Augustine-Safa: thanks for the alert


John called her up for coffee a few days later. They both had black coffees and she added a spoonful of sugar to her coffee. She wore a purple blouse and black suit pants along with black slippers and a yellow handbag. The outfit wasn't tight but still fit her figure well. She blew on coffee to cool it down before taking a cautious sip and then adding another spoon of sugar.

John studied her appearance trying to deduce things like Sherlock did. How Sherlock could practically tell someone's life story from just one look had always amazed John and he knew that he didn't have the same talent. You look but you do not observe. Well he observed now or had been trying to at least but he wasn't really getting anything. Her clothes were immaculately clean, likely ironed and as far as John could tell not from an overly expensive brand. He saw no sign that she had been married or anything to indicate she was in any sort of trouble (or any sign that she was gay for that matter. He still didn't agree about hair product being an indicator of that.)

"So why become a therapist?" John asked her. If he hadn't known her and someone had asked him to deduce her career, he wondered if he could have done it.

"The human mind has always interested me," Lyra answered. "And I got along with people, felt that I could enjoy helping them get past their problems. I decided it was the logical career choice. Why did you become an army doctor?"

"I wanted to help people and I work best under pressure."

"Sherlock wanted to help people too," she said. "Many people wouldn't think so but its one of the main reasons he became a detective."

"Mycroft asked me once what we could deduce about his heart from him choosing to be a detective. I couldn't figure out the answer." There was a silence between them as they drank their coffees.

"Neither of my brothers are ones to easily show that they care or in Sherlock's case was." She sounded bitter. She put her attention back to drinking her coffee before saying more, not seeming to have a problem with moments of silence stretching out between them. "I suppose I'm not either. I can't really hold it against them, Mycroft can't exactly be seen as soft with his profession and Sherlock always had so much trouble fitting in." John wondered if she had told herself that a lot in her lifetime, wondered if they had made her childhood lonely.

"He says- used to say that he was a self diagnosed sociopath." Was. He had to remember that Sherlock was long gone and that there wasn't going to be one more miracle. Remember that his friend was gone even though it ate at him. "But I can't believe he was."

Lyra nodded. "I heard your speech. You knew him well even if it doesn't feel like that right now." She said with such certainty and John wondered how she could possibly be sure that John knew her brother, that anyone had really known her brother. "John?" she asked after he had stayed quiet for a while.

Trying to lighten the mood John said "Well this is the most depressing conversation I've ever had over coffee. Er, no offence meant."

"None taken." Lyra gave him a small smile. "This is certainly in the top ten of depressing conversations I've had over coffee." They laughed even though John wasn't sure that she was kidding or that either of them had actually found it funny. "Speaking of coffee you've barely touched yours."

He wasn't really that interested in the coffee. He had come here out of curiosity about Sherlock and about her. Unsure of what to say John found himself staring intensely into his coffee cup as if it held the answers he so badly wanted.

"We don't have to keep talking about this if you don't want to," Lyra said. "I can answer your questions about him. We can talk about something else. We could not talk at all."

John took a deep breath and nodded. Maybe talking about him was helping her, maybe it would help him. "What was Sherlock like when he was little?"

"He was honest, deducing people even back then and not always with their permission. Ended up causing a bunch of scandals. He was a brave pirate and Mycroft was often the plank that traitors had to walk over." John smiled the thought. "I joined in his adventures sometimes, we fought battles across the seven seas together."

"What happened? Between Mycroft, him and you?"

"Its hard to explain really, there's a lot of bad blood between him and Mycroft and I'm not sure where to start. I stayed out of their feud for the most part. The three of us grew apart over the years. We checked up on each other every now and again but Sherlock and him aren't exactly ones for reunions." Lyra's phone pinged and she told him that she had something work related to do after reading the message.

"Sorry about this John," she said. "I hope we can meet up again sometime." John assured her that it was alright and with that she grabbed her handbag and left.


Sorry if the ending seemed rushed but I felt like the conversation was getting too long. I don't think this story will turn into JohnxOC but I'm not sure yet. I tried to find a weird name for Lyra but I think Lyra just suits her, maybe I'll change the name later hopefully before there are too many chapters.