Chapter 9
In this month of November, Audrey had celebrated her 11th birthday, and Molly and John Watson were discovering the joys of raising a pre-teenager. They were now used to slamming doors and sullen looks. John was generally the best at dealing with her growing attitude, but Molly had less patience. She was particularly exasperated by Sherlock's laxity which was anything but helpful. John liked to joke that Sherlock would only start worrying the day Audrey would bring him her first boyfriend.
She had spent the week end with Sherlock. When he came to bring her back on Sunday night, he exchanged a few words with John at the door but seemed to be in an hurry. Audrey went directly to her room and started chatting with her friends on MSN. Her parents had tried to restrain her use of the computer, but with little success so far. They couldn't complain about her grades, which were always excellent, but teachers would often mention her indiscipline.
That particular morning, John was in charge of getting the kids ready. Molly, who had started working again, had come back in the middle of the night. He cooked breakfast for everyone and tried to start a conversation with Audrey who was already glued to her phone.
"So, how was your week end ?", he asked cheerfully.
"Boring."
John couldn't help smirking. He had heard that word so many times in Sherlock's mouth.
"Boring ? That's surprising."
Audrey shrugged, and started texting, her bowl of cereals remaining untouched.
"What did you do?»
"Nothing."
John sighed, already tired of the usual monosyllabic answers.
"You spent two days with Sherlock and did nothing?»
"Nothing fun."
"We went to see a football game with dad and it was super fun", said Jack.
"I don't care. Football is boring anyway and we didn't ask you anything."
"You're jealous !"
"Not I'm not !"
"Wow, calm down both of you !", interrupted John. "You're going to wake up your mom."
"Why did she have to work late ?", asked Jack.
"Because she was working on a night shift", explained John.
"Because somebody died and she had to open up its cadaver", added Audrey.
"Audrey, we're eating right now!", complained her dad.
"What ? It's the truth?»
"I know", said Jack. "Dad is a doctor for sick people and Mom is a doctor for dead people."
"Pathologist...", corrected Audrey. "Dead people are already dead, they don't need a doctor".
"OK, it's a fascinating conversation but we were talking about your week end", said John. "Was Sherlock on a case?»
"No."
"So what's the problem? You always love going there."
"Why don't you ask him ?", she answered with a defiant look.
"Hey, I already told you not to talk back to me this way. Of course I'm going to ask him, but I'd like to hear from you first. I think what happened is that you did something bad and you don't want to talk about it."
"I didn't do anything ! He was the one who brought his stupid girlfriend !"
John was about to correct her language again, but his brain was too busy trying to process the information which had just hit him.
"You... you mean your papa got a girlfriend ?"
"Obviously!»
"Oh, that's the second warning! Be careful there won't be a third." There was a sudden silence in the room. John rarely raised his voice, but when he did it was with all the authority of the ex-military.
"What's going on here?", asked Molly, standing at the door frame in her pyjamas.
"See what you did", said John with an accusatory look.
"Sorry mum", answered both kids in unison.
Molly gave a kiss to each of them, and poured herself a cup of coffee.
"I didn't see you yesterday, how was your week end darling ?"
"Well, you just missed the big scoop", said John. "Audrey had the pleasure to meet with Sherlock's girlfriend."
Molly almost dropped her cup in surprise. "What ? Did you know about it ?"
"I had no idea, I just found out."
"And who is she?"
"I don't know, she's stupid", said Audrey.
"You already said that twice", replied John. "Don't you know any another adjective?"
Audrey sighed. "She's American and she's a singer or something."
"A singer? That's... interesting."
"Is she pretty?", asked Molly.
The question made John roll his eyes.
"She's ok."
"Well", said John, "I guess that means very pretty."
"Wait, was she there with you all week end ?", inquired Molly, sounding slightly irritated
"She came with us to the movie and the ice rink."
"Oh... so you so actually did something this week end !", exclaimed John.
"Ha ha, very funny", commented Audrey.
"You're the one who's not funny!", said Jack.
John clapped his hands to end the conversation. "It's almost half past seven, don't you two have to get ready for school?"
^/^
John and Molly were left alone in the kitchen, while another sibling fight was taking place to know who would get the bathroom first.
"I can't believe it!", said Molly still in disbelief.
"It's rather good news don't you think?"
"Good for him yes... but honestly I think it's completely disrespectful! I mean, he didn't even ask us if we were ok for her to meet Audrey.
"Molly..."
"What? We don't know anything about that woman, she could be anybody."
"If Sherlock chose to introduce her to Audrey, then it must me pretty serious."
"And you had never heard about her before?"
"OK it's strange, but not so surprising with Sherlock. He's never very talkative about those things. After all, I was sharing a flat with him at the time the two of you were... seeing each other and I never knew anything about it!»
Molly slightly blushed at the mention of her own affair with Sherlock. "Still, I think he should have asked our permission before."
"I agree. I'm going to give him a call today and try to find out about this mysterious lady."
"We don't even know her name", noticed Molly. "Audrey!", she called, "What's the name of Sherlock's girlfriend ?"
The answer came a few seconds later:
"Irene something".
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