Chapter Text
“Exactly how did you leave London?” Tobias asked Holmes one morning after he had called his consultant and Joan into his office. Marcus was standing nearby, waiting.
“Not on the worst note, I suppose, but not under the best of circumstances. I had managed to rather annoy DI Lestrade quite a bit. Why do you ask?” Holmes said, crossing his arms slightly.
Tobias picked up a file. “We have a cross-jurisdictional case. INTERPOL has arranged for us to work with Scotland Yard on it. Your cousin specifically suggested you come along.”
Holmes’s eyes widened slightly. “What type of case is it?”
“Homicide, of a sort. American citizen was killed in London, he was suspected of being an arsonist here and there, and then it just got…messy.” Tobias handed the file to Holmes, who opened it. “Marcus and I will be there to help with the homicide. Your cousin requested you to help find the other people who had been setting the fires. His contact in Scotland Yard doesn’t want any more of a panic than he already has.”
“Lestrade has the case?” Holmes asked, flipping through the file.
“Yes. He’s willing to let bygones be bygones in all this,” Tobias said. “It helps that your cousin and I both suggested the two of you for the case.”
“So we’re going to London?” Joan said, peering over Sherlock’s shoulder to look at the file.
He nodded. “Yeah. Don’t embarrass the NYPD, Holmes.”
Holmes looked up and got an annoyed look on his face. “Why would you tell me that?”
“Because Sally is still there,” Tobias said with a slight smirk. Holmes grimaced slightly. “She wasn’t all that keen on seeing you again, either.”
“Lovely,” Holmes murmured. He closed the file and handed it back to Tobias. “When are we leaving?”
“Four hours. That should give you enough time to get ready and get back here.”
Holmes nodded. “Very well. We’ll be back here in three.” He turned to Joan and nodded, and then the two of them left. “This is going to be interesting,” he said quietly.
“How so?” Joan asked.
“Sally Donovan and I have an interesting history together,” he said with a sigh. “She is a former paramour of mine, from when I was much younger. Before Irene. We had a tremendously messy end. And then we were both involved with Scotland Yard, which is part of the reason I would take the cases my cousin did not want. He preferred to work with Lestrade, and Sally is his subordinate. I would work with the other Detective Inspectors in order to avoid her, though there were times that was simply not an option.”
“London is not a really great place for you, is it?” she asked, trying to hide a smile but not quite succeeding.
“No, it is not.” He pulled out his phone. “I shall have to cancel my plans with Irene, at any rate. We were going to go to the opera this weekend, and I had promised I would accompany her to her next doctor’s appointment.”
“I hope she understands,” Joan said.
“She should. She understands that cases such as this are rather infrequent, but she knows I will usually put my cases before all else. It is probably a failing of mine.” He pulled up her number and hit send, and then waited.
She picked up after three rings. “Sherlock. This is a surprise.”
“I have to cancel our plans, I’m afraid. I need to go to London for a case.”
There was a pause. “Was your presence requested?”
“Yes. You know I would not return otherwise on such short notice.”
“Say hello to your cousin and John for me, then. We can reschedule both things for another time.”
“You should go to the opera without me, and I do not think your doctor will appreciate you having to reschedule.”
“It’s not as though it’s a sonogram appointment,” she pointed out. “And it’s all right. I feel a bit under the weather as it is. I may have had to cancel myself.”
“If you’re sure,” he said.
“I am. Try not to do anything you’ll regret.”
“I seem to be get warnings of that type quite frequently today,” he replied sourly.
She chuckled slightly. “It’s just because you and London are no longer a good fit. And I believe you said you had a former lover working at Scotland Yard?”
“Yes. And I’ll have to deal with her on this case, too.”
“Oh, poor you,” Irene said sympathetically. “Just remember you have me to come home to. She will only be a bother for the duration of the case.”
“There is that,” he said with a faint smile.
“I will see you when you get home, then. I promise,” Irene said. “I love you.”
“I love you as well,” he said, hanging up. He turned to see a smile on Joan’s face. “What is it?”
“I just love the fact that you’re open about how you feel about Irene, that’s all,” she said. “It’s nice.”
“And unexpected?”
“Yeah, that too.” She looked at him. “How is she doing?”
“She feels a bit under the weather,” he replied. “Which makes me nervous.”
“I can check on her when we get home.”
“You were only a surgeon.”
Joan rolled her eyes. “I still had to cover a lot in med school, and I’ve had to work with pregnant women before. I’ll talk to her, see if it’s anything you should be worried about, all right?”
“Very well,” he said with a nod. “Let’s go home and pack, shall we?” He looked at her closely and she nodded, and they made their way out of the precinct. This was going to be a very interesting trip back home for him.
--
Sherlock paced around the small conference room at Scotland Yard. Donovan was watching him, a slight scowl on her face. He had to admit she had been one of his least favorite people at Scotland Yard, but after he returned from trying to take down Moriarty’s network he’d tried to have a better working relationship with her. There was no chance of that with Anderson, as the two men absolutely detested each other, but he’d managed to make some inroads with her. The imminent arrival of his cousin had put her in a sour mood, and he knew why.
