So I considered having Emily say yes to the money, then not.
Then I found out that they had FINISHED FILMING SERIES THREE! WE ARE THAT MUCH CLOSER MY FELLOW SHERLOCKIANS!
XD
I am so excited. Can you tell?
Also, yesterday I found a jumper that is very much like the one that John wears. I'm wearing it now, and it's SO comfy!
Anyway, I'm aware that this chapter isn't my best, so please forgive me for this?
You will also have to forgive me for any spelling/ punctuation mistakes I have probably made and failed to correct.
I don't own, only Emily.
Please leave me your thoughts?
It had felt as if the majority of London had swept passed the windows of the car the three were sat in.
It felt to Emily, like a lifetime had passed when the car finally pulled into what seemed to be a warehouse that wasn't quite empty. But it only felt like that as she had been leaning closer to John, therefore causing her right bum cheek to fall asleep as it was the only position she had felt comfortable in.
As soon as the car had stopped she turned her body, ready to exit the vehicle as quickly as possible in the hope that the blood would start circulating to her backside once again.
John turned back and offered her his hand once he had stood up. But he didn't look at her as she took his offered hand and climbed out of the back seat. His attention was focused on the man some yards away. Dressed in a rather smart suit and nonchalantly leaning on an umbrella, he was already watching them as they started to head towards him., slowly because of John's walk.
"Have a seat John." He pointed with his umbrella towards the chair placed a few feet in front of him. But the two merely continued towards him as if he hadn't spoken.
"You know, We've got phones." John sounded rather calm. The total opposite of how Emily felt on the inside. This was rather a new situation to her. Being put in a car, driven to an almost empty warehouse, and spoken to by a man who acted towards the man beside her as if he had known him his whole life. Her shyness was starting to take over once again. Instead of looking directly at the man, she instead let her gaze wonder around the warehouse.
She didn't know much about these sort of places. It was actually the first time she had ever set foot in one.
"I mean, very clever and all that, but er... you could just phone me. Or her. On our phones."
The two had walked straight past the chair as if it hadn't existed, only coming to a halt when they were a few paces in front of the mysterious stranger.
"When one is avoiding the attention of Sherlock Holmes, one learns to be discreet, hence this place." His words caught Emily's full attention now. Why on Earth was this man trying to avoid the attention of the Consulting Detective. The pleasant smile that had gone nicely with his voice, became stern with his next words, "The leg must be hurting you. Sit down."
"I don't wanna sit down."
"Emily?" She looked him in the eyes now for the first time. There was something about them that made her feel a little easier. As if she had seen them before somewhere. "You must be tired after a long day at work. Would you like to sit down?" How did this man know that was exactly how she felt? Even if she had been sat down for most of the day. She would be lying to herself if she thought the chair didn't look inviting. Even if it didn't look particularly comfortable.
"No thank you." She shook her head slightly as she answered. The man before them cast them a curious look as he continued.
"You don't seem very afraid." Emily noticed he was speaking more to John now than he was her.
"You don't seem very frightening." John told him. The arm that Emily had unconsciously latched onto, gave her hand a slight squeeze as if telling her that it would be alright. Now that Emily looked at him properly, he really didn't look very frightening. It was more the fact that they were standing out in an open space, they could have guns being pointed at them at that very second.
The man chuckling bought her out of those thoughts.
"Ah yes. The bravery of the soldier. Bravery is by far the kindest word for stupidity, don't you think Emily?" But he didn't bother looking at her. He just continued to look at John sternly.
"What is your connection to Sherlock Holmes?" His gaze now flicked between the two of them.
"We don't have one. We barely know him. We met him..."
"Yesterday." Emily supplied for him. They were both a little surprised at how little time had passed since then.
"Mmm, and since yesterday you've moved in with him and now you're solving crimes together." He looked at Emily at his next words. "Might we expect a happy announcement by the end of the week?"
Emily opened her mouth to protest but John beat her to it.
"Who are you?"
"An interested party."
"Interested in Sherlock? Why? I'm guessing you're not friends."
"You've met him. How many 'friends' do you imagine he had?" Emily had to agree with him there. "I am the closest thing to a friend that Sherlock Holmes is capable of having."
"And what's that?"
"An enemy."
"An enemy?" Emily and John spoke at the same time.
"In his mind certainly. If you were to ask him, he's probably say his arch-enemy. He does love to be dramatic."
What the hell does someone do to get an arch-enemy? Emily wondered to herself as John looked around the warehouse pointedly.
"Well, thank God you're above all that." He responded sarcastically.
Emily's phone went off, informing her she had received a text. The man who had moments before been looking at John with a frown, now focused on Emily as she dug her phone from the pocket of her coat.
Baker Street.
Come at once
if convenient.
