You guys are amazing! Really. I seriously cant thank my terrific reviewers enough! I was amazingly touched with your feedback this last chapter. I am always blown away that people read the stuff I write, let alone enjoy it or take the time to write their thoughts. So seriously, thank you so SO much.
Here's another one. Its not action-packed… not gonna lie. But its necessary.
Hope you enjoy!
Kylie took a long swing of her water, desperately needing the hydration as she kept pedaling on the stationary bike she had set up in her flat, nearly rolling her eyes at her boyfriend who was sitting in an armchair, watching her while perusing John's blog for a new case.
She didn't need a damn babysitter...
It had been nearly six weeks since the power had gone out in their flat and life had returned… somewhat back to normal. It was honestly some sort of miracle that it had in fact. Moriarty and Moore were attempting to make a move, sending obscure messages across their laptops, making threats on politicians as well as their own lives… and yet, here she was, riding her stationary bike just like it was any average day.
Well, if it really were an average day, she'd be out on the streets running and Sherlock wouldn't be watching her ride her bike, but she'd take what she could get.
Mycroft's men had scoured their flat over the course of three days , putting in precautionary devices as well as installing a secure Internet server and strange security neither her, nor John could figure out. She wasn't sure why Sherlock was really allowing all of the precautions to be installed. Sure, he had stomped his feet and complained about it, but in the end, she, John, and Mrs. Hudson all knew that if he really didn't want it there, he would have gotten rid of it.
Six weeks. Six weeks had past and there was nothing. No sign of an attempt on the Speaker's life. No attempt to contact any of the three of them again. No attempt at Thomas waltzing into the flat… nothing. To Kylie it was a bit odd, but for once, she was glad they somehow caught a break; despite the fact it was putting them all slightly more on the edge. It was as if all of them were waiting for the other shoe to drop.
They had worked a few small cases here and there, but nothing really note worthy. Kylie had mainly been focusing on writing up papers from her time in Argentina and on a few cases she had worked both in the UK and in the States. She had helped identify a few victims for the Yard, but things were slow.
John had started working a few shifts at a walk in clinic down the street to bide his time, and Sherlock… well, he was up to something, but neither her, nor John could pull it out of him. The man could be secretive when he wanted to be.
As deeply as Kylie cared for the man, she was about to beat his skull in. In the last six weeks, she hadn't EVER been alone. Sherlock came with her nearly everywhere she had to go, refusing to leave her side no matter her reasoning or excuse. Down to her flat, out shopping, over to the Yard… everywhere.
If he was busy, it was John, or Lestrade acting as her tail. She knew he was worried about Thomas. Hell, the last time she had seen the bastard was when she had gone down to her flat alone to change and he had grabbed her, kidnapped her, beat the living shit out of her, and raped her. John kept telling her that Sherlock blamed himself for her rape, and this was his way of trying to protect her, but a part of her couldn't help but start to see the parallel to Thomas; the same man who had been crazy possessive of her. The same one who demanded she be home at certain times, all before he violated her in the worst possible way. She knew the situation was different. Both John and Lestrade had told her the same thing when she had confided in them, but a tiny piece of her was still worried about it.
"You about done?" Sherlock drawled from his seat, not even looking up at her, "You've been on that contraption for over an hour now."
"If you don't want me to beat your skull in, then no. I'm not done yet," she breathed as she pushed faster on the bike.
Sherlock just glanced up at her from his seat, obviously unimpressed by her snippy remark.
"I still don't know why I can't go run," she commented, "It's a hell of a lot better than this thing."
"John explained it to you, I believe," he replied as he looked back down at his laptop.
"Yeah," she said shortly as she stopped pedaling and stared at him, "And it's a load of horse shit."
"Mmmh," he muttered, "Now you are just being bitter."
Kylie glowered at him and snatched her water from the bike, hopping off.
"I don't need a babysitter, Sherlock. I can go for a damn run and go to the Yard by myself."
"Not with Thomas out there."
"Thomas has been out there for like, forever Sherlock! I can take care of myself."
"Yes, you've proved that perfectly."
SLAM!
Kylie snapped the laptop shut as she bent down and glowered at her boyfriend.
"I get that you are worried about my safety. I do. But there is a point when cant hide in the bunker anymore and you have to trust that I can take care of myself."
"Yeah, just like he didn't get to you last time."
"Don't," Kylie said dangerously, "Don't you even say that that was my fault. That Thomas finding me and raping me, was my damn fault."
Sherlock looked up at her, looking her dead in the eye.
"That is not what I said at all, Kyleigha," he told her sincerely.
She just looked at him, still fuming, yet taken aback by the stare he was giving her.
