Look out for the <>

I woke up feeling Kale's arm wrapped around me protectively and with his free hand, lightly tracing the small of my back. He was awake. Five days had passed since Kale came to the flat and I still wasn't use to waking up in his arms. But I loved every minute of it. It was like a dream come true. Even though we had our spats, we have only grown closer together. 

I knew Sherlock was coming home soon and a part of me didn't want him to come back. I put case solving, Mycroft, and everything else that kept me busy to the back of my mind. I knew that was not a good thing but I couldn't help it. For some reason all of those things suddenly didn't seem so important anymore. I now only thought about Kale. I wanted this life, with him, more than anything else. I was going to hold on to him as long as I could. I couldn't lose him again, not like I have in the past.

I stayed still as he continued. I thought about the past couple nights having him around. I felt him wake up a couple times during the night.  I knew that he was waking up from nightmares he was having because it happened to me as well. However my nightmares seemed to be disappearing the more I slept by him. I think the same had been happening to him because there were only once or twice I woke him up because he was screaming last night.  

I started to get a cramp in my back so begrudgingly, I stretched out and turned around to face him. His hair was a mess and his green eyes seemed so happy and content. "Morning," he said and pulled me into him.

"Morning," I said into his chest and smiled as if he could see it. I breathed him in, he smelt like fresh laundry. I felt him kiss the top of my head and it made me smile even more. I felt more at home with him then ever in my life before. This is what I dreamt about for a long time. This was all I wanted in life. I could be happy with this forever.

I had been thinking about this a lot that I didn't want this to change one bit so when Sherlock comes back, that was it. I was going to move out and start a life with Kale. That would probably mean stop working the Sherlock completely. I loved working with Sherlock, but being with Kale would mean traveling and I couldn't do that and work with Sherlock at the same time. 

I pulled out of the hug and looked at Kale. I wanted this more than I wanted to work with Sherlock and I was willing to give all of this work up. I didn't want to be distracted with hunting weirdoes down dark alley's or risking my life for nothing important.  Just the thought of me risking my life seemed pointless now. I wanted to be safe so I could be with Kale as long as I could.

"I'm sorry for waking you up during the night."

It didn't bother me. I rather wake up knowing he was here then wake up to nothing. "It's alright. Nightmares do get better."

<>

"If you say so," he said and then kissed me back as he ran his fingers through my hair, pulling me closer until there was no space between us. 

I heard my phone buzz so reluctantly, I pulled away to check it. Nothing important. I turned back to face him and he had this silly smile on his face that gave me butterflies. 

"I love you," he whispered.

I looked at him for a second not knowing how to react. He hadn't said this to me before. The old me would freak out if someone said this but that was the old me. He was the constant in life and I need him. If he was going to stay, I was going to stay with him. I didn't want to push him away anymore, I didn't want to pick fights, I just wanted to be happy. Everyone deserved a chance to be happy and this was mine.

"I love you too." It was the truth. For the first time in my life I loved someone so much that I didn't have to think about the response. Already knew the answer as I looked at the messy haired man next to me. I loved him.

He chuckled and then took some stray hair that was lose from my ponytail and tucked it behind my ear. He kissed me lightly, just barely brushing his lips on mine. I wanted him to kiss me harder though. I had never thought this way about a man in my life and it almost frightened me that I wanted him so badly. It made me wonder if he wanted me as much as I wanted him.

I kissed him harder as I let my hands wrap around him just above his pants. I felt his hot skin on my cold hands and I pulled him closer. For a minute he let me, but then he pulled back. He quickly fixed his T-shirt but not before I saw a slightly pink scar around his collar bone. 

 "How did you get the scar?" I asked him softly as I traced it lightly with my finger. He pulled away as soon as I touched it as if it hurt.  I didn't know if he was embarrassed by or scared what my reaction would be. 

He frowned, chewing on my words until he sat up fully then inched towards the edge of the bed. He didn't want to talk about it. He looked at me as if the story was going to tell itself. He opened his mouth then closed it. He sighed then spoke. "It was a pocketknife, I insulted him, so he took his knife towards me." He fumbled with his buttons of his night shirt as he tried unbuttoned it. His hands were shaking, and it broke my heart to see him struggle.

