Ella was at the dinner table in the Lannister home with Tywin sitting at the head chair. There was already Robert and Cirsei Baratheon sitting on the left side with their children Joffrey, Belle, Myrcella, and Tommen. Ella and Tyrion came to the house at the same time, and they entered together. Tyrion went to grab the chair at the right hand side next to his father, but Tywin stopped him. "That chair is for Ella."

"Oh, but Uncle Tyrion got there first-"

"That chair is for Ella," Tywin spoke more firmly. Tyrion looked at his father and moved to the chair next to Ella's chair. Ella felt very uncomfortable, but it's been this way ever since her uncle was born. Ella sat at the right hand side of her grandfather, and the weekly family feast began. Plates were set up for the family and wine was poured. "So, Robert." Robert looked at his father-in-law. "Congratulations on your win, Prime Minister."

"Here here," Cirsei smiled and lifted her wine glass. Everyone lifted their wine glass and drank to Robert Baratheon, the new Prime Minister. There was very small talk during the feast, but Joffrey had to talk about something controversial.

"So, Uncle, where's that whore of yours?" Joffrey asked with a smirk as if he was so smart. Everything else became more quiet and very awkward.

"Shae is working tonight," Tyrion answered not wanting to lose his cool.

"Which brothel? The one down Penny-"

"Enough," Tywin spoke. Joffrey shut his mouth but still had that nasty smirk.

"So, uncle, where do you think you and Shae stand?" Ella asked. "Are you going to ask her to marry you?" Tywin looked at his son to see his response.

"Yes. I already picked out a nice engagement ring. I'm just waiting for the right moment. What do you think, father? Do you approve?"

"No, I do not."

"But he does love her very much, grandfather," Ella quickly spoke up. "And Shae is independent, strong, lovely-"

"And a whore."

"Was a whore," Tyrion corrected his father, sipping on his wine.

"I will have no more talk of this ridiculous fantasy of yours," Tywin demanded. "You will not marry that wench to further humiliate our family name. You will take position in the government as the Chief of Defense Council."

"And what if I don't want to?"

"You will." Another awkward silence. After dessert, the Baratheon's left first. Belle motioned for Ella, and she went over to her cousin.

"Ella, do you want to go out for drinks tomorrow night?"

"Oh, drinks? What's the occasion, Belle?"

"I want you to meet a curious friend of mine," Belle smiled.

"Curious friend. I'm already intrigued." The two girls giggled and Ella agreed. Ella heard her grandfather calling out her name, and she gave Belle a quick hug goodbye. She then ran into the dining room and saw her grandfather sitting at the head chair.

"Sit," her grandfather commanded. Ella sat at her chair, and she could see how furious her grandfather was. He poured Ella another cup of wine and she took a little sip. "You're blessed with abilities that few in this world possess. You're blessed to belong to one of the most powerful families in the United Kingdom, and you're blessed with youth. What have you done with these blessings, eh?" Ella was quiet. "Look at your uncle. He sleeps with whores, he drinks until he passes out, he has no job because he claims to be an intellect."

"And you think he acts like a fool?"

"Lannisters don't act like fools." Tywin gave an angry sigh and Ella saw him unable to keep his fingers still. "Why the bakery?"

"I want to live a normal life."

"Normal? You spend too much time worrying what other people think of you," Tywin sneered.

"I could care less what anyone thinks of me," Ella said putting her head up high.

"That's what you want people to think of you."

"That is not true."

"And you hear them calling you 'Cinderella', the Lannister of cinder and ashes, the black sheep of the family. Doesn't it bother you?"

Ella was reluctant, but she answered truthfully, "Of course it bothers me." Tywin looked at his granddaughter, and she held her head up high once more.

"A lion doesn't concern itself with the opinion of a sheep." Ella remembered the days when her father used to speak those exact same words to her, and it flooded Ella's memories. "Your mother and father are dead. Before long I'll be dead, and your uncles and aunts and cousins, all of us dead, all of us rotting underground. It's the family name that lives on. It's all that lives on. Not your personal glory, not your honor, but family. Do you understand?"

"Yes."

"Your uncle will do what he must for our family. Never again speak against me with the family watching." Ella nodded. "Drink. Drink up, little dove."

"I...I don't want to drink tonight."

"Why? Is there something you need to do after this?"

"No."

"Then drink." Ella bit her tongue and drank her wine. "Have you met your neighbors?"

"Yes, or I met one of two. John is his name."

"And the other?"

"Sherlock. I haven't met him yet."

