Calvin and John were alone for most of the day. They had plenty of conversation, but they both also enjoyed the silence in between. Well... Calvin did. John seemed slightly more uncomfortable than she was.
"Care for some dinner?" Calvin asked suddenly. The sun had long since gone down and there was still no sign of Sherlock. John's head popped up from behind his laptop.
"Uh, dinner? Like a date?"
"No, John. Why, are you asking for one?" Calvin said slyly, chuckling as she stood up and hopped over to where he was sitting at his desk. "I'm hungry, you're hungry. Let's go eat."
"How do you know I'm hungry?" John asked, standing up to follow her down the stairs. She turned to look over her shoulder and grin at him.
"I notice things once in a while." she stated as she climbed into their cab, refusing John's help. "Not often. But I have noticed that you don't mention when you're hungry."
John shrugged. "I guess, but it's mostly because I don't really notice when I'm hungry." he answered. He turned to see Calvin staring at him with an amused look on her face. She was giving him a similar look as Sherlock would when he was trying to 'deduce' something.
"What?" he asked defensively.
"You find your own needs less important than Sherlock's." she stated, leaning her head back on the seat and staring at him with her amused blue eyes. "That's why you don't mention when you're hungry."
John blinked. "No, that's not it." he said, refuting her answer. She closed her eyes and gave him a wide grin. Nothing more was needed to be said. "Uh, where are we going, anyway?"
Calvin was silent for a moment, as if she didn't hear him. Then, her eyes popped back open. "Oh... Just a pretty little diner that my friend runs." she answered suddenly, straightening up and fiddling with her bandage under her t-shirt, as if she'd forgotten about it.
The cab stopped in front of the little diner, lit up against the night with its' interior lights. Calvin stepped out and took John by the arm, dragging him inside. "Here?" he asked indisbelief, but his protests died in his throat once he stepped inside.
From the outside it looked like a slightly run-down, late-night diner that was barely staying afloat. But that was what you were supposed to think. First impressions were funny things. The outside of something merely a sheath. The inside is what truly matters.
And matter it did. On the inside, your view automatically changed dramatically. The tables were made of fine wood and the walls covered in tasteful papering, with pictures of countless celebrities who had spent a dinner or two there.
"Little diner my ass..." John commented under his breath once he looked around the establishment. He suddenly felt very underdressed.
"Annabelle likes to be theatrical." Calvin explained quietly to John as they strode to the front for a table. "She's themed this place by the notion that one should 'Never judge a book by its cover.'"
She glanced at him, noticing that he felt uncomfortable. "Annabelle holds true to that. There is no dress code." she assured him, nudging him playfully with her hip. They approached the host's podium and Calvin gave her most blinding smile to the host standing there.
"Table for two, please." she said pleasantly. The host, however, gave her a disapproving look. One could say that he 'turned up his nose at them'.
"Do you have a reservation?" he asked, and Calvin cocked her head.
"Well, no, but I'm sure if you tell Annabelle Louise Marie Mansfield that Calvin Baker is here, she'll be very upset if I don't get a table." she continued equally as pleasantly as before, no spark of irritation evident in her eyes.
The host's eyes widened and he nodded as he scurried off to tell his manager that a VIP was present. They were immediately led to a table in the middle of the restaurant. Annabelle, sweeping in garbed in a black, sparkling gown, came at once to greet her friend from college.
"Calvin!" she exclaimed, and the woman in question had just taken a drink of water when she was pulled from her plush seating and wrapped up in a tight hug.
"Anna, you look wonderful." was all that Calvin could respond before Annabelle's green eyes zeroed in on John.
"Ohh~ is this your date?" she asked in a loud whisper that was meant for John to hear. Calvin was about to tell her 'no', but she kept going. "He's a cutie, he is! How long have you been dating? Is there a wedding in the future? You simply must let me cater!"
"He's not my date, Anna." Calvin answered calmly, smiling at her friend. "This is John Watson, we're friends. I live in the flat below him."
"Why aren't you dating my Calvin? Isn't she pretty enough for you?" Annabelle demanded, shaking John's hand rather roughly. "You know, Calvin was the one who gave me my start-up loan for this place. Now I own restaurants like this all over England. But, I like to stay here at my roots rather than travel around. I'm glad you answered my text to come and have dinner for once! You never come see me anymore."
John could barely keep up with Annabelle's rapid speech, but Calvin was doing just fine. She'd roomed with Annabelle during her university days, along with another girl and two men. They had all shared a flat not far from the university, and continued to live together for years and years after they all graduated.
Calvin laughed. "Anna, I moved out two weeks ago, if that." she reminded her friend easily.
Calvin was the first to move out from their shared home. They'd all found jobs right after college. Annabelle had majored in business, which led her to owning restaurants. She also originated a lot of the meals served at them, which were all themed on a life lesson she felt that everyone should learn. This one was, as aforementioned, 'never judge a book by its cover'.
One of the men majored in theatre and was now working on the West End. The other was a rather successful chef, and the third girl was a lawyer. Somehow, however, they all stayed together. Once they became successful in their respective jobs, they'd moved out of their first flat and moved in a rather large townhouse together. There they'd stayed for five or so years, a family, before Calvin decided it was time to live on her own.
So she moved to 221C Baker Street, her first home away from her family of over thirteen years. That's what Sherlock had deduced, though he was thinking biological family
Of course, John knew none of this, but Calvin had her suspicions that Sherlock had since figured a bit more out for himself.
"Yes, but we miss you... and your funny little profiles of people. Come back and live with us." Anna pouted, looking rather silly doing so with full makeup and a gown on. Calvin grinned.
"I like Baker Street." Calvin said simply, and Annabelle only continued to pout before her face brightened up considerably as a waiter passed.
