Katelyn Marie Jennings was out for a short walk one day in London. It was the middle of winter so it was bitterly cold out. Normally, she would rather be curled up by the fire on a day like this, but she had a responsibility, she had to walk her pet German shepherd Bailey. Katelyn was a young lady; 25 years of age. She had long dark brown hair and big almond shaped hazel green eyes. She was 5'4", very curvy, had a medium build, and had very straight teeth.
She had walked for about three blocks now and she was starting to get numb, and it had started snowing. She decided that after another half a block, she would turn around and head home. In that short amount of time, the weather had decided to take a turn for the worst. The wind was howling, and the snow was coming down very fast and hard. It was like a blizzard had just popped up out of nowhere. There was no way she was going to be able to walk home safely in this.
She looked up at the street sign and smiled at her good luck. She was on Baker Street, and her good friend Dr. John Watson lived on Baker Street. She had known John since they were children, and they had always been very good friends. She hadn't been able to visit him for a while though, due to the fact that he had become an amateur detective of sorts. He was currently residing with arguably London's most famous detective; Mr. Sherlock Holmes. She had read about a lot of their exploits in the stories that John had published, and she had met the sleuth a few times. He was actually a rather attractive man, and she liked visiting John so she had an excuse to spend some time with Mr. Holmes.
"Come on Bailey," she said leading the dog toward 221B Baker Street, "I'm sure John will let us stay here until this storm blows out."
She rang the bell and Mrs. Hudson answered the door. She ushered her inside and took her wet coat. "The doctor and Mr. Holmes are upstairs dear; just head right up."
"Thank you Mrs. Hudson," she said smiling. She hung up Bailey's leash on one of the pegs for coats, and headed upstairs. She knocked on the door and John called to come in.
"Hello John," she said as she opened the door.
"Katelyn," John said smiling as he stood to embrace her, "What are you doing here on a night like this?"
"Well I was taking Bailey for a walk and we got stuck in the storm," she said. "I noticed we were on Baker Street so I decided to pay you a visit. Can we stay here until the storm blows over?"
"Of course," he said getting down on one knee to pet Bailey, "Holmes is out investigating so I'm all alone here. I'd be glad to have some company."
"Thank you so much," she said. She was slightly disappointed that Holmes was out, but she could still have a nice visit with John. She sat down by the fire and they began to start catching up.
John and Katelyn talked for hours, and it was painfully obvious that this storm wasn't going to blow itself out tonight. John insisted that she stay the night.
"John," she argued, "I couldn't possibly impose like that!"
"Nonsense! I'll take the couch, you can take my bed, and Holmes…" he trailed off looking worried.
"John," she asked.
"I'm sorry," he said, "It's just that I would think Holmes would have been back by now."
"When did he leave," she asked.
"About an hour before you got here."
She did the math. She got there about 2 o'clock which meant that Holmes left around one and it was now nine. "Why, he's been gone eight hours!"
"That's not all that unusual," John said. "It's the fact that there's a raging blizzard going on that concerns me."
"Should we go look for him," she asked.
He laughed, "I wouldn't have any idea where to start."
"Bailey will," she said motioning to the sleeping dog by the fire.
"She can track," John asked.
"Yes," she replied, "I taught her myself."
John looked thoughtful for a while, and then he shrugged. "Might as well try it," he said standing up and grabbing one of Holmes' cravats.
Katelyn took the garment from him and called her dog to her. They all headed downstairs and bundled up. She held up the cravat to Bailey who sniffed it.
"Are you ready John," she asked. He nodded as he buttoned his coat up all the way. "Find Holmes Bailey. Find him girl." With that, she opened the door and they headed out into the blizzard.
Bailey began sniffing around and it was painfully obvious that the scent was hard to find in the snow. They went back inside to think about what to do.
"What if you took Gladstone in one direction and I take Bailey the other way," she suggested.
"But Gladstone has never been trained to track," he protested and Katelyn shook her head.
"True, but I have heard of dogs finding lost people with no training at all. We might as well try it."
John nodded and called Gladstone. The dog came running and John knelt down, so he was face level with him. "Let's go find Holmes, ok boy?"
Gladstone barked and sniffed the cravat offered to him. Bailey also sniffed it again and they headed out again. Katelyn lead Bailey to the right and John headed left. They promised to meet back in an hour, with or without Holmes.
