Experiments

After a less than normal introduction to the pair, Karen found that she settled into life at Baker Street with relative ease. John would go to work, leaving her alone with Sherlock.

Both were still slightly wary of the other ,spending time around each other would not have been the first thing they would have chosen to do with their weekdays. But as it allowed her to spend every day staring into space allowing her brain to go blank, it suited her perfectly. Especially after the pandemonium of her life in the last few weeks, but did nothing to ease Sherlock's racing brain.

But he kept quiet, partly because he was silently watching the woman in his company slowly attempting to work her out, getting more and more frustrated when he thought he had something worked out and then she would go and do something that disputed. In the 3 days he had been watching her, he had decided that she was; Vegetarian- only to be proved wrong as she had eaten a ham sandwich, Terrified of spiders- only to be proven wrong when she had rescued a terrified Mrs Hudson from an abnormally large one in the bath and obsessed with game shows- only to be proven wrong when she had snorted in disgust at John's choice of Deal or No Deal.

In short, the woman drove him crazy, just as she had when he'd first met her, it seemed that although he was spending more and more time watching her... the answers just weren't presenting themselves. So he continued to watch for a further few days, Karen only slightly aware of her new flatmates interest in her, the only clue when she looked at him and his eyes flicked away from her. It was on that fourth day that Sherlock eventually got bored, and when John learnt the disastrous consequences of Sherlock and Karen being bored at the same time.

Karen looked up from the programme that she had only been half-heartedly watching, when Sherlock let out a huge yawn from the sofa, he was sprawled on. He seemed to have taken over that sofa in the time she had spent there, claiming it up until 12 o'clock when she demanded it, so she could go to sleep, making Sherlock begrudgingly drag himself upstairs.

"Keeping you up?" she asked innocently. Sherlock peered at her one eye open.

"Bored" he replied in a mono-tone. Karen blinked at him.

"Well... can't you do something to preoccupy your mind, like go for a run or do something for a case?" she asked, looking at the man who had slumped groaning into a bright union jack patterned cushion.

"Can't... Johns hidden my eyeballs and head" he muttered back his voice muffled by the cushion.

Karen gathered that he didn't mean literally his eyeballs and head so didn't press the matter further. Her mind drifted into the past when she had gotten bored in the school holidays and had been left alone with her father's science books...big mistake. She chuckled lightly at the memory.

"What's so funny?" Sherlock voice called. Karen looked at him again; he seemed to have moved at a lighting speed with deathly silence to be further up the sofa and closer to her, in a sitting position and the cushion in his lap.

She thought for a moment before grinning at him.

"Have you got any flour?" she said to a bemused looking Sherlock.

"Right and now you take it out of the water and your done" Karen said to a grinning Sherlock who was sitting on the floor beside her. She looked at the four balloons, looking for any indication that they had enough water in them.

Even though Sherlock hadn't had any flour, he had somehow managed to find potassium chlorate in and similar other chemicals dusty bottles, so they had mixed the chemicals into 4 different mixtures, Sherlock nearly ruining 3 saucepans when he was left unsupervised for a few minutes. The saucepan was now laying on the floor next to Karen's feet, next to the dusty bottles that had once contained the chemicals and the bag of flour that was slowly spilling onto a small pile on the carpet from a hole that neither of them noticed.

Sherlock picked the first of the four balloons up. He looked at it rather dejectedly.

"Is this it?" he asked, shaking the balloon, causing the substance inside to echo hollowly against the rubber. Karen tutted and rolled her eyes.

"Yes that's it, you know you shouldn't judge a book by its cover... you need to drop it" she sighed. Sherlock had been like this through the whole process of the experiment. Putting his word in when she was the one who had done it before, trying to do things before she had properly explained it to him. She felt like a science teacher at a school trying to control a rowdy kid.

The rowdy kid, in question was raising the balloon above his head. Karen squeaked as she saw him in the corner of her eye and she caught his hand as he went to drop it. He looked down at her dejected.

"For goodness sake Sherlock! Outside... I must have said outside to you three times now!" she said still firmly in her fantasy of her as a teacher. Sherlock raised an eyebrow. He looked down at her hand, still clutching his arm then directly into her eyes.

"Guys, I'm home. I've got Chinese for din... WHAT ARE YOU DOING!" John shrieked as he saw the mess in the living room. The intimate moment was ruined and the pair jumped, Sherlock letting go of the balloon in shock.

The balloon seemed to drop in slow motion- right onto the other balloons. Karen looked in half horror, half amusement, as a shell-shocked Sherlock failed to move away in time and promptly got covered in a bright green/red/purple/blue flour- powder. As did half of the wall behind him.

Karen stifled a giggle as John glared at Sherlock who was now multi-coloured.

"WHAT THE HELL SHERLOCK!" screamed John who seemed to have avoided the worst of the flour bomb, except a small multicoloured streak on his cheek. Sherlock got to his feet and walked towards the two of them, John bright red with anger, Karen also red but mainly from trying desperately not to laugh. He remained stony faced and looking at the two of them.

