A/N: Borrowed the beginning from Azolean with her permission. Change the POV but its the same thing. It was the PERFECT scene for this section. Her part ends at the *.


~Consideration~

As my new flatmate stumbled across the sitting room floor for the third time that day disturbing my delicate work at the chemistry table, I had finally had enough. It was annoying in the extreme that the man was in such poor shape that he could not leave the house in this early spring weather. But that the man should shuffle restlessly around the sitting room disturbing him with his boredom was just too much!

"Dr. Watson, you will cease these meaningless wanderings before you cause me to make a mistake that could kill us both!" I snapped.

Rather than feeling abashed or concerned, the doctor's green eyes flared as his wounded pride showed itself for a moment rather more fiercely than I had expected.

"My apologies, Mr. Holmes," the doctor threw back venomously. "I hadn't realized your odious experiments were also dangerous. Perhaps you would be so kind as to take into consideration that this is our sitting room."

"Ha!" I barked a laugh. "As you wish, Doctor. But if you cannot find something better to do with your time than shuffling around this room, perhaps you would be better entertained with one of those ridiculous books your always reading in your own room."

"As I said, this is my sitting room as well."

"Yes, but such a pathetically lonely individual should not forcibly inflict their presence on others. I could care less how terribly bored you are, so long as you stay out of my way. If it is companionship you are seeking, there are drinking establishments that would likely suit your temporary needs."

Having gained this understanding about his flatmate's callous opinions here in their first month of rooming together, Watson found his hands shaking as he gripped his cane tighter. In no condition for a row at this point, he simply turned and limped his way out of the sitting room.

I watched calculatingly, still trying to get a measure of the man I now roomed with that seemed to keep so much contained. I had expected some sort of outburst or show of temper. Instead, the man had quietly left. While I approved of this accommodating behavior, I could not help feeling the sense of disgust at such a ridiculously simple solution. The man had simply passed through the sitting room and was gone without even attempting to further defend his territory here in the sitting room.

Once again reminding myself what a pathetic species humans really were, I turned my attention back toward my experiments,* but only for a moment. It was a loud slam of the sitting room door coming open and I peaked around my chemistry set to find myself face-to-face with Mrs. Hudson.

Never was I ever so scared of her. Nor would I ever be so frightened again. Without showing any restraint, she firmly rapt my hand with a thick wooden ladel she had in one hand. Adding to the pain of the blow was the fact it was still hot from whatever it had been used to stir. A cry of alarm was drawn from my throat against my wishes. I was thoroughly surprised at her attack and it hurt.

"How dare you!" She cried, her voice shaking with the intensity of her rage.

"What?" I cried, completely unaware of why she was so angry.

"You are a terrible roommate for anyone, but to see the way he silently takes your abuse it just too much and I won't stand for it. You say you are a brilliant man, but only a fool takes for granted the kindness of others. The fact he is willing to go halves with you on the rooms is reason enough for you to be pleasant to him, but since that seems to have no affect on you I will say this: if you don't start showing some consideration for the doctor it will be you that gets sent out into the chilly air. Do I make myself clear?"

To say that Mrs. Hudson was a gentle woman was modest, and to say that she was gracious was too simple, but I had brought out another side to her character, which was often restrained out of love.

Now I had drawn out the tiger, and one I was not keen to face.

"Mrs. Hudson I am sorry – "

"No, you are not. You don't care about him at all, but he is half the reason you even have these rooms." She snapped.

I realized she was right. I had taken my roommate a bit for granted. I wanted his money without the companionship that he might have hoped for.

"What if he isn't happy here though?" I argued. "Never has a roommate stuck long with me. Even my brother and I could not manage to stay at peace under one roof long."

"You aren't giving him any reason to be happy here." Mrs. Hudson retorted.

I looked at her sheepishly. "But what should I do?"

She scrutinized me with a suspicious gaze.

"I want to make things right." I said. Saying it seemed to make it true without me realizing it. I hadn't felt so bad before, but now that I had said it, a part of me did want to make things smoother between us. If he could deal with that outburst of mine so well, then perhaps this would work out.

"Well, you might invite him to the concert you planned to attend this evening." She said with a smirk.

"However did you know about that?" I asked, wondering where her deductions had stemmed from.

"You came back late last night and didn't bother to hang your coat so I did. And these fell out of your pocket." She held up three tickets.

I always bought three so that I might not be crowded on either side. The idea of having someone so close to me disrupted the serenity I gathered from the performance. I looked at them though and realized she was right; it would get the lonely doctor out of the house and possibly give me a chance to ask for forgiveness.

Gathering my hat and coat I dashed off, hoping I could find him.

With his injury though, he hadn't gotten very far. I caught up to him and slowly, things between us began to get better.