Elementary
Intimacy, Chapter 5
by phaedraphelan
Word count 3,660
Summary: This piece continues to explore the matter of intimacy and how it affects the lives of Sherlock and Joan. There are many levels and aspects to deal with and some have a delicate aspect in view of the human condition. Please be advised and feel free to comment. In this piece Sherlock and Joan crossover for a while with Remington Steele and his wife and partner, Laura, and receive much needed counsel and advice.
Disclaimer: These characters belong to CBS and NBC and no infringement is intended on any work past or present.
The news the Sherlock and Joan were a "couple" quickly became evident at the precinct where they were working. It was impossible to hide, even when they tried very hard. Most had assumed it anyway and so when there was evidence of it in a hand being held or a passionate stare at Joan from Sherlock's languid blue eyes it was not a surprise.
The whole thing hit Sherlock like a ton of bricks. Hiding his feelings for Joan once they began to have a sexual relationship was a major problem. Whereas previously he had stayed in a state of agitation because his flesh was being challenged because of his need, now the knowledge that Joan was his completely changed him and he wanted her constantly to be with him. He held her hands, touched her face, whispered passionate words into her ears that made her blush.
Gregson and Bell took it in stride, happy to see a man like Sherlock finally settled in his life. It seemed that the few loose ends surrounding the Moriarty case were the only possible complications the lay ahead of the. Gregson talked to Sherlock about it one day when they were alone in his office.
"You know, Sherlock, I am still not comfortable with the way the government is handling this Jamie Moriarty thing. You and Joan will have to be really careful."
"I am aware of what you are saying. The woman has continued to write to me, and now she has begun to write to Joan as well. I believe that the fact that Joan was able to 'get her number' really rattled her. We are hesitant to advertise our plans to marry as long as she is on then scene anywhere. And that troubles us. We . . . Joan and I want to have a family together. Tommy, I just want to see her pregnant, I guess." Sherlock smiled and shook his head. "I am a different man from two years ago. I must apologize for our conduct around you and Marcus sometimes. I find it incredibly difficult to keep my hands off her. What would I do . . . where, where would I be without her?" Sherlock became quite emotional for a moment, his eyes filling, and Gregson just clapped him on his shoulder.
"Be thankful you have her. And try not to sneak a pregnancy in on me like you did this relationship you've got goin' on."
"We wold like to just let nature take it's course, but this Moriarty thing. I don't want anything in the picture that that devilish woman could use as a wedge against us. But Joan wants to have a baby. I know that she does. She says that she never did before, but that since we've been together, she has begun to want a wee one. That procreative urge is formidable, isn't it?"
Gregson agreed. He started to leave Sherlock but then turned back to say something else to him.
"By the way, Holmes, we have this detective couple from Los Angeles in town this weekend, Remington and Laura Steele. They have this crackerjack agency out on the west coast . . . a great couple with a big family. I think you and Joan might enjoy them. We wanted to show hospitality to them while they are here at this conference that is going at the Javit's Center. Would you be in position to take them out for dinner for the department? Someplace nice like Del Frisco's. They have been married for twenty years or more so they seem to have made a success of combining this kind of work we do with marriage. I imagine that Cheryl and I could learn a few things from them as well."
"Sure, we will be glad to host them. Just let us know when. Joan will enjoy that."
"Oh, and he's a Brit also," Gregson added, "from the Irish side, but raised in London."
"Gregson wants us to takes this detective couple from Los Angeles out to dinner this evening. They're here for the conference at Javit's."
"Oh, Sherlock, I was hoping to just go home and . . . you know," Joan said taking his hand in hers.
"I think we need a few minutes in that empty interrogation room at the end of the hall, luv."
Sherlock took Joan by the hand and they found their favorite private spot at the precinct and he drew her into the corner where they could not be observed by anyone passing by. Then Sherlock kissed Joan. She was trembling the way she did when she was so in need of him that she could hardly focus.
