(A/N: This is my first Sherlock fanfic, and I currently have several chapters written ahead. If anyone is actually reading and enjoying this story, I'd appreciate reviews to give feedback. It certainly helps motivate writing on this when I should be doing other things as well as encourages the posting of additional chapters sooner rather than later...)

As the cab pulled up in front of Tierra Brindisa, Victoria hopped right out and began looking around whilst I paid the fare then quickly followed to stand beside her, placing my hand at the small of her back, an action I'd noted to be the norm with couples.

"This place looks cozy," she remarked as we walked toward the entrance.

Cozy? Was that good? Bad? I'd followed Lestrade's advice and chosen a dining establishment in which I would be comfortable.

I knew I needed John. Lestrade was an idiot.

"I thought you might pick somewhere busy, too loud to actually carry on a conversation." With a smile, she looked up at me when I held the door open. "I was afraid you might find a way to avoid actually talking. Seems I was wrong. This is perfect."

Breathing a sigh of relief, I stepped in behind her and nodded toward Angelo. "Ah, Sherlock, so good to see you, my friend. I have your table prepared, just as you requested."

He waved us over to the front window table, a small trio of candles already lit in the center, dim overhead lights hanging low just as I recalled from the night I'd sat at the same table with John, the night our friendship began and we became flatmates, though I didn't know he would become my friend at the time.

That seemed a lifetime ago. Perhaps it was. I wasn't the same me then. John changed me, changed me for the better.

"Sherlock?" Angelo looked at me as if I missed something.

"Hm?"

"I asked if I could get you something to drink to start. You were off in space somewhere, mate."

Shaking my head a bit, I tried to keep my mind off John and focused on my date. "What are you having, Victoria?"

"A glass of Merlot. I'm a fan of wine with dinner and in the evening, hard liquor on weekends."

She winked at me, and I temporarily could not recall how my mouth or my lungs functioned, I simply blinked like a bloody idiot.

"Um… Actually, Angelo, make that a bottle of Merlot, best in the house. We'll both be imbibing tonight." My eyes never left Victoria's, and I didn't fully hear his response before leaving us alone, something regarding our need for time to browse the menu.

"I take it you've been here a time or two."

Our gaze remained locked, yet I could see her smile simply in the brightness of her eyes and the fine lines appearing at their corners. "A few times, perhaps." I mirrored her amusement. "He was quite willing to assist me in arranging a 'cozy' place to dine, as you deem this to be."

"Well, it's perfect. And dressing up a bit despite it being a pretty casual place was a great idea, makes quite an impression for a first date. Too many men would overdo a first date, go flashy, flamboyant, try to show off and impress, but this is better. Taking a small, low-key restaurant, adding a few candles to the table, wearing nicer clothes than you might normally to come here, and all, it makes it special without being ridiculous or seeming like you tried too hard." She laughed and glanced down to the table. "But the look on your face says it took you all afternoon to do this. Am I right?"

Sitting up extraordinarily straight, I focused intently on the menu, nervously tapping my fingers across the words I wasn't reading truthfully. "I don't know what…" I shook my head, sighing. "I don't know why I can't lie to you." Possibly because John's voice was screaming in my head, telling me not to be stupid, not to bugger this up.

She reached across the table, placing one hand over mine, and I my eyes became transfixed there, memorizing every detail of her hand, every line, every freckle, a small faded scar.

"Sherlock, if I'm your girlfriend now, your first girlfriend from what I'm understanding, then let's not focus on the why and just focus on the fact that you can't, and you shouldn't anyway, so just don't bother trying to figure out how, and let's move on." I raised my eyes to find her smiling gently at me. "Yeah?" I nodded. "So what do you recommend to eat here?"

We didn't speak of anything significant until after Angelo brought our wine and took our orders, giving me time to gather my thoughts again. Step 3: Set romantic dining ambiance. I'd had much of that taken care of ahead of time by calling Angelo, but had one more plan on my part, and pulled out my phone, holding back my grin at how well I'd planned the evening, despite Victoria's unparalleled ability to deduce my reasons and intents behind everything. Although, given she was highly educated in psychology and experienced at dating, I had to admit she held an unfair advantage.

Opening the music app, I found the playlist I'd created, set the volume, laid my phone to the side of the candles, and pressed play, quite proud of the relative smooth execution of my first date thus far.

"Mood music?" she questioned rather quickly into the first song.

"I thought it would be nice, perhaps an icebreaker. We did spend the first evening we met dancing to music, so I thought…" Bowing her head slightly, she covered her mouth with her hand, but I could still see the grin on her face. "What? I don't see what's funny. I found this song to be quite elegantly dramatic. It seemed suitable."

Her shoulders were visibly shaking with the laughter she held back. "Why this?" she squeaked, a giggle escaping.

"Because I play the violin, so I did a search for more contemporary instrumental pieces featuring it significantly in order to combine your previously mentioned interest in music with my particular musical talent to create both ambiance and a conversation starter, though this is not quite the conversation I had in mind. I hear nothing wrong with this composition and have no idea why you find it so entirely amusing."

She let her giggles out for a few moments while I sat glaring. Step 3 was not going so well after all.

"Sherlock, I agree "Lux Aeterna" is a beautiful piece. It's also rather morbid and not exactly romantic mood music since it was composed for the film Requiem for a Dream, which is all about addictions and delusions and is basically more psychologically disturbing than a person who runs around misinforming people that he's a sociopath," she stated as bluntly as a slap in the face.

"Who told you that?" I snapped, stopping the music. This was not the way I had planned for things to go.

Step 3: Failed.

"People saw us together at the reception. I'd say you know how that is, but I'm not sure you do. Comments were randomly made to me about you, some as friendly warnings, some in hopeful wishes to see more come of our seeming interest in each other. You can imagine I heard a lot of things, good and bad." Her expression was unreadable, not happy, not sad, not angry. It was merely as silent as she was in that moment. "Then I had a very strange visitor while I was at my office yesterday." I stiffened, every muscle rigid, not even daring to breathe, knowing what was coming. "Not sure I see any family resemblance. You definitely inherited all the good looks. But Mycroft is certainly an interesting character. I'll give him that much."

My brother. Was there any area of my life in which he did not feel it necessary to interfere?

"And what did he want?" I ground out between clenched teeth.

"You know, have tea, chat a while, tell me childhood tales of the rambunctious Holmes boys, and show me embarrassing baby photos." I stared in absolute shock. "I'm kidding. Much like the World's Only Consulting Detective, he was ambiguous about the reason for his visit. Mostly, I think he was playing at a lot of cloak and daggers veiled threats while trying to assess if I'm romantically involved with you, or at least if I was at the time he visited… Or probably if I was open to the idea. Moral of the story, Sherlock: I'm ninety-nine percent sure your over-protective big brother came by to tell me not to break your heart."

I drank my entire glass of wine, refilled it, and drank half the glass again.

"Oh."