It's Not Real

Chapter One

Mary Morstan never had many friends, even as a child it was very limited. Her mother called her selective. Picky, even. So when the opportunity came to make a new life for herself, a new start, a chance to try again, of course she took it with both hands. And the one thing she knew she wanted this time? Friends.

That's where Evelyn Wilson came in.

They met at a medical convention back in 2012. Evelyn knocked an entire tray of hors d'oeuvres over while walking backwards and straight into a waiter. She was attempting to quietly leave a conversation with another doctor and instead attracted every pair of eyes in the room towards her.

Eve looked nothing like her personality. She was small and quirkily dressed with naturally flaming red hair and big glasses on her nose, Mary expected her to be quiet or shy, but you should never judge a book by its cover in Evelyn's case.

Mary had quickly jumped in to help, collecting up some of the mess from the floor and pulling the flustered woman out of the situation. Once rescued from the embarrassment, Evelyn had immediately hugged Mary as a thank you.

It became clear early on in their friendship that Eve was a nervous woman, a bit skittish, and she was by no means confident, but shy is definitely not a word Mary would ever use to describe her friend. She had her own voice and used it, made her opinions heard, and had a mean left hook.

They laughed about the incident hours later after they had demolished two bottles of wine while avoiding all the lectures they were meant to be attending. They've been close friends ever since.

Mary still to this day tells Evelyn she shouldn't walk and talk because she clearly can't handle the two at the same time.

This is part of the reason Mary was nervous to introduce her best friend to her fiancés best friend. Evelyn is clumsy and chatty and funny. Sherlock is... well, the opposite.

But for some bizarre reason, they seemed to just fit.

———

"You will be there, Sherlock."

"Hm. Weddings. Not really my thing." He throws Mary a teasing wink and she smiles knowingly.

The door comes open hesitantly, a head of short red hair appearing around the side of the door frame. "Hello! Only me."

Mary grins and gestures for her friend to come in. She gives a quick introduction to Mrs Hudson, who warms to Evelyn instantly, and Greg stepped forward to hug her side on, as they've already met quite a few times since Mary first started dating her fiancé. It was at those dinners with Greg and John that Eve got a real insight into Sherlock Holmes.

Mary immediately pours her a glass of champagne. "For you, dearest."

"Thank you, I hope it's the good stuff, I came straight from my shift and believe me when I tell you I need this and more," she laughs, definitely nervous, taking the offered glass eagerly. "The journalists downstairs are lingering like it's feeding time at the zoo."

"Oh yeah, meant to warn you about that. Once they've spoken to Sherlock they'll fade off." Mary's gaze turned to her friend's attire, scrutinised it. "You could have dressed up a bit."

Eve frowns. "Rude. You told me not to worry, be casual, that it's only a small gathering."

"I wanted to ease your nerves. But really? The dungarees?"

"They're my wardrobe staple. What did you expect from me? You say casual, I do casual," she sipped on her glass. "If I'd gone home to change I'd be even more late."

Mary sighed in defeat. "Yeah, fine. You look cute."

"Hiya," John appears from behind Evelyn and leans in to kiss her on the cheek. "Just nipping down with dark and mysterious over there, be back up shortly."

"Ready?" Comes a deep baritone from by the window, and her eyes automatically drift over towards the sound.

"Ready." John responds, but his face looks giddy in excitement for how his friend will react to having this new person in his flat.

Sherlock turns and smiles at Mary as he walks past, then looks up and stops dead in his tracks. "Uhm–"

The woman being stared at presses her lips together and glances around the room awkwardly. "Hi," she puts her hand out for him to shake. "I'm Evelyn, or you can call me Eve, I don't mind. I'm Mary's friend."

Sherlock's jaw drops open a little and he turns his eyes towards John, who grins back at him expectantly. The taller man scans over the woman before him head to toe, mouth twitching as though he wanted to say something. Finally, Sherlock takes the offer and shakes her hand gently. "Sherlock Holmes." He clears his throat. "I just have to go do this thing–"

"You can let go of her hand now, mate." John's voice is barely containing his mirth.

"Yes. Sorry." He lets her hand drop, tugs on the ends of his suit jacket and nods. "John, we should go downstairs."

"Right behind you."

They both disappear pretty quickly, and Eve looks at Mary with a shrug. "I think that went well."

"Probably about as well as it can. Might have been a good idea to give the poor bloke some warning, but oh well."

The expression on Evelyn's face is nothing short of mortified. "Are you kidding? You didn't tell him I was coming?"

"Nope." Mary chuckled to herself. "He'd have stropped, easier to just let you show up."

"This is his flat, you should have mentioned me coming."

"It was fine! Sherlock adjusts easier when he's kind of forced into things otherwise he overthinks and tries to get out of it." Mary pat the space on the sofa next to her. "Come on, sit down."

Evelyn pulled a face. "I just feel bad."

"Now you're overthinking it. It'll be fine! He'll probably get details from John and come back up here like nothing is wrong. Well," she pulled a face. "As nothing is wrong as Sherlock can be."

"If you're sure." She sat down, crossing her legs out of habit.

Mary pat her friend on the head fondly. "I'm sure. Once he realises how smart you are he'll be desperate to chat with you about nerdy things no doubt."

"Hm. Let's hope so, I'd like to get on with him."

Mary nudged Eve with her shoulder. "Would you now?"

Evelyn rolled her eyes. "For the love of all that is holy, stop trying to set me up with every living being you know. I'm fine."

"Alright! Was only joking." Mary clinked their glasses together. "Anyway, dazzle him with one of your Urgent Care horror stories. I'm sure he'll end up loving you as much as I do."

The other woman was sceptical about that, but only time would tell.