"I think I should have worn that leopard-printed underwear today, Sherlock."
Sherlock's hand slipped under her short skirt to squeeze her hips and draw Joan even closer in his embrace. He was so wanting to just push her up against the wall and take her and give her what she craved so, but they just kissed and kissed and rubbed each other wherever they could touch each others flesh.
"I promise we will have some private time at home before we go to meet the Steeles, luv."
When Sherlock and Joan met the Steeles at Del Frisco's, they immediately hit it off. Remington and Laura were vibrant and stunning. Remington Steele was turning sixty, his dashing good looks only improving with age . . . the startling blue eyes and his black Irish looks, highlighted with a streak of snow white hair irresistible. He was trim and elegantly dressed in a dark navy Armani suit set off with a burgundy tie. Laura was a gorgeous mid-fifties. She had great long legs and her full bosomed and softly rounded figure was quite stunning in a sea green silk wrap dress, especially in view of the fact that she had given him ten children, three sets of twins during their marriage of nearly thirty years. Her thick chestnut hair was shot through with beautiful silver streaks that only enhanced her healthy good looks and the lovely dimpled smile that had originally entranced Remington.
"So you work as consultants to the NYPD, Gregson tells us. How do you find that?" Remington asked. "We have found our relationship with the LAPD to be somewhat contentious through the years."
"Sometimes it's a bit tense. It usually happens when we are thinking outside the box. But we close a lot of cases. That seems to keep us on their good side, it seems," Sherlock said wryly.
"And Captain Gregson tells us that you are engaged," Laura said brightly, taking in their slightly flushed countenances and continuously glancing at each other.
"Yes, we somehow found each other," Sherlock said. "I had worked as a consultant for Scotland Yard for several years and during that time I experienced some things that caused me to foolishly turn to drugs . . . heroin. I came to the states to rehabilitate myself and Joan here was assigned to be my sober companion. She put me on the straight and narrow and has kept me on the straight and narrow." Sherlock reached for Joan's hand and gripped it. "I owe this woman my life. She is a surgeon and quite brilliant and so we became partners in the consulting work."
"Interesting, Sherlock. I guess that I am a sort of rehab myself. I was living somewhat on the wrong side of the law in a technical sense and stumbled upon Laura thirty years ago and fell instantly in love with her. She was a licensed private detective with her own agency pretending to be a man, Remington Steele no less , and she didn't trust me any farther than she could throw me. I basically wormed my way into her life, became Remington Steele, and we became partners. I have loved her from the first day I laid eyes on her. I had been with hundreds of women from all over the world-white, brown, yellow, and black and every mixture you could imagine but I have been faithful to Laura from almost the moment we met. And she put me to the test, wouldn't have me for four long years. She forced me to be abstinent. I thought I would die of need of a woman for wanting her. But finally she accepted me." Remington looked into Laura's eyes and all his passion and love from that first day was still there.
"So we each have a story," Joan said. "I was practicing medicine. I thought that would be my life. And the one day there was a terrible accident, and I lost a patient. I was done. That is when I turned to drug counseling. I guess I just wanted to save lives. So many people are losing their lives to heroin these days so many . . . famous and talented people, people who should know better than to play with something like heroin. It is such a tragedy! I wanted to save lives. I met Sherlock as a case. The drug had nearly killed him a few times. We tried to refrain from falling in love because he was my client, but we knew that eventually it would happen. I guess I fell in love with him the first day we met. And, about a year after, when we had become simply partners as consultants, it did."
"I love this woman to distraction. This physical thing is still like a new toy with us so please forgive us if we can't control ourselves every minute." Sherlock leaned over and kissed Joan on her hand and then on her cheek, as she blushed.
Joan was wearing one of his favorites, her dark blue silk dress with the wide square neckline and the whole rise of her bosom was flushing under his passionate gaze. They had been together just before coming to meet the Steeles and Joan's lovely post-coital glow was impossible to hide from experienced lovers like Remington and Laura.
