The Interview

Prompt: Spiral

Disclaimer: I do not own Sherlock.

Sherlock Holmes shoved his gloved hands into his Belstaff pockets, his upturned collar protecting him from the wind as he ducked his head down and strode towards the small café across from St. Bart's where he was meeting John Watson and Mary Morstan, the former for the first time, for lunch.

When he opened the door and stepped inside, he immediately removed his gloves and ruffled his curls. Then he did a cursory sweep of the café before his eyes landed on a petit blonde at a booth in the back corner of the room. He resisted the urge to immediately begin deducing her, Molly Hooper's advice ringing in his ears. 'Do not, under any circumstances, deduce her Sherlock Holmes! She is your best friend's fiancée. Be as kind as you are capable. Don't be rude. Do not make her cry, or so help me, I will ban you from the lab for a month!'

Molly adored Mary Morstan, and everyone was expecting Sherlock to at least tolerate her.

As Sherlock walked towards her, he noticed the oatmeal colored jumper and jeans she was wearing, and he couldn't help but smirk; she either had the same taste in clothing as her soon to be husband or she was trying to allude to the similarities she held with him. Sherlock didn't take the time to deduce the answer.

"Sherlock Holmes! It's a pleasure to finally meet you!"

And Sherlock was properly shocked when Mary stood up, wrapped her arms around him, and kissed his cheek in greeting. "I've heard so much about you from John. I feel like I know you already, actually." She pulled away from him and smiled genuinely at him before returning to her seat. Sherlock hesitatingly smiled at her before taking a seat across from her. "John just texted me; he's getting held up at the hospital, so he'll be here in a bit. Coffee? Black, two sugars, right?"

Sherlock just nodded his head, his eyes watching her as she poured him a cup and scooped two sugars into the drink. She stirred it then slid it across the table to him.

"I know almost nothing about you, so forgive me Ms. Morstan if I have a few questions for you."

"Ask away!" Mary said brightly, cupping her own cup of coffee in her hands. "I'll answer to the best of my abilities." She shifted in her seat and then waited patiently for Sherlock's line of questioning.

Sherlock took a long draught from his cup before placing it on the table and resting his hands on his knees, trying to appear calm and friendly. It was best that they got this tedious portion of their first meeting out of the way, especially not in the presence of John Watson. "What do you do for a living?"

"I teach."

"Your area of expertise?"

"Music."

"Oh," Sherlock said, surprised, leaning forward. "And your instrument?"

"Voice, actually." Mary took a sip from her cup. "But I also give clarinet and piano lessons."

A corner of Sherlock's mouth twitched upwards for a moment, briefly remembering John's own dallying with the clarinet when he was in school, before his mouth settled into a passive expression. "Do you have siblings?"

"Just one brother. He's two years younger than me and a nurse. He's married and has a little girl who's turning eight months old next week."

"Parents?"

"Both are teachers. Maths. They will be retiring in a few years."

"Interesting…" Sherlock murmured, drinking from his coffee again. After a few moments of silence, he cleared his throat. "You are aware of what I do for a living?"

Mary nodded her head. "Of course."

"Are you bothered that the cases we work aren't always safe?"

Mary crossed her legs and thought for a few moments. Sherlock knew that being back from the dead for only half a year and not working many cases meant that Mary didn't have a heavy grasp of the work that he and John used to do.

"John was broken when we first started seeing each other," Mary began, staring at something over Sherlock's shoulder. "Don't get me wrong, we've always been happy, if not hard working at this relationship. But since you've returned, John is happy. He has more of a purpose other than working at the hospital and seeing me—he has his best friend back and I will never take that away from him." She chewed on her bottom lip and looked at Sherlock. "He's a good shot, a great doctor, and a very smart man. I will always be worried for him, but that won't stop me from giving him my blessing to help you."

Any animosity Sherlock had towards Mary Morstan vanished in an instant as he deduced from her body language that she was telling him the truth.

John Watson bristled in the cold as he jogged towards the café, hoping Sherlock hadn't made an arse of himself in front of his girlfriend. He was already twenty minutes late and half expected the Consulting Detective to already be back at Baker Street, sulking on the sofa. He pulled the door open quickly and slid inside, pulling it shut behind him so the cold air would stop following him around.

