Alvarie stood just outside 221B Baker Street, shifting nervously from foot to foot. She had walked just over four blocks and taken at least two different trains in a fit of rage and now it all seemed wasted. She'd forgotten how intimidating that looming black door was. Wincing and turning her head like she was about to be slapped, Alvarie knocked on the door as quickly as she could. Almost immediately, footsteps could be heard in the distance and it wasn't long before the heavy door shifted open. Standing in its wake was a short, bony woman in a rather distasteful amount of purple. Alvarie opened her mouth and then closed it, letting the woman speak first.
"Oh hello dear…" she said, stepping back a little at the sight of Alvarie's appearance.
"It's me Mrs. Hudson. Alvarie." she replied looking Mrs. Hudson right in the face so she would have the best chance of recognition. Mrs. Hudson looked confused for a few moments until something clicked and her face brightened.
"Oh! Alvarie!" She exclaimed nodding and smiling to keep the ever approaching awkward silence at bay. "You've changed your hair! Kids these days and their funny little styles…" She trailed off gawking at Alvarie's short bubble gum pink hair that faded into a cotton candy blue.
"Well, come in then!" she offered, her eyes shifting back and forth from Alvarie's hair and the floor as she gestured her into the entryway. Alvarie stepped in after her arm had finished its grand sweep and peered up at the steep black stairs that awaited her. She sighed briefly, nodded to Mrs. Hudson, and then began her ascent to whatever horrible conversation awaited her at the top.
Reaching the doorframe of Sherlock's flat came all too soon and Alvarie felt her stomach make a familiar drop. She peered around the corner witnessing four figures doing their best to act like they hadn't known she was coming. There was Sherlock, with his head hung over the back of his favorite chair and his hands resting underneath his chin. John Watson sat nearby trying to focus on a blank computer screen and not whoever was standing in the doorframe. Across the room was a young girl who looked about 11 or 12 sitting on the floor in front of a couch. On that couch was someone Alvarie recognized to be the woman who kept popping up in the newspaper clippings she had of all the times Sherlock had turned in one of her own. She raised an eyebrow at Alvarie as if she noticed something odd about her.
"Are you going to come in or are we going to sit here all day while you doubt your self-confidence?" Sherlock asked still staring at the ceiling with a placid look on his face. Alvarie entered at that, positioning herself in front of him.
"Who do you think you are?" she questioned back at him, trying her best not to yell. After he offered no reaction Alvarie continued, gaining steam as she went. "It's not easy for the rest of us, we take every job we can get and sometimes we don't know who were doing it for. We don't have the choice. You act like you're some god and we should be thankful for you putting us straight. But you know what? I'm not thankful, not in the least." She finished in a crescendo, letting the last words hang in the room like unwelcome memories.
"It's not like she's trying to do anything about your lifestyle." John muttered causing Sherlock's head to turn, his eyebrows slightly furrowed. Alvarie turned to John as well, giving him a rather annoyed stare. Once John realized that just about everyone was staring at him he went back to pretending to do something other than listen to their conversation.
"This has been lovely but, I'd appreciate it if you took your teenage angst somewhere else." Sherlock said after a few moments of silence. He stood up, crossing the room to show Alvarie towards the door.
"Oh, come on Sherlock!" John groaned turning around in his seat to face them "She's your daughter the least you could do is not be an…" He trailed off, realizing what he had just said.
Sherlock turned towards John again, anger plain on his face. His eyes were fixated on him in a fit of silent rage but, every once and awhile they drifted, looking towards the other side of the room.
Alvarie glanced over at the girl on the couch who was now sitting up with a startled look on her face.
Without a word Sherlock started to walk out of the flat, stopping to grab his coat which was draped over a nearby chair. The four left in the room stared at each other, at a loss for words.
Time seemed to stop for Lilly. Surely this was just some awful experiment Sherlock was doing… but John would never be okay with something this heavy, so it had to be true… Lilly pressed her palms into her forehead, her logical mind pulled under a tidal wave of building emotions.
Rain turned to Lilly. She could tell that Lilly was on the verge of panicking, so she sat next to her and hugged her. "We'll figure this out."
Lilly pushed the girl off softly. "Don't touch me right now, Rain." The girl backed up, a little hurt.
