Strangely, I don't own Sherlock. Painter AU. Sherlock isn't in this one but if a second chapter is made it be all about him.


"Watson!" Sarah shouted for the door way of the flat.

John, deep within the building looked up from his painting at her voice. "What is it, Sarah?" He called back.

"I'm here to talk to you about your next art gallery." She responded leaning against the door frame outside the building.

"Come in then and I'll get you a cuppa!" John shouted and laid his paints down. He heard the front door open and close as he headed towards the kitchen. Five minutes later the water was done and poured into two plain mugs. John handed the one with 3 sugars and a dollop of milk to Sarah who had made herself comfortable on one of the plush chairs. "Which specifics are you here for now?" He questioned as he sat down.

"The art gallery set up in general." Sarah replied staring moodily into her tea.

John grinned, "What about it?"

Sarah sighed and played with her tea mug, "It needs a new featured piece.

"What's wrong with the current one?" John asked quirking his eyebrow.

"Doesn't fit the theme according to the contractor." Sarah said viciously and John knew the anger was not directed at him.

"But isn't Lestrade in charge of this gallery?" John questioned.

Sarah nodded, "But he is currently ill and in the hospital." John looked surprised and made a mental note to visit him later. "Some high rollers are now in charge." Sarah spat the last line out and John wondered what they had done to make Sarah hate them so much.

"What theme did they pick then?" John asked.

Sarah took a sip of her tea and John wondered what would make Sarah so uncomfortable. Finally her silence broke and she answered, "Emotional human portrayal. Only your featured art must fit the category because otherwise no artist would be able to display their art."

John stared at Sarah and she hung her head, "Emotional human portrayal? I don't even do human!"

Sarah frowned and spared a look around John's flat. "I know." She responded barely above a whisper. It was obvious from the pictures that John had finished and where lying around, that anything that moved was not his area. All his pictured were still objects from flowers to tea cups. The most active painting was one of a waterfall and trees.

"Can I still show art if I don't have a featured piece?" John queried wearily.

Sarah's knuckles whitened as she gripped her mug hard, "Only if you can spare 1,000,000 pounds," She spat venomously.

John exhaled and slumped further into his chair, "Damn. I barely get by as it is; I can't bribe a company that much."

"Even if all your pictures sell?" Sarah asked. She only had an approximate value of John's paintings as she was not an appraiser just an organizer. She did know that John rarely if ever came home with any paintings unsold though.

"Possibly," John answered, "but unlikely. I also need to pay rent which will lake a large part out of my profits."

Sarah placed her mug on the coffee table, "You could move to a place with better rent or get a flat share. I see if I can weasel you out of this without paying, in the mean time you may want to take up people watching."

"Don't bother, Sarah" John said, "How hard could it be to paint a single person?" Sarah just shook her head, stood up, and left the flat with John staring after her.