There's A Class For This

Chapter Eleven

Ryleigh walked away from the Starbucks counter after placing a coffee order for her and Sherlock. On her way to find a table to wait at, she bumped into someone.

"Oh, I'm sorry…" Ryleigh looked up to see a face she thought she might never see again. "John! Oh, shit. I'm sorry. Are you alright?"

"Ryleigh." John looked flustered. "Yeah, I'm fine. You?"

"Oh, I'm good." She looked over at the table John was about to sit at and saw another man looking at John expectantly.

"Oh, sorry. Mike, this is, uh, Ryleigh. Ryleigh, this is Mike. I met him at Barts."

"Yeah, I heard you got your fellowship. It's nice to meet you, Mike." Ryleigh glanced over at John, who seemed to be fidgeting. "I'm sorry, but can I borrow John for a moment? That is, if he'll have me?"

"Uhm, yeah. Excuse me, Mike. I shouldn't be too long."

Mike nodded, understanding. "Take as long as you need, mate."

Ryleigh nodded her head towards the door and her and John headed outside. "How are you doing? I heard you got back about 6 months ago."

"I'm doing well. They needed men to stay so I volunteered my time." John stuck his hands in his pockets. "I didn't have anything to come back to anyways." He shrugged and began staring at the ground.

"You had us. You had Sherlock and I."

"No I didn't." John shook his head. "Why would I have come back and subjected myself to see you and Sherlock happy?"

"John." Ryleigh ran her fingers through her hair. "Come on. We need you."

"No, you don't. You have each other."

"You don't know, do you?" Ryleigh sighed. "I thought Greg might have told you. Neither of us did very well after you left. We started using again."

"Don't blame that on me." John shifted his gaze from his feet and looked Ryleigh hard in the eyes.

"I'm not. Believe me, I'm not. But we just had a really tough time with it. When we both found out that we had both started again, we quit. Well, Sherlock tried to quit."

"Is he still-?" John began to ask.

"He's getting better. But it got bad for a while." Ryleigh rubbed her eyes and wrung her hands together. "He almost died, John. He overdosed on heroin. He needed you."

"Don't you dare put that on me, Ryleigh. Don't you fucking dare." John began to sound angry and pointed at Ryleigh. "That is his fault. Not mine!"

"I never said it was your fault! He just needed his best friend. That is all I said!" Ryleigh began to tear up and she bit her lip. "You just don't understand how much we need you. We need our best friend."

"No, because best friends don't do what you did."

Ryleigh sighed, exasperated. "Don't start, John. I needed to be with somebody that can deal with the way that I am."

"I could. I-I did."

"No, not romantically. It's different. When someone is your friend, it's different if you decide to not talk for days on end. If you're in a relationship, you can't do that. If we were dating, how would you feel if I didn't talk for a week?"

"I… I don't know." John replied quietly.

"But Sherlock gets that. He does the same thing. We think alike. We act alike. We have very similar pasts."

"I thought the old saying was 'opposites attract'."

"In most cases, they do. But… Sherlock and I… We aren't magnets, John. Neither of us could be with someone who was completely opposite. You have to know that deep down."

John didn't reply. He just gave Ryleigh a sheepish look and shuffled his feet.

"We miss you." Ryleigh shrugged. "Greg seems happy with you as a roommate, but if you ever want it, there's still a room for you at Baker Street."

"I didn't ask how you were doing. Are you working anywhere?" John asked, avoiding and answer.

Ryleigh chuckled. "You're looking at my work. I'm a barista here. Today's my day off. It's mindless and I don't know what I want to do with my life yet. I've been helping Molly with her paperwork to try and get a fellowship at Bart's, but that's it. Greg's been getting Sherlock cases with The Yard."

"Sherlock's working for Scotland Yard? That's ironic."

"He's not technically working with them. Just advising, really. He's had a few tough cases lately. It seems as though someone is taunting him. It's stressing him out."

"Well, I better get back to Mike. It was good to see you."

