Sherlock: Lover Mine [Book II]

Venue

Mid-March

Susanna tossed her head back and let out a groan, "John!"

The army doctor looked over at the flustered bride-to-be who was sitting amongst several photos and information pages of potential venues. Sherlock was taking care of business at Scotland Yard and would be back soon, but had left his fianceé to sift through a Mount Everest of venue pictures and pallettes, "Yes, Susanna?"

"It shouldn't be this hard to pick a venue!" She bemoaned.

"Have you visited any of them? Just to see for yourself?"

"Yes. But nothing has clicked yet and I'm getting frustrated because we still have to hire the venue and who knows how hard that might be with schedules-"

"Take a deep breath, Susanna," He cut in, "You'll find a venue. Don't worry."

It had been amusing watching the engaged couple plan for the wedding and married life. They were both exceptionally meticulous and organized; eager to work together and take equal responsibility. They knew what they liked or didn't like and were much more decisive than other couples would be. This often worked against them as much as it did for them, but they were already good at compromising and talking things over.

The funniest thing to John was that they were both fussy. They'd never admit it, but they were. If something didn't look or feel right, they'd scrap it and start over. A few times they'd had intense debates that had been both intriguing and terrifying to watch.

Susanna sighed and fell back onto the sofa, covering her face with her arms, "My brain hurts."

John chuckled, "Wedding planning does do that." He merited only a grunt in response.

About ten minutes later their resident Consulting Detective got home from the Yard, rambling about the case he'd just solved when he saw Susanna lying limply on the sofa, "Love, you alright?" The peach blonde sat up and smoothed out her hair.

"Yes, but I'll be better when we finally find a venue." She replied.

"You two shouldn't be stressing so much over it." John piped up.

"Tea?" Sherlock asked as he went to sit down next to Susanna. John nodded and got up to make some. "Tea" had become the brunette's code word for John to give the couple a few minutes of privacy, and normally was used when Susanna was upset.

Sherlock sighed and picked up the reject pile of venues. As he moved them off of the table he asked, "Anything strike your fancy while I was out?"

"A few."

"Which ones?"

Susanna held up a stack of five, "These ones." As she spread them out on the coffee table Sherlock leaned over and kissed her jawline. To his satisfaction, she relaxed her tense frame and exhaled.

"Better?"

"Yes. Thank you."

"Excellent. Now, you liked these ones?"

"Yes. Out of them, my favorite is the Old Royal Naval College." Susanna picked up the respective page and handed it to Sherlock.

Sherlock looked at it and paused, "You do?"

"Yes... Do you?"

"Yes. The aesthetic appeal of the architecture and the availability of the Painted Hall and the Admiral's House were what caught my interest first. Why do you like it?"

"Sentimental reasons, mainly. My family has roots in the Navy and Marines, so it stuck out. I also like the Painted Hall and architecture..," Susanna sighed, "Have we been overthinking this?"

Sherlock tutted, "Perhaps. I would have thought you would prefer Syon Park."

"Oh, those are lovely venues but they don't stand out as much as the Naval College."

John walked back in, "I suppose that you two have found one that you both like?" He gave them each a cuppa and returned to his chair.

"Yes. I think we have."

"Do tell."

"The Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich, London." Sherlock answered.

"Really?"

"Yes."

Before they actually locked onto the Naval College as their venue, they of course looked through the rest and discussed it a little more. But by noon, Susanna had set up an appointment to see the College with a Coordinator and Sherlock took the task of informing the others of their decision.

John laughed to himself as Sherlock cleared the venue pictures and replaced them with color swatches to choose a wedding color pallette, to Susanna's excitement. The couple was soon engrossed in choosing colors and accents, asking for John's and even Rosie's advice when she came down from her nap.

Before Susanna left to go see another potential employer for lunch, they'd nailed down red and black as the main colors without much difficulty. Classic and bold. The hype from the progress in planning the wedding boosted both her confidence and spirit as she headed out the door, leaving Sherlock with a deep kiss on her way out.

Thank you for reading!!