A Study In Living With Sherlock Holmes 11/22
Title: A Study In Living With Sherlock Holmes
Disclaimer: I do not own anything or anyone from the BBCSherlock universe.
Genre: General, Friendship, Angst, Drama
Rating: Will venture into mature, due to adult themes of sexuality, drugs, ptsd and other subjects that will pop up.
Characters: John Watson, Sherlock Holmes, with appearances of DI Lestrade, Mrs Hudson, Mike Stamford, Molly Hooper and others.
Summary: John Watson moves into 221B Baker Street after the events of 'A Study In Pink'. He had no idea what he would be in for, living with an eccentric genius like Sherlock Holmes, but if the first twenty four hours are anything to go by, then he knows he's in for a ride.
Word Count: 2,007
Author's Note: A couple things I mentioned near the end are brought up in this post to http://sherlockbbc.livejournal.com/1267605.html written by kalypso_v. Very well written, and it helped with future chapters in the process.
***************************
February 17th, Day 18
Time: A little after five
Regents Park
***************************
"Damn," Sherlock curses as they stagger to a stop near the tree-line. They take a minute to catch their breath.
John concurs. Damn indeed. With the trees as a bloody cover, the killer could have gone so many different directions.
"How can he run? His leg has still got to be hurting," Sherlock complains.
"Adrenalin probably,” John suggests.
"I can go with that. Clever to run into the trees.. it's going to be dark soon, we need to find him before it does."
"He was talking on a mobile when we spotted him. He recognized you," John points out in between breaths. "How?"
"Don't know. I'll ask him though. First thing on my list."
John ignores the sarcasm, and suddenly they spot the man coming out between two trees.
The Family Killer, the newspapers had dubbed, spotted them at the same time. He took off. Again.
So did John and Sherlock.
Then somehow in the race, John and Sherlock became separated amongst the large trees. He could hear water, which meant he was near Regent Park's boating lake. A couple boats in the water from the sounds of it also.
But that's not going to help.
"Bloody hell," John mutters.
Where could Sherlock have gone? They could not have split up too far back. John sighs, but continues to keep moving.
When he passes another large group of trees, John hears Sherlock's voice.
John turns and heads towards it. He slows down a little, as the voices are clearer. He's closer to the water.
He hears the sound of a body hitting the ground. Then a groan from Sherlock. John takes out his gun from under his coat.
He's hearing Sherlock make his usual comments, even while apparently in pain. John winces at one of the comments. He'll have to talk to Sherlock about that later.
John spots them then, as he rounds a large tree. Sherlock and the killer fighting. Sherlock is doing all right for the moment. John looks around, he can hear a boat in the distance, but with the trees as cover for all three of them, he can take the chance.
Then a glint gets his attention.
Time to act now.
John raises his gun.
***************************
Location: 221B Baker St
Time: 8 pm
***************************
"Quit moving."
"I'm uncomfortable."
"Of course you are."
"Are you almost done?"
"I will be if you stop moving."
John ignores Sherlock's answering mutter, just concentrates on what he is doing now. He needs to.
"Say it." Sherlock says, in a bored tone.
"Say what?"
"You know you want to. Just say it and get it out of the way."
"You.. you are an idiot."
"Can't you think of something else other than that?"
"No, it needs to be repeated!"
"Oh no need to yell."
"Sherlock," John pauses, closes his eyes for a bit to gather himself, and then opens them back up. "You do know that you will stay alive longer if you don't taunt the killers."
"Where's the fun in that?"
"What?"
"You heard me,"
"I don't understand you."
"That's all right. No one does. How's my arm?"
"It's fine. No scar will come from this. You can roll your sleeve back down now. Lucky he just nicked you with that knife."
"Well, getting shot can prevent a proper stabbing," Sherlock says drolly.
John clenches his jaw as he finishes cleaning up the small wound on Sherlock's arm. The knife did nick him, but the cut could have been a much worse wound.
"Shouldn't have said what you did about the wife to him. You can roll down your sleeve now."
"It worked."
"Yes it did. You enraged him enough to get him to come at you, once again showing your stellar lack of self preservation."
"Why bother with it when you're there to watch my back?"
John pauses and wonders if he should take that for what it is.
"Anyways, what does it matter? I caught Lestrade another serial killer. More or less. You should get some sleep, you look exhausted."
