Fully Alive

Chapter Eleven

Vivienne smiled, but didn't open her eyes as she heard Sherlock enter their now-shared bedroom. "Mmm. Toast... Eggs... American bacon or English?"

"English." Sherlock replied.

Vivienne scrunched her nose. "Is that coffee?" She peeked out of one eye at Sherlock. "Are you bringing me breakfast in bed?" She opened both eyes and Sherlock looked at her expectantly, holding a tray of food. She sat up and folded up a pillow to prop behind her back. Sherlock sat the tray on Vivienne's lap and sat next to her. "You didn't cook this yourself, did you?"

"Oh, god, no. I'm not an idiot." Sherlock stated as he opened the newspaper. "Mrs. Hudson did."

Vivienne raised an eyebrow.

"What? I went to see if she had anything decent to feed you and she offered to cook. Figured it was better than takeaway."

Vivienne laughed as she stabbed at her scrambled eggs. "What would I do without you?"

"You'd have no one to bring you breakfast in bed. Obviously."

Vivienne swallowed her bite of eggs and shrugged. "Kati would. And she'd cook it herself."

Sherlock flipped the paper over at its crease to look at the bottom half and his eyebrows went up. "Oh, look. You made the news. Front page."

"I what?" Vivienne leaned over to see a picture of her and Sherlock gracing the front page of the newspaper. "You've been home two days and you're already in the news?"

" 'Sherlock Holmes walking hand in hand with an unidentified, blue-haired woman.' Well, they're obviously not paying any attention." Sherlock flipped to the second page. "Unidentified. If they were paying attention, they'd see the ring in your finger." He scoffed.

Vivienne sat back up and started back eating her breakfast.

"Have I mentioned I like the blue hair?" Sherlock asked, not looking up from the paper.

"No, you haven't. To be honest, I figured you hadn't even noticed." Vivienne shrugged.

"Of course I noticed. I notice everything you do. For instance, I noticed that you're eating the bacon even though it's not what you want because you think I'll be upset if you don't."

Vivienne furrowed her brow and hastily swallowed her bite of bacon. "You aren't even looking at me."

"I don't have to be. Like I said, I notice everything you do."

"So, I have a very serious question for you." Vivienne glanced over at Sherlock and noticed he had looked up from the paper. "Did you, you know, ever make Mycroft dress up as a pirate?

Sherlock gave her a look that told her she was being ridiculous. "That's your serious question?"

"I just want a straight answer!" Vivienne laughed. "There was no photographic evidence, only a few of you all dressed up by yourself. And when I asked, Mycroft grumbled, your mother laughed, and your father's eyes got all twinkly, like he was hiding something."

"I can't believe my mother told you about that."

"Oh, sweetie. I've had roughly 48 dinners with your parents in the past two years. And there were so many photo albums. So many. I've heard lots of little Sherly stories." Vivienne paused. "Or would you rather I called you Billy?"

"Fuck off." Sherlock picked the paper back up. "Are you finished?"

"Did you call yourself Bootstrap Bill?"

Sherlock glared at Vivienne and a low growl escaped his throat. "And just why do you care so much?"

Vivienne's shoulders dropped and her eyes fell to her plate. "I'm sorry. I just- you've never told me about your childhood. So, all I could imagine was this little boy who never talked to anyone and just studied criminology and anatomy textbooks. And now, I get to see what you were really like. I'm sorry if I was even a little interested in your childhood."

All Sherlock managed was a "Hmph."

Vivienne stood up from the bed. "You know, you don't have to be so rude. I'm only trying to get to know you better. You are my husband now. The only part of you I know is a former drug addict that works with the police and is a brilliantly clever man that I fell in love with." She walked to the door but paused before exiting the room. "I thought I had lost you forever. I just wanted to know you." She walked out without another word and left Sherlock to mull over her words in silence.

She sat down at the kitchen table and waited. A few minutes later, Sherlock appeared out of the bedroom looking for her.

He stood beside her for a few silent moments before quietly stating, "I'm not any good at this."

"I know." Vivienne replied, not looking up at him. "But you could think before you speak, at least every once in a while. And especially to me."

"I'm... sorry."

"Thank you for saying that, because I know our was incredibly difficult for you, but you aren't quite forgiven." Vivienne looked up her husband. "This isn't some small romance anymore, Sherlock. This is a marriage now. It would do you some good to figure out what that means."

Sherlock was at a loss for words so he said the only thing he could think of. "I love you." He reached his hand out to touch Vivienne's, and she grasped it tightly. He tugged a little, signaling her to get up from her spot and she responded, getting up slowly. "I may never be perfect at this. My job will come first a lot of the time. I occasionally won't speak to you for days. I'll be rude. I might even be a bit crass at times. You'll come home to find experiments all over the flat. I won't do the shopping. I won't do dishes. I can't cook. And I don't clean up after myself. But I will love you to the best of my ability, just as I always have. And that has to be enough for you."

"I already know all of that. I married you anyways." Vivienne took Sherlock's other hand. "And I love you in spite of all of that."

"Because you're an idiot."

"Precisely because I'm an idiot. As long as you love me, that's enough. But you can't get angry about petty things. That's all I ask. And answer a personal question every now and then." Vivienne stood up on her tiptoes to place a kiss on Sherlock's lips. "We'll get this. It might take a while, but we will."

Sherlock pressed his lips to Vivienne's forehead as she came down off of her toes. "Oh, my darling. It'll take more than just a while."

Vivienne laughed. "Good thing we have the rest of our lives, then."

Sherlock smiled. "Good thing we do."

Xxxxx

A/N: It's short. It's fluffy. It's a bit cute. Sorry it took so long to get out. I've had a pretty busy month.

Question: in His Last Vow, did they ever actually confirm if Sherlock was high or was it just implied? I haven't watched it since it aired and I can't remember. I know Molly says his drug test is clean, but then she slaps him/scolds him for wasting his gifts. And then he said he's high to Mycroft, but at first I thought that was just an angry brother moment. Anyways, I need it for a future moment with Sherlock and Viv and I was just wondering if anyone knew 100% for sure. If no one does, I have one of two ways to write the scene. But I kind of believe that he was actually high, so I might just go with that anyways.

As always, review and such. I'm not to happy with the length of this one but felt the need to get a chapter out for you guys. Because I love all of you reading this even when I feel that the chapters I'm putting out aren't up to par.