The detective woke up with a sore back and page imprints on his face from sleeping over a large stack of books. John was missing from the flat as well; he had gone to work early in the morning. Sherlock figured out how to make himself some coffee with the device in the kitchen and immediately felt more refreshed. He continued trying to decode the strange message, although it was only nine in the morning. So far, there were two potential leads in which piece of literature had the cooresponding words to the code numbers. The tedious process was almost over, as he had finished going through most of his books the previous night.
A noisy mumbling sounded from downstairs as Lottie groggily pulled herself up the staircase. Her blonde hair was a mess and she squinted through her eyes while rubbing them of tiredness. Loose clothes hung loosely from her body as she stretched a bit and helped herself to some coffee. Sherlock shut the last book's cover with a loud slam to announce that he just went through the entire collection.
"Sorry, I'm not even alive until after I've had my coffee." Lottie apologized.
"Something's going to happen soon and it is not going to be good for you, John, or me." Sherlock warned.
"Good to know. Will there be food?"
"Probably not."
"That's unfortunate."
"Yes, so it would seem. I'm going to attempt to stop it from happening, but do not panic if I don't manage to. I will come up with a plan of some sort to get out as easily as possible."
"Thanks. I'll go change clothes and you will be going outside for a stroll through the park. You can't argue with me because I'm not changing my mind."
The detective childishly rolled his eyes before putting on his coat and scarf. He waited for the girl beside the front door, checking his phone for anything. There was nothing out of the ordinary, so it was dropped back into his pocket. Lottie came back quickly and they headed out into the chilly morning air. Snow piles were pushed up to the edges of streets and more of it continued to cascade down from the gray sky. Lottie attempted conversations with her companion, but he never uttered more than five words back so she gave up in the end. He was too preoccupied devising mental plans for anything that could occur to the trio he mentioned before to the girl, which included the both of them along with John. Moriarty was capable of literally anything, making the list of possible situations for the next few days become infinitely long.
The walk around a few London blocks was short, as the silence was unbearable for Lottie. They returned to 221 on Baker Street and put up their warm overclothing. The lights eventually gave out due to the blizzard outside and it was announced on the news that all roads had been shut down. Sherlock paced around the living room with his hands at his hips, sometimes raising to motion words he was saying in his mind to understand Moriarty's message. At first, the girl watched and chuckled at the detective's madness. She set up fragrant candles to light the dark room since the electricity wasn't working. Soon enough, something had come over her bored mind and clouded it from thinking rationally.
Lottie was fearless as she swiftly moved herself before the detective and stared directly into his focused eyes. Her hand trapped itself in his dark curls and gently pushed him down a bit, connecting their lips. The golden-glow lighting made everything in the room appear softer and Sherlock's eyelids slowly shut subconsciously. The girl was surprised to feel him actually returning the motion, sending sparks around the two of them. His hands had found their ways to a natural curve just above her hips and stayed in the comfortable position until Lottie broke away, completely out of breath.
"You were better than I would've thought." She smirked confidently.
"I don't know why I did that." He spoke lowly.
"Sure you don't. Maybe you just don't want to admit that you fancy me. Would that be too much of an oddity for you?"
"You're familiar with how I am, of course it's out of the ordinary for me to show bursts of infatuation."
"Yeah, so? You've gotten a lot more polite since John. Why can't I change you a bit?"
He sighed in response, clueless as to what he would say in such a situation. Sure, Lottie was lovely in so many aspects and he trusted her, but it was just too far outside of what he had thought he was comfortable with. Her eyebrows were raised while she waited for Sherlock to say anything at all back to her.
"Why did you do that?" He asked.
"Why shouldn't I have?"
"I'm incredibly independent and don't show signs of needing a relationship. You're fairly different from me and it was a surprising action."
"Not quite true, genius. I don't depend much upon other people, especially in relationships, and so what if it was unexpected? It's not like I was going to ask for your permission or mark this occasion on a calendar for scheduling purposes. That would be simply ridi-" She rambled.
Sherlock impulsively smashed their lips back together, cutting off the end of Lottie's words. He had no idea what had overtaken him, but the girl obviously thought pleasantly of it as she kissed back with just as much intensity. This time, however, Sherlock stopped and backed away in fear of what Mrs. Hudson's daughter could say to him after that. He wanted to talk to John for reassurance, but that couldn't happen due to the doctor being stuck at the hospital from the snowstorm.
Lottie's hand turned his shoulder around to face her and flashed him a cheerful smile, as if to tell him that it was alright. In her opinion, the kiss was definitely more than alright, but there was only so much a facial expression could say. Sherlock sat down on the couch, Lottie placing herself beside him so her body was leaning against his.
"We aren't safe from Moriarty's plans and there isn't anything I can do about them." The detective stated to break the silence.
"So what should we do?" The blonde asked.
He exhaled deeply, "Improvise and hope for the best."