For good reason. John hadn't slept since they were brought to the crime scene. When he was done with Sherlock, he was going to pass out for twelve hours straight.
He hoped. Unless the nightmares came. Please, keep them at bay tonight.
Everything happened rather quickly. Sherlock and John visited Nathaniel, with Lestrade present, who explained that he ran outside while making the 999 call. That he tried to fight the killer (Later on to be identified as Edmund Rhydderch), even while being stabbed. That he somehow got the knife away from Rhydderch and stabbed him in defense, before stumbling to the shed.
Then the boy ended up giving Sherlock three crucial clues.
The fact that the killer was stabbed in the leg.
A name that was muttered over and over while Rydderch was trying to kill him.
And that the killer had red hair.
Unfortunately, that was all the boy could remember. Everything else was black.
So began trips to hospitals for a red headed man that had come in over the night with a stab wound.
And searches on the internet and newspapers for the name Ariel Rhydderch.
John went to the hospitals willing to help out on this. Sherlock did the research. Sherlock apparently had a reputation with most of the hospitals in London, and as per the course he wasn't well liked by most of them.
John got lucky on his fifth visit though. Lestrade ended up visiting that one at the same time, and the DI figured out what John was up to. The nurse that the DI was talking to was being difficult, but when she heard Sherlock mentioned she was quite willing to help.
As she searched for knife wound visits, she told John that Sherlock helped clear her name in an Angel Of Mercy case a year ago. And John found out why she was so difficult with Lestrade then. Being a prime suspect in a case while innocent can bring out a grievance in anyone.
After ten minutes of searching, Lestrade and John got what they needed. And Sherlock texted John with the news he found out who Ariel Rhydderch was.
***************************
Location: 221B Baker
Time: 1:20 pm
***************************
"She was killed on February sixteenth, 2000," Sherlock blurts out as Lestrade and John make their way into the flat. "Her photograph has her with brown hair. She had left her husband and was going on a trip with her lover and his two kids when the car ended up in a five car wreck. Ariel, the lover, and his kids died."
"Well that explains the date. But not the two years," John points out.
"She left him on February sixteenth, 1998 according to the daughter who I had spoken to. She filed for divorce, again on February sixteenth, in 1999."
"Then the death on the same date in 2000." Lestrade adds.
Sherlock nods, apparently thrilled that the both of them were able to follow. "Mr Rhydderch went downhill from then on. He tried to kill himself on the one year anniversary. He was then committed by his daughter, who said that her father kept on saying that it felt like her mother stabbed him repeatedly and with the divorce papers cut his throat. According to his daughter he was there from the first of March in 2000 to the first of February in 2002."
"She didn't insist on keeping him there?"
"She couldn't afford it anymore. So our Mr Rhydderch was released. "
"And fifteen days later, a family is killed," Lestrade finishes.
"He must have come across them one day. Looking happy, together, whole.. everything he thought he had."
"So he's doing to them what he said his wife did to him."
***************************
After that discussion, Lestrade left to go back to the NSY, and put out an alert on Edmund Rhydderch, also to do a press conference.
Sherlock didn't have much faith in either flushing out the man, which John expected.
Sherlock had his own methods, and two hours later they found their target. Said target noticed them.
And a chase began. Somehow John and Sherlock ended up getting split up during the chase. John came across the two of them in time. They both were in the middle of the fight, when Edmund shoved Sherlock into a wall quite hard. John then caught a flash of a knife.
Edmund R was aiming for the heart.
So John aimed for his heart.
Sherlock made a call to Lestrade. He made sure be scarce when the DI arrived.
"How did you explain the gunshot wound to Lestrade?"
"I told him that I didn't see anything. Only thing I could see was a great big knife ready to slice me open. He accepted it." Sherlock leans back against the couch and instantly winces.
"Your back is going to be sore the next couple of days," John says without any sympathy. "There's some Paracetamol in the kitchen," he gets up to go get it.
"I don't want it."
"Just take it."
After a few minutes of arguing, John is able to get Sherlock to take a couple pills with a glass of water. When John goes to return the empty glass he hears Sherlock say something.
"What was that?"
"That's twice now, you know."
John knows what he means.
"I know."
He can feel Sherlock staring at the back of his head. As if trying to get the answers out of his head. John turns a little to meet Sherlock's stare.
