Couples Jeopardy
AN:Thank you for taking the time to read my first written fanfiction. The idea for a Jeopardy fanfic came to me after watching an episode of friends, where they did something similar to this. I'd like to dedicate this story to Hannah, without her kind words, and encouragement this story would have never been written.
Sherlock stood in front of his kitchen table with a pair of small forceps gripped firmly in his right hand. His eyes flickered from side to side, moving as if they were tracing the words of a novel. With a quick nod of his head, his left hand moved to flip the Bunsen burner on, a flickering flame coming to life. With pristine focus, he maneuvered the moist ear toward the flame. A satisfied grin creeping onto his lips at the sound of a low hiss escaping the ear.
A forced cough from the head of the table reminded him that John was also in the kitchen, and was patiently waiting for an answer.
"So, should I tell Mary you're coming or…?" John trailed on, his thumbs hovered over the keys of his phone, awaiting an answer that he could text Mary.
A heavy sigh escaped Sherlock's lips, his eyes still focused on the ear. "I'm afraid I'm rather indispensable at the moment, it'll take at least a few hours for the results of the ear to appear, I don't have time to-" Slowly, he removed his eyes from the experiment and looked towards John with his brows furrowed and lips turned down in a slight frown. "What was it that you needed me for again?"
John huffed in annoyance, and leaned back against his chair with his arms crossed over his chest as he looked at Sherlock. "We wanted you to come over and referee our couple's jeopardy game. We need someone to make sure none of us-"
"You mean Mary." Sherlock interjected.
"-are cheating." John said, ignoring Sherlock's words, although they were accurate.
The kitchen was left silent after John spoke, Sherlock blinked slowly at John, a mystified expression on his face. Finally, after a few minutes of no sound expect the occasional popping of the burning ear, Sherlock finally spoke. "Have I offended you in some way?"
"What?" John asked, his tone matching his surprised face.
Quickly, Sherlock removed the sizzling hot ear from the flame and turned his back towarded John as he strode toward the fridge. "That is the only logical explanation to why you would ask me to participate in something so dull."
He then threw open the fridge door, and chucked the ear inside, then pivoted on his heel to face John, a disgruntled expression on his face. "Why would I want to 'referee' a game in which the questions being asked are all overly sentimental and irrelevant?"
With one hand Sherlock gestured toward the Bunsen burner. "You just observed me burning the first couple of epidermal skin layers on that ear. Why would I want to monitor you and Mary and this unknown couple when I could continue to do the same thing to that man's finger?"
Sherlock watched as John closed his eyes, and breathed deeply through his nose for a count of ten breaths. "A simple no would have sufficed. If you don't want to come, that's fine I'll go and ask Mike." John said in a tired voice. Slowly John stood up and grabbed his jacket from the back of the chair. "If Mike is free and says yes to coming, he and Molly could walk to the flat together." John mumbled quietly to himself as he walked toward the front door.
Two hands gripped John's shoulders and spun him around to face a frowning Sherlock. "Did you say Molly Hooper would be walking to your flat this evening? She is to be an active participant in this couples game?"
Sherlock's eyes narrowed as John nodded his head. He then released John's shoulders, stood to his impressive full high, and crossed his arms over his chest, an icy tenor taking over his voice as he continued to talk to John.
"Which would mean that she has chosen a partner to aid in her in winning this game. A partner that knows her intimately enough to answer these sentimental, and irrelevant questions. A partner that she knows intimately enough to answer personal questions about him." Again, John nodded at Sherlock's words.
"I see" Sherlock spat out through clenched teeth. "And who is this mystery man that Molly has deemed an adequate team mate for this evening's festivities?"
A snort flew out of John's nose at the term mystery man, which caused Sherlock to deepen his glare. "Greg Lestrade is no mystery man, you've known him for years. Besides, Molly didn't pick him, Mary did." John then pulled his phone out of his pocket and stared at the screen. "Mary just dropped off the baby off at my sisters, and she's heading over to the station to ask Greg personally if he wants to come tonight."
"Your wife Mary? The woman who cheats at board games decided the best partner for Molly would be Geoff?" Sherlock asked, his expression morphing into one of thought as listened to John's words.
