trashchildren | For Joan

Ted's already been pretty open about cooking being something he did for his mother when his father died. There's just a little more to it that that. His suicide really broke her, and for a while Ted felt like he was the only one holding everything together.

He could easily have hated cooking after that, bitter at having that responsibility. But no, he still loves it. He eventually learned to cook simply for fun, at that way it remained a good thing he could do for himself as well as other people, not just something he was forced into.

And it's obvious that he enjoys it too. He moves around the kitchen with a content purpose, gathering ingredients and mixing them together.

Joan loves seeing him content and happy, especially with everything that's been going on. Joan herself has never really gotten into cooking. While she certainly enjoys food (unlike Sherlock, she never sees it as merely fuel) she's never really dedicated the time to cooking. She usually has other things she'd rather spend her time doing, so the takeout restaurants nearby are very familiar with Joan and Sherlock, as are the takeout restaurants near the Brownstone back in New York.

The pain meds have kicked in too, so that's making it a lot easier to be bouncy and happy. He is vaguely aware that they do actually give him a mood booster beyond simply taking away the pain, and he hopes losing that won't be a problem. He's glad he's got Joan to help once that time comes.

"So what's on the schedule for today?" he asks them both, glancing back at them as he mixes stuff up in a bowl.

Sherlock is the first to speak.

"I've been in touch with Herbert, the medical examiner in charge of Chapman's case. They are amenable to our intentions to see that Chapman has a funeral and a dignified burial. However, for the sake of arrangements they recommend us coming to the morgue to make decisions in person. I would be willing to go alone, but as this is important to you..." He nods at Ted. "I thought I would ask that we go together."

Ted turns around fully to look at Sherlock when he mentions Turner. When he requests that Ted comes along, he nods, sobering a little bit. That won't be very enjoyable, but it's necessary and indeed important to him.

"What about you?" he asks Joan. It seems wasteful to spend her energy on going there, but if she's still having some trouble moving around, she might not want to be home alone.

Well, things had been calm and happy...

"I'm not sure I'm ready to be that active," she says. They could wheel her around if they really wanted to, but she suspects it's really more trouble than it's worth. "But you guys should definitely go."

"You could invite someone over," Ted suggests. He's sure she'd probably be fine on her own, just set her up with some food and a laptop. But until she can be more self-reliant, it would really reassure him a lot to have someone with her, in case something happens.

She can guess he's worried about leaving her alone, and she gets that. She's stronger now, but better safe than sorry.

"I haven't seen Beard in a while," Joan suggests.

"There you go!" Ted answers with a smile. He knows they connected a bit through everything that happened. Both with finding Ted, and him knowing to bring her to Ted when she was scared and wanted to leave. So it would be nice to let them hang out when things aren't so dire.

He turns back towards the counters, grabbing a pan and going about cooking things up, humming to himself. Not necessarily because he's feeling so delighted about the prospect, but because he refuses to let it spoil the mood.

Joan has become fond of Beard, in no small part because they were there for each other when Ted was in danger, and he helped both of them in times of crisis. She's been wanting to actually hang out with him just for the sake of spending time together.

As Ted busies himself with cooking, Sherlock gets up and locates plates and silverware, setting the table with three place settings.

French toast doesn't take terribly long to make at least, so soon enough they've all got drinks and food on their plates and Ted can sit down.

It's delicious and simple, though it does make Ted a bit nostalgic. "I used to make this a lot for Henry."

It tastes wonderful, and Joan can't help a happy little sigh as she chews her first mouthful.

She smiles at Ted's comment. "Henry is lucky to have such a great dad," she remarks gently.

Ted smiles at that. It's always reassuring to hear. Especially now when he's half a world away, and he can't be there in person very often.

"Oh, right," he says, realizing he only mentioned it to Sherlock, but Joan was already asleep. "I spoke to Michelle about Henry coming over for a week or so. He's got a vacation coming up."

"Mmm?" Joan swallows and smiles with excitement. "That would be great! I'd love to meet him! We could set him up in the bedroom upstairs. Or we could take that one and he could stay down here."

She'll be so happy to finally meet Ted's son, and looks forward to having a child around, even if it's only for a short while.

"Depends how my leg's doing by then, I suppose," Ted agrees, looking forward to stairs not being such a challenge. He can't remember exactly when he's taking the cast off, but it was only a mild fracture so it might be alright by then. He hopes his ribs are doing better too, because he'd very much like to pick Henry up and hug him without worrying about hurting himself.

