Nicotine (Sheriarty)

42

Sherlock

Sherlock woke up the next day and could feel no one next to him. He turned over to see a letter where Jim should be. The letter, however, had a part of Jim attached to it.

His wedding ring.

The letter read:

Dear Sherlock,

First of all, I want to apologise. I'm sorry for everything. I'm sorry for marrying you. I'm sorry for making you fall in love with me. I'm sorry for falling in love with you. I'm sorry for this letter. I'm sorry I'm not there at the moment. I'm sorry for turning all your friends against you. I'm sorry.

From the ring attached, I'm sure you know what this letter is about. It's New Year's Day soon and I don't want to be there. I can't. I don't want to be there to start the new year with you if I can't be there to finish it.

This was never how I planned for this to go. Well, I didn't quite know what I was planning exactly. It was all a heat of the moment thing, I suppose. I texted you and then one thing led to another and I just can't stay. God, I want to. I really, really want to Sherl... but I can't. You lost all your friends because of me and that's not fair. I can't let that happen.

You don't deserve that.

I loved you Sherlock. That's what you've got to remember. The next few days are going to be hard for you but believe me when I say that I did love you. Who am I kidding? I still do. After all this time I still do. And I always will. What am I doing? I should stay with you, where I belong. No. I can't. Stick to the plan Jim.

This isn't the last you'll be hearing from me, Sherly. I'll go back to being "Jim Moriarty" and you can go back to being "Sherlock Holmes". The great game of cops and robbers. Well... Detective and criminal, I suppose.

Alright then, I'll keep this brief. Happy new year, idiot.

Oh, and one last thing:

Did you miss me?

- JM x

Each and every word hurt more than the last. Sherlock re-read the letter throughout the day as if he was trying to convince himself it wasn't real, but he couldn't.

It was all too real.

~

Moriarty

A day or so later, Jim was back living in his old home. His network welcomed him back with open arms but Jim wasn't as thrilled as they were.

He regretted everything. He regretted texting Sherlock to begin with. He regretted kissing him. He regretted meeting him again. He regretted running away with him. He regretted sending him to jail just to save him. He regretted falling completely, madly, undeniably, head over heals in love with Sherlock because it made it so much harder to say goodbye. So much harder to let go. To move on.

To move on from Sherlock Holmes was an impossible task.

"Mr Moriarty, sir?" One of his men asked, interrupting Jim's train of thought.

Jim glanced out the window onto the town below him, "Yes, what is it? What do you want?" He answered, slightly harsher than he wanted to.

"There's a man here to see you."

Jim turned around slowly, half expecting to find Sherlock there. Instead he found John.

"John..."

"Jim..."

Moriarty waved his hand indicating for the man next to John to leave and, with that, he left.

"What do you want?" Jim snapped, turning back towards the window.

"You're needed." John replied, ignoring Jim's aggressive tone.

"Oh for gods sake, make up your mind. Who needs me this time?"

John didn't answer right away. He allowed time for the question to linger in the air between them, "Sherlock."

"Give me one good reason why I should come back."

"Jim..."

"I'm serious. Give me one good reason. How can you be so sure that what happened won't happen again and we'll just keep going round in circles and we'll never stop running away from who we used to be and John, I can't do that anymore. Okay? I just can't. So give me one good reason why I should come back and it better be a bloody good one."

"Jesus, he loves you Jim. Sherlock Holmes, the man everyone thought would never love another human being, is actually in love with you. Does that mean anything to you?"

Jim felt tiny when he whispered sadly, "Of course it does."

"I'm not leaving here without you, Jim." John argued stubbornly.

"Why would you want to help? You're the man who, a few days ago, was running around telling everyone that I was using Sherlock and now you're asking me to come back. Am I the only one who thinks there's something wrong with this?" Jim finally turned away from the window, towards John.

"Jim, Sherlock needs you and you need Sherlock. He... He's not right without you. It's like he's missing something."

"He doesn't need me. I turned all his friends against him." Sighed Moriarty.

"No, I turned all his friends against him." John argued.

"He must hate me."

"Jim... He hates me."

Jim tilted his head, "He doesn't hate you, John."

"Why not? I've given him every reason to."

There was an uncomfortable pause before the criminal replied, "He named a dog after you."

"A do- When did he get a dog?"

"It was my Christmas present to him. I guess I intended it as a replacement..." After another uncomfortable pause, Jim added, "He named it Watson."

John took a deep breath and opened his mouth as if he was going to say something. He shook his head and closed it again.

"Listen J... John. They say you should never make a deal with the devil but... I'll... I'll come back if you and Sherlock go back to the way you used to be. Go on cases... Although admittedly I did organise the majority of them. 95% maybe? 97?"

John stifled a laugh as Moriarty continued.

"You're looking better... You know, considering you got hit by a taxi."

Watson chuckled slightly as he said, "Yeah... Let's not talk about that... Plus, he was a bloody awful cabbie."

Soon, both men were laughing as Jim muttered, "What a beautifully messed up situation this is Doctor Watson."

"Yeah, if this was a book it wouldn't be in the romance section," Jim chuckled uncontrollably, "crime, maybe?"

Once the men had calmed down, John said, "Well then... Maybe we can turn this into a chick flick. I recon we have just enough time to get to Baker Street before the clock strikes midnight."

"Midnight? What's so important about midnight?"

John shook his head in disbelief, "Jim, it's New Years Eve."

"Shit..." Moriarty whispered, grabbing his coat and heading towards the door, not caring about creasing his suit.

And then he was up against the clock as he ran towards the man he loved.

A/N

Next chapter will be updated at midnight (hopefully) on New Years Eve and it will be the last one (followed by a chapter of me thanking you all and just generally rambling). The chapter also won't be as long as the others.

WHAT WILL HAPPEN?
WILL JIM MAKE IT ON TIME?
WILL SHERLOCK BE HAPPY?
WILL THEY HAVE A HAPPY NEW YEAR?
FIND OUT SOON...

(Wow that was dramatic)

-A