SH
She showed it to John who read it and the two shared a confused look. How the hell did he get her number?
"I hope I'm not distracting you." The man spoke up.
"Not distracting us at all." John said as Emily locked her phone and replaced it in her pocket.
"Do the two of you plan to continue your association with Sherlock Holmes?"
"I could be wrong... but I think that's none of your business." Emily nodded along beside him.
"It could be." Those three words sounded ominous to Emily.
"It really couldn't." The mysterious man before them took out a notebook from the inner pocket of his blazer, consulting it as he spoke, letting his umbrella dangle from his forearm.
"If you do move into, um... two hundred and twenty-one B Baker Street, I'd be happy to pay you a meaningful sum of money on a regular basis to ease your way." He had snapped the notebook shut and was hiding it from sight.
"Why?"
"Because you're not a wealthy man. And you, not a wealthy woman." He answered to both of them.
"Money, in exchange for what?" Emily asked, finding her nerve.
"Information. Nothing indiscreet. Nothing you'd feel... uncomfortable with. Just tell me what he's up to."
"Why?"
"I worry about him. Constantly.
"Well, that's just lovely of you. But I'd really like to leave now." Emily informed him.
"But I would prefer for various reasons that my concern go unmentioned. We have what you might call a... difficult relationship." He said, completely ignoring Emily's words.
It was now John's phone that alerted him of a text. Emily reluctantly let go of his arm in order for him to fish it out of his pocket.
After a moment of staring at the screen, he showed it to her.
If inconvenient,
come anyway.
SH
Emily had to bite her cheek in order to keep the smile from spreading on her face.
"No." John stated without looking up from the screen of his mobile.
"But I haven't mentioned a figure."
"Don't bother." His phone had disappeared back into his pocket now.
The man's laughter bothered Emily. "You're very loyal, very quickly."
"No, I'm not I'm just not interested."
"What about you Emily?" The two men looked at her again. John from the corner of his eye.
She thought about it. But only for a moment.
"No." She answered. After all, she didn't know this man. Why should she tell him anything about Sherlock? He hadn't even told them his name.
He looked at the pair of them before reaching for his notebook again.
"'Trust issues' it says here. And a habit of getting shy in the company of new people." Emily gulped. That last part had been meant for her. She looked at John, who, she was a little startled to see look unnerved for the first time that evening.
"What's that?" John asked, his voice unusually quiet.
"Could it be that the pair of you have decided to trust Sherlock Holmes of all people?"
"Who says I trust him?"
"And who says we shouldn't?" Emily asked gaining the man's attention. He smiled at her. It was a pleasant smile that make her feel a little more comfortable in her surroundings.
"I can see why he likes you." He told her instead of actually answering the question. Of all the things he could have said, she certainly was not expecting that. He turned back to his notebook.
"You don't seem the kind to make friends easily. Neither of you do."
"Are we done?" John asked having had enough. He looked up again to look John in the eye's.
"You tell me." His voice was smooth. Like Sherlock's.
The pair looked at him for a long moment. Emily more out of confusion than anything. John took a hold of her arm gently and turned her away from the man, walking back towards the car.
"I imagine people have already warned you to stay away from him, but I can see from your left hand that's not going to happen." Emily looked up at John again as he stopped, waiting for him to say something. It was obvious he was the one being spoken to. His shoulders tensed and with an angry shake of his head he turned back round.
"My what?" He was clearly getting frustrated, so Emily decided to hang back a little.
"Show me." He nodded towards John's hand as he spoke.
John lifted his hand, not moving forward. In order for the man to see it, he would have to go to him. He strolled forward, underterred. "Emily dear, would you mind holding this?" Cautiously, Emily stepped forward and took the offered umbrella from him and leaned on it the way he had when they had arrived.
"Don't" John snapped when the man went to reach for it. The man merely raised his eyebrows, and Emily couldn't help but smile a little.
She watched closely as the man took John's hand in both of his own and looked at it closely.
"Remarkable."
"What is?" John asked straight away snatching his hand back.
The man turned to Emily and held his hand out for his umbrella. "Thank you my dear." He moved a few paces away. "Most people blunder round this city, and all they see are streets and shops and cars. When you walk with Sherlock Holmes, you see the battlefield." He spun around to look at John. "You've already seen it, haven't you?"
"What's wrong with my hand?" John asked ignoring the mans question the way he had ignored Emily's earlier.
"You have an intermittent tremor in you left hand. Your therapist thinks it's post-traumatic stress disorder. She thinks you're haunted by memories of your military service."
"Who the hell are you?" John sounded distressed. Emily gently took hold of his arm once more. At the feeling of the warmth of his companions hand, he continued. "How do you know that?"