"I dare say we understand your situation. It never gets old when it's the real thing. After nearly thirty years, eh, Laura?" Remington reached under the table to squeeze his wife's knee as he stared into her brown eyes.
Dinner came and it was a perfect evening. The Steeles showed Sherlock and Joan pictures of all their children.
"You worked in the business and raised these children? You are some woman!" Joan exclaimed.
"She is," Remington said. "And we adopted two when we still had just the first twins. Their parents were killed in a case we were involved in and we decided to take them. We raised them as our own. And Laura nursed every one of them-breastfed, you know. We have three year old twins now. They were our last and quite a surprise, born when she was past fifty. We have three sets of twins. The first were twins, and the we had another set of twins just before 9/11. (I was here on business when that happened . . . I was in the second tower. I barely came away with my life . . . but that's another story)."
"That was the darkest day of our lives. I was watching television when it happened. It was hours before we knew if Remington and our older adopted son were alive or not."
"That was a terrible day," Remington said quietly, remembering the horror of it. "There were a lot of people who lost the ones they loved on that day." Then he brightened and continued. "Laura just weaned our three year old little girl twins a few months ago. She's amazing. She still goes to Cedars-Sinai Hospital and volunteers to breast feed sick special babies once a week." Remington proudly gestured toward his wife's lush bosom and it was Laura's turn to blush.
"Joan, let's go to the ladies room before they bring dessert. We need some girl time."
The two women sat down in the plush rest room and chatted for several minutes.
"I am so happy for you and Sherlock, Joan. You seem perfectly suited for each other."
"I think that we are. Since we came to terms with how we feel about each other, it has been unbelievable because we fought our feelings for so long. I feel like I can speak to you as an experienced woman. It is just insatiable between us. Sherlock is so passionate. Before we started our relationship he had a constant parade of women coming in and out, almost never the same one twice. I didn't know if he could really give all that up, and I could never have accepted that, but since we began to have sex, he has been faithful to me. It's just that he wants it all the time. Some days we can hardly get out of the house!" Joan put her face into her hands in embarrassment.
"Don't tell me about British men, Joan. People talk about French men and Italian men, but these Brits fool you. Behind all of that cool reserve they are so unbelievably hot. My Remy is just as needy as when he was thirty. Even when I was carrying and had my belly full already, he still wanted it all the same. I thought that menopause would slow things down, but, my goodness, we still both just want it all the time." Laura fanned as she spoke. "You are planning to have children?"
"Yes, we both want to very much. We are just waiting till we are married to start on that project."
"Your being a doctor, you know all the ins and outs of that. Just don't shortchange yourself. Breast feed your babies, enjoy every minute of your marriage with this man, because it is obvious that he is crazy about you. Never turn him away when he is in need, because there is always someone else out there who will try to tempt him if you aren't taking care of his needs. You are Asian so you know about this yin/yang business. Remington lived in China as young man and learned a lot about it there. You take care of the yang and everything else will fall into place. Let him teach you what he knows, my dear."
Joan smiled. She felt very comfortable with Laura.
"I want to marry him. My family knows that we have become lovers and you know that can be a bit awkward. They are all waiting to see what happens next."
"So what is holding things up, Joan. You are both free, aren't you?"
"Yes, but there was a woman in Sherlock's past, a woman he loved, but who really deceived him, who turned out to be an evil criminal. She was the one responsible for his lapsing into heroin addiction, when he thought she was murdered. It was just a ruse, a trick to try to destroy him. She came back on the scene this past year and she is presently incarcerated under some sort of special house arrest and she has been writing letters to him, but to me also. I think she is bisexual because she seems to have some fixation on me, because I belong to him. I was the one to uncover her evil plot when she was here and she seems bent on wreaking havoc in our relationship in some way. She wrote these sexually suggestive things to me recently, and even painted a huge portrait of me. Laura, I have never been interested sexually in anything without a penis! And sometimes now Sherlock, in some moments seems to wonder if she is really trying to change and be a better person. This is a woman who killed her own parents when she was a teenager, and that by her own admission!"
