Spoilers for 'the darling's fall. {part 4}'. This is a sequel to 'Jaime Moriarty, Hi'
{written by joles}

Finally.

After, well she didn't know how long.

Jolly Stamford was finally set free from Jamie Moriarty's hide out.

After what felt like months of being in the dark, stuck in the criminal's lair, where the only sound she ever heard was Jane's daily taunts about how no one was coming to save her, and how Jolly was now hers to torment.

Where over the course of time, the doctor's sound comebacks slowly turned into mumbles and quickly after that turned into nothing. Eventually, the only response Jamie Moriarty would get from Jolly was the thick silence of defeat.

Moriarty had giddily threatened to kill Jolly a few times just to hear a reaction. To get a reaction.

"Hiii, I'm back. I just thought I'd give you your reminder that no one's coming for you."

Nothing.

Even with her back turned to the criminal, Jolly could hear the wide, malicious grin that was spread across her lips.

"The cold shoulder? Oh Miss Stamford, we cannot have that."

Still nothing.

"Now, now Miss Stamford. Why so down? What would make you cheer up? A pet turtle? Freedom? A gun to your head?"

The way she said it. It was just so happy. So vile. Every offer ended with a playful taunt and the last threat was followed by a giggle.

Jolly hated that giggle.

"A pet turtle sounds amazing, but I think I'd prefer the freedom," Jolly replied, making sure to add as much resent to her voice as possible.

"Hmm, well I can get you the pet turtle, but I'm having too much fun with you to let you go. So sorry about that, Miss Stamford."

Jolly was returned to her apartment and the only thing she could think of doing was flopping onto her couch.
But only so she could dramatically slide off it and fall into a fetal position on the floor.

The doctor's time with the deranged criminal was scarring to say the least. But not in the way it's shown to be in movies. There wasn't any torture weapons and Jolly was fed well enough so she wouldn't die. But there was a dark room and psychological torment.

Knock, knock, knock.

She tensed.

Knocking normally meant Moriarty was coming closer to Jolly's room.

The doctor scootched as far away from the door as possible and tried not to give in to the well of tears appearing in her eyes. She caught the sob that racked into her throat and swallowed it hard.

The shadow under the door only scared her more.

"Jolly? I heard the police found you today. Are you home? Can I come in?"

Jolly almost let the tears free after hearing that voice. She had missed this voice more than anything while she was with Jaime. This was the voice that she wished was whispering reassuring things into her ear to block out the words Moriarty was saying. This was the voice she had grown to love. The voice she hoped was wishing for her safe return.

And by the sounds of it, it was.

There was a quiet jangling of keys and a click of a lock. Despite being certain that the person on the other side of the door wouldn't hurt her, Jolly still moved further back into the shadows.

"Jolly?"

The Rock troll musician took small, almost uncertain, steps into the apartment. Jolly wanted to say something. To let him know that she was home. She was starting to wonder why he hadn't turned the lights on. Or why she hadn't turned the lights on.

"Playboy," she managed to croak out.

It was barely over a whisper.

"Jolly," Briffle gasped.

He switched on the lamp that sat on a small table beside the couch. His red eyes stared into Jolly's with pure relief. He crouched down, sitting on his knees and reached out for his friend. Jolly didn't know why she hesitated to reach out to him. It didn't sit right with her. But eventually she was huddled in his arms, melted into his embrace.

"Jolly," the Rock troll's voice wavered, and tears of joy slipped down his face.

"Briffle," the tears finally made their way down Jolly's cheeks, "I'm so glad you're here."

The musician didn't reply. He only mumbled incoherent things under his breath. The doctor wondered if the troll knew that he was rocking them.

"You're safe, oh thank god you're safe," he cried into her hair.

Jolly squeezed him as tight as she possible could. They didn't move from that position for what felt like hours.
Jolly let out a cough, wiping away what was left of her tears and leaned against the couch.

"So, what happened while I was gone?"

The way she asked made it seem like she had just returned from a wonderful vacation.

"Nothing really. The only major things that happened was Lily getting accused of murder. But it turned out that she was being framed by Moriarty. The whole thing got very messy but uh... oh damn it. Jolly, uh, so have the police told you that Moriarty is dead?"

Jolly tensed that the mention of Jamie's name but nodded.

"One of the first things they told me after 'You're going to be ok'."

Briffle's chest tightened, and he rubbed the back of his neck nervously. Jolly watched, concerned and worried for what else he had to tell her.

"Um so... Moriarty died... and so did Lily."

Jolly's entire world crumbled under her feet. Her face paled and a fresh batch of tears rose to her eyes.

"W-What?"

Briffle slowly nodded, "Yeah. She, uh, she committed suicide. Fell off the Darling Falls."

Jolly let that sink into her brain. She put her hands over her mouth and shook her head.

"No. There's no way. No the only reason I would be out if because Lily found out where I was. Lily's not dead. There's no way."

"The police found you on their own. They were raiding Moriarty's home after she killed herself and hey found you. It was a shocking accident to them. They didn't even know you were stolen."

"So no one filled in a missing person's report?" Jolly asked, feeling like her stomach just got stabbed.

"They did! I did! But the police only didn't look at it because they were more focused on Lilith's accusation."
There was something about the way he said that that made it seem like he blamed Lilith for Jolly not being found on time. If that were true, Jolly would be flattered but pissed at him for blaming her friend... well acquaintance.

"I knew it..." Jolly muttered to herself.

Briffle wrapped his arms around her again after giving her a sad look.

"But you're back now. You're safe. I'm not going to let you get taken again."

"What about Jade? And Cathy? How are they?" Jolly asked abruptly. 

"They're... it hasn't been great for them."

"I need to go see them."

"Later. You need rest."

"But-"

"Jolly."

Jolly glared at Briffle but gave in after realizing that she was seconds away from falling asleep.

"Fine."

She stood herself up and lay on the couch, getting comfortable.

"Wouldn't it be more comfortable in your room?"

"I'm too tired to walk all the way to my room."

With an amused shake of his head, Briffle walked into the doctor's room and brought out a pillow and blanket. He threw the blanket over Jolly and basically tucked her in.
"Goodnight, Jolls."

"Briffle."

He turned around.

"Can you stay? I don't feel like being alone."

Briffle blinked, then nodded.

"I guess I'll take your room."

"And Briffle. Don't blame Lily. She had her own things going on in her life. We couldn't just relying on her to solve all our problems."

"But you were stolen."

"And she was dealing with Jane while also evading the police who had accused her of murder. Which is insane, by the way. There's no way Lily would kill anyone."
Briffle stood at the end of the hallway, thinking hard.

"Ok."

"Thanks, Playboy. Goodnight and thanks for staying with me."

"Anytime, Jolls."

And before she knew it, Briffle was in her room and Jolly was lying on the couch, staring at the kitchen.

She couldn't believe Lilith Holmes was dead. And she couldn't believe that Moriarty was dead. And she couldn't believe that she was out of that dark room.

There was just so much.

And all of it was hard to believe.

But she tried not to think about all of those things and focused on the fact that she was ok. She was out.

"Goodnight, Miss Stamford."

Jolly tensed for what felt like the 20th time that night.

So, maybe she wasn't completely ok.