"The two have been friends for years, they must know enough about each other by now to at least participate in this game." John said cautiously as he watched a large grin creep onto Sherlock's face.
"She has cheated already, John." Sherlock said in a slightly admirable voice.
"What are you talking about?" John asked his voice laced with confusion.
Sherlock straightened his spine, and began to pace in front of John. "I may owe your wife for saving my life, by shooting that bullet into Moriarty's chest a year ago. But I refuse to stand idly by as she manipulates the game."
He then stopped pacing and turned to stand in front of John, his grin growing as the seconds passed by. "John, don't you see what she has done? Mary has decided to partner Molly with a man with whom she can't win with. Molly needs someone who knows her, and has enough knowledge about her, to give their team a completive and winning edge. Your wife has chosen the opposite for Molly. Do not fear though, I know the perfect partner for Molly."
"And who is this person?" John asked in trepidation.
"Obviously that man is me. I'll be there tonight." Sherlock said with confidence. John looked at Sherlock's face and then nodded twice at him. Once John had left the flat a smug smile grew on his face as he texted his wife Sherlock's response.
Sherlock knocked on the Watson's front door at exactly eight o'clock with a bottle of red wine in his hand. Mary swung the front door open and greeted him with a large toothy grin, and a mischievous twinkle in her eye. "Are you ready to lose?"
He couldn't help but scoff at her over confident words. "I'm a master of deduction, and I've known Molly for over six years. You and John are clearly at the disadvantage." He replied back, his voice dripping with boredom.
Mary smirked at his response and took the bottle of wine from his hand. "Maybe. But in those six years, how much time did you really spend on getting to know her? There are some things about a person that simply cannot be deduced." Mary said as she led Sherlock to the living room. As he listened to her words, a small frown formed on his lips.
Was it possible that he had missed some important information about Molly?
The thought left his mind as spotted Molly sitting in one of the Watson's kitchen chairs, a questionnaire sheet laid out in front of her. He watched as her eyes move across the page, her pupils contracting slightly as she focused on the written questions in front of her.
Suddenly Molly's warm brown eyes leave her questionnaire, and a dazzling smile appeared on her face when she returned his gaze. He took a single step in the direction of Molly before a hand gripped his elbow, which successfully halted him in place. Slowly he turned to give Mary a glare that could cause the most dangerous of criminals to cower. Mary's grin only increased.
"Where do you think you're going?" Mary asked in a slight teasing manner, her hands toying with something behind her back.
"Obviously to see Molly." He responded in a condescending tone.
"Why, so you can look at what answers she writing?" Mary shook her head and pointed him at the direction of couch. "You have to sit over there, away from Molly, at least until you both finish answer these questions."
He rolled his eyes in annoyance at her, but relented and sat on the edge of the couch.
Upon reading the first question he could feel his skin crawling with irritation. Questions ranged from: 'What was your favorite hobby when you were in your mid twenties' to questions he couldn't answer such as, 'How did you know that this teammate was going to be in your life forever? Questions that were utterly inconsequential to his life.
Before he could voice his opinion, Anderson opened the Watson's front door, and hauled a large white board inside.
"What are you doing here?" Sherlock asked, his jaw twitched with slight irritation as he watched Anderson noisily drag the white board across the living room floor.
"John hired me to enforce that there was no cheating tonight. I'm also the host/announcer/ score keeper of this game." Anderson responded, a cheesy smile on his face. "I'll be getting the game set up now, when you're done answering the questions give them to me and I'll re-write them into cu-cards that are going to be tapped onto the board." Anderson then turned away from Sherlock, dry marker held high in his hand as he began to divide the board into columns.
Sherlock quickly scribbled the answers to the questions on the sheet, and then he handed the page over to Anderson. Immediately his gaze found Molly from across the room, and he walked towards her, his eyes scanning her appearance to notice something that would start a conversation.
"Did Mary create her own wine again?" He asked when he reached her.