“He’s seeing someone else,” Sherlock said as he stopped by the door. “They’re expecting their first child in six months.”
“I figured as much,” she snapped.
Sherlock blinked slightly and turned to look at her. He knew that while he had been gone working on keeping his friends safe her relationship with Anderson had disintegrated. Personally he thought she was better off for it. When she and him weren’t at each other’s throats Sherlock could admit she was, at the very least, a decent person and a competent member of the police force. He had hoped not to see this side of her again. “I see.”
She looked at him, then sighed. “It’s just not fair, that’s all, that he’s happy,” she said quietly. “I mean, I know you don’t care. You don’t fancy anyone, and I think the only person in the world who fancies you is Molly Hooper, and she’s more or less given up on anything happening with that.”
“What?” Sherlock asked, slightly surprised. He knew she had fancied him, but he hadn’t thought much about it one way or the other until recently, when he began re-examining his own feelings on the matter. He had decided it might be best to pursue a romantic relationship, but if something had changed, he should have noticed. He enjoyed his friendship with Molly and didn’t want it in jeopardy, and if she no longer fancied him there was no point in pursuing anything above a friendship with her.
“Don’t tell me you haven’t noticed she’s stopped trying to look pretty when you come in,” she said, rolling her eyes. “For such a brilliant man sometimes you can be a bloody idiot.”
“I had, but I didn’t realize that was the reason,” he said. “I thought she was just more comfortable with me.”
“No. I had a few drinks with her last week. She’s about to give up on you entirely as anything more than a friend.” He watched her glance out through the glass walls towards where John was sitting, talking to one of the other people at Scotland Yard, a female. As Sherlock turned to watch he noted that John had a wide smile on his face and the woman was blushing. At that moment something he said had caused her to laugh, and his smile widened even more. “Why is he such a flirt?” she murmured.
“I believe it’s just in his nature,” Sherlock said with a shrug before turning back to Donovan. “Would you rather have him turn his attentions towards you?”
“That’s none of your business,” she replied, but he could see her cheeks flushing slightly. Ah. So she did fancy John. If John had to start a relationship with anyone he supposed Donovan wouldn’t be so bad, and she might at least understand the demands he had on John’s time, being in the same line of work. And perhaps if he paid attention to her she might let go of the sour mood she had with his cousin’s pending arrival. “Look, when is Sherlock supposed to get here?”
“Late tonight. Why?”
“Greg asked me to be there when he meets them at the airport, but I want to cry off.”
Sherlock thought for a moment. “Why don’t we suggest to Lestrade that I accompany him? After all, Detective Bell and Joan Watson both know me already. And I’m sure when you tell Lestrade that you have an aversion to my cousin due to a prior relationship he would prefer there not be fireworks, so to speak.”
“You’d do that for me?” she asked, surprised.
“I know there is no love lost between yourself and my cousin. If you make Lestrade aware of that, I’m sure there will be less tension. If it will make things easier, I’d rather keep him out of your hair altogether, or at least as much as possible. I am willing to do this to make your life easier and solve the case of the other arsonists at the same time.”
“I could kiss you,” she said quietly.
“Please don’t.”
“I wasn’t really going to,” she said, though she had a slight smile on her face. “I owe you a favor, Sherlock, if Greg will go for this.”
“I’ll remember that,” he said with a nod. “Let’s go talk to Lestrade now.” He watched her get up before he opened the door and stepped through, Donovan behind him. He just wanted to solve the case, but being owed a favor by Donovan might not be a bad thing.
John saw them leave and bid his new friend good night, then joined them. “Have any brilliant insights?” he asked Sherlock.
Sherlock shook his head. “No. Donovan and I are just hoping to ask Lestrade for a favor.”
“What type of favor?”
“To let me accompany him when he meets with my cousin and the others instead of Donovan.” He thought for a moment. “There’s no need for you to go as well, if you want to go take your new friend out for dinner.”
John chuckled. “I would, but her girlfriend probably wouldn’t like that,” he said quietly. “And besides, Joan will be there. I don’t mind.”
“I’ll be going over the case until the last possible moment,” he said as they neared Lestrade’s office. “You should probably go get something to eat soon. Perhaps Donovan can join you.”
“What?” Donovan said from behind John.
“Perhaps you would like to get dinner with John,” Sherlock said, resisting the temptation to roll his eyes. He may have been blind to Molly but he wasn’t a complete idiot when it came to matters of the heart. “I’ll even pay for it. I want to be left alone to see what theories formulate.”
“I don’t mind,” John said, giving her a grin. “If Greg says you can go home maybe we can hit the Indian place down the street before I have to come back and meet up with everyone.”
Sally blinked slightly, and then stared at Sherlock as he got to the office door for a moment. Then she turned to John and gave him a warm smile. “All right, John. That sounds nice.”
“All right, then,” he said with a widening grin back.
Sherlock opened the door and John walked in first. Donovan looked at him. “That’s two favors I owe you,” she said quietly.
“Only if you don’t make a hash of things,” he murmured in reply.
She nodded, and then walked into the office. He had done his good deeds for the day. Now he could concentrate on the case and hopefully have more ideas and theories before the New York contingent arrived later that evening.