Author's note: I own the socks on my feet. Everything is on loan from others more famous than me.

Chapter 6

An hour later, Heather walked in the front door and set the bags down on the kitchen counter. Downey and Calypso followed her into the room, singing the song of the deprived kitty. She reached down to give each a loving pet and got the cat food and bowls out from the cabinet. "Yes, yes, I know. You both are starving to death aren't you. It's been at least 4 hours since you've had a morsel of food and you are about to wither away to nothing. No one ever pays the slightest bit of attention to you either. Do they? Spoiled little brats!" She placed the two bowls of cat food on the floor and the cats swarmed to them. She turned the kitchen wi-fi speaker on and synced up her music from her phone. Quietly singing along, she put the groceries away and made a mental note to remember to start the dishwasher. By this time, Downey had jumped up on the counter to beg for more food. "Downs, get off the counter. You're not getting any more now. The vet said you were too heavy already. Look at you, belly dragging on the ground. You look pregnant, little boy." The cat meowed pitifully and rubbed against Heather's arm to continue his begging. She picked him up, hugged him, and placed him on the ground. "No, baby. No more until dinner. You greedy little monkey."

Heather walked up the stairs and down the hall. She listened at Sebastian's door for a moment and then, opened it quietly to peek in. "Bash?" Heather whispered. Sebastian was laying still in bed, snoring lightly. Heather smiled and walked in. He had kicked the covers off and was only wearing a pair of boxers. He looked almost angelic, but at the same time, devilishly hot with that hard, sculpted body. His scars barely registered in her eyes. Heather pulled the covers back over the sniper's body and walked out of the room, silently closing the door behind her. She walked to Jim's room and knocked softly. Hearing no response, she cracked the door open just a little. Jim was also asleep. She could see his suit draped across the arm chair and his boxer brief on the floor. "Is he naked?" Heather wondered to herself. Heather also liked to sleep au naturale, but so few people shared that preference. Heather found herself slightly turned on by the idea of the Irish man's nudity and her being separated from it by only a thin bed sheet and about 15 feet. She allowed her mind to wander to several adult-themed scenarios for a few minutes. "No! Pull it together, Weire! He is a guest in your home. You WILL act appropriately. Granted, it has been a while since you've had a partner in the horizontal hippity-hop and a woman DOES have certain needs, but NO, he's a rude asshole who overworks your best friend. Hands off! Though … speaking of assholes and working, I bet he would be great at … HEATHER FOCUS! NO! BAD!" Heather blushed and shut the door, silently chiding herself for her less than Christian thoughts.

Heather walked downstairs and into the living room. She plopped down on the couch and pulled up her latest audiobook on the living room Alexa device. Soon the rich, dulcet tones of Benedict Cumberbatch reading Ian Kelly's Casanova filled the air. "That man could read a calculus textbook and make it sound like sex on a stick," mused the fully smitten doctor to herself. She remembered the piece on the Jimmy Kimmel show where he read some R. Kelly's lyrics and made it sound like Shakespeare. "What that man can't do, I just don't know. That Sophie is a lucky, lucky lady!"

Heather covered herself with her favorite quilt. It was the one that her grandmother had made for her when she was a baby. Heather's heart stirred a bit with the thought of the deceased lady. She and her grandmother had been close, and Heather missed her very much. Alzheimer's had stolen her once sharp mind and by the end had left her a shell of the woman she once was. Grandma had always been there for Heather when no one else, not even her parents, had been. Heather knew that her grandmother's love was truly unconditional, unlike the way she had to constantly earn her parents' approval by performing well like some kind of show pony. Plus, she did have to admit that the passive-aggressive relationship grandma and Heather's mom had was amusing. "Man, they hated each other, but both of those bitches were too damn polite to call one another out. They always were undercutting each other for Daddy's approval and affection." The psych training in Heather screamed that it was a very unhealthy and counter-productive kind of relationship, but the dysfunctional child drama queen in her loved how entertaining it was to watch sometimes. "I am so screwed up," laughed Heather.

