What Kind of Man || Jim Moriarty

Twenty Six

The sky was starting to brighten, ready for the sun to rise over London, by the time Katherine fell into the seat of the Jaguar and was finally allowed to stop the act. The chauffeur, she feared had been waiting here by the runway for all this time, shut the door behind her and Jim let out an overdramatic howl of a yawn.

"Talk about a long day." It may have been fake but it still caused Sebastian to yawn in the front passenger seat. He flicked on the light above him and flipped the small mirror down to check how the bags under his eyes were coming along. Something Katherine feared doing herself, makeup could only cover so much and after a 16 hour day she probably wasn't looking so hot. But as her eyes glazed over during watching Moran, she felt a hand on her leg and lazily rolled her head towards Jim. "Well done, you did good Katherine?" Did she? It didn't feel like it.

"I messed up. I crumbled." She looked away, out of the window as they started to move. Leaving one of the worlds busiest airports before the first place could lift off the ground. She doubted anyone would even know they've been here, if they did then they were meant to. "Im sorry." She mumbled, eyes growing heavy. But then the hand squeezed her leg and she reluctantly met Jim's eyes again.

"That man you just met was Charles Augustus Magnussen. He's not an easy character." His face was expressionless. "He will seek out your weaknesses and use them against you, and he's obviously up to date with the news given he recognised you." Her make up was still perfect, hair almost too, apart from some small whisks of hair falling out around her hairline. "I purposefully didn't tell you what to expect so I could see how you handled him. For your first time, you did alright sweetheart." Her chest tightened at the sound of the pet name she hadn't heard since that night when he'd been between her legs but she managed to smile naturally.

"My first time?" She'd picked up on that more than anything. Trying to ignore the fact he had complimented her twice in such a short space of time. "I'm going to have to see him again?" The feeling of panic returned to her, but it was near forgotten when Jim made a face just like he had at Magnussen's modern mansion. He winced, hissing through his teeth but that sparkle of amusement never left his eyes.

"Sorry." He was chewing a piece of gum and it clacked loudly in his mouth as he dropped the wince and grinned wide at her. Moriarty then went on to explain. "You won him over, I'll be sending details of the job to you by the end of the week." So now she was working for him? Excellent.

"Is it doing stuff like he asked me about?" All that stuff about following someone, scooping out something worth talking about...or was it worth writing about? Everything had become a little muddled in her head as she'd been in that house, the adrenaline pumping through her veins making the past few hours feel like a dream. "Because I don't actually know how good I'd be at-"

"I'll go through it with you. You will learn." Jim looked away from her, his voice taking on a certain strictness. She wanted a tracker. She didn't know how to follow someone.,..she'd said she could learn to make Jim happy and prove her confidence but in reality?...it was questionable. With a frown, Katherine looked out her own window and thoughts about. If Moriarty was going to take the time to teach her she should have a chance of becoming what she needed to be for the job.

During the short silence, Katherine realised Jim's hand still rested on her knee and she finally smiled to herself and rested her head back agains the car seat. They were getting away from the airport now and heading back towards the city. Her bed called to her. Her eyes were stinging and she was starting to feel sick from lack of sleep and the lack of energy. But she was glad to be there, now the bad stuff was over and it was the calm after the storm. The skies were turning a beautiful ombré, turning from burnt orange to candy floss pink. A part of her didn't want to go to sleep and miss the crisp early morning, a part of her wanted to go to the park and walk around in the first rays of sunlight. Relax, breathe. Not crawl back into a stuff apartment miles above the ground.