He immediately spotted Mary and Sherlock sitting across from each other, and it took several long seconds to realize that they were laughing gregariously, Mary waving her hands about animatedly as she retold a story or a joke. As he closed the distance, he saw tears sparkling in her eyes from laughter.

"And then my conductor, in his haste to swat the flies buzzing over his head, lost his baton and it poked the principle clarinet player right in the eye! They had to call 999 during the rehearsal! And that's how I moved to be the principle clarinet player in uni!"

More laughter erupted from Sherlock, and John smiled brightly.

"I hope I'm not interrupting," John said, finally getting to the table. He leaned down and kissed Mary on the top of her head and then settled down in the seat beside her. He made eye contact with Sherlock as the Consulting Detective reached for a glass of water. Sherlock nodded his head once at John, and that was all John needed to deduce that Sherlock approved of Mary Morstan.

Thank God.

John Watson wasn't going to deny the fact that the stress of Sherlock and Mary's first meeting was quickly spiraling into a chaotic mess in his mind. He knew Sherlock had deduced days ago that it was making him physically ill, but the relief that they were getting along was exactly what the former army doctor needed.

John smiled at Sherlock and picked up the small menu on the table. "So what is their soup today?"

Molly opened the door to her flat, surprised to hear the television blaring and Sherlock's baritone rumbling about paternity tests. She smiled when she saw her boyfriend curled up on the sofa with Toby sitting beside him on the arm of the couch, observing his strange behavior.

Molly never yelled at the television, and obviously Toby never really observed Sherlock do it before either.

"Already called takeaway. Hope Chinese is alright," Sherlock said without looking away from the television. "And I purchased three bottles of your favorite wine, since I used your last bottle for that staining experiment."

"Oh! Umm…thanks!" Molly plopped down on the couch beside him, and she giggled as Sherlock leaned over, presenting his cheek so she could kiss it. She obliged him willingly before nestling into his side. "You had a pleasant afternoon then? You never made it back to the lab."

Sherlock reached over and muted her television. She was certain he had seen this episode of Jeremy Kyle already. "A pleasant afternoon indeed. I approve of Mary Morstan."

"You do?"

"She is very intelligent, witty, and a perfect match for John. Her aversion to blood is a problem, but neither John nor I plan on dragging her along to any cases, so it should not interfere with my work." Sherlock finally looked at Molly, smirking at the relieved look on her face. "Were you worried?"

"Honestly? Yes. You don't usually get along with change or new people. You're a bit like a cat." Sherlock's smirk quickly morphed into a pout, and Molly giggled, patting his curls. "Oh, don't sulk. I like cats!"

He bristled at her comment and then scrunched his nose. With disdain heavy in his voice, he said, "Cats have a keen sense of smell, and you smell like a morgue. Take a shower, will you?"

Molly sighed and rolled her eyes before pushing off the couch. She halted when Sherlock latched onto her wrist and carefully nuzzled her closed fist before pressing kisses to her knuckles. He looked at her from beneath his lashes, conveying no hard feelings. Molly sighed with mock annoyance before leaning down and kissing his forehead. "You're impossible," she whispered before pecking his mouth.

"The takeaway should be here by the end of your shower," Sherlock whispered as well, pressing one last kiss to her knuckles before dropping her hand. Molly smiled at him and Sherlock watched her walk back to her bedroom before smiling softly to himself and turning back to the television and unmuting it.

Fin.

BB/N: Hello! Sooooo..this drabble was inspired by two different things.

One, a setlock picture of Amanda Abbington hugging Benedict Cumberbatch. One of my headcanons is that Mary and Sherlock get along well, and Mary always greets Sherlock with a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

Two, visiting the Mary Morstan tag for the first time ever on Tumblr. (If you like Mary Morstan and you have a Tumblr, I suggest being careful when visiting that tag. A lot of obnoxious people don't know how to not tag their hate. It's completely ridiculous, and when I went there today, I had to wade through a lot of garbage in order to see some positive Mary posts!)

Anyway, thank you for reading and/or comments! I really appreciate it! :)