Molly gently lifted her wine glass in question and together they stared at the seemingly normal wine. She gently swirled the liquid around in the glass, a soft chuckle leaving her lips. "Yes, and it's bloody awful." She whispered to him quietly. He watched as she lifted the glass to her lips and took a small sip of wine. The moment the liquid enters her mouth Molly slammed her eyes shut and cringed in disgust. She then clenched her hand into a fist and then forced herself to swallow the battery acid tasting wine. A few seconds later she opened one watery eye, and looked at Sherlock with a slight frown. "Just don't tell her I said that, she's really proud of her creation and I don't want to hurt her feelings."
She was about to take another sip when he gently lifted the wine glass out of her hand, and took a sip for himself. His facial features remained passive as he swallowed the wine, but a few seconds later pivoted on his heel and stalked purposely towards the kitchen, Molly followed closely behind him with a questionable look on her face.
"Quickly Molly, help me find the bottle of this poison that Mary has the gull to call 'good wine". We must pour its contents down the sink before she forces other people to drink it." He said hurriedly as he dumped the remaining liquid that was in her glass down the sink.
He slowly looked behind him when he heard Molly's outrageous and uncontrollable laugh. She was bent at her waist, her arms wrapped tightly around her stomach as she howled with laughter. A lovely red hue on her cheeks as she attempted to settle down. She looked lovely.
By the time they had located, and safely disregarded the bottle of wine, the game was set up and ready to play. They sat together on the Watson's burgundy, leather sofa, and listened as Anderson read the instructions out loud to them.
"Hello couples of the evening, and welcome to couples jeopardy!" Anderson narrated in a voice that somewhat resembled an American accent. "This game is designed to ask questions to test how well you know your significant other. Each team will answer twenty questions. The team that answers the most questions wins a gift card to a restaurant of their choosing, curtesy of the losing couple. The categories are Ancient History, Literature, Fears and Pet Peeves, and It's All Relative. The maximum time you have to answer a question is ten seconds. Any questions?"
Anderson tore his eyes away from the cue card he was reading from and looked up at the two couples in front of him. "Okay, since there are no questions we will do a coin toss to decide which team goes first. If it lands on heads Mary and John get to go first. If it lands on tails Sherlock and Molly get to go first." Anderson then flipped the coin, and watched it twisting and turning in the air. Anderson then grabbed the coin and then slammed it onto the coffee table.
"Heads wins. Mary and John, pick your category." Anderson said as he stood up and shuffled closer to the white board. Mary leapt off the couch and double punched the air in front of her and smiled wickedly at John, who laughed heartedly at her antics.
"Ancient History!" Mary shrieked with excitement. Anderson ripped the cue card off the board under the Ancient History category and flipped the cue card over to read the question.
"What was the name of John's beloved childhood cat?" Anderson asked in a dramatic voice.
Mary clapped her hand together and bounced on the balls of her feet. "Pants! His name was Pants!" Mary yelled excitedly.
Anderson swiftly glanced back at the cue card in his hand, then rapidly nodded his head. "That is correct. One point for the Watson's. John pick a category!" Anderson yelled as he placed a single tally on the white board for Team Watson.
"Let's go for Fears and Pet Peeves." John said confidently.
"Mary states that this part of the body makes her uncomfortable. What body part is she talking about?" Anderson asked intensely. .
John looked at Mary briefly, then slowly turned his gaze back towards Anderson. "Is the answer feet?"
"That is correct, Watson's are on a role!" Anderson said as he once again placed another tally on the Watson's score.
"Ancient History!" Mary shrieked, a confident smirk on her lips.
Anderson quickly ripped another cu-card from the board and looked expectedly at Mary. "John Watson once went through a 'vest' phase. How long did his disastrous vest phase last for?"
The question immediately removed her smile, and Mary turned slowly around to face John, her mouth slightly gaped opened.
"5 seconds left Mary, we need an answer." Anderson said eagerly, his eyes shifting excitedly between the stop watch and Mary.
"When he was eight?" Mary asked, uncertainty evident in her voice.
"Ohh. So close. The answer is ages nine to twenty two." Anderson then turned to face Molly and Sherlock, waiting patiently for one of them to choose a category.
Molly's eyes danced across the board, looking for the right category to choose from. "Umm, let's go with literature." She said enthusiastically.
"What is the most read book in Sherlock's book shelf?"