An hour and a half later, Sebastian felt someone jostling his shoulder. "Seb-by, Seb-by, GET UP! I'm bored," whined Jim. Sebastian opened his eyes and yawned widely. "Ok, what would you like to do, Jim? Have you talked to Heather?" Sebastian climbed out of bed and looked over at his boss. Jim was wearing a pair of ironed black jeans and a crisp white button down with the top two buttons undone and the sleeves rolled up to just above the elbows. His hair, as always, was perfectly gelled back, nary a hair out of place. His feet were bare, and his breath was fresh as a winter's morn. Sebastian, meanwhile, looked like he had slept the sleep of the dead. His short, blonde hair stuck up at angles that defied physics and he had pillow wrinkles across his face in the most interesting designs. Sebastian's breath smelled of an interesting combination of kitty litter and hot death. "Oh my god, Sebra, what the fuck is going in your mouth? Your breath is horrific! Go brush your damn teeth. When we get back, you are going to see Dr. O'Reily post haste. When was the last time you performed any form of dental hygiene? Were you in here eating cat shite and haggis," wailed Jim. Sebastian glared at his boss. "Yeah, Jim. You caught me. While I was sleeping, I was chowing down on a nice cat shit and haggis casserole. I have some left over here if you would like a taste. It's a new recipe I'm working on. For my new cookbook, Recipes to Impress my Asshole Boss. My editor wants it in stores in time for Christmas, so I really have finish it soon to get it to press in time."

"Cute, Moran. Get dressed and we'll go downstairs together. I'll call the dentist's office while you get ready."

"Jim, I just went to the dentist 3 months ago. I'm not due yet."

"Sebby, I smelled your breath. YOU'RE DUE NOW! I'm calling. Off you pop to get dressed and defunk that gaping trash hole you call a mouth." Jim pulled his phone and dialed and pushed a few buttons. "Olivia! Jim Moriarty, Hi! How are you? I need to schedule an emergency appointment for one of my employees." Sebastian threw his jeans and t-shirt on and trudged out to the bathroom. Sebastian hated going to the dentist. All of that needless poking and prodding. At least the hygienists were good-looking. That did make a little more pleasant. His breath wasn't that bad, right? Sebastian brushed and flossed his teeth. He finished with a quick swish of mouthwash. "There! Let's see Jim complain about that!"

Sebastian walked back in his bedroom to find Jim sitting on his bed. "You are seeing Dr. O'Reily on Monday at 8 am." Sebastian rolled his eyes. "Jim, I'm not going. I don't need to for 3 more months and we have a lot of stuff to do when we get back." Jim jumped off the bed and into the taller man's face in one great leap. "You ARE going to see Dr. O'Reily on Monday at 8 am and you will fully cooperate in all ways with anything and everything he tells you. Do I make myself clear, See-bass-chun," growled Jim. "I am ordering you to do this. This is a direct order." Sebastian nodded. Jim smiled and said, "After all, I need my number one employee to be at his best physically if he's going to be of any use to me. C'mon, let's go downstairs and see what Heather's up to."

The men walked downstairs and into the living room. Sebastian looked down at the couch. Heather was curled up in a loose fetal position with Downey balanced on her right hip. Calypso was snuggled in sleeping at her feet. A thin line of drool was running out of Heather's mouth, while light snoring was coming from her nose. Sebastian always thought Heather looked her youngest and most innocent when she was sleeping. Sebastian motioned to Jim to keep his voice down. The two men walked into the kitchen and grabbed drinks out of the refrigerator. Sitting down at the breakfast nook, Sebastian looked at Jim. "Do you want the debrief on Hansey?" Jim nodded. "Everything went to plan. One in the right temple. Set up to look like a suicide. Had him write the note before I plugged him. Blamed his recent financial losses for everything. Usual boilerplate 'The world would be better off without me, I'm a failure, blah, blah, blah.' Supervised the clean-up crew myself then left. Headed here." Jim nodded again. "Well done as usual, Sebastian."

