Born in Black and White

Chapter 33

Kairi woke to Sherlock kissing her cheek gently. She sort of half grumbled and half wiped his lips away from her face in surprise. She felt a little worse for wear after all of her stressing over Christmas with the Holmes' family, despite the evening being incredibly enjoyable, it had still worn her out. She glanced around the car and up to Sherlock who shot her a lopsided grin.

"Where's M'croft?" She mumbled and sat up, wiping at her face and yawning.

"Car dropped him off. He lives minutely closer to my parents than we do." Sherlock replied, unbuckling them both.

Kairi squinted, "You didn't wake me up?"

Sherlock looked at her with an odd expression as they prepared to exit the car, "No, why would I?"

Kairi rolled her tired eyes at him, "I've never seen Mycroft's castle. A person's home tells a lot about them."

Sherlock chuckled as he stepped from the car and reached down to help Kairi who was gathering all of their things bundled in her old gift bag, "You believe he lives in a castle?"

Kairi looked at Sherlock like he was an idiot, "Of course he'd live in a castle. Mycroft, Prince of Darkness." She murmured with exaggerated hand movements.

Sherlock chuckled at her obvious sleepiness as they walked to the steps of 221 Baker Street. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her cigarettes and lighter. Sherlock was ecstatic to see she wanted to smoke as he'd been craving one all day due to stress and lack of sexual contact with Kairi. She lit two and handed one to him.

"So all in all, I'd say the holidays were a success. Wouldn't you?" Kairi blinked hard a few times, finally starting to wake up as the nicotine hit her system.

Sherlock shrugged, exhaling deeply as he looked down at Kairi, "I'd say it wasn't a complete disaster."

Kairi chuckled, "I guess that's as rosy as you'll get then?" Sherlock nodded. Kairi took this moment to huddle close to him in the crisp night air. Without consciously doing so, Sherlock opened his arm so she could nestle in next to him. It shocked him a bit to realize just how natural it felt to have her close by. He wanted to be afraid of it, he wanted to tell himself to wake up and push her away, but in the end, his only desire was to have her near.

"Am I allowed to deduce what you've gotten me for Christmas?" He mumbled against the top of her head.

Kairi shook her head sharply and sighed, "Nope, you have to be surprised like any boring human."

He chuckled at that as he inhaled on the cigarette, "Have you deduced what my present for you is?"

Kairi shook her head, a peaceful smile on her face, "Nope, I'm boring and ordinary."

"Not always." Sherlock smiled wryly and Kairi chuckled, as they stood together for a few more moments, silent and happy, finishing their cigarettes.

As they walked inside, Kairi peeked in and let Appa out of her apartment. She opened the door for him to run outside to do his business and in a few moments he came bounding back in and shot up the stairs in a flash. Sherlock and Kairi just chuckled and followed him up.

They pulled off their coats and Kairi made her way to go start a fire. The room was dimly lit by Christmas lights on the windows that she, Molly, and Mrs. Hudson had put up a week or so ago. As she put in the kindle and firewood, she glanced back at Sherlock who was pacing the floor, deep in thought. "John at Molly's?"

Sherlock nodded distractedly, "Yes, he'll be staying for the evening."

Kairi turned back to the fire, riling it a bit and happy with the results. Appa approved as well, lying down next to the fire to get warm. She patted him gently and stood, stiff from sleeping in the car. She turned sharply and her nose collided with Sherlock's chest as he stood before her.