#its a bit spicy too like a gingernut biscuit

[ukthxbye]

Lesson Learned

(prompt from @stlgeekgirl with all intentions of being a 500 word challenge which I failed, but still is a drabble technically)

hey go kudos it on ao3 if you liked it! 

https://archiveofourown.org/works/17593049

“Hey, I’m gonna start the kettle, you want some tea?” Molly yelled down the hall as she dropped her bags and a stack of folders on the desk.

  Sherlock yelled through his closed bathroom door. “Excellent idea as always Molly ! I’ll be present in a moment.”

  The noise of water stopped down the hall as she started it in the sink in the kitchen, filling and turning the kettle on. She stood tiptoe, pulling down biscuits from the top shelf. No reason bothering with a plate. He’d eat the whole pack while they worked. She rummaged for clean mugs and set the tea bags in. She whispered a thank you at an absent Mrs Hudson for the bowl of fresh lemons.

  Kettle beeped as she turned the corner and near dropped the biscuits . “ Sherlock !” she squealed, shutting her eyes tight.

  Sherlock stood at the desk, folder in hand and a large white Turkish cotton towel wrapped around his waist. His eyes turned up to see what caused her alarm.

  “Molly whatever is the matter?,” he asked breezily looking back at the folder in hand. Words sat at the tip of her tongue and he gazed back at her in anticipation.

  “You... towel ... for God’s sake,” she cracked one eye open and risked the other, gesturing wildly with her hand .

  He looked down, brow furrowed, “Yes, that is the obvious fact. Why it matters—”

  “Bloody hell, I am not having this conversation until you put on some pants ,” Molly sighed.

 Sherlock’s lips curled up at the corner, “Just pants then?”

  She stared at him. She tried with every bit of her nerve to not follow the lines of his body, starting at those damp curls down to the jawline, to his chest and... she shook her head to push away those thought and put her chin down in her chest .

  “No, then ?” He grinned now, and she gulped when she looked up to meet his gaze.

  “Trousers, and a shirt too. Please. We have work to do, correct?” She pivoted on her heels and rushed into the kitchen to start the tea, avoiding his continued stare.

 He groaned, “Fine, since we are friends which I thought it meant... anyway I hate how clothes feel on my skin after a shower.”

  She entered back into the room with their mugs. As she turned her head up for a glance, with a put-on pout he made sure she noticed his lethargic stomping down the hall. She breathed out in relief as she set down the mugs and sat.

  - :-

 Sherlock entered her flat with his key. He thought to himself how respectful it all was, using keys and not picked locks and windows.

  He tossed his laptop on her sofa , ignoring Toby’s meowing at his feet.

  “Is that you, Sherlock ?” Molly yelled down her hall.

  “Does anyone else have a key?” he shouted back.

  “I’ll be in there in a moment,” she huffed out.

  Throwing his coat over a chair, he flopped on the sofa and opened his laptop to begin the work on a case he came over to have her assistance.

  Toby abandoned his meowing and ran to Molly when she entered her sitting room. Sherlock looked up briefly but then did a double take. Hery pony tail was typical but the rest of her clothing not so much. Tight leggings and a decidedly  loose tank top. He interrupted a workout he surmised as he scanned her form.

  “If I interrupted …” he began, but she cut him off.

  “ Just got done with y oga . So what are we working on today?” She crossed the room and Sherlock turned his attention back to the screen.

 “Two murders across town from each other but I feel their injuries are so similar they must be related. I thought perhaps you could review—” He felt his mouth go dry as she leaned over his shoulder, placing a small hand on it. Her flowery perfume overcame his senses, filling his nose. His eyes steadily followed her fingers as she dropped her hand from him and rested it her hip.

  “Well, I’ll look them over if you’ve got good photos. If it 's our new specialty register who took them, I have little hope,” she laughed lightly .

  “I see ,” is all he managed to murmur in response. His eyes strayed slowly upward but not quite to her face. Her perfume enhanced by the warmth of her body still held in his nose.

  Molly knew the effect, she could sense the sudden tension when she touched his shoulder. The perfume sprayed just before she entered the room affected him well .  But she was n’t done with her lesson yet.

  “ Well , you get those pulled up for me, gonna grab a quick shower ,” she turned and headed toward the hall , hiding a growing grin as she moved away.

  Sherlock shook his head , clearing linge ring thoughts as she was no longer there to distract. Back to work, he told himself.

  He heard the shower shut off.

  “Tea?” he yelled down the hall.

  “ Absolutely . Biscuits in their usual spot,” she said back , sticking her head out the door.

  Once she heard him rummaging for the coveted biscuits , she slipped on a satin dressing gown over her naked form, a bit on the short side but she knew its effect. “Walk out in a towel. I can play that game,” she whispered to herself as she smoothed down the fabric once more in the mirror. She stepped out and toward the kitchen confidently.

  “Do you think the photos will suffice for study?” she said cheerily as she entered the room.

  Sherlock stuffed a Gingernut in his mouth before he turned to her and nearly choked on it . His mind raced and went blank, Molly standing much too casually in a short pink satin dressing gown and obviously nothing else.

  “You OK?” she asked with a furrowed brow. But he held her stare, and her eyes gave her away.

  “ Molly …” he coughed out.

  “Whatever is the matter, Sherlock ?” she asked bright eyed as the corner of her lips curling up.

  He swallowed hard, closing his eyes.

  “I think your point has been made.”

  She nodded slowly , “So no more just walking out in your towel then ?”

