AN/ I feel bad. This was literally a dream I had. I woke up and wrote it down before it completely faded. Then I went back and fixed it. This is the first draft. I fell asleep listening to Alex Goot's cover of Taylor Swift's "Safe and Sound", so that's where Sherlock's poem comes from. You should listen to that while you read this.

I'm just wondering if anyone thinks I should carry this on at all?

- 00 - Safe and Sound - 00 -

The day that changed everything started like a normal day. Cloudy and rainy, the day itself held nothing different, nothing new. It was odd, how it was just a normal day. If asked, John would be able to say that Sherlock had done something immature, and he'd left in a huff- picking up an extra couple of hours at the local surgery- just like he always did when Sherlock was in one of his moods.

He'd also be able to say that he hadn't been expecting Sherlock to call him home. And he had certainly never expected Sherlock to sound so panicked over the phone. True to his nature, the man had simply refused to give any details over the phone, just that he was needed now and it was an emergency. Normally, John would ignore these calls but this one... he actually sounded genuine.

Sherlock told him that it was just after lunch time when she had shown up. From what John could tell when he returned home, she had simply appeared on their doorstep, covered head to toe in blood, her blue eyes large with fear and shock. Later, Sherlock had told him how she had allowed him to lead her into the sitting room. She'd sat there, silently, tears streaming down her face as she stared at nothing, her mind not being able to take in any new data.

John had instantly recognised the symptoms of shock and he quickly lay her on the sofa, covering her with blankets as she started to gasp for air, her body reacting to her panic.

The thing that surprised John perhaps the most at that point was how attentive Sherlock was to her. His arm was around her and he was holding her close to his chest, rocking her a little. Long dark hair was matted with the sticky red of blood and it stuck to Sherlock's chest, but he didn't seem to either notice nor care.

He spoke softly to her, telling her that she could trust John, that if Sherlock could trust him, she could too. John vaguely heard something about a butterfly.

"Alice..." Sherlock spoke quietly, his eyes wide and his own body seeming to slip into the symptoms of shock. It wouldn't have surprised John if the only thing preventing shock was his sheer will. "Alice. What happened...?" He spoke softly, his voice trembling a little.

"F-father... He came at me, Lock. I didn't know-" She was speaking through shuddering breaths, her eyes overflowing with tears as her body struggled to cope with the emotional onslaught. "I didn't know what to do...Lock you weren't there I didn't-" Sherlock's hand went to the top of her head, holding it close to his chest as he rocked slowly as she continued to repeat those words.

Raising his eyes, Sherlock looked at John and the doctor noticed that he was trembling. "Call Lestrade. Have him come here quickly. Please." there was a sense of urgency in his voice and John was quick to obey the plea. It wasn't often that Sherlock said please.

The DI must have been somewhere close, because he arrived within ten minutes of the call. Alice seemed to have calmed a bit by that point, though she was muttering that she didn't want to go to jail, and Sherlock was softly hushing her, promising that he wouldn't let that happen, his voice trembling a little as a single tear leaked from his eyes.

It must have looked like some sort of crime scene by the way that Lestrade's face paled when he walked in. "Good god what the hell happened?" He asked, eyes never leaving the two on the sofa.

"Lestrade...do you have a recording device?" Sherlock asked softly, his arms still wrapped tightly around the young woman. The DI nodded and began recording -they didn't need her to say this more than once.

After Sherlock reassuring the girl that she could trust Lestrade, she began to talk with a shaky voice.

"I-I came home from uni... m-my father was there, in the kitchen. I c-could smell it before anything else... Blood. I'm- p-pre-med so-so I know what it smells like. And I knew. I just knew. H-he was standing over her and-and there was b-blood, everywhere." She had to stop talking then, for the sobs that wrecked her body.

A shaking hand pulled her closer to Sherlock's chest and he whispered into her hair. "Just close your eyes. You'll be alright, no-one can hurt you now. Come morning light, you and I'll be safe and sound. Safe and sound, okay..?" His own breathing was hitching, his body trembling harder than before. The words were obviously something that he'd said to her often, and they were spoke in prose- perhaps a song?

After a moment, Alice continued. "M-mummy was-" She couldn't say it- "H-he saw me. Said that he'd warned her-and me... He-He came at me..." More sobs, and more reassurance from Sherlock in the form of the poem, "I don't know what happened. I-He-The next thing I know, he's on the floor next to mummy. I-I checked h-her. She was so still- there was so much blood- she-she wasn't breathing-h-her-she was-I checked. Oh god I didn't know what to do! Lock, mummy...she didn't have a pulse. She wasn't breathing and-and I think – I think I killed him!"

Sherlock was rocking her now, holding her close as she shook and sobbed. "J-John. Do you have anything to calm her down?" He asked, obviously meaning a sedative. His voice was thick, he seemed to be struggling himself. Obviously he had known Alice's mother-and this was affecting him on an emotional level.

John nodded and quickly made his way to his medical kit in his room. He returned very soon and Alice was soon lay still, sleeping on Sherlock.

The minute he knew she was out, he put her down and stood, hastily making his way into the bathroom. Worried for his friend, John followed, wincing as he heard the retching and subsequent flush of the toilet. Once Sherlock was finished, he led him into the kitchen, passing him a glass of water. It was taken with shaking hands.

Sherlock finished the water and put the glass down before covering his nose and mouth with the back of his hand taking halting breaths.

"Sherlock... you need to calm down." John told him softly, realizing that the man was heading quickly for a strong case of shock and possibly a panic attack. "I know Alice is a friend and her parents' deaths are probably a lot to take in-"

"Mycroft." John gave Sherlock a confused look and the other continued. "I-I need to call Mycroft... He-" He had to swallow then. He was hyperventilating and John knew that he needed to calm the man down before he did himself damage.

"I understand, but you need-"

"You don't understand!" Sherlock growled at him, hurt and desperation clawing it's way onto his face. "Alice isn't a friend. She's our half sister. On our mother's side."

Half sister? Mother's side...? That meant... "Oh god." Sherlock had just received news that his mother had been murdered. "Oh god."

Sherlock just nodded once and for once allowed John to place his hand on his shoulder to gently guide him into the sitting room. "Okay, I'll call Mycroft." He said softly, pushing the man into the couch beside his sister. "I'm going to give you something to calm you -okay?" He waited for Sherlock's nod before administering the sedative.

For Sherlock, everything went blank.

The next few hours were a blur for John. He'd informed Mycroft, who met them at Scotland Yard. Lestrade had sent somebody to the scene and from what forensics were saying, it looked to all add up. Mycroft gave a statement of how his stepfather had been abusive. Richard had been in prison up until a day ago. Apparently he'd escaped and Mycroft had been in the process of tracking him down when it happened. It was an open and shut case and of the three of them, Mycroft was handling the news the best.

Alice and Sherlock had both been taken to the medical bay in the Yard, both conscious but still in shock. For once, Sherlock didn't complain about the blanket.

It was agreed that Alice would stay with Sherlock and John for the time-being and that neither her nor Sherlock were to be alone for a while. John wasn't sure if either of them would ever really recover from this.

~~ 0 0 ~~ Safe and Sound ~~ 00 ~~
AN/ I dunno if this is even worth continuing. It was just such a vivid dream that I had to post it...