I Am Fire, I am Sherlock.

Chapter 4

~15 minutes later, in Salvetti's~

"Hello, miss. Can I get you a seat? Are you alone?" A man with an Itallian accent asked Louise when she walked into Salvetti's.

"Yeah, can I have a table under the name 'Brealey'? I'm not alone, two men should be coming to join me soon." She had looked around to see that Ben and Martin weren't already in the restaurant.

"Of course, miss. Right this way." The waiter led Louise to a small booth fit for three to four people. He gave her a menu and went check on the other diners.

About two minute later, after Louise had already decided what she was going to order, the waiter came back, leading Benedict and Martin behind him. Martin sat down and scooted over to the wall of the booth, while Ben sat next to him, across from Louise. Ben gave her a polite smile while Martin took the menus from the waiter.

"I'll be back in a few minutes to take your orders," the friendly waiter said. They all nodded as he went about his business.

"So," Molly cleared her throat after about a minute of menu reading in awkward silence. "What do you think of the new scripts?"

"Oh, I think they're great." Benedict said with bright eyes. "Finally, we get to let the fans know what the hell is going on!" He grinned.

Louise laughed lightly. "I know. It must've been a hard wait for them; it was a hard wait for me! I wanted to know what was going on, too!"

"So, you guys are actually following the story?" Martin asked. "To be honest, I have no clue what's going on most of the time."

Louise looked at him with surprised eyes, but smiling. Then Ben explained, "He just likes to get in, memorize the lines, finish the acting, get the money, get out." He smirked and looked at Martin.

"Now, that isn't true," Martin objected. "I really do love the acting, it's just I don't understand this point in the story." He sighed then said, "I do love being John Watson. . ." He got an odd, distant look on his face, as if his mind had started to wander. Louise thought it had something to do with the strange conversation about their characters from earlier. She was going to say something, but Ben cleared his throat.

"Martin, wake up from dreamland, please. We're trying to get to know our co-star Lou here." He smiled at Louise tenderly and asked, "is it alright if I call you Lou?"

Louise felt her cheeks growing a bit warm, and hoped he wouldn't notice. Why would she blush? She didn't like Ben...yet. Her character did, but not her. . .

"Yeah, that's fine!" She squeaked, her voice cracking. Clearing her throat and smiling awkwardly she said, "Sorry. Been doing too much 'mousy Molly Hooper', I s'pose."

"You do a great job," Ben said, and she barely noticed that he winked at her when the waiter came back.

"Are you ready to place your orders?" The thick accented man asked.

"Yes." Martin said, and Louise and Ben nodded in agreement.

After they had ordered and the waiter had taken their menus, Louise got up the courage to ask about the conversation.

"So, I couldn't help but overhear this morning while the two of you were on the way to the set, a um, a strange conversation. I was drinking some coffee, and I caught the words 'part-dragon' and, well, 'Bilbo'. Now, I know you two did that movie, the Hobbit: the Desolation of Smaug," Louise looked from one face to the other, noticing that they had both exchanged nervous glances since she brought the subject up. "But I thought that was long over by now-"

"Oh, sorry, I really need to use the loo." Martin said suddenly, moving to get up and giving Ben a commanding look that said, 'we need to talk, now.' Ben looked back at him cautiously, not wanting to anger the ex-soldier (well, his shapeshifter character was an ex-soldier--or ex-army doctor, he remembered), and said, "I need to go too. Be right back, Lou."

Louise, who felt very satisfied that she had put them on the spot, and she believed she had exposed them. She nodded and smiled smugly as they headed toward the bathroom.

"She knows. Sherlock, you and your damn 'we'll be fine, no worries' and talking too loud!" Martin huffed after checking around the bathroom to make sure the stalls were empty.

"I, uh-Martin-"

"No, listen. What're we going to do now? We can't tell her, can we? No. I mean, yeah, it's just sweet Louise, but-"

"Martin." Ben insisted.

"What?" Martin looked at him angrily and nervously.

"You called me Sherlock." Ben sighed.

Martin's face went from anxious to surprised and scared at himself. "Oh. Um...well that isn't a problem right now, is it?"

"We've got to keep calm. Me especially, so will you quit yelling at me?!" Benedict almost shouted, and something about the last of that sentence felt strange in his throat-

Martin's eyes were wide, and he had a look of fear on his face. "Um, Ben... You just-"

"What?" He said exasperatedly, rubbing his eyes with his forefinger and thumb.

Martin swallowed. "I heard Smaug. When you said 'quit yelling at me', you-your voice was Smaug's."

Benedict's eyes widened and blinked. How-how did he use Smaug's voice in human form? "That's impossible," He said. "That can't-that's never happened before."

"I know what I heard. That was Smaug." Martin looked genuinely scared.

Benedict swallowed and took a deep breath. "Okay. Um, just let me calm down a second, and then we'll go to Louise." He leaned against the wall and out a hand on his scratches his head, thinking. After staring into space for a moment, he stood up straight, away from the wall.

"Alright, I've got a plan. Just follow my lead. Okay?"

Martin nodded. "Fine. Let's go."

Sorry it's kinda short. Also, sorry it hasn't really heated up much yet. It will next chapter, I promise. One more apology: sorry for not updating in so long! I'll update again really soon.
Thanks for reading, hope you liked it!