The Man With The Umbrella

- 43 -

The longer Mycroft left it at not talking to Amelia, the more hot-headed she became.

Thats probably why she did what she did next.

Amelia tried her best not to let Mycroft Holmes rule her head or heart as she sat by her vanity desk, applying cosmetics to her face as she got ready for her sister and sister in-laws, Harriet and Clara's, hen-party.

She wasn't too flashy in her fashion choice. She applied a light layer of foundation with black winged eye-liner along with blood red lipstick. She wore her pink necklace and silver earrings with costume ring jewellery. She must of spent about an hour standing in front of the mirror switching arms to look at the dresses on each hanger presented after painting her nails.

In the end she settled with the dark blue silk dress that hugged her curves and had a slit from her knee-cap to her mid-thigh. Twirling in a circle in front of her mirror, she placed her shoes on and grabbed her bag, black fluffy coat and violin case before leaving.

Jessica arrived on the road of Notting Hill leaning on her cars front whilst waiting for Amelia to make an appearance. "Hey, Jessica." Amelia smiled curtly whilst closing her security door. "Hello, Amelia. You look lovely." She complimented before greeting her with a hug. "As do you, babes. Ready to crash my sisters hen-party?" Amelia questioned as Jessica opened her car door for her. "I cannot wait."

A few minutes later, Jessica swerved into traffic along the main roads of London to get the party. "So, how've you been?" Amelia asked out of politeness. "Eh, it's the same old for me. Busy painting and having parties at the art museums, what about you?" Jessica answered with eyes focused on the road and hands loosely holding the steering wheel.

"Well, I got shot." Amelia was frank in her answering. "I heard about that, what happened?"

"I can't divulge too much but I was caught in the crossfire." Amelia made a poor excuse to answer. "I'm sorry to hear that. At least you look better now. Has your guy been looking after you?"

"It's complicated." Amelia spoke before looking out her window. "I see. Pushing down his emotions?" Jessica tilted her head. "Yes, something like that." Amelia laughed uneasily.

***

The girls made it to the underground club in record timing. Amelia apologised to Jessica feeling really bad about not contacting her in such a long time. Jessica shrugged it off with a smile saying that she was thankful she could spend time with the girl now, which they both agreed wholeheartedly on.

Amelia strutted into the club with the air of authority around her with Jessica trailing behind, nervous. Amelia noticed that once she said her hello's to everyone and introduced them to Jessica, Jessica seemed at ease and comfortable surrounded by the others.

Music blared in the background, bouncing wildly off the walls and John was on the dance floor with Mary, busting some old school moves which Amelia and Harriet couldn't help but bend over with hands on their knees to laugh at.

Amelia settled to have only one glass of champagne that night along with a few shots of mixers before sticking to lemonades and coca colas for the rest of the evening as it digressed through.

Lights and confetti filled the room of the underground nightclub and Amelia was enjoying the moment well spent with her friends and family.

It wasn't long before Clara brought the girl on stage to begin a varied selections of songs that she could play on her violin. Halfway through of Amelia playing, 'Toxic' by Britney Spears; Jessica made it to the stage to share the spotlight with her.

Amelia really enjoyed Jessica's style of play and so she persuaded her to play with herself for the rest of the evening.

Jessica also seemed to enjoy the time spent with others and for once in her life, she didn't feel so alone. She felt happy to be graced with the presence of her sister in-law, Amelia Holmes. She dared to go as far as seeing the girl as her bestest friend.