Beneath The Mask

chapter 16

Chapter

James:

I return from London angry as Mycroft has seen me yet. I head straight to his office, no stops, no delays. Managing to hold a bit of calm, I knock.

"Well well well," Mycroft says when he sees me.

"Shut up," I snap, breaking my calm, "What exactly do you expect to gain from this? She DOESN'T know a bloody THING!"

"Control yourself, Jim,"

This just makes me fume inside but I down turn myself down a few notches. "Let her out."

He chuckles. I'd like to see how well he chuckles with no mouth.

"If you don't, you won't live long enough to see me laugh at your incompetence."

"Is that a threat?"

"No," I smile genuinely, "It's poetry."

"Would you take her place?"

"Yeah," I say, my smile quickly replaced by a challenging glare.

He looks as though he's messing with me just to see my reactions.

"MOVE IT ALONG!"

"Calm down," he says while rolling his eyes in his head. I wish they would roll right out of his head. "Take her home." I'm actually surprised he relented so easily. He picks up the phone. "Release her." Then he looks to me. "You heard me. Take her home."

I just stare him down with suspicion, my relief hidden deep inside until I actually see Cameron.

"Watch out for the cats, Jim," she says quickly when I come near her. What? Then she draws her brows. "Why are you here?"

"I'm taking you home, okay?" I tell her in a soft voice, not harsh. I've left my anger with Mycroft.

"But you're supposed to be in London," she says after a long hesitation.

"I'm all done. I just got back," I say while taking her hand, which feels cold and clammy even though her cheeks look red with heat. "Come on." I lead her to the cab.

She stops abruptly and pulls me back. "You almost stepped on a cat!" she yells before bending down to- to what? Is she picking up an invisible cat? Oh great.

"Sorry," I say regarding the 'cat'.

She walks so bloody slow. I try to shut the car door but Cameron keeps screaming that I'm shutting the door on a cat. I don't know how much more of this I can take.

"Cameron. Cameron here. Here, look at me." I try to get her attention off of those imaginary cats. I took her intently in the eyes. She looks tired and her eyes look glazed as if they're trying to conceal a worn-down mind. It takes a long time to pull her attention away from them. "I missed you, Cameron," I say genuinely to her. Followed by a long kiss, mostly meant as a distraction from her imaginary friends, but that doesn't mean I didn't like it.

She now gives me her full attention, allowing the door to shut. The cab takes off and I put my arm around her. Before I can blink, she's fallen asleep against me. I can relax now. She'll be okay. But Mycroft has no such fortune.

I watch her sleep soundly and wonder what all happened while she was there. Was she afraid? Angry? Was she treated badly? Was she able to use psychology to her advantage? My curiosity will have to wait.

When we get to her apartment building, she is still sound asleep.

Cameron? Cameron, you're home," I say, gently trying to wake her. No reaction from her. Her breathing doesn't even deviate from it's slow rhythm. I suppose that means I'll be taking her upstairs myself. Two flights of stairs. Good thing she isn't that heavy.

Raven meets me at the door looking completely surprised -and slightly suspicious. She tries multiple times to ask questions, only to have me shush her. I lay Cameron in bed and place a blanket over her before leaving her in peace.

"What is going on?" Raven wastes no time.

"She's just tired."

"That doesn't answer my question."

"Oh sorry," I say genuinely, "I am currently leaving after carrying Cameron upstairs with me. You're welcome." I turn to leave.

Raven grabs my arm. "Explain. Now."

Ugh.

She looks me straight in the eyes with irritation -which isn't hard since we are practically the same height. I secretly hate that, I really do. All girls should be like Cameron. Or maybe I'm just self-conscious. Probably because my cousins always-

"Well?" she says harshly, expecting an answer.

"I just picked her up from Mycroft's 'holding cell'. She's been interrogated and sleep deprived for the last three days. I spoke with him and he released her."

She looks contemplative. "Oh."

I turn and leave, knowing that should be enough to satisfy her curiosity.