Elusive

On this particular day in apartment 221B, the kitchen table was strangely free of clutter and wiped clean. In fact, the entire flat was in order due to the string of potential tenants that had been coming in to express interest in renting out the newly mended 221C. Mrs. Hudson wanted to include the boys in the process, since it was just as much their home now as much as it was hers. Still, she would claim the final decision, but it was very hard with Sherlock Holmes exposing each person's darkest secrets and disgusting habits. Nearly all of the applicants left within three minutes and John Watson was growing increasingly exasperated with his flatmates's uncontrollable little quirk.

Now there was a young woman seated across the table who seemed like a nice girl. She held herself with a certain level of poise that one didn't see too often these days, which greatly enchanted both John and Mrs. Hudson. Sherlock, however, remained silent as he observed them from his chair in the living area. The woman had showed up shortly after their last interviewee stormed out, spewing all sorts of expletives aimed at the freak in the chair. Mrs. Hudson went into a mad rush to prepare a fresh pot of tea.

"I'm sorry for dropping in so suddenly. I hope I haven't caused you too much trouble. My name is Aria Royale," she said.

"Oh, no trouble at all, Miss Royale," John quickly said. "We haven't had much luck so far, so please… tell us about yourself."

"Well…" Aria set her teacup down into its saucer and folded her hands. "I'm from America, but I've decided to try my hand at travelling." There was a snort from Sherlock's direction, but she easily chose to ignore it while John sent him a severe look. "Right now, I'm working as a bartender at the pub a few blocks from here, but I have an interview set up at the London Library in a couple weeks."

"How long have you been in London, Miss Royale?" John asked, genuinely interested.

Aria's eyes squinted slightly as she pursed her lips in thought, "About two months now… I'm sharing a flat with this other woman, but we've decided it was best if I moved out."

"Oh, may I ask why?"

"She's a very nice girl," she said, a mild blush rising to her cheeks. "Very nice and we got along well, but she was a little too aggressive. Uh-" It looked like neither of them were quite understanding what she was trying to say. "She developed some very strong feelings towards me in the short time we've spent together, so I just don't feel comfortable staying there anymore."

When John and Mrs. Hudson continued to stare at her in confusion, Aria could only tilt her head slightly to the side, at a loss as to how to proceed.

"She was living with a lesbian, obviously!" Sherlock shouted with a short laugh and a shake of his head. "Obviously," he muttered with a smug smile.

"Oh. Oh! Of course, I understand, dear," Mrs. Hudson said, reaching across the table and patting her on the arm. "I've experienced the same thing in my day. I know what it's like."

John turned and gave the old woman a mildly disturbed look, wisely choosing not to ask for the details of that particular story.

"We're still good friends," Aria said. "I'm pretty adaptable. I can deal with almost anything."

"Well, if you can deal with Sherlock, I wouldn't mind having you around," John said, casting a glance over to the pale, dark haired man. "She does have your approval, doesn't she, Sherlock?"

Sherlock stared at Aria for a moment longer before he lost interest, dismissing them with a haughty wave of his hand. "She's dull, boring, and nothing of note… so do whatever you please," he muttered.

"Sherlock!" Mrs. Hudson scolded.

John slapped a hand over his face in shame and quickly turned to Aria, apologies spilling from his mouth. He didn't want Sherlock to drive her off too, especially when she seemed like such a nice young woman. But Aria was only smiling in amusement, "Good to know. Thank you, Sherlock," she looked to Mrs. Hudson. "Can I see the place then?"

"Oh, of course, dear," Mrs. Hudson smiled in relief as she stood and led the way down to 221C. "It is going to be so lovely to have another woman in the house and not everyone seems to find Sherlock as funny as you do. Those two are always out and running about, bringing with them all sorts of commotion. I do hope you don't find them too much of a bother."

"I'll be fine," Aria assured her. "I'm good with chaos."

She discussed a few more things with the older woman before she was handed a key and left alone to admire the empty room. It was dark and rather glum, but it was nothing a bit of key lighting couldn't fix. Aria pushed back the curtains from the single window and took a deep breath. Apparently, Mrs. Hudson had the entire space renovated due to the damp, then furnished the room with a single bed, an old wardrobe armoire, a small vanity table, and a lamp. She wasn't sure what 'the damp' was, but she imagined that it wasn't healthy. It was small and very cheap, but she had a hunch it wasn't only because of the room itself. Mrs. Hudson mentioned the troubles they were having in finding people who would put up with Sherlock and his number of eccentrics.

But the odd consulting detective was the least of Aria's worries and she could hardly be picky when looking for an obscure, hidden away corner to live in. 221C Baker Street fit the bill to a tee and she wasn't about to let anything drive her away before giving it a shot.

. . .

