Author Note: Thanks for all the new followers to this story and I hope you all enjoy this next Chapter. I would like to say a big thank you to bored411 as she has reviewed on every single chapter recently and so I would like to thank her for her support and dedicate this chapter to her.
Chapter 18: The Morning After
Scarlett woke to the sound of John's voice the next morning, she turned her head and Sherlock lay beside her, his eyes closed and his breathing steady.
"Sherlock are you up yet, it's 10am" called John's voice and behind her Sherlock moved, suddenly a very warm arm snaked around her body and pulled her back onto her back, Sherlock's face came into her vision, his hair was hugely dishevelled and he wore a strange smile.
"Morning" she said smiling at him, a grinned filled his face before he threw himself backwards into the pillow again.
"What is John yelling about" he asked from beside her, his voice was very deep and gravely as it adjusted and Scarlett laughed.
"No idea" she said with a little giggle. Sherlock seemed to think that she was encouraging him, as he began to snake his arms around her again and pull her towards him.
"Sherlock" she laughed in an accusing tone, as he moved himself on top of her and began to nibble at her neck, causing Scarlett to laugh. Sherlock grinned at her before licking her from her jaw to her eye.
"Sherlock eww" she squealed wiggling away from him and laughing slightly, this only seemed to make Sherlock act even sillier, his deep laugh making her laugh even more.
"Sherlock are you OK" John called worriedly his voice sounding like it was just outside the door.
"Fine" called Sherlock as he began to pull Scarlett around playfully and inevitably the pair ended up on the floor, falling off the bed with a loud thud.
"Are you sure" called John's voice again.
"Yes, I'm fine" Sherlock said trying not to laugh. He stood leaving Scarlett laying her back on the floor and her feet still on the bed, she grinned as he pulled a dressing grown from the wardrobe and pulled it on, he returned her grin before pulling the duvet off the bed and on top, covering her complete.
Scarlett was just about to remove it when she heard Sherlock moved towards the door and open it.
"What was all that noise about?" John's voice said.
"Oh, it was nothing" said Sherlock as the two men made their way into the living room.
From under the cover, Scarlett could hear them walk away and curse Sherlock as he had not bothered to close the door after him, she knew this was deliberate move as he knew Scarlett would not wish John to see her, especially with no clothes on. Even with a job like the one she had, Scarlett still had her dignity and she knew this was all a very funny game to Sherlock, and she had to admit she was smirking under the cover.
Slowly she lifted the cover enough to see out into the kitchen and beyond. No was near so quickly she stood as she did she spotted Sherlock sitting in his chair, supposedly reading the paper, but his chair seemed to have 'magically' moved closer to the fire and his eyes were directly on her. He smirked an almost evil smirk at her as she shut the door quietly.
Quickly she began to dress, from the pile of clothes on the floor that she had carried in last night, but quickly she came across a problem. Her bra, was missing she turned the room upside down in her attempt to find it but to no avail, so with no bra she buttoned up her blouse and sat on Sherlock's bed waiting for her chance to sneak out.
Suddenly the door to the bedroom opened and with a quiet squeal Scarlett pulled the covers over her head once again.
A low deep laugh filled the room, she heard the door click shut and slowly a weight was on the bed, pushing the mattress down in one corner. He approached her slowly crawling across the bed. Then a hand reached up and pulled the covers down from her face, Scarlett tried not to laugh as Sherlock looked at her strangely.
"You took your time getting dressed" he said pulling the cover off her completely and getting up and walking to the wardrobe where he began to dress himself.
"You left the door open" she said accusing.
"Oh did I, I'm ever so sorry" said Sherlock in a fake apologetic tone. Scarlett laughed and squealed again as their was a knock at the door.
"Sherlock, I was just tiding up and I found something" said John's voice through the door.
"Found what?" asked Sherlock as he pulled on a white shirt and black trousers.
"A.. A bra" John said slowly.
"Oh good" said Sherlock happily as he pulled on his jacket, he shot Scarlett a look as he approached the door and she jumped up to hide herself behind the bed.
Sherlock pulled the door open and was presented with John standing, holding the lacy black and purple bra by the strap and holding it out to Sherlock.
"Thank you John" said Sherlock taking the bra from him.
