There were moments when John thought he might actually be catching on to this deduction business of Sherlock's. Oh, he'd never be anywhere near as good as world's only consulting detective, but the doctor was certain he was improving to a certain extent. Then again, perhaps he shouldn't credit his own skills as highly as he was right in that moment because the person he was deducing tended to be rather easy to read, especially when she didn't know she was being scrutinized.

Standing just outside and to the left of the elevator, John had a relatively clear view of Rose, who was seated at her desk and appeared to be consulting with Lestrade about something. Those were the easy things though, that anyone should, in theory, see. But there was more to observe than the obvious. As John watched her talk and move, he could see the way she kept her left arm tucked closer to her torso, as if she'd recently over extended and caused some discomfort. Her face was also a touch pale and drawn, also indicating some general discomfort if not outright pain which meant it was very likely that Rose had gone quite some time without her pain medication. She was able to ease up on the use of it more now, but broken ribs were particularly painful and it definitely was not recommended that one skip doses if they wanted to keep things more manageable.

John found himself a little torn as he stood there, not yet ready to approach her. On the one hand, he was incredibly proud of her for having lasted three whole weeks before her impatience and impulsiveness got the best of her. He'd really only expected her to last four or five days tops, so this was definitely something for the record books. He couldn't really bring himself to blame her for wanting to escape for a bit and in fact recalled feeling the same way she likely did after he was shot. Recovery had been long and arduous and even knowing what he did about the healing process, John had been sorely tempted on a number of occasions to just do something to alleviate being cooped up for so long.

Understanding how she felt, however, was a long way from John condoning Rose's little disappearing act from Baker Street. It might have been one thing had she bothered to just let someone know she needed to get some air, but to take off and go back to work and skip her medication? That was more than a bit not good and John was more than willing to enlighten Rose as to that fact. As soon as Greg stepped away, John made a beeline for her desk.

As Rose turned back towards her computer screen, she caught a flash of something familiar out of the corner of her eye; something that looked just like John's jacket. She turned her chair around slowly in that direction, her heart plummeting into her stomach as her suspicions were confirmed. John was in fact striding toward her, looking far less than pleased with her.

John almost chuckled at the look on Rose's face when she caught sight of him. Her cheeks immediately flushed and her eyes grew round and wide before turning her chair back towards the computer screen as if ignoring him could make him go away. Either that or she was mortified and praying that he wouldn't embarrass her. That, of course, was not his goal at all!

Finally he was standing beside her desk and without a word slowly turned her chair towards him. Once that was accomplished John sat on the edge of her desk, arms crossed over his chest, an eyebrow raised inquisitively.

Rose was torn on how to best respond that the silent question that eyebrow of John's asked. While she was aware she was well and truly caught not resting, she hesitated to acknowledge any issue between them here among the people they both worked with. She opened her mouth to suggest they table the conversation until later and said…

"…Hi."

The softly uttered greeting and the anxiety coming off Rose in waves made John's stern façade soften a bit. "I'm not here to embarrass you," he said very quietly. "But I am here to take you home because you're not meant to be back here yet. I can already tell you're in some pain, so let's go home and get that taken care of."

"John, it's been three weeks and I've been a model patient that whole time. But I'm really fine now, I promise, and a little pain isn't a bad thing. It's just a twinge." When that eyebrow of his went up again, Rose let out a sigh. "Okay, a significant twinge, but I'm fine. And I intend to stay until my normal shift ends in a few hours."

"Which one of us is the doctor?" John asked, a steely edge creeping into his tone now.

Rose bristled at his tone and, much to her annoyance, began to blush once more. "You are but-"

John held up his hand, effectively cutting her off. "Stop right there. I am the doctor and as your doctor I am telling you to go home and rest before you undo all the healing you've done thus far. Now please gather your things and we're going back to Baker Street."

Lifting her chin, Rose looked him squarely in the eye. "John, I said no and I meant it," she said firmly. "The bottom line is that I can sit here just as easily as I can sit at Baker Street and at least here I'm doing some good."

