See Chapter One for Disclaimer
"It's been two weeks, Greg." Maddie opened a box with a grunt, throwing newspaper around as she began to unpack her plates. Headphones dangled from her ear, her phone tucked precariously into the back pocket of her jeans. A small speaker hung from her head phone cord just near her mouth, and she snorted into it. "How are you still mad at me?"
Greg, speaking into his cell from his office in London, snorted back. "You quit, moved away, and forgot to tell me. I'm never letting this go." He leaned back in his seat, rolling his eyes.
"To be fair," Maddie pointed out dryly, "I didn't tell anyone. Also; it's not like I've been planning the move for months and keeping it from you…it was all very unexpected." She grimaced at the boxes she'd packed up in a day and still, two weeks later, weren't even a little bit unloaded.
"Yeah right, whatever." Greg didn't sound like he believed her, but back in his office, his shoulders relaxed. "So where did you end up? Back in Kansas?"
"Nope, Washington. Seattle, specifically."
"Never heard of it." Greg made a face when his office door swung open. He held up a finger, and Sherlock, standing in his doorway, made a face, but stayed silent. "You plan on sticking around? Maybe stay someplace longer than a few months?"
"We'll see." But Maddie made a face. Sticking around wasn't really something she did, exactly. But…it might be nice, to try something new. She jumped as the phone in her pocket began to vibrate.
"Oops, Molly is calling, I've gotta go."
"Right." Greg motioned Sherlock into a seat. "I should go too. Tell Molly I said hello."
"Don't tell me what to do," Maddie said without any heat. "See ya." She hung up on Greg, his laughter ringing in her ears as she answered Molly's call.
It was, apparently, just the day for long distance phone calls.
"Hey Mols."
"What is the population of the state of Washington?" Molly's voice was unusually brisk. Maddie didn't know it was because Molly was focused on cutting the heart out of the dead guy on her table, but it was more the question than the tone that had Maddie making a face.
"Why?" She asked slowly.
"Science." Molly grunted as the threw back a large patch of skin.
"Okay. Uh," Maddie squinted as she thought. "7.062 million, as of 2014. Seattle alone is 652,405 as of 2013. That what you needed?"
"Yes." Molly dropped the heart onto her scale and smiled. "Thank you."
Maddie pulled out plates and cups, stacking them on her kitchen island, waiting for Molly to speak up. When the line remained silent for long moments, Maddie chuckled. "You were just using the question as an excuse to call me?" She guessed, and Molly sighed in defeat.
"Yes." She admitted immediately. "I didn't think you'd know the answer."
"I do my research before I move to a place," Maddie explained, returning to her unpacking.
"Really?" Molly sounded intrigued. "So you know the population in-"
"A whopping 8.539 million, as of 2014," Maddie answered readily. "You wanna explain why you're really calling?"
"I miss you," Molly blurt out. She pulled her gloves off with a huff. "When you were here it was almost like I had an actual friend."
"Mols." Maddie furrowed her eyebrows. "You do know that I am your actual friend, right?"
"Well, yeah, of course, I mean, really? You are?" Maddie laughed at the surprise that colored Molly's startled question.
"We've ripped bodies apart together. In my book, we're best friends."
"Oh." Molly smiled brightly. "Well. How is your new place?"
"Huge." Maddie shook her head and glared at the "place" in question. "It's about 2,000 square feet more than I need, and all of my crap fits in one room."
"Well, maybe this is a place you can grow into?" Molly tried helpfully, but Maddie snorted.
"Nah. Two homeless chicks tried to steal my wallet the other day. Maybe I'll invite them to move in."
"Or there's that," Molly made a face. "I suppose. What about that nice man you were telling me about? The unemployed one? Is he closer?"
"Well," Maddie started moving the stacked dishes into the cupboards. "He's in the country. And he's also legitimately employed now, so that's promising."
"Oh? Doing what?" To be fair, Molly had never met the man, but as Maddie described him, he was much too wild for Molly's tastes. For Maddie? The man was practically perfect.
"He's a detective, like what Greg is." Maddie closed the plates cupboard and opened the cup cupboard. "Except, well, he investigates specific crimes, and only for certain places that recognize his department. I mean, his department is looking to expand, but right now they kind of only come when called.
"So," Molly squinted. "Like Sherlock?"
Maddie was silent, considering that. "Actually, pretty much exactly like Sherlock. Except he doesn't work with one specific department, he works with a bunch of them."
"I see now! That's very exciting, but is he around much then?"
"Well," Maddie tilted her head. "For the amount of travel he does, I've surprisingly enough seen a lot of him." Maddie smiled and waved out her living room window. "But it's really chill right now. Anyway," Maddie turned back to her dishes. "How are you? What are you up to?"
"Oh!" Molly beamed. "I've just dissected the most fascinating specimen!"
Ten minutes later, when Maddie's phone buzzed, informing her of another call, Maddie gladly concluded the graphic conversation she was holding with Molly to find out who ELSE had decided to call her.
