It Could be You

Chapter 5

  Sherlock let himself into the flat as quietly as possible. For some reason, he wanted some time to reflect on what had just transpired. He felt giddy, elated and guilty all at once. John had seemed odd at the park. Gracious knows he'd often sabotaged John's dates, mostly on accident, so he was inherently grateful for the gracious acceptance of the situation John had stumbled upon. Honestly, Sherlock wasn't sure what his status was at the moment. Were he and Carter just dating? Were they a "couple?"

On the one hand, Carter seemed very keen on him. He'd made it clear he wanted to see him again. On the other hand, he hadn't wanted to come up to the flat. Since it had been so long since he'd had romantic contact, he didn't know the etiquette anymore. Not that he ever did, he mused. His dating experiences in Uni were fraught with heated exchanges, secretive sex followed by bitter resentments when his lovers decided the balance of acerbic observations began to outweigh benefits of the terrific sex. Every one of his exes in the past had found fault with his instinctive need to deduce and say what he observed. The only exception had ever been his unique friendship with John. So, Sherlock vowed that his time, he'd keep his observations to himself no matter how tempting.

As he entered the sitting room, he saw John in his chair reading the newspaper. He held it up high so Sherlock couldn't see his expression. Was John hiding from him? Sherlock wondered.

"John," Sherlock said evenly while moving to the sofa and sitting down.

"Sherlock," John answered the same way.

Not exactly the exuberant reaction he had hoped for, but he didn't seem angry either.

"How was clinic?" Sherlock asked politely.

"How was clinic?" John repeated speaking from behind the paper. "You've never asked me how I got on at the clinic. Do you really want to know?" Sherlock noticed his the pitch of his voice kept rising as he spoke.

"I might..." Sherlock tried to respond.

"If you didn't want to go out with me you could have just said why," John said finally lowering the paper. "I'm a grown man, you can tell me when you want to go out with some other person," John said now glaring over the top of the paper.

John's ire flashed from his features. There had been many times when John's anger had reached out and most of the time Sherlock felt the doctor was truly justified in his emotions. Sherlock usually did dangerous things that nearly got them hurt or killed all the time. But this time, his anger did not seem right.

"I met him today, John. This morning. That's why I was late. He works downstairs in the café and we hit it off."

John's jaw dropped open, "You hit it off? Do you know unlike you that sounds, right? You don't like anyone."

"I like you," Sherlock said.

John abruptly shut his mouth and brought the paper back up to its original position. "I like you too, Sherlock." He said from behind the paper in a somewhat calmer tone.

Sherlock waited in silence for a few minutes. He could hear John breathing and he knew that nothing had been settled. This conversation was far from over. He sank into his thinking pose, head on the back of the sofa and knees bent out in a wide "V." John would continue at his own pace.

"So that was a date? You went on a date with Carter from the café? Am I getting this right?" John asked finally giving up on the paper and folding it carefully across his lap.

"Yep," Sherlock said popping the "p."

That answer seemed to set John off again, "He's how old?"