Hey everyone! Welcome to the Fifth Installment of the Foot Falls Series. If you haven't read the previous stories stop here and click on the little hyperlink to get to my profile and read them in order! It's worth it I promise. Or jump into this one and try to follow along but either way please read the rest of our stories too! As always reviews are rewarded with Good Karma and Kitten Kisses!
The world went white around them as Lady Bird crumpled under the combined weight of the Raiju. Artemis sucked in a deep breath wondering if it hurt to die when the Voice filled the cockpit. She laughed in relief. "You have done well but your task is not yet done." The words repeated in an echoing refrain.
They flew through the antiseptic white room then the world went foggy. Artemis and Tracey coughed as the fog turned to something thicker, more acrid and Artemis felt a familiar buzz in her blood of strong nicotine. 'Why are we flying through cigarette smoke?' She wondered but the world came to an abrupt stop and she grabbed for Tracey.
She coughed and tried to blink tears from her eyes while looking around. They were in a smallish apartment with cream colored carpeting and a small fireplace in one corner. A couch and an armchair sat catty corner to the fireplace and a small TV sat on a stand across from the couch. A couple of small tables sat by the chair and couch, the detritus of comfortable living on the tables, a blanket and cushions on the couch and in the armchair. The tiny kitchen sat across from the living room and down a short hallway three doors sat ajar. Artemis was vaguely aware of the sturdy totes lining the wall behind the couch as she straightened up rubbing Tracey's back trying to help her stave off the usual nausea of a trip through the Waiting Room. It didn't work and Tracey made a beeline for one of the doors and Artemis winced hearing her vomit into the toilet. She went into the kitchen and got a glass of water bringing it into the bathroom with her. "Hey darlin' I brought some water to rinse with."
Tracey coughed fitfully, holding her hair back with one hand and steadied herself over the toilet with the other. Spitting the original bile from her mouth, she took the glass of water from Artemis and used it to wash out her mouth and rinse. She stood up from her kneeling potion and looked around the room before taking a rag from the wire rack that held fresh towels and other wash clothes. This she used to wipe her mouth and then steadied herself, taking in all her new surroundings and sighed in aggravation.
"God that's getting old in a hurry." She coughed and raked her fingers through her hair, tucking it behind her ear and looking down at her new clothes. "This is just great... Artemis do you know where we are?"
Artemis shrugged and walked back into the living room looking around, she spotted their satchels on hooks by the doors and gave a small sigh of relief. "I'm not sure where or even when we are but it looks modern for the most part." She leaned over the couch and grinned. Looks like we might be closer to home though, our inventory is here."
Tracey looked around and trailed her fingers over the faint floral wall paper and everything from the waist high decorative panel was light wood paneling, very nice for their apartment. She assumed it was an apartment for all it's self furnishings. Her booted feet left light foot prints in the soft carpet as she stepped into the living room and looked around at their totes and their satchels, grateful that they made it and that their death in their previous universe was literally painless.
"It's nice to see familiar objects at least, but I have a feeling that our little adventure is far from over." Tracey replied, shaking her head and running her hand over their totes and looking at the contents. "Good thing we have our satchels though, now I suggest we figure out where we are and what the date it is... you're book-of-all-knowing should be in the totes somewhere. That might give us an idea of what we're doing here."
"Good idea." Artemis replied and started looking through the totes while Tracey looked around the apartment.
The rooms down the hall turned out to be bedrooms but there were no windows to see out of, it looked like they were in a basement occurred to her that she smelled like cigarette smoke but before she could change she heard Artemis muttering in frustration and walked back out. "No luck on my book-of-all-knowing." She said… or started to say when the door crashed inward and six feet plus of tall well dressed man stalked into the apartment making a beeline for Tracey. He grabbed her by the shoulders and buried his face against her shoulder inhaling deeply then as if that weren't strange enough he did it again a faint shudder running through him.
Artemis reacted on instinct and grabbed him by the shoulders one foot hooking around his ankle and pivoted their bodies as his grasp on Tracey slipped. She rode him to the floor one forearm pressed against his throat oblivious to all the shouting coming from the doorway and Tracey. "You Bastard! What the hell is wrong with you?!" Tracey hollered, backing away until she was against the wall, her hands balled into fists and her posture turning into a fighter's stance. "Why the hell are you here? You better start answering questions before my companion snaps your neck."
Tracey's balled fists turned her knuckles white and despite all the tidbits of training she had had in Ancient Greece, New York with the Turtles and on the coast of Hong Kong where their base was located, there wasn't enough time for her to get her footing in this new world. It all happened so suddenly, the pounding of feet in the hallway, the door banging open, the tall man suddenly rushing passed Artemis and swooping down on her, she couldn't prepare herself fast enough when the man grabbed her and... started sniffing her clothes for god only knows what reason. The banging and shouting brought forth three new people who came to their apartment to find out what all the loud noises were about.
