Chapter 6: Hidden Beauty

'You're doing wonderful dear.'

Alice looked up at Mrs. Hudson, who was smiling widely as Alice took the pie out of the oven. She put it on the counter and closed the oven again. Mrs. Hudson took a whiff of the apple caramel pie and smiled, but Alice smiled even wider.

'Just wait a moment, I can make it even better.'

Mrs. Hudson looked at her, a little confused, but then nodded. She had no idea, when she let this girl live in the little studio behind her shop, she got herself a wonderful baker as well. But Alice seemed to be a natural in practically everything that was thrown at her, except for socializing with people.

Over the months that followed after Sherlock had brought Alice to 221 Baker Street, Mrs. Hudson had gained her trust and she was almost as close to her as to her father, whom she hadn't seen that often lately. But Alice thought he was busy, Scotland Yard was solving a lot of crimes quickly recently, they were never that fast, unless they had help from someone who was actually clever enough, someone like a socially awkward, smoking, cocaine addict who she knew was her father.

But still, she had hardly talked to him after she had moved into Baker Street. Alice had found him only a week earlier with a syrringe beside him when she payed him a surprise visit in Montague Street. He wasn't overdosing, but he was clearly a long way gone. She had taken care of him, though he had send her away so many times, she had refused to do so. She didn't like seeing him this way, and he had no idea who she was when he was high. Still, nothing would stop Alice from leaving her father. She was only be 15, but she knew very well how to take care of herself and others if they needed her. She shook it of when she saw Mrs. Hudson looking.

'You miss him, don't you?'

Alice nodded.

'Maybe you should call him sometime, he is still your father.'

Alice looked at Mrs. Hudson, who nodded encouragingly.

'Really dear, you have every right.'

Alice nodded again.

'I know.'

She smiled at Mrs. Hudson.

'I will... but first.'

She turned to the counter again, grabbed a plate from one of the cabinets, put it over the mold of her pie and then turned it over in one subtle move. She put the plate on the counter and took away the mold, revealing a perfect tarte tatin. Mrs. Hudson looked over Alice's shoulder, smiling widely at it.

'Wonderful dear, hidden beauty, like you and your father.'

Alice turned around, with a questioned look on her face.

'What do you mean by that Martha?'

Mrs. Hudson seemed surprised for quite some time, because Alice suddenly called her by her first name, but Alice's look forces her to regain her voice. But before she started talking again, she beckoned Alice to sit down on a chair, leaving the pie on the counter. When they had sat down next to each other on the couch, Mrs. Hudson turned to Alice, who followed the example and turned to the landlady.

'What I mean, dear, is that your father and you are two beautiful people. Talented and cleverer than any person you could meet out on the street. But you hide it, because you are so awkward around people. You shut down, don't say a word, your father hides behind his ma...'

'Mask of sternness, I am surprised you noticed, he never believes me when I say such a thing.'

Mrs. Hudson just smiled, this was the Alice she knew, interrupting her in the middle of her speech, just so she could speak her mind out loud. Some people would hate it, she didn't, she just let Alice talk. When she fell silent again, Mrs. Hudson resumed her talk.

'He calls people out, just to show them that he is cleverer than them. He does that, just so that he doesn't have to open up to them. But underneath that, he has a big heart.'

Alice smiled widely, but sad, she knew her father had a big heart, you wouldn't just pay for an apartment in the heart of London for a girl you met only a few months earlier, even if she was your daughter, if you didn't have a big heart. But his mask was so thick, she could hardly get through it, no matter how hard she tried. She didn't mind that all her meetings with her father never consisted of that much conversation, but maybe she had hoped for more contact between the two of them after she had moved into Baker Street. She is startled by the touch of Mrs. Hudson, who took one of her hands that was resting on the couch.

'You want to break through his mask, then try talking to him.'

Alice looked from the hand up to Mrs. Hudson, then she nodded.

'I will.'

She smiled and Mrs. Hudson did the same, Alice got up and walked towards the counter, taking in the smell of the tarte tatin, before grabbing her phone, which was also on the counter. She unlocked it and opened a new message.

Need to talk
Baker Street
One hour
ASH

Alice looked up at Mrs. Hudson, who smiled sweetly.

'Well done dear.'

Alice smiled and walked towards Mrs. Hudson, she leaned forward to embrace her.

'Thank you Mrs. Hudson, I don't know what I would do without you.'

She felt Mrs. Hudson's smile and when they let go of each other, they looked at each other for a while.

'You would be just fine, dear, even without me. You just sometimes need someone to show you things you, in a way, already know.'

An hour later Alice was sitting on her own small couch, looking straight at the man sitting opposite her on a chair. He had taken off his coat, but it was still in eyesight, and he was constantly looking at it. He wanted to leave, that was something Alice knew for sure. They just stared at each other for a while Alice was looking for the right words and was also observing her father. He wasn't using cocaine now, after last week, that was a good thing, but his smoking had increased, a lot. When she saw her father looking at his coat once again, she suddenly rose from the couch, grabbed the coat and opened the door to the hall, where she put the coat on a hanger. She closed the door again and turned around, staring straight into her fathers eyes, who had followed her every move.

