Series Sherlock
Pairing: Sherlock X OC
Rating: T for language until stated otherwise (if it changes to M I'll edit the tags and set an Author's Note)
Tags: Male/Female, romance, friendship, comic relief, trust, mystery, medicine, doctor, mention of mature themes
Disclaimer: Sherlock and it's characters belong to BBC, Mark Gatiss, Steven Moffat and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The only thing that belongs to me are my own characters (Samantha Hunter) and the plot.
Characters: Sherlock Holmes, OC, Molly Hooper, James Moriarty, John Watson (minor appearance).
A/N: There will be violence in this and pretty graphic medical cases that have some real background. Do not try any of this at home (please don't try to be a surgeon or a serial killer).
Co-writen by: ...
BETA reader: ...
WHEN by my solitary hearth I sit,
And hateful thoughts enwrap my soul in gloom;
When no fair dreams before my "mind's eye" flit,
And the bare heath of life presents no bloom;
Sweet Hope, ethereal balm upon me shed,
And wave thy silver pinions o'er my head!
To Hope by John Keats
Have you ever felt like you have made a poor life choice and it's painfully obvious? Because that's the only thing that went through Samantha Hunter's mind when she arrived to her flat around ten pm. Her feet hurt, her eyes were tired and rimmed with dark circles, she was dead tired. She sometimes wondered why she had chosen her career as it was draining her life force away. Ah yes, saving people, that's why. The only thing that kept her going and kept her brown hair in her head. Anymore stress and she would probably lose her hair.
There wasn't an elevator in this building because it was quite an old one. The flats were pretty on the inside with large windows and elegant architecture, but not big enough to share it with someone. Sam had chosen this flat because it was close to the hospital she was working in. "Was" being the key word, she took a job offer at Barts just last month because of the pay. Her flat was not close anymore to say the least. It normally took her at least 45 minutes to get there, people died in 45 minutes and that was unacceptable. Also transferring to another hospital always meant getting used to new people with different personalities and getting used to this people. At least she had learned that Molly Hooper worked at the morgue of that same hospital.
"Welcome home lady." A man nodded at her from the top of the stairs. He was coming towards her with a decisive look. "What are you doing out here so late in the night?" He said with a slight slur in his words and a hint of innuendo.
"I...uh just came back from work." Samantha faked a polite smile and continued walking towards her flat. She realized that she would eventually need to walk besides him to get there and groaned inwardly. The man was big but not muscled, he had a creepy mustache and he smelled like a distillery. Great, just what she needed! A random drunk stranger keeping her from her flat.
"Would you like to go up to my flat?" He asked suggestively, the man even winked at her and grinned. Samantha managed not to shudder in disgust.
"No thank you, I'm really tired to be honest." She didn't add the 'And you are creepy as fuck', she decided not to fight with him as she tried to simply walk to her flat. She walked besides him in the stairs and reached her floor. He simply stared at her with dilated pupils and a lost expression.
"So no? Uh ok." He nodded in acceptance but walked in her direction anyway. Samantha got her keys out of her purse and looked at him wearily. "What? I'm not going to anything to you." He smiled, but it was not sincere and it sent a chill down her spine. "Well not anything you wouldn't like." He was right in front of her, the smell of alcohol almost choking her.
Sam froze. Her left hand clutching her purse for dear life, right hand trying to get the key into the damn key hole. The man leaned towards her, faster than she could react. Her mind felt slow because of the fear and he was probably moving slower or faster than what she could realize. Her right hand found the key hole and finally stuck the key inside without alerting the larger man. She turned the key at the same time the man managed to kiss her neck with an open mouthed kiss. Her eyes widened and she gasped in fear at the sudden contact.
Sam reacted without thinking and pushed him with all her strength. She raised her hand to slap his face, but instead her legs carried her to the safety of her flat and she slammed the door. She locked it quickly and laid back on the door, slowly sinking down to the floor. Her hands were shaking. Sam growled under her breath and threw the keys and her purse as far as she could.
