Book One: When John met Mary/How we fell in love

When John met Mary

When John Met Mary

John Watson hated to admit it, but it was time he bit the bullet. He had been putting it off for too long, now. He just had to admit the harsh truth... He needed a new receptionist. Ever since his previous receptionist quit to start a family he had been putting off getting a new one for as long as possible, but his practice needed someone to make appointments and telephone calls and Mrs. Hudson refused to stand in a second longer. So, here he was, interviewing the applicants. Mrs. Hudson was helping out by sending in the applicants for their interviews. John pressed the intercom button.

"Mrs. Hudson, please send in the first applicant."

"Not your receptionist!" John sighed.

"I know, Mrs. Hudson! But, I need a new one so could you please just work with me and send in the first one so we can get this bloody over with!"

"Alright dear! No need to shout!" The door opened revealing a young woman with multiple piercings all over her face, a crop top revealing a rather terrifying amount of body ink, and a blood red Mohawk. John shuddered as she sat down.

"The name is Maggie. I used to work at a blood bank, but I left because of 'personal differences.'" John was afraid of what those "personal differences" were and if one of them involved not drinking the patients blood. It was going to be a long day.

After five hours of interviewing John was exhausted. After "Bloody" Maggie, there had been a veritable horror show of receptionist applicants. One woman had droned on and on about her ten cats, showing him pictures of every single one and their Halloween costumes for the past five years. Another had been texting half the time and had forced him to take a "selfie" with her before she left. Another would just not shut up, talking about everything from the weather to his, admittedly, colorful jumper. By the end of that interview he had wanted to gauge out her eyes with his pen. It was probably a good thing that the Browning had stayed at his flat today. Now, all he wanted to do was go home.
"Mrs. Hudson, I am done for today. Please send all the other applicants home, I'll get back to them with another date."

"Are you sure dear? There's only one left." Only one left? He guessed it would be better to get it over with now rather than put her off for another day.

"Fine. Send her in." John leaned back wondering what this next act of the receptionist interview freak show would look like. When she walked in the room, Johns jaw nearly dropped. It took all his military training not to look at her in awe, even then he was sure he had a very peculiar expression on his face. She was dressed nicely, a simple cardigan and dress, but on her it looked exceptional. She had short blonde hair that was clipped back, lively gray eyes, and a wide, pretty smile. She was breath-taking. After the horrifying previous applicants, this woman was an angel. As she sat down John regained some of his ability to speak, but not enough so that he could speak normally.

"Soo, um, uh, what's your ,er, name?" His voice damn near cracked like a twelve year old boy's.

"Mary Elizabeth Morstan." She sounded pleasant, seemingly unaware of John's discomfort. "What's yours?"

"John Hamish Watson." Damn! Why did he tell her his middle name? He hated his middle name. She stretched out her hand to him. He nearly tripped over himself trying to shake it.

"Nice to meet you John!"

The rest of the interview went perfectly, after John recollected himself and got down to the business of asking her his list of questions. She answered honestly and did much better than the others before her. Who was John kidding? She ran laps around them. Not he just had one last question, one that was not on his list.

"Forgive me if this next question seems a little to personal, but are you seeing anyone? I lost my precious receptionist after she had a baby's I noticed that you aren't wearing a ring." John tried pass this off as a normal question, but he had actually not asked any of the other applicants this question.

"I don't mind. No, I am not seeing anyone." It took everything John had not to jump for joy right then.

"Good, very good," he muttered as he pretended to write something on his clipboard while he composed himself. "Well, that's all of my questions, but one. Can you start Monday?"

"How about Tuesday? My flat mate's bachelorette party is on Saturday and it is going to take two days to get the flat back to rights and to help her get over the hangover she is going to have Sunday morning?"

"Works for me." John said as they both stood up. He leaned over his desk to shake her hand. "See you on Tuesday." As he watched Mary walk out of his office, John whispered so that she wouldn't hear him thinking aloud.

"Mary Elizabeth Morstan, I promise that I will marry you someday."

~Authors Notes~
I did not write this. Credit goes to my friend @Lilymaid620, who is freaking awesome!
Thanks for reading!