He doesn't know what to make of the odd gleam in Sherlock's eyes, or the expression either.
Sherlock clears his throat then.
Nods.
John nods in return and heads into the kitchen.
Nothing else needs to be said.
***************************
Location: Upstairs Bedroom of 221B Baker Street
Time: 11 pm
***************************
John lays on the bed, having showered, and now hoping to get some sleep.
He's exhausted, and he just wants sleep to come to him.
But he can't close his eyes yet.
John rolls over and reaches underneath his bed, and pulls out the gun box and opens the lid. He stares at his gun.
As if it could give him any answers.
It won't.
He closes the lid, securing it, and then pushes it back under the bed. He rolls back onto his back.
"That's twice now, you know."
"I know."
He's killed twice now, since meeting Sherlock.
Neither of them good men.
Is that why he isn't bothered by it?
Did the war really change him that much?
That's a rather stupid question, is it not?
Yeah, John could hear Sherlock asking that.
The war did change him. It changes everyone. He healed in Afghanistan, but he also killed.
How many times has the field hospital he worked in been attacked? Enough. He was also part of MERT. He went out plenty of times to an incident aboard a CH-47 Chinook. A lot of those times they were under fire when collecting the casualties.
It was how he got shot in the first place.
John exhales then ruthlessly pushes aside that blasted memory. He needs to stop thinking.
He did what he had to do. He did what he told Sherlock what he wanted to do. To watch his back.
He did just that.
John knows he's no longer in the military, he knows he's no longer in Afghanistan. He knows all of this.
He knows.
He also knows the world wants to classify himself as a civilian.
That's the problem.
He's doesn't fit the definition of civilian. Not military. Not a civilian.
He left the battlefield in one life, and he's now in his second life, he's joined another battlefield.
NEXT CHAPTER
Author's Note:
From the post I mentioned above, the term MERT is Medical Emergency Response Team. They evacuate casualties. In Britain's case, these teams comprise an anesthetist, an A&E specialist, further medics and force protection troops, who are flown to the incident aboard a CH-47 Chinook. (The American equivalent, which is also used to evacuate wounded British troops, is the Blackhawk "Pedro"). Two Apache attack helicopters provide cover.
Disclaimer: I do not own anything or anyone from the BBCSherlock universe.
Genre: General, Friendship, Angst, Drama
Rating: Will venture into mature, due to adult themes of sexuality, drugs, ptsd and other subjects that will pop up.
Characters: John Watson, Sherlock Holmes, with appearances of DI Lestrade, Mrs Hudson, Mike Stamford, Molly Hooper and others.
Summary: John Watson moves into 221B Baker Street after the events of 'A Study In Pink'. He had no idea what he would be in for, living with an eccentric genius like Sherlock Holmes, but if the first twenty four hours are anything to go by, then he knows he's in for a ride.
Word Count: 2,007
Author's Note: A couple things I mentioned near the end are brought up in this post to http://sherlockbbc.livejournal.com/1267605.html written by kalypso_v. Very well written, and it helped with future chapters in the process.
***************************
February 17th, Day 18
Time: A little after five
Regents Park
***************************
"Damn," Sherlock curses as they stagger to a stop near the tree-line. They take a minute to catch their breath.
John concurs. Damn indeed. With the trees as a bloody cover, the killer could have gone so many different directions.
"How can he run? His leg has still got to be hurting," Sherlock complains.
"Adrenalin probably,” John suggests.
"I can go with that. Clever to run into the trees.. it's going to be dark soon, we need to find him before it does."
"He was talking on a mobile when we spotted him. He recognized you," John points out in between breaths. "How?"
"Don't know. I'll ask him though. First thing on my list."
John ignores the sarcasm, and suddenly they spot the man coming out between two trees.
The Family Killer, the newspapers had dubbed, spotted them at the same time. He took off. Again.
So did John and Sherlock.
Then somehow in the race, John and Sherlock became separated amongst the large trees. He could hear water, which meant he was near Regent Park's boating lake. A couple boats in the water from the sounds of it also.
But that's not going to help.
"Bloody hell," John mutters.
Where could Sherlock have gone? They could not have split up too far back. John sighs, but continues to keep moving.
When he passes another large group of trees, John hears Sherlock's voice.
