Chapter 4: These Are A Few of My Favorite Things

Before I knew it Benedict had whisked me out of Lucille's and into a cab.

"This is crazy." I said. I had actually meant to say it in my head, but it popped out of my mouth. Apparently, being around Benedict had caused my brain to stop functioning correctly.

"What's life without a little crazy?' Benedict said giving me that eye crinkling smile that made my heart feel like it was going to exit my body.

"I never do things like this. I never get into cabs with random men who don't tell me where they are taking me." I turned my body so that I was looking at him. Our knees were touching, and I could feel the heat from his leg on mine.

"But alas, you did today." He smirked. "London has made you a wild woman."

I laughed. I laughed a slightly loud, obnoxious laugh. What was wrong with me? I thought. I literally felt like I wasn't in control of what I was doing. It was like it was taking all of my power to control my thought process so the rest of my body was going to hell. I coughed. "I, uh, see what you did there."

"I plan on making 'alas' a part of my everyday vocabulary." He said.

"That might be tricky. 'Alas' situations don't occur as often as you think." I said

"Ah, a challenge. It will keep me on my toes." I laughed again. I'm not even sure if what he said was that funny, but I was struggling to not look like a complete loon. We rode along in the car as Benedict gave me the moving tour of London. He would point out all of the different buildings and tell me what he felt I needed to know about them. There was something about the way he was talking, the way he was being so incredibly… normal, that started to put me at ease. He was so warm when he spoke, that it made me feel as if I was the only person in the world.

"And we are here." He said as the cab came to a slow halt. I opened my door and looked at the site in front of me. When Benedict got out of the car, he opened an umbrella and motioned for me to join him underneath. He pulled it low over us, hiding us from the world.

I walked next to him quickly trying to follow, having to take 2-3 steps for his every 1 to keep up. We were walking in stride, heading towards an area that looked like a garden. The sun was slowly setting, leaving the sky to be a beautiful marbled painting of pink, yellow, and orange.

"This is my favorite place." He said staring forward as I came up behind him, "Kensington Gardens."

I stood in awe of the garden before me. I'm not sure if it was the sunset, or the garden, or the man next to me, but I was sure that this view was the most beautiful I had ever seen in my life. "Wow," I said quietly.

"This is the most beautiful time of day. I try to come out whenever I can. It's usually best when it's raining. Not as many people around, so you can truly enjoy it." I could visually see his body relax, enjoying this moment. "Ready to explore?" He said, extending to me his bent arm. It took all my control not to squeal as I slipped my arm around his. The smile on my face could have probably been seen all the the way back home as we started our adventure through the gardens.

We strolled through the garden for some time, taking in the beautiful view as the sun dipped slowly below the horizon. I found that nothing brought me more joy than the sound of Benedict's laugh. Starting deep in his chest, it came out rich and smooth like a sweet caramel. My focus became making him laugh in anyway possible, just so I could hear it over and over again.

Soon we walked into a different part of the of the gardens. I found myself having deja vu.

"This place… I've seen it before." I said with a furrowed brow, trying to piece together my memory.

"I thought you said you'd never been to London before?" Benedict said questioningly.

I smiled. "I haven't, silly. I meant, I've seen this place in a movie bef…" Suddenly it came to me. "Oh, no…" A pinkish blush spread across my cheeks.

"That is quite a face! What is it?" Benedict questioned with intrigue.

"I had a very embarrassing movie obsession when I was young and I'm pretty sure there was a scene from the movie filmed here." I realized, though, from this connection what was close. "Oh my gosh." I unhooked my arm from Benedict's and started walking quicker in the direction we had been heading.

"What is going on? Where are you going?" When Benedict had caught up with me, I was stopped in front of a statue. "Ah, the Peter Pan statue."

I stood breathless in front of this statue. "I remember watching this Mary-Kate and Ashley movie," I looked over my shoulder to see Benedict smirk. "Yes, I know I'm ridiculous. But there was this scene in the movie with the Peter Pan statue and I remember thinking to myself, I was going to come here. Some way, some how… I was going to get here. I had completely forgotten about that."

"That's quite a story." Benedict said smiling.

"I know it's silly but to 10 year old Maggie, this was the ultimate place of dreams, hope, and romance." I sheepishly admitted.

"Romance?" Benedict said stepping closer.

"Yes. Don't judge, but my favorite moment of the movie is when the boy and the girl are here at the statue and she asks him if he would want to go to Neverland. He responded 'only if you would go with me.' I remember swooning. Obviously, I was quite the hopeless romantic at ten." Benedict laughed his incredibly glorious laugh.

"You are a woman unlike one I have ever met before." He spoke as he took a closer step to me quickly covering the distance between us.

"Is that a good thing, or a bad thing?" I spoke at barely a whisper, looking into his alluring eyes. He leaned forward so that his mouth was against my ear. It was so close that I could feel his breath on my skin. A shiver ran through my body, my knees felt weak. How is this happening? I kept thinking to myself.

