(A month and a half have passed since John meet Sherlock and Nikki, and he was now Sherlock's flatmate. In the National Antiquities Museum, an ancient Chinese clay tea set has been arranged on a tray. Oriental flute music is playing gently. A young Chinese woman, Soo Lin Yao, takes a large pinch of tea leaves from a bowl and sprinkles them into a clay teapot before pouring water on top of them. A group of children and a few adults are watching her demonstration.)
Soo Lin: The great artisans say the more the teapot is used, the more beautiful it becomes.
(She has deliberately overfilled the pot so that when she picks up the lid and gently presses it down into place, water spills out over the sides of the pot. Now she picks up a small jug and pours more liquid over the top of the pot.)
Soo Lin: The pot is seasoned by repeatedly pouring tea over the surface. The deposit left on the clay creates this beautiful patina over time.
(She holds up the wet teapot to show her audience how the pot is shining.)
Soo Lin: For some pots, the clay has been burnished by tea made over four hundred years ago.
(Sometime later, the visitors have left and Soo Lin is gently drying and dusting off the tea set with a brush.)
Tannoy Announcement: This museum will be closing in ten minutes.
(A young English male employee, Andy Galbraith, walks over. He stands behind her and watches as she carefully packs the tea set into a box.)
Andy (in a joking tone): Four hundred years old, and they're lettin' you use it to make yourself a brew!
Soo Lin (not turning around): Some things aren't supposed to sit behind glass. They're made to be touched; to be handled.
(She turns and looks at him. Andy looks back at her all doe-eyed. She turns back to the box and frowns.)
Soo Lin: These pots need attention. (she holds up a dry-looking pot with no shine on it.) The clay is cracking.
Andy: Well, I can't see how a tiny splash of tea's gonna help.
(He grins nervously.)
Soo Lin: Sometimes you have to look hard at something to see its value.
(She puts down the teapot as Andy steels himself to say something. Just as he opens his mouth she lifts up another pot to show him.)
Soo Lin: See? This one shines a little brighter.
(Andy braces himself.)
Andy: I don't suppose ... um, I mean, I don't suppose that you ... you wanna have a drink? (he grimaces.) Not tea, obviously. Um, in a pub, with me, tonight ... umm.
(Soo Lin puts down the pot, not looking at him.)
Soo Lin: You wouldn't like me all that much.
Andy: Couldn't I maybe decide that for myself?
(She hesitates, but then briefly glances toward him.)
Soo Lin: I can't. I'm sorry. Please stop asking.
(She closes the box.)
(A little later, the main entrance doors to the museum are closed for the night and most of the lights are turned off. Down in the basement archive, Soo Lin is in one of the stacks, presumably putting her equipment away. There's a noise nearby.)
Soo Lin (calling out): Is that Security?
(There's no response, and after an anxious pause she walks out of the stacks and looks around.)
Soo Lin: Hello?
(To her right, a tall and narrow object is covered with a white sheet that billows in a breeze. She nervously walks closer to the object, then hesitantly takes hold of the sheet and pulls it down. Whatever she sees underneath makes her face fill with horror and fear.)
(SUPERMARKET. John Watson is standing at one of two self-service checkouts, scanning items from his basket. A short queue has formed behind him. John scans another item.)
Automated Voice: Unexpected item in the bagging area. Please try again.
(221B BAKER STREET. In the living room of the flat, Sherlock Holmes is under attack from a heavily robed figure whose face and head are almost completely shrouded in a variety of scarves. As the attacker slashes at him with a curved sword, Sherlock backs up carefully and ducks this way and that to avoid the blows. Nikki waits to intervene if things get out of hand but she would only attack if she knew Sherlock was going to end up hurt.)
(The man backs Sherlock up as far as the sofa and takes another swing at him. Ducking under the sword, Sherlock drops onto the sofa in a sitting position. The attacker lifts his sword above his head with both hands and Sherlock raises a leg, kicking hard at the man's chest and shoving him backward. As the man stumbles back across the room, Sherlock gets to his feet and takes an all-important moment to straighten his jacket before charging across the room toward the man.)
(In the supermarket, John holds lettuce in a plastic bag and moves it slowly across the scanner in an attempt to get it to read the barcode.)
Automated Voice: Item not scanned. Please try again.
(John straightens up, staring at the device in exasperation.)
John: D'you think you could keep your voice down?
