Sherlock Holmes was a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma – and yet she still liked him, even in spite of her better judgement.
'I wish you weren't whatever it is you are,' that was what she'd told him the day of John and Mary's wedding. It had been quite a surprise when he'd called her a couple of weeks later, asked her out for a drink at a nearby pub.
A bit of harmless fun was all she'd ever wanted from him, and in a way he'd given her that – though not quite as much as she would have liked, she thought with a touch of wistfulness. He'd made a fool of her, and part of her still resented that; however, he sounded genuinely sorry about the whole unfortunate business, and she supposed that counted as something when it came to a man like Sherlock.
It was kind of touching that he came to her of all people for relationship advice. She'd always suspected he wasn't completely as immune to ordinary emotions as he prided himself to be, and the idea of the great detective depending upon another human being amused her somehow.
When Sherlock got a cottage in the Sussex Downs he brought his not-quite-girlfriend along, and curiosity got the better of her at last. The woman was nothing like Janine had pictured her, but her fascination with dead bodies was definitely something she shared with Sherlock; Molly Hooper wasn't as colourless as she looked at first glance, and probably not quite as submissive either.
A good match for Sherlock if there ever was one, she decided with a smirk. As for herself, she'd started dating a man who wasn't nearly as dashing as his nibs, but he definitely knew his way around a woman – and at the end of the day that was all that mattered.
xxx
"I think you should do a pregnancy test," she said casually as her host served the tea. Molly turned even paler, only to excuse herself a few moments later and go panic in the relative privacy of the loo.
Sherlock didn't even blink; he merely stared at her in mild disapproval, as if he'd known all along – and he probably did, always the insufferable git.
"You should go after her, you know," she huffed, because for a genius he was incredibly clueless sometimes.
xxx
Janine quite liked her life as it was now. Things with Paul were going rather well; she'd sort of made friends with Sherlock's girlfriend, and enjoyed swapping stories behind the detective's back when he was away.
Teasing Sherlock was an added bonus, especially when he looked so disgusted at the idea of his brother finally getting himself a love life of sorts. Even a pompous old prig like Mike deserved to be happy, and Little Brother couldn't really throw stones when he himself had a child on the way.
How the little one was going to cope with a father like that, she honestly had no idea.
xxx
Those mad Holmes brothers seemed to have a soft spot for kids, she decided when she heard that Mike had adopted a little girl. Another reason to congratulate herself for dodging a bullet – she wasn't the kind of woman who looked forward to have a pesky urchin tied to her apron strings.
Paul had moved in with her, they had a Border Collie and went down to London every weekend. He was fun, and sweet, and a passionate lover too; she would choose that over being Sherlock's jester any day.
A pity that she'd missed her chance with Mike's handsome partner, but she knew better than to meddle with a Holmes anyway.