This fic is the fourth installment of a series called SHIFT.

Disclaimer: I do not nor will I ever own any of characters depicted below that you may recognize...they belong to forces higher than me, and I respect them and applaud them for their beautiful creations.

Orie LOVED London.

Well, it was kind of hard to tell what Orie liked and didn't like at this point, seeing as Orie was only three months old.

And Orie had only been in London for a few hours.

But Maddie could tell. Orie was british at heart.

"Okay baby," Maddie pressed a kiss to the top of Orie's head, where he was strapped in to the baby carrier. "We've got our marching orders. Do we stop in and meet our landlady first, or get to work?"

Orie waved a little fist, and Maddie nodded. "I agree. Best to get to work!" She adjusted Orie's blanket, fixed the little hat on his head, straightened her own gloves.

In April, it was still blistering cold, and as such, both Maddie and Orie were covered in layers. But the address Maddie had been given was only a few blocks away, so she set a brisk pace.

By the time Maddie made it to the scene of the crime, her cheeks were pink and Orie was completely covered in blankets, to help him survive the wind.

A dark-skinned woman stopped Maddie from crossing the crime scene tape. "You can't be over here," She'd snapped while shoving Maddie back a few steps.

Orie had snuffled, which drew the woman's eyes to the baby strapped to Maddie's chest.

Maddie flicked back the blanket so that the woman and Orie could get a look at each other. Orie snuffled again, scrunching up his little nose in disgust.

Maddie loved her baby.

"You're trying to bring a baby to a crime scene?" The woman snorted. "Americans."

"Right." Maddie raised an eyebrow. "Is an Inspector Lestrade around?" She covered Orie with the blanket once more, raising the laminated badge her new boss had given her. "I'm his new press liaison."

The woman's face looked even more disgusted, if that was possible, but she raised the tape so that Maddie could step under.

"He's upstairs," The woman directed, crossing her arms.

Maddie smiled fakely. "Thanks ever so," She adopted an accent similar to the woman's but just different enough to be mocking.

Under the blankets, Maddie heard Orie giggle, which gave her the strength to saunter into the building.

"This is ridiculous."

"Calm down."

"No. You call me…for a case so simple even Anderson could solve it…and expect me to accept this without reservations?"

"Sherlock…first of all, Anderson doesn't even work here anymore. Second, you needed to get out of the house. You can't mope forever,"

"I can try!"

"Sherlock enough!"

Maddie stepped into the parlor of the brownstone, where the voices were coming from. They stopped immediately when they noticed her.

"I'm sorry to interrupt," she said smoothly, not sparing a glance for the body on the floor. She turned slightly to the man with the graying hair. "Madison Sinclair, your new press liaison." The man's eyes brightened in understanding, and he stepped forward to shake her hand.

"I understand the position is a new one," Maddie began, and the man chuckled.

"It is new," he admitted, "but necessary." He shot a look at the other man, Sherlock, Maddie remembered. "We're looking forward to having you on the team."

Maddie smiled, and Sherlock, the tall man with the dark shock of hair, huffed loudly. "You've thoroughly wasted my entire day," Sherlock snapped. "Just let me speak with the witnesses so I can leave this," Sherlock glared at the room around him, "hovel."

"Right." Inspector Lestrade smiled apologetically at Maddie. Maddie smiled in understanding and moved to stand against the wall, watching as the first witness was brought in.

It was a timid young woman, who Sherlock tired quickly with.

The next witness was a young man who obviously used drugs, and Sherlock spoke at length with him, but then dismissed him angrily.

The third witness was an elderly woman.

And Orie did NOT like her. He snuffled the second she crossed the threshold and wiggled more the longer she was in the room.

The woman, when she realized there was a baby in the room, began to coo and step forward, and Orie let out an angry screech.

"Get that thing out of here!" Sherlock snapped as the woman cringed back.

It Maddie a moment to realize the irate man was not talking about the woman, but was in fact, talking about ORIE.

Maddie grimaced. "Sorry." She apologized, though she took a moment to lean towards Sherlock before she left. "I'd watch that one," she warned in a low voice, so only he could hear. Then she flashed Lestrade a smile and hurried out of the room.

Maddie was outside interviewing one of the other detectives when Sherlock hurtled towards her. She didn't see him coming, so he had plenty of time to grab her arm and wrench her away.

"Hey!" She snapped, and baby Orie squawked loudly.

"How did you know?" Sherlock hissed, his eyes bright and furious on her face.

"Know what?" Maddie jerked her arm out of Sherlock's grip and took a step away from him. He followed her.

"About that woman. How did you know she should be "watched" as you so nicely warned me?"

Maddie raised an eyebrow. "That wasn't me." She flicked the blanket off of Orion's face, and revealed his face, his eyes squinted against the cold.

"Meet Orie." Sherlock grimaced at the name, and Maddie smiled. "He kind of has a sixth sense about people. He can tell the good ones from the bad ones and the worse ones from the bad." She adjusted the blanket so only his eyes were peeking out. Orie opened them a little bit more so that the brilliant blue of his iris' could be seen.

Yeah, Orie's eyes had stayed blue.

"You're trying to tell me that this…thing can identify killers?"

"Sure." Maddie shrugged. "Was that all you needed?" She waved her notes. "I have an article to write up."