(In the flat, the attacker has his sword held horizontally in both hands and is pushing Sherlock backward into the kitchen. With a tight grip on the man's wrists, Sherlock falls back onto the kitchen table and the man follows him down, trying to press the edge of the blade into Sherlock's throat. Grimacing with the effort, Sherlock pushes the man's right wrist upwards to keep the blade from cutting him.)
(The point of the sword begins to dig into the table to Sherlock's right. Sherlock raises his left leg and knees the man in the side several times and, as this begins to weaken the man's grip, Sherlock forces himself upwards again. The sword tip gouges a long slash across the top of the table. Nikki vamps over to the man, before grabbing him by his throat and compelling him to tell his employers that Sherlock has declined.)
(In the supermarket, John has, at last, got everything scanned and has inserted his credit or debit card into the chip-and-PIN machine. He types in his PIN and waits.)
Automated Voice: Card not authorized. Please use an alternative method of payment.
John: Yes, all right! I've got it!
Automated Voice: Card not authorized. Please use an alternative method of payment.
(The man in the queue behind him has already picked up his own basket in expectation of getting to the scanner soon. John reaches towards his back pocket but apparently realizes that he has no other way of paying.)
John: Got nothing.
(He points at the machine.)
John: Right, keep it. Keep that.
(As the man behind him looks on in surprise, John angrily walks away, abandoning his shopping and quite possibly his card as well.)
(In the flat, Sherlock is on his feet again and the fight has moved back into the living room. Nikki releases the man who takes another swing at Sherlock who ducks underneath the sword and then quickly straightens up, pointing directly over the man's shoulder.)
Sherlock: Look!
(The man has already half turned in that direction with the swing of his sword and is also perhaps momentary distracted by their reflections in the mirror over the fireplace behind him. Sherlock takes advantage and swings a powerful uppercut to the man's chin, and the man drops unconscious into Sherlock's armchair. Sherlock straightens up and immediately checks his reflection in the mirror, straightening his jacket and cuffs and then dusting himself down. He looks down at the man with disdain, as if indignant that he messed his suit up. Nikki smiles at her mate before she helps take care of the attacker.)
(Sometime later Sherlock is sitting in his armchair calmly reading a book, and Nikki sitting on the armrest of his chair having a glass of blood. There is no sign of the attacker. John walks up the stairs and into the living room, stopping just inside the room and looking around as if he suspects that something has happened in his absence, but he can't tell what.)
Sherlock (not looking up): You took your time.
John: Yeah, I didn't get the shopping.
Sherlock (looking indignantly over the top of his book): What? Why not?
John (tetchily): Because I had a row, in the shop, with a chip-and-PIN machine.
Nikki (looking up from the book she was reading next to Sherlock): You ... you had a row with a machine?
John: Sort of. It sat there and I shouted abuse. Have you got cash?
(Sherlock holds back his amused smile and nods toward the kitchen., Nikki couldn't hold back her laughter at the doctor.)
SHERLOCK: Take my card.
(John walks towards the kitchen where Sherlock's wallet is lying on the table, but before he gets there he turns back to his flatmate indignantly.)
John: You could always go yourself, you know. You've been sitting there all morning. You've not even moved since I left. Or maybe could have asked Nikki.
Nikki: Sorry, it's not my job to shop for you two.
(Sherlock briefly flashes back in his mind to a moment in the fight when he ducked under a swing from the attacker's sword. He tries to look nonchalant as he turns the page of his book while John picks up the wallet from the table and rummages through it for a suitable payment card. Nikki shook her head and couldn't help but quietly laugh.)
John: And what happened about that case you were offered - the Jaria Diamond?
Sherlock: Not interested.
(Using a piece of paper as a bookmark he shuts the book with a loud snap and only then realizes that the attacker's sword is still lying underneath his chair in plain view. He quickly slams a foot down onto the end and slides his foot and the sword further back to get the weapon out of sight.)
Sherlock (firmly): I sent them a message.
(Flashback to his uppercut that ended the fight.)
(John has now found a card he can use but pauses to bend over to look more closely at the new long narrow gouge in the top of the table. He sighs and runs his finger along the cut, rubbing at it in case it's just a mark that can be removed.)
John (in an exasperated whisper): Ugh, Holmes.
(Looking across to his flatmate, he tuts pointedly. Sherlock shakes his head innocently. John turns and leaves the room, trotting down the stairs as Sherlock smirks.)
Nikki: Well I must be going boys. (leans down and kisses Sherlock's cheek) I'll see you tonight, love.