The idea of Sherlock meeting John before deployment and the Yard not knowing has been burning a hole in my head for weeks. I don't know if this is a final product I'll probably play with this later. And maybe follow it with another chapter. No promises.
Unbetad written in a rush
Lestrade didn't know how the envelope ended up on his desk, but he didn't need to be bloody Sherlock Holmes to know that the lack of address meant that it had been hand delivered. With great care he ripped the seal to find out what was waiting for him inside. Honestly, with everything that happens to them with Sherlock around Lestrade was surprised that it was only a DVD disk sitting nestled in the yellow packaging. Knowing better than to put it into his computer, since there could be a virus on it, Lestrade made his way to a TV hooked up to a DVD player. It only took a moment for the equipment to warm up and start the video. The screen stayed black, but a deep, obviously altered, voice started to speak.
"The government is broken. You are the servants of tyrants, we are the servants of peace. Due to the gravity of this situation we have decided to declare war on you and the criminals you have chosen to protect. With this declaration we have taken hostages; hostages who are also servants of your tyrant. Submit to our new ways by tonight or the hostage dies. These may be drastic measures, but it is what you have driven us to."
Lestrade paused the video when the picture changed from black to bright lights on the hostage holding a news paper. Leaving the video there he rushed to gather his team, and maybe bloody Sherlock Holmes.
"Sally, Anderson, we have a hostage situation here! I'm bringing Sherlock in on this and there is nothing you can say that will change my mind. Get in here and start analyzing the video. I also want everything you've got on that hostage. Got it?" Neither of the dunces were pleased to hear that Sherlock would be joining them for the case, but they also understood that he was the best at finding people before the villain fired the gun.
"On it, Boss." Sally spoke for both herself and Anderson, who was sulking slightly, "Let's go. You heard him hostage situation."
Lestrade had retreated to his office to start a case file for the video and call, actually call, the Consulting Detective. The line rang several times, so long that he considered hanging up, but at last he call was answered.
"What do you want, Lestrade?" A very sleepy, grumpy Sherlock mumbled into the receiver. Which was odd since Sherlock didn't sleep.
"Sherlock? This is you right?" The derisive snort was an answer enough to his foolish question.
"Yes, of course it is. You are the one who dialed my number. Now say what you have to say or I am going to hang up." It took a moment for Lestrade to get his head around the idea of Sherlock sleeping.
"Uh-hostage situation. We are going to need everyone in on this. That includes you." Lestrade waited anxiously for Sherlock's answer; it could be very likely that he would say no, and that was something the Detective Inspector could not afford.
"How many hostages?" Sherlock asked lazily, due to the rustling Lestrade heard it seem that he was stretching.
"No number was given. He first said 'hostages,' but later says 'the hostage.'" He was really hoping that this would reach above a six on his interesting scale.
"Hm, miss information. Tacky. He obviously only has one hostage. You don't forget about many if you had them, but you do forget to add 's' where needed if you don't. Only one hostage then. 'Says' implies there is a video to go with this demand. Get your team to ID the voice, track down the man, find the hostage. Child's play, really, Lestrade? I know you can handle this one." With the last sentence Lestrade knew that Sherlock's interest was already out the window, so it was time to make his last plies for help.
"This person has only given us until tonight to comply with the demands stated, which we can't meet. Plus, I have reason to believe that he is targeting police officers." The other end of the line was quiet for a very long minute.
"Fine, I'll be right there." The Detective Inspectorcould have kissed him had he been there, but only on the forehead. After profusely thanking him, Lestrade hung up so he could get back to his team and hoped they had something they could go on.
He walked into the room they had commandeered, since it had a TV, while the hostage was speaking.
"-I have been taken in the name of peace and am sitting here in order to be a warning to those who think he is kidding. I will be killed if his demands are not met by midnight tonight. To show that you are complying he will need to see the Scotland Yard building shut down, that is the only way to get me safely returned."
As soon as the unnamed hostage finished speaking the TV screen went black. It was when the screen went black that Sherlock Holmes strolled through the door to bless them with his presence.
"About time you showed up." Anderson remarked with distaste, "I was beginning to think you were going to miss this one." At this comment Sherlock only raised an eyebrow before taking an empty seat.
"What have you got?" Sherlock asked disinterest clear in his tone. Lestrade moved to replay the video, but Sherlock snatched the remote off the table, "I don't need to see some crying officer sniffling his way through a pre-written threat. I need to know the facts." Sally's eyebrows shot up in shock, she assumed that the video would be as necessary as any crime scene.