Unwilling to cause a scene, but equally unwilling to allow her to stay here and work in pain out of what was most likely boredom rather than any sort of reasonable excuse, John leaned down close to her as his response was for her ears alone. "You aren't going to want to sit anywhere when we get home," John commenting in a warning tone.

The promise behind those words hanging in the air between them and Rose's eyes went wide, her mouth forming a little 'o' in alarm.

"Now I'm telling you for the last time, please get your things so we can go home," he said sternly.

Swallowing hard, Rose gave a curt nod before getting up from her desk and heading towards Lestrade's office. "Um… I'm going to head home for the day," she said softly.

"Good," Greg replied sincerely. "Don't come back until you're really ready, alright? There's no rush, your job isn't going anywhere, even if I do miss you and my morning macchiato rather desperately." He gave her a wink and smile, happy to draw a smile from her in response.

Within just a few moments Rose was ready to leave, walking silently with John towards the lift. The tension between them was thick and it was she who first tried to pierce it. "You're very angry with me, aren't you?"

"I wouldn't say angry per se, but I'm not best pleased with you love," John responded with a sigh. "If you were itching for a spanking you might have just texted me and asked for one and skip leaving the flat and risking injury all together."

Her jaw dropped and a flush of pink blossomed across her cheek bones. "If I what?! Are you serious? Just text you and ask for one? Why would I want to ask for one?!" The door of the lift opened, silencing the two occupants, but Rose continued to glower at the doctor. She waited, just barely, until they exited the building before continuing to speak.

"I wasn't looking for… for… that," Rose spat out, fighting the urge to stomp her foot for emphasis. "I just… It's not a big deal!"

"It's a very big deal!" John countered, turning to pin her with a hard look. "Maybe not to you, but it is to me. This is not okay Rose, not even close. I've told you several times how paramount it is that you rest and not overexert yourself or your ribs won't heal properly and be a continuous problem for you. This isn't me just being overly protective; it's me wanting you to continue to dance without ribs looking for their next chance to snap or give you chronic pain because they didn't knit back together properly!"

It was only then that he realized their raised voices and very public row was drawing attention from people walking past them on the pavement. John took a deep breath and reached for Rose to gently tug her hands, urging her to move closer him. "Let's take the rest of this home, yeah?"

"Yeah," Rose agreed. "Get us a taxi will you?" She intertwined her fingers with his, letting him hold on to her.

Nodding, John moved towards the street to hail one.

The ride back to Baker Street was a silent one as tension seemed to close in on them yet again. Rose spent much of it worrying her lip to the point that it started bleeding. Sucking her bottom lip into her mouth, she tried to staunch the bleeding while inwardly shuddering at the gross metallic taste in her mouth.

When the taxi pulled up to the curb, she ducked out of it, leaving John to pay the fare, much as Sherlock always did, and hurried inside the building. She was nervous and anxious, though she always felt that way when she was about to get spanked, but somehow this was different. It felt different and Rose was frustrated that she couldn't pin a label on the feeling.

John entered the flat and shut the door behind him, the sound effectively pulling Rose out of her reverie. He took a seat in his chair, facing Rose who had claimed Sherlock's, and raised his eyebrows. "Why? Why did you do it? It can't be that you were unaware of the risks, because I've made those quite clear to you time and again," John said. "You've done brilliantly and I even got you cupcakes to celebrate what a great patient you've been."

Rose peeked around him and into the kitchen, spotting the box of cupcakes from her very favorite bakery. The one that had precipitated their food fight in the sitting room and aided John's apology not long ago, and she sighed with pleasure at the thought of how good they were going to taste.

"Rose? I'm over here," John interrupted, purposely leaning in to block her view of the box. "We'll worry about the cupcakes later; they aren't going anywhere. I asked you a question and I'd like an answer."

She settled back against the seat with a sigh. "I was bored and I didn't think it was a big deal. Sitting is sitting is sitting."

"That's a Sherlock excuse and I think it's more than that. Were you overcome by impulse?" John asked. That he might actually believe, but even so, it was likely to be only part of the cause. "Tired of being cooped up? There's better ways to deal with that love than abscond to work like that. I would have been happy to take you out somewhere tonight for a few hours, give you a bit of a break from the flat."