"Thank you, sir. Just doing my job." Sebastian took a long drink of his water and was prepared himself for the next question. "On a completely different topic, is there anything you had wanted to do while you were here? I'm sure that Heather is wondering the same thing. You had said that you were bored earlier. I could go wake her up and we could talk about some options."

"Yes, about Heather …"

"Jim, let me just stop you for a second. I know you absolutely hate to be interrupted, but please understand, she's a great person. She's just very passionate and protective, especially of me. She knows how my history. The way my family is. Her family isn't quite as bad as mine, but it's damn close. I think that she sees herself as my protector in some ways. I definitely see myself as hers. Whether she wants it or not, I am. She has a huge heart and always champions for the underdog. Please just give her a chance."

Jim pursed his lips and regarded his friend for a moment. "Are you done?" Sebastian nodded nervously. "Like I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, about Heather … I thought about it. I was perhaps slightly potentially mistaken. Mind you, she is cheeky and impertinent. But, she is also not ordinary. I would like to get to know her more. I want to take her out to dinner tonight, just the two of us. Find the best restaurant around and get me reservations. What kind of food does she like? Please tell me she is not one of those weird vegan, gluten free, a million and one food allergies, special snowflakes these Americans are turning into."

Sebastian laughed. "No, Heather is definitely not a vegan. She once told me she tried to become a vegetarian when she was younger, and she lasted about 2 days before the meat cravings got so bad that she considered turning to cannibalism just to get red meat. She is allergic to pineapple and coconut, but that's it. She's open to most any kind of food. I know of a few places around here you two might like, but are you sure you want to go out alone with her tonight. I know she was planning on making lasagna own vegetables and makes her own sauce and cheese."

"She can make it tomorrow. You know I can be very charming, especially with the ladies. Now go make those reservations. I'll go wake her up."

"No, no, boss. You don't want to wake her up. I'll do it. You have to wake her up in a very specific way or there are pretty serious consequences. Trust me. I learned the hard way."

"What the hell do you mean 'wake her up in a specific way or else there are serious consequences?' How hard is it to wake someone up?"

"Watch and learn."

The two men walked into the living room. Sebastian kneeled down about two feet from Heather, parallel to her shoulders. "Kitten," he called softly. "Kitten, wake up." He reached his hand out and gently laid it on her shoulder. "Kitten, wake up sweetie. It's Bash. It's time to get up, honey" Bash said a little louder. He waited about 5 more seconds and started to very gently shake her shoulder and call her name. Her eyelids fluttered. Sebastian took his hand off her shoulder and started to stroke her cheek, while making keeping an eye on her arms. "Kitten, it's time to get up. Can you get up? I need your help." At this point, Sebastian's voice was just below normal speaking volume. Heather's eyes opened, and she smiled when she saw her friend. "Bashie" she called out sleepily. "There's my girl! I'm sorry to wake you up, but Jim and I need your help," Sebastian said to his tired friend. Heather sat up and stretched her arms. "Bash, I'm sorry honey. I didn't mean to fall asleep. I was listening to a book on Audible and must have just slipped off. What did you need?"

"Jim and I were talking, and we wanted to see if there was anything to do around here. I was thinking we could go to Inner Harbor. I think Jim might like the Science Museum or the Aquarium. We could get lunch while we are there. Maybe make a day of it. What do you think?"

"Yeah, that sounds awesome. They just opened a new special exhibit at the Science Museum about criminal justice science and I've been meaning to check it out. The Aquarium is awesome too. What do you think Jim? Which would you rather go see?"

Ok, readers. It's up to you. Science Museum or Aquarium? Let me know in the reviews, which means you have to leave one. Right now, it's Tuesday morning, so I'll give you until Thursday morning to let me know. Also, where should Jim and Heather go to eat? I'm looking forward to hearing from you all.