"It's a wonderful thing." He said. My heart was beating out of my chest. I bit down on my lip. Here I was, standing only centimeters away from Benedict Cumberbatch. Gently, his hand curved around my waist, landing on the base of my back. He gently pulled me closer to him, his body covering the front of mine. "A very wonderful thing."

Next thing I knew, his lips were pressing against mine. They were soft, much softer than I had imagined. My mind was racing, I was unable to make coherent thoughts. Heck, I was hardly able to breathe. I felt like my senses were overloaded and I couldn't focus on the actual event occurring at this moment in my life.

"Is everything okay?" Benedict said, pulling away and studying my face.

"Yes." I said, almost choking over my words. "More than ok. Amazing, incredible. I'd give you more words but I honestly can't think clearly."

"You weren't kissing me back." He said, lips against mine.

"I promise, that won't happen this time." Finishing my words, I pressed my lips against his, this time kissing him with a fervor that would usually be reserved for a man going off to war. My hands found their way into the dark curls at the base of his neck. His arms wrapped around me, pulling us as close to each other as humanly possible.

There was no place in the world I would have prefered to be. No person in the world I would have wanted to be with. No event that could have pulled me away from the most amazing kiss of my life. If I could have relived one moment of my life over and over again- it would have been that one.

We stood in the garden kissing for what seemed like a lifetime. However, when he pulled away it felt like it hadn't been near long enough.

"Kissing strange men in strange gardens. London has truly turned you into a madwoman." This time it was my turn to laugh, leaning close into his body.

"I'm fairly sure this is the best decision I've made in the longest time. Strange man, strange cabs, strange gardens… all wise in my opinion." He kissed me again, taking the breath from my lungs and melting me into his arms again. We continued kissing, his hand traveling down my back. The lower it got, the more my body shivered under his touch. I had never felt so electric in my life, so alive. My body almost felt like it was vibrating with energy.

It was at that moment that I realized the vibrating had nothing to do with the kiss, and a lot more to do with my cell phone that was actually vibrating in my pocket. I pulled away from Benedict.

"I'm so sorry. I probably need to get this." Speaking more to convince myself than him, I placed my hand on his chest as the other pulled out my cell phone. "Hello?"

"Where the hell are you?" Jantel said bitterly into the phone.

"What?" I pulled my face away from the screen to check the time.

9:30

"Here I was feeling guilty about ditching you, so I rush my date trying to get back to my poor, lonely best friend and you aren't even HERE! I thought 'maybe she went to get food and will be back soon.' However, It's now going on an hour that I've been here and you are NOT! You better have an awesome excuse for worrying me to death." Her voice sounded so agitated on the phone that I could only imagine how her face looked.

"Jantel, you won't even believe me if I tell you." I said, smirking up at Benedict as he smiled.

"Try me." She replied sternly.

"I'll be back to the hotel before long, but I promise you… I'm having the best evening of my life and I am completely safe. I'll see you in a bit." Not giving her a chance to argue back, I snapped the phone closed. There was no way I was going to waste a moment of this time, a moment of Benedict's arms around me. I knew that this was not going to last much longer- his momentary lapse of judgement would return. He would realized that I was an average American girl, and him, a British God and this would be a moment only to be remembered and frequently relieved by me.

"You miss curfew?" Benedict said giving me his adorable lopsided smile.

"Well, apparently she thought I'd disappeared." I responded dramatically.

"I guess we should get out of here. I believe the park closed at 9:30." Benedict said, pulling my arm around his and beginning to walk forward. It was quiet between the two of us. Only the sound of the world going on around us. As we neared the location where we had first arrived at the park Benedict paused and turned to look at me. "Can I see you tomorrow?"

Completely surprised, I paused to look up at him. I had just assumed that this night was a one time thing. He was obviously drunk or high which is why he had kissed me. He wanted to see me again? Was he sure? Was he confusing me for someone else? All these thoughts flew around my head for what felt like forever, when suddenly one word flew out my mouth. "Why?"

Benedict laughed. "Not the answer I was expecting." He said pressing his lips together and raising his eyebrow at me.

"I just don't understand." I said bluntly, looking into his eyes that never seemed to stay the same color.

"What's to understand? I find you interesting and I'd like to see you again." He matter-of-factly responded.

"But- bu-" Stammering over my words, I tried to string together a series of words that would actually make sense. "You are you, and I am me. I'm a teacher and you… you are Sherlock!"

"I was wondering if you knew." His response seemed to reveal either relief or disappointment. "Anyways, what I do is not any more interesting than teaching. It's a bit more glamorous, but I'm sure you have better stories." His words quickly shut me up. "So, do you want to see me again or not?"

"Yes..." I said, still in shock.

"Yes, you want to see me tomorrow?" He said, stepping closer and taking my face into his hands.