"You'd take me out on a date?" Rose asked, immediately perking up. "Oh, we need to do that! Our very first date!" She smiled brightly at the mere thought of it and wondered where they would go and what they would do.

"Tomorrow we'll go out and do something if you rest between now and then and aren't hurting too much," John promised. "But for the moment we've got other things to deal with, so let's stay on task." He ignored the look she gave him- thinned lips, narrowed eyes and all- and offered one of his own in return. "Why?"

"Look, I was actually bored," Rose replied. "And I wasn't going to stay here one more second and write even one more line for my di-er," she quickly edited herself, remembering all too well the events of the previous evening. "For Mycroft. I figured if I went back to work then he couldn't reasonably expect me to continue the lines because look, I was all better now and working! It was much more of a protest than any sort of concerted effort to…" Her voice trailed off as she realized how red John's face had become.

"Let me make certain I've got this straight. You risked your recovery and upped your chances for potentially chronic issues because you were mad at your brother and wanted to show him up?!" John thundered.

Rose went still, reflecting for several seconds on what she had said and how John had interpreted it. "Admittedly, when you put it that way, it sounds quite stupid."

"And how exactly did you plan on keeping this from me?" John crossed his arms over his chest and watched as her face flushed with embarrassment. Whatever her plan had been, it wasn't a very good one, obviously.

"Well, considering the fact that I was caught that should indicate that I… uh…" Rose shifted uncomfortably in the chair, finding it harder and harder to look John in the eye. "Clearly that should indicate I hadn't thought that far in advance yet. I tend to have problems with forethought."

John was momentarily torn; on the one hand he wanted to chuckle and smile at the forlorn look on her face. On the other hand, he couldn't let her get away with this, no matter how adorable she looked. John had never once thought of someone who misbehaved being adorable, particularly not the young men under his command, yet that word precisely described Rose just then. The slight shifting in the chair, the flush of pink across her cheekbones and the way she kept nibbling at her bottom lip.

"This sort of thing is not okay Rose," John said sternly, digging deep for his no-nonsense captain tone. "Even if you had managed to go there and come home without my being the wiser, that's not okay. You have to understand that, but I'm really not certain you do." He paused to take a deep breath. "I'm going to try and get this across to you the only way I know truly works. Rose, bend over-"

"But John, my ribs!" Rose cried out, putting a hand over her injuries.

"Oh now you worry about your ribs?" John asked incredulously. He pinned her with a dark look that made her squirm before continuing. "Of course you can't go over my knee with those injures but you can and will bend over the kitchen table." Getting up from his chair, John entered the kitchen and fished around in a drawer until he spotted what he was looking for.

Rose's eyes went wide as she watched him pull a wooden spoon out of the drawer. "John, I think we need to talk," she blurted out.

His eyebrow quirked. "We just did."

"No," she responded, shaking her head. "I mean about us. About us and… and…" Rose frowned, trying to pull her somewhat scattered thoughts together amid the usual dread that accompanied a spanking. "About us and things! Important things and… stuff." The thoughts were right there in her mind, but her tongue just couldn't seem to cooperate.

"Rose, either say what it is you're hedging at, or come here and bend over." John pointed at the table with the spoon before crossing his arms over his chest. He couldn't quite decide if she was stalling or actually had something important to say, so he wanted to at least give her a little window of opportunity to say it.

"But we're different now! I thought we were different now and that things would be different and we should really, really talk about it John," Rose finally managed to say. It still wasn't the whole of it, but hopefully he would understand the gist of it.

It slowly dawned on John what exactly she was getting at. The fact that they were now in a relationship had led Rose to believe that this would either no longer be necessary or no longer be acceptable, or some sort of combination of the two. For a moment his look softened and he let out a sigh.

"You're right," John told her. "We do need to talk about it. We probably should have before, but I thought our conversation at hospital made it clear to you so I didn't think about clarifying anything. But yes, we do need to talk and we will-"

Rose's face lit up.