"Uh why do you have a bra Sherlock?" John questioned looking at Sherlock worriedly
"Because I like to cross dress in women's lingerie" said Sherlock completely straight faced, before shutting the door to John.
Scarlett peered out from over the bed at Sherlock and he grinned.
"Cross dress!" she said with a laugh.
"What? I could. I'd look amazing too" said Sherlock holding the bra up to his chest and peering down at himself. Scarlett laughed she had not seen this playful and silly side to Sherlock before and she wondered if this was for her eyes only as well.
"My god, your breast must be huge" he said peering at the empty cups of the bra he still held to his chest.
"That can't be right let me check" he said with a smirk before jumping at her and grabbing both her breasts in his hands.
"Sherlock" she said laughing as she slapped his hands away, Sherlock looked at her and smiled his face softened and he leant towards he and kissed her softly. It was long and sweet and left Scarlett very content.
"Come on, you need to go home" said Sherlock with a small laugh as she sighed happily at him.
Slowly with Scarlett behind him Sherlock peered around the door. John was sat at the table in the living room, apparently typing up his blog for that week. Slowly the pair moved out the room, Scarlett hanging onto Sherlock's shoulder with one hand and holding her bag in the other. They manage to get to the door to the landing in the kitchen without incident.
"Fancy a cup for tea" said John loudly and he stood from his chair and quickly made his way to the kitchen.
"None for me, thanks" said Sherlock loudly as he backed Scarlett onto the landing, through the door in the kitchen and out of sight, all the time still facing John and trying to act normal. As Scarlett reached the hall she stepped behind the wall to hide. With a pinch of Sherlock's bum Scarlett bid him silent goodbye and made her way out. Her bra still laying on Sherlock's bedroom floor.
Bruce, her Great Dane was not impressed when she returned to the flat at ten past eleven. So feeling guilty Scarlett adorned her running gear and left with Bruce in tow, she jogged along with Bruce tied to her waist band with his lead.
As she past 221b John was putting the bins out and she slowed up.
"Hello" he said happily and she smiled.
"Hi" she said.
"So how was last night" he asked her with a raised eyebrow and for a second she thought he had cottoned on but then she shook her head, this was John not Sherlock.
"It was OK, not sure if we are gonna go out again. I don't think he's really the type for dating" said Scarlett before taking a sip of the water bottle in her hand.
"No he said when we first met that, 'girlfriends weren't really his area'. I thought he gay at first, to be honest" said John with a laugh and Scarlett simply smiled.
"Not gonna be awkward now though is it, between you two?" John asked motioning his head up to the upstairs window of his flat.
"No, not at all. After all the man saved my life I can't exactly not be his friend because he is rubbish at dating" Scarlett laughed and John joined in.
"In that case fancy a cup of tea" said John kindly.
"No I better not, I'm only half way round my route so far" said Scarlett and John only nodded.
"I'll pop round later though if you want we can go to lunch" said Scarlett and John smiled.
"Sounds great, see you a bit later on" said John and Scarlett gave a little wave as she moved off.
"I'll come round for about half one" she shouted back to him as she continued down the road.
After her run Scarlett, showered and dressed in a salmon strapless dress and wedges she pulled her hair away from her face with a few clips and did her make-up. She pulled on a her leather jacket and left the house. The weather was really starting to pick up and today with rather warm, thought Scarlett found herself wishing she had worn tights.
She knocked and Mrs Hudson let her in, commenting on her dress and how lovely she looked. She made her way upstairs quietly and into the living room. Sherlock sat in his chair his violin in hand and looking somewhat vacant.
"ah Scarlett" said Sherlock as he spotted the raven haired woman in the doorway.
"Hello Sherlock, thanks again for last night I really enjoyed myself" she replied and Sherlock gave her a little grin.
"Hi Scarlett, I'm just gonna grab my wallet and I'll be out" John said as he walked down the stairs from the higher level and passed her.
"Sure, no problem" Scarlett replied she followed him into the room and sat down on the chair opposite Sherlock. The pair shared a look which was unnoticed by John, who continued to search for his wallet.
"So where are we going then" asked Sherlock standing up and grabbing his own wallet, before picking up John's from the table and handing it to him.
"I don't remember inviting you" said John taking the wallet from Sherlock's hands.
"Oh it'll be fine, we are going to a sushi bar I hope" said Scarlett looking between the two men who stood towering over her, as she continued to sit on John's arm chair.
