Chapter 13: Just Desserts
Hayden glanced over at Mycroft to see that the man was already watching her from his seat behind the desk. She considered ignoring him but knew that wasn't her best course of action. Instead, Hayden heaved a sigh and moved away from Mycroft's dessert table, no longer interested in taunting the man with her ability to eat the sweets he couldn't at the moment.
"Ask away," Hayden said, wanting to get this over with.
"Are you in love with my brother?" Mycroft asked, surprising Hayden with his straight-forwardness.
"No," Hayden answered after careful consideration, "I love him, he's a great friend of mine even if neither of you believes that. But I am not in love with Sherlock Holmes."
"Do you see yourself falling in love with him?" Mycroft asked after a moment of his own consideration.
"I refuse to fall for a man who believes himself to be incapable of love," Hayden told her benefactor, "why are you asking me this? It feels like De Ja Vu."
"I worry," Mycroft explained, "I don't want either of you getting hurt."
Hayden shrugged, "even if I was in love with him I'd do nothing about it."
Mycroft raised an eyebrow at her and nodded, "wise choice."
Hayden smiled at Mycroft wryly, "not for the reasons that you think. I have no qualms about getting hurt. I just wouldn't want to hurt him."
"What do you mean?" Mycroft asked with a raised brow.
"He thinks himself invincible, impervious to human emotions," Hayden explained, even though Mycroft knew this, "but for me to act upon a love that he cannot reciprocate would confuse him and for Sherlock Holmes confusion is pain."
Mycroft nodded, "you know my brother very well."
Hayden shrugged, "you're the one who made it my business to know your brother very well."
Another nod was followed by another question, "what do you know of James Moriarty?"
A brief inhale, a shift of the eyes followed by another reply, "he's great at networking and a master manipulator. Nuclear reactors have more stability than that man. To put it simply, he's a psychopath."
"You're afraid."
A shrug, "that's putting it mildly, Mycroft."
A/N: I know it's short but it's what I got right now. More chapters are on the way.
I'm currently on an exchange so writing is happening very infrequently.