I'm woken up the next morning by the smell of coffee and cigarettes. I swing my legs over the edge of the sofa and rub the sleep from my eyes. The taller man is sitting in an armchair on one side of the fireplace smoking with a cup of steaming coffee in the spare hand. The shorter man is moving around the kitchen, buttering toast and making more coffee. My bag is next to the sofa on the floor and a fluffy white towel is folded on top of it. "Morning sleepyhead" said the shorter man noticing me awake instead of asleep. "Coffee?" he has a calm smile on his face which makes me smile back without knowing. "Oh yes please" I reply still smiling. "Oh by the way, we didn't introduce ourselves last night. I'm John Watson and that strapping young fellow over there is Sherlock Holmes" he said pointing to the taller man with his head. He comes over and passes me the cup of coffee, it smells delicious. "Thanks. I'm Amelia Williams. Thank you so much for letting me stay by the way." I say as we firmly shake hands. "It's no problem at all Amelia. In fact, my wife is coming back from a trip with friends tonight so you can have my room here and I'll go back and greet her with flowers and have a nice meal at my place so that you don't have to sleep on the sofa again." As I try to argue back he puts up his hand making me fall quiet again. "I insist. I hardly ever sleep here anyway, tonight was a one off as I was alone." I nod my head, thank him for being so kind and sip at my coffee silently.
After a few minutes, I pick up my bag and the towel given to me and I walk to the bathroom, locking the door behind me. I run the shower and strip. The steam swirls around me, helping to clear my head of the dark memories of my past. I get into the shower and fiercely scrub my hair with shampoo to try and get all of the dirt and kinks out of my hair from all those months sleeping on park benches or empty doorways. I stop the shower, wrap my hair in the towel and stand in front of a full sized mirror. I'm skinny. Too skinny for my liking. My ribs are showing, my hip bones stick out and my stomach curves inwards. My cheeks are slightly sunken in and my face has no colour to it. I pull the towel down and my auburn hair falls around my back like a blanket, ending just above the butt. I quickly rub myself dry, change into clean clothes and brush my teeth with my toothbrush and paste. I unlock the door slowly, step into the hallway and walk back up to the living room.
Sherlock is sat staring at me with cold eyes making me look away from him quickly. John calls me over to sit next to him on the sofa. "Sherlock has told Mrs Hudson, our landlady, that you have taken my place here for now." said John as I walked over to him. "Hrmph" Sherlock said but John ignored him and carried on. "I will show you to your new room and then you can come and help me find some flowers for Mary in town if you'd like." He said without taking the smile off his face and his eyes off of mine. Sherlock made a few noises but John said "just ignore him, he gets like this when he's bored and has nothing to do." I giggled at the face Sherlock pulled at John when his back was turned, grabbed my bag and followed John up stairs to his room.
The room is quite large and sunlight pours through the slightly opened windows. It's spotless. The king sized bed is made with fresh sheets, the soft red carpet has been hovered, the dressing table cleared and the wardrobe and chest of draws cleared. It was like stepping into a bedroom in Buckingham Palace, but of course I have never been inside. "Oh thank you John!" I exclaimed in delight of the beautiful room. "That's okay Amelia; I hardly stay over here anyway so I might as well make use of it." John said with a smile, as he turned to go out and shut the door he said "Oh and Mary said she will take you shopping for some more clothes tomorrow if you're up for it." "Thank you John, I'd love to." And with a nod of his head and a smile he quietly shut the door and headed back downstairs.