"After your spanking."

"John! We need to talk about it so I can talk you out of this!" Rose exclaimed, the words rushing out before she stopped to think about them. "Er… uh…and also talk about it seriously," she added. She could feel the stains of scarlet appearing on her face, hot and uncomfortable. "I really did mean that bit," Rose clarified. "The legitimately talking bit."

The doctor scowled darkly at her. "Oh no, no. I am not giving you a chance to talk your way round me. Come here." He nodded in the direction of the table and expected her to get moving, but she just stared at him with wide eyes instead. "Do it!" John finally ordered in his captain tone.

Looking as if she was walking towards her own execution, Rose hurried over to the table and bent over it. She kept her torso off the table, allowing her forearms to support her upper body and took a deep breath, trying to brace herself.

While Rose shored up a bit of bravery, John quickly closed the space between them. Belatedly he realized he should have asked her to take down her jeans, but he wasn't going to waste the time to ask her now. The spoon would hurt plenty through her jeans. Moving closer to Rose he put an arm lightly around her waist, resting his left hand on her hip as he tucked her against his side. It was a movement motivated by the desire to keep Rose from wriggling away as much as it was to offer her the comfort of physical contact.

Before she was really ready for it, if anyone could be ready for a spanking that is, Rose felt the spoon connect sharply with her right cheek. She jerked at the intense sting the spoon created and let out a startled little yip as the spoon smacked that cheek three more times before moving to the other side to repeat the pattern. "Ow! John! No, ow! We don't-OW-need to do this!" she protested, trying to move her bum out of the line of fire.

John continued to pop the spoon across her cheeks with very little time between swats. "I love you, you know. Quite a lot, in fact. But your complete inability to compromise when it comes to your health is madness, Rose and I'm just not going to allow it. The sooner you get that through your head, the better for your bum. Do you hear me?"

He moved the spoon down to her sit spots, putting a fair amount of strength behind the smacks and adding a snap to his wrist. "Not to mention the fact that you were lying to me, which is not something I'm going to accept in a relationship!"

The sharp sting made Rose rise up on her toes, letting out a pitiful sounding "Owwwiiiieeee!" Without even meaning to, her right hand flew back to try and shield her bum from the wicked wooden implement. "Ow, John please! Please!"

John's heart ached a bit at the sound of Rose's distinctly tearful pleas and struggled to force himself to ignore them. "Hand away Rose," he finally said sternly. "We're not finished quite yet." He didn't wait for her though, gently brushing her hand aside himself and set the fire in her bottom blazing once again.

Neither she nor John even noticed Sherlock return home during her spanking. Sherlock looked at them for a moment, an eyebrow quirked, then merely shook his head and confiscated John's laptop since the doctor was obviously not in need of it just then.

"I love you too much Rose to let you treat yourself so cavalierly," he lectured briefly. "I'm not going to have it and if this is what it takes to keep you safe and whole, then I'll do it because I love you, you mad little thing!"

His words hit her hard and just like that Rose's tears began to fall. Instantly the spanking stopped and John put the spoon down on the table. "Alright love, alright," he soothed. John rubbed her back gently for a moment before helping her up from the table. Instantly he wrapped his arms around her, enveloping her in his strength, holding her as tightly as he dared. "Shh, it's alright love. It's alright now." John smiled softly as she pressed her face against his shoulder and shook her head.

They stood there for a few moments as John held her tightly, letting her cry out her tears on his shoulder. Finally, when they seemed to slow, he kissed the top of her head and attempted to steer her in the direction of the couch for a cuddle. It was only then that he realized Sherlock was now home and sitting at the desk, having clearly broken John's latest attempt at a Sherlock-proof password. He shot his flatmate an annoyed look.

"You're very predictable John," Sherlock responded nonchalantly. He never even bothered to look up from the screen at the laptop's rightful owner.

John sighed, rolling his eyes at the man. "Yeah, and you're a git. You have-" He was interrupted when Sherlock suddenly crooked his finger, beckoning him over. He kissed the top of Rose's head and stepped away from her, intending to see just what it was that Sherlock wanted.

