Come and Play

Chapter Four ~ A Christmas Catastrophe

          Tania rubbed her eyes groggily, clearing the grit from her half-open eyes. Not much sunlight streamed through the windows, as it was winter and the sky was a calm bluish grey. She scowled at the irritatingly painful screech of a violin downstairs, presuming it to be John mistaking himself for a good violinist. She reached over for her sky-blue iPhone, pressed the home button and looked at the time. 3:05 am. 3:05 freakin' am!! What would John be doing up so early? What would anyone be doing up so early?! Putting her phone down, she mentally counted to three and hopped out of bed, wincing when her bare feet came in contact with the icy cold wooden floor. She made a run for the bathroom, locking the door immediately to keep the warm bathroom air inside. She washed her face and combed her hair gently until it fell gracefully down her back in lush, loose dark strands. Tania dashed back into the room and hid under the covers while changing to keep herself warm. Even though she knew it was unnecessary for her to be ready for a trip so early in the morning, she did so in advance because she wanted to save herself time to sleep on the couch to make up for the next three hours of supposed rest. Looking into the mirror one final time, she quickly ran down the stairs, ready to beat the living crap out of John for waking her at 3:05 am. 

          "John, put down that stupid violin now, or I swear I'll never go on a date with you!!" she screamed. She reached the bottom of the stairs and her right eyebrow raised in surprise. Sitting by the fire was the ever so expressionless Sherlock with a polished violin tucked under his chin and a bow in the other hand. He played an alarmingly flat note when she sat down opposite him, like he was displeased.

"Did you honestly think that John could play the violin?"

"Why not?"

"Of all people, John?"

"So?"

"Don't I strike you as the 'mysterious musical genius' many people call me?" he asked. Tania scoffed bitterly at the Gaston Leroux reference.

"Surprisingly, no. Not at all."

          He immediately proceeded to play an perfect insanely fast scale on his beautiful instrument before placing it back into its case and tucking it away underneath the chair. It was not until he stood up that Tania stopped staring in shock and instead diverted her attention to how handsome the consulting detective looked in a purple shirt. This was the first time she had seen him wearing something other than his iconic long black trench coat and stylish scarf. The purple shirt made him look more humanly. She stopped staring when his emotionless velvety voice spoke to her.

"Well, come on then. I was going to do this on my own but I figured that I'd need some help with cooking. Not that I can't manage." he blurted so quickly and silently that Tania only heard half of what he was saying. She blinked, taking a moment processing the information before raising her eyebrows in question.

"You're gonna get everything prepared for tonight to surprise Mrs Hudson with "some" of my help?"

"Yes." he replied, ignoring her clever insult. She sighed and grabbed her coat from the coat hanger.

"Are the shops even open?"

"I've got my brother's "access to all areas" card. Well, one of them at least. I managed to sneak one out of his office when he wasn't looking."

"Whatever. It's not like he's the British government or something." she joked. Sherlock gave her a pointed look.

"You can say that."

          Sherlock put on his coat and hurried outside, walking away from Baker Street. He felt a tinge of worry, as he really had no experience with Christmas preparations whatsoever. Last year, it was Mrs Hudson who made Christmas dinner and John who hung up decorations while Sherlock was busy searching his mind palace on the couch. He decided to rely on Tania and try to seem to be helping when he really was experimenting for the current case.