"Sherlock you really shouldn't disturb the neighbors, they've only just arrived." Came a feminine voice from the doorway. "Ladies, I'm so sorry. I really must apologize for his behavior, it really isn't becoming of a gentleman of his caliber."
Tracey looked up at the newcomers and shook her head.
"That's not a good enough excuse to pardon him." Tracey replied, pointing a finger at the man lying under Artemis's body, his hair unusually disheveled.
"You're absolutely right and I hope we can make this up to you somehow." Said one of the two men who also stood in the doorway.
"How about telling us what the hell he was thinking, that will be good for starters!"
Artemis looked down at a pair of startled pale blue eyes under dark arching brows and a mop of curling dark brown hair and felt a laugh bubbling up in her chest. She was distracted from the laughter by his hands grabbing the front of her shirt and bringing it to his face so he could inhale oblivious to Artemis's forearm pressing against his throat. "Oh for fuck sake." She muttered and started to get up only to find herself stuck with his hands fisted in her shirt.
"He quit nicotine cold turkey… again." A shorter, stockier man with sandy blond hair and blue eyes said coming in cautiously.
"And we smell like cigarettes." Artemis finished trying to pry his hands loose.
"Sherlock let her go, you are dangerously close to molesting the poor woman." Another male voice said from the doorway.
Artemis looked over at the cluster of people in the door. "Mrs. Hudson can you put the kettle on please. I get the feeling it's going to be a long afternoon."
"Oh of course dear." Mrs Hudson tottered off muttering querulously about Sherlock and his funny ways.
Artemis pushed her hair out of her face as Sherlock slowly let go of her shirt and held a hand out to the shorter man. "Hi, I'm Artemis, this is Tracey. You are…?"
He took her hand and shook it. "I'm so sorry I'm John Watson and the limpet on your front is Sherlock Holmes. The fellow in the door is inspector Lestrade."
Tracey lowered her fists and nodded at her introduction before narrowing her eyes at Sherlock, still not liking how he just barged into their new living space and assault them. She resisted the urge to kick him while he was down and instead crossed her arms under her chest and shifted her weight to one side, keeping up the appearance of an immovable force.
"A pleasure I'm sure." She replied before looking at Sherlock and shaking her head again. "Almost... we don't smoke and as soon as we are able we'll be getting a shower so we don't smell like cigarettes, so there's no reason for you to be hanging around... Well you all might as well come in and make yourselves comfortable, I expect the tea will be ready soon."
Artemis patted Sherlock on the cheek to get his attention. "If you let me go I will give you the shirt ok? But you're heavy and as cute as you are I really don't want you clinging to me."
He blinked and let her go looking around the flat. You've just moved in." He said brusquely.
"No shit." Artemis replied and pulled off her shirt tossing it to him as she went back into the bedroom oblivious to the furious blushes of both Watson and Lestrade. When she came back out she was wearing a fresh shirt and Sherlock was sitting on the couch her shirt fisted in his hands.
"You moved in while we were away." He repeated.
Artemis looked over at Tracey with a half smile. "He doesn't miss much does he?"
"I guess not. Nothing gets passed you..." Tracey answered with a smirk. "I'm trying my absolute hardest not to say, 'No shit Sherlock' and I don't know if I'm going to make it through this encounter without saying it."
Going into their tidy little kitchen, Tracey began pulling out cream, sugar, tea cups and saucers and put them on a serving tray for when Mrs. Hudson came back. A moment later the sweet Landlady came back with a large kettle in her hand. Tracey smiled kindly at her and apologized to her for her own sharp words, chalking it up to the stress of moving into a new place. Mrs. Hudson waved away her apology, giving her a kind smile and a reassuring squeeze on the arm.
"It's quite alright my dear, I understand."
Taking the tray from the counter, Tracey brought it over to each of them and allowed them to doctor their tea the way they liked it before moving on and making herself some tea and settling on the arm of the chair Artemis was going to occupy.
"This is better."
Artemis sat in the comfy chair while John and Lestrade chose to stand near the couch a little awkwardly while Sherlock stared at the girls. When he spoke his voice was calm and measured again. "I find myself a little perplexed by the pair of you, two American women with accents indicative of life in the Southern states however neither of you are native to that region. Artemis speaks with undertones of the North West and North East and Tracey speaks with undertones of the North East but her bearing suggests her family was in the military so we can assume she spent her formative years in countries other than America so it's her mothers vocal undertones she carries." He paused for a moment considering them again before continuing.
