"John, do us a favor will you?"

"Us?"

"Go tell the woman following us to stop."

John Watson stopped in his tracks, turning to his friend in surprise.

"The what?"

Now Sherlock Holmes peered at the shorter man, seeming surprised himself.

"You didn't notice her, John?" John was dumbstruck.

"No... no of course I didn't. Are you sure there's someone following us?" The answer was clear in the look that Sherlock shot him.

"Alright then... Who exactly is it that's following us?"

"Young woman in a white jacket, a couple blocks back."

"A couple-!" John turned about, looking hard for the woman that Sherlock had described. Finally he spotted her. Several blocks behind them.

"How on earth did you notice?" he cried. Sherlock said nothing, merely gave him another look. "Alright alright, but are you sure? I don't want to harass some poor innocent girl."

"Of course I'm sure," replied Sherlock condescendingly. Had John been less mature than he was, he might have blown a raspberry at the haughty man. As it was, he merely pursed his lips and turned around, walking back to meet the woman.

When he and she had bridged the distance between them, John saw that she was in fact very young. Late teens, early twenties perhaps. The woman did not seem at all surprised that John approached her in the way that he did.

"Uh, excuse me," he began, attempting to be polite. "My friend has noticed you following us and has asked that you please stop."

The girl rolled her eyes and scoffed a bit, though by her small smile it was clear that she was in good spirits.

"Of course he noticed. He's Sherlock Holmes, not some dull idiot."

At this, John looked away in aggravation. Didn't he get enough of this type of abuse from Sherlock? Now some random girl in the street was calling him names?

With a start, the girl qualified herself.

"Not to say that you're an idiot if you didn't notice me. Sorry, that's not at all what I meant. It's just that he's Sherlock Holmes."

"I know he's Sherlock Holmes," replied John, still mildly annoyed, "How do you know that?"

The girl smiled at him.

"I'd like to meet him," she said simply. John's eyebrows rose slightly at her blunt request. Well honestly, it sounded more like a command than a request.

"Uh, no," said John after a moment. "That is... out of the question."

"Why?"

"Because I know nothing about you except that you somehow know Sherlock Holmes and you're following us. Not exactly much to go on."

"Tell me Doctor..." she said, a teasing glint in her eyes, "Do I pose any threat? Do I have any weapons on me?"

"How do you know that I'm a doctor?" asked John stiffly.

"You think that I could know who Sherlock Holmes is and not know who Dr. John Watson is? Please. Just answer the question Doctor." John shifted uncomfortably and gazed at her up and down, though he'd already observed her quite enough to know the answer.

"No."

"No," she repeated with a smile. Her tone was friendly, not at all snotty or rude.

Well that's only one point in her favor, thought John. Suddenly a beep sounded in John's pocket. Pulling out his phone, John pulled up his new text.

The sun is sinking. Send her away, come on.

SH

"Is that him?" asked the girl excitedly. "What's he say?" John looked at her sharply, feeling very uncomfortable with her adamant interest in his best friend.

"Sorry, but that's none of your business," he replied bluntly. Still smiling kindly, the girl shrugged.

"Well alright. But I'm not going to leave, so you may as well go back to him. I'll stay back here, it's fine. Although it is a bit rude of you."

"A bit rude of me?" repeated John, forcing himself to keep his voice calm, despite the incredulity that he truly felt. "And how do you figure that?"

"Well you know that I'm following you, so it would really be much more polite to invite me to walk with you."

John was so stunned by her reasoning that his jaw dropped open a bit as though he were about to speak, but no words came out. Shaking his head slightly, John quickly turned on his heel and walked away, back to Sherlock.

"You didn't send her away," Sherlock said immediately. "I told you to send her away."

"She won't!" exclaimed John in frustration. "She refused to go."

Sherlock's brow crinkled in his look of confusion and he turned to gaze at the girl who had come to a standstill a block or so away.

"Why?" he slowly murmured aloud.

"Well you can't honestly be that surprised," said John. "She's following us. Why would she stop just because you ask her to?"

"Most people would feel uncomfortable after being discovered and would abandon whatever they were doing," stated Sherlock, "So why is she not?"

"Well she didn't seem surprised at all that you noticed her," offered John, "She expected it in fact. She obviously doesn't care that you know."

After a moment Sherlock tore his eyes away from the puzzling young woman and began to walk once more, keeping his silence. John thought about inquiring into Sherlock's own thoughts, but he refrained. More often than not it was a better idea just to let Sherlock mull through things on his own.

Please review, I really do appreciate it and find it very helpful. I hope you enjoyed it! Or are at least interested enough to keep reading. Thanks!