BBC Sherlock: A Good Neighbor

[Kellie Jemmings]

Sherlock had gone to bed and pouted for the rest of the morning while John was getting ready before he sighed softly. Hearing Olivia, he pushed himself to stand as he opened the door and looked down at her. Contemplating the repercussions of him asking what he wanted. "Mind if I come with you?" He asked, giving her a sheepish smile as he pulled the door to their flat shut and moved down the stairs with a smile.


Heading towards the door as he opened it for her, not really caring if she said no, he wanted to go with her and he was going to go if he wanted to. He assumed they should talk about a few things before continuing on with their friendship as he sighed silently to himself. Knowing that it would be best to talk about it.

 

[RealisticFantasy]

"You? You want to come shopping with me? You'll be bored out of your mind." She steps outside with a small smile. Her answer certainly wasn't a no but she felt that nothing good was going to happen by talking Sherlock Holmes into a market. She doubted he'd even been in a market in his life, judging by the state of his refrigerator or so she had overheard. She turns around, watching him exit Baker Street as her eyes flit over him. "What is it you want to talk about then? There's no other reason you could want to do something as menial as shopping."


She and Sherlock had actually spoken to each other since the incident about Mycroft's offer. But, that was something she certainly didn't want to bring up, figuring that it might spark an argument between the two. "Is it because John and I went on a date? Are you worried about him?" She turns to the street, looking for a taxi but the few that drove by seemed to be occupied. Maybe that was for the best. If the conversation got too awkward, she couldn't run away in a taxi and neither could Sherlock.

 

[Kellie Jemmings]

"Yes, I want to go shopping with you. I go shopping when I need to for food." He murmured watching her as he shut the door behind them and headed to the curb as he watched her try to flag down a taxi. "Well first, I wanted to apologize for the other day when I up and disappeared. John seemed rather upset...and you did as well...why is that?" He asked after a moment of thinking about the messages she had sent to Molly.


"And worried about him? Why would I be worried about him? You and him just went on a date. That's all. Just a date. You and him." He said growing a bit flustered, finding a taxi and hailing it as it pulled over to a stop and he opened the door for her.

 

[RealisticFantasy]

"I was upset because I don't want anything bad happening to you, Sherlock. You don't have to be best friends to care about someone." She gets in the taxi, sliding over to leave room for him and informing the taxi driver where to go. "Look, I'm going be honest. You, Mrs. Hudson, and John are the closest thing I have to a family here. I know the three of you are probably a lot closer to each other than I'll ever be with you but..." She sighs, glancing out the window as the taxi pulls away from the curb before looking back to him. "I know it's stupid to trust a handful of people so quickly and so completely but I don't have anyone else. And, I have a habit of making stupid choices."


She fidgets awkwardly a bit before looking out the window again. So much for escaping if the conversation got uncomfortable. "And, if it makes you feel better, the date was a bust. John and I aren't relationship material." She chuckles lightly and glances back over to Sherlock, deciding now is a good time for a segue to get off the topic of her feelings. "Where is John anyway?"

 

[Kellie Jemmings]

"Oh. Right. I've grown to assume that most people do not care about me and would prefer if I was gone." He stated, his eyes looking down into hers as he slid inside the cab and shut the door. "I don't mind if you want to be friends with the three of us. I don't mind you. You're very interesting to be around." He looked out the window for a moment.





Sherlock's eyes lit up at the failure of their date as he glanced down at her. "Good. You two wouldn't get along very well anyways." He stated as he climbed out of the cab to head into the store when they arrived. "John is at work. We had been arguing lately."

 

[RealisticFantasy]

Olivia follows him out with a small chuckle. "Good? You think that's good? Were you worried I might steal him away from you?" She teases as she grabs a basket once they enter the store. "What are you arguing about?" She shakes her head, mumbling to herself, "Mind your own business, Olivia..." She looks to him again. "Do you know what you need to get? Probably milk. You perpetually need milk. I hear John shouting at you about the milk all the time." Olivia seeks out the aisle with dairy products, figuring milk was their number one priority.