"Not you," the detective responded. "Rose."

"Rose? I haven't even had a chance to properly cuddle her yet!" John protested with a scowl.

Sherlock finally looked away from the laptop, his dark eyebrows slanting in a frown. "I'll give her back John," he said firmly. "Besides, she was mine before she was yours. Still mine," he pointed out.

"She is right here and is not a piece of property whose ownership shuffles back and forth based on the silly assumption that possession is 9/10ths of the law," Rose interrupted. Her sniffling took away from the harshness of her words, rendering the brief scolding rather ineffective.

"Don't be ridiculous, of course you're mine," Sherlock countered. "My very own little Rosie and so you always shall be. Now come here. Please."

Hastily Rose tried to dry her eyes with hands as she crossed the room and allowed her big brother to hug her tightly.

"Was big bad John mean to you?" Sherlock asked, cuddling her close. He shot John a glare not unlike the one he always received from the doctor after spanking Rose, feeling as though turnabout was fair play.

"Big bad—Sherlock, come on!" John protested. "That's not even true and you know it."

"Yes," Rose said in a tiny voice, cuddling tighter against her brother. "He was so very mean Sherlock. The very meanest ever." She preened a bit as Sherlock rubbed her back, making gentle shushing sounds. Out of the corner of her eye she saw John's jaw drop, a look of confusion mixed with astonishment on his face.

…And she laughed. Sherlock's triumphant laughter joined her infectious giggles a few seconds later, the two of them dissolving into an absolute fit of laughter.

John stared at the siblings in utter confusion as they both began to laugh loudly, at him. "Oh yes, ha ha, very funny," he grumbled.

"The look on your face John!"

"'He was so very mean to me Sherlock'" the detective added, mimicking his sister's voice before being consumed by laughter once more.

His hands on his hips, John glared at the two Holmes siblings. "You're monsters, the pair of you," he announced. "Here I was getting all concerned that I'd been too hard on Rose and it was all a game from the very start, wasn't it? Did you two coordinate efforts in advance or something? I don't know whether to be angry or impressed."

"We didn't have to talk about it. We did that to Mycroft all the time, though he never took us the least bit seriously," Rose admitted. "It just sort of occurred. Sherlock started it by calling you big and bad."

"You always glare at me as though you'd like to take my head off whenever Rose and I have a discussion and turnabout is only fair play John," Sherlock added. "Before I relinquish her for some actual cooing and cuddling-"

John's face instantly turned red and he gave the detective a truly scathing look. "I do not coo at her Sherlock!"

"Of course not John," Sherlock replied without a modicum of sincerity. "As I was saying, or attempting to say at least, what, dearest sister, have you done?" An eyebrow arched as Rose's face flushed and he waited patiently for her to answer.

The doctor left the siblings briefly to find Rose's pain medication and bring her a dose, along with some water.

"I decided to go back to work so that Mycroft couldn't make me do anymore lines because look I'm all better now," Rose admitted. "It didn't work out well. I didn't have a solid plan to avoid getting caught."

"Lack of forethought as per usual," Sherlock agreed. "I'll take care of Mycroft." He kissed the top of her head and gently nudged her out of his lap. Once that was done he reached for his mobile and hastily typed a message to their brother.

'Rose will not be doing any further lines. SH'

"And five… four… three…" Sherlock began counting down. Just before he got to 'one' the mobile rang.

"What do you mean she is not doing anymore lines? I assigned her those lines, not you, and she deserved the extras for her behavior yesterday," Mycroft pointed out.

"I mean exactly as I said," Sherlock responded easily. "Simply put, brother, I am overruling you."

"Are you trying to pull rank on me Sherlock? I am the eldest in case you've forgotten."

"No, I haven't forgotten, I'm merely recalling the discussion we had a while back regarding Rose and her living arrangements. It ended along the lines of our agreeing that I would be the main disciplinarian now that she was at Baker Street. Surely that hasn't slipped your mind."

"You two seriously have conversations like that?!" Rose exclaimed, upon hearing Sherlock's side of the discussion. "You two are simply too much for any girl to bear!"