"Of course I do." I said, finally with some sort of confidence. He gave me that beautiful lopsided smile and leaned down. As his lips brushed against mine and we kissed for the 4th time this evening, I could feel him laughing into my mouth. A deep, low chuckle that I could feel all the way to my toes. He slid his arm around me and we got closer to the road. He went to call a cab, but his body hesitated briefly.

"Mind if I keep you out a bit longer?" He said. Eagerly, I nodded. I was pretty sure he could have asked me to rob a bank and my response would have stayed the same. He waved the cab away, placed his hand on my waist again, and we walked down the cool, London road.

"Now tell me…" He started.

"Yes?"

"Everything else I need to know about Maggie." I laughed as the words came out of his mouth.

"That might take awhile."

"Other than a date with a beautiful woman tomorrow, I'm pretty sure I having nothing but time." He said. Beaming, I began to speak. I told him about my family, my job, my childhood. We walked into the night and exchanged story after story. He told me about his life and we shared the winding tales of our lives as we walked the roads in front of us. Eventually he asked where my hotel was and we began walking in that direction. Before long we were in front of the brightly lit hotel.

"So tomorrow?" He said, grabbing my hand. "I'll come back here around six? Take you on a proper date."

"Sounds like a plan." Leaning forward, I kissed him lightly on the cheek.

"Until tomorrow then." With a smile, he turned and got into a cab leaving me breathless in front of the hotel. Once I was sure he was out of earshot, I squealed. I squealed like I was a 12 year old at a One Direction concert. I raced into the hotel, sprinting to the lift. The button could have broken from how hard I pushed it. Once the doors opened, I quickly stepped in and leaned against the wall.

I had kissed Benedict Cumberbatch. I had heard his whole life story. I WAS GOING ON A DATE WITH BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH. I squealed again, barely able to contain myself. The buzzing of my cellphone broke me from my trace of delirious excitement so I pulled my phone out.

11:26.

Oh man… Jantel was going to kill me. Willing the elevator to go faster I pressed the button to my floor over and over again. Finally I arrived. Sheepishly I slid my room card and opened the door to find Jantel and Beth sitting on the bed across from the door looking at me. Their hands were crossed over their chests and their faces were stern.

"What the damn hell have you been up to?" Jantel said. I couldn't help but giggle.

"This isn't a giggling matter!" Beth screeched. "This is a serious matter. Do you know what time it is? Do you realize how worried we've been?"

"You hung up on me! You've never done that! I thought you were being kidnapped or brainwashed and they forced you to hang up on me, but no. You walk in here giggling with a skip in your step! I've been worried sick!" Jantel spoke dramatically, accentuating every word with grand gestures.

"Oh calm down. You didn't call the police, so apparently you weren't that worried. Besides, I'm fine. There is no need to worry." Grabbing my pjs, I slipped into the bathroom to quickly change as I calmly reassured him. When I walked out of the bathroom they were still sitting still, watching me like two Hawks stalking a meal.

"We are waiting for an explanation." Beth said firmly. There was no getting out of this situation, I realized, without spilling all the juicy details. Being honest with myself, I was secretly glad because it was all I wanted to talk about.

"So I met someone." I spoke slowly, watching their reactions change.

"A man?" Jantel questioned.

"No, a parrot." I said with a roll of my eyes. "Of course I mean a man!" Never have two people so speedily changed their emotions. Beth squealed and patted the bed for me to join them.

"Who is he? What did you do? Oh my gosh, tell us everything!" Beth said in an octave higher than her normal speaking voice.

"You aren't going to believe me." Plopping on the bed next to them, I gave them a serious face. "But I swear I'm telling the truth."

"Okay…" Jantel said puzzled.

"I met, kissed, and have a date with Benedict Cumberbatch." Silence. Their mouths were agape.

"Sherlock?" Beth finally whispered, as if she couldn't speak it aloud. I nodded, a smile splitting my face in half.

"Oh my gosh! We were just talking about him! I said he was your type." Jantel squealed.

"Apparently you were right." I responded followed by a laugh.

"Tell us everything, and don't you leave out a single, glorious detail." My best friend and sister became my captive audience as I described in detail the dream evening I'd had. By the end of the story they had squealed and 'oh my gosh'ed more times than I could count.

"And we have a date for tomorrow. Can you believe it? It's like a dream!" I squealed, laying back on the bed in disbelief.

There was a pause, then both girls started talking at once.

"We need to get-"

"What are you going to-"

Jantel held her hand up, pausing Beth. "T-Minus 18ish hours until the CumberDate. Beth, we have a lot to do." They started talking a mile a minutes, planning all the things we needed to do to prepare for the date.

I closed my eyes, still laying on the bed. My mind was reeling, trying to process all the events that had just occurred. There were some moments in life that you just know are going to change everything. As I laid back, breathing deeply and snuggling into the soft bed, I realized that this was one of those moments.