Disadvantageous

Chapter 21

Lydia woke up cold. She instinctively buried herself deeper in the sheets surrounding her, trying to provide her body with some warmth so that she could recapture the sleep that was rapidly falling away from her. As she rolled over, her legs brushed one another and she realised she wasn't wearing any clothes down there.

Her eyes snapped open and she scanned her body, which was still completely naked in Sherlock's bed. A few choice words fell from her lips as she realised what had happened, memories suddenly rushing back to her. It was a mistake, that's what it was, but how was she to explain that to Sherlock? Or would he feel the same way?

Based on the fact he had abandoned her in his bed, Lydia began to think the latter. Besides, she was sure Sherlock regretted last night more than she did. That wasn't hard to do, she imagined, because despite knowing what they had done was wrong, she didn't regret a single moment of it. For a brief moment, she was his again. She didn't have to care about someone trying to kill her or the uncertainty of whether or not Sherlock would want to repair their broken relationship. Perhaps she was just a means to an end for Sherlock, someone he could shag without any strings attached.

Lydia forced herself out of Sherlock's bed, wrapping herself in one of his dressing gowns, hoping he wouldn't mind considering the clothes she had worn to his flat were currently strewn about and her change of clothes was out in the living room. She was sure Sherlock would prefer for her to cover up with the rate in which someone visited his flat.

As she stepped through the door into the kitchen, Lydia immediately caught sight of Sherlock crouched over his laptop in the corner of the room. She had no doubt he noticed her come into the room, but he made no attempt to acknowledge her. Lydia swallowed thickly, trying to ignore the pain in her heart as she picked up her bag she had brought with her so that she could get dressed.

"Mind if I use the shower?" She finally spoke, receiving only a nod from Sherlock in response.

Sherlock was still in that same position when she emerged properly washed and dressed, having to use a bit of makeup to cover the hickeys Sherlock had left the night before. The last thing she needed was for others to know of her moment of weakness.

Curious to see what he was so deeply engaged in, Lydia peered over Sherlock's shoulder. Sherlock tried to ignore Lydia's close proximity and how she smelt like him - what an odd thing it was to enjoy knowing that Lydia had used his soap. However, he couldn't help but find her quite distracting from his work.

"Prison records?" Lydia questioned, rather confused as to what Sherlock was working on.

He shifted his focus back to the task on hand, giving her a nod, "a few of the people who worked for the Rose Foundation were let go on parole not too long ago. I'm rather surprised you weren't aware of that, considering you are the one who inadvertently sent them all to prison."

"And you think one of them is the person after me?"

Sherlock minimised the window that was pulled up, revealing a still from CCTV footage. "This is Elis Baker, released from prison on Monday. He was given a shorter sentence due to his lower position in the Foundation, apparently the courts didn't find it suspicious that he had given up his entire life for the Foundation."

"Have you told Lestrade about him yet?"

"I have no evidence that he's the one after you, this footage is from surveillance footage outside of the University College of Osteopathy, there's no proof he continued down the road to your theatre."

"So you're saying you don't know if it is actually him that's after me?" Lydia pressed, the hope that this situation would go away suddenly melting away.