BBC Sherlock Imagines

Lestrade: The Difference Between "Loath" and "Love"

Request for @gypsygirl34

(Also for myfirstnameisagent because she wanted a Greg one.)

(The fluffiness is at the end I promise)

~

You took a long drink of your coffee and let it roll around in your mouth before you swallowed it. This debriefing had taken about an hour longer than it needed to thanks to the brilliant DI Lestrade. He was still standing up in front of everyone, scratching the back of his neck as he struggled to get anyone to answer his question: "How can we be better next time?" If this was a movie, there would be crickets playing in the background. Nobody spoke and the silence was unbearable. You raised your hand. His face lit up for a second before he realized it was yours, and when he did realize it was yours, he rolled his eyes and sighed in annoyance. You didn't wait for him to call on you seeing as you didn't really care.

"I think something we could improve on is these meetings, like not having them at all." There were scattered chuckles and you let a smug smile grow on your face. Greg's face reddened; first in embarrassment, then in anger.

"I'm required to hold them."

"But you're not required to make them this boring are you?"

"Oh god, here they go," someone whispered behind you. Yes, it was known that you and Greg Lestrade were in no way fond of each other. You two had been hired at the same time, and at first you two had been fine towards each other, sticking together to figure out the job. Eventually though, Greg was promoted and you stayed at the low rank. Not only did you think you had earned that promotion, you didn't think he was fit for the job in anyway. Maybe he could sense your bitterness and jealousy, or maybe he just never liked you in the first place, but over the years he showed as much disdain to you as you did to him.

"When you do your job good enough then maybe one day you can run these yourself," he jabbed, and you were surprised momentarily. Your blood began to boil.

"I do my job just as good as anyone else around here. Hell, I could your job better than you could."

"Then explain to me why I'm in the position I'm in and you're not." You were hurt at that one. Scrambling, you tried to think of anything to save some shred of your pride. His face was set in anger, his jaw visibly flexing from the frustration you had caused him. This was the first time that he had ever shut you down like that and given into your childish arguments. He usually just ignored you until you would feel satisfied enough on making your point that you'd leave. "Meeting's over, back to work everyone," he stated. Chairs scraped on the floor, but you remained seated, still locking eyes with Greg. His brown eyes were hard as stone, but so were yours. It was another battle, this one silent though. Who would look away first? He finally did, shaking his head and leaving the room. You had won.

~

The day had gone by slower than any other. Well, and you had been at Scotland Yard now for 12 hours. Oh how you loved working overtime. The clock was going on 11pm, and noticing the bottom of your coffee cup was now empty, you decided you needed a refill. Between the paper work and bad guys, today had been full of waiting, which had led to thinking. The fight with Greg earlier had left you angrier than usual, and you had been reminded of it quite often throughout the day as he was your boss and you saw him at least once every two hours. The fight did not seem to have effect him as much as it had effected you. He was still laughing with coworkers as usual and making jokes that only he found funny while you stood in the back with your mouth shut watching him.