Please pardon this entire Sherlock Holmes fanfic if it goes horribly wrong!

This is my first time writing a Holmes fanfic.

So I'm very…new…obviously.

And I don't believe I'm very good at writing mystery/detective stories.

But I digress.

Also, if you think it's weird that Matilda calls him John but I, the narrator, call him Watson? It's because I find it awkward to call him John when most know him as Watson.

I'm also writing this story because…well…my computer crashed.

I just re-uploaded Microsoft Word.

So I'm somewhat starting anew, without forgetting about my Ghostbusters fanfic.

"Watson, I really have no reason to be here. You have Mary. You have undoubtedly no reason to bring me to the train station to pick up your friend." Holmes muttered to his friend, barely moving his lips and his head, his eyes wide-open and prepared to watch all movement around him.

Watson simply smiled and shook his head, keeping a calm look out for his friend. Mary walked on his other side, linking arms with him, her head resting happily on his shoulder. She listened to all of Holmes complaining and did nothing but smile.

"Nonsense Holmes. You know how important this is. My friend is here to replace me, for after my wedding, I will not be directly at your fingertips." He advised, talking just as quietly as Holmes was, keeping his focus on looking.

"You can be. It wouldn't be hard to work part time. Mary would understand, wouldn't you?" Holmes asked, gesturing to Mary who simply took in a breath and let it out slowly.

Both Mary and Watson shook their heads.

"No Holmes." They said sternly.

After another minute of searching, they came to stop so Watson would be able to stand up straight and crane his neck, looking for the familiar face. The friend he had called was a dear one, one from his childhood whom he had lost contact with while in high school when she went to study in Salisbury. She wanted to be a doctor like him, but that wasn't even a capable idea when her mother wanted her to be a teacher. And so, now, she technically was. If Holmes didn't approve of her, she already had a class schedule set up for the following fall.

"Do you see her yet dear?" Mary called out over the whistle of a train.

"Not quite yet!" he replied.

Holmes sucked in a pocket of air through his nose and looked around over his shoulders, like he was expecting to magically find this mystery woman. But he wasn't searching for her. He wasn't even searching for anything. And Watson knew it.

"You know, Holmes, you could be useful and actually search for her."

There was no reply from Holmes, just another scream from a train and a yell from a porter. Holmes continued to turn in a slow circle, looking over the heads of the crowd.

Watson cursed under his breath and shook his head.

"I just cannot spot her. Let us go to the ticket booth. We'll probably find her around there." He explained as he stood flat on his feet, the arch of his feet aching from him standing on his tiptoes. Mary nodded and took his arm smoothly with her gloved hands.

When they began to walk away though, Holmes did not follow. On the contrary, he began to follow after a woman. One who looked rather familiar to him, at least when her back was turned to him. He'd only ever watched one woman really walk away from him.

She wore a dark purple dress, ruffled, striped, with a black hat. The way she walked seemed so familiar to him that he couldn't help but follow her. It must've been her.

Irene… he thought to himself, pushing against the waves of people that came at him.

"Excuse me—pardon me—let me get through, please!" he grumbled, keeping his eyes on the back of "Irene's" head. He suddenly reached a break in the crowd and he rushed forward after the woman. He reached out and grabbed her by the shoulder.

"Irene—" he began, but the woman turned around, and was nowhere close to being Irene.

She stared at him oddly, her brows lowering in confusion as his eyes darted around her face. Her green eyes showed that she was frightened by him, and Holmes couldn't understand why he had made the mistake of not noticing the woman's honey colored curls that trailer down her shoulder-blades. Her arms were curled up to her chest as Holmes' hand slid down to her elbow.

"Oh—I—I'm sorry madam…." He muttered slowly letting her go.

She looked him up and down.

"It…it's alright." She replied quietly as his hand fell to his sides, his face showing his confusion. Her head hesitantly turned back towards her destination and she took slow strides away from him carrying a thin bag, which had papers sticking out it. He ran his hand through his hair as he stared at her bag and jerked his around and around to look for Watson and Mary.

If you had asked him, he wouldn't have been able to tell you why he thought it was Irene. He knew that she wouldn't come back to him; to tease him maybe; he had not seen her, not after she had run off with the mysterious Professor Moriarty. Something about the Professor and Irene were eating away at him, like he had let something important getting away. Whether that feeling was towards Professor Moriarty or to Irene he didn't know. He wanted to forget about his mistake as soon as possible though.

"…Ticket booth…ticket booth." He mumbled to himself, scanning the crowd once again until he remembered where Watson had said they should've gone. He strategically moved through the crowd again towards the ticket booth where there was a big open space for people to line up at the ticket windows.

He saw the back of Watson's suit and the back of Mary's dress as well. He walked over to them calmly and stood there silently as if he was never gone.

"Have you found your friend yet?" he called and Watson stayed silent for a moment, squinting into the distance.

"I believe so." He suddenly smiled and he hopped down from a crate he had been standing on.

He lifted his hands to cup around his mouth to let his voice echo as he called out her name; "MATILDA!"

Mary climbed onto the box and began to spin around, searching for Matilda.

