"B...bake?"Now it was Charlie's turn to giggle a little bit. "Yes, Dr. Watson! Bake... You know, that thing you do with flour and sugar? It's a little like chemistry, that's something you should know!" As she saw his totally stunned face, she was short about laughing out loud, but then she turned serious again. "Seriously, John, I need your help!" She gave Andrew a hint while grabbing in her bag for her wallet. "I have to bake 200 cupcakes until tomorrow..." she took a look in her moleskine "..11 o'clock! I cannot bake and decorate at the same time! Pleeeeeeeease!" She looked at him, begging with big brown eyes, and even if he was thinking about saying no, he couldn't... So he sighed, nodded and when she began to thank him, he stopped her with a short gesture: "...but you'll have to show me exactly what I have to do!" "Oh, believe me, I will... It's not really complicated!"

After she paid, she grabbed her coat and turned around to look at John. "So, are you ready?" Another little smile from her seemed to intensify the effect of the two whisky he drank and he probably would have went with her anywhere if she only had asked. "Of course I am...!" He gave her a grin and after she had waved for a cab she took his hand to haul him to the car. When they were sitting in the back of the cab she told the driver the address and then turned to him. "Keep calm, you'll do a good job. I'll prepare the dough and bake the cupcakes and you just have to add chocolate frosting and decorations..." She laughs cheerful. "That's the best part!" John looked at her with a frown. "Oh, we have hearts, clover, confetti... Everything you could imagine. It'll be fun. We're doing cupcakes for a children's birthday. A big one!" She added. John accepted with a smile. "So, you bake! Is that your job?" "Yes, among other things that is my job. I also do baking classes for children and... oh, a lot of things! It's fun, really. I loved baking since I was a really little girl and did it every saturday with my grandma!"

John detected with surprise that her fingers began to tap incessantly on her leg. When she recognized that she had done it and he saw it, she stopped and pulled her hands under her legs. For a moment, the silence between them got embarrassing, until the ringing of her phone broke it. "Please excuse me!" Charlie took her phone out of the bag. "Rosie!... What?... Yes!... Yes, I have everything I need. I had bought all for the Summers-birthday... Yes!... Yes, I have assistance!... What? No! That's not your business! Be glad I've helped you out!... Good night, Rosie! I have to hang up now!" With a shake of her head she lowered her hand. "Your boss?" "Yes! No... Rosie owns a little bakery in Westminster and for bigger orders, she has a file full of women like me to help her out!" Johns look fell on the pink mobile in her hand. "You don't really like it!" He observed. She frowned, followed his glance and then laughed: "Oh, is it SO obviously?"
Before she could answer the question, the cab stopped in front of a two-story house. "Here we are!" While she was looking for her keys, she told him: "My landlady's granddaughter considered that I need something fashionable. Do you have an idea how... convincing a 16year old could be?"She walked upstairs in front of him, unlocked a door and let him enter first. After she had switched on the light, he took a look around. A female flat, definitely, dainty and plain at the same time. "Make yourself comfortable. The living room is just straight on, I'll have to get changed!"John entered the small living room; a little sofa, a lamp beside it, a highboard, a tv. At the left the sight into the open kitchen. He stepped in front of her bookshelf, after he had lay down his jacket onto the sofa. "I really hope you don't deduce from my bookshelf to my mental state!" When she began to speak behind him, he jerked and turned around. Instead of the dress she wore now a wide tshirt and a jeans. Her hair was tied back in her scruff and he could see the pink hair-ends. Shoeless, she stepped besides him. "I'm reading nearly all, as you can see! Please, look around... I'll begin to do the dough!" She stepped over to the little hi-fi system and seconds later, soft piano sounds filled the air. "Usually, Bach is my only companionship! Good that it's different this time!" Her little smile let his heart tumble yet again.

