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

034; Paragraphs

Upon her exit, the rosette called faintly over her shoulder toward Aubrey and Wilbur, the pair of them watching her head into the den with displeasure painted upon their features. "I'll just be upstairs if either of you need me."

Okay, she absolutely had to get her own place. After living for so long off on her own and tasting freedom at last, having spent nearly six months of having no luck with finding a job or a flat that was reasonably affordable, she now knew just how limiting living with her parents was. At first she had considered moving into the deeper parts of Glasgow, maybe even looking for a place in London. Then again, if she were to return to London in order to find a permanent place to live... there was always the chance that she would run into somebody that had known Sherlock, who would then bring him up, or maybe even bring Elliot Francis up. The idea of being put in a corner like that caused her stomach to tie into knots.

Ascending the stairs, Julia shook her head, trying to keep her tea level as she used her thumb to tug aside one of the pieces of twine that enveloped the parchment and kept the heavy parcel together. Upon seeing the handwriting, she stopped, her breath stilling within her throat. The gorgeous curve of the letter "J" at the beginning of Julia Fuller brought back memories of that evening she had opened the Christmas present he had bestowed upon her. She could still feel how her heart fluttered, recalling the instant she had nearly fallen to her knees in utter elation. 

Sherlock had sent her this, of all people. 

It hadn't been Mycroft Holmes, it hadn't been John Watson, nor Lestrade, Sally Donovan, Jim, Molly or even Elliot Francis. No, it had been Sherlock Holmes, in the flesh. 

There was no doubt in her mind. 

Why? After all we had said at the station? Julia suddenly felt her breakfast complain from within her woozy stomach and had to look away, taking a deep breath as her face paled. What had he sent her? She had been so desperate to get away from him, to escape from the way he made her heart burn and bleed, and he had known that, so what could have possibly been so important? What on this blooming earth had caused him to send her an entire novel's-worth of letters? 

She pushed her way into her bedroom and shut the door behind herself, setting the package down upon her small writing desk, the detective's skull leering at her from where he sat in the corner of the windowsill of her tiny pane. Julia hovered, wondering if she even wanted to read what he had written. Were they case-files? Was it an "I told you so" or something along those lines? The very idea of hearing him degrade her, at this point, would truly and wholly break her heart. She was hanging by a thread and all he would have to do is lift his pen to severe it. 

Julia took a deep breath. Her nerves began to tatter, even as she simply sat there, hesitating upon whether or not she should simply shred each of these pages, one by one, or if she should truly put the effort in and take it all with a grain of salt. The rosette raked her fingers up through her hair and slumped down into the wooden chair she had once sat within while writing to John Watson, whom she had believed to be Mr. Holmes at the time. Julia gently traced a notch in the wooden surface of her work-space, trying to work up the courage to open the parcel. 

To turn tail like a coward was no longer her style. It had been decided for her by those around her, especially after the hours she had endured putting her all into the Empty Boy case. The entire ordeal had changed her as a person and given her strength, in the oddest of sense. Julia, deciding to follow through, carefully began to untie the scruffy string holding the parcel together until she was able to pick the pile up and separate it. From there, she unfolded the parchment from where it had been taped to the bottom corner so crisply that it hurt to disturb its pleasing appearance. She peered inside, then paused at what she saw, before pulling the parchment open completely.