The Figure In Black (Rosie Parentlock)

Chapter 6

A/N hey so i'm sorry this has been so long, but it did take me less than a week to write this so (: I also just wanted to say that the POV may switch in further chapters, so I will now be putting the POV at the top. I hope you enjoy (:

John's POV

Sherlock was the first to sprint down the stairs. Mrs Hudson had a knife around her neck, and behind her stood a woman who greatly resembled Irene Adler. John was close behind Sherlock, holding out his hands as if to tell the woman not to harm Mrs Hudson.
"We'll do whatever you want, just don't harm her," John said, quietly. Sherlock sniggered slightly, which earned him a shocked look from John.
"Don't try to help, Watson. She's not going to hurt her, she wants my help." Sherlock shook his head slightly, before looking over to the woman and raising his eyebrows. At this she pulled away from the older woman, who was silently sobbing, and stepped a couple of steps back, placing the knife on a table by the door. Finally letting out loud cries, Mrs Hudson skidded over to John and stood behind him, looking over at Sherlock expectantly. The younger woman didn't speak; she just stared at the three of them. Her eyes were slightly further apart than Irene's and her hair was short and lighter in colour, however she was just as beautiful. John felt himself tensing up as he thought of how Irene used to flirt with Sherlock, but quickly pushed the thoughts aside after assuring himself that he shouldn't feel like that. Sherlock stepped forward and as he did so the woman smiled flirtatiously.
"Not going to speak then?" John blurted out, glaring at her smile. The glare was wiped off of his face when she turned to look at him, dropping her smile and finally opening her mouth to speak.
"Jealous, are we? I'm not Irene you know." The woman's voice was a lower pitch than he had imagined, but still rich and confident.
"Then who are you?" Sherlock asked, stepping round her and staring curiously.
"Shouldn't you know that? The greatest detective in London? Or should I say the world?" The woman stepped in front of him to stop him from examining her, standing only a few inches away, looking right into his eyes. A few moments passed before John spoke again.
"We know you're a sibling of Irene's, but if you don't want to be on name terms..." John stepped forward as he spoke, hoping to draw the attention to himself. The woman turned again and looked at John with piercing brown eyes, making him shuffle his feet slightly in nervousness.
"I'm Charlotte. Well...Charlie for short." The brown-haired lady said, before turning back to Sherlock, who was now glaring in confusion. A thought suddenly sprung into John's mind. He wasn't able to deduce much from Irene, perhaps it was the same with Charlie.
"I can tell you're here because you need my help. You haven't slept in days and you've been stuck in your house except to come to me yesterday and today. You've been writing constantly and haven't bothered to wash the ink off of your right hand. So what's disturbed you so much?" Sherlock squinted his eyes slightly as he looked at her.
"Someone has been doing what I did to you yesterday. Well at least that's part of it." Charlie said.
"What? Standing outside your house in all-black?" John looked slightly amused, but coughed and brought his face back to a neutral expression when she glared at him.
"Do you know what it's like to be stalked? Every night they will stand, at least 10 metres back, from any window which I haven't drawn the blinds or pulled the curtains over. They send me notes, but, the weird thing is, they will walk right up to the door and just leave it outside, fully knowing I'm seeing them do it. The notes, however, are extremely threatening but aren't anything that I've done or can do. They don't make any noise, just stand there and watch. You can understand why I haven't slept in a week." John noticed that she had spoken faster than before. This really was scaring her. He looked over at Sherlock and saw that he looked excited. Of course he would be; this sort of thing was a treat to him.
"Why should I help? You did just attack my landlady, and you pretended to be Irene." Sherlock ventured, even though John knew he was most certainly going to take the case. Looking over at Charlie, it was obvious she knew this as well.
"Oh don't try to pretend that you need a reason, you're like an excited puppy." Charlie said.
"So, do you have the letters with you?" Sherlock asked, trying to contain his excitement. Charlie shook her head, which earned herself a disappointed look from the dark-haired man.
"I'll come tomorrow with the letters. I don't want anyone to know I left my village." Charlie said, picking up her knife and hiding it in her shoe. John raised his eyebrows at this and the woman rolled her eyes.
"It's for defence, I'm not gonna hurt anyone."
"You're really gonna go back to the house where you're being stalked?" John asked, almost sounding concerned. He noticed Sherlock look at him and scowl briefly, but he kept his attention on Charlie.
"I already said; I can't let anyone realise I left the village. They'll know I came for help." Charlie walked to the door and opened it.
"Eight tomorrow morning?" Sherlock asked, following her to the door. After a brief nod from Charlie, he closed the door behind her and turned to John.
"You two boys always find a way to put me in danger." Mrs Hudson tutted, causing John to jump slightly. He'd forgotten she was there. Turning to look at her, he saw her shake her head and walk out of the room. She was so used to incidents like this that she had decided to just put up with it. Once she had left Sherlock confronted John.
"You would rather Charlie had stayed?" Sherlock asked, not showing any emotion on his face.
"She's being stalked and you expect me to just agree with her going back to her house?" John shook his head. Why did he care that he was trying to help her?
Isn't that what he was doing?
"Or you wanted her to stay? She's an attractive woman." Sherlock continued, still not showing any emotion. John laughed.
"It would be more likely that you would want her to stay; she is Irene's sister after all." Sherlock flinched, confusing John. Why did Sherlock think he wanted her to stay because she was attractive? Was he jealous? Of course he isn't, he doesn't feel the same way you do. John quickly brushed the thought aside. What was he thinking? Sherlock wasn't jealous, and he wasn't jealous. Why should they be? It's just a woman. So what if either of them finds her attractive?
"You should know by now that I do not care for how attractive a woman is." Sherlock said, softly, moving forward a few steps. John felt butterflies in his stomach, and sharply drew in a breath. The moment was interrupted by Rosie's crying. Coughing to break the awkwardness, John moved towards the stairs.
"I'd better go and check on Rosie. Would you mind making me a coffee?" John smiled at Sherlock. Smiling briefly back, Sherlock nodded. Walking up the stairs, John sighed. It was getting much harder to deny what he was feeling.

A/N ahh i really enjoyed writing this. don't worry, there will be more fluff later on! i'll try to write another for this week or next; depends how long it takes me to write it. thanks to anyone whose actually still reading this lmao (also if there are any mistakes please comment so i can change them; i do read through it and edit any mistakes but i may have not found them all, thanks)