She went over to the kitchen and he could hear her working. After he had looked at all her books, John went over to the kitchen, too. He looked around, wide-eyed: it was messy, each unoccupied space was filled with books, recipes, ingredients.. In the shelf behind her, he could see jars full of decorations; sprinkles, confetti, hearts.. he spent five minutes to look at all her treasures. She was busy filling the kitchen aid with flour, sugar, eggs.. "Wait, don't you need a recipe?" She looked at him, grinning: "John! Those are cupcakes. Do you have any idea, how many cupcakes I've already baked in my life?" She switched on the kitchen aid which began to stir the dough and stepped over to her shelf. "Now I'll show you what you could do! Come on over!" John went over to her, undressed his pullover and rolled up his sleeves, while she continued to grab in her shelf and gave him the option to sight her appearance. Even in her apparently worn down jeans and shirt she looked good; some wisps of her hair had liberated from the bun in her scruff and the pink hair-ends seemed to glow in the light of the kitchen-lamp. Beneath the bun, he could see a little tattoo. He moved closer to have a look at it: it was a little sun. "Didn't it hurt?" She turned to him with a questioning look. He pointed to her scruff; a little embarrassed she laid her hand over it with a chuckle. "It was a youthful misdeed. And no, it didn't hurt. Not much!" She looked up to him, suddenly overwhelmed by the fact of standing so very close to him. Then she made an effort and grabbed something from out of the shelf. "Powdered sugar! We need it for the frosting. And cocoa... oh, where are you?" She put away some books. Grabbed behind the kitchen aid. "Here you are! Luckily! Now we need cream cheese and butter... So, please could you go and grab the butter from the window board in the living room?" She murmured from inside her refrigerator and John went and get it.

They spent the next hours, focused and without lots of conversation. Charlie baked the cupcakes while John took care of frosting and decoration; and Charlie had been right - it was the most fun. It was nearly three o'clock in the morning when they put the last cupcakes into the boxes and Charlie sighed relieved. "John! I cannot thank you enough for your help! I'll have to quickly clean up the kitchen, but how about you taking a seat on the sofa? Or would you like to go home now?" She smiled at him and even if he had said no, he couldn't have done it by looking in her eyes. "I have no plans for tomorrow, so I don't mind staying a little longer. However, I would like to take your offer with the sofa!" He grinned.
Charlie put all things back to their place, then wiped the worktops and 15 minutes later, the only witnesses for their nighttime action were the cupcake-boxes. "Say, John, do you...?" She stopped when she saw John, on the sofa, his head fallen down to the backrest; he was sleeping. With a smile, she grabbed the blanket from the arm chair beneath the window and laid it over his knees.

Then she went back to the kitchen and made a cup of coffee. For a long time now, she needed not much sleep and this night, she was so pumped, so it was clear to her, that it would be another sleepless night. She took the coffee, sat down in her arm chair crossed-legged and grabbed the laptop. While it was booting up, she looked at the sleeping man on his sofa. She haven't felt so comfortable close by a man, generally in the presence of somebody, for a long time. The laptop showed the starting page and nearly the same time, a little window appeared:

K:Hey lovely! There you are! How was your date with Dave?

C: Oh stop it! Dave was another wimp!

K: So you've spent your evening alone?

C: No...

K: No? Come on, tell me about it!

C: His name is John Watson, we both were stood up in the restaurant and I had slipped him a note.

C: And then...

K: Wait a second! You did WHAT? You had slipped him a note? Why?

C: K, I'm an adult woman and it felt right!

K: Sweetheart, are you sure that you're in the situation for "it felt right!"? Damn, I cannot count the times I told you to be CAREFULLY. Well okay, tell me the rest

Charlie did, she didn't omit anything. K was her friend, as long as she could think about. She knew everything about Charlie. And so Charlie told her all, once again, every detail, even this feeling of protection. Although she knew about K's aversion to sentimentalism

K: Where is he now?

C: Here!

K: "Here"? You mean he's in your flat? Right now? Do you think it's time to... Well, it's your decision, but isn't it too early for...

C: He's sleeping!

K: ?

C: He's sleeping. I've cleaned up the kitchen for 10 minutes and when I've come back, Dr Watson had fallen asleep on my sofa.

K: What?

C: He's sleeping. On my sofa.

C: Where's your reason to wonder?

K: I didn't meant that

K: afk

C: Where are you?

K: brb

A few moments later, a message on the desktop showed that K had sent a picture. Charlie opened it and looked confused at a cutting from a newspaper, K had sent to her.

K: Is THAT your Dr. Watson?