"I trust you. I trust that you can take care of yourself," he told her, "What I don't trust is how deceptive and deeply connected your ex is. You know, the same one whose life goal it is to kidnap you and keep you locked in a cage?"
Kylie stared at him, fury and confusion mixing together inside of her.
His words were sincere, but in the tone that he was snipping it at her made her even more furious. She didn't know anyone who was so sincere and bitchy at the same time.
"So," Sherlock said as he reopened the laptop, "With one of us, you stay."
Kylie stood up and stared at him, crossing her arms.
"So what do you want me to do, Sherlock? Hmm? Hide for the rest of my life? Keep looking over my shoulder?" she ranted at him, "Does he scare me? Yeah, Sherlock. He does. He scares the living shit out of me. I barely can function when I have flashbacks. Most of them you know about, but some you don't. But there comes a point when I have to pull my head out of the sand and live my damn life."
"So you just want to walk out into the open and let him take you?" Sherlock commented dryly, "Or do you want to wait until I take care of it?"
"Take care of it?" Kylie said, looking at him taken a back, "Take care of it, how?"
Sherlock just stared at her, giving her the answer.
"No," she told him firmly, anger filling her voice once more, "I don't give a shit how evil Thomas is, or what he did to me… but you will not talk like you are going to kill him. Do you understand me?"
He just kept staring.
"Who said anything about taking?"
Kylie gaped before fury took over her once more.
"Thomas kills people. The people we put behind bars, kill people. You, do NOT kill people in cold blood Sherlock Holmes, and I refuse… REFUSE to be the reason that you put a bullet in someone's brain, or lose you for the rest of my life, no matter what demonic spawn hole they crawled out of."
She paused, setting her jaw and trying to get her emotions under control.
"If you track him down and do anything but hand him over to the authorities, I will kick your ass so far into tomorrow…"
She trailed off before she looked back up into his eyes.
"Please just stop talking like you are going to actually try to kill him. Please?"
"So you just want to walk out into the open and let Thomas take you again?" Sherlock told her, obviously not listening to a single thing she had just said.
Kylie let out a scream of frustration before storming into the bathroom, slamming the door shut behind her.
"Don't be in there too long," Sherlock yelled at her as he reopened the laptop, "You need at least eight hours of sleep, otherwise you get grumpy."
The door opened back up and Kylie stormed out in just her sport's bra and crops, chucking her shoe at his face, causing him to duck and look at her in slight shock.
"You don't get to FUCKING tell me what to do, Sherlock Holmes!" she yelled at him before storming back into the bathroom, turning on the shower and slamming the door like a child once more.
"Are you menstruating early?" Sherlock yelled at her before he began clicking around on the laptop, "You aren't supposed to be menstruating for another two weeks," he muttered more to himself than her, as he looked back down at his laptop, fighting the guilt he was feeling erupt inside of him at her words.
"…You do not kill people in cold blood Sherlock Holmes…"
He could practically hear John's voice in the back of his head, '…I told you you should have told her about Murillo. Tell her now before she figures it out. She will and you know it.'
He couldn't. He knew he couldn't. She was furious at him already for keeping her cooped up, but he wasn't about to risk Thomas making a move and taking her away from him once more. He had let her get hurt once, and he wasn't about to let it happen again.
But this… guilt…. God, why did he feel guilty?
Because you shot an unarmed man in front of half of MI6 dead in the head. You murdered someone in cold blood. It wasn't even self-defense.
He wasn't a good man. He was going to hurt Kylie. He had already hurt a lot of people. He was working with Moore. He had to be stopped.
Then you know exactly why you feel guilty.
I can't tell her.
Why because she'll hate you for it? Probably.
Yes, that's comforting.
Based on what she just told you, it's the rational truth.
He sighed and ran a hand over his face. There was no way in hell that he would ever take back his action… never would he take back what he did, but a part of him only regretted it because of the slight chance that Kylie would figure it out; the slight chance that she would leave him over it.
Then you just have to ensure that she won't ever dwell on it, or figure it out…
Distraction. He needed to find her a distraction.
He sighed and turned back to John's blog, searching for a case.
He scrolled for a bit, nearly rolling his eyes at every posting before he paused on a certain case that popped up on the blog.
Hmm…
Could be a good distraction.
Relatively cut and dry, yet odd for some reason.
He pulled out his phone and texted John the information to have him call the woman to come in, before he checked his other messages.
Nothing.
He let out a frustrated sigh.
Six weeks ago, he had put his Homeless network onto the task of finding and following Moore and/or Moriarty, and so far… nothing.
His homeless network was always accurate, quick, and efficient. But right now, they were failing him. Either he had the wrong contacts, or Moore and Moriarty weren't in London.
... Somehow he doubted that it was either of those.
