Katherine had been fine this morning, she woke up from the California King sized bed alone. This didn't much surprise her, James was always up early for 'work', and she liked to sleep in. She rolled out of bed and grabbed a silk kimono-like robe, she tied the strings and stood in front of the floor to ceiling windows in the bedroom, before her was the skyline of downtown London. She loved this flat, not only was it by far the poshest place she had ever lived, but it was also completely custom built to her preferences.
Her calm thoughts while looking at the skyline were broken when the text tone of her phone beeped. She walked back over to the bedside table and looked at the text.
"Morning love :) Dinner tonight at 7? ~JM"
Katherine smiled and typed "Sounds good, where are we going? ~KL"
James responded right away "Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester, dress fancy ;) ~JM"
Katherine rolled her eyes, of course, he picked that restaurant. She wasn't really surprised, he had a flair for the dramatic, but she supposed she should be thankful for that, its why she had this view. She looked out the window again and smiled before going to the master bathroom to have a shower. When she was done she took a moment to examine herself in the mirror.
She had gained weight in the last few years, which was good, after all that time in a dark hole in the middle of Siberia she had been so thin that she could barely move, the first few months after she had been rescued by James she hadn't really gained any weight and she had been concerned that she would never be able to go back to what she was before. She turned and looked over her shoulder, a few scars from where she had been shot, and long scars that crisscrossed her back from where she had been nearly beaten to death in Siberia. She had a large burn scar on her left hip from where she got too close to an explosion one time.
She didn't care about the scars, to her they were a show of her strength. James hated them, to him it showed that he couldn't keep her safe, but most of them were given to her before they had met. Of course that had been a whole other life, back when she worked for the British Government, aka Mycroft.
She didn't tend to dwell on that time.
She got dressed into tight black pants and light blue blouse, she went out into the kitchen and made herself a cup of morning tea, but just as she was about to take a sip of it her phone beeped.
"Seb's gonna come around the flat around noon, he has some questions about guns. That okay? ~JM"
Katherine replied "Sounds good. Haven't seen Seb in a while, did Uganda go well? ~KL"
"Apparently, I'll see you tonight :) ~JM"
Katherine laughed, "I look forward to it :) ~KL" she replied.
She took her cup of tea, that was now not as hot as she would have liked it, and she put it in the microwave for a few seconds. She then sat down on a comfy bar stool and took a small sip of the drink.
Immediately she knew something was wrong, within two seconds she lost all feeling in her legs and the rest of her body soon followed, she felt her nose begin to bleed before her vision became blurry, she felt herself falling off the bar stool and as she landed on the ground she hit her head and fell into unconsciousness.
About 2 hours later...
Sebastian knocked on the door to Jim and Kat's flat, there was no answer, he waited a moment before ringing the doorbell again. Still, nothing. Now he was becoming concerned, he had a key which he quickly pulled out from his pocket and pushed into the lock, he quickly turned it and ran inside to find a strange scene.
Katherine was laying on her side, her eyes were closed, she had a small cut on her head and her nose had dried blood on it. Sebastian immediately sprinted to her side and checked her breathing and pulse, he sighed in relief as he felt both. He whipped out his phone and called Jim, he picked up on the first ring.
"Yes?" He answered.
"Jim, something is wrong with Kat." Sebastian barely finished his sentence before Jim started assaulting him with questions.
"What happened? What's wrong? Can she speak?" Were the most clearly spoken questions.
"I don't know what happened or what's wrong I just got here and found her like this. She's completely unconscious, what do you want me to do?" Seb replied.
"Is she stable?"
"Seems like it, but honestly, I'm no doctor."
Jim sighed on the other line, "I'm on my way right now, don't do or touch anything until I get there, and call the doctor, Benson, not Smith." Jim hung up.
Around 10 minutes later the door to the flat burst open and in came James, his pace got slower and slower as he approached Katherine until he stopped about five feet away from her limp body.
"What do you see?" Sebastian asked quietly.
"She was drinking tea, had only taken one sip." Jim took another step forward and cocked his head, "This happened around two hours ago, she was paralyzed, she couldn't catch herself when she fell off the stool, she hit her head which probably knocked her out. Her nose started bleeding after. She was poisoned, something in the tea, it must be." James finished.
As soon as he stopped talking a doctor came rushing through the door of the flat, it was neither Benson nor Smith, but someone who James had never seen before.
"Who are you?!" James all but growled.
"My apologies, but unfortunately Dr. Benson passed away last night, and Dr. Smith is out of the country, it would take at least 13 hours to get him here. I swear I am just as qualified, and you can trust me, I swear." The young doctor told him quickly.
Jim looked to Sebastian, who nodded slightly, "What's your name?"
"Dr. Jason Mone sir." He replied.
James gestured for him to come in and examine Katherine, he asked James if he could move her and James said yes. He rolled her onto her back and opened her mouth and shone a flashlight down her throat. He pressed her stomach looking for signs of internal bleeding, then finally he looked at the wound on her head. He did this silently and efficiently, paying attention to detail, James decided that he liked this doctor better than the other two already.
"She has signs of poisoning, the head wound appears to be nothing, but I would like to do a scan just to be safe. I'll need to run three blood tests, one general one to see if there is anything common found in her bloodstream, and the other two to see if there are any narcotics-related chemicals, and the other to see if there are any natural toxins. Is there anything here that she could have used or eaten or drank to ingest the poison?"
"The teacup is all she ate or drank from all day," James told him.
The doctor nodded and took a vial from his case, he poured some of the liquid into the vial, "I'll have this thoroughly tested." The doctor went to leave to bring up the equipment but stopped just short of the door, "Just so I can access the medical records, what is her full name?"
James and Sebastian looked at each other again, and again Sebastian nodded yes. "Her full given name is Katherine Anne Lestrade."