"You've recently moved to London but only temporarily. You've both been involved in some kind of trouble that has left you hypervigilant, some kind of combat situation which make no sense since neither of you is in an occupation that would lead you to combat. Artemis has martial arts training but Tracey has no training. Artemis has seen real violence...and death I surmise from the level of calm she displays in hazardous situations. Tracey has lived in dangerous places but never seen true violence but she draws her calm from Artemis, perhaps thinking that if Artemis is calm there's nothing to fear. An erroneous assumption to make as Artemis's calm is superficial at best."
He took a breath looking away from the girls his interest sliding away and he finished in a distracted tone of voice. "Both of them have left someone recently too, lovers, probably running from something… boring."
"Sherlock that's hardly polite." Lestrade tried to interject but Sherlock was up on his feet headed towards the door.
The corner of Tracey's mouth began to curl into a wider smirk and she couldn't help but start to laugh out loud. It was slightly unnerving and a their eyes turned to her, blinking. Tracey set down her teacup on the saucer in her hands and shook her head.
"Didn't think I'd get to hear your description of us with my own ears until now... but you're wrong on a few points." She laughed and quieted her laughter. "I'm not going to tell you while points either, because I know you'll squirm until you can prove me wrong. So try again Sherlock, give it your best shot."
Mrs. Hudson was looking at Sherlock with disapproving look and shaking her head and looking uncomfortable. Watson was rubbing his eyes and looking a little stunned at both Tracey and Sherlock and Lestrade coughed, trying to break the palpable tension.
Artemis stood up and smiled at Lestrade and Watson then at Mrs. Hudson. "Its been a really… exciting day. It was nice to meet all of you, and nice to see you again Mrs Hudson but we're American and we'd like you all to leave now ok? Ok."
She stalked over to where Sherlock was just opening their satchels and pulled them away from him. "Ok." She nudged him out with a hip check and ushered the rest of them out more politely before closing the door and locking it behind them."
Tracey took up the used cups and shook her head, taking it all into the kitchen to start cleaning them up. Placing the freshly washed utensils on the drying rack to dry for a spell before looking around at their apartment again and shaking her head.
"The nerve of that Bastard to come charging in here, but at least this little encounter gave us a little more information than we had before." Tracey stated, pushing her hair out of her face. "We know we're in London now, we're renting an apartment room from Mrs Hudson and I'm going to go out on a limb and say that since there aren't any windows we're probably in one of the lower levels of the building. Sherlock better stay out of our apartment or I'm going to taser him."
Artemis shoved a chair under the door knob. "We're in 221C. Remember that episode where Mrs. Hudson said she had a hard time renting that one. Looks like we rented it."
She rummaged through the satchels checking their belongings and sighing in relief. "Looks like I caught him before he took anything."
"Good, but yes I remember her saying that. I never thought he'd be annoying in person as he almost was on t.v." Tracey replied, collecting her satchel and taking it to her room.
It was a fair size to be sure, a comfortable queen sized bed and a dresser on the far wall that sat next to a closet door. The cream colored carpet followed them into the bedrooms. Wood flooring could be seen underneath the runners that led up the hallway and into the living room. All in all Tracey had to admit that it was homey. She set her bag on the dresser and fished out clean clothes and underwear so she could change into them after her hot shower.
"Shower and food, stat and then relaxing afterwards." She called from her bedroom.
Artemis sat down on the couch and flicked on the TV. "You shower first." She called back and tried to find something to watch.
Tracey's hot shower was a blessing from the gods. The hot water washed away all her worries for the time being and she needed it. Steam filled the bathroom in rolling waves and fogged up the mirror while she showered. The dirt and smell of smoke that caked her clothes and her skin could all be washed away now. She lathered up her wash cloth and scrubbed every inch of her body, the bubbles trailing down her skin to be rinsed down the drain by the water. After she took care of her hair, both shampooing and conditioning it, she rinsed thoroughly and shut off the water. Tracey stood for several moments just letting the water drip from her body and squeezed the water from her hair so it would dry faster.
"That's so much better." She said with a refreshed sigh.
Taking one of the two towels from the towel hanger and started to dry down her body, wrapping it around herself until it was safe to leave the shower. She pulled on her clean clothes, tied off her belt and slipped on a fresh pair of socks. Tracey ran a brush through her hair, left it down and hung up her towel to dry. Leaving the bathroom, she started to walk passed her room but then stopped and went in, picking up the leather journal that Legolas had written in for her and sighed. She closed the door to her room, went into the living room to crash on the couch and opened it to start reading.
"Oh the shower is ready for your use." Tracey said, turning the pages of the journal slowly and taking in every sweet word in Legolas's flowing handwriting.