Mycroft scowled at his mobile. "Still, she-"

"No," Sherlock interrupted firmly. "I'm overruling you."

"…You can't do that!"

"I just did," Sherlock said with a smirk. "Besides, your plan backfired. Didn't it occur to you that rewarding her efforts at completing those initial lines by giving her more was merely giving her a punishment for good behavior rather than appreciating her good choices? She went back to work today to avoid doing lines, thanks to your efforts."

Mycroft opened his mouth to argue then closed it just as quickly while he considered his brother's words.

"Yes, I know you didn't see it like that," Sherlock supplied. "But that's precisely what you did and that's not a trend either of us wish to start, is it?"

"….No," Mycroft admitted. "Fine."

"Fine."

"Goodbye Sherlock." Mycroft ended the call with a frustrated sigh, knowing Sherlock was grinning with pleasure at having bested him.

Rose once again vacated John's arms when Sherlock ended the call with their brother, throwing her arms around him and kissing his cheek. "You're my favorite," she murmured with a smile.

"Haven't I always been?" Sherlock gave her a bit of a pout when she went back to John before finally turning his attention back to the laptop.

"Did you still want to talk, love?" John asked. "And maybe have some arnica cream?"

"Yes! Yes on both counts," Rose agreed. "Maybe we could go next door so we don't disturb Sherlock, or vice versa?"

"Good idea. Go on, I'll meet you in there in a minute." Giving her a smile he then headed for his bedroom.

Entering Rose's flat a few minutes he immediately saw that she was not in the sitting room. The reason for that was also apparent, as her couch was heaped with clothing that needed to be folded, a few items of which he clearly recognized as his own jumpers. John shook his head fondly and headed for her room where he found her lying on her good side, her eyes closed.

"Haven't fallen asleep on me, have you?"

Rose opened her eyes and smiled. "Nope. How's this cream thing going to work? You've told me I shouldn't lie on my stomach."

"I think you'll have to bend over the side of the bed then," John said after a few seconds thought. "Up you get, jeans and pants down." For some reason the both of them began to blush at the same time when he said those words.

Rose got up from the bed and pushed her jeans and pants down to mid-thigh before bending over the bed. She cringed when John let out a low whistle at the sight of her bum. "Either you're admiring my bottom or it looks as bad as it feels."

John laughed softly as he uncapped the arnica cream. "A bit of both, but mostly the latter. You're quite red back here, but you won't mark. I should have told you to at least take down your jeans so I could see what I was doing."

"I'm glad you didn't! That hurt plenty even with the jeans." Rose hissed as he began to gently rub the cream onto her sore bum. "I'm sorry that I don't seem to care very much about myself. I don't always mean to be that way, it just sort of happens. I believe you when you say things, I just don't think about them when I want to be thinking about something else."

John leaned over and kissed the small of her back, smiling as he drew a little squeak from her. "I know Rose," he said softly. "I just worry about you and I also don't want us to keep secrets from each other. I don't like the thought of you possibly going in there today, coming home before I did, and then just keeping it from me."

"I really hadn't thought that far in advance," Rose told him truthfully. "It was really far more driven by the fact that I was upset with Mycroft. I deserved what happened last night, for what I said, but the additional lines… It's really hard to be thrown something like after you've worked so hard. Sherlock had the right of it, rewarding good behavior with more punishment and I didn't want that again. So I had a thought and acted on it without thinking further in ahead than how I felt in that moment."

"I was expecting this to happen eventually," John admitted. "By the end of the first week to be honest, but I am really proud of you for lasting three whole weeks. I do worry about you though, and wish you'd take better care of yourself. It's even more important to me now that we're together."

Rose nodded, looking thoughtful. "I'll try to be better, and I don't want a relationship full of lies either."

John put the cap back on the arnica cream. "All done love. I'm going to wash this off my hand then we'll talk a bit more." He ducked out of her bedroom and returned just in time to see her curled up on the bed on her side once more; her jeans a little heap on the floor, her legs bare, the bottom half of her covered by her pants.

