Dancing With The Devil (part two)

Chapter 49: Early Riser

Astrid woke up before Jim. She lay down, staring at the ceiling before feeling the need to get up. She stood up and made her way to the wardrobe and pulled out one of Jim's fresh shirts. She put it on and buttoned up a few of the buttons, before looking back at Jim, fast asleep arms having fallen naturally into the space where she had lay, body pressed against his. She lay back on the bed, on her stomach, legs crossed over each other as she played with his limp fingers. She stayed there for a little while, before she felt something rise up inside her.

It suddenly occurred to her, that she was going to throw up. She ran into the ensuite bathroom, almost slipping over the damp pile of clothes at the end of the bed and almost threw herself at the bowl of the toilet, ejecting into it. After she recovered she frowned and sat down, breathing heavily. There were a few explanations that passed through her head, however, the one that was most likely, the one ringing out the loudest, was now becoming a pounding headache. She let her head loll back and lean against the wall for about five minutes, before hearing her name being called from the bedroom.

She quickly stood up and flushed the toilet. She washed water over her sweating face, before wiping it with a towel. She took some of the mouth wash and gargled it round her mouth before taking another deep breath and leaving the ensuite. Jim was sat on the edge of the bed, wearing a pair of cotton joggers. He looked up at her and smiled, she weakly returned the emotion.

"You okay?" Astrid nodded, "you're up early."

"So are you." she leaned against the doorframe

Jim chuckled, noticing that she was wearing his shirt. He stood up and approached her, moving his hands to play with the sleeves that were dangling over Astrid's fingers. He took her hand and lifted it up to his lips, standing closer to her. He kissed the fingers one by one as Astrid lifted her other hand to strok the back of his neck.

"Do you wanna have a proper wedding?" he asked.

"I don't mind." She shrugged, "do you?"

He laughed, "I don't mind." Astrid rolled her eyes and Jim shook his head, "well, you weren't coming up with any big ideas." He paused, "what about kids?"

Astrid widened her eyes at his question, before laughing, "funny you should ask.."

Jim widened his eyes in response, "what? You.. you're...?" Astrid laughed, "seriously-?"

"I don't know," she smiled and shook her head, "I might be, I don't know." Jim let out a laugh and Astrid frowned, "this is what you want?" Jim grimaced guiltily, "well don't get your hopes up."

"Is it what you want?" he asked. Astrid opened her mouth to respond, yet, somehow couldn't speak. She swallowed the lump in her throat, before nodding and smiling.

"I'll go to Tesco and get a test," she placed a finger on his mouth to stop him speaking, "no, you're not coming too. Imagine me walking around Tesco at seven in the morning with the dead Irishman who might have gotten me pregnant."

Jim chuckled as Astrid pecked his lips then went back to the wardrobe to get changed. After getting ready she gave him another kiss before stuffing some cash into her pocket and leaving the house. The corner shop was only five minutes away. She entered the shop and scouted the shelves for what she was looking for. After she founded and plucked it off the shelf, she heard a small scoff coming from the woman stood a few meters away from her. She turner around and looked at the woman, who turned and walked away fro her whilst Astrid shook her head to herself, thinking about what Jim would have done if he was there. As she made her way towards the counter, her tracks were stopped by a tall man stood in her way. Her head shot up to identify the man, and she relaxed entirely when she was met with the face of Mycroft Holmes.