"What does she look like again?" Mary asked, calling down to Watson.

"She has…uh…hair like yours. Goldish—honey almost!" he explained and Holmes copied Mary's movements, spinning slowly.

He thought he might as well look. If Watson was so desperate to find her, and if he was so desperate to get Holmes a new assistant, he wouldn't want this trip to go to waste.

"MATILDA!" Watson called even louder then before in a certain direction, causing Holmes to look over his shoulder at him before looking out into the crowd. He began to turn away when something caught his eye and he double taked.

The crowd was suddenly moving apart as someone seemed to be pushing through frantically, as Holmes had been doing before when he had seen "Irene".

"JOHN? JOHNATHAN!" the person called, raising a purple and black striped arm up above the crowd, waving it around. Watson raised his own hands into the air and Mary pointed into the crowd exclaiming, "I see her darling!"

The crowd finally split open into the ticket booth bubble and Matilda rushed passed Holmes so she could drop her bag to the ground and wrap her arms around Watson's neck. Watson let out a gasp and a laugh as Mary helped herself off the crate, not bothering to ask Holmes for help.

"Oh John! Oh it's wonderful to see you!" Matilda squealed as the two friends unwrapped their arms from one another and she stared into his eyes. Watson laughed and nodded.

"The feeling is mutual!" he laughed, as she looked him up and down.

"And look at you! Look how straight and narrow you're dressed!" she giggled tugging at his jacket. Watson smoothed it down and grinned.

"I need to dress professionally, as always. Oh—Matilda, this is…my fiancé. Mary." He said suddenly, moving out of the way so he could gesture to Mary, staring longingly at her. She just smiled sweetly and advanced towards her fiancé and his friend.

She held out her arms and ran to Matilda and brought her into a hug, which Matilda gladly accepted.

"It's so nice to finally meet you." Mary muttered into her ear and Matilda smiled.

"I feel the same! John, look at her! She's just as beautiful as you described her!" Matilda grinned holding onto Mary's hand and spinning her around. Watson grinned.

"I've always thought so." He smiled and Mary turned slightly pink before allowing him to kiss her cheek.

They all began to chat as Holmes stared at the group blankly, his arms wrapped around his back. He lifted one hand to his mouth, his fingers curled into a fist, which he proceeded to cough into. Mary's head jolted up and she cleared her throat as well.

"Right, Matilda, this is Sherlock Holmes." She said awkwardly, taking Matilda's shoulder and turning her to Holmes.

Holmes quirked a brow as he was met with the same green eyes he had stared into before. He had wondered why her dress seemed so familiar. Matilda's smile slightly fell when she looked straight into his eyes. She reached up for her hat and slipped it off of her head; letting some long curls fall to her shoulders. Her hair was tied back so it wasn't encompassing her face.

"Good morning Mr. Holmes…did you find the woman you were looking for?" she asked, not keeping direct eye contact with him.

Watson looked from Matilda to Holmes, narrowing his eyes suspiciously. Mary did the same, minus the suspicion in her eyes. Holmes didn't keep eye contact either, looking around awkwardly.

"I was not looking for a woman. I had just happened to mistake you for someone I knew." He explained, his eyes peering up at the sky and partial faded glass ceiling of the ticket booth.

She just smirked and nodded, shrugging as she said, "Well, now you know me."

He humored her and starkly smirked back, nodding his head once.

"Yes. But if I had been searching for someone, I would not have so easily mistaken you for her. Unlike you, she would never be a teacher." He said confidently.

Eyes widened, Matilda turned to Watson and he looked at her worriedly. She looked back at Watson, squinting at him as well.

"…John told you, didn't he? That I was a teacher?" she asked and Holmes shook his head.

"No madam. You have papers sticking out of your bag. From the bit that I saw, there were names on it. I know it is the name of children because the names have either a five or a six next to their name. Seeing as how the numbers are in no particular order, it must be their age. Also, one paper lists off the name of children's books. One could easily deduce that they are meant for a teacher to read to her students. No parent would make a list of children's books for their child." He explained, motioning to her bag, which lay askew on the ground.

Her eyes, along with her head, followed his motion. After staring at her bag for a moment, she looked back up at him.

"Of course."

Watson reached out and touched Matilda's shoulder.

"Matilda…have you two met? Who is this woman you were talking about?" he asked, peering over at Holmes. Holmes just looked away fervently, catching Matilda's attention.

Holmes made no attempt to look back at the two and Watson directed his gaze at Matilda, boring into her cheek as she stared Holmes. Her head swiveled back to face Watson and she nodded.

"We did meet. But only a moment before I found you. He mistook me for a girl named…." She hesitated. She looked back to Holmes who was completely turned away from everyone, facing the crowd.

"…Julia…yes, Julia. Someone he must've met on a case." She nodded, cautiously turning back to Watson who examined her face.

After looking between Matilda and Holmes, who had turned back, to look at Matilda oddly, he stood up straight and nodded curtly, sticking out his arm for Mary to take.

"I guess you're right. You must have us meet this Julia at some time Holmes, especially if you're mistaking people for her." He said stiffly, buttoning up his jacket and placing his own hat atop his head.

