I know it doesn't look very cold when we meet Mike for the first time, but can we just imagine it does?

Thankyou :)

(I don't own, only Emily)

"Are you all packed and ready to go honey?" The older woman asked looking over at the other person in the room.

"I think so Gran." The girl replied as she left the bedroom to look around the house for any leftover belongings. "Yeah. All ready." She added as she re-entered the room a few minutes later. A bright smile was lighting up her face. Now that the day was finally here, she could no longer contain her excitement. She was going on holiday with her Grandmother. She could hardly believe it. She would be away from her Mother six whole weeks.

As the older woman beckoned her forward, a knock was heard at the front door, followed by a series of grumbling sounds coming from downstairs.

The older woman kneeled on the ground when the child was close enough and undid the clasp of her necklace. "I want you to have this." She said as she put it around the child's neck. Only when it was secure did the girl look down.

She gasped in shock. "But this is you're favourite thing in the whole entire world." She whispered as she studied the little silver elephant hanging from the chain.

"No." The girl looked up in confusion. "You are." With that, the girl rushed into the older woman's arms, whispering her thanks into the woman's neck.

"Emily. You have a visitor. Its Jim." Her Mother called sounding bored from downstairs. The girl bounded from the safe embrace of her Grandmother and down the stairs, completely missing the look of fear that passed over the older woman's face at the sound of the name Jim.

The girl leaped into the open arms of the teenage boy who was eagerly awaiting her descent.

"You came." Her voice was muffled as she was speaking into his shoulder. But she was happy. He could practically feel the happiness radiating off her in waves.

"Of course I came. I couldn't let you leave without saying goodbye now could I?" His Irish accent had become thicker when his voice had broken. It was a voice that was, at that moment, laced with a secret. He let her down gently and noticed the necklace round her neck. "From your Gran?" He asked pointing it out. The girl nodded as she began to fiddle with it as another woman with the same sparkling blue eyes as the girl entered the room.

"I'm going to miss you Jim." The girl told him, not looking away from her necklace, her foot shuffling awkwardly on the floor.

"I'm going to miss you too, my little elephant." Her smile broadened when she heard the newest nickname he had come up with for her.

The other woman opened her mouth to speak, but what ever it was she was going to say, was cut off by a loud thump from upstairs. All heads looked up towards the ceiling, like it would magically turn invisible to let them see what was going on.

"Gran?" The girl shouted up the stairs. But when no reply came, she slowly made her way up. Every other step creaking under her weight the only sound to be heard.

As she re-entered her bedroom, she gasped. There on the floor, was her Gran. A pool of blood surrounded her head. Her glassy eyes staring up at a ceiling they could no longer see.

"Mum!" The girl shouted. She wanted to remain calm. " MUM" She tried again when she got no reply.

This time, her shout had been answered. She took a deep breath as someone ascended the stairs.

"What?" The younger woman snapped as she entered the room. But she froze when she saw what was happening. Her face drained of colour, and her eyes filled with tears, that would fall any second. "Call an Ambulance." The girl did not need to be told twice. She ran back past the woman and Jim who she had not heard come upstairs, and down the stairs, almost tumbling to the floor in her haste to reach the phone. She was quietly mumbling to herself, cursing that they could not afford more than one phone.

She made the necessary call and watched from where she stood as Jim, his hands in his pockets, a sad apologetic look covering his face, casually strolled down the stairs and made his way towards her.

When she hung up Jim grabbed her and held her close. He had looked close to tears, and slowly, he rocked her back and forth in a way that felt comforting.

But no tears fell from Emily Cooper. She felt numb and distant. She pulled out of Jim's arms and looked straight into his eyes.

"You should be an actor Jim." She said before she walked past him and out the front door to await the Ambulance. She had know for a long time, exactly how Jim felt towards her Gran. He had hated her. Loathed her would be a better word to describe it. But she loved them both. So whenever she saw one, she always tried to keep the other away.

As the sound of the Ambulance began to get louder, so did the sound of someone calling her name.

"Emily."

Turning to look behind her, she spotted her brother running towards her.

"Emily."

"Emily." A new voice bought her out of her thoughts. She turned to see who it belonged to.

On the inside she cringed, on the outside, she smiled brightly. "Yes Mr Roid." Her boss, Mr Roid, was a rude, inconsiderate man who seemed to enjoy talking to a woman's chest more than her face. He never called them by their surnames. He had claimed from day one, that he thought it would make the workplace a more friendly environment if he acknowledged them all by their first names. But none of the woman working in St Bart's called him by his first name. It had always been, and would always be, Mr Roid. There were of course, many rumours circulating the ladies cloakroom, other reasons as to why he enjoyed calling them by their first names. The most popular being that he had a lot of free time, no wife and apparently a rather vivid imagination.

Dressed in a suit that looked a little worse for wear with a grey shirt tucked into his trousers, that already had armpit stains visible, he began to complain to her about the many down sides of daydreaming. This only led to another episode of Emily letting her imagination take over. But instead of her worst memory, she visualised quitting her job and running away from St Bart's, never to return again.

