He pulled out Mary’s chair for her as John prepared the tea in the way that each of them liked it. Sherlock’s – black, two sugars, Mary’s – cream and two sugars, and his own – cream and no sugar. Handing out the cups, John sat down and addressed Sherlock with a smile that was too broad not to be a little bit forced.
“Any interesting cases as of late?”
“Not particularly, only the usual. Murders, suicides, affairs, kidnappings. Boring,” he intoned, spreading a bit of jam on a cracker and taking a bite as he nodded his head toward John.
“How’s the job going?”
“Good. Ah, good. Yes. There’s some right interesting people that come in.”
John took a quick sip of tea, burning his tongue but trying ever so hard not to show it as he instead focused on the crackers. Sherlock smiled. He should really know better.
A small beeping came from the kitchen and Mary set her teacup down.
“That’ll be the pie. Be back in a moment.”
“Don’t rush on my account,” Sherlock said politely, catching her eye as she stood. Take your time. I need a moment with John, alone.
Mary nodded once, her eyes darting to John briefly, and edged around the corner of the table. Sherlock watched Mary out of the corner of his eye until she had left the room, and then he straightened, turning sharply to John.
“Why are you ignoring her?” he demanded, keeping his voice quiet. John almost choked on his tea, coughing once as he placed the cup down.
“Come again?”
“Mary. Your wife. You are ignoring her. Why.”
“Sherlock, her name isn’t Mary…”
“Does that really matter, Wats-”
“YES, Sherlock, it most certainly DOES matter,” the Doctor cut him off, his words hissed through gritted teeth so the woman in the other room wouldn’t hear.
Not that it would do much good, as Sherlock’s ears caught the slightly higher-pitched squeak of the floorboard near the kitchen doorway. Mary was listening in.
“You don’t seem to grasp the fact that she lied to me, and on top of that she shot you-“
“Don’t be absurd, John, it was a calculated shot.”
“Still! She-” John paused, taking a gulping breath and ducking his head as he realized how much he’d raised the volume of his voice. “She wasn’t supposed to be like that…”
“Yes, how unfortunate,” he drolled, eyes doing another quick visual sweep of the room, “You have managed to find another incredibly intelligent and capable being that wishes only for your protection and happiness. What an inconvenience for you. It is still desperately unfair of you to keep her on like this, though.”