Matilda lifted her hat and arranged it snugly on her head as well and went to gather her things beside Holmes. He watched as she scurried to his side and began collecting her things. Watson and Mary had found a crack in the crowd and had walked through.

Holmes tilted his head to watch for them as he called, "don't leave us behind!"

Watson lifted his hand into the air, "Walk her back to the carriage, you know the way. Gives you two time to chat amongst yourselves about JULIA." He called and Matilda stood up straight, trying to peer through a few curls that had fallen in front of her face. She blew them out of the way and turned to Holmes, standing up straight.

His eyes simply peered at her from his peripheral vision and she sucked in a breath, turning to look at the way that Watson and Mary had gone. Letting out the breath, she planted a smile on her face and looked back at Holmes.

Her hand shot forward in his direction and he looked at it unimpressed.

"I look forward to working with you!" she said sweetly and he continued to stare at her hand. He looked away from it and walked in the direction that Watson and Mary had left.

With her hand floating in the air for no reason, she curled her fingers into a fist and dropped her hand to her side. She just nodded and hurried after him, trying to walk next to him so they would be able to talk.

"Excuse me—Mr. Holmes—is there…some sort of problem? I just arrived and yet there seems to be a riff in our kindling relationship." She asked, partly out of breath.

His eyes peered at her again and he shook his head as he stared forward once more.

"No, no. I just feel uncomfortable replacing Watson so soon."

Matilda narrowed her eyes at him. "Does this have to do with that Irene girl?" she asked and Holmes' jaw tensed, as if he was gritting his teeth.

No answer came from him. Matilda accepted it with a nod.

"He's mentioned her, John has. In the letters we've been sending since you finished the Blackwood case. The only woman who ever seemed to outsmart you she did." She described, trying to think back on the letters.

"I don't believe Ms. Adler has anything to do with our meeting, or your hiring. I don't believe I really know why Watson contacted you. He's perfectly capable of working with me and keeping a good family lifestyle at home." He said matter-of-factly and Matilda's eyebrows furrowed. She let out an incredulous chuckle.

"Don't you…don't you think that was somewhat of an insult? I traveled here from Salisbury to work for you. I have some knowledge of medical work and I pay much attention to the details of things. I came up here for the opportunity of working with a genius like you and you just throw the idea away because…because you're clinging to your friend?" she chuckled, her voice raising and tone getting more and more frustrated.

Holmes stopped and turned to her, prompting her to look up at him and stare at him oddly.

"It was meant to be an insult, because I don't need you. Your trip here from Salisbury has been wasted because none of you decided to consult me on such a decision as to bring you here to work for me. And yes, you may have some knowledge of medical work, but I don't find it reasonable enough to hire you, seeing as how the knowledge you've obtained is from books, evident from your paper cuts and the large medical text-book you have stowed away in your bag. And maybe you did come for an opportunity. But that opportunity is most definitely not with me. I don't throw away the idea because I'm clinging onto Watson, but because I find the idea of a woman working in the consultant detective industry absolutely ludicrous. Mary can't even handle seeing a dead body in the paper." He explained, leaving Matilda to just stare at him slightly intimidated.

She paused for a moment, to think. She then began with another pause; her mouth wide open.

"…You are also clinging onto John. I know that for certain."

"That's because he is a dearest friend of mine. I would not like to lose his company because he has found a significant other." He said simply, continuing to walk towards the carriage parked outside the train station. Matilda caught up with him again.

"He's my friend as well! He was mine first!" she said desperately, feeling flustered by one crack after another.

"That has no concern to me. As far as I know, you just left him to finish high school with no one else to talk with him, leaving him to come and cry to me. No friend does that to another." He laughed, trying not to smile.

Matilda glared at him, "And so you're taking this out on him? Mr. Holmes he'll still be there! I'll just be the one following you around more often!" she shrugged.

He let out another laugh.

"Oh, how splendid. Just what I needed."

She let out a great huff and stuck her finger in his face, pointing at him menacingly.

"Don't start that with me! I am a respectable woman, trying to earn a living for herself, and being a teacher just isn't cutting it! I don't know how to explain how desperate I am to work with you and possibly with John. I'm quite useful! I have a great memory for names and for sounds or conversations!" she made sure to point out, trying to sound positive and confident with herself.

Holmes quirked a brow and nodded, "Duly noted."

They made it to the carriage and Matilda grabbed his shoulder to stop him. He turned to face her and stared down at her indifferently.

"Please Mr. Holmes. I feel as though I have the potential to be great. And you can help me be the greatest that I can be. What can I do to impress you and let you know I'm serious?"

He paused to think. He actually had to think about an answer for her question. It had to be something that seemed impossible for her to do, he was sure of that. He smiled and nodded in the direction of the carriage.

"Help me convince Watson that Mary is not right for him." He stated, suddenly realizing that that was more of a dare then something to impress him.

Matilda stared at him blankly before rolling her eyes.

"Oh…right…because that worked so well the first time around." She grumbled, walking to the carriage and leaving him to stand there, causing the others to get impatient.

This is NOT going to be an easy adjustment. He thought to himself as he also climbed into the carriage, most unhappily.