The Friend of a Friend
Kerri Summers, the best friend of John Watson comes back to her native London after spending the last two years in New York. With John moving in with Mary, and Kerri having nowhere to stay, Mrs. Hudson insists that she takes up John's old residence, resulting in Kerri facing Sherlock and discovering something more.
By Tiffany Blake
The Friend of a Friend
'Are you sure having the girl is going to bring Sherlock to us?' I heard the first man say. He sounded panicked and not too far away, I had no idea who he was though.
'If anything is going to bring him here, it's her.' another voice, further away from me this time and through the nausea and dizziness I managed to open my eyes and mumble.
'You're wrong...' I managed, barely a whisper but they heard
'What was that Poppet?' that was the first man, the one closest to me, he was tall, old, dark hair.
'About Sherlock, he won't come for me. He doesn't care for me, you should have taken John, I'm just a friend of a friend to him.' in my head all I can see is those blue eyes, on my level staring straight into my brown eyes, uncovering every feeling I have ever felt for him and knowing.
'He will come. Trust me, we didn't take John for a reason, Kelly, right?'
'It's Kerri,' the second man stalked across the room at me, my red hair was in front of my eyes and I couldn't tell whether it was the light of whether there was blood in my hair, I guessed it was blood. My head was spinning and I could hardly see straight, but the guy walking towards me was shorter than the other and wider. He came so close, I could smell his sweat, he studied me. 'You love him.'
'Sorry,' I stammered
'You love him, Sherlock Holmes, you're in love with him.' the tall man repeated.
'Yes,' I whispered, 'Yes, I'm in love with him...but he doesn't know I exist. I'm John's best friend, not Sherlock's. Holding me was a mistake.' everything was a whisper and I could feel the tear building up and threatening to spill over, I tried my best to blink them back but not before the short man noticed.
'You really don't think he is coming do you?'
'No, I don't. I think he sees me as more of a sister if anything. He doesn't care for me and he sure as hell does not love me...'
'You're wrong.' my breathe caught. That was neither of the men in the room with me and I know that deep honey silk voice anywhere. I couldn't raise my head to see, and my eyes were filled with tears so everything would have been a blur anyway.
His footsteps echoed in whatever room we were in. it was dark and dank and smelt of damp, definitely underground somewhere, an old tube station maybe. The short guy in front of me had walked away and I didn't know where till, until I felt the yank on my hair and my head pulled back as something cool and sharp was placed tightly against my neck. I slowly opened my eyes and saw Sherlock stood across from me. his dark hair in a messy wave. His face was hard and still, there was no emotion on his face at all, he had his hands in his pockets. No emotions on his face, but his eyes, those beautiful blue eyes were full of worry, hurt, madness, also full of anger and fury but most of all, for some strange reason, when he locked eyes with me, they were so full of love.
'Kerri!' my eyes snapped away from Sherlock's and over his shoulder at John. John was here as well. Of course, Sherlock was only here for John. He was only ever there for John, no-one else. I looked between them, from Sherlock to John and back, whatever I saw in his eyes was go now, there was no love there. Just cold ice. I tried to smile at John, to let him know that somehow I was okay even though I'm not, but my head was pulled further back. I figured one of them moved.
'You really ought to let her go, you know.' that was Sherlock's voice, I couldn't see but there was no emotion there what-so-ever. Much like his eyes, it was ice cold. Like I said to the men, he doesn't care for me, I'm John's best friend, this is hurting him more than it is hurting Sherlock, it's probably not hurting him at all. I couldn't help it and a tear escaped. Later on I can tell them it was because they were trying to kill me, not because Sherlock doesn't care.
'Why would we do that genius? As long as we have her, we have you, oh look Sherlock, your girlfriend is crying, she didn't think you were going to come.'
'I'm not,' I choked, 'I'm not his girlfriend.' I shouldn't have said that as it resulted in my head being pulled further back and the blade pressed harder into my skin and I whimpered at the sharp sting on my neck.
'Alright stop it now! Kerri has nothing to do with whatever this is!' that was John and I heard a shuffle, it sounded more like a struggled actually and I figured that Sherlock had to hold John back.
'Oh look poppet, your boyfriend is getting mad. We hurt you and he wants to come running.' there was a dry laugh from the tall guy stood somewhere to my left.
'John isn't my boyfriend either.'
'I wasn't talking about John. Oh, you can't see can you? John is holding Sherlock back. How romantic.' my heart stopped. John holding Sherlock back, that couldn't possibly be true, he didn't care for me, he had no reason to even be here.
'Don't lie to me, please...'
'Oh trust me Kerri he isn't, you know, Sherlock is a lot stronger than he looks. Guys come on, just let her go before I let him go as I am pretty sure he is going to do some damage.' John's worried voice cut through the pain in my head. Sherlock really was trying to get to me. That wasn't right, they were all lying to me.
'He doesn't care for me!' I snapped, shouted as loud as I could with my throat so dry. The short guy let my head go and it collapsed onto my chest, that hurt. I started to cry and I felt so pathetic. I'm sat here crying over the fact that Sherlock doesn't care for me instead of the fact that I was drugged beaten and now being held captive because of Sherlock. I managed enough strength to hold my head up a little and right into the cold eyes of Sherlock.
'What are you talking about?' he asked, calming down, no longer fighting now that my life was no longer in danger, 'You think I don't care for you? You think I am only here for the benefit of John? I can see it in your eyes, the way you hold yourself. You are shying away, you want me to be here but at the same time you would rather I not be.' he was slowly walking towards me, none of the other men made a move. 'Kerri, listen to me, relax, I am here to get you, I am not here because John went racing out the door before I could blink. You need to relax because any minute now, well in two minutes actually, Lastrade is going to be here and there is no way out of here except the door that John is about to block.' he was crouched in front of me and the ice had gone from his eyes but there was no hint of what was there before. Now there was just warmth.
'Lastrade? Who the Hell is Lastrade?' the short man demanded of Sherlock, his eyes never left mine.
'The Detective Inspector currently coming down the stairs behind the door of which John is stood in front of. John, I suggest you move before the door gets opened on you.' slowly, Sherlock began to untie the rope from around my wrists but before he did so he moved the hair out of my face, and checked the gash on my forehead, I was beginning to lose consciousness again and the nausea was starting to hit me. He looked at me carefully, lifting my head and holding it up as I couldn't, I lost all my strength.
'Oi, Sherlock, how did you know that? That they were coming?' the tall guy asked as Lastrade came bursting through the door.
'Because, when I entered this subway ticket office, I called the police, knowing it would take then exactly 10 minutes. I also calculated the number of exists, answer being one, the door we came in through. whilst we were all talking, threatening Kerri's life, I was counting away in my head, after eight minutes, I announced that you had two minutes until Lastrade got here. I knew this because unlike, the rest of you, I noticed the quiet vibrations and the fine rubble falling from the ceiling as Lastrade and his men walked overhead and towards the stair well.'
'Good isn't he?' Lastrade announced from behind Sherlock, I watched him walk over to the two men who were stood quietly against the wall while Donovan, I think that was her name, arrested them. in front of my Sherlock was still holding my head up and he could see that I was fading out. He began to quickly untie the rest of the rope holding me to the chair, the ones around my ankles and my waist.
'Kerr? Stay with me. John! what's wrong with her?' John came rushing forward as Sherlock lifted me out of the chair and into his arms. John's fingers were working over me, checking my pulse, looking at the gash on my head. All I could see was Sherlock's face, staring worriedly at me, everything was slowly fading to black and the last thing I saw was his perfect blue eyes before the darkness engulfed me.