Molly turned her face to look at Sherlock and smiled brightly at him as she answered the question. "The Wonderful Life of Bee's by Burt Bee's. He has three copies, one is on his phone, one is in his night stand, and the most expensive copy is on his book shelf." Her voice grew with confidence as she answered the question. She then turned her attention back to Anderson and smiled politely at him.
Anderson ran towards Molly and high fived her, then quickly scurried back to the board to give them a tally. Sherlock gawked at Molly in surprise. He had only mentioned that book once, and it was a year ago. He turned his head slowly and leaned forward until his lips were close to her ear. "How did you know that book was my favorite?" He whispered to her, a small smile on his lips when he sees her cheeks growing red.
"No one has three copies of a book unless they have some sort of sentimental attachment to it." Molly whispered back to him. At the sound of Anderson's cough, Sherlock straightens his back and glared at Anderson in slight irritation.
"Sherlock, pick your category."
"It's all relevant." Sherlock said with a bored tone.
"Molly was in an acapella group in university, she was a mezzo soprano and they were most popular during the Christmas holiday. What was the name of the acapella group?"
Sherlock felt his shoulders tense with the realization that he did not know the answer. He turned to face Molly, his eyebrows slightly raised from being surprised. "You sung in an acapella group? But your body language and mannerisms don't suggest you are a singer. Why did you stop? Were you forced to join this acapella group?"
"What is a singer supposed to look like?" Molly's asked, her eyes narrowed slightly at his question. "I left the group because I got really busy. My dad was dying, my school work was piling up, and I didn't have time to practise. No one forced me to be a member of the group, I joined because I love singing"
Sherlock turned his entire body to face Molly, his head tilted slightly to the right as he observed her. "Now that your life has settled down, are you thinking about re-joining an acapella group?"
Before Molly could answer him, Anderson jumped in and interrupted them. "Ten seconds are up! We gotta keep the game moving folks. Watson's you're up next!" Molly's focus was once again on the game, while Sherlock's focus never left Molly.
The night progressed quickly and an hour later they were three points behind John and Mary. With only one question left on the board Sherlock and Molly had already lost the game. Which didn't bother Molly. But to Sherlock, being unable to answer simple questions about Molly irked him. How did he miss that she was a talented vocalist? How could he have never known she lived in the States for a summer with her brother? Or that she is deathly afraid of the dark?
The majority of the questioned asked for John and Mary were sentimental, and questions that required the couple to be romantically involved. Questions like, who kissed who first, and where their first date was held. Questions that couldn't be asked to him and Molly because they weren't romantically involved.
Although they had already lost the game, Molly decided to answer the last question on the board anyway.
Anderson took a sip of ice tea and then ripped the last card on the board. "Okay Molly, the last questions asks: What is Sherlock's stance on love?"
Sherlock's shoulders tensed as he observed the way Molly's smile dropped slightly from the question. He watched the way Molly shifted away from him, and how her fingers fiddled with each other on top of her lap. "Love, or rather sentiment, is a chemical defeat found on the losing side." She said, her tone tired as she answered the question. Sherlock moved slightly closer to Molly
"I would like to change the answer I wrote." Sherlock said to Anderson as he moved slightly closer to Molly. He lifted her hand gently and intertwined their fingers together.
"Sentiment is not found on the losing side. On the contrary, I would say that in this instance sentiment is what gave John and Mary the edge to win." Sherlock said softly to Molly as he carefully found her hand and intertwined their fingers together. "It is unacceptable that they win the title of 'couple of the night'. They were asked more romantic theme questions then us. I would like a rematch. This time where you and I are asked the same amount of romantic questions as they are."
Molly nodded carefully, a smile growing at his words. At the sound of his watch beeping, Sherlock smiled brightly at Molly and stood up, his hand outstretched for her to take. "Would you like to go home with me? The results of the ear you gave me should be available now. Afterwards we can go for dinner. I find myself wanting to discuss some of the topics I've learned about you tonight."
She placed her hand in his and stood up to face him. She leaned up on her tip toes and placed a soft kiss on his lips. "I'd love to go to dinner with you." She said softly to him, a tender smile on her face.