Heartache | Jim Moriarty

Stayin' alive

The next morning, something loud ripped me out of my sleep. And after several seconds I realized that it was music. The bloody Bee Gees.
It was blasting through the whole house, at only 6 a.m !

Annoyed about the situation, I grabbed my phone and checked my messages. Mycroft already send me two. Something about a change of plans.
I texted him back to let him know that I was awake and got up to dress for the day. I'm sure I would be needed earlier, like every day.

It took him ten minutes to answer, but to my surprise it wasn't about an early meeting. It was about a file. My work with Sherlock.
This better be good, he wouldn't send a file if it wasn't important.

I grabbed my laptop and made my way downstairs, the music was still a bit to loud, but at least it was a good taste.
"Morning." I said when I joined Jim and Sebastian at the counter. I sat down across from them to keep my work stuff away. "Good morning, sunshine. I hope I didn't wake you." Jim quipped without looking up from the screen. He couldn't mean that, could he?

Sebastian and I shared a look, but he shrugged it off, and I knew he wasn't joking. Jim was testing my limits.
"Actually, no. My boss did." ignoring his little huff I opened my Mac and skimmed through my mails.
There was more finance stuff from Sherlock, but it was marked for later. Just like the Mails from Anthea.

"Fancy some fruit loops?" Sebastian asked with a mouthful of his own breakfast. That earned him a glance from Jim. He didn't look to happy." Yes please, do you have orange juice? I hate milk"

"That's disgusting. How can you eat this rubbish?" Jim yelled in disbelief, finally looking up from his laptop. I took a peek at Sebastian's bowl and found him eating just exactly what I graved. "It's a good sugar boost." Sebastian and I answered in unison. It made me laugh.
"No wonder he took a liking to you so fast." right. Didn't sound like an insult at all.

Sebastian placed the bowl next to me and offered a little smirk, but I didn't return it. My mood changed so quickly that i irritated myself.
I simply wasn't a morning person.

Turning back to my work I cringed. "Encrypted?" I asked out loud when I saw that the bloody File Mycroft send me required a passcode. He didn't mention a code. No other file required one because my laptop was safe.

I groaned and quickly send him a text. And as if he was waiting, I got a response just a second later. But it wasn't a code. It was a text about a flower shop. And my answer was somewhere between the lines.
"Something wrong?" Jim asked suddenly out of the blue. I didn't notice that both of them watched me.

"Nope. People just underestimate my intelligence." I joked bitterly. This would take a good while, and I didn't plan to waste my whole morning on this stuff.
"Lucky for you, I'm clever. What's the problem.?" His attempt made me chuckle, but it only frustrated me a bit more.
"Thanks for the offer, but no. I don't expose some top secret file because it's difficult." it surely couldn't be too hard. Mycroft knew I'm not on his level. Maybe I just need to try different methods to figure it out.

"How about money?" Jim asked innocently, but there was a mischievous glint in his dark eyes. He really was testing the waters.
"No."

"Torture?" what the hell is he trying to prove ? "Jim, I really need to work this out. But there is nothing that could make me talk, everything I know is going six feet down with me. Now shut it." I ignored his whisper conversation with Sebastian and tried to concentrate.

After seven tries, I finally succeeded. Getting into the two-page file.
But after reading the first sentences, I understood why he wanted to keep it a secret. It was unauthorized. And he required my skill set because this Moriarty guy Sherlock wanted to meet wouldn't show up unarmed. This was far from detective work. Maybe I changed his mind.

"What if someone threatens to kill your friends and family? Would you spill ?" Jim asked after a while, breaking the comfortable silence. I couldn't help but groan.

"Is this normal?" I asked into Sebastian's direction, silently asking for help.

"Extremely."

"Fine. Let's imagine someone is capturing me for some top secret information that could lead you to a hundred billion dollar or some such shit, they could beat me and I wouldn't say a word, they could break my bones and I wouldn't say a word, drown me, kill my stupid parents or my non-existing friends. Cut of my libs, shred my favourite kimono. I don't care. There is nothing that cou..-"

"What about Love?" he cut me off without hesitation. I wasn't sure if he just listened to what I said, but probably not. "What about it?"

"What if they threaten to kill them, in front of your eyes? Or make you do it?"
Okay, this conversation took a weirdly dark turn. Not that I minded, but it was weird.
"I would kill them myself if I have to. Because if you love someone, you save them, and dead is better than torture."

"Interesting, you say that so easily. But would you really do it?" he huffed a laugh in a mocking manner, not realizing that I was a second away from punching his stupid smirk of off his face.
He already managed to get under my skin with his weird question session.

"You would be surprised. Now if you excuse me, I need to get ready." with that I closed my laptop and went back to my room.
Jim's questions woke some memories I never wanted to think about ever again, but he forced me to. And this wasn't testing any more. That was interrogating. What for? I didn't know,  and I really don't want to.

"All of us have done things we shouldn't have, you know." Sebastian said, making me jump. I didn't hear him open my door, or entering my room at all. "I was dishonourably discharged from the army some years ago. Following orders wasn't my best strength. And one day I just started to research our targets myself. At the end of our Excursion my team was dead, because I killed them all." he spoke his words carefully, but there was no regret or something. Like he didn't care. It reminded me of my interview about Matthew's dead, I spoke the same way.

"I shot my best friend right between the eyes because they tortured us for two whole weeks. Got a promotion, but it only made things worse." I didn't like to talk about it, or the details. It was only three months ago.

"We should talk about it sometime. But you actually have to leave now." shit, he was right. It was almost nine!

"Right, Right! Thank you, for telling me, I mean. It actually makes me feel better. But if Jim asks me one more thing, I'll move out." I didn't mean it, of course. The house was way too nice, and I didn't want to leave Sebastian. He was the only one I tolerated, and I was just about to get to know him.

"He won't, I'll make sure of it."

"Thanks a lot, I'll see you in some days." I yelled the last bit as I run out of the room and down the stairs. My mood already brightened a great bit, and thinking about my first assignment made it even better.