She sighed and thought of her actions like a grounded child. If she hadn't frozen she could have escaped earlier... or he would've turned violent. The probabilities of him catching her hand were too high. The probabilities of her being stronger, too low. The probabilities of him pushing her inside her open door and into her flat were too high. She shivered. Sam pulled her knees to her chest and hugged her legs. Her eyes didn't stung with tears, but the shock was enough to freeze her entire body. She groaned and sat there for who knows how much time. Sam eventually stood up to take a shower.
She was sitting in the cafeteria the next day with a cup of bad coffee in front of her. Sam was waiting for Molly to show up as expected. They had been meeting for lunch every day since Sam transferred to Saint Bartholomew's Hospital a month ago. They had met at uni and had tried to keep in contact ever since. Of course it had been difficult but they sometimes shared stories with each other. Stories about patients (dead or alive) and stories about colleagues. Molly wasn't too easy to talk to because of her shyness and reluctance, but they had bonded years ago and friends are forever.
Friends are forever.
Molly Hooper better have an excuse for making her wait. She was hungry and she never liked eating alone. It was too depressive.
"Sorry I'm late." Came Molly's voice from behind her. She looked disheveled and she was breathing hard. "I had a thing up in the morgue." Molly pointed to the ceiling and Sam raised an eyebrow. The morgue was in the basement levels along with most of the labs and Molly pointed up several times.
"Uh don't you mean down in the morgue." Molly just stared back at her with wide eyes, not fully comprehending.
"Yeah that! Down!" Molly sat down in front of her with a huff and tried not to look directly at Sam's green eyes.
"Ok spit it out," Sam took a sip of her coffee before continuing "what's going on?"Uh Molly fidgeted in her seat which annoyed Sam on a deep level. She hated seeing Molly uncomfortable, it made her feel overprotective of her and she hated that feeling.
"Is it... um... a boyfriend?" Molly's brown eyes widened and Sam gasped. That's when Molly started freaking out completely.
"He- He is not my boy- boyfriend he um" she stuttered more and Sam just grinned.
"So it's a him, huh?" Sam's grin widened even more, showing of her perfect teeth in the process. "It's just Sherlock..." murmured Molly who was embarrassed. Like Sherlock himself was sitting with them.
"The Sherlock Holmes you've been bitching about?" Molly nodded. "Have I had the pleasure to meet him?" Molly shook her head and just let Sam lead the conversation, her hunger forgotten. "Can I meet him now?" Molly blushed even harder and Sam just laughed.
"What are you girls laughing about?" Spoke a voice behind Sam which she recognize as Mike Stamford's voice.
"Well I'm laughing about Molly and she is just showing me how her vasodilation works." She smiled smugly and Stamford just chuckled. He shook his head and sat with them, he had a cup of coffee in his hand and some documents on his hands.
"I love it when people use scientific names for every day events." Mentioned Stamford while taking a sip from his own coffee. "Here Molly, DI Lestrade left this for you." Stamford handed her the documents that were hiden away in a brown folder.
"Thanks Mike." Molly smiled at him and took the documents from him. "So, how has your day been?" Molly asked Stamford who just shrugged with a smile on his face.
"Well," he began "I met an old friend of mine who was in the army." He noticed both Molly and Sam suddenly paying more attention and he smiled. "He was an army doctor deployed in Afghanistan, now a veteran. He told me he was looking for a flat."
"Now that you mention it I desperately need a new flat." Sam mentioned, grabbing her cup to take another sip.
"Why? What's wrong with your current one?" Asked Molly with a raised eyebrow. She sounded concerned and slightly confused about the whole issue. "Your flat is quite pretty."