The original plan was to stick to the shadows and do her own thing, but she quickly realized that it wasn't going to be an option with the way Mrs. Hudson regularly interacted with the gentlemen in 221B. Aria was consistently invited upstairs for tea, which she had no idea how to decline without being entirely rude and ungrateful. Other mornings, when Mrs. Hudson was absent, Aria would wind up cooking for all three of them since she hadn't a kitchen of her own. From what John had told her once, Sherlock had a habit of forgoing meals and had to be constantly reminded to feed himself. Aria had half a mind to think of him as a giant baby.

Still, she was adjusting fairly well to the fast becoming norm of their routine. Aria was even comfortable enough to invite her old flatmate over to visit one morning. It was still early when she poured herself a cup of tea, but Carla had confirmed her intentions of swinging by for a visit before work. She had only greeted the men with a short mumble of a good morning when the bell chimed and Mrs. Hudson's shuffle could be heard as she went to open the door. It was only a few moments before a thunderous pounding of footsteps came rushing up the stairs, accompanied by a loud, "Aria, I've missed you so much!"

Aria barely had time to react as a body crashed into her back and embraced her from behind. She expertly managed to balance the cup of tea in its saucer without incident, a move she seemed to have mastered by now.

"Carla, I saw you a couple days ago," she said. Clearly this was completely normal. "And could you not grope my breasts in front of my flatmates?"

Carla peeked up over her shoulder to find the two men watching them from across the room and quickly released her. "Oops! Of course, I apologize," she said with a laugh. "I'm Carla, Aria's old flatmate."

"Pleased to meet you, Miss. I'm John Watson," the blond greeted politely. "This is Sherlock Holmes."

He and Carla traded stares, but nothing happened. "It's so nice to meet you," she said, mostly to John. "I hope you take care of Aria, she's getting used to things here, but she does have a lot to learn."

"Carla, why don't I show you my new room?" Aria cut in, clearly embarrassed by her approach. "It's just this way, downstairs."

Aria turned to lead the young woman with red curls down the flight of stairs, cup of tea still in her hand. When they got there, she closed the door behind them and set the saucer on her nightstand. One look at Carla and she could tell that she had her doubts about her new living space.

"Are you sure you're going to be alright here, Aria?" She asked. "Living with two strange old men?"

"What? I'll be fine," Aria laughed. "They're both alright and they're not that old. Besides, Mrs. Hudson is here too. It's like a mother and her sons."

"John seems like a nice fellow, it's that Sherlock that worries me."

"He's different-"

"Are you sure he isn't a psychotic serial killer? He has that look about him- He's so creepy!"

"I am most certainly not 'creepy'!" Sherlock burst out from behind the closed door. "I'm a much better flatmate than a lesbian preying on poor, unsuspecting American girls!"

Aria cleared her throat, moving to the door to let him come waltzing in. He went straight to his usual perch, which was a soft yellow couch that only seated one. Aria had taken a liking to it right away and dragged it into the place herself. Sherlock meandered down to see what all the commotion was about, but remained decidedly unconcerned as she inched it down the little hallway. John eventually showed up and helped her shove it down the narrow stairwell and into her room. Now Sherlock fell into it with a lot more grandeur than anyone needed.

"Excuse me?" Carla scoffed.

"He's always like that, Carla, just ignore him," Aria piped up. "He's a little odd, but he's always working closely with the police. He calls himself a consulting detective."

"I don't care what he calls himself, he-"

"Ah, this is where you all disappeared to," John peered into the small room, then frowned at Sherlock. "You said you were popping out to the store, Sherlock."

"I lied."

"Aria, let's talk about this later," Carla sighed, not wanting to argue in front of John. "I have to head to work, but call me if you need anything."

She moved forward and pulled the shorter girl into a hug, then dropped a chaste kiss on her lips. With one last warning look directed at Sherlock, she excused herself and sidled past John to head back up the stairs. Sherlock squinted his eyes at Aria and John continued to give him a stern look.

"You do know that a casual kiss on the mouth isn't an English custom?"

"I figured it out within a few weeks of getting here, yeah," Aria said.

"Come on, Sherlock, she hasn't even been here a week," John said. "Leave her alone."

"It's fine, John," she muttered, tidying up her room a bit now that were was company in it. "Sherlock scares away all the basement goblins."

"Well, I'm going to the store, would you like to come along?" The blond doctor offered.

Aria had to pause to think about it because she didn't really feel like leaving the flat. Then again, she was in need of some groceries, so she ultimately agreed to tag along with the old army doctor this time. She grabbed her coat from the corner of the room and pointed a finger at Sherlock, who hadn't moved from the seat.

"We'll be back," Aria warned. "Remember, you can stay as long as you don't stash any body parts and you don't snoop… if you do, then don't mess everything up. I just got everything in order today."

Sherlock waved them away as if they were being pests, but it was John who looked more worried about leaving the detective unsupervised in the girl's room. Then again, Aria didn't seem to have anything to hide, so there was no reason to be worried about Sherlock's tendency to dig a little. Still, he made sure to ask, "Are you sure it's alright if we leave him in there?"

"I think it's the residual smoke smell that he likes," Aria replied, pulling on her scarf as they stepped out onto the streets and John took the lead. "What's the worst he could do?"