John got up, taking a step closer to Lilly. "This wasn't what I thought-"
Lilly locked eyes with the doctor, her harsh glare silencing him. After a moment of glaring, she realized Sherlock had left only moments ago. "I'll go after him..." Lilly mumbled, running out of the flat in search for her friend.
It didn't take her long to find him; he was only a block ahead. Sherlock heard quickly approaching footsteps and knew Lilly was following him. The blond jumped in front of him, blocking his path. She crossed her arms and bit her lower lip. "Were you even going to tell me?"
"Eventually, yes." He avoided eye contact with her.
"Liar," She hissed. "You… I…" She let out a shivering sigh, holding back tears. "I… I kinda liked you! And.. you let me! You let me despite having a… A BLOODY CHILD!" Lilly felt light-headed, dizzy from the different emotions boiling inside her. She laughed a little, dangerously close to crying. "I've had my fair share of letdowns, Sherlock Holmes, believe me. But… never has it ever hurt like this."
Sherlock winced, still looking away. "Lilly, I-"
"Don't 'Lilly,' me, you piece of shit, don't you even dare. There's nothing left for you to say. I should have listened to the others… Molly, Sally… even bloody Mycroft… this is what I get for not listening to them. Because, you are a psychopath, Holmes. You just… don't… care. And I should have known better." She sighed, feeling only slightly better. "Tell Rain that I'm going home. And say bye to John for me… your... d-daughter... has nice hair… and…" she locked eyes with the detective, taking his phone while he wasn't looking. Unlocking it, she scrolled through his contacts list. She tossed him back the phone a few seconds later, "don't contact me ever again." Lilly walked off, attempting to erase everything that had to do with Sherlock from her mind.
Sherlock ran his hand through his hair, watching her go. He looked back down at his phone. A small box had popped up reading, "Contact deleted." He threw his phone back into his pocket and swore under his breath. Feeling quite lost, he walked back to his flat.
Rain jumped up. "Where's Lilly?"
"She went home. I'm guessing as soon as she turned the corner she started running, so don't try to catch up to her." Sherlock said, turning to John with a hateful look on his face.
Still looking towards John, his eyes shifted to Alvarie at his left. "Lilly told me to tell the two of you goodbye. And she was so kind to add that you have nice hair."
"Oh, right... to hell she's going home…" Rain rolled her eyes knowingly.
John raised an eyebrow. "What? Where's she going, and why is she saying goodbye all of the sudden?"
The girl let out a sigh. "She's going to a bar to blow what little money we have. And she isn't coming back here. Or, at least she doesn't plan to. Which, by extension, means I won't either. Bye John, bye Sherlock… it's been fun…" Sherlock glared at the army doctor, still angry beyond belief.
John walked up to the girl. "Wait, Rain, can't you just talk to her?"
"I could, but now Sherlock's against her dating code."
"Her what?" John smirked a little. "She has a dating code?"
Rain nods. "See, if a person already has a significant other, or has a child, then she drops them, even if she honestly likes said person. There's other stuff too, but… those are the main ones."
John almost laughs. "Oh, come on… isn't that a little excessive?"
The girl shrugs. "Maybe, but it's what she lives by."
"You've gotta talk her out of this…"
"Yeah, yeah… I'll try… See ya…" Rain leaves, her vibe a mix of depression and slight irritation.
Then there were only the two Holmes and John left in the flat.
It had been a minute and a half after Rain had left the flat and the last three occupants still did nothing but shift uncomfortably. Alvarie questioned why she was even still there considering all that had transpired or even worse what could come next. It seemed as if John and Alvarie were in some sort of contest to see who could go the longest without making eye contact with Sherlock for more than half a second. Eventually, John lost. He looked up from his shoes and glanced at Sherlock with what could only be called pity in his eyes.
"What?" Sherlock said with a sharp edge to his voice. Alvarie flinched at his tone considering how quiet it had been between the three of them for so long.
"You can't even look at her, can you?" John replied, shaking his head back and forth. John's words made Alvarie fidget, as if a swarm of invisible bees were attacking her. Straightening herself out and attempting to calm her nerves, Alvarie headed out of the flat. Her eyes were trained to the ground as she left partly out of habit and partly because she knew if she looked up Sherlock would see her tears.
Only moments after her last footsteps had trailed down the stairs, Sherlock threw himself back onto his chair.
