I am awoken in the morning by my mother by my side lightly tapping my shoulder. The sunlight is seeping through the curtains and I take a deep breath. Sitting up with my hair falling softly against my skin, I rub my eyes. "Good morning, Duck" she added softly. I groan and stretch out my arms "'Morning, Mumma" My eyes dart around the room once I notice something is missing here "Where has En- Tabitha gone?"
"Oh, she's just downstairs eating some breakfast, she woke up quite early. She's very keen to solve her case." I nod. Yeah, that sounds about right. "What time is it?" my voice is very raspy, I think I slept funny, that will surely make me feel sick later. "It's 7 O'clock. Plenty of time to get prettied up for this fellow detective." I simply scoff at her taunts this time and she practically drags me out of my bed. We dally downstairs together and head to the kitchen where I pour a big glass of water and chug it within 5 seconds. "Bit thirsty are you?" Father says in a teasing way, he pokes my ribs and I simply squeak back in response. Enola watched us closely, looking almost sad, I suppose she would miss her father.
"So, Y/N, are you excited about your grand ball tonight?" Charlotte pipes in as she sips her tea. "Yes, what's not exciting about bringing a case closer to the conclusion? Especially when your adversary could not do it before your arrival. No offence Enola" she laughs as she grabs some bread that Anna is putting on the table "Oh. None took, my brother, can be a pain most of the time." Everyone has a chuckle Charlotte swings her head towards Enola"Brother?" Both of us had forgotten about her fake identity, Tabatha Timothy. We shared a quickly panicked glance, but she decided to come clean. "My name is not Tabatha Timothy. I am Enola Holmes..." their mouths gaped open, and eyes wide, as if they were cod fish.
"Yes, she is his sister. Which is far better than what I had first assumed" She raised a brow as she swallowed some bread.
"What was it you assumed?"
"Oh...nothing that matters now" I smile and sip some tea a bit too loud.
"So, how come we got a fake name?" Mother's tone was stern, she could be quite protective, even if the possible threat is a small teenager. Enola looked at me worriedly, it was quite an awkward predicament. I am unsure of how trustworthy my family can be with that information, mostly because we've never had to deal with such things before. Luckily, after Enola explained her police pursuit, they were all quick to side with Enola and promised not to tell anyone about her whereabouts.
We ate the rest of our meals in peaceful silence., with Enola sometimes giving me the odd glance. Honestly, I was thankful I didn't need to explain how I thought she was Sherlock's wife. I was more surprised she didn't figure it out herself.
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When our meal was over I checked the time, 7:20 a.m. I had to get ready. I asked another maid to draw me a bath while I collected my toiletries. I will not lie, I was feeling slightly nervous about attending the ball, I am not a great socialiser if you could not tell. My occupation has made me ostracized by the typical Brit.
Whilst in the bath I couldn't help but think about the dream I had last night, the way I felt, was it real or fiction? I read that dreams are supposed to hold some sort of significance, so what is this? I already know I do not possess any admiration for him, it was most likely a manifestation of stress, of things I do not want to happen. Yes. That is exactly right. I only met him yesterday.
Now that I have the conundrum dealt with I can get dressed. I put on a lavender-coloured dress and tied my hair in a neat, braided bun. I looked at myself in the mirror, I should get some makeup but that can wait for the ball, for now, I may look like a lovely ghoul. "Y/N the carriage is here!" Mother calls out from the living room.
"Coming!" I race down the stairs and collect Enola on my way out. "Oh! Mother, do you mind taking care of Archie for a few days? I will be coming back and forth, he needs consistency." I have no other plan if she declines by the way.
"Oh yes, I will gladly take care of my first grandson" She chuckles and kisses my cheek as we say goodbye once again.
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Back in the city, I see us coming up on Baker Street and there's a perfect gloomy shadow over apartment 221B. Even the sun dislikes him as much as I. Enola and I get out of the carriage and thank the driver as we start to walk away. "I just remembered, I saw you with Sherlock the other night. When he was drunk." her eyes widened again "Oh yes! I remember you, you bumped into us." I sigh "Yep. I did. To be fair your brother is very large, it's hard not to bump into him."
She snickers at my remark and looks to the floor "He thought it was on purpose. He recognized you, said he knew of your reputation" Sherlock Holmes knew who I was? "My reputation? What kind of reputation would that be?" I have a feeling I do not wish to see the answer, but my curiosity is too intense.
"Nothing I consider bad. Semi-famous detective, brilliant, beautiful, a bit holistic."
"Holistic?! why ever would they think that? " she avoids eye contact, probably thinking I'm offended by her saying it or some such thing "Well, you were wearing pants. In London society, they seem to scream scandal out of even smaller things."
"Hm, I suppose that is true. Well, reputations can be most misleading, for example, you're brother seems to have an excellent one... and look how he truly is." We arrive at Sherlock's door and I look at my watch quickly. 8:50 a.m. is Close enough. I knock on his door and he is swift to answer "You're early" he eyes me and is visibly surprised to see his sister by my side "Fashionably. Now, may I come in? This ball gown is surprisingly heavy." He steps away, allowing us to enter his still annoyingly messy home.
"Enola, I thought you were supposed to be keeping a low profile?" His eyes shift between the two of us. "I am, I found your partner by accident and she allowed me to stay with her for the night" We look at each other then both nod toward him, to which he simply rolls his eyes and grabs his pipe.
"She is not my partner, she is a separate detective who I am stuck working with"
"I'm right here. You know Sherlock, you're not exactly pleasant to work with either but at least I have had the decency to keep it to myself." Enola stifles a laugh "Shh" He tilts his head in annoyance and I mimic, he was about to speak before a knock at the door came. We both look to Enola and usher for her to hide, Sherlock lifts his board map where a large space for her to climb into. He draws his face close to mine and whispers "Go along with everything I do, we have not seen Enola, you have not met her. Understand?" I nod silently, trying to ignore the familiar feeling, like in my dream.
He answers the door and a familiar face appears "Hello Mr Holmes. Lestrade of Scotland Yard, you remember me I hope?" he pauses in position waiting for Sherlock's reply, but after brooding tension, he glances at me and smiles "Miss L/N, wonderful to see you" I bow my heads slightly with a soft smile and he comes inside with Sherlock hesitantly shutting the door.
"We're looking for your sister, she's caused a bit of trouble. Have you seen her?" he's examining the room as if it's a fine art gallery. Sherlock is following two steps behind, clearly trying not to seem bothered about him touching everything. Lestrade is too cluelessly kind to be told off. He wanders over to the area of the board, where Sherlock's string of clues is, and where his sister is stuffed behind.
"What exactly is it you believe my sister has done?"
The whole experience felt like a long dragged-out opera death. Lestrade kept prodding for information on our case, to which Sherlock gave the vaguest of descriptions, "a government case, blackmail. Now you." Luckily, it was enough to get Lestrade to ease up. Sherlock led the detective out the door, being quick to shut it and rush over to his sister. He opened the board without warning and she went tumbling. "My apologies, I should have wanted you I was opening it" His face lit up with an unfamiliar look of mischief. He reached his hand out for her to grab but she smacked it away with her hat. She stood up and raised a brow
"A government case? Four words and you still told him more than you told me."
YOU ARE READING
My Genius Rival
Fanfiction[SLOW ASF UPDATES BUT STILL GOING I PROMISE] You're a lady detective in London. But, you can't seem to get many good cases as Sherlock Holmes gets offered them all. He is your enemy, but you get an idea to steal his case. This backfires and you are...
