Born in Black and White

Chapter 37

Kairi was preparing dinner for her and Molly. The sun was gone and the day was winding down and to be truly honest, Kairi was exhausted. Sherlock had returned that morning for a few hours of sleep and raucous sex that left Kairi willowy and placid. She glanced at Molly who was lying on her couch, watching some show on the television that Kairi wasn't familiar with.

She finished chopping up vegetables and mixed them into the salad she was preparing for them both. Molly was a tiny thing and she never ate crazy amounts of food, compared to Kairi at least, who could pack away a large pizza by herself on a good day. Lately though, her anxiety had been so drastic that she was barely able to keep any food down. She was disappointed with this fact, it resulted in her losing more weight than she wanted. She knew Sherlock was concerned because of the way he would trace the lines of her shoulder blades and spine, his fingers tickling across her collar bones or fingering her hips in a non sexual way. His frown was always deep and he looked at her with longing eyes. It was pointless to talk about it. He knew he didn't have much of a right to complain as he starved himself constantly on cases. Though Kairi had made a promise that she would eat when he would eat - even if she ended up throwing it all up later.

She added some tuna salad to the lettuce and spinach, sprinkling some cheese before going to her fridge to bring out some salad dressing. She was never a big fan of salads unless there were more croutons than lettuce, but she was making an effort, trying to find things that didn't automatically make her nauseous.

In her peripheral vision, she saw Molly sit up sharply, glaring at her phone.

"Problem?" Kairi muttered, carrying the salad bowl over to her small table.

Molly was frowning as she stood, staring at her phone, "Yeah, there's a body at the morgue and they need me." She looked up at Kairi, shrugging, "Mycroft's men are outside. You mind if I duck out early?"

Kairi shrugged, trying to keep the desperation in her eyes from showing, "Course, go do your job. Let me pack some salad up for you." She trotted to the kitchen and pulled out some tupperware and put in some salad for Molly to take.

"Thanks love." Molly smiled and pulled Kairi in for a tight hug, "I'll be back after. They know I'm supposed to be off this whole week."

"Hey, don't worry about it. I'll be fine. Take a bath, read a book, something to keep me busy." Kairi chuckled and Molly pulled away. "See you later." Molly nodded with her bright smile and collected her things, packing away Kairi's salad in her bag as she exited.

Kairi grumbled slightly going back to stare at the bowl of salad on her table. It looked absolutely disgusting and she knew she wouldn't be able to keep it down. She thought about putting it into her fridge but it would just get soggy and gross. She grabbed the large bowl and a fork and went to her front door, opening it to see one of Mycroft's nameless agents standing beside her door. He must have been like that for hours, he hadn't asked to use the restroom or for water or food and Kairi had no idea how he was so resilient. Molly had been gone maybe five minutes and Kairi was already jittery and bored.

"Hi!" She smiled at him and he nodded to her in response. "Want some salad? I have extra."

He looked nervous, eyes sort of glancing around, wondering how much trouble he'd get into for eating on the job. "I really shouldn't ma'am." His voice came out deep and serious.

Kairi nodded, "I promise, I'll tell Mycroft I threatened you. You've been there for hours and if you can't come inside to eat and rest then I might as well feed you."

He shifted again under her kind gaze and she held out the bowl to him, shaking it a bit. He reached out slowly, taking the bowl from her as if it were a live bomb, "Yes ma'am."