Welcome to 221B Baker St.

Trouble in Paradise

Louise sighed as she stirred the cream into her coffee and stared absently out the window of the cozy little café she had decided to get breakfast at after waking up to discover that Sherlock had once again turned the flat's kitchen into his own private laboratory. She wouldn't have minded so much if this latest experiment of his hadn't resulted in so much smoke, since Sherlock apparently couldn't do a study on a gazillion different types of tobacco without also smoking each one so that he would be able to recognize them by their smell and taste, should the need to do so ever arise. Was he trying to give himself smoker's lung? She was going to have to get John to sit him down so they could have a serious talk about this, because Sherlock obviously wasn't going to listen to her. He seemed completely oblivious to everyone and everything around him once he got started on something he found  'interesting'. Although, the brilliant detective didn't really seem to have noticed that John had left for his little trip to New Zealand yet,  because she could have sworn she heard him talking to John last night, even though the good doctor had already been gone for nearly a week now...

Louise sighed again, suddenly feeling utterly mentally and physically exhausted. She had mostly gotten used to Sherlock's difficult  personality and odd idiosyncrasies by now, but enough was enough! It seemed like ages since she first came to this world, but she still wasn't any closer to getting back home or at least finding a way to let her family know she was alright. She had enough stressing her out already without Sherlock trying to give the whole block secondhand smoke.

Maybe she should have taken John up on the invitation to go with him, after all, but she didn't want to impose on the old friend John was going to see, especially since Sarah was already going with him. It was nearly May, so they should be having a nice and sunny holiday in New Zealand, while she was stuck here in England, where the weather was always gloomy even on the best of days compared to sunny Louisiana. Or were the seasons backwards there, like Australia? She suddenly couldn't remember where it sat in relation to the equator. Either way, she had figured the two of them might be able to have some alone time without her or Sherlock acting as a third wheel, but right now she was really starting to miss John. She could use his advice. As both a friend, and as a doctor.

'I don't know how much longer I can take this...' Louise thought, propping her heavy head up on one hand as she picked up the empty, orange Walgreen's pill bottle that used to contain the medicine she needed to help control her bipolar II. She needed a refill, bad. She had run out the day before John left for his trip, but she hadn't wanted to ruin his vacation by making him worry. After all, she had gotten a new ID and fake background in the mail from Mycroft along with her first paycheck, so she figured that would be enough to be able to allow her to hire a professional shrink.

Well, it turns out she thought wrong, because that sneaky umbrella-wielding penguin in a tweed suit had set it up—for only God knows why—so that in order for everything to actually get activated and start working for her, she would have to marry Sherlock. And, if she didn't, then she could kiss any chance of ever getting a visa or the UK's equivalent of a green card and whatever other paperwork she needed in order to be able to keep living here as a legal immigrant goodbye. He had at least given her time to think about it, but, all things considered, she wouldn't put it past him to have her deported if she declined.

I mean, sure she had started to develop a little crush on Sherlock (despite himself), and sure he was handsome, smart, and kind of sexy in that intellectual-badass way, especially with those beautiful, piercing, glasz eyes... but that didn't mean she was ready to make a serious lifetime commitment to the man! Louise had been brought up to be a good Catholic girl by her rather traditional parents, so she had been taught that the Sacrament of Marriage was not something you entered into lightly, because it was for life. It wasn't a game you could play and switch partners anytime you felt like it, like a game of musical chairs. True love was patient, kind, loyal, and faithful. It was for the long haul, faults and all.