Normally Eve prided herself on being able to immediately know when someone was approaching her, but her mind was so caught up on Moriarty's condition that she didn't notice that they weren't alone until the other figure spoke.

"Do you want to know how to save him?"

Although she'd only heard the other voice a couple of other times and seen it's owner in human form an equal amount of time there was no room to mistake who it's owner was even before she looked up to locate it's owner. The fairy, Ariel, stood at Moriarty's feet. She was no longer wearing the outfit Eve had last seen her in, but her current choice of clothing didn't fit with the image of someone who had just stepped out of Shakespeare's London either. Instead, Eve could almost picture the young woman standing before her waiting in line at Starbucks for a coffee with far too many extra components, but the confusing choice of wardrobe was currently the last of Eve's worries.

"How did you get in the annex?!" Eve sputtered.

"I slipped through the library's vents." the fairy stated as if it was the most natural and obvious conclusion.

In hindsight, with everything Eve had already encountered and was currently still encountering, it didn't seem like such an odd conclusion if the logic of the whole situation was to be analyzed. However, there was no time to debate the how when the why was far more important. "What are you doing here?" Eve asked while wondering what she could use to fight off someone who could easily fit inside a pocket watch if it turned out the fairy had sinister intentions.

"Don't you want to know how to save him?" Ariel repeated a version of her earlier question.

Now Eve was fully suspicious. "Why would you tell me how to save him? You put him in a coma yourself back in Cicily!" she growled.

"An action I would not have engaged in if I had been aware that Mr. Carsen was not your true love's kiss."

Eve was still suspicious of why the fairy was truly in her presence, but something told her that Moriarty's suddenly plummeting body temperature was an extremely bad sign. "Okay, so how do I tether his soul to this plane?" Eve huffed glaring at the fairy through puffy red eyes.

"You already know how." the other woman stated plainly.

Angrily, Eve stood up hoping to use her height as a way to intimidate the petite woman whom she felt was simply playing games for some sick glee. "If I already knew how, he wouldn't be in this state!"

Instead of withering beneath Eve's glare the other woman continued her previous train. "It's a true love cure like in Cicily."

Eve shook her head. "It can't be that simple. We already kissed back in London and he still got worse." The guardian didn't like to kiss and tell, and it almost made her blush having to admit what she'd done to an almost stranger.

"The anchor has to be something more than true love's kiss."

"Whoa there! That is absolutely not going to happen!" Eve backed away from the other woman in horror at what she thought she was suggesting.

"Modern humans truly do have one track minds." Ariel regarded Eve with a look that was a mix of her own horror and annoyance at Eve's train of thought. "The cure is true love's words."

Eve had never been one for deep meaningful conversations. However, in that moment she wanted nothing more than the man under the blankets to sit up and say something annoyingly charming. Again, she swallowed a lump in her throat as she sat down next to the fictional and found his hand under the blankets before taking it in her own. "When you asked me why I chose you I didn't know what to say because I wanted to make what I needed to say sound as rational as possible, but I couldn't. I still don't think I can, but love isn't supposed to be rational. I don't think I'll ever fully understand what made me fall in love with you, but I do know that no matter what I have to go through in life from now on I want you there next to me."

xxx

Moriarty wasn't a religious man. It wasn't that he didn't entertain the idea of a higher power, but the line of work he'd been written into didn't normally mix well with good church going folk, and even if he were to have a change of faith he wasn't sure if the gods of any religion would accept someone who was in some ways too close to being a divine presence himself. However, if there was any concrete way to describe what he had felt while in his coma he would consider the notion of the Christian purgatory would be what fit most.

In his state he had been unable to move, hear or see, but eerily the one sensation he could still feel was touch. First there had been the sensation of being carried supported by two separate bodies, and then he had been laid on the floor. After what seemed to be a relatively short period of time something with a relatively small body had laid down next to him. If he had to take a guess on what it was, he'd assume the library had cats, although in the time before it had been discovered that the world had become Shakespeare's London he seemed to recall something Ezekiel had said about a rather large and friendly spider no longer being in it's cage. The assumed cat had remained curled at his side for only a short period of time, but it had been replaced by a much larger body. By the deliberate way the presence moved aside his covers and crawled in next to him, he believed it to be Eve. However, the guardian had moved much too soon and he was again left alone on the floor. Several times she'd returned and left, but she hadn't crawled under the covers next to him again and he'd missed that.

Towards the end of his state the darkness had began to close on him further and he'd lost even the sensation of being touched. In those moments he'd prepared himself for the inevitable nothingness of forever ceasing to exist and wondered if even Holmes and Watson would still remember that he had once existed. Then, all in one instant all of his senses began to work again.

He was immediately struck by Eve sitting on top of the blankets next to him. She was so caught up in her confession of love that she didn't seem to realize that he'd awoken and for a second he watched her until he could no longer stand watching her in so much pain.

Softly he cleared his throat in an attempt to get her attention.

For a second a look of complete relief crossed Eve's face and it almost seemed as if she wanted to grab him and never let go. Instead, she simply planted a kiss on his forehead before asking. "Can you walk?"

Slowly Moriarty sat up, tossing off a bright pink blanket that must have belonged to Cassandra and trying to test his limbs to see if they worked. It was only a small act of mercy that they seemed to be again in perfect working order. "I believe I have been returned to my former condition."

The tone of concern disappeared from Eve's voice, it was replaced with a far more natural sounding tone of biting wit. "Good, because you need a shower."

Although it had been less than an hour since he'd been on the verge of death, Moriarty couldn't resist the urge to respond with his own comment. "Perhaps it would be productive for us to share the shower."

For a second Eve glared at him before looking down at her own stained clothing. It seemed as if she was about to sling another annoyed remark in his direction, but instead she stood up and motioned for him to follow her. "We can clean up in the waterfall room."

Flynn is kind of growing magical plants in the actual library shower so the totally not stereotypical romance novel hookup situation of showering under a waterfall has to happen. I'll let the readers make assumptions about what does and doesn't happen in the waterfall room. Also, I'd planned one more chapter but I am somewhat indecisive on the content or if it reflects a significant time jump or merely takes place shortly after the rest of the team returns. For that reason I am allowing the readers to leave comments suggesting what should happen.