She picks up one carton then another, trying to find any difference besides the packaging. "I never know what kind of milk to get. I swear it's all the same." She lifts her gaze from the cartons of milk and a small smirk forms on her lips as she gives Sherlock a sideways glance. "Look at you, shopping for groceries. How... domestic."

 

[Kellie Jemmings]

"No. I wasn't worried about you stealing him per say." He murmured as he glanced at her as he sighed gently, shaking his head. "We were arguing about me leaving without telling anyone." He murmured again, shaking his head as he rubbed his neck and sighed gently.


"We always seem to be out of milk. He's always yelling about the milk." He said chuckling as he grabbed a gallon and glancing at her. "The difference is fat content." He stated as he smirked at her commenting about milk. "You know, despite contrary belief I do participate in normal activities that need to be done."

 

[RealisticFantasy]

"Oh, yeah?" She says as flirtatiously as she can manage before bursting into laughter. "Sorry. I have no idea where I was going with that. It just sort of... happened. So, uh, what's your preferred fat content in your milk, then? I usually shop by whatever color I'm feeling most connected to that day. So, go ahead and use that method if it helps. We could color coordinate all your food." She chuckles again, setting the cartons down with an embarrassed sigh.


"I'm really glad we're the only two in this aisle. Otherwise, I might end up in a straight jacket." She looks over at Sherlock and finds herself smiling at him. She had no idea why she was smiling so much. Maybe it was all the stupid jokes she kept making. There was a period of silence when she was just staring at him, smiling like an idiot. Realizing this, she coughs to break the silence. She grabs a carton of milk for herself and straightens her posture. "Right. Uh, what next then?"

 

[Kellie Jemmings]

"I don't really care about fat content. John prefers 2% so that's what I buy otherwise I get yelled at." He stated, chuckling slightly. "And no, you aren't quite as weird as you think you are." Walking with her to the drinks as he picked up some more tea and sighed gently, he loved tea.





"So, I feel like I know very little about you, Olivia. What do you do for work? Surely you can't afford to live here without any income. No offense, but it's very expensive to live here." He said as he glanced down at her and smiled, grabbing a shopping basket and putting their things in it together as he smiled gently.

 

[RealisticFantasy]

She walks beside him throughout the store, picking miscellaneous things as they walk past them. She gushes, "Look at you. Asking questions, instead of deducing it from the sole of my shoes or something strange like that." Pausing to examine the cereal selection of the store, she continues chatting. Cereal was an important decision and it took a decent amount of consideration. It would be her most important meal of the day, after all. "Well, I used to be in journalism and for a while, I really loved it. But, it got dull. Even the crimes were petty. So, uh, I moved here because I saw you actually. In the news online. I figured a change of scenery would be exciting so here I am."


"Currently, between your brother's payments for mediocre information about what you're up to and the small bit of blogging I'm doing, I'm doing alright. But, I'm still looking for something else. Perhaps going back into journalism. Um, sorry. You didn't ask for my life story. I just get so chatty... around you." She grabs a box of cereal and continues onto the next aisle, mentally scolding herself for some reason she wasn't quite sure of.

 

[Kellie Jemmings]

"I don't feel the need to deduce anything about you. Can I? Yes. But I don't need to. It's more about when I need to, it works best on cases." He stated smiling. "Or when I get bored." Sherlock nodded and listened to her speak. "It's alright. I asked, I don't mind you talking." He stated simply as he shrugged gently.


"Oh you blog? Is it public? What do you write about?" Sherlock asked softly as he smiled down at her, inspecting the cereal for a moment before rubbing the back of his neck as he grabbed John's cereal, might as well start making up for leaving unannounced. "Do you get a lot of money from your blog?" He asked raising an eye brow at her as they moved on to the fresh produce.