 “Perhaps... we should get back to work, or we could have another conversation we have been avoiding,” he gulped, his thoughts nearly racing too fast for his own good.  “But with trousers and shirt on, please.”

  “ Perhaps,” she smirked as she backed her way out of the room.

[papa-rhys]

Hi, i saw the other day you get stomach problems. For a week ive had bad stomach and intestine cramps and the doctor put me on an acid blocking tablet. But its made me feel worse, ive not felt like eating at all since last thursday, i just want to sleep all the time and i ache all over, do you have any advice?

It honestly depends on what your doctor thinks you have. I was diagnosed with chronic gastritis a year and a half ago. Basically, I have open sores in my stomach because the lining of my stomach has eroded away. Because I don’t know what you have (and because I’m not a professional) my advice might be kinda limited, but here we go!:

Eat bland food. No spicy stuff, no acidic stuff (meaning no citrus fruits, no tomato products, etc. if in doubt, google the pH of the food you want to eat), no fatty foods and limited amounts of dairy. Also avoid caffiene and fizzy drinks. All of those things increase stomach acid with isn’t what you (or your doctor) want right now. Literally all I eat every day is crumpets and a portion of rice noodles. I can’t really tell you to just eat that because it really isn’t healthy (and I have so many deficiencies because my body is literally starving) but the point is to eat plain stuff. Stuff that isn’t gonna aggravate your stomach and is easy to digest. Veggies should be cooked well because raw veggies are tough to digest. I recommend adding sesame seeds, almonds, cashews, and chia seeds to your diet; all in fairly small portions due to them being quite fatty (though they’re good fats). They’re packed full of good stuff that your body needs, so its a good idea to have them in your diet so that you’re getting at least some nutrition. Other than that, it’s all about trial and error, unfortunately. Some things are okay for some people and terrible for others. You just gotta try stuff to see if your stomach can handle them. If you feel you need help with knowing how to get healthy stuff into your diet, then ask your doctor about seeing a nutritionist.

Try to eat something. An empty stomach is even worse than eating. It often makes stomach pain worse and being hungry is generally just bad for your entire body. It may be why you’re feeling tired and achy. Just try a couple of bites of a plain cracker at first and if it goes down okay, then have a few more bites. Take it slow, there’s no rush.

If the acid blocking pill is making you feel worse, then my first advice would be to go back to your doctor and ask to try another one, but if that isn’t an option at the moment, then try rennies, tums, or gaviscon. These should give you fast relief from the pain (depending on what’s wrong with your stomach) but be careful not to use too many because you may get a rebound effect that causes more acid to be produced.

For the aching, I suggest taking a bath with Epsom Salts in it. You can find Epsom Salts in the bath/toiletry section of pretty much any supermarket. Failing that, they should have them in your local pharmacy. Epsom Salts are amazing for healing and they’re also amazing for relaxing muscles and getting rid of aches and pains. Just put 2-4 cups of the salts into a warm/hot bath and soak in it for 20-40 minutes. You could also put a few drops of any citrus fruit essential oil into the bath, too (I use grapefruit oil) and that should wake you up a little bit and help fight the tiredness and urge to sleep.

AVOID NSAID PAINKILLERS. I cannot stress this enough. Stuff like ibuprofen, naproxen, and aspirin is SO bad for your stomach. Taking that type of painkiller is actually what eroded my stomach in the first place. Please, please, please stay away from them. If you need to use painkillers, use paracetamol (or even cocodamol if the pain is particularly bad) instead.

Try a hot water bottle on the stomach. Hot water bottles are magical. Heating pads may be more convenient for you, and that’s fine. Just get some heat on the stomach and it should help with the pain. Even if it doesn’t, it’s still comforting to have one. If you’re struggling with the hot weather, then try having a fan pointed at you while you have the hot water bottle/heating pad so you don’t overheat!

Try ginger capsules. Ginger is good for just about any health problem. Among other things, it helps with sore muscles and joint pain. It also helps settle the stomach. You can get them from any health food store, but I really recommend getting them from amazon instead because they’re cheaper there. I use Swanson ginger root capsules at 540mg and I swear by them for my tummy troubles (and also for mentrual cramps and headaches). If you prefer not to take pills, then you can also take ginger through food (gingernut biscuits are good, though not too many as they’re high in fat) or mix some into hot water to make a soothing tea.

If nausea is a problem, then try sniffing some peppermint oil or wearing a pair of Sea Bands. Ginger is also amazing for nausea.

Try yoga. I know many of us think yoga can sometimes be kinda pretentious (I was/still am one of those people) but yoga is actually super benefitial for a lot of things. You need exercise, even when you’re not feeling great, but it can be pretty difficult to even think about jogging or doing pushups when you feel crappy. Yoga is super easy and isn’t too taxing. I started yoga for my mental health, but I also find it helpful for my physical health, too. You don’t need a fancy mat or gym wear, and you can do it in your pjs in your bedroom if that’s where you feel most comfortable! Just google some simple poses to get you started and away you go! It just helps to stretch out those achy limbs and it feels good to have done something productive afterwards! Don’t push yourself; take it easy. If a certain position hurts, then stop doing it and try an easier one. Ease yourself into it and it’ll benefit you a lot!

That about covers it, I think. I’m sorry you’re not feeling well; hopefully some of these things help! I recommend keeping in touch with your doctor regularly. I know that may sound obvious, but a lot of people don’t go back to their doctors often enough. Hope you feel better soon!