"Fire her. She's got it the wrong way round. You're under stress right now and your hand is perfectly steady." The man paused as Emily could practically feel John shaking in anger. "You're not haunted by the war, Doctor Watson... you miss it." John only raised his eyes to look at him when he leaned forward slightly. "Welcome back." He whispered to him before looking at Emily. "And a very warm welcome to you Miss Cooper. I do believe you'll enjoy it." With that he turned and walked away, swinging his umbrella a little as he did so.
What could he possibly have meant by that? 'I do believe you'll enjoy it." She shook her head away from that thought, If she let herself ponder about it, there was no way she was going to be able to sleep tonight.
Both John and Emily's phone went off with another text.
"Time to choose a side, Doctor Watson, Miss Cooper." They both watched as he departed as they heard a car door open behind them.
"I'm to take you home." 'Anthea' spoke up gaining the pair's attention. Her focus was still on her BlackBerry. At the sight of a phone. Emily, at the same time as John, reached for her phone.
Could be dangerous.
SH.
The two looked at each other. They didn't need to talk to know they had both received the same message. Emily watched as John held his hand out in front of him, studying it for a moment and showing the hint of a smile.
"Address?" 'Anthea' spoke up again.
"Er, Baker Street." He looked over at Emily to make sure she wanted to go there. She nodded with a smile. "Two two one B Baker Street. But I need to stop off somewhere first." Emily furrowed her brows at him in silent question, but he simply took hold of her arm and guided her towards the car.
Once again. Emily could no longer feel her bottom. But she had been temporarily relieved when John got out of the car, informing them that he wouldn't be long.
She watched the woman next to her from the corner of her eye as she continued to type away on her BlackBerry. Never before had she ever seen someone so focused on a phone.
"You know." She broke the silence, the woman beside her didn't look away from the screen, but Emily could tell that she had her attention. Or some of it at least. "You're too pretty too go around calling yourself 'Anthea'.
"Oh?" She replied.
"Yeah. I think you should introduce your self as Elizabeth. Or maybe Isabelle? It's pretty, like you." Emily insisted.
'Anthea' finally looked up from her phone to the woman next to her who was looking straight a head.
"I'll keep that in mind." Emily said nothing more. Only smiled. But it soon disappeared when the door opened again.
"Move up Emily." John told her, even though he had plenty of room. He was just doing it to annoy her and she knew it. But she didn't protest.
As the car slowed to a stop again, Emily could not remember a time when she had been more relieved to arrive at a destination. Once more, she could no longer feel her bottom.
"Listen, your boss- any chance you could not tell him this is where I went?" Emily rolled her eyes as 'Anthea' looked up and over at him.
She shared a small smile with the woman in the middle.
"Sure." She answered nonchalantly.
"You've already told him, haven't you?" Emily's smile only grew as 'Anthea' answered.
"Yeah."
At the sound of the door opening, Emily positioned herself to get out, only to find that John hadn't moved. She had a feeling she knew what was coming, and she couldn't help it, her shoulder sagged a little in irritation as John turned back to look at the other woman.
"Hey, um... do you ever get any free time?"
A chuckle escaped her lips. "Oh yeah. Lots." Emily shook her head a fraction as John waited expectantly.
'Anthea' looked at John, momentarily flicking her gaze to the building outside, then back at John. "Bye."
"Okay." The two girls shared one last smile before Emily climbed out of the car. She turned to look back in.
"Bye Isabelle." She said, and received a beaming smile in return. She shut the door as she stood back up.
"Isabelle?" John questioned from beside her.
"Yeah. Isabelle" She answered.
John shook his head as if to empty his mind of the questions that he was thinking of. Apparently he had missed something when he into his flat.
"So where was that place you went to before?" Emily questioned him, walking backwards to look at him as she made her way towards the front door.
"My flat." He answered as he moved towards her.
"Why did you need to go there?"
"I went to get something I have a feeling we may need later." He answered her mysteriously.
"Let me guess. You're not going to tell me what it is are you?"
He looked down at the woman next to him and smiled slightly. "No." She rolled her eyes just as the door opened.
"Oh, my dears, come in out of the cold." Mrs Hudson ushered them into the hallway.
"Thank you." Emily muttered.
"Sherlock's upstairs. Do either of you want a cup of tea?"
"I thought you weren't the housekeeper?" Emily asked before John could say yes.
"Finally, someone who listens." She smiled at how happy Mrs Hudson looked. "I'll leave you two to it then." She waved merrily to them as she made her way back towards her flat.
"I like her." Emily informed John when the landlady had closed the door behind her. "She reminds me of my Gran." John could hear the sadness in her voice now. But decided not to ask.
"After you Em." He told her, indicating the stairs and bringing her out of her thoughts. She smiled and began to ascend.
Believe in Sherlock
FB