"Going to put some bottoms on then?" John asked, arching an eyebrow at her.

Rose shook her head. "Hurts too much still for jeans. I'm more comfortable without them."

The doctor coughed just a bit. "Pajama bottoms then? Sweats?"

"Do I have some? Yes, but they're very far away from where I am right now," Rose pointed out.

"Very far away? Yes, your chest of drawers is ages away," he teased, shaking his head. "Are you trying to distract me or something?"

Rose frowned just slightly before her eyes widened. Her blue and white striped pants covered everything and she hadn't really thought about them as a distraction from the actual conversation they were supposed to have. "Are my knickers making you uncomfortable?" she asked sincerely. "I could grab a blanket or you could get out some pajama bottoms or something."

John smiled, even as he felt his face go a bit red. You're a doctor, he reminded himself, you can have a conversation with your girlfriend even if she's in her pants. You talk seriously with half naked people all the time. Rose was adorably sweet with her genuine concern that she might be making him uncomfortable.

He crossed the room and sat down beside her, pulling her onto his lap at last for that proper cuddle he owed her. "I think you're just trying to get compliments out of me."

Rose looked up at him, an eyebrow quirked, before a cheeky smile settled across her face. "Well, it wouldn't go amiss if amid a cuddle and serious discussion about our relationship to compliment me a bit."

Chuckling quietly, John then kissed her. "You have the most adorable bum," he murmured in her ear.

"I don't think bums can be adorable," Rose replied, her face growing red.

"Certainly they can. Yours is adorable and perfect." He grinned wolfishly at her, a hand sneaking down to cup one cheek before his voice began rumbling low and deep in her ear. "It's little and rounded just right, plus it's the perfect size to grab hold of."

"And that would be so much sexier and much more of a turn on if my bum wasn't hurting," Rose murmured, arching away from his hand a bit. "Another time you can write sonnets to my bum or something. Or my eyes or anything else you find lovely about me."

John laughed and opened his mouth to respond, only to be cut off by slow, thoughtful kiss, her soft lips brushing against his own; it was a sensation he found intoxicating. It took everything he had to pull away from her a bit and clear his throat uncomfortably. "We had something we were going to talk about, didn't we?"

Rose nodded. "We did, yes. Though I suppose it doesn't require as much of a talk as I thought it might," she admitted. "And I'm not certain where to start."

"I will then," John offered. He grabbed a throw blanket from the end of her bed, covering her with it in case she got cold. It was winter after all and the building was a bit drafty! "Be honest with me love. Did you really think that because we were in a relationship I wouldn't uh… well…" He tried to find a more adult word for it but, upon failing, resorted to the typical word. "Spank you anymore?"

"I guess I did. It was more of a hope I suppose. I mean, I knew I was flirting with disaster and some serious retribution from someone for walking around and competing with a broken rib. I know that was stupid," Rose admitted. "But I worked so hard I couldn't not go and at least try. I deserve everyone's anger for that, so I wasn't at all surprised when you threatened to smack me in the hospital. I thought after that, however, it might be done. Perhaps."

John held onto her a little tighter, though he made certain not to put any pressure on her injured side. "Honestly, I'd like it to be but realistically I don't think that's going to happen anytime soon. I certainly won't be looking for opportunities to do it though," he assured her. "I don't like being the one to make you cry, even if it's a well deserved spanking like it was today.

"Does it make you uncomfortable? Other than your bum I mean. Does it cross certain lines that I don't know about?" There was a lot he, and her brothers for that matter, didn't know about the eighteen months she was on her own. If there was truly an issue there, something that this hit far too close to home with, he'd reevaluate things. He truly hoped that that was not the case; not because he would regret giving up the right to spank her when it was deserved, but because it would mean there was an abusive relationship of some sort in her past.

"No! Nothing like that," Rose said firmly. That one night in Italy aside, she had never been the victim of violence at a man's hands, and she had left that particular man in much worse shape than she was! "I guess I would just like to be enough of a grown up that that is no longer an option on the table."

