Sherlock Holmes: The Coffee Incident
It was a rainy Tuesday night and the place wasn't crowded. It was a small coffee shop down the street from the flat. Between the low lighting and the rustic design, Sherlock Holmes hated every second of it.
John had kicked him out of the flat, telling him to 'going out,' in whatever context John meant Sherlock was not having it.
A woman came rushing in, she was soaking wet and none of the customers seemed to noticed. She managed her way to the empty seat across from Sherlock.
"Sorry, stalker problems you know?" She said looking at him as if he knew her situation.
Sherlock looked at her funny but found himself to be intrigued.
"Stalker problems?"
"Yeah you know like people you don't want following you. Keep up." She said looking around, trying to see if he'd follow her in there.
Sherlock observed her, while she made random remarks at him.
"One day it's your birthday, the next you find out there's a man stalking you."
She casually turned around to see a silhouette of a man, whether or not it was him she turned back around quickly.
"You know one of these days I'll be dead. Maybe that would totally be easier than all this stressing!" She sighed and squeezed her hair and the sleeves of her shirt, trying to distract her from her current problem.
Sherlock looked at her, he couldn't get a clear read on her but it made him the more interested. The man banged on the glass window, scaring the other patrons, the woman and Sherlock didn't flinch.
"He's gone." Sherlock announced to the woman.
She let out a sigh of relief and sat up stretching.
"Great, now I've got to move. You know anywhere good? I'm thinking Scotland. A whole new country. You know?" She said looking at Sherlock for the first time since she sat down at the table.
"Sherlock Holmes." He introduce himself.
"Sydney Holt." She smiled and made eye contact with him.
"Can I buy you a coffee?" Sherlock was interested.
"Sure."
The stood in line in silence.
"I'd like to hear your story." Sherlock said after Sydney had ordered.
"The story of why I have a stalker?" She looked at him funny.
"Yes."
"Okay."
She smiled.
"I've never felt so normal. This is nice." She said out loud.
Once Sydney had her coffee, they sat back down and Sydney started telling her story.
"I don't remember my real family that much but we got into a car accident, so both my parents died and I was in a coma for a while. Once I got out, I had a few foster parents but they all died under "mysterious" circumstances so the orphanage didn't want me anymore and so the last couple of years I've been bouncing around living at one spot for a few months then moving every time they get close." She said staring at her coffee.
"So that's my story. I don't know what normal is, I'm pretty much living that going to die soon lifestyle." She added.
She smiled at him, while he stared at her in interested.
"Interesting. Why would someone so ordinary like you have a stalker?" He mused out loud.
"I like to think I'm a lucky girl that someone wants to kill." She said sipping her coffee.
There was a comfortable silence between them.
"Well I've got to get moving. Nice meeting you."
"Actually I'm a consulting detective. I'm interested in your case."
She looked at him.
"What makes you think you'll solve this? The police haven't gotten anyone but they are incompetent." She chuckled.
"I'm Sherlock Holmes. Perhaps you heard of me?"
She stared at him, waiting for something to hit.
"No. Sorry. Anyways there is a fifty fifty chance of you dying being with me."
"I like those odds." He smiled.
"You get off on this?" She looked at him worried.
He expected her to shame him.
"We might as well be together romantically." She said as if that was the only rational thing about this whole ordeal.
He looked at like she was crazy.
"Well you like those chances what if we were involved maybe the chances go up. No one's been around me for a while so who knows. I just thought it was good idea out of everything that's happen tonight." She said sipping her coffee.
He looked at her.
"Would you like to be involved romantically?"
She smiled at him. "Yes. Now come on, to my flat before it's gone!" She said grabbing her coffee and headed out the door. Sherlock followed behind her.
It was still raining and so the pair was soaking wet when they arrived.
It was a small, modest, flat in a bad side of town.
"Let's see. I just need my bag and we can go." She put her coffee on the coffee table and went to room quickly.
Sherlock looked around, trying to find clues to Sydney's stalker. No pictures of family or friends or anything really. It was plain, boring, like the flat was a picture of a starter flat.
"No pictures?" Sherlock commented.
"I've learned not to put them up." She said coming out of her bedroom with two bags.
The rain was letting up and Sydney felt something was off. She looked over at Sherlock who was wandering around in the kitchen while, she tried staying away from the windows.
"Shhh." She shushed Sherlock, even though it couldn't get any quieter than it already was. She motion to him to hurry and leave.
She grabbed her bags and walked out the door first, there she met a red dot pointed at her and bang.
She dropped her bags and felt the rush the blood and had one hand on the wound while clutching the other bag. Sherlock was behind her as she got shot, obviously it was for him.
The timing and precision of that shot was meant to wound and scare but obviously it was for the wrong person.
He grabbed her bags and grabbed her hand with the other running out of the flat.
"I've got a safe place."
"Where!" She held her wound.
The pair ran in the cold to his flat. Sherlock pushed her in and managed to get her on the couch.
"I'm dying. See? This relationship is off to a good start." She joked.
"You're not dying, you're going into shock." Sherlock said ignoring her humor.
"Well I don't see a doctor and I doubt you're a doctor Mr. Holmes."
"Sherlock." He corrected.
"I'm bleeding out here let me be rude." She took a deep breath and tried putting more pressure on the wound.
"John!" Sherlock shouted.
"You know I just wanted to be normal for like two seconds so this was nice." She smiled at him and put a bloody hand print on his cheek.
"You've obviously never met me." He put on a small smile.
"Well if I survive this I could have the rest of my life finding out." She chuckled, she was looking pale and the bleeding wasn't stopping.
"What's going on?!" John shouted, he was half asleep.
"John! Bullet wound! Hurry up. She doesn't have long." Sherlock ordered.
John couldn't understand the situation but he saw the woman paling and bleeding and immediately got to work.
"Sherlock what's going on?" He asked finishing up.
"I did what you told me to, 'going out'." He said air quoting get out there.
"I didn't mean bring home a wounded person." He said a little annoyed at how late it in the night it was.
Sherlock made a face, he had wash off the blood marks on his cheek.
"Well she'll live but I can't say how long she'll be out. She lost a lot of blood, you should have woke me up sooner or taken her to the hospital."
Sherlock made a scoff noise at the last part.
"Anyways I'm going back to bed." John left the room, as much as he wanted to know what was going on he needed more sleep to care.
Sherlock carried Sydney to his room and somehow changed her into one of his shirts. He took note of all the scars and stitching that she had.
I was in a car accident and my parents didn't make it. There was stitching around her chest and shoulders.
There were a few burn marks on her legs. After he managed to get her changed and in the sheets, he took care of himself. Changing into dry clothes and getting underneath the sheets as well.
He took her pulse. It was slow and steady but she'll live.
There in his own bed was Sherlock Holmes and a woman he'd met at a coffee shop, and John told him this wasn't going out. He smiled to himself at the irony of this situation.
Author's note:
Hi, hello, I'm back to writing? It's like a one shot but not really, but if you like it enough I'll continue. Please no bashing, constructive criticism is fine. My poor self esteem can take so much from the internet (lol)
Anyways I hope you've enjoyed this! (:
-UNBREAKABLE PIXIE