"So was you genuinely flirting with her?" Scarlett asked Sherlock as she sat at the kitchen table that night she had been informed Moriarty was killing lookalikes of her.
"It's were," Sherlock commented and Scarlett raised a brow at him, peering over the top of her laptop screen as she did so;
"Excuse me?" she managed to say and Sherlock stopped writing down notes for a minute and looked at her;
"It's were you...not was you..." he told her and she simply just looked at him as she chuckled to herself and then shut her laptop down and yawned, lacing her fingers together and resting them on top of the black laptop as she rested her chin onto them and looked at Sherlock, peering over at him;
"So were you flirting with her?" Scarlett asked and Sherlock went back to writing down things in a scrap notebook.
"With who?" Sherlock responded.
"The receptionist...at work..." Scarlett pushed him and he dropped his mouth slightly and his eyes began to twinkle whilst he still refused to hold her gaze.
"Did it look like flirting?" Sherlock pondered out loud and John simply began to eavesdrop as he peeled some potatoes at the sink and turned around to see the pair of them; Sherlock sat watching his work and Scarlett sat watching Sherlock.
"Well...you were laughing Sherlock...was it real or not?" Scarlett asked him and he managed to allow a small grin to escape his lips as he looked at her;
"Would you be jealous if I said it was flirting?" he asked her and she snorted loudly, allowing her lids to fall and her eyes to look onto the material of the table.
"No," she replied. "Well I mean...what did she have...really...just really nice hair...a nice wardrobe too...and she was extremely good looking, what with her small mouth and nose and really bright green eyes...not to mention the fact she had a really nice laugh too."
"She was an attractive girl," Sherlock pushed Scarlett, a small smile on his lips as he did so, intending to wind her up and managing rather well to do so.
"And you was laughing with her!" Scarlett finally snapped at him.
"It's were," he replied.
"Whatever," she responded, "was it fake?"
"Yes," Sherlock replied, "it was faked...very good though, wasn't it?"
"I knew it," Scarlett folded her arms across her chest. "You're never that happy."
"And we have established that you were jealous," Sherlock went back to working and Scarlett remained quiet.
"Is it any wonder?" Scarlett asked. "She was much better looking than me."
"But she was an extremely boring person to talk to. She managed to slip me her number when I dropped my wallet onto her desk," Sherlock pulled out a small piece of paper which surely did hold her number.
"Cow," Scarlett said when she took it from his hands. "And she knew you were there to see me...what kind of person does that?"
"Clearly," Sherlock drawled, "someone like her. And besides, she was trying much too hard to impress. What with the constant running her hands through her hair in an attempt to give it more body hence making it more attractive and there was also the batting of the eyelids...completely unnecessary if you were to ask me."
"I thought you never picked up on things like that," John stated, washing his hands before placing the potato bake into the oven which Scarlett had taught him to cook.
"What?" Sherlock asked.
"The flirting and stuff women do to try and impress a bloke."
"I never said I didn't pick up on it," Sherlock replied, "just that I don't mention it or make anything of it unless I can use it to my advantage."
"That's just manipulative," Scarlett informed him with a raise of her eyebrow and Sherlock looked back at her;
"The whole world uses people to its advantage," he informed her. "For example; do you wonder why Mr High is always the one who takes you into conferences to make notes and bring in the coffee? Especially when their client is a male going through a bitter divorce. And why doesn't he use Mary?"
"Because she's an insufferable old woman?" Scarlett asked and Sherlock clicked his fingers;
"Exactly," he snapped. "He uses you to his advantage...young men will allow him to take their case when they see he has a very attractive secretary and one that is also compassionate. Not some frumpy menopausal woman."
"Well that's a shallow reason to give him their case," Scarlett said and Sherlock raised a brow and cocked his head;
"Some men are shallow," he informed her.
"I know," she sighed in agreement.
"So," Sherlock concluded, "as you can see, the whole world uses manipulation to get what they want. I imagine you used it on your brother a lot when you were younger?"
"Stop it," Scarlett said, picking up her laptop and moving off down the hallway.
"What?" Sherlock asked.
"Reading me," she called back.
"You got off on that, didn't you?" John asked when Scarlett had left for a few moments and he smirked smugly.
"What?" Sherlock asked.
"Seeing her getting all het up because you flirted with someone else...even if you only did it for your own advantage..." John said and Sherlock snorted simply.
"It was certainly..." Sherlock's lips twitched, "interesting."
"I am shocked that she has stuck with you," John shook his head, beginning to set the table whilst Sherlock moved up onto the bar stool and placed his work there and continued working.
"She has no choice," Sherlock replied grimly as Scarlett came back into the kitchen, suddenly slamming her phone down on top of Sherlock's work, her eyes looking into his as he felt her hand suddenly go into his which was dangling by his side.
"You were sent another one?" he asked her and she nodded.
"About five minutes ago," she whispered and Sherlock looked down onto the phone whilst Scarlett simply stopped the circulation of his hand.
"That's certainly ghastly," Sherlock said and switched the picture off and looked at the screensaver of Scarlett and her brother before he looked back into her eyes again and nodded.
"I'm getting Lestrade involved," he decided, "the more people working on this then the better."
"You said not to involve Lestrade," John retorted and Sherlock shook his head, turning around slightly on the bar stool.
"But," Sherlock said, "that was when her life was in the balance...and he forbade it..."
"And you think they'll help?" John asked.
"I think it is worth a try," Sherlock said. "Lestrade knows of these cases anyway."
"Sherlock," Scarlett's eyes suddenly went wide and Sherlock followed her gaze and he turned around.