John turns and heads towards it. He slows down a little, as the voices are clearer. He's closer to the water.
He hears the sound of a body hitting the ground. Then a groan from Sherlock. John takes out his gun from under his coat.
He's hearing Sherlock make his usual comments, even while apparently in pain. John winces at one of the comments. He'll have to talk to Sherlock about that later.
John spots them then, as he rounds a large tree. Sherlock and the killer fighting. Sherlock is doing all right for the moment. John looks around, he can hear a boat in the distance, but with the trees as cover for all three of them, he can take the chance.
Then a glint gets his attention.
Time to act now.
John raises his gun.
***************************
Location: 221B Baker St
Time: 8 pm
***************************
"Quit moving."
"I'm uncomfortable."
"Of course you are."
"Are you almost done?"
"I will be if you stop moving."
John ignores Sherlock's answering mutter, just concentrates on what he is doing now. He needs to.
"Say it." Sherlock says, in a bored tone.
"Say what?"
"You know you want to. Just say it and get it out of the way."
"You.. you are an idiot."
"Can't you think of something else other than that?"
"No, it needs to be repeated!"
"Oh no need to yell."
"Sherlock," John pauses, closes his eyes for a bit to gather himself, and then opens them back up. "You do know that you will stay alive longer if you don't taunt the killers."
"Where's the fun in that?"
"What?"
"You heard me,"
"I don't understand you."
"That's all right. No one does. How's my arm?"
"It's fine. No scar will come from this. You can roll your sleeve back down now. Lucky he just nicked you with that knife."
"Well, getting shot can prevent a proper stabbing," Sherlock says drolly.
John clenches his jaw as he finishes cleaning up the small wound on Sherlock's arm. The knife did nick him, but the cut could have been a much worse wound.
"Shouldn't have said what you did about the wife to him. You can roll down your sleeve now."
"It worked."
"Yes it did. You enraged him enough to get him to come at you, once again showing your stellar lack of self preservation."
"Why bother with it when you're there to watch my back?"
John pauses and wonders if he should take that for what it is.
"Anyways, what does it matter? I caught Lestrade another serial killer. More or less. You should get some sleep, you look exhausted."
For good reason. John hadn't slept since they were brought to the crime scene. When he was done with Sherlock, he was going to pass out for twelve hours straight.
He hoped. Unless the nightmares came. Please, keep them at bay tonight.
Everything happened rather quickly. Sherlock and John visited Nathaniel, with Lestrade present, who explained that he ran outside while making the 999 call. That he tried to fight the killer (Later on to be identified as Edmund Rhydderch), even while being stabbed. That he somehow got the knife away from Rhydderch and stabbed him in defense, before stumbling to the shed.
Then the boy ended up giving Sherlock three crucial clues.
The fact that the killer was stabbed in the leg.
A name that was muttered over and over while Rydderch was trying to kill him.
And that the killer had red hair.
Unfortunately, that was all the boy could remember. Everything else was black.
So began trips to hospitals for a red headed man that had come in over the night with a stab wound.
And searches on the internet and newspapers for the name Ariel Rhydderch.
John went to the hospitals willing to help out on this. Sherlock did the research. Sherlock apparently had a reputation with most of the hospitals in London, and as per the course he wasn't well liked by most of them.
John got lucky on his fifth visit though. Lestrade ended up visiting that one at the same time, and the DI figured out what John was up to. The nurse that the DI was talking to was being difficult, but when she heard Sherlock mentioned she was quite willing to help.
As she searched for knife wound visits, she told John that Sherlock helped clear her name in an Angel Of Mercy case a year ago. And John found out why she was so difficult with Lestrade then. Being a prime suspect in a case while innocent can bring out a grievance in anyone.
After ten minutes of searching, Lestrade and John got what they needed. And Sherlock texted John with the news he found out who Ariel Rhydderch was.
***************************
Location: 221B Baker
Time: 1:20 pm
***************************
"She was killed on February sixteenth, 2000," Sherlock blurts out as Lestrade and John make their way into the flat. "Her photograph has her with brown hair. She had left her husband and was going on a trip with her lover and his two kids when the car ended up in a five car wreck. Ariel, the lover, and his kids died."
"Well that explains the date. But not the two years," John points out.
"She left him on February sixteenth, 1998 according to the daughter who I had spoken to. She filed for divorce, again on February sixteenth, in 1999."
