Iris Blue, Am I In Love With You? (Childhood/Teens)

Chapter 4

Chapter 4 (April 1866)

Her suspicion was correct. It took her a while to process it with the shock of all that had happened to her within less than twelve hours, but this was John H. Watson, world-wide famous sidekick to Sherlock Holmes, currently bandaging a burn on her neck. Stella noticed that he looked quite a bit younger, probably in his early teens. This puzzled her for a moment before she remembered: the current timeline would be in everyone's childhood, not just the Moriarty's. He was dressed completely different than his normal adult outfit in the anime. It was probably the only time she had seen Watson dressed in so much black.

"Are you all right? You've grown awfully pale..."

Stella shook her head to focus herself back into the moment.

"S-sorry, I kinda.. spaced out there."

"Spaced out? I don't understand."

Her head tilted to the side for a split second as her eyebrows furrowed.

"You don't know what spaced out means?"

"No... should I?"

It took her a few seconds to remember: she was in Victorian era London. This phrase probably didn't exist yet, even though it definitely still happened.

"Oh, uh, no. I meant, uh- I was lost in my thoughts, I was thinking a little too strongly on something."

She hurriedly tried to hide her mistake, chuckling nervously as she averted her eyes. Watson seemed to still be a little confused on her actions, but finally understood what she had meant.

"I see... Well, what were you thinking about? If I may ask."

Her eyes made contact with his for a second as he gave the cutest smile, having a look of innocence only Watson could pull off. He seemed genuinely devoid of any evil thought or any thought of tricking her, just curious as to what she was thinking about.

"Oh, uh... I'd rather not share... nothing bad, just, rather not tell."

John quickly drew back a little from where he was finishing the bandaging and looked down.

"My apologies, I didn't mean to intrude."

Stella opened her mouth to try to comfort him, not let him blame himself, but simply froze. She withdrew her action and looked away herself, realizing it might be for the best to leave the conversation at that. It was better than attempting to explain her whole predicament. She had no idea where to begin doing that with him.

After a moment, John rummaged around with the supplies and began to walk away, searching for something.

"Where did you get these injuries? I can't think of any explanation for a burn this bad on a little girl."

"I...uhmm.. it was an accident."

John turned around and raised an eyebrow at her, closing a drawer with one hand and walking back over to her.

"Even if it was an accident, I still don't understand where a little girl could be to get a burn that serious. The men should have keep you out of a place that dangerous."

Stella's eyes darted away and she played with her fingers, trying desperately of think of a good explanation. If she mentioned the Moriarty house fire, she was scared she'd get turned into the cops. Honestly she was a little surprised that he didn't mention it by now. Maybe John was being a little slow. Maybe he didn't know? Surely he would, it would be talk of the town.

No other excuses came to her that would make sense in this era. Finally, John realized that Stella wasn't going to tell him anything more, so he stepped in front of her and held out his hand.