"Sherlock! You need to calm down." I say into the phone, leaving John's flat.
"Just get back to the flat, now." he replies.
"Okay, I'm on my way." I say. He hangs up the phone. I sigh.
Hi, I'm Karolyn. I'm 15 years old, and I've been working on cases with Sherlock Holmes for a few months now. I actually live at 221B at Baker Street; have been for a month now. He thinks I'm in danger from some guy named Viktor, who worked with an enemy named Jim Moriarty. I'm American. I'm from New York, but I was put in a foster home in London after my mom died when I was 5 and I got taken away from an abusive dad 2 years ago. They asked where I wanted to go, I said London, and now I'm here.
I'm walking towards the street, when suddenly it's dark.
3RD PERSON POV
Sherlock's phone suddenly rings.
"Hello?" he answers.
"Sherlock Holmes." someone says. Sherlock freezes.
"Who are you?" he asks.
"Oh, I feel like you already know." the man replies.
"Viktor Carr." Sherlock says.
"Very good, Holmes. Now, I've been told you have a bit of a soft spot for this girl here..." Viktor says, and Sherlock's heart almost stops. He's got Karolyn?
"What have you done with Karolyn?" he asks urgently.
"Oh nothing yet. But Sherlock, believe me, she'll be far more broken than usual once I'm finished with her. If you wanna come find her, why don't you figure it out yourself?" he asks, and the line goes dead. Sherlock thinks hard.
He was friends with Moriarty... no, he worshipped him. So he would go somewhere with relevance to Moriarty. He's starting as his own criminal...the pool. The pool where it all started.
"Viktor?" Sherlock calls in the poolhouse.
"Holmes! I didn't think you'd come!" a man says, appearing from the shadows. "She's been begging for you."
"Give her to me now." Sherlock snarls.
"Would you like to see her? How she's doing?" Sebastian asks. Sherlock stays silent. Viktor pulls a limp body from the shadows, and Sherlock recognizes the red hair immediately. "She's not dead. She had a panic attack and passed out."
Damn. Sherlock thinks. He used her panic attacks against her.
She suddenly moans, and opens her eyes. She looks at Sherlock, and the pure fear, desperation and pain in her eyes makes his heart break. But he keeps his composure.
"This is unnecessary." He says.
"Oh, it's quite necessary, Holmes. It makes sense, doesn't it? Sentiment has taken you over, hasn't it?" Viktor says.
"It's not about that, it has nothing to do with sentiment." Sherlock replies.
"It has everything to do with sentiment, Holmes!" Viktor shouts. "You care about this girl."
Karolyn thinks back. Her whole life she's wanted people to care about her. When she met Sherlock, she thought someone finally would. She thought Sherlock would. She wants to be loved, she wants Sherlock to be her family. Sure, she's very close with John and Mary. Molly's like her sister. But she lives with Sherlock. She wants him to love her. Because she loves him. She wants him to be her family. Sherlock knows it too, he's just not very good at that. But he loves her. So when he realizes what he's gonna have to say, his heart aches.
"No I don't." He says. Karolyn looks at him, but he avoids her gaze.
"Sorry?" Viktor says.
"Sentiment? Dull. This girl is merely around to help on cases, nothing more." he says.
"You're lying." Viktor says. Sherlock realizes he's really gonna have to sell it, but knows that this will kill Karolyn.
"Why would I care about some teenaged girl who can't control her emotions?" he says. "She's been in a depression for 2 years, she can't just be normal. Why would I feel sentiment towards a girl who needs to step away from cases because she is unable to handle herself? She has panic attacks because she can't calm herself down. She blames a disorder when in reality it's lack of self-control. She doesn't matter to me." he says. He looks at Karolyn, and his heart breaks at the look on her face.
Pain. Nothing but pain. Her eyes are flooded with tears. And he caused them. Viktor looks confused.
"Put a damper on your plan, I assume." Sherlock says. The police barge into the pool house, and arrest Viktor, and Sherlock rushes to Karolyn. "Karolyn, I-"
SMACK.
He looks back at her, his left cheek stinging. She slapped him.
"You bastard." she says.
"Karolyn, listen to me-"
"You made me think you cared." she says.
"Listen-"
"I wanted you to be my family." she chokes out, and he stops.
"What?" he asks, shocked.
"My mom died when I was little. My dad thought I was a human punching bag. I came to London for a fresh start. But depression's a bitch, it follows you everywhere. I never really had a proper family, Sherlock. Then I met you. I wanted you to care. Was that too much to ask?" she asks.
"No, Karolyn, I-"
"I stopped self harming 2 weeks into living with you." she says. He looks at her.
"You did?" he asks.
"3 years. 3 years I struggled with self harm. And then 2 and a half months into working with you, I moved into Baker Street. 2 weeks after that, I stopped. Just like that, I had hope." she says. "And you screwed it up." Sherlock sighs. "I can't believe I actually thought you cared. I can't believe I was that stupid." she says.
"Karolyn-"
"I hate you." she whispers, stopping him. He looks at her, and she looks up at him, and looks him dead in the eye. "I hate you, Sherlock Holmes." His heart breaks. She walks past him, towards the door, then stops, turns around, and faces him. "I thought you were a great man." she says. "I was very wrong." She says, and she walks out of the pool house.
