Significant Glitch

Chapter 2

Alvarie stood just outside 221B Baker Street, shifting nervously from foot to foot. She had walked just over four blocks and taken at least two different trains in a fit of rage and now it all seemed wasted. She'd forgotten how intimidating that looming black door was. Wincing and turning her head like she was about to be slapped, Alvarie knocked on the door as quickly as she could. Almost immediately, footsteps could be heard in the distance and it wasn't long before the heavy door shifted open. Standing in its wake was a short, bony woman in a rather distasteful amount of purple. Alvarie opened her mouth and then closed it, letting the woman speak first.

"Oh hello dear..." she said, stepping back a little at the sight of Alvarie's appearance.

"It's me Mrs. Hudson. Alvarie." she replied looking Mrs. Hudson right in the face so she would have the best chance of recognition. Mrs. Hudson looked confused for a few moments until something clicked and her face brightened.

"Oh! Alvarie!" She exclaimed nodding and smiling to keep the ever approaching awkward silence at bay. "You've changed your hair! Kids these days and their funny little styles..." She trailed off gawking at Alvarie's short bubble gum pink hair that faded into a cotton candy blue.

"Well, come in then!" she offered, her eyes shifting back and forth from Alvarie's hair and the floor as she gestured her into the entryway. Alvarie stepped in after her arm had finished its grand sweep and peered up at the steep black stairs that awaited her. She sighed briefly, nodded to Mrs. Hudson, and then began her ascent to whatever horrible conversation awaited her at the top.

Reaching the doorframe of Sherlock's flat came all too soon and Alvarie felt her stomach make a familiar drop. She peered around the corner witnessing four figures doing their best to act like they hadn't known she was coming. There was Sherlock, with his head hung over the back of his favorite chair and his hands resting underneath his chin. John Watson sat nearby trying to focus on a blank computer screen and not whoever was standing in the doorframe. Across the room was a young girl who looked about 11 or 12 sitting on the floor in front of a couch. On that couch was someone Alvarie recognized to be the woman who kept popping up in the newspaper clippings she had of all the times Sherlock had turned in one of her own. She raised an eyebrow at Alvarie as if she noticed something odd about her.

"Are you going to come in or are we going to sit here all day while you doubt your self-confidence?" Sherlock asked still staring at the ceiling with a placid look on his face. Alvarie entered at that, positioning herself in front of him.

"Who do you think you are?" she questioned back at him, trying her best not to yell. After he offered no reaction Alvarie continued, gaining steam as she went. "It's not easy for the rest of us, we take every job we can get and sometimes we don't know who were doing it for. We don't have the choice. You act like you're some god and we should be thankful for you putting us straight. But you know what? I'm not thankful, not in the least." She finished in a crescendo, letting the last words hang in the room like unwelcome memories.

"It's not like she's trying to do anything about your lifestyle." John muttered causing Sherlock's head to turn, his eyebrows slightly furrowed. Alvarie turned to John as well, giving him a rather annoyed stare. Once John realized that just about everyone was staring at him he went back to pretending to do something other than listen to their conversation.

"This has been lovely but, I'd appreciate it if you took your teenage angst somewhere else." Sherlock said after a few moments of silence. He stood up, crossing the room to show Alvarie towards the door.

"Oh, come on Sherlock!" John groaned turning around in his seat to face them "She's your daughter the least you could do is not be an..." He trailed off, realizing what he had just said.