"Hey, Lauren, do you mind covering my shift for me tonight?" Molly was calling to her good friend who was just down the hall. Lauren also worked at Bart's Hospital along with Molly. "I have a date and this was the only time that he could do it and I could too. Would you please?"
Lauren shrugged thinking "what the heck". She had nothing to do anyway. "Yeah, Molly, my shift is over in fifteen minutes. I'll go head over to you in a few."
"Thank you," Molly squealed.
"You will have to let me know how everything goes, you know. You owe me at least that much." Lauren called to her.
"Absolutely," Molly returned to work as Lauren peered back onto her microscope. She spent the last fifteen finishing up her work. She dropped a few drops of a chemical onto the substance. When nothing happened, she cleaned up and headed to Molly's post.
Molly was finishing up the last body and putting him away. "Oh," she said as almost an after thought. "There are two men who might swing by unannounced to do experiments. Just let them. Mike knows both of them. Oh, and this is for them too." She pointed at a file.
"All right," Lauren glanced around. "Is there anything I need to do specifically?"
"Uhmm, not that I am aware of," Molly called over her shoulder as she washed up to her elbows. "If someone brings in a body, prep them then just store them away till I can get to it."
"Am I allowed to work on my things while covering your shift?" Lauren followed Molly to the locker room.
"Yeah, that will be fine." Molly was practically blushing to death. Lauren could see Molly was clearly excited. "Excellent," she kept whispering under her breath. "What do you think?" She had slipped on a beautiful shirt with a simple yet cute necklace.
"You look great," Lauren beamed.
"I'm nervous," she confessed.
"That's normal," Lauren said being to push Molly out the door. "You'll be fantastic. Go and have fun, Molly."
"Okay," she breathed. "Thank you again, Lauren."
"Any time, Molly, now get out of here." Molly headed for the main lobby of the hospital waving as she ran. Lauren chuckled to herself. What was she going to do with Molly? Molly should have more confidence in herself.
Lauren returned to Molly's lab and found a man with silver light brown hair looking around confused. "Can I help you?" She startled him and reached for something invisible but relaxed when he saw her standing in the doorway.
"You're not Molly." He said.
"I thought that would be evident since she is a light brown and I'm a red head." Lauren teased sarcastically.
"I am looking for Molly, though." He stood straight and at attention Lauren noticed.
"Molly's out. I'm here though. What can I help you with?" Lauren glanced at the file. Maybe he was one of the two men. "Who are you?"
"The name's John Watson." He extended his hand to her.
"That's good to know so I can personal thank you by name." Lauren smiled.
"Thank me for what?" John was taken a back.
"For your service," Lauren looked at him. "Let me guess… Afghanistan? Yeah, Afghanistan, wait, do you know Mike Standford?"
"I know," he was surprised.
"Oh you're that John Watson. It's an honor to meet you. Mike talks very highly of you."
"Does he now?" John chuckled.
"I'm also assuming that this is for you," Lauren grabbed the file and handed it to him. His mouth fell open. "I was expecting two of you though. Who else was Molly expecting?"
"John, don't let Molly distract you. There's work to be done." A man with dark curly brown hair entered the room. He was taller than John by quite a bit but Lauren knew exactly who he was. "Lauren, what the hell are you doing here?"
Lauren put her hands on her hips. "I work here. What the hell are you doing here, Curls?" She said his nickname hoping it would make him a little nicer to her.
"Curls?" He looked at Sherlock, "Do you two know each other?" John asked but Lauren and Sherlock ignored him.
"I'm working on a case. Where's Molly?" He pushed past Lauren who followed him continuing the conversation.
"When are you not working on a case, Curls? Molly's out. She's on a date." Lauren watched Sherlock pull off his coat and lay it on the back of a chair as he took it to get to work.
"I see; that's rather good for her, isn't it?" Sherlock mocked.
"It is -" Lauren snapped.
"Wait, one moment," John interjected. "You two know each other?"
Sherlock and Lauren looked at John then at each other. Sherlock turned his gaze away and began to work. "Yes," Lauren answered giving Sherlock a dirty look. "We went to school together."
"You two were in school together?" John's finger went between the two of them.
"Yes, John," Sherlock answered. "Don't act too surprised."
"What was he like in school?" John asked Lauren.
"I don't know. What's he normally like to you? I haven't seen him in years." Lauren relaxed a bit her hands sliding off her hips.
"He calls himself a sociopath… quite frequently too." John said even though Sherlock shot him a warning look.
"Well he would, wouldn't he?" Lauren's eyes darted over to Sherlock but he didn't return the glance.
"Lauren," he simply said. "Don't you dare tell him anything." There was slight venom in his voice.
"Sorry, John, my hands are tied." She raised her hands then moved to a different microscope to start working.
"Hold on, you thanked me for service and you knew I went to Afghanistan." John moved to her. Sherlock made a small snort. Lauren caught the hint that Sherlock thought it was amusing that she still was as sharp as she used to be.
"That's not all, either. You were an army doctor. Your hands are coarse yet they are skilled. I could tell when I shook it." She looked him up and down. "You were shot. You developed a psychosomatic limp. You still favor it even though, I'm guessing, Sherlock helped you realize that it isn't real. You enjoy a thrill and the adrenalin rush."
"How the hell did you know that?" John's mouth was hanging slightly open.
"You are hanging out with Sherlock Holmes. He is danger and lives in danger. If you're hanging with him, you must like danger." Lauren continued but stopped when John raised his hand.
"I meant the other stuff."
"Oh, how you were standing, a semi permanent tan line, and there's only two places that a war is going on. I just got lucky with Afghanistan when you became surprised as I said it. It was mostly your reaction and your actions that clued me in." Lauren looked into her microscope.
"You haven't lost your touch, Lauren," Sherlock said calmly.
"I learned from the best." She secretly complemented him. Lauren caught him have a tiny smile.
"John," Sherlock called reaching into his pocket. "Go get me something from the vending machine." John took some money from Sherlock and disappeared from the room.
"Sociopath, huh?" Lauren said casually.
"Yup," Sherlock answered. "How was… life?"
"It was good," Lauren swallowed. Best friends to strangers, where had they gone so wrong? "And you…how did you fair?"
"Rather well if you can imagine," he whispered flipping through the file Molly left.
Lauren stood and moved to his side. "You've change, Sherlock." He looked up to her and saw her hazel eyes looking right into his blues. She was concerned. "You're not the Sherlock I remember."
"So to disappoint you, but if I was to recall correctly, you left me."
She sat back. "You think I wanted to." He looked up. He heard a small tone of hurt in her voice. "How long have you and John been living together?"
"Don't make it sound like we are gay, Lauren," he said simply.
She shrugged. "How would I know?"
"You're smarter than that." He said barely loud enough for her to hear as she returned to her place.
John came in. For the rest of her shift, Lauren remained silent even though she could have helped with their case. She thought it would be wiser to remain silent for Sherlock's sake.
For all the deducting she could do, she couldn't tell if Sherlock was mad with her or not. Finally it was time for her to go. Cleaning up, she watched the two men leaning over something. She sent a small text to Molly.
Remind me never to take a shift from you again.
"Hey, Lauren, it was nice meeting you," John called to her before she stepped out. "Here's my number. Give me a call sometime will ya?"
"Yeah, sure," she smiled.
"I'll see you around," he said.
She stepped out. 'Maybe,' she thought to herself. Lauren got one glance at Sherlock and she secretly hoped never to see him ever again.