"It has nothing to do with your age, you know. It's everything to do with how completely mad you are. I love you and I don't want you hurt or in danger and I'll do anything I can to keep you safe, even if that means I have to spank you to do it. It's not about control," John added. "It's about love. I love you too much to stand back and let you do whatever comes into your head and end up half dead. You realize that, right? That it's not borne of some desire to… I don't know… hold you hostage or something? Control you and change you fundamentally?"

Rose smiled and laughed. "Of course I know John! That's not the sort of man you are, and if you were, Sherlock would've killed you by now for laying even a finger on me. I know it comes from a place of love, just don't expect me to like it, alright? No matter how it may look, I don't actually enjoy being in trouble. Getting called to task like that means I really have been wrong, disappointed someone I loved and made bad choices. I know all that. I was raised with all that. But…" Her voice trailed off and she frowned in thought as she tried to find the right words.

"But what, Rose?" John asked encouragingly. "Whatever it is you can say it, you can trust me, even if it's something you don't think I want to hear."

"I'm not sure if this is normal, that's what's been bothering me, or at least was bothering me earlier," she explained. "I've not been in many relationships, especially while I was away. I tended to move on as soon as someone got too close to me because I didn't want to… well, give my heart away again and have it blow up in my face again. So I just… I wasn't sure if I should be concerned or just assume it wouldn't happen anymore. I was confused I guess."

Give my heart away again and have it blow up in my face again. The words echoed in John's head and he tried to file them away for a later date. "There are lines of not normal. Abusing someone is not normal," John told her in a firm tone. "But you and I are not 'normal' in general, nor is any of your family or our whole living arrangement. And who is to say what is normal? Normal is what works in a relationship. So long as you don't think I'm trying to control you and as long as you trust me to not take it too far-"

"John that goes without saying, both of those," Rose sternly interrupted.

"Then we're fine." John kissed her nose and then briefly claimed her lips. "Our normal is okay for us and that's what matters. If something changes though, you have to promise to tell me. I won't be looking for chances to spank you, and hopefully you won't be giving me loads of reasons to consider it," he gently teased.

Rose smiled at him, even as she blushed a bit. "I don't go looking for it, which is why I was so upset with you earlier for telling me I should've just asked!"

"Well it felt like you might have been at the moment I said that," John told her. "And I still think your reasoning was ridiculous so I won't feel bad for doing it. But let's talk about something else, hm? If you rest up today and tomorrow and aren't hurting, I want to take you out. It's about time we did. Where do you want to go?"

She sighed happily and rested her head against his shoulder. "Angelo's? I love Italian and it's nearby so we could walk. Maybe after that just walk a bit, see if anything draws our attention? I haven't told Mycroft, by the way, about us."

"I assumed so, since I haven't been kidnapped off the street recently. Would you prefer a chance to talk to him first?"

"No. I love Mycroft very much," Rose said softly. "And I'm afraid he'll say no and the thought of that… Well, it frightens me a bit. We're very complicated, he and I. Parameters and all that."

John nodded, looking thoughtful. "So you want to go out a few times, see if we fit as a couple outside of Baker Street before you approach him about it."

"Yes. It's cowardly I know, but…"

"It's not," John hurried to assure her. "Everything can look different when in the outside world as compared to here. Not that I think we'll be any different, or if we are we'll just be better for it. If you need that time, to get used to one another that way, I'm alright with that. He's your brother, not mine, and you two are a bit of a puzzle that I may never figure out entirely. Know that I don't want to come between you and won't ask you to choose, should things go there."

"Oh god, I hope they won't," Rose moaned. Seconds later, she let out a great yawn. "Medicine is kicking in. Stay, will you? I'm quite comfy all curled up like this. Might I hold you prisoner until I fall asleep?"

John smiled at her, running a hand through her hair. "You can keep me prisoner as long as you like," he assured her. Forever even, he added mentally.

NOTE: This chapter took far too long in coming and I'm so sorry for the long wait. I've been half-drowning in grading, lecturing, classes and second job and this was the concerted effort of snatches of time here and there over the last couple weeks. I hope the length makes up for the wait. Thank you all for your patience and support for this story and Wildflower!