Wow, i'm a writing machine this week, 3 chapters in 2 days. Enjoy!
"Are you going to shoot me?" Sherlock says very seriously as he stares at the drawn gun.
Regan lowers her gun and at the same time Sherlock lowers his hands.
"Well that could've been-"
Regan induces a hard smack to Sherlock's cheek.
"Messy" he finishes as he brings his hand to touch his vibrating, stinging skin, "What was that for?"
"For letting everyone believe you were dead! Have you told John?" She replies.
"No"
"Well, John's going to be so relieved that you're alive" she says with a little spirit.
"No, John..." he corrects himself, "Nobody can know that I'm alive" he says with a slumped face.
"Not even John? Or Mycroft?" she hopes he'll make an exception.
"Not even John. Mycroft knows, not even someone as brilliant as me could pull something to that magnitude off by themselves, Mycroft helped" he assures her.
"Well, Why the hell not?" she says disappointingly.
"There's a lot that you don't know"
"Well let me make you some tea and you can catch me up" She bounces back.
Sherlock sits at the small kitchen table tapping his fingers on the surface as he waits patiently. Regan returns with two cups of tea, just the way Sherlock likes it.
"So, first, please explain to me why you're here and why I'm allowed to know you're not dead" she asks as she takes a sip of her tea.
"I'm here because I need housing while I'll be 'dead'" he emphasizes 'dead' to make sure she understands that he needs to be thought by everyone else as 'the dead, fake, consulting detective'.
"Why me? There's probably a hundred other people you could've asked" She spits.
"My choices were limited. Before he died, Moriarty threatened that if I didn't jump off of Bart's the assassins following Mrs. Hudson, Lestrade, and John would kill them. He told me the only way to call them off was if he did it. He killed himself leaving me with only one option" he takes a sip of his now lukewarm tea.
"Well what are you going to do?" she asks unaware that she won't like the answer.
"I'm going to find them, and kill them" he says pointedly.
"Give me one reason why I should let you stay here?" she says as she clenches her jaw.
He leans in closer to her from across the table, "Because you're just that kind of person"
She furrows her brow at his words, "You hate me".
"I never said that" Sherlock is startled that she used those words.
"Not in those words, but they mean the same thing", she gets up and sets her empty tea cup on the counter. She faces him again with her elbows supporting her on the countertop.
He stands up and straightens his jacket. He walks over to her and places his right hand on the counter next to hers. He looks her in the eyes, "You terrify me".
"What?" she moves back a bit.
"You're intimidating. That first case, you solved it before I did. You could've easily replace me and that terrified me" he says solemnly.
"There's only one Consulting Detective, and he's you. I couldn't do what you do, I couldn't deal with all the shit you get, Donovan, Anderson, and it would be too much for me" she touches his arm, right above his elbow, "I'll make up the couch".
"No need, I need to run to Baker Street, gather up some things" he puts his long jacket on and wraps his scarf around his neck.
"But John's there"
"It's 2 o'clock in the morning, he should be asleep by now" he assures her.
"Sherlock, be-"
Sherlock escapes through the window he entered and Regan was alone.
"Careful" she finishes, only speaking to the air around her.