to her and takes her hands in his.
"You're trying to force it, forget about the deadline, and just let go."
"I swear if you start singing "Let It Go"…"
"Oi, that's Payton's job."
Ana smiles. "Right. How could I forget?"
"Here." He drops her hands and stretches his over the ivory keys.
The melody he plays is soft and sad, but she recognizes it. Although she almost misses her cue.
"Sweet love, sweet love
Trapped in your love…"
Sherlock's gaze is fixed on his hands as he plays, but Ana can see how he mouths the words she sings.
At some point, she brings her hands to meet his and plays the part of the violin. Their hands brush and fingers tangle. A bubble forms, surrounds them in a clingy embrace. Her eyes fall shut and the moment the blue is lost from sight, she feels Sherlock peeking at her.
They sway along to the music. Her breath ragged from singing so emotionally, but his is a mirror of it. She drops her hands, allowing them to curl and cup the air she strengthens her voice.
"…suddenly the moment's here
I embrace my fears
All that I have been carrying all these years
Do I risk it all?
Come this far just to fall?"
Her eyes flicker open and finds Sherlock's boring into hers. There's one line overall, despite the volume between her and the piano, that sticks out as he continues to softly sing the lyrics. Perhaps because of the truth and fear that flicker through them as he says them.
"…I am terrified to love for the first time…"
She catches her breath as the last note echoes through the apartment. They remain staring, nearly unblinking. She can feel his breath on her face, soft little mint scented puffs.
And much like that night weeks ago, neither knows who leant in first, but the kiss is just as graceful and passionate as the song they shared.
For her birthday, which was the best one yet, Anabeth received something simple this year.
From Mrs. Hudson, a homemade cake. Mary and John offered to watch Payton for the weekend. From Damien, she received the best home cooked meal she'd had in a very long time. Of course, Payton got her a dozen roses and a silver tanzanite pendant, which had matched the Claddagh ring his father had given her three years prior.
From Sherlock, well, the simplest of them all: he flipped the Claddagh ring (right hand, heart pointed towards her wrist; dating).
And if Sherlock played Christina Aguilera's "Bound to You" on the violin, no one said anything.
The relationship between Sherlock and Christabella really didn't change much. The only obvious thing was the fact that they now went out of their way to touch the other; a hug goodbye, a kiss good night, holding hands while they watched Payton in the park that one Sunday. But that was it.
Truthfully, it wasn't that big of a change. John, Mary, and Mrs. Hudson hadn't even noticed the shift.
They were on a case, something that in retrospect was simple. It had been one John had grabbed off the blog.
Sherlock had introduced them (John and Ana that is) as "John Watson; my blogger, and my (he hesitated) girlfriend Christabella Moriarty."
At first, John hadn't thought anything of it, the auction house director had been leering creepily at her. But then he saw the beaming grin on Ana's face.
He'd told Mary of his discovery that night. She had laughed and put her magazine to the side.
"It's about time."
John chuckled. "You should've seen Ana smile. You would've thought Christmas came early."
"I bet," Mary replies with a smile only half as brilliant as Anabeth's had been.
"I wonder how long they've been together," he says as he climbs into bed.
"Probably right after her birthday," Mary replied as she flicks off the light. "So round a week? That's when they started with the public affection."
Mrs. Hudson doesn't find out for weeks. It's not until she and Christa go out Christmas shopping that she realizes.
"I'm not sure what to get Sherlock, this season," she says as they peruse some expensive clothing shop. "Any ideas?"
Mrs. Hudson shakes her head. "Who knows with him? What did you give him for your birthday?"
"I composed something. A piano piece, I think he might have converted it to violin."
Mrs. Hudson coos. "You're a sweetheart. Is that what he played at your party?"
Chris blushes and shakes her head. "No, that's – that's – I think that was his way of telling me I love you, or the like. That was the song he played, it was the piano bit mind you, a few days before. When he asked me out. Well, I say asked out, basically I couldn't compose and there was this spontaneous duet and then we kissed and… you know. I mean it wasn't officially, official until my birthday, that when he flipped my ring 'n' all. And I'm rambling again aren't I? I'll stop… eventually."
The landlady gives her a grin. "Payton must be happy."
"I don't think Payton knows to be honest."
"Perhaps you should tell him."
"I'd have to know if we'd last first. I mean it's nice and all, and Sherlock is definitely one to put his whole being into something he believes in, but does that mean us? I mean, if it was John, well, I'm actually surprised it wasn't them. I mean I thought for sure… I know Sherlock and I had something between us, back then. It wasn't love. It can't be. 'Cause I love him now and I felt differently back then. Do you think he really loves me? Or is it just an infatuation?"
Mrs. Hudson pats her shoulder gently. "I'm sure he does."
"You don't sound confidant."
She grins, "Who can tell what's in that brain of his?"
Christabella had met Sebastian Moran her second week in London. She'd just settled into her cover as burlesque dancer Anabeth Ryder. She didn't know who he was at the time, other than a soldier and a politician's little brother.
They got on well, surprisingly. Went on a few dates, none of them ever went anywhere. There was something there, between them and neither knew what it was, although both were certain it wasn't anything romantic.
That is, until they ran into a certain someone.
"Jim?" Sebastian had crowed as they passed him. He had sounded happy and jovial and Ana, not having seen the man in question, plastered a more than genuine smile on her lips and turned to face him only to drop both her smile and the shopping bag that held a new vase for her mother slipped from her fingers.
"Oh," Anabeth gasps. Her eyes go wide and she takes a step back. "You…"
Jim turns his brown eyes on her in shock. "Annie-belle? Is that really you?"
She blushes at the name, and nods. "Yeah, it is."
"What are you doing in London?" Jim asks and for the time Sebastian is ignored.
It wasn't until after she'd moved into her flat on Baker Street did she realize that Jim had sent Sebastian for recon and purposely dragged her to the shop that day.
It was a mutually assured destruction.
Sebastian, however, never realized how obsessed with "Annie-belle" Jim was and none of them really expected how jealous the others could get. It did result in an interesting sex life.
Chris should have realized, upon Sebastian learning of not only their marriage, but the fact that Ana, little sweet Annie-belle, the most kind and compassionate woman he's met to date, killed his heart's desire (his words, not hers), well, he developed a bone-deep hatred for the American.
Maybe if she realized that, she would've seen it all coming.