"Did you show him the letters, Joan?"
"I didn't know what to do. They are so creepy. And I don't want him to think that I am encouraging this."
"Tell him and show him. Keep it all out in the open between the two of you. She sounds very dangerous to me. And if she tries to ever touch you, you should try to knock her block off. And, above all things, take care of him sexually. He belongs to you!"
"Thank you, Laura, so much. You've helped me."
"Yes, I guess our men are wondering where we are now. Let's go have chocolate mousse and coffee," Laura said as she finished touching up her makeup.
Sherlock and Remington had been engrossed in conversation while the women were away. Sherlock had outlined some of the same things Joan had mentioned to Laura.
"Mate, you have to totally extricate yourself from anything involving that woman. Don't let the FBI or the NYPD or MI 5 or Interpol or anyone else put her between you and Joan here or you will have a god awful mess on your hands. This woman is probably insanely jealous of the two of you being together."
"She is. She questioned Joan about our relationship when we came into contact with her earlier in the year when she engineered a triple murder here in New York. At that time Joan and I were not intimate but she thought we were. She ridiculed Joan, calling her my 'mascot' because she is so devoted to me."
"She sensed the devotion that Joan has for you and resents her for it. She is extremely dangerous, Sherlock."
"I will speak frankly to you man-to-man, Remington. That woman and I were involved in an intense sexual relationship, but it was contentious between us. She worked maliciously to keep me off balance, giving me just enough sexual rope to keep me trailing after her, never surrendering herself or her will to me. I was a fool to have been so helpless."
"There have been many such, mate."
"But then Joan and I came together. You are the only person that I have told this, but Joan is the first woman that I have been with in my life whose surrender I feel so profoundly when she gives herself to me. I always thought coitus was about release, ejaculation. I had been with whores, prostitutes. I had run the gamut with women from every walk of life, even some S&M. But with Joan and me it is completely different. That moment when she yields so completely to me, trembling and calling my name the way she does . . ." Sherlock almost broke down. "I feel like the king of the whole world, Remington. I was never so bound up in the life of a woman. I finally know the reason for it all, the purpose of life and it is Joan who has taught me this."
"Don't let anyone or anything get between the two of you, mate. Oh, here are the ladies. Let's have dessert and coffee."
Sherlock and Joan parted from the Steeles after an evening well spent and with a promise to maintain contact with each other.
Remington and Laura got into their taxi and Remington immediately drew her close and let his hand slide upward between her thighs as he kissed her ardently.
"Umm, I guess I know what we'll be doing when we get back to the hotel," Laura sighed.
"I need you tonight. Seeing those kids like that, so in love just reminded me of how fortunate we are, Laura."
"She says he's crazy passionate, Remy. Remind you of someone?"
Remington crushed Laura in his arms, kissing ther even more fervently.
As Sherlock and Joan walked back to the subway after taking the Steeles to their taxi, they were arm in arm.
"I do like them so much, Sherlock. I feel like they are our big brother and sister. And they are so sensual, aren't they. Ten children, and he is still panting after her like that. Oh, I forgot to add the two adopted ones!"
"Well, I plan on panting after you for the rest of our lives. How many babies are we going to have?"
"Not ten! They must not have practiced any form of birth control except lactation," Joan said.
"Perhaps she is like you and doesn't like condoms." Sherlock added. "When we start having babies, we will have to keep in touch with them. I will love to see you pregnant, Joan."
Sherlock stopped suddenly in middle of the sidewalk at Avenue of the Americas and 23rd Street and grabbed Joan and kissed her hard on the mouth over and over again.
"Oh, Sherlock, take me home to our brownstone and make love to me all night long,"Joan murmured softly.
And he did just that.