Beauty and the High-Functioning Sociopath {#PFCC2k16}

Buckingham Palace

"Come on, Alex." Sherlock said.

Alex got up and followed Sherlock outside. Sherlock had refused to get dressed, so he was getting plenty of odd looks from people. Alex had gotten dressed because she honestly was nervous about where they were going and wanted to look nice if it was anywhere special. She gasped when she saw where they were.

"Holy crap." She said. 

They were at Buckinham Palace, home of the royal family. And Sherlock Holmes was in nothing but a bedsheet. They were taken into a room with a two couches facing each other. Sherlock sat on the couch to the left. Alex sat beside him. Sherlock's clothes were set on the coffee table in front of him.

"Anything to drink?" The man who had showed them in asked.

"Dr. Pepper, please." Alex said. (MOM, I NEED SOME. GET ME SOME.) 

"Nothing for me." Sherlock said.

"John Watson will be with you shortly." The man said a few minutes later when he returned with Alex's drink.

John came in the room about 15 minutes later. He saw Sherlock sitting in the bedsheet and gestured to the pile of clothes. Sherlock shrugged and John nodded. He came and sat down next to Alex, who was now in the middle of him and Sherlock.

"You wearing any pants?" John asked.

"No." Sherlock said.

"Okay." John said.

The three of them shared a look and burst into a fit of laughter. Alex almost dropped her drink and had to set it down.

"Buckingham Palace, right." She said.

"Oh, I am seriously fighting the impulse to steal an ashtray." John said. Sherlock's body shook with laughter. "What are we doing here, Sherlock Holmes and Alexandra Watson? Seriously, what?"

"I don't know." Sherlock said.

"Is it to see the Queen?" John asked. Mycroft walked into the room.

"Oh, apparently it is." Sherlock said.

Alex fell off the couch laughing this time. John and Sherlock were laughing hard too. Mycroft rolled his eyes and pursed his lips.

"Just once, can you three behave like grown-ups?" He asked.

"We solve crimes, I blog about it, he forgets his pants, and she asks for soda at Buckingham Palce." John said. "I wouldn't hold on to too much hope."

"I was in the middle of a case, Mycroft." Sherlock said. The laughter had ceased and Alex was back on the couch.

"What, the hiker and the backfire?" Mycroft asked. "I glanced at the police report. A bit obviously, surely."

"Transparent." Sherlock said.

"Time to move on, then." Mycroft said, picking up the stack of Sherlock's folded clothes. He offered them to Sherlock, who just looked at them. "We are in Buckingham Palace, the very heart of the British Nation. Sherlock Holmes, put your trousers on."

"What for?" Sherlock shrugged.

"Your client." Mycroft said.

"And my client is?" Sherlock said. 

"Illustrious, in the extreme." A new voice said. Sherlock, Alex, and John looked over. John and Alex stood up. "And remaining, I have to inform you, entirely anonymous. Mycroft!"

"Eric!" Mycroft said. They shook hands. "May I just apologize for the state of my little brother?"

"Full-time occupation, I imagine." Eric said.