"And what do you think of the one you met?"

"He seems very kind. He was an army doctor in Afghanistan."

"And the other one?"

"I don't quite know. I haven't asked." Ella looked at her grandfather thinking. She knew he was thinking because of the intensity in his eyes. "May I be excused, grandfather? I'm tired."

"Yes, yes, go and get some sleep, little dove." Ella kissed her grandfather goodnight and headed up to her room, sleeping over for the night.

Ella was working at Speedy's, and she saw John walking in. "John!"

"Hello, Ella," he smiled gleefully. He put in his order and Ella served him the baked good. "Thank you. Would you care to join me?"

"I'm afraid I can't. But I will be closing very soon." Ella felt her phone vibrate and she received a text from Belle.

BB : don't forget we're meeting today at the pub

EL : i haven't forgotten. see you soon

"John, what are you doing after this?" Ella asked.

"I, uh, suppose nothing."

"Great. Would you like to join me for a drink?"

"A drink? Why, yes, yes I'd like that very much."

"My cousin will be there with her friend as well. My cousin's name is Belle, but I don't know what her friend's name is."

"Ah, yes, I'd like to join you."

"Let's go after I close then." John agreed and he helped Ella close the shop. They grabbed a taxi together and went to the pub together.

"You know I don't drink, Belle," Sherlock sighed as Belle pushed a pint of beer to him.

"Yes you do. You just won't drink today because you'll be meeting Ella for the first time, and you want to make a good impression."

"Do I?" Sherlock scoffed.

"Oh yes you do." Belle and Sherlock smiled at one another. He took a sip of the beer, quickly putting it down. "Drink more. Loosen your nerves, Sherlock."

"Belle!" Belle turned around and waved to Ella. Belle was curious seeing a man by Ella's side, worrying that Sherlock might be put off with that. Ella and Belle shared a hug, and all Sherlock could do was stare. There she was, the beauty who was his upstairs neighbor, the beauty he couldn't take his eyes off of that day and couldn't stop thinking of thereafter. "Belle, this is John. He's one of my neighbors." The two exchanged greetings, and John finally noticed Sherlock just sitting there, staring at Ella.

"Sherlock!"

"You know him?" Belle asked to John.

"Yes, he's my roommate. Sherlock!" John snapped his fingers in front of Sherlock's face, and he was finally put out of his trance.

"John?" Sherlock was really confused as to why John was here.

"What a coincidence," John said. "So this is where you were planning to head out to tonight. Ah, I suppose you haven't met our neighbor yet. Ella, this is my roommate, Sherlock. Sherlock, Ella is our upstairs neighbor."

"Pleasure," Ella smiled and put her hand out for a handshake. Sherlock reached his hand out and she gave a firm handshake.

"Yes, well Ella, sit down, sit down," Belle said to her cousin. Ella and John sat down at one end while Belle and Sherlock sat at the other. Ella and John ordered drinks, and the 4 tried to get comfortable with one another. "You know, Sherlock is terribly good at figuring out a person."

"Figuring out a person?" Ella asked.

"If you want him to try it out, you better prepare for any skeletons in the closet coming out," John spoke to Ella leaning towards her. She looked at John and smiled, and it melted him while it made Sherlock icy cold.

"Alright, what can you figure out about me, Sherlock?" Ella asked with a proud smile.

"Well, you have the Lannister look : the blonde hair, the green eyes, high cheekbones. You must look more like your father than your mother, which is why your grandfather probably favors you the most out of any of his other grandchildren. Your fingernails are clean and short, indicating you're a working woman and you use your hands a lot. You don't have a ring on your finger, so you must be single which is very perplexing seeing how..."

"Seeing how what?"

"...seeing how pretty you are like your cousin." Sherlock glanced at Belle and she beamed a proud smile. He looked back at Ella and examined every feature of her, engraving it into his mind. "I already heard of your parents' passing, so you must've been taken under wing by your grandfather. He loves you as much as he does his own children because he sees something in you, something he didn't quite get to see in his children. He bombards you with his morals, his principles, the way he wants you to think but you don't like it one bit. In fact, that's why you moved upstairs into our apartment complex. He's disappointed with your decision to move to Baker Street either because you're too far away from home or because it's a shit-hole, which frankly it is. Did I get anything wrong? I usually get one wrong."

"No. No, you got everything right," Ella said blown away by this man who knew all of that from meeting her once. "How..."

"The power of deduction," he answered with the faintest smile at the corner of his lips.