 

[RealisticFantasy]

"I-it's just blog. Nothing interesting. Just my feelings and sentimental boring things. Other people seem to like it, though. I get a respectable amount from advertisers and donors. But, nothing monumental." She pretends to be focus on the nearest item. Lettuce. It was lettuce. She was acting like she was absolutely enthralled by lettuce because she didn't want him reading her blog. Why did she care so much about what he thought about her?


She grabs a head of lettuce, glancing around for something else to refocus her attention. Questions. Ask questions. "Do you, uh, cook ever, Sherlock? Or is take away more of your thing? Because it's not hard. Cooking, I mean. And, it tastes much better than take away."

 

[Kellie Jemmings]

''Hm. Perhaps I look at it if I get the chance." He stated looking down at her with a smile before glancing at the lettuce she was staring at. Not realizing how embarrassed she was. Sherlock didn't understand social cues. Ever.


"I typically cook for John and I unless he wants something else. Which is why he does the grocery shopping." She seemed very interested in changing the subject. He shrugged it off as nothing important. They were just chatting after all. "Do you cook?" He questioned he asked as he grabbed a bag before filling it up with apples.

 

[RealisticFantasy]

Lettuce. What the hell am I going to do with lettuce? Could make a salad, I suppose. She lifts her gaze to him when he says that he might take a look at it. "I don't think you'll like it." That little voice in the back of her head was telling her that if he did he might find out something she didn't want him to know, that nagging feeling that she had something she was trying to hide. She just wrote about the daily events at Baker Street. What could be so absolutely comprising that she didn't want him to see? If he really felt like it, he could read her like a book and probably already has.


"I don't cook much. I don't think I'm too good at it, to be honest. I much rather go out and let the professionals do it. If you go to the right places, you're paying the people that are following their dreams and their passion. I know it's a little childish to think that way, but the world would be a much happier place if everyone got paid for what inspires that to survive another day."

 

[Kellie Jemmings]

"I'll just take a look at it." He said smiling with a nod as he rubbed the back of his neck. Smiling softly as they headed to the check out, putting it on the conveyor belt as he pulled out his wallet. Before paying for it as he grabbed the bags and headed back outside with her.


"That's still a lot of money. I could teach you to cook somethings tonight. I think John has to stay late anyways so I'll be all on my lonesome anyways. Unless you have plans as well." He said opening the door to the cab as he let her slide into the cab before joining her. "What do you like to do? What are your hobbies?"

 

[RealisticFantasy]

"I never have any plans, except for nights where you need me to hold a ladder for you." She chuckles, slipping into the taxi. "My hobbies? I don't do much. I like watching movies. Blogging's enjoyable. I wish I could play an instrument but I don't think I have the patience so I settle on listening when you play. That's one of my favorite things, when you play your violin. Being abducted by people with the last name Holmes every so often seems to be an increasingly common thing." She laughs, looking over at him. "I'm a boring person. Sometimes I'm so boring, I bore myself. Today was the most exciting thing that's happened to me in a week. I don't know. It's like I'm waiting for something to happen, but I don't know what."

 

[Kellie Jemmings]

"I'm glad my playing doesn't annoy you. I forget that you live under me sometimes, like when I get up in the middle of the night." He stated as he looked over at her. "Exciting? This? You need to hang out with me more often then." He smirked at her as he leaned back in the seat looking out at the road. "How much of London have you seen?"

 

[RealisticFantasy]

"If you ever a quit playing the violin, I'll more disappointed than you could ever imagine. I haven't seen much of London at all, not too much more than route we took to the market... Do you have something in mind? Because if you do, whatever it is, the answer's yes." Olivia glances over at him, her own smirk steadily forming. Whatever Sherlock might have in mind it had to be more exciting than sitting around her flat all day.