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK.
"Coming!" Molly calls, putting her robe on over her nightie. She gets to the door and pulls it open. There stands Karolyn. Her eyes are red and puffy, and there are unshed tears in them, besides the ones going down her shiny wet face. She smiles sadly.
"Hey Molly. I need somewhere to crash." she says. Molly opens her arms, and Karolyn walks in and hugs her, and starts to sob into her shoulder.
"Hello?"
"John? Is Karolyn there?" Sherlock asks.
"No, why would Karolyn be here?" John asks. Sherlock sighs into the phone. "Sherlock what's happened?"
"Viktor Carr kidnapped her last night. He wanted me to admit I cared about her, so I lied and said I didn't to be able to buy time to get her to safety. I said some things, bit harsh. She slapped me, told me off, told me she hates me, then walked out and left and hasn't been home since." he responds quickly. John sighs.
"Did these harsh things happen to beat her over the head with her depression and panic disorder?" John asks. Sherlock is silent a moment.
"Maybe." he replies. John groans.
"Sherlock!" he says.
"I had to sell it! I needed Carr to think I didn't care about her whatsoever, I needed to make it real. She might have died, John." Sherlock replies. John sighs.
"Try phoning Molly. Those two are like sisters. And she obviously wouldn't come to me, Sherlock. She knew I'd call you if she did, and she wants to avoid you. You really underestimate her sometimes, Sherlock." John says. Sherlock sighs.
"I know."
"So he just completely trashed you?" Molly asks.
"Pretty much." Karolyn replies. They're sitting on Molly's couch, drinking tea.
"So he took everything- the depression, the anxiety- and just threw it in your face?" She asks.
"It totally blew up in my face." Karolyn says. Molly sighs.
"I'm so sorry, Karolyn, I know how much you've wanted him to care." she says.
"Thanks Molly. Yeah, I wanted him to care. I wanted someone to finally love me." Karolyn says.
"I love you. Does that count?" Molly asks. Karolyn smiles a little.
KAROLYN'S POV
"Yes, Molly. That means the world to me, thanks." I reply. "But it's different. You care. John cares. Mary, Lestrade, they all care. I've got enough people in my court, I don't need Sherlock. So why the hell do I want so badly for him to care?" I say.
"Because you love him." she says. I look at her. "I mean it makes sense, with the past and all. You want someone to care, and you've but become fixated on Sherlock Holmes. It's perfectly plausible, you're with him everyday." I nod.
"Oh god, I have to be with him everyday." I groan.
"Not necessarily." she says. I look at her.
"What?" I ask.
"Believe me, I know how frustrating Sherlock can be. But I can't imagine living with him. Why don't you stay here?" she asks.
"Seriously?"
"Well, yeah. I mean I've got the room. Stay as long as you want, I mean it. I'd absolutely love to have you, I've been wanting a flatmate." she says. I lunge and hug her.
"Molly Hooper you're a lifesaver!" I say. She smiles and hugs back.
3RD PERSON POV
"Morning Molly." Sherlock says, oddly cheerfully, strolling into the morgue. Molly stays silent. "Beautiful day today." Nothing. "You know, I-"
SMACK.
"Why do people keep slapping me!?" he exclaims, holding his cheek.
"That girl has wanted you to love her since the day she met you and you chose to take her insecurities and use them against her. She loved you because she didn't have a dad growing up. She had a man who drank too much and beat her every night, and that was it. It's not at all surprising she became so fixated on you because you are a male figure she used to look up to and she just wanted someone to make up for the all pain she got from the LAST male in her life, and you messed all of that up!" Molly snaps. Sherlock stares.
"Molly... I..."
What does he say? She's never acted this way before.
"Sherlock, just please leave." she says. Sherlock walks out without another word.
2 WEEKS LATER
"Hello?"
"J-John?"
"Karolyn? Are you having a panic attack?"
"Yeah. Yeah I... I am."
"Where are you? Are you still at Molly's?"
"No, I... I went for a walk. I accidentally went to the place where he took me. And... I-"
"Where are you now?"
"I... I don't know! I can't tell!"
"Look at the street signs, tell me what you see."
"Uh... Kenningston. And Pinnacle."
"I'm leaving now. Just stay there."
Sherlock walks towards the street, away from Lestrade after another finished case, and stops.
Karolyn?
He sees her sitting on a bench, hunched over, shaking.
Panic attack.
He goes to walk over to her, but stops when a taxi pulls up next to her, and John gets out. He rushes over and sits next to her. She looks at him, he says something, and she hugs him. Her body starts shaking violently, and Sherlock knows that she's sobbing. John looks up, and notices Sherlock. Sherlock looks down, and turns and walks away.
A/N: Hey guys! So... I realize that this got intense pretty fast lol. My problem with stories are that I tend to make them begin kind of suddenly, but that's just because I have so much in my ind for the actually story that I just wanna get right to it. I have a TON of chapters written for this on my Google Docs, so updates shouldn't take too long (hopefully). My promise to you is that this story is eventually going to involve a LOT of Parent!lock fluff. TRUST ME. Anyways, thanks for reading!
-NTM