Maybe I wasn't the perfect person to do that. I've known her for a very short time – weeks actually. I met her the day of her engagement party. I don't really know why I was there. I wasn't a friend of hers, obviously nor a close friend of John's. And that day, we barely talked to each other: she was always surrounded by people asking her all about the proposal, and I was in my corner with my fiancé, Tom.
Anyway, we met every now and then and we kept on with small talks. But when Greg told me about John's stag party, I wondered if she would have one. Maybe it was already planned but I wasn't invited, which I could easily understand as we barely knew each other. I asked Mrs Hudson – she always knows everything, I don't understand why Sherlock doesn't ask her more often for gossip as a start for some of his cases – and she didn't know anything. The conclusion was blindingly obvious: no hen party. I found that sad. So I decided to take care of that myself because she was going to be a part of the team and…Not that I mean that I'm part of the team or close to Sherlock. I don't know why I said that. I don't mean that Sherlock likes me or… Besides, I'm engaged to Tom so… Why does everything sound wrong? Maybe I should stop now and keep on telling the story. Alright.
I went to Sherlock because he was planning John's stag and I didn't want the soon-to-be-married couple to be at the same place at the same time. Sherlock's idea was perfect: the combination of tradition, originality and doing something close to their spirit. I wanted to do that too but there was a big problem: I didn't know who Mary was, beside John's fiancée. I wanted to ask him for help when I thought that was a very bad idea because: a) I'm very bad at keeping secrets and I might have blurted out information about his secret stag and b) you don't ask the groom to organise the hen party.
The best thing was to ask her first then to try to organise something…or to improvise, at least a bit. You can't really have fun if everything is planned, can you? And I'm not saying that to stop feeling guilty about not planning every little thing of that evening. No, not knowing is fun, it's like going on an adventure… I won't lie, I prefer the element of surprise in films, books and Tv shows. Not for real, thank you.
So, when I next saw her, I decided to put aside the small talks to enter the subject.
"I was wondering if you'll have a hen party.
- - Er, no, actually I won't.
- - But why? I mean, it's something important. Everyone has one. I could organise it. Not a big thing but…Why not a drink, just Mrs Hudson, you and me?"
I smiled awkwardly. I was so embarrassed. At that time, I was wondering why I asked her, why it mattered to me. I didn't really want to do that. Can you imagine a more pitiful party than an old lady and two women who barely know each other? I wanted to turn back and say "never mind" but to my great surprise, she smiled back at me and said "That's a good idea, thank you".