"I didn't ask for this John." he murmured, closing his eyes. John turned towards him, disappointment still clear on his face.
"You didn't have to ask, Sherlock. You brought this all on yourself."
"You'd think I'd remember if I'd made that sort of error." Sherlock answered defensively.
"Your only error was not doing a bloody thing ever to help her!" John shouted back at him, all the pity from earlier turning into pure anger.
"Why must you all care so much?" Sherlock asked, his eyes flying open to look John square in the face.
"Excuse me?" John said not because he couldn't hear what Sherlock had said but, because he didn't want to hear it. "I could care less about this whole situation and still care more than you. So far you've had three people walk out on you and I will be a fourth if you don't at least try and pull yourself together." He started to stand when he had finished speaking, walking towards the door.
"Do you think she's home by now?" Sherlock said causing John to stop walking and turn around to look at Sherlock. Instead of answering him, John continued to walk and soon Sherlock sprung up to join him. The pair fell in step beside each other, leaving the flat pointedly empty.
Alvarie wasn't too far ahead of them. She walked at a pace that a passerby would only deem as pathetic. Not the kind of pathetic associated with being out of shape but, the kind that makes you want to give a complete stranger a pat on the back. She trudged along turning the corner a couple blocks down from 221B, quickly approaching the underground station. Quite on accident Alvarie looked over her shoulder as she made the turn, spotting the moving figures of Sherlock Holmes and John Watson. This quickened her pace considerably. In fact, Alvarie practically raced down the street after she had spotted them, her heart pounding out of her chest. Making the mistake of looking a second time, she saw that the pair were now running as well.
By the time she had run up to the gates positioned at the entrance to the underground, Alvarie could barely stop her hands from shaking. Just as she was pulling her blue paycard from her coat pocket, a hand fell on her shoulder and she stopped. Alvarie turned around to look right into her father's face.
She tried to back up which caused her head to collide with a man behind her who has attempting to enter the station. As she mumbled an apology, Sherlock led her a few feet away from the entrance, keeping a firm grip on her shoulder so she couldn't run away. After they were away from the prying eyes of tourists and commuters, he spoke.
"Let me try." he said simply. Alvarie shot confusion back at him, a hundred different emotions consuming her at once. "Let me try, caring." He corrected, seeming to flinch at the last syllables. Alvarie's face relaxed a little as she tried to calculate what game Sherlock was trying to play with her. After coming up with nothing incriminating in his look she faltered, not knowing what to say to him.
"I…I'm not sure what you're trying to do but I want you to know that you can never apologize." She said, sucking in a breath and holding it there for a few seconds. Sherlock ran a hand through his hair trying to calculate his response. Seeing that he was struggling Alvarie took her chance to to make a break for the station once more. She was about to tap the blue card on the circle outside the gate when Sherlock grabbed her wrist to turn her back around.
"I find sentiment pointless and I've spent most of my life avoiding it. It didn't take me long to realize that you're the same." He said, still keeping a tight hold on her wrist.
"What?"
"I can see it in your eyes. You're afraid that when you stop hating me you'll have nothing. That you'll become me; seemingly void from all emotions." Alvaire flinched, dropping her eyes to look at her shoes. "You keep thinking that the more you care the more she's won." He continued watching as Alvarie's eyes became more and more distant. "Your hate, it controls you and you let it. You don't let anyone in to help you and you don't care enough to help yourself. Let me care." He finished with visible difficulty, looking up as to hide his expression. Just seconds after he uttered the last word sobs poured out of Alvarie. Her tears seemed to never end as Sherlock watched uncomfortably. Finally, she fell silent collapsing into Sherlock and pressing her wet cheek on the fabric of his coat.
Sherlock didn't know what to do so he glanced back at John who was standing some distance away. John mimed a hug encouragingly, causing Sherlock to turn back around, clearly embarrassed. However, he did attempt to do as John had suggested giving Alvarie a couple of awkward pats on the back. All the while, several people looked on, skirting around the two Holmes to use the other two gates. Annoyed looks were plastered on many of their faces.
A few minutes later, the two Holmes and John started to make their way back to Baker Street. However, there was still something missing for Sherlock. He felt like the hour hand on a broken clock. The minutes continued to pass but, he didn't move with them. There was something he still needed to fix or he was bound to stay still forever.