All throughout the ride back to Baker Street, in which Vaness sat alone on a cab, she kept her gaze on the window. John and Mrs. Hudson went home without her, as she did tell John that she needed to be alone. The closer she gets to Baker Street, the harder it was to breathe. She wanted to go back to Sherlock, she wanted to go wherever he's going. But, at the same time, she owe this to John.
She arrived at Baker Street and went straight upstairs to the living room. There, she found John sitting on his armchair, staring at Sherlock's chair.
"Hey." She called.
John turned to her and immediately his face brightened, and a huge smile reached his eyes.
"You stayed." He said with a relieved tone.
"Well, I couldn't just leave my bestfriend all alone." She said walking towards her own armchair.
John looked thoughtful, "You don't have to stay for me. I know it's also hard for with..." he trailed off.
"I don't have to. But I want to be here for you. I wasn't just Sherlock's girlfriend, in fact, I became your friend before I became his." She said softly.
John smiled at her. And that smile made everything worth it.
"Have you had lunch yet?" She asked.
"Actually, no. I was waiting for you." John replied sheepishly.
Vaness smiled and pulled him up from his chair. "Come on then, let's go out. No moping for today." She said.
John looked confused.
"Okay. Stop this." John said.
Vaness stopped pulling him and faced him.
"What's wrong?" She asked.
"You." John replied.
She looked at him in bewilderment.
"Vaness... you don't have to pretend." John said.
Vaness felt tears on her eyes but she just smiled at him, "I'm not pretending."
"Yes you are. Sherlock's dead..." John said with his eyes closed, then he opened them to look back at her, "and I know you are hurting. We both are. And you have to stop pretending that you're okay just to make me feel okay."
Vaness opened her mouth to say something but John didn't let her.
"Please. Promise me that you will never pretend in front of me just to make me feel better." John pleaded.
Vaness closed her eyes. Her purpose in staying was to make sure John was okay. She sighed.
"Fine." She said, "I promise." She said.
After that, the two stayed at 221B, they didn't want to eat. They were not in the mood to do anything really. It was all too much. Mrs. Hudson came in that night to bring them food, but neither of them ate. Vaness felt guilty for not telling John the truth, she wanted to. But, not now. Not yet. She had to make sure that he'll meet her first.
The next day, Vaness woke up at noon. She looked around herself and realized she slept in Sherlock's bed. Not the first time, but the first time without Sherlock on it. She groaned as she didn't want to get up, but she did.
After a while, she entered the living room and found John, with his clothes packed, sitting on the sofa. She halted on the kitchen doorway.
"You're leaving." She said, getting John's attention.
John looked up at her. He cleared his throat as he spoke.
"Yes. Uhm..." he looked around, "I can't stay here. Not now." He said.
Vaness nodded in understanding.
"Where will you stay?" She asked.
"At a hotel, for a bit, until I find a flat that I can afford." He answered.
Vaness took a step forward. The she decided to sit in the coffee table in front of John.
"I'll help you look. " she said.
"You'll stay here, won't you?" John asked.
"Yes." She answered in a whisper.
John nodded, "That's okay." He said, "but you'd have to visit me. Because I don't think I can."
Vaness smiled genuinely.
"Of course I will. You'll see me every single day. I will sleep here, but probably staying at your flat like it's my own." She said.
And that did happen. For the next week, Vaness stayed a 221B, but only at night and only for sleep. She mostly stayed with John, sometimes she'd go down to visit Mrs. Hudson as well.
Five days after John moved out of Baker Street, Vaness was cleaning the living rook when Mrs. Hudson comes in. She was holding an envelope and there was a concerned look on her face.
"This came in yesterday dear. I was going to give it to you as soon as you came back but you looked so tired last night." Mrs. Hudson told her.
"Thank you Mrs. Hudson." She smiled at her, taking the envelope.
She raised an eyebrow when she read it. The envelope said it came from the court, she realized why Mrs. Hudson looked concerned. She opened the envelope and read what was written.
'Intent to File Lawsuit' was written in thick ink on the top.
"You're not in trouble are you dear? Not so soon..." Mrs. Hudson trailed off.
"Don't worry Mrs. Hudson, everything will be okay." She said softly and with a gentle smile.