Moriarty had been "dead" for over two years. Granted, so had he, but no matter how hard he thought about it, he still couldn't figure out how on earth he had faked that bullet to his brain up on that roof.
Another piece to the puzzle he still had yet to figure out..
The point was though, that the man obviously knew how to hide, and Moore had been eluding him for ages. It was frustrating.
He figured things out. He always did.
Kylie walking out of her bathroom wrapped in a towel, brought him out of his thoughts. He only caught a small glimpse of her as she walked into her bedroom to change, but the sight of her dressed in only a towel, the tactile memory of her soft skin, and his pheromone rattled brain made his breath catch in his throat.
It was frustrating to him. Ever since he had showed up at her father's house in DC, this woman had been drawing more and more strange feelings, effects, and emotions out of him. The most frightening part about all of it was though, was that he liked it. He loved the way it made him feel. It was a high without the drugs, yet better. The way his heart fluttered when she ran a hand down his cheek. The way warmth and electricity ran rampant through his body when she kissed him. How sleep came easy for the first time since childhood when she was wrapped in his arms, and drawing those random shapes on his chest.
He ... Loved it.
Shock ran through him as that thought ran through his head.
Love?
No...
Love was irrational and dangerous. It made people stupid, literally hazing their minds and eyes with oxytocin and a slew of other hormones. He was above that. This was... Well this was something else... Wasn't it?
Attraction. That's all this was. Attraction.
"You know," Kylie said as she walked out of her bedroom, squeezing her hair with a towel, "I really do care about you, but you really are a major dick to me sometimes."
"I've been told its part of my personality," he commented dryly as he allowed his eyes to look her up and down.
She frowned at him and lowered her towel.
"Did you just check me out?" she asked in slight shock.
"Hmm? What? No."
"You did. And really? I'm wearing shorts and a ratty tank top, my hair is dripping wet, I haven't brushed it, and I'm not wearing any trace of makeup."
Silence.
"I know, I can see that."
She stared at him for a moment longer before she pinched the bridge of her nose, a smile starting to come over her face as she began to laugh.
"Goddamn you, Sherlock Holmes," she said in slight frustration, causing Sherlock to frown in confusion.
Her words said angry, yet her smile said the opposite…
"You can't even let me be mad at you for more then ten minutes."
….Huh?
"Its REALLY frustrating when a you treat a girl like a dick, and then turn around and do something so insanely adorable, that I cant be mad at you anymore," she told him with a slight smile, "Just so you know."
Sherlock just stared at her in confusion.
"I'm not adorable."
She laughed and began towel-drying her hair once more, "Yeah… yeah you are," she commented as she walked back into the bathroom.
Sherlock crinkled his face in confusion at the woman as she walked back out without her towel, pulling a sweatshirt over her head instead.
She looked at him and laughed at his expression, before she wandered over to him.
They locked eyes for a moment before she gently bent down, putting an arm on either side of him. Her eyes flicked down to the laptop, a smile gently tugging on one side of her mouth. He watched her gently lift a hand, putting two fingers on the laptop screen, before shutting it in his lap. Her hand remained on the computer in his lap, before her large, blue eyes flicked back up to meet his.
"You want to stay down here tonight?" she asked him in a low voice that made his blood freeze in his veins.
He cleared his throat, trying to remain in control of his body.
"Why? My flat is perfectly suitable."
"There's more privacy down here."
"And why would we need that?" Sherlock muttered, hearing his own voice deepen as he watched her lips grow closer, slightly confused at what was going on, "John's upstairs."
"You know… in case we want to do something that we don't want John hearing," she breathed as she stared at his lips, inching closer.
"What?" he asked, now completely focused on her words, "I thought you liked John?"
She stopped and pulled back slightly, causing disappointment to grow in his body for some unknown reason. He glanced up at her, frowning at her look of disbelief on her face.
"You really don't know when I am trying to come onto you, do you?" she asked before another smile broke out over her face.
"Onto me?"
She laughed and stood back up, running a hand through her damp locks.
"Yes, Sherlock."
He looked at her, trying to read her body language, looking for more clues to decipher the situation.
"What does this have to do with John?"
She shut her eyes and sighed, smiling slightly as she shook her head.
"Come on, let's go upstairs. The mood is ruined."
She walked towards the door.
"I thought you considered John a friend?"
Kylie laughed and grabbed her bag next to the door opening the door and walking out and up the stairs, leaving the door open behind her expectantly.
"John is one of my best friends. It had nothing to do with him, love! Its more about you," she yelled back as she climbed the stairs to 221B.
Sherlock frowned and stared after her.
What in the HELL was she talking about?
Slow and not really much, I know. But review anyhow?
Pretty please? All thoughts are appreciated!