 

[Kellie Jemmings]

"Just thinking for the future. I've already got plans tonight with you. Gotta teach you how to cook remember?" He said smirking at her as they slid out and he lead her back up to his apartment. Taking out his groceries and putting them away before finding a cook book and glancing at her with a smile.


"Why don't you go put away your groceries and then come back and I'll teach you how to make a delicious dinner." He said grinning as he began getting out spices and herbs for them to use.

 

[RealisticFantasy]

"Right. I'll be right back. Don't miss me too much." She says teasingly, collecting the groceries that belong to her and carrying them down to her flat. After putting them away in their respective locations, she pauses to reapply her makeup. It was a subconscious decision and she hadn't even realized that she had done it until she had returned to 221B, which then of course she was entirely too conscious of what Sherlock might think.


Pulling her hair back into a ponytail, she asks, "So, what are we cooking, Gordon Ramsay? And, if you don't get that, I want you to know that it was really quite clever." She walks over to him in the kitchen, examining the room. "You know, I'm fairly certain that most health ordinances prohibit science and food preparation occurring in the same room." She smirks at him, drumming her fingers on the table top.

 

[Kellie Jemmings]

He glanced at her as she left and rolled her eyes a bit as he watched for a moment before continuing to get ingredients out and when she returned, his lips almost quirked into a smile at the make up on her face. It had worn off, but the reapplication was clear to his perceptive eyes.


"You know, despite common knowledge, I'm don't live under a rock and try to keep myself up to date on common events, because sometimes it helps in a case." He stated before pulling out a cutting board and gesturing for her to come. "It's perfectly safe. I clean everything once I finish an experiment. And we're cooking curry chicken." He began explaining to her what needed to be done and very soon after they had fallen into a comfortable silence, with him instructing her every few minutes.

 

[RealisticFantasy]

As she lifts her gaze, she sees the flash of change in his features. "Oh, no. Stop that. Stop making that face. I can see it. You think you're all clever. Don't be getting any ideas. It's not..." She sighs, knowing her defiance made his smirk widen just the tiniest bit. "You're impossible."


The rest of the night goes rather pleasantly with Olivia demonstrating that she's not an entirely incompetent cook. It didn't take too long between the two of them to make the chicken. They had reached the point where they just had to wait for the chicken to finish cooking. "Well, that wasn't terrible. You can critique my techniques later when I actually feel like hearing about your opinions." She says teasingly with a smirk as she drops onto the couch.

 

[Kellie Jemmings]

"No one wants to hear my opinions, but they all get them anyways. You weren't lying about that you weren't a good cook, but you weren't too shabby either." He stated, sitting down in his chair as he looked over her a moment. "So. Tell me about yourself. You said you moved to England to me, but you don't claim to be a Sherlock Holmes fan." He said smirking at her as he crossed his legs and leaned back slightly. Giving her a smirk at his questioning. He assumed she had let that slip, and was even more hopeful that she would be flustered by the question.

 

[RealisticFantasy]

"Depends on what you mean by Sherlock Holmes fan. I can tolerate you. Sometimes. I didn't move to England because of you. Christ, if that was the case, I'd never mention it. You don't need that kind of boost to your ego. I saw your name in the papers and thought that maybe London was more interesting than home. I didn't realize who you were until months after I'd moved in." She chuckles, drumming her fingers on her thigh. "I think if I really were a 'Sherlock Holmes fan' to the extent that you seem to be assuming, you wouldn't like as much as you seem to. But, then again, I'm not the genius consulting detective so what credentials do I have for my deductions, hm?"

 

[Kellie Jemmings]

"You have no credentials because those weren't deductions. A deduction would be that because when you went back downstairs to your flat you put on makeup. One only puts on makeup because they want to look better, but why would you want to look better if we are just cooking. Well you see, it would be because you want to look nice for someone, and since I'm the only other someone, it would be because you're trying to look good for me." He stated, leaning back as he raised an eye brow at her and smirked slightly.