I shuffled uncomfortably, adjusting the black tie around my neck that felt as though it was strangling me. Is this too formal? Will Irene like it? Oh, I haven't been this nervous in ages. I swallowed thickly, before taking a deep breath and closing my eyes. No. I can do this. It won't end up like Angel. I'll make sure it won't. For now, it's just dinner. No need to panic. I let out the breath I'd been holding and stepped out from the cab, heading up to Irene's door and ringing the bell. It took a moment before Kate let me in and I smiled politely at her before Irene came downstairs and my heart leapt up into my throat.

Her hair was done up in an old-styled up-do of sorts, that familiar bright red lipstick drawn across her lips and her make-up done near professionally. But what caught my attention was the silky dark green dress that billowed around her ankles but easily accentuated her eyes and the slimness of her curves. I could barely manage to contain the blush quickly working its way up to my ears, much less attempt to get some words out to compliment her. Oh dear. This might be more complicated than I thought.

"Oh, seems I've broken my date." Irene smirked, sauntering over and reaching up to grab the back of my neck as she kissed me deeply, making me groan in the back of my throat as I leaned into it, before pulling away.

"You look beautiful." I murmured. "I almost want to skip the dinner and hide you away here. No man should see you looking this amazing."

I snaked an arm around her waist as she smirked and tapped my cheek.

"But then how would be able to show me off, Jess?"

I smiled at her teasing and moved to her side as I walked her out. "I've found a nice place. Nothing too formal, but not informal either. A quiet, out of the way restaurant where we shouldn't be bothered too much."

"Hm, with your budget?" She mocked and I leaned in to whisper in her ear.

"I know a guy."

"You mean you know what he likes." She said softly back as I opened the cab door for her.

"Perhaps, but it's more like… I helped him out of a tight spot a while back." I replied, closing the door and moving around to the other side to climb in beside her; giving the cabbie the address as she spoke.

"I take it we'll be learning quite a bit more about each other, then?"

"If you're interested." I answered. "We can set up rules beforehand. Keep from poking at sensitive subjects. For example, I used to be a lawyer, but I wish to avoid the topic of family and my ex-girlfriend."

"I thought your last name sounded familiar." She smiled, leaning over with a wicked smirk that made me stiffen; worried that she would be like the dozens of other people I'd attempted to date, who only wanted to be with me because of my family. "You know what my job is, though I am currently working on multiple side projects and used to date Kate, both of which I would like to avoid as a dinner topic."

I relaxed as I saw that she was going along with the game of twenty questions I'd started up; the two of us spending the drive to the restaurant coming up with rules for what would and wouldn't be alright to discuss during dinner. Upon arriving, I felt my back straighten immediately and my arm go protectively around Irene's waist. The few men and even women in the restaurant turned their eyes to us almost immediately as we were brought to our table, but I stared down every one of them with a sharp glare; silently declaring that she was mine and to keep their eyes to themselves. The obeyed, going back to their own dates or their evening meals as I pulled out Irene's chair for her; hearing her chuckle.

"What?"

She smiled at me. "Bit possessive yourself, aren't you?"

I pouted as I pushed her chair in and moved to my own seat. "You want me to share the most beautiful and clever woman in the room with those people? It's alright for me to undress you with my eyes, but I'd rather they kept to themselves and not ruin our night out with impudent stares."

"I simply didn't expect you to be so… jealous of others." She mused, leaning forward with her hands tucked under her chin. "Were you like this with all your old girlfriends?"

"Hm, hardly." I smiled, setting down my menu as well and waving down a waiter. "My exes didn't attract nearly as much attention as yourself, and most stares were aimed at my person." My smile widened into a smug smirk. "They were the jealous ones."

I ordered for myself, allowing Irene to order for her own person, before we started up some friendly conversation. I learned quite a bit about her. She loved irises and the deep red color of roses. She enjoyed clever company and crosswords in the paper, as well as mysteries and had already read a few of my novels with great interest. She took great care of her appearance and knew her way about the world in a way that, yes, was dominating, but she didn't mind taking the submissive side every once in a while. And, as I knew from our previous night together, could be more than passionate and caring when she did so. She was amazing, and everything I could have ever wanted in a person, though technically, the same could be said about Sherlock, but the man irked me to no degree. Especially when my phone buzzed in my pocket on our way to the cab and it happened to be a text from him.

Are you coming?

-S

I rolled my eyes, and tucked my phone away before climbing in after Irene.

"Everything alright?"

"Hm?"

"You were looking at your phone." She said, watching me.

