Margaret

3 Fires are meant to burn us

Once the kiss eventually broke off, Katherine and Sherlock stepped back, breathing heavily. Katherine looked up "So, you're in love with me?"

"Yes." He responded.

"One moment I need to process things." Katherine then slowly turned around, walked back over to her tea and picked it up. She walked over to the kitchen counter and placed one foot on top. With a lot of energy she managed to pull herself up without spilling the tea so that she was now standing on the counter. she turned to her right and climbed up to the top of the fridge and sat down, taking a couple of moments to get comfortable before settling with her legs crossed and her warm mug in her hand. She looked to Sherlock. He looked confused. "I think better when I am up high." She explained. Sherlock nodded and walked into the kitchen. He leaned against the island and looked up to Katherine with his hands in his pockets. They stayed like this for quite a few minutes, with Sherlock occasionally looking up to see if Katherine had moved at all, and Katherine staring off into the living room, unmoving. After about five minutes Katherine's eyes refocused on Sherlock and she broke the silence. "Why do you like me?"

"Why wouldn't I like you?"

"I'm not sure, but I need to know why you do."

"Alright. I like your smile. I like your long hair and your freckles and your dimples. I like your humor and the way you make me feel."

"Okay, well, I like the way that you see things that ordinary people dont see. I like the way that you immediately know what to do in every situation. I like your  curly brown hair, and how you know the 364 different types of gunpowder. I like the way you make me feel, too. And I like the excitement that follows you everywhere." Katherine then set down her empty tea mug and carefully climbed down from the fridge. Sherlock watched her as she climbed onto the counter and let her feet dangle before her toes touched the cold tile. She walked over to Sherlock and placed her hands on either side of him, forcing him to lean backwards a little. He smiled and looked down at her, making eye contact. She then leaned in and whispered in his ear "And I love the way it feels when you kiss me." He leaned forward, but she pushed him back. "Nope, we're still talking." She frowned slightly. "The only con I can think of dating you is that my life would be put in danger sometimes."

"Do you care that much?"

"No. Not really."

"Then we should go to dinner."

"Was that you, The emotionless Sherlock Holmes, asking me out?"

"I'm not emotionless. Im a high functioning sociopath." then he placed one hand on her cheek and pulled her towards him and they melted into another kiss. This one stronger, and more passionate. It was amazing and Katherine could feel the rush of adrenaline surging through her as she moved with Sherlock and felt the rising feeling in her chest. He put one hand on her waist and guided her towards the wall where he pushed her up against it and trailed his lips down to her collarbone where he left a hickey. Katherine returned the advances and kissed down his neck, leaving two or three hickeys as she listened to Sherlock's breathing speed up. They continued passionately kissing against the wall for some time before they both grew tired and broke away for another breath of air. Sherlock felt more amazing than he ever did before, kissing the girl from the morgue.  

Katherine looked to Sherlock. "I hate to stop, but Im so tired I dont think I can stay awake much longer." 

"Same here."

"Uh, I hate to ask this and I know its a strange question, but would you mind sleeping in the bedroom with me. Im still kind of freaked out about earlier and I don't want to have night terrors."

"Yes, of course, I don't mind. I completely understand about the whole night terrors thing."

"Thank you so much, you really are amazing." They walked into the bedroom and got comfortable under the covers. Sherlock reached over and turned off the light. "Good night, Sherlock."

"Good night, Katherine." and with that they fell asleep with Sherlock's arms wrapped around Katherine.

*Yeah ik this is super cringy and sounds like the ending to a poorly-written smut but i'm not any good at writing romantic stuff without making it really awkward so if anybody is reading this, don't attack me*

When they woke up, it was around 9:00 A.M. and Katherine could hear the birds chirping outside the window that poured sunlight into the room. She opened her eyes and saw Sherlock laying next to her. She sat up and grabbed her phone from the nightstand. She checked her messages and realized that she had work today. Luckily, Molly was fine with her coming in in the early afternoon since it was a Saturday. She looked to her right at Sherlock. He looked at peace and Katherine vouched to get up out of bed as quietly as she possibly could without making the floors creak. fortunately, she was saved the guilt of waking up Sherlock by the faint yell of John in the kitchen who had burned himself making eggs. Sherlock jolted up, and realizing, said "Oh, its just John." And then looked at the time. "I should get up and head over to the crime scene Lestrade wanted me to check out. Good morning Katherine."

"G' morning, Sherlock. You sleep well?"

"For the first time in a long while." He  then got up and got his clothes out of the dresser and started getting changed. Katherine wandered around the area next to the bed before remembering what had been puzzling her. "Do you-" 

"Don't worry, I had one of your flatmates drop off some clothes."

"Oh! Thanks."

"Its in the bag over by the door." Katherine walked over to the bag and dug around looking at all the clothing that was inside. She grabbed a red hoodie and some black skinny jeans and a pair of converse and started changing into them. She caught Sherlock glancing over once and decided to retaliate by staring at him while he changed into a purple button up shirt. He never noticed, but Katherine didn't mind. Once Sherlock had brushed his teeth and put on his coat he kissed Katherine goodbye and reached for the door. 

"Wait! You may want to cover up your neck." Remembering last night and the hickeys that probably hadn't faded he decided that was a good idea.

As he walked out into the living room, leaving Katherine sitting by the mirror braiding her hair into two very long french braids, he came across John in the way of his scarf which had been thrown onto the desk yesterday. Pulling up his collar he tried to pass John without him noticing the purple marks on his neck but he had no such luck. John turned away from the newspaper he was reading and his eyes widened. "Sherlock, is that a hickey? What the bloody hell?" 

"No, it is not." And with that Sherlock swiftly grabbed his scarf and tied it around his neck on his way out the door. 

A couple minutes later Katherine walked out of Sherlock's bedroom, all dressed and ready for work. John looked up from his newspaper again. "So you and Sherlock, huh?"

"Uh, yeah, how did you know?"

"Well, firstly you two have been flirting and maintaining a suffocating amount of sexual tension for the past two days and secondly, Sherlock just walked out with hickeys all down his neck, and third, you two slept in the same bed last night."

"Yeah, that's pretty solid evidence."

"So are you two officially 'dating'?"

"Well, he asked me out on a date last night, so we'll see how it goes."

"From what it looks, he did way more than ask you on a date."

"Oh, shut up, John." Katherine returned playfully.

Rumor has it, all throughout the time Sherlock spent at the crime scene with Lestrade, people were wondering why on Earth Sherlock kept pulling his scarf up.