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

Part 2- Chapter 18

-----------{Part Two: Summer In France}--------

Chapter 18 (May 1866)

"I can not believe Sherlock found coffee on this ship."

Stella sighed heavily as she plopped down by her sister, feeling the motion of the ferry dragging it's way across the English Channel. The cool, salty sea breeze blew the girls hair about, threatening to undo all the hard work their mother and Amelia had done to keep them neat. Anne was contenting herself with some embroidery as she awaited their journey's end, having long ago pulled herself from excitedly watching the waves around the ship. Her eyes were focused on her work as she intently pulled the needle through once more, smiling excitedly as it came through the right spot.

"Oh, he didn't find it on the ship. He sneaked a canteen in to breakfast this morning and filled it up."

"WHAT?! Just how much coffee did he and Jeremy have?!"

Anne turned to Stella for a moment, then fixed her eyes upon Sherlock. He sat in the middle of the boat on a bench beneath one of the masts, eyes wide with imagination, visibly trembling even from the girls distance.

"How much do you think?"

Stella groaned as she barely caught the flash of color that was Jeremy racing along the deck. 

"Wait, you saw Sherlock take the coffee this morning?"

"I was the last to finish breakfast, remember? I'm not sure if he just didn't see me in the corner or if he simply didn't care. The parents were all busy getting us and themselves ready."

Stella sat back against the hard wooden bench with an exasperated sigh, glancing over to her sister's handiwork. She was somewhat surprised that Anne hadn't progressed more on the simple dandelion pattern in all the times Stella had seen the young girl with it. The stitches were still quite crooked, even with the pattern being marked out by Elsie and Amelia, but she attributed it to how new the skill was to the little orphan, and with how little free time they had seemed to have, as of late.

The past two weeks had been plenty exciting for them. After the four of them saved nearly the entire nobility and British government from being poisoned, they attended a ceremony at Buckingham Palace, where they each received a medal for their bravery and loyalty to the crown. All three of the siblings beamed with happiness as they had received the medals, with only a few servants of the palace later witnessing the excited giggling and jumping of the recent orphans as they hid in a hallway before their party. Sherlock took on an air of dignity, and, though he would flatly deny any such accusation, was attempting to extract a look of congratulation or pride from Mycroft, or "Mickey" as the family affectionately called him. However, this was all to no avail. 

"Ouch!"

The cry from Anne drew Stella's attention back to her left, her brown eyes darting to where a speck of blood pooling on her sister's finger.

"Maybe you should rest from embroidery-"

"No! I'll get it!"

Stella raised her eyebrows as she heard her sister's vehement reply, but simply watched as she sucked the blood from her wound.

"I've had worse injuries, I can do this."

"All right... but if you turn your finger into a pin cushion, you have to stop."

Anne rolled her eyes and set back to work, pushing the embroidery away from her a little. Stella opened her mouth to instruct Anne to pull it closer and not away from her, when a flash of blue and white caught her eye.