Dancing With The Devil (part two)

Chapter 19: Behave

"Come on." Astrid called to Jim as she made her way back into the house. She entered the house like a girl on a mission. She made her way to the kitchen table where Seb and Faith were sat discussing the situation at hand. Astrid sat down opposite them as Jim slowly made his way in to sit next to her. Seb's head whipped up to look at his boss.

"What are you doing here?" The tiger snarled.

"It's alright Seb, he's explained everything." Astrid calmed him as Faith placed a calming hand on top of Seb's clenched fest, "It was my dad; he threatened to come after us if Jim came back to me."

"Well why the hell would he do that?" Faith quizzed.

"He needed us to be broken up. He wants power and he knows that if Jim and I got back together, especially with Seb..." Astrid explained, "...we'd be more of a threat."

There was a small pause.

"So why are you back now?" Seb asked, sternly, "we've been here waiting for you for three years, what makes today so special."

"There is a reason-"

"Then fucking say it?" Seb interrrupted.

"It's to do with Sherlock Holmes," he began, expecting to be cut off. After a raised eyebrow from Astrid, he continued, "do you watch the news?"

"Not as much as I should." Astrid replied.

"You didn't see what Sherlock did?"

"Jesus christ Jim, just tell us." Seb said impatiently.

"Sherlock Holmes shot someone-"

"Now hold on a second," Seb interrupted again causing Astrid to sigh.

"Just let him finish the fucking story-"

"Sherlock Holmes is still alive?"

"Yes, he's alive," Astrid nearly shouted, "Now just let him finish."

"Sherlock Holmes shot Charles Magnussen, and before you ask who he is, I'm not exactly sure. He was sent into exile."

"I heard about that," said Faith as she got her phone out and began typing things into google, "it says that it was actually a sniper that shot him though, not Sherlock."

"Mycroft will have edited the footage so that his brother could come back and figure out what was going on." Astrid explained, before urging Jim to continue.

"What else does it say on there." Jim asked Faith.

"Urm," faith scrolled down the page to the next headline. Her eyes widened and Astrid frowned.

"What?"

Faith handed Astrid the phone and when Astrid saw the headline, her facial expressions followed that of Faith's. She read the headline in her head.

JAMES MORIARTY- CONFIRMED DEAD BY SHERLOCK HOLMES

Astrid couldn't help but chuckled as she read aloud the next part of the news page

" 'Despite pictures of the late James Moriarty being displayed on every screen in the country, Sherlock Holmes has stated that the 'consulting criminal' is still dead. Holmes claims that the photos were most likely put out into the world by his colleagues or workers.' " Astrid finished reading the article before raising her eyebrows and looking at Jim. She clicked her tongue, "bravo."

Astrid gave Faith her phone back before looking back at Jim.

"So, you're still dead..."

"Yes," He said, "and I made a bargain with your father

"So let me get some things straight, 'coz I am really fucking confused," Astrid groaned, "so, you faked your death with blank bullets and blood bags, you were going to try and come back to me but you were stopped by my dad?"

"Yes."

"My dad told me that he knew you were dead."

"Of course he would say that."

"I guess," Astrid sighed and continued, "anyway, so my dad threatened to go after you, Seb and Faith if you came back here, so that he could take over the underworld without having us united against him. And then you eventually decided that you needed to tell me the truth?"

"Yes-"

"Only took you three bloody years-"

"Astrid-"

"Why couldn't you have just told me, why did you have to make it so dramatic?"

"I begged Hansel to let me back into your life. He asked me 'under what conditions?' and I said that I would tell the world that I was still alive," Jim explained as it all began to make sense in Astrid's head, "I had been planning it for a long time and I finally told the world I was still alive. I knew Sherlock would pronounce me 'dead' as it were, which, to Hansel, would look completely out of my reach."

Astrid pondered what Jim had said for a few seconds before letting out a low chuckle of disbelief. Jim looked around the table at the shocked faces that looked back at him. Not too sure what to say, he scratched the back of his head and smiled shyly.

"Does this mean we're all friends again?" He asked hopefully and Faith and Seb looked at the, still giggling, blonde lady across the table from them.

"Astrid?" Seb raised an eyebrow as Astrid cleared her throat.

"Sure." she laughed and let her head rock backwards, "this is fucking ridiculous."

"Glad you find it funny." Faith sighed, holding back a smile.

"No, not funny," Astrid chuckled, attempting to compose herself, "ridiculous."

Faith let a laugh escape her lips, causing Seb to look at her oddly, Faith frowned and grinned.

"What?"

"She's right it is ridiculous," she continued to grin at him causing Seb to eventually let out a small unimpressed laugh as he looked over at Jim and raised his eyebrows.

"This is what you've done." he raised his hand up, gesturing at the giggling women, "Well, it could be worse. At least they're not crying."

"Good point," he said and looked at Astrid, "you said you had a plan."

Astrid slowly stopped laughing and began to speak.

"Yeah. But me need five people."

"What about Dominic, where did he go?" Faith asked 

"I'll text him to come over."

About a minute later, there was a loud banging on the door and Astrid hopped up to answer it, before she opened the door, she looked back at Jim.

"You, behave." she pointed a finger,  at him, "don't get jealous."

With that she opened the front door letting Dominic in. He gave her a hug before she lead him into the dining room with the others. After introductions were made the five sat down and began their scheming.