for Sherry

[formoftherapy]

Kite made it to Christmas break alive, which still feels like an accomplishment. (Sunnydale habits are hard to break.)

She's using the time to get through the rest of her grandmother's journals and the bar seemed like as good a reading room as any. Kite has laid claim to one of the couches, legs sprawled across the cushions and a coffee mug on the floor beside her.

Comments

[if_inconvenient]

"Empty flattery. I am the furthest thing from wise."

[formoftherapy]

"You're too hard on yourself. So flattery gets me nowhere, huh?"

[if_inconvenient]

"Well, I did not say I minded."

[formoftherapy]

"Ah. Good to know."

[if_inconvenient]

He raises his eyebrows slightly.

[formoftherapy]

She blinks innocently.

"What?"

[if_inconvenient]

"Nothing," he says, with no expectation of being believed.

[formoftherapy]

Now it's her turn for the skeptical eyebrow raise.

[if_inconvenient]

"What am I like?" he asks, which is a complete non sequitur unless you know how Sherlock's mind works, and a bit of a leap even then.

[formoftherapy]

"Not afraid of a complicated question, for one thing."

She pauses, gathering her answer.

"Infuriating," is how she decides to start. (She can't quite say it without grinning, though.)

"Private. Ten steps ahead of everybody. You make me worry and you make me laugh. You're one of my best friends."

That's about all there is to it.

[if_inconvenient]

"That sounds about right," he murmurs.

[formoftherapy]

Kite grins.

"I did good, then."

[if_inconvenient]

Slowly, thoughtfully, he grins back.

[formoftherapy]

"Any other questions?"

[if_inconvenient]

His hand touches his throat. "You've done this to me, haven't you."

[formoftherapy]

(talk to me, Sherry)


"Yes," she says softly.

[if_inconvenient]

"More amicably, I hope," he says with a dry smile.

[formoftherapy]

She laughs, short and sharp.

"Considerably more."

[if_inconvenient]

"Oh, good."

[formoftherapy]

"It was."

[if_inconvenient]

He smiles.

[formoftherapy]

"What about you then--Sunnydale or New York?"

[if_inconvenient]

"Sunnydale. But I am aware of a timeline where we stayed, hence asking."

[formoftherapy]

She nods.

"I met one you from one of those. He was a vampire."

[if_inconvenient]

"—From one of those?"

Oh, Obadiah. How silly you are when it comes to assassination.

Not that he doesn't have a guess: "And how did he get that way?"