"And...and I hope you don't mind me asking but what is it that you do for a living?"

"I'm a consulting detective."

"Ah...and what is that?"

"I attend to the police when they have no other turning point. But enough about me."

"But we've barely talked about you," Ella chuckled. "I want to know more about what you do."

"I'm sure your life is more interesting as a Lannister." The glow on Ella's face quickly disappeared, and Sherlock fidgeted. He wanted to see that smile again, and he felt terrible for making that smile disappear.

"It seems you've already deduced most of my life already. There's not much more to say."

"What about you, John?" Belle spoke up. "Tell me more about your job." Ella was glad the attention wasn't on her anymore, and she gave a quiet sigh of relief. She looked up and saw Sherlock looking right at her, and it made her jump. Sherlock couldn't help but smile at Ella's reaction, and she smiled back shyly. It only made Sherlock melt even more, and he quickly put on his game face again. Ella could see the facade this man was putting up, and she was very curious to see what he was like when he was comfortable. She already knew John was a very genuine man and that he didn't live up to a facade, but Sherlock was very different. It was as if all he lived for was the facade, as if that was what was protecting him from the world.

Ella didn't notice she was staring right at Sherlock, and he looked back at her. He noted her eyes were a more green that Belle's olive eyes, and she was just as beautiful as Belle. Ella smiled lightly and blushed seeing the way Sherlock was looking at her. The 4 companions had to leave the pub because it was closing, and they all walked onto the street. "Do taxis even run this late?" Belle asked standing in-between Sherlock and John.

"I'm not sure," John answered. "We can just walk back. Our home isn't too far from here." Belle nodded and she quickly linked arms with John, lagging him behind so that Sherlock and Ella could spend their time together.

Sherlock and Ella were walking ahead of Belle and John, and they were walking side by side. "I'd really like to know you more, Sherlock."

"You would? That's the first anyone's told me that."

"Really? I don't believe you. I think you're one of the most interesting people I've ever met."

"Thank you," Sherlock smiled.

"So what do you normally hear then? About yourself, that is."

"Well, I normally get the remarks like freak, arrogant, pompous-"

"Freak? Oh, why would anyone say that to another person? That's awful."

"Yes, well I suppose not everyone is as kind-hearted as you seem to be."

"If anyone calls you that again, let me know and I'll take care of them for you."

"You'll fight them?" Sherlock asked with an amused tone and an eyebrow raised.

"No, of course not. But I will call them out. I've done it plenty of times when people spit remarks like that at my uncle."

"Ah, the dwarf-"

"Don't push it," Ella threatened. Sherlock looked at the beauty and she smiled lightly. He smiled and scratched the back of his head. "He may be a small man, but he's won a big part of my heart. He's my uncle, after all. My family, a Lannister."

"It must be a pass to have that last name."

"It seems so, but it's also a restraint on many other things."

"Such as?"

"Oh, that's a story for another day," Ella grinned. "We're having a good night. I don't want to dampen the mood. Are you having a good night?"

"Spectacular."

"I think they're having a good time, don't you?" Belle asked John, watching Sherlock and Ella talking.

"Are you trying to set them up?"

"Could I have made it any more obvious?" Belle smiled and John watched his friend enjoying talking with another human being. Sherlock noticed a huge puddle on the road, and a car was rushing towards them. He quickly went to Ella's other side to be closer to the road, and he held her with both hands. He brought her close to his body, and she felt the blood rushing throughout her entire body. The car ran through the puddle and the water splattered all over Sherlock's back.

"What was that?" Ella asked.

"Just a bit of water," he replied. Ella put her hand behind Sherlock's back and felt the cold water dripping down his coat.

"Oh you shouldn't have done that, Sherlock. This coat must've been expensive."

"Not at all. You didn't get wet, did you?"

"No, thanks to you. You didn't have to do that for me."

"But I did anyway." Ella looked up at Sherlock and he looked away first. She could still see the smile on his face and she smiled herself. The 4 companions finally arrived at Baker Street and they headed into the apartment. They all exchanged goodbyes with one another, and Ella caught one last glimpse of Sherlock before heading upstairs with Belle.

"So, what did you think?" Belle asked with a big smile. She plopped onto Ella's bed and made herself comfortable.

"He's very handsome," Ella answered.

"That's it?"

"Of course that's not it," Ella giggled and plopped on the bed right next to Belle. "He's...he's very intriguing. He truly is."

"And would you like to get to know him more?"

"Yes, yes I would," Ella smiled shyly.