Ch. 7
Ten Years Prior
"Sherlock?"
"Yes?"
They laid together in a tangle of sheets.
"I have a confession to make," Norah said, twirling her hair nervously between her fingers.
"…Yes?" He removed his arms from around her body and laid on his side to face her, propping himself up on an elbow.
"…I'd never done that before…" She looked up at him with big green doe eyes.
Oh God. He wasn't aware that Norah was a virgin. His face contorted into one of disapproval before he could stop it.
"Why didn't you tell me?" He was more concerned than upset. Had he hurt her? Did she not enjoy it?
"I didn't want to put you off!"
Sherlock put his hands over his face.
Norah went back to twirling her hair uncomfortably, until she realized something. "Wait a second,"
"What?"
"YOU'VE never done it before either, have you?" She could read it all over his face and body language.
Uh-oh.
"…I didn't want to put you off."
"Sherlock, you prick!" She laughed and hit him with her pillow. He chuckled and pinned her down by her arms underneath him.
"Was it at least any good?" he asked. "Did I hurt you?"
"I mean, a little at first, but it was fine. Great actually. But, how would I know." She shrugged playfully, leaning up to kiss him.
"It's very likely that we are both horrible in bed and don't know it," he whispered, smiling.
"That's alright, we can be horrible in bed together. In fact, I rather enjoy being horrible in bed together."
…
"Sherlock?"
"Yes?"
They sat across from each other in a booth at a restaurant.
"What was it that you needed to tell me?" Professor Sinclair sipped his merlot and peered across the table at his TA.
"Yes. Right. Well sir,…Norah and I-,"
"Are infatuated with each other. I realize that." He took another sip of his wine and gazed over the menu.
Sherlock gulped, dumbfounded. "…How did you-,"
"How did I know? Son, I knew before you did." The professor sighed and removed his reading glasses. He was acting surprisingly aloof for the magnitude of the situation.
"The first moment I introduced you two, I could practically hear both of your heart rates change. Norah's pupils dilated but yours narrowed. You were studying her extra carefully, but you couldn't read anything from her because she takes after me. Your posture straightened when you came to the conclusion that you could not deduce anything about my daughter, and that peaked your interest. If there's anything you like, it's a good mystery." He took another sip of his wine. "I saw it coming within three seconds."
"I-…I-…" He was speechless. Sherlock Holmes was not often speechless.
"If this is your way of asking for my approval, my answer is yes."
"Uh," Sherlock cleared his throat. "Th-Thank you, sir."
"Just do me one kindness Sherlock. Could you both not come into class the day after you've fornicated with it written all over your faces? It's rather distracting as a father."
Damn. Sherlock thought he was being awfully subtle about that.
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner."
"Eh, it's alright. You didn't have to." Professor Sinclair winked at him and went back to looking over the menu. Across the table, Sherlock smiled to himself.
The professor set down his menu. "Now that that's out of the way, I think I'll have the venison."
