How They Met Alice (BBC Sherlock Fanfiction)

Chapter 46

(Third-person POV: )

 Later, they were back upstairs. John fixed himself a drink in the kitchen and then came into the living room as Sherlock took his coat off. Alice took hers off after him and quickly walked over to his chair. She pulled her knees up to her chin and rested them on her kneecaps, watching John with doe eyes.

 “Where is it now?” John asked, referring to the mobile. He had ignored Alice so she just turned her head to Sherlock.

 “Where no-one will look.” He answered. Walking across to the window, he picked up his violin and turned his back to the room.

 “Whatever’s on that phone is more than just pictures.” John reasoned.

 “Yes, it is.” Sherlock answered, tinkering with his violin and checking its tuning. John watched him for a moment.

 “So, she’s alive then. How are we feeling about that?” He asked, cocking his head to the side a bit. In the distance, Big Ben began to toll the hour. Sherlock pulled in a sharp breath.

 “Happy New Year, John.” Sherlock said quietly. Alice nodded at John, smiling slightly but more concentrated on Sherlock.

 “Do you think you’ll be seeing her again?” John asked. Turning around but not yet meeting his eyes, Sherlock picked up his bow and flipped it in the air before starting to play “Auld Lang Syne” and looking at John pointedly. John got the message and sat down in his chair. Before Sherlock turned back to the window and continued to play, he looked at Alice intensely –seemingly without point from her perspective. He turned away. She narrowed her eyes and eventually closed them, listening to Big Ben’s chime.

Not far away, within sight of St Paul’s Cathedral, Irene was walking along the street when her phone trilled a text alert. Taking the phone from her bag and checking the message, she saw that it read:

Happy New Year

SH

A second later, she got the same from Alice, surprisingly.
She looked at the messages for a long time before continuing onwards.

(DAY TIME, ST BART’S; Alice’s POV: )

 In the lab, Sherlock and I were looking at an X-ray on a computer screen which was showing the interior parts of Irene’s mobile. Molly was nearby. He leaned closer to the screen and saw four small round dark areas scattered around the phone. I did the same and put my hand on his shoulder as I leaned forward. I sighed and he looked exasperated.

 “Is that a phone?” Molly asked. I turned my head towards her but didn’t move my body.

 “It’s a camera phone.” I added.

 “And you’re X-raying it?” Molly asked again.

 “Yes, we are.” Sherlock answered. I appreciated the ‘we’.

 “Whose phone is it?” Molly asked. I held back a sigh.

 “A woman’s.” Sherlock replied.

 “Your girlfriend?” She asked. I wanted to scoff so, so badly. But because she was Molly, I didn’t. John would’ve appreciated that.

 “You think she’s my girlfriend because I’m X-raying her possessions?” Sherlock asked incredulously.

 “Well, we all do silly things.” She struggled, laughing nervously.

 “Yes.” Sherlock confirmed. He lifted his head as he was suddenly inspired and he looked round to Molly. “They do, don’t they? Very silly.” She looked confused as he got to his feet and took the phone out of the X-ray machine and held it up. I stood up after him and crossed my arms, shifting my weight to my left foot. “She sent this to my address, and she loves to play games.” Sherlock continued.

 “She does?” Molly questioned, sounding both confused and hurt. Sherlock pulled up the ‘I AM ---- LOCKED’ screen and typed ‘221B’ into the phone. The phone beeped warningly and a message came up reading: ‘WRONG PASSCODE. 2 ATTEMPTS REMAINING’. He looked exasperated and sat down again.

 (SOME MONTHS LATER. 221B, Third person POV: )

 Sherlock reached the top of the stairs and then stopped abruptly outside the kitchen door. He sniffed deeply. Taking a couple more deep breaths, he turned and looked into the kitchen, then walked across to the window and checked it as he realized that it was open. Turning and sniffing again, he started to walk slowly towards his bedroom just as the downstairs door slammed and feet started trotting up the stairs. Alice, who had been in the flat while Sherlock was... doing whatever he was doing, watched him reach his room and sighing unhappily. He pushed the door open as John came into the kitchen with bags of shopping. Sherlock walked into the bedroom and turned to stand and look down at the bed. John noticed him.

 “Sherlock...” John started. Alice came in behind Sherlock, standing in her usual way and avoiding looking at him.

 “We have a client.” Sherlock said dramatically.

 “What, in your bedroom?!” John cried, walking along the passage and into the bedroom. His jaw dropped as he saw the bed. “Ohhh...” He realized. Irene – fully clothed – was asleep in Sherlock’s bed. Sherlock whipped around to face Alice, who looked up at him. Sherlock shoved the audience out and into the den. Sherlock bent down into her face and John walked awkwardly into the kitchen.

 “Why did you let her in?” Sherlock hissed. Alice grimaced at the closeness of his face to hers.

 “I was out. She got in then.” She explained.

 “Where were you?” He demanded. She faltered, because she told them before they went out that she would watch the flat.

 “I was out.” She repeated. Sherlock didn’t break his glare. Alice sighed. “I. Was. Out. You don’t bl**dy need to know where I was. You’re not my mum.” She clarified, a Scottish accent breaking through on the last sentence. She cleared her throat. He glared at her once more before John came up and pushed them away from each other.

 “Okay, yes. Alice, you were ‘out’. Sherlock,” He turned his head to him. “She has a life too. Irene is here, what do we do about it?”

One-chapter update today because I need to catch up on the typing. Back to two chapters on Tuesday. Okay. So enjoy, vote, and comment, fun peoples!! =)