AN: Whoo! New account! I'm starting afresh (so if upolad any stories that sound familiar it's because you may have read them before on a different account) and what better to start afresh with than Sherlock Holmes, mainly because the TV series rocked and I've always been interested in writing about him one day. So enjoy! Read and review please!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything except Hannah and Vicki.
Chapter 1
Ah the joy of the pre-Christmas shopping rush. Hannah thought dryly, amused with her own attempts at sarcasm.
"You're inner-monologue-ing on me AGAIN Hannah." Her shopping partner Vicki commented wearing a knowing smile, the kind you give someone when you catch them doing something they shouldn't.
Hannah grinned sheepishly. It was indeed a habit of hers to talk to herself inside her own head. She thought it was quite a useful skill. This way she thought things through before doing or saying them, preventing unnecessary embarrassment.
"You're doing it again." Her friend said smugly.
Hannah rolled her eyes and gave her a playful shove. Laughing, the two linked arms and continued to window shop.
Whilst eyeing a pretty silver bracelet in a jewellery shop (I wonder if Erin would like that…), she caught Vicki gazing longingly at a diamond encrusted ring. An engagement ring. Hannah's eyes softened. She placed an encouraging hand on her shoulder.
"It'll happen."
Vicki never took her eyes off the ring. "How do you know?" She whispered. "We've been together four years now."
"Hey now." Hannah turned her friend to face her, purposely blocking her view of the ring. "Kevin loves you. You know that. You love him, right?"
Vicki nodded tearfully.
Hannah laughed. "Then why are you worrying? It took him three years to ask you to move in with him."
Vicki laughed through her tears. "Yeah." She furiously wiped her face on her sleeve. "I feel so pathetic now."
"You're not pathetic." Hannah insisted, drawing her friend into a tight hug. "You're just a lovesick fool."
Pulling away, Vicki mock-glared at her and slipped her arm into the crook of Hannah's, pulling her out of the shop.
Considering how close it actually was to Christmas, there weren't that many people out shopping. No matter, Hannah thought. Make's our trip easier.
Until a man came barrelling past them.
"Watch where you're going!" Vicki yelled after him.
The man paused and, for a moment, Hannah worried that he may have heard. Of course he heard, idiot! He turned on his heel and ran back to them. For a moment he glanced between them before settling his eyes on Hannah.
"Do you have…the…exact…twenty-four hour time?" He panted with an almost manic glint in his eye.
Deciding not to question his odd request (He seems to be in a hurry), she quickly glanced at her watch.
"13:21." She relayed.
With a sense of urgency, the man grabbed her shoulders. "You are absolutely certain?"
She nodded. "Yes, it's set to the exact same time as my computer by the second."
The man smiled and she blushed, thinking that he might mock her for her odd little habit. Instead, he gave her a nod of thanks and promptly ran off the same way he'd come from.
She raised an eyebrow at Vicki who shrugged in return.
What an odd man.
Ugh! I hate the rain!
Hannah wasn't in that good a mood to begin with. First she'd been late for work because she'd missed the bus, then Dot had completely destroyed the cash register causing numerous customer complaints and now, to make matters even worse, it was raining.
A car raced past, splashing water all over her.
"Damn it!" She screamed to the skies. Someone up there hates me!
The reason she was out in the rain was because she was on her way to her advanced IT class at the local university. Technology had always fascinated her and she seemed to have a certain affinity for it. It suited her logical and calculating mind.
She ducked under another bus shelter. Wringing her hair out, she sighed in frustration. Deciding that she was quite hungry, she withdrew an apple from her bag. But before she could even take a bite from it a man appeared in front of her. A tall man with dark curly hair and a blue scarf…
"You!" She exclaimed.
The man blinked, looking vaguely surprised to see her again. Then he noticed the apple in her hand.
"May I borrow that?" He inquired.
She gave him an odd look. "I guess…" She replied, tossing him the fruit.
He examined it for a little while, turning it over in his hands. Eventually, he seemed to have found the right spot and promptly sank his teeth into it. He didn't even take a bite from it, just left an impression. He fiddled around with it a little while longer and then passed it back to her with another nod similar to the one he had given first given her.
His eyes flitting across her features, he surveyed her face.
"What is your name?"
She was slightly taken aback by his question and as a result was a bit tongue-tied.
"Uh…Hannah," She spluttered. "Hannah Reynolds."
He nodded once more and sprinted off into the rain, leaving her very confused with an apple she could no longer eat.
He didn't even tell me his name…very odd.
Shit, shit, shit!
Christmas had come and gone and now Hannah was feeling the consequences of celebrating it with too much alcohol.
Earlier that week, she had applied for another job because she was sick of having to work with such idiots as Dot anymore, even if the pay was good.
So a few days ago, she'd been to the job interview only to discover that the interviewer was a complete bastard who had no intention of ever even considering her for the job. She'd left feeling quite put out.
After having a few (dozen) drinks on Christmas she had somehow been persuaded to send Mr Kent a rather scathing email.
Now she was doing everything she could to make it as if the email had never existed.
I so shouldn't be doing this.
She was fully aware that she shouldn't be doing what she was, hence why she'd tucked herself into the far corner of the coffee house where no one could see her.
She typed frantically. The sooner she was done the sooner she could leave. She hated that feeling of paranoia, the feeling that everyone was watching you…
"Miss Reynolds."
Hannah jumped in her seat, startled, and immediately slammed her laptop shut. Dark curly hair…
"You again!" She gasped.
He quirked an eyebrow and drew up a chair next to her.
"Yes me." He said, sounding quite irritated. Knitting his hands together, he leaned closer, so close that their noses were almost touching and she could feel his breath on her face. "Now…" An ominous pause. "Could you recommend a respectable car dealers?"
Hannah stumbled on her words, both because of the strange question and their close proximity. "Uh…it depends on how you define respectable."
Another raised eyebrow. "Elaborate."
"Well," She paused for thought. "By respectable do you mean popular and therefore making a respectable amount of money or respectable as in not engaged in any…shady…activities." Then she blushed, realising she'd probably talked too much.
"Preferably both if at all possible." Yet again, irritated with a hint of sarcasm.
She shot him a withering look. "My cousin owns a dealers in the east end. Popular and stand up guy."
The man nodded and made to leave when she grabbed his arm.
"Wait!" She insisted. "You never told me your name."
"Sherlock Holmes" He said simply and with another nod, he left.
Watching him leave, she leaned back in her chair and huffed.
Sherlock Holmes. A very odd man indeed.