A/N: So here we are, back to Laura and John's with their second date! Cue romance (except it isn't really romance because I have no idea how to be romantic in the slightest. Really it's just adorable-ness with a few erotic feelings thrown in. Maybe that's all romance is, really...)
Nearly four weeks passed before Laura saw John again. She hadn't intended for them to go so long without meeting; in fact, she'd done her best to free her busy schedule as much as she could. But between John's irregular shifts at the surgery, his adventures with Sherlock, and Laura's recent flood of work that had come along with being assigned to an up and coming author, there simply hadn't been enough hours in the day for romantic escapades.
However, Laura and John managed to converse on the phone often, alternating between bouts of teasing instigated by Laura and the more genuine, sweeter conversations John seemed so fond of. Despite their long and hectic days, they spent their nights sharing hopes and dreams and whispering childhood stories that to anyone else would have seemed boring and trivial. Laura would always make a sarcastic comment whenever she felt the conversation was drifting too close to the dangerous waters of those final two years she'd spent living with Irene—something she was sure John had picked up on. But he never once pried her for information, taking her hints and skirting around certain topics in a way that clearly displayed his kind heart and generally understanding, patient nature.
When Laura and John finally met in person once more, it was more because of Sherlock's unparalleled skill at driving John up the wall than a break in their work load. The lanky detective had taken to shooting holes in the wall yet again during a dry spell in their case load, leaving John determined to get out of the house and away from his sulking flatmate. He called Laura just after she'd finished up another meeting with the promising writer, and she agreed to dinner and a trip to the cinema for the latest box-office hit.
Laura shook her head with a smile as the exited the theater and John continued to list each and every incorrect aspect of the movie—from how the Hollywood heartthrob had somehow managed to survive six days without a drop of water, to the ex-model's dramatic proclamation that polar bears would be extinct by the end of the year.
"Honestly, the fact that they can pass that crap off as truth and people actually buy it makes me want to take over the movie industry myself," he huffed as they made their way down the street. He offered Laura his arm and she took it, loving the feel of his warm torso pressed against her side.
"You should become a director," she told him jokingly, letting out a shameless laugh when she caught sight of the face he pulled. "You're already a doctor and a more or less a detective—why not just add another profession to the list?" she asked, and he raised an eyebrow in response.
"Take a look at my sleep pattern and you'll have the answer to your question right there," John told her, pulling her closer as the cold wind began to pick up.
"Maybe once you retire, then," she suggested, and he snorted.
"You mean if I retire," he corrected, and the slight grimace that flitted across his face made it clear that he was only half-joking.
"Judging by your diet and all the exercise you get gallivanting around with Sherlock, you'll probably out live us all," she told him, and he looked down at her seriously.
"You know that isn't what I meant," he told her, and she looked away, pretending to marvel at the shops lining the street and the heavy rainclouds pressing down overhead. "Laura, my life, what I do with Sherlock…it's dangerous; you can't ignore that," he said gently, but she shook her head.
"Just because it's happening doesn't mean I have to think about it," she murmured, repeating the words that had been her personal motto since the age of seventeen when her life had really begun to spiral out of control. It was a while before John responded, and when he did, he sounded so quiet and distant Laura wasn't even sure if his words were meant for her ears.
"Laura…Laura, I wish there was something I could do," he said, and his tone drew her gaze back to him.
"I don't know what you mean," she said thickly, tears beginning to pool in her eyes. He gave her a sad smile, slipping his hand around hers as they turned onto her street.
"You don't have to tell me everything. Or anything, really," he told her as they neared her door, turning to face her when they reached the doorstep. "But when you're ready to talk, I'll be ready to listen." Laura stared up at him, searching his dark blue eyes for any sign of dishonesty. When Laura found none, she felt as if something had suddenly broken inside of her, a warm sticky substance seeping from the crack and spreading throughout her entire body.
"I want to help you get past whatever it is that's holding you down," John said earnestly. "I want you to be happy again," he finished. And that's when that something, whatever it was inside of her, shattered.
Laura gripped the front of John's jacket with both hands, the cold metal of the zipper biting into her palms as her fingers curled into fists around the leather. He stumbled forward, his dark blue eyes wide with surprise as she pressed a shameless and urgent kiss against his mouth. Ignoring all pretenses, Laura roughly pushed her tongue between John's lips and released one bunched fist to grip the back of his head, pulling his mouth even closer to hers. John responded immediately, pressing his entire body against hers until her back was flat against the door. She tugged at his hair, and grinned into the kiss when he let out a growl and pushed her even harder against the wooden panel.
Suddenly aware that they were still in public and that snogging so heatedly on a busy street was something Irene would probably do, Laura broke the kiss and pulled away from John. His eyes blinked open slowly, and his labored breathing mixed with hers in the light rain that neither had noticed as they'd kissed. "Come inside," she whispered against his lips without thinking— without wanting to think. Laura smiled when John nodded.
A/N: Ooo I wonder what happens next! It totally isn't obvious where this is leading...
Next chapter: we get to the totally not obvious stuff this chapter is clearly not leading up to :)