"We have been told to renounce our support of the government by midnight tonight or he, this hostage, will be killed." Sally spoke, "We can play the video it might be more helpful." Sherlock rolled his eyes and didn't move to press the play button.
"What do we know about the hostage? Where does he work? That will give us a good idea of where he was taken."
"We're still pulling his file. It did just happen you know, but we know his name and military rank-not that you care." Sherlock smirked at Anderson's jab, to him it seemed as though the idiot was catching on.
"It does not help knowing his name. His name means nothing when this ordeal has nothing to do with him." Sherlock managed to bite out.
"Sherlock, this man could have a family, wife and kids, he may not mean anything to you, but he probably means a lot to someone else." Just as Lestrade finished his lecturing a knock at the door grabbed their attention, but lost Sherlock's as a first level desk worker walked in with the file they needed, "Thank you very much for this."
"My pleasure." She squeaked out as she fled the room letting the senior officers do their work.
Lestrade opened up the thick manila personnel file in order to start handing out some answers and to form some leads.
"Alright, he volunteers at a small clinic not too far from here, we will need to speak with the woman who runs it, and it appears he lives-what?" Lestrade's face crumpled in confusion, but was stretched with shock. Lifting his eyes he looked at Sherlock, who looked as though the break off personally insulted him, "Uh, Sherlock, this file says he lives at 221B Baker Street." It was Sherlock's turn to look confused.
"I don't-excuse me." With forced grace he stood and pushed his way through the door and presumably down the hall. Lestrade, Sally, and Anderson saw him pulling out his phone, but nothing else.
"What's wrong with the freak? Is he broken?" Sally kept looking looking at the door expecting him to come bursting through at any minute. It took a several silent minutes, but eventually Sherlock returned and quietly returned to his seat, almost as if he had never left. It took another moment of silence before he finally pressed the play button to watch the video.
"The government is broken. You are the servants of tyrants, we are the servants of peace. Due to gravity of this situation we have decided to declare war on you and the criminals you have chosen to protect. With this declaration we have taken hostages; hostages who are also servants of your tyrant. Submit to our new ways by tonight or the hostage dies. These may be drastic measures, but it is what you have driven us to."
Just as before the lights flashed on to reveal the hostage sitting with a newspaper in his hands, he seemed momentarily blinded, but recovered quickly.
"My name and rank is Captain John Watson MD. of the 5th North Umberland Fuslisiers and I have been taken in the name of peace and am sitting here in order to be a warning to those who think he is kidding. I will be killed if his demands are not met by midnight tonight. To show that you are complying he will need to see the Scotland Yard building shut down, that is the only way to get me safely returned."
Then just as before the screen went dead as the video ended. Everyone around the table was quiet as Sherlock processed what he had seen.
"The abductor is a woman, he wants us to shut down the building, and he is being held down by the docks." Sherlock recited his findings numbly, eyes still fixed resolutely on the screen.
"How could you possibly know that? No one but this Watson was on screen and he kept saying 'he' because it was prescripted. And there was no indication that they are near water. Nor did he have the ability to express an opinion on the matter. I think this time you are pushing it too far." Anderson huffed staring down at the empty pad of paper he was suppose to take notes on, had there been anything to see.
"He kept emphasizing 'he' which implies that 'he' is not a he, but a she. Why else keep stressing that word? Watson also stressed the words 'shut down,' 'only,' and 'safely.' This shows his desire for us to evacuate everyone out of the building, I believe he thinks that is the only way to keep the officers in this building safe. Finally, I know he is at the docks because he tapped out in Morse Code 'docks sos.' Honestly, that one should have been a given. He taps index for dots and middle for dashes." Oddly enough this break down of facts pulls more emotion out of Sherlock, his voice was getting animated again, though his eyes still looked hallow.
"How could you possibly know index for dots and middle for dashes? He could just be tapping his fingers, nerves and all." Sally gave Sherlock a hard look as she spoke.
"Because that system is one I set up with him." He gave her an equally cold glare, but quickly gave his attention back to Lestrade, "Go and talk to Sarah, she runs the clinic, and find out if he turned up for his volunteer hours this morning. Next we should go looking through the docks."
"If we know where he is why are we talking to his boss?" Lestrade asked wondering if it had anything to do with the case or if this was an excuse to get rid of them so he could go chasing on his own.
"I need to know how long he has been missing." Sherlock deadpanned. The honesty stunned Lestrade, but he had enough of his brain functioning to tell Sally to go question Sarah and send Anderson back to his hole with the disk. Once the dunces were both gone, just leaving him and Sherlock alone in the room Lestrade spoke.
