florence - enola holmes

grab a book and have a seat.

michelle- sir chloe

third person pov-

the streets of london are busy as usual, as men stand shouting, trying to sell.
the bell on the door to the tea rooms rings, as one of the waitresses enters.
"grab a book and have a seat,
and i'll be with you as soon as i'm free." edith says to a man in the corner, looking through the shops collection of books.
the man turns to face her as he begins to speak. "delightful. perhaps you could join me for tea."
sherlock.
edith looks at him for a moment before continuing to walk to the back.
"i advise you not to... walk away." sherlock trails off at the end, as she's already out of his sight.
he closes the book, holding it in his two hands.
"and yet you walk away anyway." he states as he walks into the back room, where only workers are supposed to enter.
"whatever you think you know, sherlock holmes," edith begins as she picks up a tea pot. "please be advised that if you disturb any of my costumers-" she says pointing the tea pot at him sternly.
"you'd hurt me badly? i am well aware of your talents, miss grayston. the question is, what you'd risk if i were to advise my friends in the government to take a look at this place. i know my brother would be delighted to browse your seditious, dangerous, and extremely banned bookshelves." he goes on as she slightly lowers the tea pot, scoffing.
"you see? we can both hurt eachother." sherlock tells her.
"now, please put that teapot down. in your hands, it is a mighty weapon." he says, as she gives him a very sarcastic smile and puts the teapot down on the tray. "thank you. do you have any sense as to where my mother is?" sherlock asks edith as she removes the top from the teapot.
"how did you find me?" edith says, dodging the question, walking towards the wooden shelf.
"letters hidden up her chimney. the ashes on the sole of her shoe and the coal dust led me to them." he says, remembering every detail.
"she always said you never missed anything." she says, pouring the steaming tea into the teapot.
"she needs to be home. she has two daughters that need her."
"enola and florence seem to be surviving perfectly well on their own."
"so you've seen them?
are they safe?"
"they've had company, a useless boy. although they both made it quite clear that florence thought otherwise. but clearly, they didn't feel like they needed him." edith says with a small shrug, walking back towards the shelf.
sherlock goes to say something about what was said regarding flora and a boy, but edith cuts him off before he can even begin.
"flora and enola are on their own path, and so, for better or worse, is eudoria.
"whatever mischief you two are-"
"mischief?! a poor choice of word. try not to sound like your brother" edith begins very sternly. "you haven't any hope of understanding any of this. you do know that?"
"educate me as to why." he says turning towards the lady who has walked past him to cut a piece of cake.
"because you don't know what it is to be without power. politics doesn't interest you. why?"
"because it's fatally boring." sherlock answers for himself.
"because you have no interest in changing a world that suits you so well."
"a pretty speech." sherlock says.
"a scary one. you're intelligent enough to know that every word of it is true." she responds looking him straight in the eye, chuckling to herself. "what a family! a lost set of twins, a puffed-up misanthrope, a revolutionary, and yourself. no wife, no friends, just a strange occupation obsessed with footprints and coal dust. you see the world so closely, but do you see how it's changing? the reform bill is just the beginning." she spits out, meaning every single word of it.
"if it passes."
"i have to get back to work now, mr. holmes. customers to serve. cakes to bake." she tells him, picking up the tray with tea and cake, and walking out of the room.
she stops at the door and turns towards sherlock.
"i'm pleased you're interested, at least. eudoria thought that you'd just ignore your sisters, like the ostrich you are. but i suspect that they need you." she finishes, continuing out of the room.
sherlock looks around and begins to speak to himself.
"so everyone keeps telling me."

the door closes, as the bell jingles.
mycroft hands his hat and coat to the man awaiting him at the end of the small hallway.
he turns towards the room, stopping for a moment, then entering.
he walks past a man sitting reading a newspaper, and sits in the empty seat, sat in front of a mirror.
he sighs as the barber begins to undo his bow tie.
"a simple shave, please, martin." mycroft tells him.
a man sitting in the seat next to him, looks at him through the mirror and gives him a smile.
"their names?" mycroft asks lestrade.
"may beatrice posy, and cordelia posy."
"they looked?"

florence and enola walk through the woods behind the tewkesbury house hold, now dressed as servants.

"small, dark, young."
"how young?" mycroft asks as the barber begins to put a white cover over his shoulders.
"barely past 20, both of em. although one of them was may's daughter? she didn't look young at all though."
"hmm." mycroft hums.

flora and enola continue walking through the woods. enola looking around with a confused expression, as flora walks around amazed by all the beautiful nature tewkesbury had around his home.

"their minds?" mycroft asks lestrade.
"sharp as a tack the elder, though the daughter didn't have much to say. and what the mother knew of sherlock..."
"oh, she knew a great deal?" he asks as the barber puts some shaving cream on the lower half of his face.
"as much as i." lestrade tells him.
"oh, another sycophant. how very exciting." he says sarcastically.
"will you tell me who they are?"
"do you have any sense of where they might have gone?" mycroft asks, completely avoiding the question.
"oh, you wish to track them down."
"i've been engaged in trying to do so for a number of days." he informs the man, as the barber begins to shave his face.
lestrade chuckles. "of course! they're your sisters."
mycroft turns to him aggressively, sucking his tongue. "keep your mouth shut!" he demands as the barber looks at him. he turns back to the mirror sighing. "yes. and i believe i explicitly told you to look for them."
"w- w- you explicitly told me to look for two scrappy girls with no poise. this was a woman and a young woman no younger then 18 with extreme poise."

enola and florence are still walking through the woods, surrounded by nothing but green.

"oh, there's a wild thing underneath, that i assure you." mycroft tells lestrade.
he puts a finger up towards the barber, as he stops shaving.
"find them, and you will be rewarded."
lestrade quickly rises from his seat, grabbing his hat and placing it on his head.
the door opens and closes, the bell jingles, as he sets off to find mycroft's sisters.
mycroft chuckles to himself as the barber continues to shave his face.

authors note !
hi everyone ! i'm so sorry for not updating yesterday, i wasn't home :( but i hope you enjoyed this chapter ! i'm also sorry for this chapter not being that interesting, i didn't really know if i should include this part or not, but i decided to do it just for funsies.
AND THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR 15K READS!!
I HONESTLY NEVER THOUGHT SO MANY PEOPLE WOULD LIKE IT AND CONTINUE TO READ IT BUT THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HAS <3