"Then the death on the same date in 2000." Lestrade adds.
Sherlock nods, apparently thrilled that the both of them were able to follow. "Mr Rhydderch went downhill from then on. He tried to kill himself on the one year anniversary. He was then committed by his daughter, who said that her father kept on saying that it felt like her mother stabbed him repeatedly and with the divorce papers cut his throat. According to his daughter he was there from the first of March in 2000 to the first of February in 2002."
"She didn't insist on keeping him there?"
"She couldn't afford it anymore. So our Mr Rhydderch was released. "
"And fifteen days later, a family is killed," Lestrade finishes.
"He must have come across them one day. Looking happy, together, whole.. everything he thought he had."
"So he's doing to them what he said his wife did to him."
***************************
After that discussion, Lestrade left to go back to the NSY, and put out an alert on Edmund Rhydderch, also to do a press conference.
Sherlock didn't have much faith in either flushing out the man, which John expected.
Sherlock had his own methods, and two hours later they found their target. Said target noticed them.
And a chase began. Somehow John and Sherlock ended up getting split up during the chase. John came across the two of them in time. They both were in the middle of the fight, when Edmund shoved Sherlock into a wall quite hard. John then caught a flash of a knife.
Edmund R was aiming for the heart.
So John aimed for his heart.
Sherlock made a call to Lestrade. He made sure be scarce when the DI arrived.
"How did you explain the gunshot wound to Lestrade?"
"I told him that I didn't see anything. Only thing I could see was a great big knife ready to slice me open. He accepted it." Sherlock leans back against the couch and instantly winces.
"Your back is going to be sore the next couple of days," John says without any sympathy. "There's some Paracetamol in the kitchen," he gets up to go get it.
"I don't want it."
"Just take it."
After a few minutes of arguing, John is able to get Sherlock to take a couple pills with a glass of water. When John goes to return the empty glass he hears Sherlock say something.
"What was that?"
"That's twice now, you know."
John knows what he means.
"I know."
He can feel Sherlock staring at the back of his head. As if trying to get the answers out of his head. John turns a little to meet Sherlock's stare.
He doesn't know what to make of the odd gleam in Sherlock's eyes, or the expression either.
Sherlock clears his throat then.
Nods.
John nods in return and heads into the kitchen.
Nothing else needs to be said.
***************************
Location: Upstairs Bedroom of 221B Baker Street
Time: 11 pm
***************************
John lays on the bed, having showered, and now hoping to get some sleep.
He's exhausted, and he just wants sleep to come to him.
But he can't close his eyes yet.
John rolls over and reaches underneath his bed, and pulls out the gun box and opens the lid. He stares at his gun.
As if it could give him any answers.
It won't.
He closes the lid, securing it, and then pushes it back under the bed. He rolls back onto his back.
"That's twice now, you know."
"I know."
He's killed twice now, since meeting Sherlock.
Neither of them good men.
Is that why he isn't bothered by it?
Did the war really change him that much?
That's a rather stupid question, is it not?
Yeah, John could hear Sherlock asking that.
The war did change him. It changes everyone. He healed in Afghanistan, but he also killed.
How many times has the field hospital he worked in been attacked? Enough. He was also part of MERT. He went out plenty of times to an incident aboard a CH-47 Chinook. A lot of those times they were under fire when collecting the casualties.
It was how he got shot in the first place.
John exhales then ruthlessly pushes aside that blasted memory. He needs to stop thinking.
He did what he had to do. He did what he told Sherlock what he wanted to do. To watch his back.
He did just that.
John knows he's no longer in the military, he knows he's no longer in Afghanistan. He knows all of this.
He knows.
He also knows the world wants to classify himself as a civilian.
That's the problem.
He's doesn't fit the definition of civilian. Not military. Not a civilian.
He left the battlefield in one life, and he's now in his second life, he's joined another battlefield.
NEXT CHAPTER
Author's Note:
From the post I mentioned above, the term MERT is Medical Emergency Response Team. They evacuate casualties. In Britain's case, these teams comprise an anesthetist, an A&E specialist, further medics and force protection troops, who are flown to the incident aboard a CH-47 Chinook. (The American equivalent, which is also used to evacuate wounded British troops, is the Blackhawk "Pedro"). Two Apache attack helicopters provide cover.