"Yeah, I need to grab our drinks and go. Sherlock gets antsy if I take too long." Ryleigh smiled a small, uncertain smile. "You didn't say anything about having a room with us, but the offer stands indefinitely."

"Good to know. Uh, give Sherlock my best, I guess." John almost smiled, but thought better of it. "I'll, uh, I'll call you sometime."

Ryleigh nodded and the pair walked inside together. They parted ways at John's table and Ryleigh went to grab her order. She gave John a small wave as she walked out and he nodded at her. The short walk to Baker Street seemed like the longest walk she had taken in a while.

When she walked in, Sherlock was sitting on the couch in his thinking stance, staring at his laptop on the coffee table. "You alright?" Ryleigh asked as she sat his drink next to his computer.

"Thinking."

"I can see that." Ryleigh sat in the armchair across from Sherlock and began fiddling with the lid of her cup.

"What's the matter? You're distressed; fidgeting. Are you alright?" Sherlock lowered the top of his computer a bit and gave his girlfriend a scrutinizing look.

"I, uh, ran into John at the coffee shop."

Ryleigh's statement caused Sherlock to slam his laptop shut and stare at her. "What did he say?" He cleared his throat and shook his head. "I mean, uh, did you speak to him?"

"Yeah, I did. He's still angry at us, but I think I got into his head, you know? I told him what I wanted to tell him at the beginning and I know he's probably thinking hard about it now." Ryleigh shrugged. "He said he'd call. But it seemed like when you go and sleep with someone on a first date and they tell you 'don't call me, I'll call you' and you know they won't actually call."

"Insincere." Sherlock nodded. "I- I'm sorry. I don't know what else to say."

"It's alright, darling." Ryleigh smiled. "I could just really use a hug that turns into sex, though." She chuckled at the perplexed look on Sherlock's face.

"I don't understand what that means."

"You know… When you hug someone and it's really nice. And the hug leads to snogging and then, well, you know… The snogging leads to sex. Hopefully, it's good sex."

"Our sex is always good." Sherlock raised an eyebrow.

"That is very true." Ryleigh laughed. "So, what do you think?" She winked.

"Can it wait until I'm finished looking at this case file Graham sent over?" Sherlock opened his laptop again and waited to log on.

"Greg." Ryleigh laughed. "And yes, it can." She stood up from her chair and sat her cup on the coffee table. "Can I help?" She walked over to the couch and maneuvered her way behind Sherlock. He scooted forward a little and smiled to himself.

"And just how can you help?" Sherlock replied cheekily.

Ryleigh placed her hands on Sherlock's shoulders and began to give him a massage. "I don't know. You just seemed a little tense, is all. A back massage is a kind of help, you know."

Sherlock groaned as Ryleigh started massaging a knot between his shoulder blades. "Oh, fuck, you're a genius."

"It's basic anatomy, Sherlock." Ryleigh breathed out before she placed a soft kiss on Sherlock's neck. "Knowing what muscles are where… You know, that sort of thing."

"It's magic." Sherlock moaned out, lowering his head and taking his eyes off of his computer. "Magic fucking fingers."

"You don't believe in magic." Ryleigh reminded Sherlock, digging deeper into his muscles.

"I believe in your magic fingers." Sherlock twisted his torso around and captured Ryleigh's lips with his. He leaned back and pulled her down on top of him. Sherlock ran his hands through Ryleigh's hair as she situated herself and grinned as he pulled her down to kiss her again. He snaked his hands up the back of her shirt and was about to unclasp her bra when their door opened. Sherlock turned his head to yell at whoever was coming in, but his voice caught in his throat. "John."

Ryleigh shot up, her eyes wide. "What are you doing here?"

"Is this a bad time? I can go." John turned to walk out the door.

"No! No… Stay." Ryleigh stood up and straightened herself out. "Is everything okay?"

Sherlock stared John down. Biting his lip, shuffling his feet- anxious. One arm hanging limper than the other- gunshot wound to the shoulder? Messy clothes- No washer. Unkempt hair, bags under the eyes- insomnia. "You got shot." Sherlock blurted out.