"Just my neighbor. The one I told you about?" I sighed. "He's trying to drag me into things again, is all. But I've had quite enough rough-housing for one night."

Fingers lightly touched my injured arm and I stiffened, before relaxing as I looked at Irene's fingers gently brushing where a thick bandage lay underneath my shirt.

"I'm assuming that's what happened with your arm then?"

I nodded. "I can't go into specifics, but he seemed to have forgotten to inform me of how dangerous the situation was going to be."

"Knife at a gun fight?" She offered and I snorted.

"More like bare-handed at a gun fight. Sorry about cancelling on you the other night, but that was why. Had a hell of a migraine."

"I can imagine… though…" She snuggled closer, her lips brushing my ear in a tantalizing fashion. "I'm sure we can fix that. Give you a bit of time to…" She tugged at my tie, loosening it from my neck. "…relax."

A shiver went down my spine and I leaned in to kiss her, only for my phone to buzz again and a groan to escape my lips as I pulled it out in frustration.

This is the address.

If I don't see you in twenty minutes,

I'll be using your fridge to store my eyeball experiment.

-S

"Pest." I snipped under my breath, switching my phone to silent and stuffing it back into my pocket as the cab pulled up and Irene and I got out. "Like I care where he puts his eyeballs."

"Eyeballs?" Irene commented, looking amused at my annoyance with Sherlock.

"He's a science nut. My neighbor, that is. Just threatened to use my fridge to store his body parts should I not show up at some circus thing."

"Perhaps you should then." She mused as we walked up the stairs to her door. "I'd hate for you to have to go through that."

Quickly seeing the signs that my date was backing out, I came up behind her and lightly kissed her neck.

"And miss out on dessert? I wouldn't dare." I said softly, catching her eye as she put her key in the lock. "I'd lock myself in a room of body parts if it meant spending a wonderful night with you, Irene."

She smiled as she opened the door. "Well, you're in luck then, Jess. We're about to be the tangle of body parts in my bedroom."

I grinned as her lips crashed into mine, quietly shutting the door behind us as we headed upstairs. Light kisses turned more heated as clothes were stripped and Irene's nailed racked down my back in a motion that made me growl in a way I never had before. But then I stopped, that thought having pushed itself to the forefront of my mind rather quickly and putting a halt to my actions as I looked down at the woman below me on the bed.

"Jess?"

I looked her over, searching her confused expression for something that would give me a clue, before finally allowing the question to spill from my lips.

"Do you love me?"

Her eyes widened and I quickly backtracked before she could speak.

"Ah, n-no, that's not… That's not what I meant. I-I mean… Do you…" I tried to get my thoughts in order before asking a different—albeit similar—question. "Do you see me as one of your customers, or do you see me as… me? A-And not Jess Huttner, the famous lawyer's kid, but Jess Huttner, the bisexual woman who's clever and enjoys painting and writing and fixing flats."

She sighed, pushing me up lightly as my heart broke and I sat back in fear and hurt.

"Jess, I see you as you. The handsome, smart, teasingly ridiculous woman I met drunk out of her mind at that bar."

A sense of relief hit me like a train, but she kept going.

"However, it has been a long time since I'd attempted a serious relationship. So while I do not see you as a customer, I don't quite see you as a long-term partner either." She reached a hand up and cupped my cheek with a soft smile. "Not to say I won't try, but I can't say for certain."

"O-Oh." I managed to get out, looking down as I took in a breath and let it out.

"Do you want to go think about that for a while, Jess?" Irene offered, brushing a hand through my hair like a mother comforting an upset child.

"I-If I could." I croaked, doing what I could to keep myself together and looking her in the eyes. "You'll wait for me?"

She smiled, leaning in and kissing me softly, allowing my eyes to flutter closed before she pulled away. "Yes. I'll wait."

"Thank you." I breathed out, standing and beginning to gather my things; replacing my clothing and heading for the door.

"Don't make me wait too long though, or I'll have to hunt you down, Jess." Irene tossed out and I smiled at that.

"I'll hold you to it, Irene."

I headed back to Baker Street feeling as though I'd made a mistake by asking Irene that, but at the same time feeling comforted that I'd asked before I ended up finding out on my own further down the line. Now, I just had a lot to think about and I knew it'd be hard to when Sherlock and John were undoubtedly back from the circus. I'll be lucky if I get a moment of sleep. I sighed, pulling a hand through my hair tiredly as I sent the cab away a block from the flat, needing to get a bit of air before running into the undoubtedly annoyed Sherlock. Problem was, I didn't even make it that far before something knocked me hard upside the head, quickly knocking me out.

