The Nails of Terror (Chapter 5)
23:05 221B Baker Street
"Ok than, my dear… I'll take your luggage upstairs and some tea in a minute, ok?" Mrs. Hudson asks from me. "Sherlock is still working on his laptop, but you can give a try with talking to him… I think that Sherlock is going to listen to you…"
"Thank you Mrs. Hudson… Oh and can I stay here for the night?"
"Oh, yes of course you can my dear… Unfortunately I've only got a sofa left in the living room, if it's alright."
"Yes, it is perfect… I just don't want to be alone in my house for a couple of nights…"
So I walk upstairs to find Sherlock still looking at the recordings from the street cameras. He hears that someone is walking up the stairs… And he instantly knows that it's me. He looks up from his laptop as I walk into the room.
"What are you doing here?" He asks and in the same time he jumps up from his chair, grabs the chair that is next to the chair that he is sitting on and puts it to the other side of the table, opposite him and then he sits down back to his seat…
"So…" He leans back in his seat and puts his laptop away so that is not between us. "What's wrong?"
"Why do you think that there is something wrong?" I ask.
"Well, I just have to look at you… Cried out eyes, messy hair, you are wearing a nightgown and a robe, oh and a pair of slippers and you've come from the other half of the city…" He pauses for a moment to take some air. "You have big luggage and no one gets tea from Mrs. Hudson who is coming in the middle of the night unless a really, really bad thing happened to that person. So… What happened."
"You know that I left your place at 22:00 and I picked up some food and I got home by around 22:20 and I got into bed by around 22:30 and I fell asleep in the same minute… I've only woke up when someone, man grabbed my head and… and held a… a knife at my throat. He said: 'If you're not going to get off this case, I will take you off with my own hands' I am scared Sherlock… What if he comes back?" My voice is really shaky and… and scared.
"Interesting… Sorry, what?" Sherlock comes out of his little world. "Oh, you can stay here… It's only up to Mrs. Hudson."
"I have already talked to her and she said that I can stay here…" I answer in a bit relieved voice.
"Did you recognize the voice of that person?" He ask in that mysterious voice of his.
"Well… His… His voice was… was nearly completely un… unrecognizable… But I know his voice… I heard it enough times to recognize it… It… It was…"
"Oh, just get on with it!" Says Sherlock in a really annoyed voice. "We have a case to solve!
"This is really hard for me emotionally, Sherlock! I've nearly got killed! Anyway…" I pause for a moment. "It was… Moriarty."
"Dear God!" He says in a surprised voice, but I can see in his eyes that he's somewhere else.
"Yes, I know… Anyway, I'll go to sleep… On the sofa…" I say in a sleepy voice.
Sherlock puts his laptop in front of him.
"Are you sure you want to sleep on the sofa because I am going to work all night. If you want to you can sleep in my bed, I'll sleep on the sofa.
"Are you sure, Sherlock?" I ask in a quite surprised voice.
"Yeah of course..." He's not even looking up from his laptop.
I lay down in his bed, I pull up the duvet to my neck and as I turn to my right side to sleep a little breeze hit my nose, made by the duvet and that breeze made me feel reassured... It feels nice to sleep in his bed...
08:00 221B Baker Street
I wake up, put on my robe and walk out to the living room. Sherlock is not in there so I walk downstairs. He is in the kitchen enjoying his breakfast and he's reading a newspaper. 2 slice of nearly burned toasts, 2 fried eggs and a cup of black coffee. There are two other plates on the table with same things next to one of the plates there is another cup of black coffee and next to the other plate there is a cup that is empty. There is some coffee, sugar and milk on the table too. I sit in front of the plate that has the empty cup next to it.
"So how did you sleep last night?" Sherlock asks.
"Did you have any sleep last night?" I answer back with a question.
"I asked first." He says.
"It was alright..." I say as I prepare the coffee for myself.
"No, not really..."He says without even looking up from the newspaper.
"Excuse me?"
He folds up the newspaper and puts it on the table.
"I didn't really have any sleep last night... I was watching the tapes from the street cameras..."
"Sherlock, I know this case is really important to you but... You don't have to work all night!" I say in a supportive but somehow caution full voice.
He leans a bit in to the middle of the table, I lean closer to him and I look into his eyes... I am lost... again. He stares into my eyes... again. I am thinking again...
'Should I take the move again or wait for him?'
Just before I could move closer to him, he starts to move closer to me... He's making the first move now. But just before he could kiss me John walks in.
"So... What are you two are up to?"
And we are leaning back in our seats, full of embarrassment... again...
"Nothing, really..." I say in a really embarrassed voice.
John sits down in front of the plate with the black coffee in front of it...