"It was her idea" he muttered, his face cracking into a laugh. Karen whacked him causing a puff of flour to fly from him. Sherlock retaliated by thrusting his fingers at her face leaving streaks of flour on them.

"You-!" she laughed as he ran from the room. John sighed desperately as she chased after him.

"I am living with children" he muttered as he turned to survey the mess they'd made.

"I am going to kill you!" Karen yelled as she thundered up the stairs behind Sherlock. Sherlock just laughed, his long legs giving him an advantage as he ran away from her.

He practically dived into his room, closely followed by Karen. She slammed the door and turned on him. Her eyes glittered and she bent down, trying to sense what his next move would be.

Sherlock bent down as well to meet her eye-level. This... idiotic side of him rarely came out; no doubt due to lack of interaction with his brother when he was a child. But when it did come out...

Sherlock took a small step to his right, only to immediately be shadowed by Karen. She grinned at him.

"You think it'll be that easy, Mr Holmes?" she whispered putting extra emphasis on his surname. Sherlock grinned back.

"Wouldn't expect that for a moment, Miss Johnson" he said mimicking her low pitched purr. They continued in this cat and mouse game for a few minutes, Karen following his every step, his long and lanky body now a disadvantage as it gave away his next move with some ease.

Then Sherlock made a mistake where he took two steps, lining himself up with his bed. Karen's eyes glinted mischievously and she smiled.

"Big mistake, Mr Holmes" she whispered. She practically pounced, throwing herself and him onto the bed, his body pinned beneath his. Sherlock laughed a huge deep booming laugh.

"Ok... Ok I give!" he yelled. Karen raised her arms in triumph, only to be flipped over by Sherlock in the second of weakness ,so that he was now on top of her, her trapped under him. He slammed her lightly onto the mattress, wrapping his legs automatically around hers in a way that Lestrade had taught him years before after a certain incident when a woman's legs had gotten free and kicked him from beneath. The memory still made him wince. There was no danger of that from Karen though; she was too beside herself laughing to even attempt something like that.

"You clever..." she giggled, her breath slightly husky from the force of him pinning her to the mattress. Sherlock continued to laugh, before looking down at Karen. In the process of jumping Sherlock she had covered herself from head to toe in the flour.

Sherlock snorted, absently minded brushed a piece of now purple hair from her eyes. Karen caught his hand as he his hand went to leave her face. Sherlock froze, suddenly very aware of the situation they were in. All hints of laughter suddenly disappeared.

Sherlock rolled off of her and stood up next to the bed. Clearing her throat Karen scuttled from the room. Sherlock stood frozen for a moment before sitting lightly on his bed, his mind still racing.

Author Note: Ok, first I am apologizing for any out of "characterness" from Sherlock, but I thought that deep down he must have a ignored child somewhere in him... anyone with Mycroft for a brother would have... So apologies... I have to say however I did warn you it was a bit mad... and fluffy, don't forget the fluffyness...

Anyway I have some ideas for the next few chapters... I want to allow Sherlock to become just a little bit more normal BUT keeping his Sherlockian ways. Because the thing is... I already know how this is going to end and its going to be angsty to say the least and I want some real fluffy stuff for Sherlock and Karen to work up to the point where it ends (0.O teasing I know but I'm not going to give away the end...)

So I'm thinking :

Probably: Shooting Range (I was watching Torchwood- inspired!)

A late night encounter of some kind... still working on it.

Somehow getting to the two singing... I'm thinking a drunken kareoke night with Lestrade, John and Sarah...

Something else musical... I just have this feeling that Karen's a musical type person... Possibly her dragging the boys to the West End and John enjoying it a little TOO much...

Salsa Dancing (Just imagine poor, old tall and lanky Sherlock trying to dance... That's all I'm saying, I'll let your imagination do the rest...)

Why Sherlock is the way he is... not so fluffy but also important (trying to work out why Sherlock would be the way he is...)

An accidental kiss between the two of them ^^ and later on an actual kiss between the two XD

Maybe:

Karen going on a date with someone else ( O.O) making Sherlock jealous... possibly going badly Sherlock awkwardly comforting her... aww ^^, maybe even saving her from an utter sleazeball/ crashing the date

Some kind of outing that every else claims is a date but Sherlock doesn't want to admit it... therefore annoying Karen.

Lestrade giving Sherlock the "you hurt her, I'll hurt you" talk. (He's like a brother to her... since she's been down the station nearly every Saturday for 12 years) Doesn't realise there not together like that... yet. OR same talk but between Mrs Hudson and Karen... or maybe both in the same chapter O.O (now that's an idea)

And then...

Obviously the ending and the aftermath... :D So if anyone has any ideas or prompts for this or any of my other fics or even just prompts full stop send them to me... I'll really try to fit them in. I'm currently also working on a John/ Sherlock fic where they're watching QI... one again just imagine it.