Archive of Our Own ^beta

John looked up from the little table he sat at as the bell on the coffee shop door jingled, and he did a little double take as she walked in.

It was Mary. The nurse his practice had hired the previous month. 

She strolled over to the pastry display, undoing the top clasp of her overcoat and tucking her short blonde hair behind her ears as she perused the options for a minute.

John hadn’t seen her in the office all that much since she’d started, both of them being rather busy. They’d made a brief introduction initially, and John had been instantly knocked off balance by her sparkling blue eyes and dazzling smile. But after that they hadn’t talked much at all. She always seemed laser focused at the office, so John had to admit a little thrill at seeing her somewhere more casual. Perhaps this would finally be the opportunity to chat more easily. 

He got up, straightening his shoulders and clearing his throat as she finished at the register and headed to the other end of the counter to wait for his order.

“Mary, right? I’m Dr John Watson. We met recently.” John flashed her a smile as she turned. “Funny running into you here.”

She gave him a quick smile, letting out a short laugh. “Is it? The practice is right across the street. You must come here pretty often.”

John laughed a little, trying not to get thrown off. “Right, right. Well, yeah, I suppose I do. Don’t think I’ve seen you here before though.” He took a split second to give her a more pointed look, dropping his voice. “I definitely would have remembered.”

He could practically see Sherlock rolling his eyes. 

Mary inclined her head slightly, lips pursed. “Would you? Well…how flattering. So, is that why you were staring at me for a solid two minutes when I first walked in?”

John’s jaw fell slack and his tongue fumbled with any possible response as he questioned whether this woman had eyes in the back of her head. She ended up being quicker with a follow up, laughing lightly and giving him a little wink as she spoke again.

“I’m just teasing. It probably wasn’t more than a minute and a half.”

John did his best to laugh along, nervously rocking on his heels and shoving his hands into his trouser pockets. This was going…less than perfectly.

“Here you go,” the barista said, sliding over Mary’s coffee and a box with a pastry inside.

Deciding to make one more attempt at conversation, John gestured to the box. 

“Theirs is some of the best in the area, if you haven’t tried it yet. The custard is rich and creamy and the pastry is so perfectly flaky. Definitely one of the best things I’ve put in my mouth.” 

He could not ignore yet another eye roll from the best friend that now lived only in his head.

“This is for one of the other nurses,” she replied instantly. “I’m not much for sweet things myself.” She took a sip of her coffee. “In fact, I take my coffee black.”

John nodded slowly, disappointed but reading her loud and clear and beginning to compose some sort of retreat. He was about to tell her to have a good day when she caught him completely off guard.

“It’s been a while, has it?” Mary asked, leaning in and lowering her voice.

John tilted his head. “Sorry, what?”

“If you were hoping to get my number, you could have just said. But it’s ok, no shame in being a little rusty.”

His brow shot up, dumbfounded once again, and now a bit insulted as well. He nearly countered with the fact that he’d had a date just about every week for the past month, but again, she was quicker. 

“Here,” Mary said, reaching in her pocket, pulling out her card, and slipping it into the front pocket of this shirt and giving a little pat against the fabric. “Call me sometime if you’d like to have a real conversation.”

“I uh-“ He cleared his throat. “Yeah, sure, absolutely.”

She gave him one more little wink. “See you later, John.”

John stayed rooted in place as she walked away, blinking for a second as he processed what had just happened and mouthed to himself in question, “ Rusty ?”