"Get back!" Sherlock shouted and he jumped from the bar stool, looking at the man he had met before. The Golem.
"Holy-" before Scarlett had a chance to say anything more, she saw the man come running at Sherlock, his tallness giving him the advantage as he hit Sherlock in the stomach quickly and managed to swipe John out with a nudge of his elbow, pushing him to the floor whilst he managed to push Sherlock onto the table, grabbing him by by the throat, his hands going over his mouth.
"Scarlett...go..." Sherlock croaked out whilst the young woman could do nothing but look on in horror as John tried to get the tall man from Sherlock. Sherlock made a move and with haste he managed to escape from the Golem's grip and slide of the table, kicking the tall man in the back as he fell onto the table and Scarlett screamed in horror as she backed away from him down the hallway.
"Go now!" Sherlock commanded her as they took the fight into the living room and John managed to avoid a punch as Sherlock kicked the man in the kneecap. Scarlett picked her phone up and began to hastily dial for 999, but as she did, she suddenly felt it being smacked from her hand and she saw the tall man stood above her, his hand suddenly going onto her mouth as his arm wrapped around her waist and he moved over into the hallway. Scarlett felt her breathing deepen and her head going woozy as she kicked away from him and he moved down the steps, but before he could take the third step down, Sherlock was back, his hand raised as he grabbed onto Scarlett's free hand and managed to hit the Golem in the face, losing his focus for a moment and allowing Sherlock to haul Scarlett back to him and then drag her into the living room where John was on the floor, blacked out.
"Are you okay?" Sherlock checked and Scarlett's eyes looked at his face and nodded before he turned back and looked at the Golem who was slowly approaching again. With haste, Sherlock jumped up and down, ready for a fight, pushing Scarlett back into the kitchen.
"Go and jump out the window!" he yelled at her and she widened her eyes;
"Are you serious?" she snapped.
"Yes!" Sherlock snapped as he jumped onto his coffee table and avoided the Golem. "The bin will break your fall!"
And so Scarlett ran off down the hallway and into Sherlock and hers room, but she had different ideas. As she searched Sherlock's room she managed to find the object she was looking for hidden under his pillow. She ran back out the room and into the living space where Sherlock was being pushed down onto his desk by the Golem who had his hand covering Sherlock's mouth. Sherlock looked over as he began to shake violently and his eyes met with Scarlett's as he silently urged her on. She caught his eye and raised the object in her hands, pointing it straight at the Golem.
"Let him go!" she demanded, her hands shaking as she held the gun at eye level and the Golem looked at her, but he still didn't release his hand from Sherlock's face.
"Oh God..." Scarlett continued to shake as she switched safety mode off and her shaking finger pressed down on the trigger. Three times, to be precise.
...
"Well she did manage to shoot him," John told Sherlock five and a half later as Sherlock looked at the two bullet holes on his desk which had managed to just avoid him whilst he had laid there being suffocated to death. Sherlock and John stood in the doorway of the living room and watched on whilst Scarlett was knelt on the floor, her hands ferociously scrubbing away at the blood stain near Sherlock's desk. Her eyes were focused deeply on it as she continued scrubbing as hard as she could with soapy water.
"And nearly me," Sherlock whispered back. "She was shaking like a leaf."
"And you blame her?" John asked and Sherlock said nothing to John who just sighed once and raised his brow;
"And Moriarty sent him, didn't he?" John checked.
"Of course," Sherlock said, "and he almost did a bloody good job once again."
"Almost," John mused, "being the key word."
"Apparently so," Sherlock drawled and left John to stand in the doorway whilst he went to kneel beside Scarlett who still continued at the task in hand.
"What are you doing?" Sherlock asked her in a murmur.
"Trying to get this stain out the rug," she whispered back and Sherlock shook his head;
"It's not going to come out that easily Scarlett," he gently spoke to her, knowing she was doing it because she was in shock. "You are in need of hydrogen peroxide if you want to make a good job of it."
"I'll manage," she assured him.
"Scarlett," Sherlock held onto one of her arms which was still scrubbing, "you're in shock."
"I'm fine," she snapped back at him and tried to shake his hand from her but he was persistent and allowed it to stay on her woollen clad arm.
"No," Sherlock defied her, "you're not."
"Yes I am," she retorted and Sherlock took her other arm, leaning over her body, causing her to drop the scrubber she was using as he drew her arms up, bending at the elbow and she looked at him finally before throwing her arms around his neck and awkwardly hauling herself to him. Sherlock slowly stood them up, not pushing her from him but instead walking to the sofa and sitting down. Scarlett automatically set herself down in his lap and he turned rigid slightly.
"I thought I'd lost you," Scarlett sobbed. "I thought I shot you...I thought...he'd gotten you..."
"Well..." Sherlock said slowly, "you almost did shoot me."
"I know," she baled. "And I didn't know what to do...I just killed...Sherlock I just killed someone...me..."
"You did what you had to do to survive," Sherlock assured her. "And you did well."
"I could have left you," Scarlett shook her head. "I couldn't have gone...not without you..."
"And for once," Sherlock allowed his hand to go around her waist and his other pushed her head into his chest as he gently kissed the top of her head out of impulse, "I'm glad you defied me."
...
Right, so I suppose I do have to say a big thank you to Jabberswife because I have spent some time just now, going through my previous chapters and correcting my grammar which wasn't as good as it could be. I know some of it may still not be absolutely perfect but I will go and have another look again, so thank you for pointing it out to me and making me work more, so hopefully it is a bit easier to read...anyway, may not be as many updates this weekend what with work and parties and just a busy summer social life! But please do leave me a review!