Being one of only two filing clerks, had it's perks. Well a perk. The fact that they had a whole room to themselves. Even though there was really no room for more than just one person at a time. The other girl, (who Emily had never actually met), and Emily, would take alternate shifts, so there was always someone on during the daytime.

The only down side to this perk (and for Emily, there was always a downside) was that when there was more than one person in the room, it felt like a squeeze. The only way in which to make room, was to take out the desks, the filing cabinets and the photo copier. It felt even more of a squeeze when it was Mr Roid popping in whenever he had an opportunity. Which was a lot more often than you'd think

"Are you even listening to me Emily?" He asked now snapping his fingers in front of her face.

"Yes Mr Roid. Of course I am" She replied a little sarcastically.

"Get on with your work." He sighed before taking a look at her legs that were crossed on her spinning chair. Her pencil skirt had been risen considerably to achieve this comfortable position. But she had thought, perhaps a little too hopefully, that Mr Roid, or any other passing men, would not notice, seeing as they were still under the desk.

She huffed as she straightened them out and pulled her skirt down to cover her pale legs once more, slipping her four inch heels on as she did so. She straightened her blouse for good measure, just in case. She really had had enough of this man and his wandering eyes. She cast him one last look, a look that sent a message; "Get the hell out of my office." He didn't need to look at her for very long to understand it, and within seconds, he had vanished.

It was January. Winter. She scolded herself for not being able to find her trousers this morning, and not getting up early enough to have more time. Her legs would freeze when she left to go home. Actually they were freezing now, so it wouldn't really make much difference.

One of the many problems with this room was that in the winter, it froze. Countless times she had put a heater under the desk to warm her numb toes, but the next day, it would vanish again. After a while, she had just given up retrieving it in favour of carefully running up and down the stairs a few times a day in order for her to get the circulation going.

But in the Summer, you baked. The other clerk had valiantly tried to use a metal fan that would at least move the stagnant air around. But their was no room.

Emily had purchased a mini fan, small enough to rest on the desk that blew cool air right into your face. But that had been stolen only a couple of hours after she had set it up. She had never been able to find it since.

With a sad sigh, she turned her attention back to the stack of papers on her desk. Then to the newspaper beside it. She really did need to search for a place to live. Her Mother was driving her crazy and she couldn't take working in a small office, only to go home to a small bedroom. She needed space. Even if it was only one more inch.

She ignored the article of another suicide, she would read it later when she got home, and skipped straight to the housing ads.

Her eyes skimmed each and every ad. But nothing popped out at her. Nothing that screamed 'look at me' anyway. There was always one or two that made her giggle. Just the other day she had found an ad that read: "Wanted roommate, no pets, must me non-smoker, must be Female, attractive and open about being filmed." At first it had felt creepy to even be reading something like that. But then she had started laughing. And when she started, she couldn't stop. She had to admire the bravery that came with writing that ad. But she had quickly drawn a cross through it.

Her attention was too focused on the paper in front of her to notice the man who was now standing in the doorway, watching her with a faint smile on his lips. A smile that grew when she started laughing again.

"Emily." She jumped before turning to the doorway. There leaning in the doorway, was Mike Stamford.

On her first day as a clerk, Mike had been the only person, other than Mr Roid, willing to speak to her. At first, she had been a little shy, she was with everyone, but he made her feel welcome, and after a while, she had become more comfortable around him. Mike was the reason she felt more confident in herself these days. He never judged, or criticized. He just listened when you needed to talk to someone. In a way, he had become like the Father she had never known. And she was grateful to have him in her life.

He was also the only man here who didn't look at her like she was a piece of meat.

"You scared the life out of me. You know I hate it when you do that." She scolded him, her hand over her chest, letting the breath she had been holding escape through her mouth.

"What were you laughing at this time?" He changed the subject quickly. He knew the reason for her jumpiness and that she didn't like to talk about it.

"This ad. Here listen" She spun her chair round to face him before she continued. "Wanted roommate, pets welcome, smoker debateable, must be comfortable with open nudity." It wasn't even that funny, but she manage to crack up again.

Mike who had grown used to her laughing outbursts, simply laughed along with her. They both took a few seconds to get their breath back, Emily had to wipe away a lone tear that had escaped.

He only spoke again when he had eventually calmed down. "Ready for lunch?" Her shoulders relaxed dramatically.

"I thought you'd never ask." She replied. Grabbing the coat from the hook on the back of the door, she exited her office, or cupboard depending on how you looked at it. "Can we go outside?"

"You'll get cold." He told her, pointing out the obvious.

"I know, but I can't stand another lunch break sitting in that cafeteria." She whined as she did her coat buttons up, giving him her best puppy god eyed look.

"Don't blame me if you freeze." He replied not even bothering to argue.

"Wouldn't dream of it." She answered as she beamed at him, her strides getting longer. The quicker she got out of this building, the better.

Believe In Sherlock

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