Sherlock narrowed his eyes, then he squatted until he was at eye level with Orie.

Orie's eyes narrowed.

Then the baby smiled.

Sherlock sniffed, then straightened. "You may go." He dismissed, and Maddie curtsied dramatically before striding off.

Meeting her new landlady went a lot smoother than meeting her new boss did.

Mrs. Hudson was thrilled with a female tenant, and even more thrilled with Orie.

Well, everyone was thrilled with Orie. He was adorable, and everyone thought so…Except for that Sherlock guy.

Mrs. Hudson was thankfully no Sherlock, and the second the older woman had caught sight of the baby, she'd beamed and started cooing.

Orie hadn't taken to Mrs. Hudson, exactly, but he tolerated her attentions.

Much like his mother, he wasn't a huge fan of…people.

But HE could fake it when need be.

So Maddie unstrapped him from his carrier and handed her baby over to her new landlady, inspecting the "flat" she and Orie would be living in for the next few months.

"It's a simple place," Mrs. Hudson explained as she bounced Orie. "Just the main living space, a bedroom, and the kitchen."

Maddie nodded slowly. It was small, but everything looked new, as if it had just been redone. Seeing as it was just Orie and her, they would be fine.

"When did you remodel?" She asked politely.

"Oh that wasn't me, dearie, that was your company. My home is close to the heart of the city and they seemed to really like the location, so they offered to fix the place up, make it habitable, you know," Mrs. Hudson smiled. "We agreed on a reduced rate and they came in and fixed everything up."

"They went to a lot of trouble," Maddie mused. She turned to her new landlady. "Did my company say why?"

Mrs. Hudson shook her head. "I never spoke directly with anyone." She furrowed her brow. "It was all done electronically."

"Odd." Maddie crossed her arms as she thought.

What was it about this place that was so special, that her company would fork out the cash to completely remodel just so she could stay there for a few months? She turned as Orie squawked.

The question would have to wait - being a mom, though new to Maddie, was her new priority.

Maddie smiled and held out her hands, and Mrs. Hudson reluctantly handed the baby over. "We really look forward to staying here for the next few months," she said nicely.

Mrs. Hudson smiled, cooed one last time at the baby, and then bustled away to allow Maddie and Orie space to get ready for bed.

Maddie took one last look at the living room, decorated in simple blues and grays with pops of orange; gray couch, orange pillows, patterned rug.

It was homey, and well done, like the decorator had Maddie's exact tastes. Maddie walked into the bedroom to find a large bed, covered in gray blankets and pillows, Orie's crib already set up in the corner, his changing table next to it.

She moved to get her baby ready for bed, humming quietly as she changed Orie's diaper, put in in pajamas, and then setting him gently down in his crib.

Maddie watched Orie's eyes flutter shut, then moved to the window.

There had been so many changes. The time change, the move to London, the new job, the new flat, being a mother, Maddie's mind was spinning.

Her phone started to ring, and she moved to the living room to take it.

She smiled at the name on her screen, quickly putting the phone to her ear.

"Hey."

"Mads! Sorry, I don't know how the whole time difference thing works…did I wake you?"

"Nope." Maddie answered quickly. "I haven't adjusted yet, I'm awake. What's up?"

"Uh…I just wanted to see how your first day was. Does Orie like London?"

"Orie loves London," Maddie smiled. "He's not too fond of the weather, though." She grimaced. "Neither am I. But our place is nice, the job should be…" Maddie chuckled, "hilarious, and so far, so good." She sighed. "How are you, Winchester?"

Dean chuckled. "I'm fine. Same old, same old. Cas and Sam ganging up on me, monsters to gank, no time for pie."

"No time for pie?!" Maddie mock-gasped. "The horror." She shook her head, phone pressed tightly to her ear. "Where are you?"

"Montana." Dean grimaced. "It's not my favorite place."

"What's your favorite place, oh fearless traveler?" Maddie teased.

"Uhhh," Dean paused as if thinking. "Where are you, again?" Maddie laughed, but Sam entered the room at just that moment, and he fake-gagged. Dean threw his shoe at his brother.

"Who are you talking to?" Cas followed behind Sam.

"Is that Cas?" Maddie spoke up. "Can I talk to him for a second? I have a question."

Dean made a face, but held his phone out to Cas.

"Who is this?" Cas asked seriously once he got the phone to his ear. He immediately brightened.

"Maddie!" Sam raised an eyebrow at his brother as Cas continued to chat with his ex-roommate. "How is Orion?"

Cas smiled at whatever Maddie said, then frowned.

"No, I have not ever heard of that," He mused. "Let me put you on with Sam…he might know more."

Sam smiled and took the phone, and Dean groaned, flopping onto his bed, flinging his arms out in exasperation.

"Hey Maddie! London treating you well?" Sam smiled and nodded at her response, but then his expression turned serious.

"Hmm…it sounds familiar, but let me check something out." He left the room with Dean's phone, and Dean threw his hands up in the air.

"Did we interrupt something?" Cas asked apologetically.

"No." Dean snapped. "You interrupted nothing." And he stormed from the room.

Cas' eyes narrowed.

Dean may have said the opposite, but he was pretty sure he HAD interrupted something.

…but what?

Cuties. All of them.

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~CLC~