Charlie took another look at the picture within the cutting. Indeed, it showed John. Before she found the time to read the article, K's next message appeared.

K: The guy besides him is Sherlock Holmes! Do you know him, too?

C: No, and why should I? Why do you have newspaper articles from London? K?

K: Sweetheart, just because YOU had decided to ignore the life around you, including Arthur StCyr, that doesn't mean that I do the same! Somebody HAS TO keep an eye on your surrounding. And even there is an endless ocean between us, it seems as if I'm this SOMEBODY! I promised it to Peter and I'm willing to keep my promise! So! Think about! Sherlock Holmes!

Charlie gazed intensely to the picture K sent to her screen.

C: Now I remember!

C: I'll have to think. Seeya!

Without waiting for K's reprise, Charlie quit the conversation. K sent several further messages, which Charlie decided to ignore. She spent the rest of the night, typing on her keyboard.

When John woke up the next morning, the first thing he heard was the clicking of a keyboard. Nothing new to him, Sherlock could stay awake for nights when he got deeply absorbed with a case. "Sherlock, I really hope it's your laptop for a change!" he murmured into his pillow. "Your roommate even seems to pursue your dreams, you poor guy!" When a female voice answered his question, he suddenly sat up and faced Charlie's smile. She sat on her arm chair, cross-legged, her laptop on her knees. John rubbed his forehead embarrassed. "I must have been... fell asleep. I... Pardon me please!" "There's nothing to pardon, John! You slept so very relaxed that I saw no reason to wake you up!" "And what about you? Didn't you...?" "Oh!" Charlie laughed, joyless. "I don't really need much sleep!" She put the laptop aside, stood up from her chair and smiled at him: "What about breakfast? Do you have time? I made fresh buns!" John rose up, stretched himself and put the blanket away. "How could I reject such a wonderful offer? But before I would like to..." He looked a little embarrassed. "Oh! No problem! The bathroom is right of the flat door, you can find a new toothbrush in the drawer beneath the washbasin. I'm in the kitchen..."

With these words she turned around and entered the kitchen. She had spent her sleepless night usefully with preparing dough for the buns. Now they were ready for the oven. After that, she set the table and prepared some coffee. She was so involved in preparing breakfast that she didn't notice John coming in, looking to her preparations. Wouldn't it be nice to have this every single day? A little appalled about his thoughts, he pulled himself together and cleared his throat. Charlie span round, a smile went over her face when she saw John. "There you are! Sit down. Buns are ready in a minute."

They took their breakfast together, but then Charlie sighed: "I'll have to get ready now. The cab will be there in a while to get me and the cupcakes. Please drink your coffee, I'll be back in a minute!" John sat there, staring at his cup, recalling the past evening and the night. Sherlock wouldn't believe him one single day, he would be sure. He smiled widely, while thinking of his roommate and took his phone.

What about fresh buns? - JW

Did you stay in a bakery overnight? With pleasure! - SH

John laughed to himself. What a great feeling to be able to surprise his roommate. "Are you ready?" Charlie's voice pulled him out of his thoughts and he looked up. Charlie stood in the door: she had changed into a striped longsleeve, her hair was stuck in a tidy bun and in her hand she held a beige coat. John stood up, got his jacket, then helped her with the boxes.

"What about me, carrying the boxes for you. And then get some buns as a reward for my roommate?"

After she had delivered the cupcakes, the cab had brought them back to Charlie's house. Now they stood in front of it. Charlie turned round to John. "Once more, I thank you for your help, John. Say..." It was more than obvious that she fought an inner fight with her courage. "What are your plans for the rest of this day?" "Oh!" John looked at her, surprised. "Well..." Charlie rose her hand, making a defensive gesture. "oh! No problem, if you have no time, then..." John shook his head. "No, that's not the point. I've got no further plans for the day, but..." His eyes looked down his crinkled clothes and he ruffled his hair. "It's just, I'd like to..." Charlie laughed. "John, everything is fine. I'll have to fulfill one more order today, a simple cake. So what about you write me down your number here..." She pulled her moleskine out and gave it to him ".. and I'll give you a call when I'm finished?!" John scribbled down his number and gave her back the notebook with a warm smile. "Sounds like a really great idea!"