"There was this drunk arse who tried to kiss me yesterday and I don't need that in my life to be honest." She sighed when both Mike and Molly gasped as if she had somehow insulted them with her bad luck. "Anyway I need a flat closer to Barts than my current one, perks of being a trauma surgeon." She rolled her eyes and took a final swig of coffee. "I'm hungry let's go get some food." Sam stood up abruptly with a frown on her face. Molly recognized her frown as a sign of avoidance and annoyance.
"Hey wait!" Mike called before Sam left, she turned to him but her stance was defensive and ready to volt. "You are the third person that has said that to me today... and you seem to need it more." He smiled warmly at her, his cheeks making his eyes look honest and caring. Mike Stamford was one of the those type of person who would get you to open up about their lives. Molly straightened her pose, facial expressions tense and uncomfortable. Her mind was on full alert screaming "no" repeatedly. She didn't want Mike to offer Sam to Sherlock. Wait that sounded quite wrong, really wrong. "I know someone who is looking for a flatmate, his name is-" he was interrupted by Molly who shouted a name other than Sherlock's.
"Jim!" Interrupted Molly. Her face turned red quite quickly when both Mike and Sam stared at her with equal amounts of surprise. "Uhh... Jim from IT is looking for a flatmate." She didn't know how she managed to stutter that sentence.
"Really?" Asked Mike "I was going to introduce her to Sherlock in case he didn't agree with Doctor Watson." He turned to Sam who looked between him and Molly who refused to look at her.
That's when it clicked. Molly didn't want her to share a flat with Sherlock. Either that or she really wanted her to share a flat with this Jim fella. "Oh" she uttered "that's quite alright, I think Molly could introduce me to this Jim from IT guy." Sam couldn't help but wink at Molly without Mike seeing her. "Well I'd really like to keep chatting with you Stamford but my body needs nutrition and I won't be able to it until seven." She shook hands with Mike and motioned for Molly to follow her with a nod.
Molly stumbled out of her seat while apologizing to Mike, he nodded and stood up as well mentioning something about work. She followed Sam who was already ordering a hamburger and a soda on the other end of the cafeteria.
"So Molls," Sam used a teasing tone "when are you going to introduce me to this Sherlock fella?"
"When were you going to tell me about the drunk guy at your flat?" Molly's tone was unusually serious and Sam sighed, her face going all serious.
"I was going to, but you looked a bit stressed out and didn't want to add my own personal matters to your stress." Molly shook her head and Sam rolled her eyes dismissively. "Nothing happened, I'm okay. He just freaked me out a bit." Molly frowned again, the expression looking foreign to her usually gentle looks.
"Sam."
"What?" They just stared at each other. "I don't know what you want me to tell you! I'm okay and that's what matters!" The lady at the other side of the counter faked that she hadn't heard a thing when she gave Sam her order and took her money.
"Are you okay?" Molly asked seriously "and don't say yes just to appease me!"
"I would never say yes just to appease you or anyone else for that matter. I'm okay Molly really just hungry." Sam grabbed her change with a fake smile and shoved it in one of her several pockets. She was wearing dark blue scrubs, white converse that had seen better days and her white coat. Molly ordered a salad with chicken and they ate in relative silence, a comfortable silence.
"Hey want to meet Jim?"
"Is he gay?" Sam blurted the question out.
"What?" Molly pretended (or hoped) she heard her wrong.
"Is he gay?" she repeated.
"Umm not that I know of... we are going to have dinner on Friday or Saturday actually." Molly smiled at her.
"So he likes you?" Sam grinned at the idea.
"I don't know really... maybe he's the kind of bloke who likes making friends." Molly shrugged and blushed at her stupid response.
"Yeah right! I'm not buying it!" Sam's grin widened when Molly's blush deepened.
"Come on, if you are not introducing me to Sherlock then you'll introduce me to Jim." Sam stood up and pulled Molly from her seat. They had both discarded their food already so Sam had no problem with forcing Molly to the door. Molly laughed and slapped Sam's hands away from her.
"Don't you have work to do?" Molly asked between giggles.
"Don't you?" Sam raised an eyebrow and pulled out her phone to look at the time.