"Sherlock, what is your connection to John Watson?" He tried to speak in a comforting tone, not knowing if he was helping or embarrassing him. Sherlock was not one to be coddled, and would sooner leave you in tears than have you see him as anything other than cold and distant. Luckily Lestrade knew him better than most people, which meant that Sherlock would deal with more from him.
"Flatmate." The word was empty. Lestrade picked up on Sherlock's everything; his words echoed and his eyes were dead. If he had to guess John Watson was Sherlock's one exception to sentiment.
"Sherlock, what I am about to do I feel is for your own good. I am taking you off this case, only going to be coming to you for consulting, and will have an officer posted outside this door so you do not go running off. Also so I can keep you in sight. I don't know who this Watson is, but your head isn't clear right now." He tried to put force behind his words, but the broken look Sherlock wore made Lestrade's bark sound like a meow.
It took a second, but it seemed as though Sherlock finally had finished processing the words spoken to him. His face contorted into anger at the realization of what was happening to him.
"No. No, I will not be taken off this case. I need to find John. I need to be there when he is found." He gestured wildly as he spoke trying to convey the severity of the situation and how much it meant to him.
"Sherlock, you aren't thinking clearly and if you aren't clear in the head I can't clear you for field work." He spoke as if he actually had say in whether or not Sherlock went gallivanting through London, "We will find him. I promise."
As it turned out John had not turned up for his assigned volunteer hours, but Sarah hadn't thought too much of it since he was currently on leave and most likely wanted to sleep in. When Sherlock heard the news he visibly paled, which was hard for him to do since he already lacked color. More to the point it meant that he had been missing for three hours until the DVD was found on Lestrade's desk.
All this information was turning Sherlock a green color. And Lestrade wasn't sure, but he thought he was catching phrases that sounded like "all my fault," "should have stayed in bed," and "never letting him out of my sight." These words confused the team because they had never seen Sherlock act like this before, not about anyone.
"Sherlock, you need to calm down. I have people looking through all the warehouses on the docks. We are going to find him." Sherlock gave Lestrade a dirty look; he wanted to be out there looking for this man, but instead was stuck in a room with a guard at the door. The Detective Inspector looked over the rough file they had thrown together for the case and texts he had gotten trying to keep himself informed with what was happening.
It wasn't until six o'clock, eight hours after the case opened and eleven hours since John had originally gone missing, that was he finally found in a shack on the docks wedged between warehouses in various states of disrepair. As soon as he was found an ambulance was called, then Lestrade was called so he could inform Sherlock.
It was quiet in the room he had been locked in so Lestrade's shrill ringtone was a welcome change. Sherlock looked at him expectantly as he took the call, he had been texting all day so a call must mean that they had found John. Lestrade's small smile and thumbs up was all Sherlock needed to let some of his tension slip.
"Sally found him, he is dehydrated and in need of food. They are taking him to the hospital as we speak. Apparently he is being kept over night for observation. I can get you there faster if we take one of my cars." Sherlock nodded eagerly, he currently didn't care what he had to do as long as John was on the other side. With more emotion than Lestrade had seen all day Sherlock snatched his wrist and pulled him down the hallway to the cars out on the curb.
The closer they got to Barts the more nervous it seemed Sherlock got, his eyes kept shifting and hands just wouldn't stay still. It was a relief when they finally got there and Sherlock could finally be released from the confined space. Confined it must have been because once Lestrade stopped Sherlock sprung out of the car like a Jack-in-the-Box. Lestrade barely caught up with him at the front desk.
"John Watson. What room is he in?" Sherlock stood there expectantly as the nurse looked for the patient.
"I'm sorry, sir, but Mr. Watson is only allowed family visitors for the time being." The nurse smiled apologetically ready to move her focus onto the next task, but before Lestrade could whip out his badge to get them through Sherlock spoke.
"He's my husband." Lestrade's eyes shot wide with shock, he had not been expecting that excuse, that one was just to easily proved false.
"I'm going to need to see some ID." Sherlock pulled out his wallet, carefully plucking out his ID, and relinquishing it over to the nurse. She help it to the computer so she could read both the information blurbs at the same time. Lestrade was waiting for her to call security on his lying, but that never happened. Instead she smile warmly at him.
"You husband is in room 253. Sir, can I help you?" It took a moment for Lestrade to get over the shock of Sherlock apparently being married, so there was a pause between her question and Lestrade holding up his badge to indicate that he was with the police, "Oh, well, there are still officers up there."