"I want the best steaks in the kitchen served to my friends." she told him cheerily. "Well, au revoir, if you'll pardon my French. I have to practice, I'm building a new restaurant in Paris. I'll be back to check on you~" With that, she strode off, and Calvin was free to sit down.
"I might have warned you first." Calvin said with a wide grin when she got a look at John's face. "She has ADHD and I know she's a bit over the top, but it's her way of dealing with it without medication." A bottle of wine was brought over to them. Calvin glanced up and saw Annabelle waving from the other side of the establishment. She couldn't help but grin.
"She's a good person." Calvin said simply, then added, "Although she knows I don't drink."
John nodded. "So you lived with her, then?"
"I lived with her and three other people for almost half of my life." Calvin answered carefully, ignoring the red wine for her water. She encourage John to have it, however.
"Ah, so that's who you consider your, uh, family." John concluded, remembering what she had said to Sherlock. Calvin blinked and smiled with her lips closed.
"Yes. Family is not who you are born to, but who you are born to be with." she answered quietly, staring down into her glass of water, a slightly dreamy look in her eyes. John didn't push the matter, realizing that it was her own personal business. Her head snapped up, as if she were clearing her mind of those thoughts.
"Anyway... tell me about you." she encouraged, driving the conversation away from her life. John obliged, telling her anything she wanted to know, though her mind was slightly distracted.
When they had finished, the two stood to say good-bye to Annabelle, which took twenty minutes, the two headed back home. Calvin was rather pleased with the night. She had gotten to know John a bit more and he, in turn, learned a fact about her life.
"So did you like dinner, John?" Calvin asked as they climbed the stairs heading up to 221B. He nodded.
"It was, well, amazing." he said honestly, and Calvin grinned, delighted that he enjoyed himself. "And Annabelle was very nice."
"Well she's single..." Calvin said teasingly, nudging him with her good elbow. She took the moment to realize that Annabelle didn't even notice that her shoulder was hurt.
John rolled his eyes. "I kind of have someone." he said sheepishly. Calvin raised an eyebrow. "Her name's Sarah."
"That's interesting." Calvin said with a glint in her eye. "Why 'kind of'?" Before John could answer, however, they entered the flat and found Sherlock pacing the room.
"Ah! John. Where were you?" he demanded immediately.
"Out to dinner with Calvin, since I had no idea where you were all day." John answered.
"I texted you. Eight times."
"Well, I was at dinner!" the shorter man exclaimed, and Calvin chuckled to herself as she realized how much of a couple they sounded like. Sherlock's eyes zeroed in on her.
"Was it really very safe for you to be out after you were targeted by a gang member this morning?" he snapped at her as she collapsed in the armchair.
She raised an eyebrow up at him and grinned. "Oh, Sherlock, if I didn't know any better I'd say you were worried about me." she said slyly, batting her eyelashes at him in a mocking way. He scoffed at her.
"Please. I just don't need another... body lying about. Besides, it took Mrs. Hudson quite a while to fill that flat, and I will not have her efforts wasted." he answered.
"Or you couldn't stand me lying there dead without knowing my little secret." Calvin suggested, kicking her feet over the armrest of the chair. "Don't worry, Sherlock, I'll leave it in my will for you. Maybe." Her lips turned up in a smirk.
"Do sit like a grown-up." Sherlock snapped, and then grabbed his coat. "Come along, John. We have a case to close."
"What? At... twelve in the morning?" John demanded, Sherlock turned on his, exasperated.
"Of course, what else? I am this close to finding the man, John."
"Sherlock, I am tired. We'll do it in the morning. I'm sure he'll still be killing then, at a decent hour of the day." John grumbled, waving Sherlock off. "Good night." He spared a smile for Calvin as he passed, however.
Calvin yawned, realizing that she was also tired. "Wow, getting shot really takes a lot out of you." she commented, smiling across the room at an unamused Sherlock. "Where shall I sleep, then?"
"Just take my bed. I won't be sleeping tonight." he answered nonchalently, waving his hand dismissively at her. She nodded, grabbing her bags from the floor next to the couch, and headed into Sherlock's room down the hall, where he had waved to.
"Good night, Sherlock." she called, but she was met with no answer besides a muffled 'hmph'. She smiled to herself.
The room was darkened, so she flipped the light on. She supposed she should find it strange to be sleeping in another man's bed, but this whole relationship with Sherlock was strange in itself. Nothing seemed to alarm her in that way anymore, at least when it came to Mr. Holmes. She changed out of her jeans and t-shirt and put on comfortable clothes for bed.
She slipped in between his sheets, and she mused for a second that they smelled exactly like him, however strange that seemed. She was careful in her position, taking care to put no pressure on her injured side, and allowed sleep to wrap around her.
OoOoOoOoOo
A chapter with little Sherlock and more John, again. Well, that'll change a bit soon. I just enjoy John and Calvin's friendship. He's sassy and she's... aloof, I guess. And it's fun.
You also learned a good deal about Calvin's past in this chapter. Yay! You will meet all three of her other roommates as the story progresses, and they all have a big role in the plot. Collectively, anyway.
But John and Sherlock still don't know a lot about her past... but you guys do. Kind of. What's the word for that? There's some word for when the audience of a novel knows something that the characters don't... 50 points to whoever reviews and tells me cause now I NEED to know.
Okay so I'm tired, as always, and I shall take my leave from this A/N. I sincerely hope you enjoyed this chapter! You gaiz flattered me even more in your reviews from last chapter. Garsh. /blushblushblush/
So don't forget to review and let me know what you think and how I'm doing so far! Thanks for all your continued support, like reviews/alerts/favorites! I love you all!
Jess