Dancing With The Devil (part two)

Chapter 43: Telling Tales

Sherlock and Astrid got into a cab, which took them straight to St. Bart's. The second they got there Sherlock lead them to Molly's office, she smiled upon seeing Sherlock, but when she saw Astrid she gave her a disapproving look and Sherlock raised a hand.

"She's not here to harm anyone."

Molly frowned, "what does she want?"

"I need to see the body of Amelie Chaudoir."

"Why?"

"She was my mother." She said and Sherlock raised a brow, "step-mother. I just want to see her."

Molly looked up at Sherlock who nodded and she reluctantly said 'follow me' and lead them to the morgue. The morgue was cold, and damp. In the centre of the room was a table with a white cloth over the top of a body shaped figure. Molly stood behind the table and pressed her lips together.

"Suicide, she was found on the train tracks."

"I know," Astrid stated, "can I see her?"

Molly slowly and carefully pulled the cloth down off her face. Amelie had bruises around her face from the fall and her eyes were shut. Astrid stood by her head and leant down, placing a kiss to her forehead.

"I'm sorry." She whispered, out of ear shot of the other two. She smiled, stood up, and looked at Molly, who had her head tilted away from his her, in unexpected respect of Astrid's privacy.

"I'm sorry about everything I did," she began to lie and Molly turned to face her, "I thought it was what I wanted... to be with him," she looked at Sherlock and nodded, "you were right, all those years ago; he never cared about me."

The memory of the moments before her visit to London flickered through Astrid's mind, and she just about managed to conceal a smile at how ironic the situation was. Sherlock nodded, frowning slightly.

"Her husband died too." Molly interrupted, "he was in an explosion," Astrid turned to face her, "was he your father?"

"Lucas Hansel," she smiled, "I never really new him, he and my mother split up when I was a kid."

"That's sad," she stated, not sounding very upset, "why did they split up?"

"I wish I knew," Astrid lied again and chuckled lightly, "my mother died when I was about fourteen, so, I guess I've always been on my own."

"And that made you a perfect target for Moriarty." Sherlock stated and Astrid tilted her head.

"I never really thought about it like that." That was a lie. She'd thought about it for three years, until Jim himself had told her he loved her. She believed him, of course she did. He could be lying, and Astrid shouldn't be surprised if he was, but the way he looked at her, was something that couldn't be faked.

She smiled at the two and bit her lip, rocking back and fourth on her heels. Molly spoke up, "are you okay?"

"Nah." Astrid sighed, sadly, "but I will be."

"Why don't you come back to 221b with me, I'm sure you could speak to John about it," Sherlock said, randomly, "if that's what normal people do."

"I don't need a therapist, Sherlock." Astrid deadpanned as they left Molly alone in the morgue. As they left the hospital she let out a sigh and lit a cigarette. Letting out a satisfied noise as she inhaled and exhaled heavily. She looked towards Sherlock and offered him the cigarette, "word is you're pretty obsessed with these things." He shook his head at her offer and Astrid scoffed, "suit yourself."

She stated for a few seconds longer before finishing the cigarette and stubbing it out under her boot. She bid Sherlock farewell before walking down the street away from him.

As she did this, she allowed the seditious smile, that she had managed to re-perfect, grace her face.

Surprisingly so, seeing her mother's dead body wasn't as distressing for Astrid as she thought it would be. During her drive back to the new 'mansion' that Jim had purchased, she was reasonably happy, probably because seeing her step-mother for the last time had filled some sort of hole inside her, and she'd finally been able to properly say goodbye to a family member of hers.

By the time she got back to the new house, it was getting dark. When she arrived at the house, there was another familiar car parked outside. She smiled to herself and happily jumped out of her car, and went inside. When she opened the front door she saw Seb and Jim stood by the front room. It looked as if he had just arrived.

"Good timing." She spoke up, causing both the men to turn there heads towards her. She looked at Seb as she messily threw her boots onto the floor, "how ya been?"

"I'm fine." Seb blinked, "just needed to clear my head."

"How was your trip?" Jim asked

"Fine, yeah." Astrid nodded and approached them, "just needed a bit of closure that's all," she wrapped her arms around Seb's neck, standing on her toes to hug him for a little while, he lifted his arms to wrap around her body, fully embracing her. She pulled away and smirked, "gonna be back to normal now, tiger?"

"Yup." He popped the 'p', "so, we're back to ruling the underworld again."

Astrid smiled at Jim, nodding, "yes we are."

Jim looked from Seb to Astrid, who bit her lip and raised an eyebrow. Seb just stood there, watching their interaction.

"Okay, I think I've outstayed my welcome." He rolled his eyes and turned to leave.

"What did you expect, tiger?" Astrid jotted up her chin, smiling childishly. Seb rolled his eyes again and Astrid pouted, "roll your eyes any harder and they'll roll right out your head."

Seb's eyes widened and his brows raised, "don't even start-" he began but cut himself off by shaking his head, "you know what, you two can resume your canoodling-"

"Canoodling, Seb? Really?"

"Whatever, just wait for me to leave, please," He tilted his head upwards in frustration, "I'll speak to the people about the gala."

And with that, the tiger left, slamming the door shut behind him in disgust. Astrid spun on her heels back to the man in front of her, "gala?"

"Next week, a sort of 'reveal' if you will."

"To the world?"

"No just to the underworld, and my usual clients to say I'm back in business." he said as Astrid approached to him, absentmindedly chewing her lip, "Seb'll do all the work don't worry."

Astrid nodded slowly, absorbing what he was saying, not really caring about it. Jim lifted his hands up to rest on her shoulders and she responded by lifting her hand to his elbow and dramatically leaning into his mouth. She pressed a weak kiss to his slightly agape lips and he moved his hands to cup her face. He deepened the kiss and for a few seconds they were back to their familiar perfect smooches. Astrid pulled away and smirked.

"Canoodling?"

"Upstairs." Jim nodded as Astrid nodded back and took his hand, before leading them upstairs excitedly.