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Joan woke to the sound of the violin screeching through the flat. She blearily looked over at her alarm clock, only to groan when she saw that it read 3:42am. Christ. She knew she'd have a hard time getting back to sleep now, despite the fact that she'd been up for almost two days straight helping Sheryl with one of her cases. Really, Sheryl was the cause of most of her problems. Joan decided that she needed to have a talk with her insufferable flatmate. But first she needed tea. She heaved herself out of bed and trudged down the stairs, already dreading what she was about to do. But really, what choice did she have? She needed to sleep and Sheryl needed to learn to respect that.
Sheryl drew the bow across her violin once more as she listened to Joan's heavy footsteps descend the staircase. Apparently she had woken her flatmate. Again. Really, she couldn't have been playing that loudly. Of course, she supposed, Joan must be a light sleeper after the military. Somehow she had forgotten to take that into account.
She glanced up to see Joan's deep blue eyes glaring at her from beneath long lashes. A bit not good then. Joan would probably insist on doing something tedious like having a talk with her. She hoped it wouldn't take too long. She had important thinking to do, after all.
Joan walked into the kitchen, calling out over her shoulder, "Tea?"
"No," came Sheryl's response.
Joan ignored her and pulled out two (hopefully) clean mugs. She set the kettle and waited a few minutes for it to boil. She then poured the water over the tea bags and let it steep. Once the milk and sugar had been added Joan carried the mugs into the sitting room and placed one on the coffee table where Sheryl ignored it.
"We need to talk," Joan informed her dark haired flatmate as she settled herself into her chair.
"Boring," came the expected response.
"I'm serious, Sheryl. You can't keep waking me up like this."
"I didn't mean to," Sheryl muttered.
"Sorry, what?" Joan questioned incredulously, not believing what she had heard.
"I said I didn't mean to. I miscalculated."
"Miscalculated?"
"Yes Joan, I just said that. There's no need to repeat me."
"What do you mean you miscalculated? You never miscalculate anything." Joan stated.
Honestly, she was more surprised that Sheryl had admitted to making a mistake than anything else. Almost surprised enough to forgive her.
"I didn't realize that a noise of that volume would be enough to wake you, especially after how little sleep you've had these past few days. I somehow forgot to factor in how light a sleeper you undoubtably are after being in the military. I'm, I'm sorry, alright?" Sheryl exploded in one breath.
It had been so quick that Joan had almost missed the apology at the very end. But not quite. A slow smile spread across her face as she realized that her flatmate had actually apologized for something.
"I'll forgive you," Joan started, an idea taking form, "I'll forgive you if you help me go back to sleep. I'm exhausted but there's no way I'll fall asleep again if I go back upstairs now."
"What do you want me to do?" Sheryl's voice sounded wary.
Joan grinned mischievously as she moved to lie down on the couch.
"Play something for me. Something peaceful."
Sheryl was still holding her violin so she slowly started playing again, something that had made Joan seem relaxed in the past. She played until she heard the breathing from the couch even out and deepen. Then she stopped and turned around, studying her friend's sleeping face. She moved to get her duvet from her bedroom, not wanting Joan to get cold. As she wrapped the shorter woman in the blanket she paused for a moment, considering. Surely sleeping on the couch would make Joan's shoulder stiff and sore in the morning? So Sheryl did the only sensible thing and carried her sleeping flatmate to her own bed, laying her down gently. She paused again and decided that she should probably sleep too. Joan would want her to. So she lay down next to Joan's limp body, reasoning with herself. It was her bed. She had every right to sleep here. She studied Joan's face until she felt herself drifting off as well, more relaxed and comfortable than she had been in a long time.
Joan woke with the scent of Sheryl heavy in her nose. There was also something warm pressed up against her. She turned her head to see Sheryl deeply asleep beside her. She smiled to herself. It seemed last night had gone far better than she had dared to hope for. She snuggled back into her flatmate's bed and fell asleep once more.