Chapter Four
Aftermath
Sherlock clearly was uncomfortable touching me, presumably not really knowing how to comfort someone, let alone after an explosion. They don't happen too regularly, I'd imagine. He rubbed his hands over mine quickly before taking them back, clearing his throat and going into the kitchen. I stared after him, rubbing my hands where his just were and heard him put the kettle on.
"Tea?" He didn't turn to face me as he asked.
I tried to say something, but my throat seemed to have closed up. I sniffled, feeling very sorry for myself when I realised that this was Sherlock's flat, someone could have been trying to kill him and here I was being so selfish only thinking about myself. I got off the chair and went into the kitchen, avoiding a few experiments that had fallen to the floor from the blast, it was at that moment that I realised that it was probably me that was going to have to clean all the rubble away. I shook this thought out of my head as I approached Sherlock.
I touched his shoulder gently, pulling away when I felt him tense. "Sherlock, are you okay? What was that explosion?"
He shrugged. "Could have been anything." He put two sugars in a cup and none in the other, filling both of with boiling water before stirring and pressing one into my hands. The warmth immediately seeped through my body and I felt better. I think I was in shock.
"It wasn't on purpose was it?" I chewed on my bottom lip, this small gesture caught Sherlock's attention, his eyes were drawn to my lips. "Sherlock?"
He looked away before taking a sip of his tea. "Of course not." He steered me back to the sofa, where I made myself comfortable before he picked up his violin. I watched, interested as he plucked a few strings. I lent my head back and closed my eyes, savouring the feeling of safety that Sherlock emitted and took a deep breath. The soothing sounds of the violin were sending me to sleep so I moved back on the sofa and curled up before giving into the unconsciousness.
The next time I woke up it was morning and it took me a second to remember where I was. I blinked when I saw there was someone in the flat that I had never seen before, he looked wealthy, his suit was neatly pressed and not a single piece was out of place. His umbrella was stood against the chair that he was sitting in as he sipped his cup of tea. He looked happy that I was awake.
"My dear, how are you?"
I just stared at him, wondering who he was and why he was making Sherlock agitated enough to make horrible noises on his violin. What used to be soothing was now extremely annoying. Sherlock locked eyes with me and pulled a face.
"Dear?" I looked back at the new man who was staring at me, a concerned look on his face that didn't reach his eyes.
"I, I'm fine." I sat up a bit straighter, rubbing my eyes. "Who are you?"
His eyes widened and he got up off his chair, coming over to me. "How terribly rude of me, I'm Mycroft." He smiled. "Of course we were going to meet later today but obviously there were some unaccounted for events that came to pass." He shook my hand while muttering to himself, throwing Sherlock a few unreadable looks. He let go of my hand and went back to his chair just as John came through the door.
"Are you alright?" He asked, seemingly breathless. "I saw the explosion on the news." I raised my eyebrows and peered out of the window, sure enough there were quite a lot of people down there. I wondered why none of them came up.
"They were here when you were asleep." I almost jumped at Sherlock's voice, it annoyed me that he could almost read my mind. He smirked at me from his chair, plucking another string on his violin before grabbing his bow.
John came over to me, knowing that he wouldn't be able to get anything out of Sherlock and looked me over, his doctor mentality coming through. "What happened?"
"Gas leak." Sherlock drawled, making me wince with as he made a terrible screeching sound with his violin.
John blinked. "Gas leak?" Sherlock nodded lazily.
It was at this moment that John noticed Mycroft. He nodded stiffly, not seeming to like the older man. I briefly wondered why but I realised that I really wanted to get out of here. There was only so much that I could take in one day and I really didn't want to break down in front of these guys.
"Hey. I'm just gonna, uh, head home." I said, grabbing Mrs Hudson's supply basket that I had been using before the explosion and picked up some of the rubbish that I would throw out later.
"Oh, of course. I'll walk you down." Sherlock jumped up, stored his violin behind his chair and walked out in front of me. I watched his back, slightly bemused. He didn't seem like the kind of guy that was nice enough to walk someone out, but I suppose that even he has to have some sort of empathy. Unless he wanted something. I slowly followed behind, watching as he bounded down the stairs.
He stopped at the bottom of the stairs and looked back at me as though me walking this slow was annoying him, which it probably was. I made it to the bottom of the stairs and glanced up at him. He looked at me, his eyes unreadable. I didn't know why he was looking at me so intensely so I coughed and moved away from him. I knocked on Mrs Hudson's door, wondering why she hadn't come up after the explosion.
"Oh, hello dear! I'm so glad you're alright, Sherlock told me you were just sleeping so I left you be. Would you like a cup of tea?" She then caught sight of Sherlock who had come to stand behind me. "Oh Sherlock! How are you? I've spoken to the nice man outside and he says that we won't have to pay for the damages, because it was the flat across the road that blew up." During her little speech she moved away from us and put the kettle on. I sighed, resigning myself to staying a bit longer and put the basket on the floor next to the cupboard and sat down at the table, Sherlock sliding into the chair opposite me.
"What?" I asked, feeling his eyes on me.
"I thought you were going home."
"I was but-" I was cut off by Mrs Hudson putting a mug in front of me. I gave it a pointed look for Sherlock's benefit and took a sip, it warmed me and I felt myself relax into the hard wooden chair.
"And of course, you can have the day off tomorrow dear. I'm ever so sorry for what you've been through today. Poor darling." She stroked the top of my head and looked down at me sadly. I wanted to feel annoyed by her pity but the prospect of a day off was too much to resist.
Mrs Hudson hugged me to her suddenly and I tensed, Sherlock watched this interaction avidly but his concentration was ruined when Mrs Hudson pulled him into the hug as well. It was a little awkward as our faces were extremely close to each other and her bosom. "You as well Sherlock, you were in the nasty explosion as well. Oh deary me, now I know I'm not your housekeeper but I'll come up later with a nice dinner for you. You're skin and bones." She continued her rant about his health as she held us towards her.