'Now we can finally talk.'

Alice walked back to the couch, sat down and turned to her father, never taking her eyes of him, not blinking, and neither did he release his eye contact.

'Then talk.'

Alice wasn't surprised or startled by this response.

'This is not just on me, it's on you to.'

No reaction.

'We haven't talked in months.'

'I'm busy.'

Alice scoffed.

'Really? Solving crimes now, are we? Well, as you probably know I like crimes too. Solving them. Being part in the catching of those criminals. I like it just as much as you do.'

Sherlock just looked at her.

'But I don't need someone else around.'

Alice looked back at him. No emotion on her face, but she was getting angrier by the second.

'But maybe I do.'

'You have Mrs. Hudson... and I brought you a present.'

He took something from behind his back, which apparently had been there all this time. A skull, a real human skull. He handed it over to Alice.

'I have one too, maybe it can help you when you're trying to speak your mind, it's an easy companion, never talks back.'

Alice stared at the skull, and then at her father. Back at the skull. Again at her father. Her face going red, until she suddenly rose from the couch and hit the skull from her fathers hand, sending it flying to the floor.

'I need my father!'

Sherlock's eyes grew big with surprise. Alice's face was red with anger.

'For months you just ignore me, and then I ask you to show up, to talk to me and you show up with a skull to talk to, while you cannot wait to grab your coat and go out the door!'

Sherlock didn't seem to be bothered and he grabbed a cigarette, but before he could light it, Alice had hit it from his hands, it dropped in between the pieces of broken skull on the floor.

'And for once will you stop smoking!'

Sherlock's face was stone cold, and only inches away from his daughter's.

'I need those cigarette's.'

'No you don't! You don't! It's your way of calming down, I know that, but this is not the way!'

Alice's took a breath and calmed down a bit, but she was still looking her father straight in the eye.

'I just want you to take care of yourself, and be there for me. I came here to find someone like me, so that I could finally be around such a person and not feel singled out. You abandoned me the moment I got this studio, thinking that Mrs. Hudson would be enough companionship for me. Mrs. Hudson is wonderful, she really is, but she is not perfect for me. I can talk to her, but you understand me.'

She went quiet for a while, trying to find a response in the eyes of her father, but there was none.

'It may sound like something you don't want to hear dad, but I need you.'

Alice continued to look him in the eye, but then he stood up straight and started to walk for the door. Alice stood up straight again too, passed the broken skull and cigarette and opened a drawer, taking out a box.

'Sherlock.'

Sherlock turned around and Alice threw him the box, he caught it and looked at it, Alice just smiled at him, though it took some effort.

'Nicotine patches... might help.'

Sherlock looked up at his daughter again and suddenly that smile appeared again. The genuine smile he had had when he introduced her to Mrs. Hudson. Alice returned the smile and Sherlock opened the door. Alice kept on staring at it, even when it was closed again. The smile was still plastered on her face. Then the door opened again and Sherlock appeared, he had his coat on. The collar turned up like he always had. If it ever fell down, he would put it back up again within seconds.

'We'll talk tomorrow, maybe about a case.'

Alice smiled.

'I don't mind, even if we don't talk at all, I just want to know that we can talk, if we want to.'

Sherlock smiled just a little and left. This time, Alice followed him to the hall and stopped in the doorway. She saw Sherlock walk up to Mrs. Hudson, who was putting her cleaning stuff away in a cupboard. He softly tapped her on the shoulder and when Mrs. Hudson turned around and smiles widely at him with open arms, he answered her embrace and pulled her a little closer, which resulted in a surprised reaction, but then a tight embrace from Mrs. Hudson, evoking surprise from Sherlock. Alice laughed softly when she saw all this unfold. Her father whispered something in Mrs. Hudson's ear, something Alice couldn't hear, but which was surely about her. When they let go of each other, Sherlock stared at Mrs. Hudson for a while, a little awkward.

Then he looked up and saw Alice standing in the place where she had been that entire time, and after a bit of surprise, he smiled. Then he turned towards another door, which lead to the restaurant, a third door in the hall led to Mrs. Hudson's flat. Mrs. Hudson looked up and saw Alice as well, who was still standing there, her arms folded. This was the first time she had actually seen her father being affectionate towards someone. Somehow she had done something, even if it was just a little thing. He was showing just the slightest bit of emotion and over the course of that following month, that would increase.

Even though they still didn't talk that much, Sherlock found out that he could use someone to talk to. That sometimes he needed someone more alive than his skull. He still kept it though, for the times when he really wanted to be alone. But now all Alice knew was that her father understood that she could actually be important in his life, even if it was just a little bit, she was at least part of it. With her arms folded, she stared at the door through which her father had left, until she noticed Mrs. Hudson's look.

'Hidden beauty, my dear, and you're digging to find that beautiful centre.'

Alice just smiled. Mrs. Hudson was right, like she was so often. Eventually she would find the beautiful centre and find the emotions her father hid away with such care. She would find it. No matter how long it would take her. Even if she wasn't the only one who would help her father reach those emotions. She didn't care, as long as her father would become the person he really was, that would be all she could ever ask for.

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11/4/2018: minor changes made to comply to further research