"Please don't do that right now, Sherlock." John looked at the floor.

"You got shot? Why didn't you tell me?" Ryleigh asked, crossing her arms.

"Didn't think it was important."

"John-"

"I'm going to go smoke a cigarette." Sherlock announced.

"We don't-" Ryleigh started to say, but noticed Sherlock looking at her weirdly. He looked at John, who was oblivious to the exchange, and then nodded ever so slightly to the door. He walked out briskly. John stared at Sherlock's dramatic exit. "Go with him."

"What? Why?"

"He wants to talk to you, but he doesn't want me seeing him get sentimental with you."

"Sherlock? Get sentimental? Really?"

"Just go with him, John."

John nodded and followed Sherlock out. He walked out the front door of Baker Street to find Sherlock pacing in front of the building. "So?"

"Come live here with us. Ryleigh… She needs you."

"Really? Just Ryleigh?" John asked, crossing his arms and watching Sherlock smoke his cigarette. "You don't?"

"Of course I do, John. Ryleigh just needs you more." Sherlock shrugged and took a drag of his cigarette.

"Right… Yeah. Of course." John shuffled his feet again.

"I'm in love with her, John." Sherlock said bluntly. John grunted in response and Sherlock rolled his eyes. "I- God, am I really going to do this? I didn't mean to hurt you. The first time we kissed… She did something to me. I can't explain it, but I don't want to let her go. I hope you can forgive that."

"You knew how I felt about her, Sherlock. You knew!" John said angrily. "And you followed your dick anyways." John sighed and Sherlock took a drag of his cigarette with a guilty look on his face. "You were supposed to be my best friend. Best friends don't do that to each other."

Sherlock froze for a second, trying to comprehend what was just said. "Well, I've never been the greatest friend, have I?" He dropped his cigarette and stepped on it. "She made me buy a new kettle. Again."

"What was it this time?" John chuckled a bit, remembering the time he had found eyeballs in the kettle only after he had begun pouring the water over his teabag.

"Eyeballs… You know… Again." Sherlock smiled a bit. "Come on, John. Living with Lestrade can't be that great. He seems like a slob."

"You have no room to say that anyone is a slob." John rolled his eyes. He crossed his arms and studied the look on Sherlock's face. He seemed sincere enough.

"I need an assistant. I've been helping Scotland Yard, the incompetent bastards that they are."

"That's what Ryleigh was telling me." John nodded shortly.

"I need an assistant." Sherlock repeated.

"Can't Ryleigh do that? Her being so similar to you and all…"

"She's competent enough, but I need you for the job. You're…" Sherlock paused to find the right word. "You're John. There's no one like you." Sherlock tried his best at a sincere look.

John chuckled at Sherlock's attempt. "Let me talk to Ryleigh and we'll see. You're right. Greg is a bit of a drag. And he and his girlfriend are constantly fighting or fucking… Loudly. Please tell me you don't do that."

"Not loudly." Sherlock smirked. "Who's Greg?"

John gave Sherlock and exasperated look. "Really, Sherlock?"

Sherlock grinned again. "Go on. I'll be up in a few." Sherlock pulled out another cigarette to emphasize that he would be about 10 minutes.

John smiled and walked into the flat to see Ryleigh waiting patiently. She stood up and rubber her sweating palms on her jeans. "John?"

"Can I move in?"

"Oh, gods, yes!" Ryleigh squealed and pulled John into a hug. "I've missed you. My John."

John wrapped his arms around Ryleigh as tightly as she had him and smiled the most sincere smile he had managed in over 2 years. "I've missed you, too."

Sherlock walked into the flat a few minutes later and smiled at the pair chatting away on the couch. "So, what's the verdict?"

"I'll let Greg know that I'm moving out when I get home tonight." John smiled.

"This calls for wine!" Ryleigh exclaimed, rushing into the kitchen to grab a bottle of wine and three glasses.

"Welcome to Baker Street, John." Sherlock shrugged. "It's pretty eventful."

All John could do was smile like an idiot. "I think I can get used to it."

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