I groaned, grimacing at the pounding of my head and struggling to lift my head from my chest, though the dimness of wherever I was helped with the migraine I was dealing with.

"Christ, what hit me?" I muttered, cringing as even the sound of my own voice sent a wave of pain through my skull.

"'A book is like a magic garden carried in your pocket'." An accented voice said, making me attempt to clear my fogged vision enough to see who was talking to me.

"Who's spouting Chinese proverbs?" I slurred out, attempting to look around though with only one eye open.

Whoever had hit me left a nasty gash over my left eye, which had bleed rather profusely while I was unconscious. I finally noticed I wasn't alone with the Chinese woman standing before me, spotting John and a young woman I hadn't seen before also tied to chairs not too far from me.

"John?"

John turned towards me and cursed quietly under his breath, letting me know that whatever this is, I probably wasn't supposed to be involved.

"Dear God, is this because of that stupid case?" I complained. "Getting shot and hit once wasn't good enough for Sherlock, was it? Oh, no. He just had to drag me into this mess a second time." I turned angrily to the Chinese woman in front of me. "I'll have you know, I've had a bad day, so would you mind skipping the overly dramatic dialogue and get to the point?"

Her eyes narrowed and her lips turned down into a frown, annoyed at my attitude, no doubt, but I hardly cared with the amount of pain radiating through my skull at the moment.

"Very clever, Mister Holmes." She said and I frowned.

"Who you callin' Holmes? He's not even here in this mess."

The woman pushed up her sunglasses. "Forgive me if I do not take your word for it."

She reached into John's coat and pulled out his wallet, revealing Sherlock's debit card as well as a check for a decent amount of money and some tickets to the circus.

I frowned. "Yeah, so? That doesn't make him nor me Sherlock. You've got to get your facts straightened out, lady. That twat is not here, because if he was, I'd have castrated him already."

John winced at that and the woman turned to me once more.

"We heard it from your own mouth. 'I'm Sherlock and I think I'm so above the law.'"

"Have you never heard of mocking someone?" I drawled, before leaning my head back with a sigh. "Dear God. I have a concussion and I'm still the smartest idiot in the room."

I heard the familiar click of a weapon and quickly brought my head back down, only to groan as the movement made me feel sick to my stomach for a second; though the gun aimed at my person didn't make me feel much better.

"I am Shan."

"Y-You're Shan?" John breathed out and I sighed.

"She's Shan, I'm Jess, you're John, that's probably your poor date and those are her two grunts the Spider and the other guy. Now that we're all acquainted, please, just state your demands so I can say 'I don't know' and go home." I complained and the woman turned to John.

"Three times we tried to kill you and your companions, Mr. Holmes. What does it tell you when an assassin cannot shoot straight?"

She aimed the gun at John and my heart stopped for a split second as John let out a whimper, but the gun clicked. Empty.

"It tells you that they're not really trying." She smiled as John let out the breath he'd been holding and attempted to calm himself.

I, on the other hand, was trying to get ahold of my mouth.

"Dick move, skank."

Her eyes went round to me heatedly, slipping a clip into her weapon and aiming it at me. "Not blank bullets now."

"First off, it was empty, not full of blanks. Secondly, if you wanted me—or, well, Holmes—dead, you would have done it by now." I droned, scared out of my mind with my mouth continuing to insult the armed woman in front of me, but my addled brain making it more than difficult to filter my thoughts before I say them.

A gun shot went off then and I cried out in pain as something ripped through my right calf, myself gritting my teeth as I felt blood slide down to my ankle and John's panicked shout calling my name.

"Jess! God, Jess!"

The woman hardly cared though, priming her pistol again as she spoke harshly. "Do you have it?"

"Have what?" I snapped back, glaring heatedly at her as sweat slid down my temple and dropped off my jaw onto my pant leg.

"The treasure."

"We don't know what you're talking about." John insisted, attempting to take attention off me.

"I would prefer to make certain." She said, looking at the two men behind her, who pull off the large black cover in front of us to reveal a large crossbow-esque object.

John sighed deeply, but I hardly cared at the moment, head spinning as my injured mind and body attempted to think up a way out of this mess. I need to get out. If I can get out of my bonds, I at least have half a chance of getting us out of this. I felt up alongside the sides of the chair, searching for a splinter that I could use to start cutting through the ropes and being lucky enough to find one. It will take time though. I need to stall.

"Oi, this treasure thing." I called out, making the woman pause in whatever she was planning on doing to John's girlfriend and the bag of sand by her knife hovering above the crossbow. "It's what Van Coon snatched from your little black market sale, yeah?"

