Sherlock Holmes regretfully stepped into the bar, John and Sarah's presence behind him the only thing stopping him from turning back. Sarah had been so insistent upon Sherlock meeting one of her friends, and with John agreeing with everything she said, it was hard for Sherlock to decline both of them and still have the silence in his flat that he so desired. The only plus side to this is to show to everyone that he is, indeed, married to his work, and hopefully have all speculations taken off him for a while. That and the fact that all the serial killers seemed to be on vacation, and had left him terribly bored, meant he was traipsing towards a stool facing the bar.
Sarah headed off into the small crowd to find her friend, leaving Sherlock and John alone.
"Nervous?" John asked.
"About what?" Sherlock responded, mind wandering to things that were more deserving of his valuable time.
"Your date" John answered, bugged at Sherlock's inability to focus on the date which meant so much to Sarah, "Could you at least try to pay attention? Sarah has particularly high hopes"
"And that affects me how...?"
"Can you show a little bit of emotion for a couple minutes and humour her? All you have to do is meet her"
"I doubt if I left after meeting her that you would be very impressed"
"I believe I already said I want you to show some human emotion. Any time you want to start is fine by me" John said sarcastically, and Sherlock sighed.
Suddenly, a skinny blond sidled up to Sherlock's side, clad in a bulging tube top and skirt that's length was defeating its purpose. Sherlock looked at John with an expression that made his feelings clear- 'Get me out of here'
"Why hello there, I'm Tiffany. Who would this handsome devil be?" The blond said to Sherlock, batting her obviously fake lashes flirtatiously, and leaning over to give Sherlock a clear view down her top. Sherlock, however, looked her straight in the eye when he responded.
"You're not Tiffany, you're June and you are cheating on your... fiancé. You have come out here tonight in an attempt to get men while you trick your fiancé, a game you have played for a while. You are with your fiancé only for the money; you have no emotional attachment to him..."
"Piss off!" So-called Tiffany said, storming out of the bar with a tear in her eye.
"How'd you figure that one out?" John asked
"She had a bracelet with her name, June, on it. It was studded with a small amount of real diamonds, an extremely expensive purchase, and yet her clothes were made of a cheap fabric, so the bracelet was a gift. Her ring finger had a pale circle around it, so a husband or fiancé, but as her clothes are cheap, she does not have the same funds at the bracelet-buyer. It could not have been brought by a lover because of her fake name, hence a fiancé. You could tell she had done this before because of a tooth-paste stain on her handbag..."
"A what?"
"Tooth-paste stain, from when she has been stuffing a recently-used tooth-brush into her bag, meaning she is not able to go home."
"The master at work again, I see." Sarah said, emerging from the crowd. "Now that you've had your exciting deduction for the evening, I'd like to introduce you to Claire Hofcraft, a friend of mine. Claire, this is Sherlock Holmes." Sherlock shook Claire's hand, and motioned for her to sit on the stool beside his. She was a pretty woman, not someone to attract the eye, but it was easy to see the beauty in her if you looked close. Her strongest feature was her eyes, blue and bright.
"I guess we'll just leave you two alone then..." Sarah said, gently dragging John away.
"They seem to be going well" Sarah said to John, spying on Sherlock and Claire in the corner of the room. They were engaged in what seemed to be an easy conversation, both using hand gestures to try and explain something.
"Better than what can I expected of Sherlock, I'll admit" John confessed. "But I doubt it will become anything but a friendship. Married to his work and all."
"Surely it's more interesting than shooting bullets into a wall, don't you agree?" Sarah said, reminding him of Sherlock's more crazy ways to kill boredom.
"Perhaps, but I'm sure there will be another psychopath to fulfil his time."
"But for how long, John? Psychopaths aren't dime-a-dozen citizens of London, you know. Maybe he has extinguished the sources in the area?"
"I sure hope not, or Mrs. Hudson won't have a wall left." John said, and the two let the conversation drop into silence for a minute, considering what would become of Sherlock without any more psychopaths' plans to foil, when John's mobile chirped, signalling a text.
John, can you tell Sherlock to pick up his damn cell? We've got a case.
Lestrade
"Looks like we don't have to worry about Sherlock's boredom just yet." John commented.
John bid Sarah farewell, and headed over to Sherlock at the bar.
"Lestrade told me to tell you to pick up your cell" He said, interrupting Sherlock's rendition of some of his cases.
"Lestrade? Really?" He asked, starting to get a bit pumped.
"Yep. It was lovely to meet you Claire, and I'm sorry to take Sherlock away right at this inopportune moment, but he's got a case" John said, trying to wrap up this conversation before Lestrade started knocking on Baker Street's door, only to find no one at home.
"Well, it was lovely to meet you both. I hope to see you again soon" Claire said, understanding the hurried tone in John's voice.
"I had a great time with you tonight. Would it be too forward to ask for your number?" Sherlock asked Claire, pulling on his jacket while doing so.
"No, not at all" She said, writing eight digits on a piece of paper from her purse and handing it to him. "I hope to hear from you again soon, Sherlock. Enjoy your case" She said, walking from the bar.
"How do you feel, Sherlock?" John asked, once they were in a cab on the way to the crime scene, curious to his friend's reactions to his first date.
"Well, it certainly makes me rethink some things, let's put it that way"
"So perhaps a divorce to your work is required?"
"Now, don't get ahead of yourself here. She's a nice girl and all, but my desire for a clever killer is still my primary concern"
"I see" John said. They looked out the windows of the cab in silence, both lost in thought.
A/N: Thanks for reading! This is my first published story, and my first mystery. Rated T for future chapters. All comments, good or bad, are greatly appreciated.