Mrs. Holmes [Book III]

The Birthday Visit

They stood and conversed with Percy for a few minutes, awaiting Susanna's arrival. About ten minutes went by before they heard familiar footsteps- light and steady- on the tiles. Sure enough it was Susanna.

She was walking along carrying a compartmentalized steel clipboard, flipping through several papers and making marks and scribbles over the pages, her hand flying across as she did so. Her eyes were glued to whatever was on the clipboard- she didn't look up at all as she crossed the corridor at a fast clip.

Sherlock scowled, seeing the gray shiners under her eyes and how frazzled she looked. Her hair was unkempt in its Gibson tuck. She did not rest well or she didn't sleep for the appropriate number of hours. Probably the latter. Susanna still didn't look up. Percy asked, "You alright, Susanna?"

"Francis completely screwed up my Toxicology and Ballistics reports from yesterday," Susanna replied bluntly, "I remember most of the data but I'll have to redo the ballistics. Doggone it, Francis, you do this three times a week to me!" Sherlock decided to intervene before, in her oncoming fit of frustration, she accidently hurt herself.

"John and I are here now. We will help you fix those reports, Love."

She froze about two meters away and then finally looked up, "Sherlock? What-?"

"I'll go ahead and leave them with you then, Susanna. Zuke just texted." Percy excused himself and left the three outside Susanna's lab, who seemed like she couldn't quite absorb the fact that her husband and his best mate were there.

"I thought you'd still be out on a case, Sherlock." She said a few moments later, recollecting herself and walking past them to scan her badge and unlock the door. She didn't sound resentful, only a bit hurt and surprised. Sherlock frowned and wasted no time following her inside.

"I apologize for not informing you, Susanna. This last case took us to the outskirts of London and we ended up stranded for the better part of the night. I should have told you about that development."

"It would have been nice," She agreed, "Lestrade texted and let me know that you were chasing a criminal yesterday evening. I managed."

"Not very well. I deduce you slept a maximum of five hours. Given it was the first night I left you alone overnight in 221B, you would have had some difficulties..." He stopped deducing her and looked around the well lit, airy lab. It was equipped with almost everything. Including several TV screens and Computer Monitors.

"Whoa." John exclaimed for the both of them. Susanna walked into her office area and sat down at her desk, inserting her ID into a reader.

"Welcome to my lab." She stated almost brightly. Her eyes had reattached themselves to the clipboard, only now they were flitting intermittently to her computer. Her fingers raced across the keyboard while holding her pen at the ready. Sherlock snapped back to the present and carried the bags of sweets and pastries over to her desk.

"Yes, Sherlock?" Susanna asked without looking up, letting out a puff as she focused on the paperwork. She's distressed.

The brunette treaded swiftly over to her side and then grabbed her spinning office chair. He rotated it a quarter of the way so that she faced him before bending down and kissing her forehead, "Happy Birthday, Susanna."

She flushed pink, "You remembered?"

"Naturally, Love," He leaned in and kissed her deeply, bracing against the armrests of her chair. Susanna melted into it and the kiss lasted for a good minute. John hadn't taken notice because he was in awe of the laboratory, so Sherlock gave her a second, shorter kiss, "We brought these for you."

"Thank you, Sherlock." She lit up and leapt from her chair into his arms. Sherlock pulled her in and set another kiss on the top of her head.

"You're welcome. Now, I happen to have noticed that you consumed a chunk of the ice cream cookie cake for breakfast this morning. I'm sure these pastries should provide better than that."

"Okay, darling."

John wandered in, having recovered, "Happy Birthday, Susanna."

"Thanks, John."

She retrieved a few paper plates and they dug in. It wasn't long before John needed to go home to get ready for surgery, so Susanna had to call his escort. Once John had left Sherlock helped with the analyses, while also reserving a table at Ritz's. They hadn't been out since their honeymoon and both needed to de-stress.

Before he left, Sherlock met Zuke when he came with Percy and a birthday lunch. Then Lestrade texted him for a new crime scene and the detective left his wife with a few more kisses and instructions to hurry home at five o clock so that they could go out. Her bright, happy smile had returned and Sherlock was satisfied with his efforts.

Thank you for reading! Shout out to VelvetVanity!