The woman stopped, stepping away from the sand bag as John looked at me in panic.

"Jess, what are you doing?!" He harshly whispered and I would have told him I was buying us time if I didn't know that Shan would hear me.

"You know the treasure?" She asked, though it sounded more like a definite statement.

"Perhaps." I said, working at the bonds on my wrist all the while. "It's small, yeah? Worth a ton of money, owned by some really famous emperor or something." I replied, rambling off random things that could describe more than half the black market items coming in from China.

The woman's eyes narrowed. "Where is it? Where is the treasure?"

"Ah, now see, I would totally tell you. Thing is, my mind's a bit scrambled right now and I'm bleeding out rather quickly. Hard to focus like this and with my pals over here being threatened as well."

"You are in no position to make bargains." She snapped and I scoffed; though I felt half as confident as the act I was putting up.

Being an ex-lawyer has its perks. I can slip on a pain free, confident mask like putting on a coat. "Lady… Shan, I think I'm in the perfect position to ask for a compromise. I've got information you want and how hard could it be to just let my friends go on their way—somewhere discrete, seeing as they don't even know where we are to begin with and no cops will believe their story. Set them free, possibly bandage up my leg, and I'll tell you where the treasure is. Simple."

She raised her weapon again. "Or I could just kill you and ask one of your friends."

"Ah, but they haven't the slightest idea where or even what the treasure is. Really, do you think I'd risk telling them? The more people who know, the more dangerous is it, yes? So just let the clueless idiots go, and we can have a nice chat."

She paused, hesitating, before frowning and leveling her gun. "I don't believe you."

I went to respond, very nearly through the rope on my wrists and knowing I could buy myself a bit more time—if not convince her to let John and his girlfriend go—but another voice rang out instead.

"You shouldn't, you know! She's an ex-lawyer. Lying's in her blood."

"And you're late, you twat!" I called out to Sherlock, hearing him floundering around with one of Shan's men behind us.

Shan turned the weapon to where his general location was.

"That's a semi-automatic. If you fire it, the bullet will travel at over a thousand meters per second."

"Well?" Shan questioned as there was a pained grunt from the man attacking Sherlock.

"Well, the radius curvature of these walls is nearly four meters. If you miss, the bullet will ricochet. Could hit anyone. Might even bounce off the tunnel and hit you."

There was a clatter and Shan rushed off somewhere as the tunnel grew darker. I knew I'd run out of time and quickly yanked harshly on my wrists, taking a few painful jabs by the splinter I'd been working with before my bonds broke free and I moved painfully to John's side.

"J-Jess?!"

"Sh." I shushed him, keeping an eye out for Shan's remaining men as I fought with John's bonds. "You're an army guy. Got a knife?"

"Front right pocket."

I reached into his pocket with an apology, before hearing Sherlock struggling over by where John's date was. I cursed, opening the pocket knife and shoving it into John's hands before cautiously limping my way to help Sherlock. The man was struggling as the Spider fellow wrapped his cloth around his neck, but I came over behind him silently and managed a good solid punch to the face before Zhi Zhu could react. He stumbled back, releasing some of the tension in the cloth holding Sherlock, but still managed to stay on his feet and come after me with a knife. I growled, forcing myself to move through the pain in my leg as I ducked and dodged his furious swipes, feeling the blade nick the edge of my right ear at one point and cutting into the front of my shirt. A swift hit to my leg sent me crumpling to the ground with a cry of pain, and I was soon reminded about my black tie as Zhi Zhu grabbed a hold and began to strangle me with it.

Thankfully, John had managed to turn the crossbow at this point and I wasn't out of breath for long before an arrow shot through Zhi Zhu's chest and John rushed to his girlfriend's side as Sherlock rushed to mine.

"Jess. Jess, you alright?"

I coughed and hacked as Sherlock removed the tie from around my neck, him reaching around to check the gash on my head from earlier and the slice in my ear with a grimace as John's girlfriend sobbed.

"Come on. Up you get." Sherlock said, helping me up, but my leg crumbled beneath me and I shook my head.

"C-Can't. I can't put any more weight on it." I bit out through clenched teeth.

"What? Why not?"

"She was shot, Sherlock." John explained. "We need to get her to the hospital."

I couldn't read the expression on Sherlock's face in that moment as he wrapped an arm around my waist and let me lean most of my weight against him as we made our way out of the building and called the police. He soon left me in the care of the paramedics, who insists I stay overnight at the hospital, but I adamantly refused. They'd bandaged my leg and head well enough and said I had gotten lucky with only a flesh wound and a concussion, but I wasn't about to risk my parents raining down on me upon them being notified I was in the hospital. They were still pressing it on me and I was only saved by Sherlock coming by.