"I still have 20 minutes to kill and your dead people are not going anywhere." Molly lead Sam through Barts, they went to the top floor were the offices and some ORs were located.
The left wing was used for offices and the right one for the ORs and the ICU. Barts was a relatively small hospital with only three upper levers and two basement levels used for labs, storage, lounges and the morgue. The first floor had the ER, two ORs, X-ray, TAC and MRI rooms, and some offices. The second floor was strictly for patients. Molly brought Sam to an office, she stopped to knock and opened the door when she heard a "come in". Sam though the voice was really high pitched and not naturally so. She was Jim sitting behind a desk with an old monitor in it. Jim from IT stood up to great Molly with a kiss on the cheek and shook hands with Sam. He smiled all the time, but his dark eyes didn't light up with the same happiness which was odd. Molly introduced them and they had some small chat about what they did for a living. It was quite the boring conversation you could have with mostly anyone. It was too dull for Samantha who preffered comfortable silence to small talk.
"Samantha is actually looking for a flat." Sam noticed how Molly used her full name, something she did when she wanted Sam to behave or when she felt uncomfortable. This was probably both.
"Really!" He said in his cheery tone, it was so fake and it felt so weird when accompained by his accent. "I was just telling a colleague how I needed a flat mate! What a coincidence!" He chuckled and turned his back to them to pick up a post-it note pad. "Here's the address if you want to take a look at it after work." Jim scribbled something on the post-it note ans handed it to Sam.
"Great, my shift ends at 7 o'clock today so I'll pop in around that time, if it's okay with you?" She looked at the note and realized that the flat was in a nice building a couple of blocks from the hospital. Sam could come running to the ER if something happened. She also felt a slight jealousy at the delicate calligraphy Jim apparently owned but brushed it away.
"I also close shop at seven, so we can share a cab," he smiled again, his smile not quite reaching his eyes.
"Where will you be at seven? I know how Trauma Surgeons are never in the same place for more than an hour." Sam didn't quite remember talking about her speciality but she shrugged the thought away.
"Down at the ER... just ask a nurse for Doctor Hunter and she'll tell you were I am... hopefully."
"Alright, Doctor Hunter." Jim smiled politely at her with the same sideways smile that didn't quite reach his dark eyes. "I'll meet you there."
"You can call me Samantha or Sam if you feel like it, we are going to be sharing a flat anyway. No need for such politeness." Sam smiled just the way he smiled at her, coldly with her eyes showing no emotion despite her smile. There was something dark about his personality that she couldn't put her finger on. It was something that he tried to hide with such a devotion and effort that she wondered how much of him was she really seeing. That, was something that made her want to know him better. Sam wanted to know why he was faking such apparent sweetness with them.
"Samantha it is then." He said, his voice deeper now and raspier. This was his usual tone, this was his real tone of voice. This was but a taste of the real him.
Sam shivered at the sudden coldness and turned to Molly who seemed unaffected by the changes on Jim's voice and overall posture. He stood straighter, his head high in a regal pose. This was the real Jim, a colder and far more serious Jim. He looked at her straight in the eye and she could swore she felt the brilliant mind behind them. Sam didn't tore her eyes from him as she addressed Molly. Jim kept his cold dark eyes fixed on her green ones.
"Molls my shift is about to start love, I have to go." She kissed her cheek and waved at Jim, never taking her eyes off him "bye guys." Sam basically ran away after that.
She headed down to the ER where people were getting ready to change shifts. This last social interaction was definitely something she needed to dwell upon when she had the free time to ponder. Jim was definitely special in his own way, not attractively so. He was just different than anyone she had ever met. This meeting felt as if he had been testing her, she wasn't quite sure how or why, and she wasn't so sure she wanted to know.
Jim from IT would definitely be an interesting flatmate. At least until she found another flat near the hospital.
A/N: Did you guys liked Sam? I have so much stuff prepared for her, just wait dear readers. Just wait.
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