"It's nice there's two bedrooms here though," he adds, looking forward to it. It had been nice sharing the bed with Michelle and Henry, but he doesn't think Henry will want to do that with Joan, not until they know each other better. If at all. He does hope Henry becomes fond of Joan, but he's obviously not going to expect them to be as close as he is to his mom.

"It is extremely spacious for a London apartment," she says with a smile. She definitely wouldn't expect Henry to feel comfortable enough with her to share a bed, not right off and perhaps not at all. She wants him to be as comfortable as possible, and won't encroach on his space or his relationship with his dad. She knows it's hard for children of divorce to come to terms with their parents' separation, much less with a new partner or spouse. She hopes she and Henry can have a good relationship eventually, but she knows it might take time.

Henry was obviously a big factor when it came to splitting up. But he knows it's better for a child to have parents who are no longer together, than to have their parents constantly making each other unhappy, even if they don't mean to do so. It just took a while to accept that they had reached that point.

"Yeah, right now it's a bit too spacious, honestly," Ted observes. "We should work on making it a bit cozier." Ted's own apartment doesn't really have that much of his personal touch either, but at least it was pretty cozy to begin with. Not sterile and empty corporate housing. This place is charming in its own way too, but still a little bit empty.

The place is pretty empty, especially since Joan is used to the Brownstone or 221B, which are both full of the most odd and wonderful things.

"We should go shopping," she says in agreement, looking around. "Bookshelves would be nice. Some art for the walls. Maybe replace some of the furniture if we find things we like better."

Sherlock did a great job of setting the place up on short notice, but if they're going to live here it's good to make it theirs.

Joan shakes her head a little, looking toward the living room. "Wow," she murmurs softly, mostly to herself.

Ted will probably have a slightly less eccentric way of filling this place up than Sherlock. Ted hasn't been to 221B a lot, but he's seen some of those oddities.

He hums in agreement to the suggestion of shopping. He doesn't mind the furniture. But he'll have to have a poke around upstairs to see what other rooms there are. Maybe they could have a den for snuggling up and watching TV. He imagines late evening planning sessions with the other coaches will still happen down at his other apartment, for convenience.

"Mmmm?" he asks curiously at Joan shaking her head.

Joan is a bit lost in thought, so she blinks as his hum brings her back. "Mmm? Oh. I was just thinking that it usually takes me a while to make a place my own. When I was a sober companion, I lived with my clients, so I didn't really have a space of my own." She gives Sherlock a glance and a smile. "Professional nomad," she says, echoing his words from a long time ago. "I got used to not really personalizing the places where I lived, sort of subconsciously expecting that I wouldn't be there long. But here...I'm looking forward to making this place ours."

Ted is obviously touched by that. Especially because he knows she wasn't intending to stay in London long, before she met him.

"Me too," he agrees softly. For Ted it's a little different. It's not that he got used to doing it, it's that when he moved here he expected to go back to Kansas, to his wife and kid. He still does, a little - though not for Michelle, obviously.

But despite considering they might one day move somewhere else, whether it's Kansas or New York, it's not that he so badly wants to make this specifically a permanent place, so much that he wants to make a home with Joan. He wants them to find out what makes them both happy in living together.

She hadn't expected to be in London longer than a few days, a week at most, when she met Ted and everything changed. What their future holds for them is still an open question, with so many possibilities of where they might physically end up. What matters is that they make a life together, and making a place theirs is just a physical manifestation of that.

"What about you, Sherlock?" Ted asks. "Do you miss New York, or do you prefer London?"

He knows Sherlock's priority is simply to be wherever Joan is, and where they can both do some good together, but he wants to know beyond that.

Ted is absolutely correct that Sherlock's priority is his partnership with Watson, and always will be.

"I at one time considered London to be my passion," he says, setting down his silverware on his empty plate. "And New York to be a place of exile. However, things have since changed, quite significantly. The people who are important in my life are, for the most part, in New York. London remains as fascinating a city as ever, but there is something missing."

Ted nods in understanding. Another reason to consider moving to New York at some point. But Ted definitely has unfinished business at Richmond. He won't quit that until he's convinced they'll be alright without him. Both professionally and personally speaking.

"Marcus and Gregson?" he asks. He knows they're the ones they work with the most.

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