"Jim..." you choked out as you sat frozen staring at the screen.

"Yes? What is it?" Jim asked with sudden concern as he pulled you closer to him.

You handed him the phone and let him read the message for himself. Tightness took over your chest and your stomach churned as you felt lightheaded. "I think...I need to..." you began to say as darkness enveloped your vision and you passed out, falling back on the couch. Before completely blacking out, Jim's voice calling out your name in fear reached your ears.

~~~~~

When you came to in an unfamiliar bedroom, Jim was sitting on the end of the bed.

"Are you alright, (y/n)?" He asked as he hurried over to you and pulled you into a tight embrace, "I thought I had lost you for a minute."

You smiled softly at his concern. "I'm fine, just got too overwhelmed from stress." Looking up into his eyes as you pulled away, you could tell that he had cried some. His eyes were slightly red and puffy. "Are you okay, love?"

Jim nodded and smiled some, "Yes. Just scared for you."

Then there was a soft, gentle knock on the door before it opened. Irene beamed when she saw you awake. "Was just checking on you two to make sure things were fine." She glanced around the room and then came back to your eyes. "Glad this empty room is getting some company for once. It's been years since I got a visitor who stayed with me in this house. (Y/n) you're welcome to visit or stay over any time you'd like."

You grinned and thanked her, glad to make use of such a nice room. Jim Moriarty and Irene Adler, so financially well off with amazing houses and clothes and infamy. Yet you were just a nobody living in one of the many small dwellings of the poorer part of London. But the two loved you dearly and would give the world for you and you finally saw how being a black sheep of society tore down the rules that these two had already thrown out of their lives. But it also built up personal rules, though for Moriarty, meeting you tore down some of those too. Jim would take you on a date in a shabby dress and still love you contently or make a great night of seeing a bad film. It didn't matter about the money to either of you anymore. It was truly about the love now. About just being together.

"James, I think I may be..." You began quietly when suddenly gunshots rang out on the streets just on the other side of the guest room wall.

Jim grabbed you and Irene and pulled you quickly out to safety, to the kitchen nestled in the middle of the house.

"That couldn't have just been a coincidence, could it?" Irene asked as she huddled close to your left side on the kitchen floor. Jim was to your right and holding you against him, trying to stop you from shaking.

"No, I don't think it was. It must've been Chris. Trying to intimidate us, but I'll have that man's head on a damn platter!" He scowled as his anger towards your psycho ex boiled inside him.

You sucked in a deep breath and blew it out slowly in attempts to slow your racing heart. "I don't want Irene staying here alone tonight. James, can she stay with us?" You asked him softly with worrisome eyes.

James nodded and looked up to Irene with a small smile, "As long as you don't mind coming over?"

Irene grinned weakly and shook her head slightly. "I'd love to stay the night, but how are we going to leave this house safely? Surely they're watching the house."

Another burst of gunshots rang out suddenly in a room adjacent to the guest room.

"I'll take that as a yes." You sighed. "Jim?" You looked at him, scared of what was going to happen to the three of you, but the Irishman was typing away on his phone. Presumably to some of his men and/or Sebastian.

"We'll be fine." Jim answered after a minute of typing. His voice seemed stressed and irritated and this shown through his face as well as it was illuminated with a faint blue glow from his phone's screen.

"You sure?" You asked although you already knew the answer.

"Yes I'm sure!" He snapped back without looking up from his phone.

You shrank back slightly and glanced at Irene, who just shook her head slightly before mouthing a small 'I'm sorry'.

Jim didn't notice your reaction and kept typing away, occasionally pausing and sighing. "We need to be ready to get up and run in a few minutes."

Irene grabbed your hand softly and you could feel her arm trembling just the slightest.

"It'll be okay." You whispered and hugged her reassuringly. "We will get out of this alive."

While the three sat in silence on the kitchen floor, a burst of gunfire and squealing tires was heard and Jim jumped to his feet. "That's our signal, come on. Quick." He helped you and Irene up and hurried to the front door. He peeked out the small side door window and grinned when he saw the thick greyish white smoke billowing in the streets. "That's our coverage. Follow me to the car and get in fast, got it?"

Then it all happened so quickly. The door flung open and Jim grabbed your hand, running to a car waiting in the middle of the street. He motioned for Irene to get in the front passenger side and that you get in the back with him. Then before you knew it you were driving slowly along with all the other cars, to blend in, before speeding off around the corner.

"We'll be driving around for a bit to ensure no one is following us. The windows are tinted so no need to hide though." Jim stated calmly as if they had just strolled out of the house on a casual day.

You had felt anger, fear, stress, and even some relief, bubble up into your chest from where you had hid them deep down. They just kept churning and clawing to get out, so the moment you were finally aware of the serenity your cries filled the car. Tears rolled down your face like rivers as all the built up tension flooded out into the world. "A-all of th-this is my fa-ault!" You managed out between the cries.

Before you knew it though, Jim's arms were wrapped around you and his fingers combed through your hair. He tried to calm you but you knew you were the only reason these two were being hunted down as well as yourself. Nothing was going to relax the anxiety that had been branded into your mind.

"Don't blame yourself, sweetheart." Irene spoke up from the front seat, "I've been threatened before, with many of those being direct death threats. But I'm still here and so is Jim." She was trying to comfort you as well, but just knowing that you were adding to the stress in their lives was grating.

Jim saw the guilt in your face. He kissed the top of your head and whispered softly, "Darling, I am willingly risking my life to protect you. I can't lose my kitten." Then he pulled you in closer so he could truly embrace you. Unlike his usual ways, James Moriarty cared more about another human than his fancy suit or his boredom. This was something more to him than just a human after all, this was the girl from his boyhood, this was the girl who stopped him from suicide, this was the girl that had grown up to fall in love with all his fatal flaws. This was something new, yet felt so similar to the days back in school and on the playground and in the lush green gardens. To Jim, you were the living memory of his life before crime and madness.

To lose you was like losing his parents again. If that pain drove him to how he is now, what would the pain of losing you do to him? It was always on the brink of his thoughts, floating about the edges, trying to get its way into a main channel of thought. Jim always pushed these away though, knowing he'd die before letting anyone take you from him. But now as your ex got more extreme and you got more worried, he had no option but to let that nagging thought in for once. Even if he tried his hardest it wouldn't go away. Jim knew he had to find this man as quickly as possible and end all of this mayhem before something irreversible was done.

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Hello again!

First let me apologise for the super duper long wait for this. Dealing with writer's block, depression and now recently this pandemic made writing hard for me. I've come back to try to write again many times over this break but everytime it just didn't feel like I could write well, but that was just until recently where something clicked again I guess.

Hopefully now that high school is fully done and I'm taking a gap year before college, the only thing that'll keep me from writing more will be a job once I find one. The next chapter will be published sooner than this one was, or at least here's to hoping and wishing for your guys' sake!

Thanks for sticking out this hiatus though, my readers mean the world to me and I'm so glad you guys are very understanding people.

Hope all of you are staying healthy and safe, especially if you're in the US like me, or in the other top death toll countries.

-TM