"Hooper."
"Holmes."
The woman standing in front of him was not the woman Sherlock thought he knew. Instead, a look of challenge, with a hint of contempt, stared daggers up at him. She had fooled him. The great Sherlock Holmes.
"For the record Holmes, she didn't have me fooled."
Sherlock had to stop himself as he turned on Watson. He was stunned, yes, but not for the reason Watson thought.
Molly's eyes bore into him and it took him a second to collect himself. There were other pressing matters to attend to first.
The women we have ignored and disparaged.
Sherlock's knuckles rapped briskly on the wood of the familiar door.
"Yes?"
"Hello Janine…"
"Mr. Holmes." She nodded at him, her eyebrow raised and a smug smirk on her face.
"I was… wanting to speak to Doctor Hooper."
"Obviously."
"I… well…" He huffed out a breath, clearly at a loss for what to say to such impertinence.
"He's eating his breakfast. Really busy." She interjected sardonically.
Sherlock was getting annoyed now and his words came out like vinegar. "Please, may I speak to Doctor Hooper."
Janine simply smiled, her eyes gleaming, and stepped aside to let him in.
Molly was sitting at the dining table, dressed for work and sipping tea as she read the paper. "Holmes." She acknowledged without looking away from the page.
"Hooper."
"Will there be anything else Dr Hooper?" Janine chimed in from Sherlock's elbow.
"No. That will be all for today I think Janine. Enjoy the rest of your day."
Sherlock watched as Janine left. Yet another one to fool him. Mary, Janine… Molly.
He turned back to the man sitting at the table. Everything that had happened in the last twenty-four hours made him question his own cleverness.
"Well spit it out then. I have to be at work soon." Hooper put his paper down and stood. "Lestrade's bringing me a fresh one this morning… from the country. Some Lord…"
Sherlock snapped and lunged across the room at him, grabbing the front of his shirt and pushing him up against the wall, hard. He was shaking as he glared down at the doctor in his grasp. The doctor who's eyes were wide with surprise, but who's face remained steeled towards him.
"Temper, temper." Hooper spat patronizingly. "Go on then. Punch me. I can tell you want to. Need to even. In need of another fix?"
Sherlock's grip loosed. "I don't…"
As soon as he was free from Sherlock's grasp, Hooper shoved him away and readjusted himself. "Clearly you have something you want to say."
Sherlock stood in silence for a few moments before turning on his heel. He was out the door. He was down the street. He was far away from Doctor Hooper.
A/N: Hello. Thank you all for your kind words and acknowledgement. I hope you're enjoying this little thing that I've done. Um... yeah. Please leave a review, they make me really happy. I'm sorry about the constant changing of pronouns, it's something that I'm playing around with a bit give the circumstances and it may or may not be working. I don't know, you're the ones reading it. So yeah... okay I'll shut up now. Thanks again.
