Fiction: A People Person. A 221b.
Title: A People Person
Rating: G
Pairings: John/Sherlock, potential Molly/Lestrade
Warnings: None
Word Count: 221
Summary: A story written in the 221b format: 221 words, the last word beginning with the letter "b". Lestrade is good at reading people. Molly isn't.
A People Person
"Come. I'll buy you a coffee," the inspector said. The lightness of his smile looked at odds with the rest of him, heavy and careworn.
Molly'd been on her way to the lab-Sherlock was there-but the policeman's offer made her stop and change plans. Men didn't often buy her coffee. Well one had, but he'd turned out to be a psychopath. People were so hard to read.
"Don't remember whether you take sugar." Lestrade dropped a handful of packets on the table.
"No. Just plain." Molly stared as the inspector emptied five sugars into his own cup.
"Cuts the bitterness," he said, wryly. She knew he usually took three. A bad night then-the reason he'd come.
"Here to see Sherlock about a case?"
"Yes, but it can wait. He's occupied."
Following Lestrade's gaze, Molly saw Sherlock and John seated at a corner table. Only John was eating.
"Doing what?" Surely if she could read anyone it was Sherlock.
"Look again, at his eyes, his body language."
Molly looked and saw Sherlock as if for the first time. As usual the detective was cataloging the details of his world. But now he was admiring its center, its heart. John.
Only Lestrade's eyes kept her from falling, held her safe and secure as she whispered her devastating conclusion.
"They're boyfriends."