"Perfect. Sherlock, tell them! Tell them I'm perfectly fine going home where a doctor can look after me."

Sherlock didn't even blink before turning to the stubborn paramedic. "We have a professional living with us who is perfectly capable of keeping her off her leg as well as making sure any medical treatment she requires is taken care of. Now please, excuse us."

Sherlock once again looped his arm under mine and assisted me out of the ambulance and to the cab awaiting us with John and his girlfriend already having gone home. I relaxed into the seat of the taxi with a sigh, closing my eyes once the taxi had driven away.

"I'm… sorry." Sherlock said, surprising me and making me open an eye to look at him in confusion.

"What?"

He frowned. "You heard me. I'm not repeating it."

"Yeah, I know that bit, but what are you apologizing for?" I questioned and his eyes drifted down to my leg briefly, making me roll my eyes and smack him on the arm. "Stop it. That's not your fault."

"It is. If I hadn't demanded you join us, then—"

"Then I wouldn't have had any fun. Now shut up, because you weren't the idiot Chinese woman holding the gun nor were you big old stupid me, running my mouth and earning said bullet to the leg."

"You had a concussion." He argued.

"From yet another moron who hit me upside the head."

"Which wouldn't have happened if I hadn't told you to join us."

"Which I wouldn't have done either way. I was on my way home because I had something to think about concerning my…" I paused attempting to think up a word for what Irene and I had—or didn't have, in any case. "…partner."

He glanced at me as I frowned at the seat in front of me. "Things not going well?"

"Oh, no. Going great. It's just… doubts. My last girlfriend was… not the best and cheated on me and I don't want this one to be the same. Her job's a bit… different, but I'm willing to look past that, but she's not sure about long-term relationships and I need to figure out if that's what I want right now or not. Though I don't know why I'm telling you this. You hardly care."

Sherlock simply hummed, going quiet for a bit before speaking up again. "What you did, back in the tunnel… it was very clever."

"What? You mean doing what every lawyer does and lie my ass off?" I chuckled, stopping when the action made my head ache. "Please. I made a living doing that."

"Still. Under pressure, loaded weapon aimed your way, friends being threatened and in pain. Not everyone could have bluffed their way out of that and you nearly did."

"No. I nearly bluffed John and his girlfriend's way out of that. I was just buying time in the hopes that I could get loose and possibly take out one or two of them and let those two escape."

"Bravery is another word for stupidity." Sherlock grunted and I scoffed.

"Says the man who tracked us down and attempted to do the same thing."

"I didn't get shot, strangled, and attacked by a knife wielding assassin."

"No. You just got strangled by said assassin and were asking to be shot."

We both looked at one another and chuckled, relaxing marginally after our tense evening.

"So, how did you know so much about the treasure?"

"I told you, I was bluffing. I just took what you said and what was obvious and put them together. Half the black market items in China were owned by emperors and are worth a lot. And you mentioned that they were looking for something stolen from them. I simply rattled off one of the victims' names in the hopes they still didn't know who took it, and assumed that it would have been a small item in order to get past them in the first place. Like I said, lawyer. I just had to make them believe I knew what I was talking about long enough to get free and give John a chance at getting out. You showing up was just lucky."

"And yet you waste your time with writing fiction and frivolous activities instead of using that talent for something better." He complained and I rolled my eyes.

"You know, maybe I did use to have fun as a lawyer and using those… talents back then, but I lost a lot of good friends that way, became an outcast in school, and dragged up so much drama with my own family that moving away and becoming boring was the best adventure I could possibly get. I needed a break, Sherlock, and this was it."

"…and now?" He asked hopefully and I peered an eye open as we pulled up to Baker Street.

"Well, so long as getting shot and hit upside the head doesn't become the normal thing, I suppose I am willing to join you on an adventure or two."

He grinned, poking his head back into the car as he held out a hand to help me. "Excellent."

"No eyeballs in my fridge though." I quipped, taking his hand and soon leaning against him to get helped up the steps into their flat—which Sherlock insisted we'd be sharing until my leg was better.

"Then I'll need the keys to your flat." He rattled off in amusement. "I'm too lazy to pick the lock a second time."

"God, you really are a pain in the ass, aren't you?"

"Hm." He chuckled shortly as I shook my head, silently thinking that I could get used to this kind of life so long as Sherlock was around to keep it interesting.