Born in Black and White

Chapter 17

The morning after her "family" barbecue, Kairi woke up with Appa scratching at her door. She groaned and tried to throw a pillow at him, but as earth's mightiest predator he dodged it effortlessly and kept whining. She sighed heavily, cursing in Japanese - simply because it was fun, and slowly rolled herself over. Her brain felt a little fuzzy, but it was probably because she stayed up so late with her sister and her friends.

It was an enjoyable affair. There was lots of laughter which suited Kairi perfectly - she could do without brooding and moroseness for a while. Everyone had a few beers through the night and chatted in friendly ways. Heather finally got to hear first hand accounts of Sherlock's exploits from John and Lestrade. Sherlock barely talked other than to add a few finer and somewhat uninteresting points to the story. Heather barely believed that a life so hectic and chaotic could be lived so comfortably. Kairi remembered her sister glancing at her, somewhat concerned, somewhat happy about what Kairi had fallen into.

She sat up slowly and finally stood up patting down her errant hair and admittedly, a bit wobbly after a few too many beers last night, walked over to open the door for Appa. He scurried out the barely open door and she could hear his clattering nails across the hardwood floors. She moseyed her way back over to her bed and flopped herself on top of the muppet comforter. She sighed heavily, trying to come to terms with her life at this moment.

First and foremost, she had a family now. Kairi and her sister had been thrust back together after her mother's indiscretions and were somewhat cultivating this new bond they shared. After years of confusion and probably resentment on both parts, they had matured enough to finally realize the fact that they were vastly different from one another and that was alright. They had developed into their own people at this point in their lives, established relationships (no matter how normal or odd they may be), put down roots, and were enjoying themselves (current murder aside). Kairi was happy with this development since it meant that she would at least get something positive after the years and years of suffering she had gone through at the hands of her familial issues. She found her sister easy to talk to, much like her mother used to be. Over the past couple weeks of Kairi being in her home, Heather had been open and comforting to be around. Kairi, despite her glaring insecurity, opened up to her sister and over the course of two weeks, they were able to talk to each other about their hardships and successes and be genuinely happy for one another. They both wanted different things out of life and they grew up enough to understand that they should respect each other's choices. They had never disliked each other really, but they just didn't grow up being friends. Heather was insanely social where Kairi was more introverted. Heather had a passle of close knit friends who she always seemed to be around, where Kairi was more of a home body and enjoyed books and technology. They were both very intelligent in their own ways, Heather, leaned more towards psychological sciences and brain physiology where Kairi held more interest in the central nervous systems of computers than her fellow man. Technical versus emotional. They both just developed on the opposite sides of the spectrum, never quite realizing that they still shared common human hardships that could be easily discussed. Kairi was happy that her and her sister had time to hash things out and find each other. They may never end up being best friends or calling each other everyday, but finally, Kairi could escape the unending shame she felt when faced with her sister and her seemingly perfect life.

Second, she had another sort of family as well. She sort of scoffed at the thought of it. No one would have guessed that Kairi would, in the end, have two families that she loved dearly. One just happened to be made up of people who are not genetically related to her. Molly was what she considered a best friend - she hadn't really had one of those before and it was refreshing. Their relationship was formed out of a need for companionship and it surprisingly formed a substantial and trusting bond. Kairi trusted Molly with her innermost secrets and fears and because of that, she was entitled the same from the beautiful coroner. John was this sort of constant brother and sounding board, they got along swimmingly and felt comfortable around each other. They bonded over being a verbal and emotional punching bag for Sherlock Holmes, but eventually just sort of clicked in sharing the same sort of wry humor. John being a military man didn't hurt either since Kairi was pretty accustomed to military family life. There was a slight bond that you shared with those people who understood the plight of either being a soldier or loving one. Lestrade was this figure in her life that she wasn't sure where to place. He wasn't exactly a mystery to her since he has always been very honest and open. They communicate well with each other and enjoy each other's conversations. He was surprisingly bright and a very brave and honorable man. He was sort of this White Knight in a world that didn't really hold honor in high esteem. He was a calming presence, grounding even, in her hectic life. Through working with Scotland Yard and in her case of course, she ended up spending a decent amount of time with him and developing rapport. He was fun to be around and easy to navigate because of his straightforward personality. Kairi was happy to have met him, but there was still a nagging factor of not knowing how to treat him. There was no denying the fact that she was attracted to him and that he was attracted to her. She felt comfortable with him and protected, but at the same time he, too, almost felt like a brother or in a less creepy descriptor, a friend. She wasn't quite sure where her relationship with Lestrade would go, but she wasn't afraid of it either. If it went down the path of friendship she would be happy. If it strayed into romance, she had this calming feeling of knowing it would probably end up being good. However, she didn't mind hanging in the balance and just enjoying the trust and companionship of said Detective Inspector.