Author's notes: These first few chapters have lots of dialogue, and it really bugs me. This is a really slow-moving chapter. I promise there will be some action in the next chapter. Just bear with me…
"Olivia, dear, it's so nice to see you!" I greeted her. I chose to ignore the dispute I had just witnessed.
She grinned. "It's nice to see you too, Dr. Dawson!" She turned to Basil, and I immediately saw her eager grin turn to a foreign shy smile. "A-and y-you too, Mr. Basil. Now, what can I do for you two tonight?"
We ordered, and she scurried away to the kitchen without anything more than a nod. Basil stared at the kitchen doors.
"My goodness, Basil, what's Olivia doing as a waitress in this part of London?" I inquired. "My, how she's grown. She must be-"
"-sixteen, Dawson," he muttered, not taking his eyes off the doors. "Sixteen. She's been in some advanced classes this side of London for the past two years now, and she's been working here to help pay for them."
I was shocked. "Two years? Why, how could you possibly deduce that, Basil?" He was still gazing at the kitchen doors. "Basil, are you-"
"Shush, Dawson!" he hissed as Olivia returned with our drinks. "Thank you, Miss-"
"Flaversham, Mr. Basil, Miss Flaversham." And with a wink at me, she was off once more.
Basil chuckled. "Hiram contacted me before she arrived." He took a sip of his drink. "I'm to 'keep an eye out for her and make sure that she doesn't get into any trouble.' From that little scuffle we saw, I think she's quite aware of that."
I frowned. "And how are you 'keeping an eye out for her', Basil? I've not seen you leave Baker Street to call upon her, and-"
"True, Dawson, this is the first time I've actually seen her since she began taking classes. But I have an acquaintance who teaches at her school, and he sends me regular progress and behavior reports once a semester."
"And?"
"Brilliant for a young woman, very intelligent. Only one behavioral problem her third week there."
I felt my eyes get wide, and Basil had an amused look on her face. "Whatever did the girl do? She was always a well behaved child, and…" I trailed off.
"Something with sneaking out to go to the post office; nothing of much importance."
We moved on to the topic of the case we were currently working on; Basil was thoroughly bored by it, and greatly wished for it to end.
The rest of the evening went without interruption, save for a goodbye hug from Olivia. She gave me a hearty embrace, and then stuck out her hand for Basil to shake.
"Really, Miss-"
"Flaversham," she said with a tiny smirk.
"There's no need to be so distant," Basil smiled. I could clearly see there was a complete swap in their relationship. Eight years before, he was utterly inept with children and she was a giggling little girl who wanted someone to look up to. Now, he treated her with respect and used nothing but polite gestures of kindness, and she awkwardly responded with her silence.
Time can change a person.
It was a stiff embrace, but one nonetheless.
"Stop by Baker Street anytime, Olivia," I told her.
"Please," Basil added kindly.
We exited the restaurant, and I led him to the pastry shop.
He grimaced. "I thought I said no cake, you conniving old man!"
"Nonsense," I retorted with a flourish, "you said nothing but dinner. Dessert is part of dinner."
Basil sighed and pushed the door open. "Must you aggravate me so, Dawson? Fine, you win. But next year, I refuse to exit the flat on my birthday!"
"Unless there is a case," I muttered as the bells tinkled.
"Correct, Dawson. Unless there is a case, or I am deceased."
"Basil!" I exclaimed.
I went up to the counter and paid for two slices of an extremely moist yellow cake (I wasn't going to overdo it) and returned to the glass table where Basil was already sitting with his coat and hat off. I handed him his cake and a fork.
"Now where do come from talking like that?" I demanded, for although Basil often spoke in metaphors, puzzled nearly everyone he came in contact with, and was easily depressed, it was unlike him to talk about himself in such a way.
Basil apparently liked my choice of cake, for he had taken a bit more than he could comfortably chew quickly. After a moment of chewing in silence and a slight, embarrassed chuckle, he responded. "Well now, no one knows better than you, Dawson, that my line of work isn't exactly the safest."
He was correct. In the eight years since we first met, my friend had been injured several times. Nothing that kept him bedridden for more than a fortnight, but it was still a distressing situation that I preferred to avoid like the plague.
"But you mustn't talk like that, Basil. I am much older than you, and I assure you that I will go first."
He didn't respond right away, but his reply was uneasy. "Dawson, I…" He stopped speaking. "I cannot say that you are correct. I just…"
It was times like this that I was I was truly frightened of Basil's intellect. To hear him talk like that was infuriating and startling, just because I had seen him inflicted with so many wounds and recover so many times. "Let us get off this depressing subject, shall we?"
He gave a weak nod, and I wished I knew what was going through his head at that exact moment.
The conversation turned back to Olivia. "Why do you think she hasn't visited us? Do you see any reason for her not to come see her old friends?"
He shrugged. "That is a question for you to ask Miss Olivia, not me."
I could see that our discussion about death turned the lighthearted mood of the evening into a dark cloud of depression. I think he was having a bit of a staring problem, for he was gazing at his uneaten cake. "You still can't remember her last name, can you, Basil?"
He snorted, and gave a brief nod. "I'm afraid you know me very well, old friend."
I suppressed a sarcastic chuckle, for it seemed Basil's comment followed the one conversation in years that I seriously doubted my ability to analyze my friend.
If I didn't understand Basil, then who did?
Author's notes: I wrote that chapter twice, and still didn't like it. I think this version is a bit better, but you never know… Thanks, everyone, for the positive feedback so far. Please keep reading and reviewing!