Royalty

Chapter 33: I Can't Do It. I Don't Know How

(A/N: Hey, so due to lack of response, I kinda just made the decision myself. I'm going to briefly try to emphasize this without sounding needy:

You do not ever need to feel bad about commenting -- It truly makes my day to see notifications, so if you ever have something to say, PLEASE do not hesitate. I will take anything honestly. If you hate the story and take the time out of your day to comment your thoughts, I'll take that gleefully.

Second.

So, we're into HoB now. I decided to effectively 'skip' SiB. It still happened, obviously, but Astra wasn't present a/o didn't have any role in it.

This case will also not have a whole lot of James (At least not in person), which is part of why I kind of let there be a bunch of fluff/what I hope was romantic for a few chapters.

I think that's all. Maybe. Anyway, as always --

Enjoy!)

"Darling, wake up."

I can feel James softly nuzzling my neck from behind as he whispers gently. I smiled a little and turned to face him.

The night after I stayed in his room, I was scared of having another nightmare. I asked to stay with him again. He gave me a smug-but-sincere smile and said yes.

... I kept coming up with excuses, but now it's just agreed that I stay with him at night. And I do like it. It's nice to wake up in his arms each morning. Comfortable. Warm. And so unconcerned about myself.

I'm still a little unsure about whether he might be faking feelings, but it is very clear that he won't let me get hurt.

I trust him. Which could be an awful mistake. But for now, I'm content to snuggle into his arms a little further.

"Morning," I murmur softly. He chuckles gently and kisses my forehead sweetly.

"Good morning, angel."

A few things are still unclear to me. I don't know when I'll be going back to Baker Street. Or if I truly want to. I've kept in contact with Sherlock and John, made sure they know I'm okay.

And James still won't give me a straight answer when I ask if we're in a real relationship. He'll either shush me or tell me not to worry, followed by a kiss to shut me up, which I'm embarrassed to admit has worked every time.

He plants a soft goodmorning kiss on my lips before sitting up and forcing himself out of bed.
He goes to get dressed out of my sight, but usually gets his shirt off before properly exiting the room. I went bright red the first time he did that (he still talks about how adorable I looked all flustered), but now I'm quite used to it and it's routine. While he's out of the room, I change for the day, and he's often back in the room in time to wrap his arms around me from behind and press a few kisses to my neck.

I wouldn't have pegged him to be such an affectionate man, but since staying with him, he is constantly peppering me with kisses, whether on my face, my cheeks, my neck, a light one to my shoulder, or just a kiss on the lips.

And dear heavens, if his body language is anything to go by, he loves to kiss me. His arms wrap tight around me, his hands slide through my hair and he does not hold back.

I don't know how long I've been here at this point, but James says it's been about four months. Christmas with a criminal mastermind was interesting.

But he took me out to dinner.

It was ... Nice. He rented the Ritz Room.

It still messes with me a little that he goes out and plans murders and fraud and embezzlement and then he gets home, he smothers me with affection and calls me angel. But whenever I bring that up, he shuts down for hours or even days at a time. No affection, no nothing.