[COMPLETE] ??? ???? ?? ??? ??????「Sherlock」

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JULIA WAS AS MOTIONLESS AS A STATUE, the young woman standing on the opposite side of the room while staring at the posters, arms crossed, one finger trailing along her lips. She held herself deathly still, her movement little to none as her eyes washed over the images upon the wall. Sherlock Holmes sat within his chair not too far from her, one leg crossed over the other, his face leaning into his curled digits. The room was so silent that you could hear a pin drop. Her dilute marine depths studied the maps and brightly colored string she had arranged, her chest rising and falling ever so slowly. The detective deduced her wordlessly, drilling into the side of her face, his eyes begging him not to reexamine the faint disturbance upon her left cheek, yet his mind refusing to abide. "It just doesn't make sense," she whispered to herself.

He did not answer. Sherlock kept replaying the afternoon at Bart's, when he witnessed two simple-minded beings collide with one another, and immediately react with apologies and smiles. Holmes had torn into the strawberry blonde idiot: the man was clearly below his intellect (and unobservant to boot), yet Julia had been undeterred to forgive him, even after she had just been scalded with hot coffee. She was so soft. The detective shifted in his seat, eyes drifting up to her face. That blasted spot upon her cheek! He could just picture it: Idiot stealing a quick one, leaving her simpering and blushing like the bashful little dimwit she was. It was painfully obvious that Julia had taken a liking to the younger fellow from the moment the two had met. Their date had been only days after it was time to start cracking down hard on the evidence of the case, and Julia had known that, so why hadn't she returned his calls? There was no doubt in Sherlock's mind that she felt as though she needed to keep her growing relationship with Elliot a secret from him.

Sherlock knew, without a doubt, that the rosette had been puddy in his own hands the day they had been first introduced, thus giving away that she was quick to become smitten, much like a young teenager in high school... yet now, whenever she looked at him, there was something missing in her eyes. Julia hadn't looked at him with that same, usual warmth for quite some time now. It bothered Sherlock, mostly because she now gazed at Idiot Francis with that same wonder and adoration she had once held for him and only him. The woman fell hard and quick, but she wasn't the type to just move on from person to person... and yet he found his mind backtracking on several occasions. Was he boring to her now? He would have to consult with John later on. The doctor was the closest thing he had to a "normal human conscience."

Damnit, she was inside of his head! Sherlock tuned in to what she was saying just then. The young woman had all but disappeared from the room. "Julie?" he called, straightening up and looking from place to place.

"Yes Sherlock?" she called from down within the kitchen, yet he still could not spot her. Christ alive, where on earth had that woman gone?

"Come here," he instructed, much as one would with a dog. Not even a second later, she returned from the scullery with a mug of tea and a mug of coffee. He frowned.