He finally took the shirt off to reveal all the scars he had on his torso, marked up and down his bare chest. The scars of different lengths and different degrees of healing. I held back a gasp. 

 "All of these were because I either wasn't talking or talking too much," he said as he looked at himself in the mirror across the room and then turned his head so he wouldn't look at himself.

I was lost for words, I felt angry that he had to go through this. I felt angry at Mycroft for leaving him there. But most of all I felt sad that Kale had to deal with this. "I'm so sorry."

He shrugged. "It's in the past now. You can't fix what has happened."

I frowned. He didn't have to be always strong in front of me. I was willing to let my guard down if he was willing to do the same. "No but I can be here if you want to talk about it." He had an option to not be alone.

He smiled slightly at me. "Thanks," he whispered, letting the silence of the room talk for us.

Finally I got tired of listening to the birds chirp outside so I spoke up. "We have to run some errands for Miss Hudson today. And by the list she has, it looks like we'll be out most of the day."

"I guess we should get on this list then." I watched him rummage through his bag of belongings and found a T that was in Russian, something about saying no to drinking unless it's vodka, and a pair of black jeans.  "If the list is big maybe we should split up?" he suggested as I slipped on a pair of jeans.

I didn't want to split up because that meant I would be away from him. But I didn't think I had a choice if we were to get everything done. I frowned as I nodded. "That's probably the best."

"Cheer up. As soon as we get back, we will have more time together. that's how most working professionals do it."

"But I don't want to be like most. I want to spend every minute of my life with you," I said to him before I knew what I said myself.

He smiled widely. "Aurora, will you spend the rest of your life with me?"

I stopped in my tracks. I nodded. I already knew the answer but I didn't think he would bring it up so soon. "As long as I live." Suddenly I knew that this life was so sweet. The universe did want me happy because I had happiness as long as I was with him.

He smiled at me and kissed me as we left the flat together. "I love you so much Aurora." I wrapped my arm around his as we walked down barker street to start our errands. "First to mail this letter out, right?" Kale asked with a letter in his hand.

"Right. Then to pick up a package and bring it back here."

"Then we split up and be back in time for so Miss Hudson can use these things for dinner. We should be back by around five."

"Yes." I looked at the clock on my phone. It was a little past 12, we had plenty of time.  I also saw that I had two miss texts from Sherlock since 9 this morning. I frowned at the messages.

Some things have come up, I'm staying until tomorrow after noon.

SH

I smiled, that meant one more night in the flat without him. It was just going to be me and Kale again and I loved that. I then pulled up the other text.

What have you done that would have Mycroft throwing a fit?

SH

I laughed then gave the phone to Kale to read the message. "He looks for anything and everything to throw a fit about." I said to him.

Kale frowned but then quickly changed it to a small smile. "Like I said, he feels threatened by us." But his mind seemed distant. Kale handed me the phone and then said, "You wait here, I'll get the package."

He then quickly ran into the post as I waited by the door. I looked at my phone and decided to text Sherlock back.

I have been up to absolutely nothing. Maybe it's the fact that your brother just likes to throw fits.

Happy with the message, I decided to hit send and put the phone back in my pocket. As I did this Kale came out with a package that was pretty big in his hands. I went over to him and helped him without saying a word.

"Thanks." 

"No problem. I thought you could use some help," I said and smiled back at him. No wonder miss Hudson wanted this picked up, it was way too big for one person to do it alone let alone a little old lady like Miss Hudson.

We walked in silence until I spoke up. "You have been distant since we started running these errands. What have you been thinking about?"

"I'm thinking about what to tell Mycroft. He's going to throw me in prison like my brother because I didn't follow his commands exactly. I need to start to look for the group here in London. That will make Mycroft happy."

I frowned, I was furious Mycroft. He misused his power and I hated it. He said that he was a good guy but he wasn't. He just played for the angles but was the devil in disguise. "When will you ever earn your freedom?"

"When this group is behind bars."

"What did you do to make Mycroft do this?"

He was silent for a minute and then said, "I did a lot of things while you were in prison, some things I was not proud of. He is using all of that against me now."

"We'll sort this out, just you wait. We'll solve this and everything will be ok. and you will be safe. we can be together," I said and wrapped my arm around his again.

He looked away from me so I couldn't see his face. But after a few seconds he looked back at me. "I would love for that to happen."