Like a Moth to a Flame (part 1)
"You came," he says, and he can hear the surprise mixing with relief in his own voice.
"I was thinking…" she starts and James nods, intrigued and a bit amused because when is Ruby Bell not thinking? She pauses, eyes still fixed on him, and James knows that whatever she says next will decide where they go from here.
"I think the past is... overrated."
Something in James settles at her words.
So this is it. He won’t have to pretend he doesn't know her, won’t have to pretend that whatever this is, this charged tension between them, doesn't intrigue him.
It feels good to know it's not one-sided.
Ruby doesn't get thrown in the pool. Canon divergence from the party scene in episode 3. A four-part story plus epilogue.
My thanks to cherrycourage for her stellar beta-reading.