Officially Cumberbatched? A sequel to 'Well and truly Cumberbatched'

Chapter 51

AN: 'Any other name'- Thomas Newman (American Beauty).

(Dedicated to both: asdfghjklaurenn & hiddlesbatchers)

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Wednesday morning.

Harley St.

"Morning Rosie, take a seat."

"Thanks for letting me bring Merlin again, am I alright to let him off his leash?" I asked closing her office door behind me; gleaming whisps of sunlight were now flooding through the bay window overlooking the buzz of life soldiering on outside, rain or shine.

She faintly smiled, placing a jug of water and two glasses down on the coffee table. "I appreciate your manners nevertheless it's fine whenever Merlin's here. He's never been trouble."

"Sorry I don't know why I always ask; I've been here enough times. I don't mean that I don't want to be here but you know." I quietly trailed off letting Merlin off his leash, he gently padded over to Lucy to say hello.

"I understand. Please, have a seat." She gestured before I sat down at the sofa draping my leather jacket over the back.

"Before we get started I would like to know how work has been going for you. I understand you have a meeting with your manager later on this morning?" she asked pouring us both a glass of water.

"Yes I do, I'm not sure what she will have to say because I've been getting back on track. Work's going okay I guess; I'm not overly excited at the moment but I do enjoy it."

"Brilliant, now I'd like to start. Today we're going to chat about work and your home life at the moment. This is more of a once-over than anything else due to the diary entries you've been sending me most nights. Are you okay to continue?" she calmly asked. I nodded, my hand gently stroking Merlin's neck.

"As you know I do talk to Ben separately to yourself; it's not ever going to be my intention for the two of you to have a joint session but I would like to discuss with you how you feel your relationship is progressing as time goes on." She said opening her note book, a blue highball in her hand.

"I guess we're good most of the time, it's been a weird couple of weeks." I quietly said looking at the glass on the table; the water sat still, undisturbed.

"Most of the time? Could you elaborate?" she prodded, I looked over at her, thinking.

"I don't know; I feel as though the floodgates just opened recently. We've been more open, and I mean blatantly open about how we feel than we had for a long long time. I suppose now a lot of things were coming to ahead. We still annoy each other, that's inevitable but still...I feel confused sometimes thinking about it all." I thought aloud, drumming my fingers in my lap.

"Confused about what exactly?"

"About why it's taken us so long, for all of this to happen for us to open up to each other in the way we have."

"Does it worry you that you hadn't naturally done it before?" she asked. I took a sip, still thinking.

"It does. It shouldn't though should it?" I asked looking over at her, her face understanding.

"I cannot circumscribe what and when you're allowed to feel Rosie. One important thing to appreciate is many situations will effectively open the doors to deeper discussions, revelations, and conversations that you may not have had otherwise. It's all a case of chance and circumstance. It's perfectly natural for these occurrences to happen. What is it specifically about Benedict you find hard to process regarding the new openness you share?"