"Baby question," Watson blurt out the second Maddie had pressed answer, not even giving Maddie a chance to say hello. "How do you get one to sleep when they should be napping but they really don't want to?"
Maddie rolled her eyes and set down the stack of cups in her hands. "Okay," she said matter of factly, "here's what you do; take the tiny beast and wrangle him into a halfway position. You'll want his head in the crook of your elbow and the rest of its crazy body tucked in as tight and close to your stomach as possible. At this point, this kid is going to be screaming and thrashing: you let it happen. It wears the thing out. Now, the next thing you're going to do is start spanking the kid on its bottom. Find a rhythm, and just keep at it. That kid's screaming is going to pick up double time and the thrashing is going to increase by ungodly proportions. Just keep spanking that baby bottom, because, I promise to you, that kid will go limper than, well….limp."
"Thanks for not elaborating." John said after a moment.
"You're welcome." Maddie grinned and threw the empty box in front of her to the side.
One box down. A billion more to go.
"But really? Spanking?" John asked incredulously when he regained the ability to speak.
"It's proven science." Maddie pulled another box towards her with a grimace. "Something to do in the womb, or whatever."
"Right." John was silent for a moment. "Well. It doesn't hurt to give it a try."
"Yeah." Maddie grunted as she ripped the lid of the box open. "Let me know how it goes."
"Oh, and uh, how's your thing? With the…guy?" John asked as an afterthought.
"Very specific." Maddie rolled her eyes, but paused in her attack of the box labeled Kitchen Crap. "Lucky I know what you're talking about. It's," Maddie moved to her living room window, where Dean was leaning over his "baby", speaking in low tones to the actual baby on his hip. Orion, for his part, was listening intently, and Maddie hated herself a little bit for the smile that grew on her face.
"Right now we're what I would call a domestic-platonic." She finally admitted, and she could practically hear the confused look grow on Watson's face.
"That doesn't sound like a real thing." John argued lightly.
"It totally is," Maddie retorted immediately. "Because I'm looking at it." She groaned. "It's real…and I hate it."
"So." John huffed. "What are you going to do about it?"
"Something…drastic."
"Like what?" John asked, but instead of answering, Maddie smiled and moved to hover over the end button.
"Bye Watson." She said cheekily, before hanging up and stepping outside, heading towards the baby she adored and the man that…well, wasn't far behind.
When Maddie's phone rang for the fourth time that day, she was a little…busy.
"Sherlock," Maddie panted as she pulled away from a stunned looking Dean. "You damn cockblock, what do you want?"
Sherlock took a moment to decide whether or not to ask, then wisely decided not to. "What are your plans for Orie's first birthday?" He asked briskly.
"Dude." Maddie flicked her hair out of her face and shot Dean a wink.
The poor guy was so flustered that he didn't even notice Maddie sneak the baby out of his arms and meander her way back into the house. "That's five months away. Why?"
"I intend to attend."
"Worst sentence ever." Maddie pointed out. "But I'll ignore it for the sake of reminding you of that one day that you stuffed him with cake? That was you celebrating."
Sherlock huffed loudly. "Tell me when to appear, or I will choose a date for myself, arriving at the absolute worst moment for you." He snapped, and Maddie rolled her eyes.
"You're evil." She accused.
"Thank you." Sherlock responded promptly. "Birthday plans?"
Maddie turned to Dean, who was standing in the doorway, mouth open as if to speak. She shot him a wink, and his jaw snapped shut. "Listen, Sherlock, I don't know if you know this, but birthdays are for rich people. I never had a birthday, and look how well I turned out!"
Sherlock made a face on the other end of the line. Maddie made a face on her end, and even Dean, who didn't know the full extent of the story, made a face.
"Fine," Maddie caved. "Birthday party it is. But it will be a small one," She warned, "and we won't worry about it for at least two more months. Call me in 8 weeks, Holmes, and then we'll talk."
"Agreed," Sherlock said smugly, hanging up the phone a moment later.
Maddie pulled the head phones out of his ear and dropped her phone on the kitchen island, heading to the only room that was set up: Orie's bedroom. The baby was deposited in his crib, where he promptly rolled over and fell asleep, and Maddie returned to the main living area of her new house to find Dean exactly where she'd left him. She crossed her arms with a smile.
"So you wanna talk about that kiss," Dean started nodding quickly, "Or," Maddie continued, "would you rather just, do it again?" Dean slowly stopped nodding, his eyebrows furrowing as he thought about it.
"Both?" He finally asked hesitantly. Maddie smiled.
"Where would you like to start?" She teased lightly, moving forward.
"The second one." Dean nodded quickly. "Definitely the second part."
"Right." Maddie's smirk turned into a genuine smile.
"Let's start there then."
Cute. UGH. This marks the end of Abroad! Look for chapter one of the SHIFT Finale, titled Backspace, coming Sep. 1st!
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~CLC~