That was all the invitation Sherlock needed before he was racing to the stairs, not wanting to wait for the elevator. It wasn't hard to find the room, it was the only one with officers around it, but Sherlock didn't seem to notice. He just breezed right past them to get to the man in the hospital bed.
"Oi, freak, your not suppose to be here. Family and police only. You of which are neither."
It it had been any other time Sherlock may have graced her with a response, but here and now he was too busy looking at his John. How his John was hooked up to an IV drip, looked unwell, and how Sherlock wanted nothing more than to hold him.
So that is exactly what he did. Slowly stepping up to the bed Sherlock sat next to the unconscious John holding onto his hand for dear life and softly caressing his cheek.
"Freak, you can't be in here and you shouldn't touch people while they are sleeping, it's weird." But he ignored her and let his fingers roam over the skin he knew so well. It didn't take long before John started to wake up and consciously feel the affection, "Sir, if you would like we can have him removed."
John ignored her, just as Sherlock had, and let his eyes drink in the beauty before him.
"I should have stayed in bed." John's voice was raspy from dehydration, causing Sherlock to furl his brow in concern. Wordlessly he got up and filled a glass with water, just as quietly he held the cup out to John, "Assist?" Sherlock smiled fondly has he helped John sip the water.
"You really should have, maybe today will remind you that getting out of bed is bad when it's so cozy." Sally's jaw dropped to the floor when she heard the warmth that Sherlock's voice was soaked in when he spoke to John.
It continued to fall when John placed his hand on Sherlock's hip, thumb very clearly rubbing circles on the bone. She even thought she had seen it all until Sherlock leaned down capturing John's lips with his own. Sally thought she was going to faint; this hostage must be more brain damaged than they had originally thought. The two men ignored everyone in the room, instead choosing to focus on each other. The need to faint transformed into the need to vomit as the man in the bed wrapped his arms around Sherlock's back. It wasn't until Lestrade cleared his throat that the two broke a part. The recently rescued blond only blushed remembering that they were not alone.
"Um, hello? My name is John Watson, I'm Sherlock's husband." John smiled meekly with Sherlock still practically in his lap.
"I'm sorry, you're what now?" Sally couldn't help the words that slipped out of her mouth; it was just too outrageous a thought. Sherlock married. Yeah right.
"He's my husband, weren't you listening?" The words held no bite, it seemed that the ferocious Sherlock had temporarily been tamed by his handler.
"No, that's not possible. You are Sherlock Holmes Mr. 'high functioning sociopath' you don't like anyone. Let alone enough to marry someone. Point is you're making this up. You're lying." Anderson's voice spread through the quiet room; he was only saying what everyone else was thinking.
"Everyone out!" Lestrade called, voice sounding louder than it actually was since the room was silent in the anticipation of Sherlock's response. There was much grumbling, but eventually everyone had cleared the room, "I'm sorry about him-"
"Do you always allow them to talk like that? I could see on all of their faces that he was the only one brash enough to say it. Is this really how you treat Sherlock?"
"John, it's nothing." Sherlock spoke softly brushing off the words as they hit is armor, "It's not that big of a deal." John just stared at him in disbelief and frustration.
"Sherlock-"
"John, I said it's fine." Lestrade stayed quiet as he watched the tense interaction between the husbands. John's face was stony and Sherlock's was the usual mask he wore at the Yard. The next words were careful and from Lestrade in hopes to break the tension.
"I will speak to my team, more specifically Anderson and Donavon. It is not appropriate how they speak to you, it is not professional. I apologize for that incident and I will have them come back and apologize themselves." Lestrade nodded in affirmation because that was going to happen, even if he had to hold a gun to the pair to get it done.
"I don't need you to lecture them it won't change anything and I don't need to be looked after-like some child!" Sherlock growled and stormed out, but in the opposite direction of the group of Yarders.
"I'm sorry if I overstepped-"
"Don't apologize for that. Even if he tells you not to, I want you to do that. And it seems that sometimes I know him better than he knows himself." John smiled softly.
Lestrade took the chair next to the bed, knowing he should be leaving to finalize reports and lead his team back to the office, but he couldn't leave John alone in the hospital room after he had spent the day as a hostage; plus this was a new mysterious part of Sherlock that he had no idea about.
"So, how did you two meet?" Lestrade tried to ask innocently, but it seemed to have failed since John laughed heartily leading into a cough. The DI refilled his water glass and helped him drink it, feeling as though he was stealing Sherlock's job.
"Sit back Detective Inspector because that is a very long story." They both chuckled as Lestrade made a point of settling into the rather comfy visitor's chair, "Alright let's begin."