Night Doubts [Moriarty the Patriot Fanfiction]

After the conversation with the Rockwell at dinner, William went back to his room. His though have been about Albert. Ever since the talk about the previous count Moriarty as the table, he has not been speaking much. Instead he had the smile on his face, the one that William already recognized as a front mask.

He was already sure, that he knew what this was about, but he was still thinking about the best way to address it. He hoped that as long as Albert knows he is not alone, he will be able to resolve it himself.

He heard the doors open. He looked at the door and Louis was standing there. William smiled and invited him in.

Louis came inside and sat in the bed. He leaned on the William's shoulder, as he did countless of times before. But he was also biting his lips in worry. And William was sure that Louis' object of worry was the same as his own.

Still, he asked to be sure. "What are you worried about Albert?"

"I don't know what I can do." said Louis after thinking about it for some time. "And if it is..."

"It is not second thoughts." said William, before Louis could continued. "At least not in this way."

William could see the tension on Louis' face, as he tried to think this through. He felt his face relaxing in the even kinder smile at this.

William looked forward, his face looking the smile, as he was not sure how to express it. On the end he settled on avoiding it. "I think as long as he is not alone, he should be alright."

Louis then peered at William's face. "Should you not be there then?"

William did not answer this question. He just looked down at his lap. After some time, he felt Louis lean on this in answer.

They were like this for a while, when they heard the door open again. They both looked up to see Albert standing at the doors of the room. His eyes widened in surprise. "I am sorry. Louis was not in his room so I... I will let you..."

"Albert," interrupted William.

Albert stopped talking. William smiled at him and patted the bed next to him. But he just leaned his head in question.

"Brother is saying that you should join us." explained Louis and he moved aside and tapped the bed between William and himself.

There was a battle on Albert's face for moment. He looked aside. Then down. He bit his lips. Then looked at both of them and then made this way there. They moved aside, so he could sit on the bed with them.

Louis now leaned on Albert. "You were checking on me?"

Albert nodded. But then he realized that Louis might not be looking at him in this position. "Yeah." he said, but he did not continue.

William leaned on Albert as well. He did not think forcing Albert to talk before his is ready is a good idea in this case. Especially since his body was still tight as the coil. But then Louis was always better in figuring this out.

"Why was that?" and apparently he though that pushing here is the right idea.

Albert tensed even more.

William decided that this is enough for now. "Louis, there is no need..."

"It is alright." stopped Albert. He took a deep breath in, and then out. And again in and out. And once again. He closed his eyes. He took another deep breath and William could feel Albert's body relaxing under him.

"Sometimes I am afraid that all of this is just a good dream, I will wake up from." said Albert.

William could hear Louis moving his body. "It is not a dream." Louis said.

After a small pause Albert nodded. But William noticed, that this did not convince him at all.

They were like this for a while, when Albert said the statement, that was more a question. "I wonder if there is something wrong with me." Considering the tone he said it, William was sure it was meant for for himself instead of him of Louis. He guessed Louis was of the same mind, since he did not interrupt him with a question of his own.

"And..." Albert swallowed. He paused. "I am sorry, William, Louis. I didn't..." he stopped for a second. "I am really sorry."

William then looked at Albert in confusion. The conversation was not going in the direction he was expecting. Why would Albert need to apologize to them? Was this not about his lack of guilt at killing?

William then looked at Louis. Maybe he was having some idea of what is going on. But Louis was not looking at him, instead he was thinking in concentration. Then he asked. "Is this about my surgery?"

Albert nodded.

William felt left behind in the conversation. He was not entirely sure what the conversation was about any more. Why would Albert need to apologize for the surgery? It saved Louis life. He could only be thankful for it.

Louis instead seems to be thinking about it. Then he slowly said. "At that time, waiting was the hardest to deal with. Because the longer we were waiting for an answer the higher the chance that it would end up with the unexpected result." Louis paused. "But we choose to enter this situation. As lopsided as it was at the start, you never explicitly asked for anything we did expect from the start."

"Plus," Louis shrugged. "You threw that power away once you allowed brother to take original William's place."

Albert hands in front of him started shaking. Now that he knew what was bothering Albert, he could try to do something about it. William touched Albert's hand. "Albert." he called him as waited.It took a couple of seconds, but Albert looked up at William. "Thank you for saving Louis' life."

Albert's tried to smile, but it was just a twitch of him mouth. He then moved his hands from the front and put then on both William and Louis' shoulders. "Thank you for allowing me to be your brother." He kissed the top of Louis' head. "My two precious swans."

Louis asked with the smile. "You sure this is the comparison that you want to use?"

Albert froze for a second. "Did I say it out loud?" Albert asked. He looked at the faces of both of his brothers.

"So," William slowly started. "What other things are you also thinking about us?"

Original this started as the story with the 'first kiss' prompt and was a might conversation between Albert and William about both their guilt and lack of for the fire. During the rewriting I included Louis, but then I was stuck on one of the Louis line. So I read the reasoning how Albert was using Louis life as a hostage post and just threw this in as well.

I can't re-read it, but I throwing it here, in case somebody actually finds it readable.