"OK come on then" said John with a sigh and he began to make his way out of the flat. Scarlett went to follow but was caught and pulled round as Sherlock grabbed her hand, he quickly pushed his lips to hers and as he did both of his long arms snaked down her body until both hands were at her bum, he squeezed hard with both hands before pulling away and running after John. Scarlett stood there from a spilt second in shock. Before rushing down the stairs and after the two men.
The two were waiting in a taxi as she shut the door to 221b and jumped in, sitting herself next to Sherlock. The taxi driver looked back in his rear view and his eyebrows shot up.
"Sorry Miss, but don't I know you" the cabbie said as he pulled away from 221b.
"Umm maybe I get a lot of cabs" Scarlett replied but looked to Sherlock confused as a small laugh escaped his closed lips.
"Nah, I know your face from somewhere else" said cabbie and Sherlock laughed.
"I doubt it is her face you recognise" said Sherlock and John shot him a look, but Scarlett shut her eyes in embarrassment.
"I think what my friend means was no, you don't recognise me" Scarlett said trying to save the cabbie some embarrassment.
"No, I'm sure I do" Said the cabbie again.
"Look mate, the only other way you could possibly recognise me, other than I was in your cab before, is maybe a thing you don't want to admit to, with other men in your cab" said Scarlett to him as he clearly wasn't taking a hint.
There was silence for a second and then the cab actually turned his head and looked at her, before snapping it back round his face going quite pink.
"Yeah your right, I must have picked you up before" he said though his voice was very unconvincing.
When they pulled up at the side of the road the boys got out first and Scarlett went to follow.
"Sorry about that Miss" said the cabbie just before she exited the cab.
"No problem" she said with a smile.
"Look I know it's weird and all but can I get you to sign this and maybe get a photo" he said handing her the playboy magazine. Scarlett simply nodded and pulled a pen from her purse and signed across her own face.
"The boys aren't gonna believe this" said the cabbie as he pulled his phone out and took a picture with himself and Scarlett.
"Thanks love" he said as she finally got out the cab.
"You are a lucky fella mate" the cabbie said looking to Sherlock before he drove off, leaving Scarlett laughing at Sherlock's face.
They she sat opposite Sherlock at a table at the sushi place and immediately decided this was probably a bad idea. As Sherlock looked anywhere but at her while his foot ran up and down the inside of her legs. John was oblivious to the little game of footsies under the table and continued to chat to Scarlett nonetheless. After a while John left for the toilet and checking he was out of sight, Scarlett turned to Sherlock.
"Can you stop that, please" she said to him, but Sherlock continued to look out the window behind him and a small smiled appeared on his face as she kicked his foot away. Scarlett couldn't help but laugh at his behaviour it was like he had become a school boy again, though she doubted he ever acted this way as a school boy.
The rest of lunch went quickly and soon they were heading back to Sherlock and John's.
While John made tea he told her about the rest of his blog, which was apparently what he was talking about over lunch, though Scarlett must have missed that.
"I'll definitely check it out" she said with a nod as he handed her a cup of tea.
"I'm gonna do a bond film night tomorrow night if you interested in coming round" said John as he offered her his chair.
"Sounds good what time" Scarlett said with a smile as Sherlock pulled a face of disgust behind John's back.
"About 8, thought we could order a take away. Because apparently Sherlock has never seen a bond film" John said looking at his friend astonished.
Scarlett agreed to come as long as John made sure to play all the Daniel Craig films, the rest of the conversation ended up being about their last case which was all happening while Scarlett was in hospital. John told her about how it was all about these graffiti marks that were coming up everywhere, first at a bank then on railway lines. Apparently it was all some big smuggling ring and they had captured John and his date and threaten to kill them, thinking John was Sherlock. But in the end Sherlock saved them but unfortunately the leader, General Shan, got away.
"I don't suppose your be going out with Sarah again then" said Scarlett with a laugh as John finished retelling the case which he was planning to name The Blind Baker on his blog. Sherlock laughed and John shot the pair a funny look.
"Actually we are going out again" said John
"She's a better woman than me" said Scarlett with a laugh.
After that Scarlett left and the boys saw her out, Sherlock winking at her cheekily, she laughed to herself as she walked back. Really what had she gotten herself into.
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