Sherlock: The Nanny's Anomaly

Surprises at 221B [Susanna]

~Nine Days Later~

I park my bike and almost skip to the door of 221 Baker Street, eager to surprise Sherlock and John by coming in a few days early to resume nanny duties with Rosie, who has started talking now. I haven't seen them since they visited before I was discharged and had the heavy neck collar taken off, which was two days ago.

My mind drifts to Sherlock as I tiptoe up the stairs. After his visit to me right after I woke up, he's been awkward and somewhat shy around me. I even think I saw him blushing a few times, although he's also been the cause of excessive blushing on my part. He took care of my flat and Barney when I was kidnapped by Brent and during my hospital stay, which meant a lot to me.

Sherlock even brought me chips and a few of my favorite books while I was on bedrest. My cheeks light on fire again and I pat them with my cold hands to try and cool the blush down.

"We are not taking any new clients until the end of the week!" Sherlock calls from the kitchen as one of the steps creaks.

"Sorry if that is too inconvenient but-" John adds on as he steps out of the living room. When he sees me his jaw drops, but he quickly recovers when I motion for him to play along. John's eyes light up and he continues, "Unfortunately our nanny is unavailable so we are unable to take on any new cases." He walks back in and I follow him.

Sherlock is sitting in his chair with his hands under his chin and his eyes closed. I bounce on my feet a bit, "Your nanny is available and is reporting for duty!"

The detective jolts out of his trance and his gray eyes lock onto me. I smile as pink settles across his cheeks for a moment before he purses his lips, "Susanna, what are you doing here?!"

"I wanted to surprise you two by coming back early. Besides, I was getting bored being all cooped up in my flat." I reply.

"You're not completely healed, Susanna."

"I'm fine, Sherlock." I assure but his eyes fix sharply on my neck, where I've still got a thin ace bandage on my neck to cover the stitches and skin glue applications.

"No."

"Really it's fine, Sherlock."

"Tea?" John asks from the kitchen.

"Yes, please." I reply.

"Make sure it's temperate, John. Can't have it too hot," Sherlock pipes up. He's still staring at my neck like a hawk. My hand absently flies up to cover it from his gaze. The second my fingers encompass the bandage Sherlock pounces wildly from his chair and snatches my hand from my throat and holds it as far away as my arm will stretch. His eyes flash and his hand closes tightly around mine, "Don't. Touch it. Susanna."

I gulp, "Why?" His eyes hover on the bandage again and I will my free hand up towards my neck. His other hand arrests it and holds it firmly at my side.

"You will aggravate the injury," He explains, "The skin will come loose again." I form an 'O' with my mouth as it sinks in. He's worried I'll reopen the wound. He's scared that I'll start bleeding out again. I smile.

"Sherlock, this bandage is just to keep the injury clean for a few more days," I free my hands and use them to unwrap the bandage, "Look. It's sealed up, Sherlock." His face whitens and then I realize that showing him the wound probably wasn't my brightest idea.

While the doctors were able to put in sutures and use skin glue to close the wound up, the wound has left a long, patchy, puckered scar across my throat. It will fade with time, but it's still fresh and an angry bright pink against my natural pale complexion. Plus the appearance of black sutures and the shine of ointment doesn't help the image. Sherlock's gray eyes train sharply on the scar and darken considerably.

I quickly try to rewrap my neck but Sherlock again stops me, "Some air will do it good. Isn't that right, John?"

John, who I realize has been standing in the doorway of the kitchen and watching this scene unfold, clears his throat and nods, "Erm, yeah. Some air will help it heal. Um, the tea is almost ready." He pops back into the kitchen and leaves me and Sherlock alone again. Sherlock lifts his eyes from my jugular to meet my own gaze.

We stand for a good two minutes, staring into each other's eyes in silence, before John returns and throws up his hands, "John?" Sherlock asks.

"Would you two just please kiss or something!?" John exclaims.

My cheeks are instantly aflame with red and Sherlock's own turn vibrant pink.

"WHAT!?!"

Thank you all for reading! We're getting to the end now and I am happy to say that I am planning on a sequel (of course I won't leave y'all hanging)! Love you guys!