She turned to the paper and continued to read what was written:
Dear Dr. Vaness Miche,
This letter of intent to sue shall serve as formal notice that Kitty Riley intends to commend a lawsuit against you due to the following: an assault resulting in physical injury (broken nose).
Vaness laughed outloud. Mrs. Hudson looked at her in confusion.
"Are you okay dear?" Mrs. Hudson asked as Vaness kept laughing hysterically.
It took a couple of deep breaths until she calmed down.
"I'm Mrs. Hudson. It's just, this is funny, inconvenient, but funny." She said chuckling again.
"Are going to court?" Mrs. Hudson asked.
"Oh no. It will not reach that. Just need to make sure Kitty Riley drops her lawsuit. That'll be easy. I'm sure she has something she's hiding." She said with a grin.
She glanced back at the paper then continued, "I have fourteen days, that'll be enough time to dig some dirt on her."
Mrs. Hudson shook her head in exasperation.
"Now you have something to focus on." She said, "No more moping with you." Mrs. Hudson said.
"I don't mope." Vaness defended.
"Of course you don't dear." Mrs. Hudson said teasingly.
It seemed, after 3 days of digging some dirt, Vaness realized it was all too easy. Kitty Riley is nothing but a liar. All her articles are fake, made up, or completely wrong. She tracked down a couple of people that are featured in her articles, and they are mad. They all are.
"She changed everything I said to make her article more interesting." A girl whose accident Kitty Riley wrote an article about.
"She stole my articles. Did it a couple of times too." Kitty Riley's ex friend said.
"Dirt on Riley? That's easy, here's a list. Everyone we interviewed together. The ones marked in red, she changed the story of." A colleague told her while giving her a long list of people.
They were normal people, and if they sued Kitty Riley as an individual, they would probably lose. But together, all of them, Kitty Riley didn't have a chance.
But that's not even the best part.
Holding a folder fuil of evidences, she knocked on Kitty Riley's door. She almost laughed when she saw her face still bruised and her nose was crooked.
"Helli Kitty." She greeted with a mocking smile.
"What so you want?" Kitty asked, she obviously wanted to sound tough but her voice failed her.
"Just a little chat." She said.
"No. I don't think so. I'll see you in court." Kitty said, her hand was shaking in fear.
"Oh that's not necessary. Unless of course, you want Hazel, Angel, Joanna, Kevin and a whole lot more, to sue you. Do they sound familiar? If not..." she handed her the folder, "this should remind you of who they are and just how you ruined their lives."
Kitty nervously scanned the contents of the folder. Her hands shake as she read them. Clearing her throat, she looked back up at Vaness.
"This will get you nowhere. A couple of people, they nothing." She said bravely.
Vaness smiled widely.
"I was hoping you'd say that." She said beaming.
She took a paper from her back pocket. She unfolded it, and read it outloud.
"Matthew Cooper." She said.
Immediately, all color drained from Kitty's face. Her mouth hangs open. She tried to say something but failed. She was too terrified.
"Ooh. So him you remember." Vaness said mockingly, "what is it about him that you remember Kitty? Was it his hands, his body, or perhaps..." her voice was barely above a whisper.
Kitty's eyes widened at every word.
"Please..." Kitty pleaded. "Don't do this."
"Isn't that what he said to you, when he realized what you were doing to him?" She said furiously.
"No, no, no, no." Kitty said, there were tears in her eyes now, but not of regret, no, she was only terrified of what will happen to her.
"He said that too." Vaness said.
"Please, I'll drop the lawsuit. Just don't, I was only, Sherlock was a fraud, you knew that. And I only wanted the big break." Kitty explained.
"This is not about Sherlock, this is about Matthew." Vaness said darkly.
"Please, I can't go to jail." She pleaded, kneeling on the doorway.
"You should've thought of that before you did that to Matthew." Vaness took a step back.
"Now I understand why Moriarty took a liking to you." Vaness said in disgust.
With that, she walked away. She already sent her evidence to reliable newspapers. She knew Kitty would drop the lawsuit immediately, before the day ends. And tomorrow, her life would be in ruins. Everyone will know just how much of a liar she is, and more importantly, what she did to Matthew Cooper. The poor child, he had to suffer in her hands. He was so innocent.
