Physical: Sherlock x fem!Reader x Moriarty

Chapter 2 - Old and new book store

Straightening out your blouse you take a deep breath and open the book store door, a small ring accompanying your action. "Hello? Ida?"

"Y/n? Oh hello!" A small old lady walked out from behind the counter, she had large spectacles and wore floral clothing, almost reminding you of Martha. "I'm so glad you're here," you give a soft smile and follow her to the counter. "I still don't understand why such an over qualified woman like you would want to work in an old bookstore like this,"

"If I didn't get into university I would've opened up my own bookstore... something about working in a bookstore keeps me happy," she tilts her head. "Don't get me wrong, I'm happy solving cases, but sometimes there's a few things you need a break from," she gives an understanding nod before showing you how to work the register.

"The register may jam at times but I hope it doesn't cause any trouble for you," you nod as she points to different parts of the store. "Feel free to do what you want, we don't get a lot of customers," giving a sad smile she pats your hand before grabbing her purse. "I will be back in a few hours,"

"Alright, see you later," you wave her goodbye. Looking around the store you notice it wasn't in the best shape, finding the cleaning cupboard from the back you place in your earphones before getting work. Sweeping the floor you happily hum the tunes filling your ears, as the dust piled up in the pan you emptied it out before continuing the process around the entire store. Once that was done you take a duster and take out books from a shelf and clean it out before placing the clean books back in alphabetical order for each genre.

~~~

"I'm back-" when Ida places down her bags she looks around at the clean and polished store. "What..." peak from behind a shelf you take out your earphones and smile.

"Hi! Sorry, I just thought I could clean while you were gone considering no one came in," seeing her ready eyes you drop the broom and rush over. "Oh god, what wrong? Is it bad that I cleaned it? I-" the old woman was quick to take you into a hug which made your heart swell.

"Thank you so much..." hugging her back you pull back and hold her at arms length, handing her a tissue. "It looks exactly how it did when I first opened the store," she walks around the store. "Did you sort the books out?" You nod and place her bags on the counter.

"I hope you don't mind that I redid the genre signs, they were a little faded," you point to the new signs written in perfect cursive.

"It's beautiful... you didn't have to do any of this..." you shake your head.

"I did, this bookstore deserves to be filled with people everyday," taking the cleaning materials you place them back in the cupboard before turning to the woman who was still awestruck. "Oh! That reminds me, I think tomorrow I will have that register fixed,"

"How? This is thing I'd almost as old as me!" Chuckling you shrug.

"I have a contact who specialises in antiques, sent him a picture and he said he has a part that will fix it," you point to the open part of the register. "This little part here has rusted so everything is kinda broken, it's hard to find an exact piece because it was made so long ago-" you turn to Ida who had tears streaming down her face. "Oh, don't cry, hey," you hand her another tissue to which she gladly takes and wipes away tears.

"Thank you so much, Y/n, you're an angel," giving a tilted smile you shake your head.

"I wouldn't exactly call myself that," she takes you into another hug but stops when the bell rings. An older man walks into the store holding a small satchel. "Hi, welcome to Old and New books, how can I help you?" As Ida turns around her eyes brighten up in delight.

"Victor, hi," you could sense a slight joy from both sides, obviously he was a widow a few years older than her, historian or something along those lines.

"Hi, Ida, got any Magritte books?" So art historian...

"Oh, yes, I have one in the back, it came in yesterday," your boss quickly walked to the back and came out with a large book with the artists name on the front cover. "Here you go," the man smiles fondly, more at the woman than the book. Watching the interaction you grin to yourself. As the man pays for the book and leaves the store hesitantly, you could tell he wanted to ask her something. Ida watched as the man walked down the street.

"Oh young love," you mumble loud enough for her to hear.

"Oh quiet you," grinning you walk behind the counter and grab your bag, seeing the clock slowly turn to the end of your shift.

"I will see you tomorrow, that register will be fixed and..." you point to the outside of the store. "If you'll let me, in a week or so, we can get rid of that faded chipped paint outside and replace it,"

"Really?" You nod. "Why are you doing this? Your job is to just give customers change and bag books,"

"There no use in having a book store if there aren't people to appreciate the wonders inside," you give Ida one last hug before opening the door. "Bye!" Leaving the more than ecstatic old lady you happily walk down the street towards the flat, ready for dinner and good nights sleep.

~~~

I feel like good books/movies have little side stories, so Ida and Victor will be something like that! I'm not sure how this book is going to go but hopefully it will go well! ❤️

- Anna ❤️