if_inconvenient | (no subject)

Bella is running low on options.

The sad fact is, solving mysteries requires resources. The more complex they are, the more resources are required.

Bella's mystery-solving resources are: herself and her ability to think; the sum of money she did not end up having to spend on a car; the Internet; the library; Charlie.

Her ability to think is unhelpful without fresh material. She's exhausted what the library has to offer and if the internet has anything relevant, it's well-hidden from search engines. Her money is too small an amount to do anything useful in this instance, like function as a bribe or fund any real travelling; beside which, she'd rather save it in case she needs it for something more important. Charlie is likewise a resource to be held in reserve - she can get him to answer questions he shouldn't sometimes, but only if she is very careful about how and when and how often she asks.

She hasn't given up yet. She's too fascinated to give up. Someone just springing into existence, an exact physical copy of someone else - how could she give up on that?

But she's hitting a lot of walls that she lacks the ability to make disappear, and eventually she'll have to admit that it's either give up or find another resource.

All of which flashes through her mind, briefly, as she enters the Biology classroom and takes a seat next to her partner.

He glances up from his folded hands and smiles at her.

"Afternoon, Bella."

(Jarvis has not yet seen fit to mention the recent flurry of interesting search terms coming out of a local IP.)

Bella smiles back.

(Sherlock himself, of course, is the obvious untapped resource. There are any number of reasons why she is unwilling to ask him just yet.)

"Afternoon, Sherlock."

"I'm pondering an ethical dilemma," he says casually. "Perhaps you can help."

. . . the irony of that is not lost on Bella.

"Perhaps," she says gamely.

"Suppose you know someone whom you suspect is lying to you about information that could affect you substantially. How would you balance their obligation to honesty against your own obligation to trust, as both increase with the depth of your acquaintance, in deciding whether or not to believe them and what to do about it if you don't?"

No, he has no problem asking that question to Bella. No, he has no problem asking that question in James Mayer's class.

Bella eyes him a little, but the question, once she's untangled that sentence, is easy enough to answer.

"If someone is lying to you," she says, "you find out what and why. You're not obligated to trust someone who's not telling you the truth."

The part about depth of acquaintance reminds her, though - if she does decide to ask him, she'll have to do it soon, before they can form any kind of real friendship. If she waits too long, and they do become friends, revealing what she knows and that she went behind his back to find it out will very likely ruin things.

He smiles.

"No, but if you know someone well it is generally considered polite to pursue other explanations before assuming the lie, as I understand it."

Sherlock's view of these matters is a little different from most people's.

"It sounds to me like you're already assuming the lie," Bella says. "You don't want to, but you are."

She reaches into her backpack as she talks, pulling out the binder and textbook for the class.

"You're really just trying to decide whether your assumption is valid. What's the logic behind it?"

"I suppose that means I am not going to get away with pretending this is a hypothetical quandary," he says wryly. "The evidence is circumstantial at best, and it concerns a private matter. I would be happy to discuss it with you in greater detail after class."

If Bella were the type of person to believe that the universe is a benevolent entity eager to nudge its inhabitants into taking the wisest possible course of action, she'd be positive right now that it was giving her a sign.

She isn't, but she is able to recognize the best opening she's going to get when it's handed to her on a silver platter.

"Okay," she says after a few seconds' thought. "I have a similar matter I'd like to discuss. Should we meet after school?"

"By all means," Sherlock agrees. "How does the north door suit you? It's near the room you have English in, I believe."

Bella still isn't entirely familiar with the building's layout. She presumes, however, that Sherlock is. And that he appears to have memorized where at least one of her other classes is.

But then, maybe she doesn't have the highest ground when it comes to accusing others of vaguely stalkerish behavior.

So all she says is,

"I think I know the one you mean."

"And I will hardly have any trouble finding you if you get lost. North door it is, then."

"I'll meet you there."

She is not looking forward to this. There is no reason to think that alerting Sherlock to her search will do anything other than permanently cut off any other avenues she might have tried. Then she'll never know the answer, and she hates that.

But. It is a question of ethics. She's known that from the beginning, which is why her need for knowledge isn't the only reason why she doesn't want to ask him about it. She's also worried about how he'll react, because she likes him and wants him to like (to keep liking) her, and she wouldn't care about that if she didn't know perfectly well that he will have a very valid reason to be upset with her.

Which is probably the best reason of all to tell him before she finds herself caught in some ridiculous soap opera-esque feedback loop of lies. It was, when she started out, the best way to improve her odds of getting what she wanted, but those odds are rapidly dwindling, and Bella will not let herself be someone who refuses to adapt when a situation changes.

Sherlock gives her a thoughtful look.

He can tell there is something going on there, but in this case the best possible way to find out will be to wait and ask.

In the meantime, paying attention to class is always an option.

That it is.

With some effort, Bella is able to put aside her concerns and focus for the rest of the day. A lot of the material her classes are getting into now that the school year is truly underway is familiar, but she doesn't remember all of it clearly enough to get away with daydreaming too much, and some classes are more open to a teacher's interpretation of the curriculum. English is one of them.

When the school day is over, Bella heads right for the nearest door, which is the one Sherlock was most likely talking about.

It is.

He's waiting there for her, leaning against the wall just inside the door and reading a book.

"Hi," Bella says as she approaches him.

"Your house or mine?"

"Mine, by preference," he says, without looking up at first. "Unless you would find it distracting."

When he finishes the sentence, he closes the book and straightens.

"Not at all," she says.

Then,

"Or not enough to be a deterrent, anyway." Because a house that size is bound to be a little distracting to someone who's not used to it.

"All right, then."

Smiling, he starts for the door to lead the way towards her car.

Bella picks up just a little extra speed so that she's walking next to him instead of behind him. Just on principle. It's her truck.

Sherlock falls into step without appearing to notice.

Then again, he's Sherlock. The odds of him not noticing anything so relatively obvious are slim.

Bella remembers most of the route back to Sherlock's home, though she has to doublecheck with him on a couple of the turns.

The building is no less imposing for having seen it before, but she pays that fact less attention this time, concentrating more on parking instead.