"And you?" John asked. "What about you, Sherlock?" It was a legitimate question.

When Bree came back out after her shower, Charlotte was curled up in Bree's chair in front of the fire. When she saw Bree, she got out of the chair, but didn't go far.

Sherlock was quiet for a moment. "I am undecided," he settled on. "She is different from any of your previous dates." He made a brief face at the word.

Bree blinked but moved over to her. "Charlotte, what's going on?" Because Charlotte almost never sat in Bree's chair, not unless she wanted something.

"She is," John agreed carefully. "You'll speak up if something bothers you, won't you?"

Charlotte considered her options for a moment before just quietly shaking her head. She didn't want to talk about it until she had time to settle a bit more and get used to things.

Sherlock nodded his assent of that. Oh yes, John would certainly know if anything bothered him.

Bree nodded, accepting that, and sat in her chair before motioning for Charlotte to sit in front of her so she could comb out Charlotte's hair.

John nodded in return and headed upstairs to the flat.

Charlotte promptly sat down in front of Bree. Whatever else was happening, Bree was completely hers for the moment and Charlotte would take what she could get.

A few weeks later, John and Bree had gone on a few more dates, Charlotte was still acting strange, and Sherlock was starting to do odd things.

Like attempting to cook.

John had definitely noticed Sherlock behaving a bit oddly.

"Sherlock," he said carefully as he watched his dragon essentially flail around the small kitchen. "What are you doing?"

Charlotte, meanwhile, was settled in the apartment with a couple of new sparklies that she had acquired.

"Cooking, John, cooking," Sherlock said, looking at the stove as if it should magically light up. "Here, you should be doing this too, you need to learn." And he promptly grabbed John and dragged him in too.

"Charlotte," Bree said, moving over to her chair, "you've been acting a bit odd lately."

"Sherlock--!" John sputtered as he was dragged over to the stove. "Why-- Why are you trying to cook? And why do I need to join in?"

Charlotte looked at Bree for a moment, and then back at the sparkly in her hands.

"Have I?" she asked quietly.

"Courting!" Sherlock said, giving John a look. "You need to prove that you can provide for a mate and child, and that includes cooking. Honestly, John, you should know this."

"You have," Bree said, watching her. "You seem unhappy when John comes over now, and you haven't been as relaxed when I get home from going out."

"Sherlock--" John sighed. "That isn't how humans typically go about courtship."

Charlotte was quiet for a moment.

"You're my partner," she finally said. "I don't like sharing you."

"Humans are strange, and should be more concerned with the potential of a mate to care for them," Sherlock said. "Here." He shoved a frying pan at John. Because clearly he didn't care about human courtship, they were both going to work on dragon courtship terms for the moment.

"Ah." Bree looked at her for a few moments before she sighed. "And it bothers you when I go out with John?"

"You've never been interested in courtship before," John pointed out as he took the frying pan. "Why now?"

"Dragons are not good at sharing," Charlotte muttered.

Sherlock turned a deaf ear to the question, pulling out a few thin steaks from the fridge and setting them on the counter to figure out what to do with them.

"What about Sherlock?" Bree asked. "You seem to enjoy having his company. And it's not like you have to share me all that often."

John took the silence for the answer it was.

"You fancy Charlotte, don't you?" he asked.

Charlotte didn't immediately answer.

"It isn't the same," she said. "I do enjoy his company, but I still don't like sharing you." Dragons were selfish creatures, Charlotte thought Bree knew that! "Sharing is... Difficult."

Sherlock looked at John. "Of course not, that's a ridiculous idea, where do you get these ideas from, honestly," he muttered, but he wasn't a very good liar.

Bree nodded. "Well, I don't know what to tell you except maybe we come to a compromise," she said slowly.

"Charlotte is the only dragon you've been able to tolerate," John pointed out as he set the frying pan on the burner and turned it on. "That needs to be hot, by the way."

"I don't want you unhappy," Charlotte said. A bit reluctantly, she added, "John's scent isn't as bad lately."

Sherlock grunted but didn't say anything else, instead just waiting for the pan to get hot. Apparently John did know some about cooking already.

Bree nodded. "Well, you won't need to share me all the time," she said. "I'll still be here most of the time. I do like to go out with John, though, so maybe once a week we go out? Would that be better?" Because sometimes they'd go out as often as three times a week, even if only for an hour or so for tea.

John inspected the meat briefly.

"How do you want this done?" he asked the dragon.

Even once a week sounded like a lot, but Charlotte nodded anyway. She didn't want Bree unhappy.

"Um." Sherlock blinked. John knew his preferences. He flapped a hand expressively at it.

Bree smiled. "Want me to put your hair in a French braid? We could turn on a movie or some music if you want, order in, have a nice quiet night to ourselves."

John rolled his eyes, but began working on the steak. He knew Sherlock liked spices, so that's what he did.

Charlotte hesitated a moment, and then nodded.

"Just brush it?" she asked. "I don't want a braid today."

Sherlock watched what he did with great attention this time. He figured he'd never be great at this, but he could be proficient, certainly enough to impress a mate suitably.

"Sure," Bree agreed, pulling the brush out of the drawer where she kept it and motioning for Charlotte to sit.

John made sure Sherlock could see every step of the cooking process. It was important to the dragon, he knew, so he wasn't going to argue about it.

Charlotte sat down and leaned against the chair, trying to relax a little.

Sherlock memorized everything he did. Okay, so that was one dish. Unfortunately he didn't think one dish would do it.

"What else?" he asked, looking at John.

Bree started brushing out her hair for her, taking her time and just enjoying the process.

John raised an eyebrow.

"What else do you need?" he asked in return. "You need to help me out, Sherlock, I'm not familiar with how dragons go about courtship."

Charlotte sighed softly and began to relax as Bree brushed out her hair. This was what she needed for the moment.