Months passed after all that drama. She spent her days in a routine, work, lunch with John, then work until the late hours of the night, and then sleep. Or well, she would like to sleep but Sherlock flooded her mind. It was always him.
Vaness knew he was alright, she bombards Mycroft with texts every week just to make sure. But she was still concerned, was he starving? Was he hurt? How many times now has he been hurt?
It was all in her mind when her phone buzzed a text. She opened and read it, it was from John.
Lunch tomorrow, I'll introduce you too someone. Text you the place tomorrow. Now try to sleep will you? Goodnight.
Vaness rolled her eyes. The first time she recieved a text similar to this, she was excited. But no, it wasn't Mary. Now she just wants to find her herself. It was tiring meeting women every month. It didn't last long for John anyway, it always ends as fast as it started.
She remembered the first time, well, not the girl, but the mustache John had. She didn't even bother speaking to the girl the moment she saw that hideous thing. It was rude of her, but she did apologize afterwards. John ended it with her the next day when Vaness told her she wasn't the one for him and the mustache is definitely not for John.
The next day, Vaness walked to a restaurant, it wasn't anything fancy, so her uniform was enough. She looked around and found John seated on the corner. Beside him was... Mary.
Vaness almost ran to greet them, but she contained her excitement.
"Hey!" She greeted a little too loud.
John smiled at him and so did Mary.
"Hi, have a sit." John said.
Vaness did so, she was so giddy.
"So who is this beautiful lady beside you?" She asked.
"Vaness, this is Mary, my girlfriend. Mary, this is Vaness, my bestfriend." John introduced them.
"Though I would like to say that the beautiful lady in infront of me." Mary said turing to face her.
"I think you've met the one, John." She said with a genuine smile.
John looked at her curiously.
"Really?" John asked.
"Yes." She answered.
The meal went well, and she go th along well with Mary. Mostly about teasing John, but it was a start.
At the cab back to work, she sent a text to John.
Baker Street tonight, just you, important.
She decided it was time to tell John the truth.
That night John came in with a hapoy smile which faded as he looked around the living room. Vaness came from the kitchen, holding a tray of tea.
"So what's the important thing?" John asked.
They sat on the sofa, both stirring their tea. Vaness cleared her throat.
"Uhm, right." She look straight into John's eyes, "Sherlock is alive."
John almost dropped his tea.
"What?" He asked and there was a hint of anger and disbelief in his voice.
"Listen to me first, please don't punch me" Vaness said in a whisper, "I wanted to tell you, but I needed to wait until you met Mary." She explained gently.
"Mary is the one. And telling you Sherlock was alive before you met her could stop that from happening. I didn't want to risk it." She continued when John didn't say anything.
"John?" She said softly.
"He's alive?" John asked.
"Yes, he is." She answered quietly.
"Where is he?" John asked, his eyes never leaving her face.
"Undercover somewhere, dismantling Moriarty's web. He needed to fake his death. And we had the choice to tell you, but I said no. Because originally, they didn't and that lead you to Mary. She's going to be your wife John." She said almost in a whisper as she was afraid on how he's going to react.
John nodded, his jaw clenched, "Right." he said.
"Is he alright?" He asked after a few minutes of silence.
"Yes, I have Mycroft send me update every week. Sometimes he can't if it'll compromise Sherlock, but usually, he can." Vaness explained.
John suddenly had a realization.
"You wanted to go with him." He said, "You didn't want to leave into another place, no, you wanted to go with him. Why didn't you?" John asked.
"Because, I want to make sure you are okay. I told you John, you're my friend, best friend even." She said.
John facepalmed.
"You promised him didn't you?" He asked, "That you'll take care of me or something."
Vaness smiled sheepishly, "Keep you safe, or something." She said.
"Did I punch Sherlock?" John asked.
Vaness chuckled.
"Three times if I remember correctly." Vaness said.
John smiled, a real genuine smile.
"And how many times am I allowed to do it now?" He asked.
Vaness pursed her lips.
"Once." She answered.
"Are you sure?" John asked.
"Twice." She said biting back a smile.
"Really?" John asked, also biting back a smile.
"Three times." She said and they both laughed.
They both laughed for the first time since Sherlock's fall. Eventually, she said before.
sorry this is a short chapter.