Katelyn kept encouraging Bailey and eventually, she seemed to find the scent. She was pulling hard at her lead and her nose was down. This went on for about a half hour when suddenly, Bailey froze. It took some fancy footwork for Katelyn to avoid falling over her.
"What is it girl," she asked.
Bailey cocked her head to the side and gave a low "woof," and she took off again, dragging Katelyn with her. Bailey turned into an alley and ran over to a dark shape. As she got closer, Katelyn realized that the shape was a man. Reaching the man, she gasped. It was Holmes! He was lying on his stomach, with his face half buried in the snow.
"Holmes," she gasped kneeling down next to him (and most likely ruining her favorite designer dress in the process). She felt his neck and breathed a sigh of relief; he had a pulse. Now she needed to get him back home.
"Holmes," she said, nudging him gently. "Come on Holmes you have to wake up. I can't carry you back to Baker Street." She tried this for a few minutes, but it was no use. He was out cold, both literally and figuratively.
"How the heck am I going to get you back home," she said. Then her eyes landed on Bailey, who was sitting patiently waiting on what to do next.
"Come here girl." The dog obediently walked over. She took Bailey's head in her hands and looked her straight in the eyes. "I need you to bring John to me. Can you do that girl? Go get John." Bailey gave her a lick on the face and a "woof." Then she tore out of the alley and into the blizzard to hopefully get help.
Katelyn situated it so she was sitting against the wall and Holmes' head was in her lap. While she was doing this, she noticed the reason for why Holmes was face down in the snow. He had a large gash in his leg! She gasped at the large amount of blood on his trouser leg but relaxed when she realized that it wasn't bleeding that bad. She cradled his head in her lap and stroked his hair. She noticed then that he had a large bump on his head as well. She shook her head. Whenever she got the chance to visit John, he told her stories of how for such a brilliant man, Holmes could really get himself into some stupid situations.
"What have you done to yourself now you brilliant fool," she sighed.
Holmes stirred and mumbled something. She held him still and attempted to calm him down.
"You need to stay still Holmes," she said as he blinked a few times as if trying to clear his vision, "I'm not sure how injured you are."
He blinked a few more times, and then locked eyes with her. She felt her heart skip a beat as she looked into his beautiful brown eyes, but she quickly recovered. "Are you alright," she asked.
"I believe so," he said groggily. He took in his surroundings, nodded once, and then locked eyes with Katelyn again. He gave a half smile, "What are you doing here Miss. Jennings?"
"Oh nothing, I was just wandering around in a blizzard at 9:30 at night. How about you," she grinned.
He gave a little chuckle. "Did Watson suggest going to find me," he asked.
"He was getting worried and I suggested we go look for you with the dogs."
"Dogs," he asked, looking around.
"I sent Bailey to go find John after I found you and he was looking with Gladstone," she responded.
"Well I could have told you that Gladstone wouldn't find me…" he began but she interrupted.
"Bailey couldn't find the scent so we split up. And I had heard of dogs finding people even without training," she said.
"Well anyway," he said changing the subject, "Let's get back to Baker Street. I'm freezing lying in the snow like this."
She tried to protest and hold him down, but he was too strong for her. He sat up and she saw his eyes bug out. She caught his head as he fell back down to her lap. He stayed there with his eyes shut for a few minutes and then he spoke.
"I supposed we will just wait for Watson to find us," he said opening his eyes.
"I think that is an excellent idea Mr. Holmes," she said smiling.
They made light conversation for a while until the blizzard began to pick up. The wind was going crazy, and the snow was coming down harder. Soon, both of them were shivering and having trouble staying awake. Holmes was even worse due to the blood loss and the possible concussion. Katelyn realized that they had to get warmer soon or they risked hypothermia. She helped Holmes slowly get into a sitting position next to her. It was then that Holmes realized that his left arm didn't want to work.
"It's fine," he said not looking her in the eye, "It's probably just a sprain."
"Sure it is," she said. She moved closer to Holmes and she felt him tense up. "We either hold each other close or die Holmes," she said, "Take your pick."
He hesitated but then draped his right arm around her shoulders and leaned into her embrace. Her heart was racing being this close to him and she prayed that he couldn't tell. They didn't talk; they just focused on trying to stay warm. Where the hell is John, she thought as she felt Holmes slump against her. She looked at him and realized that he was drifting off.
"Oh no you don't," she said nudging him awake. She kind of freaked out then because he looked really out of it. "Holmes come on you gotta stay with me," she said but he just kept nodding off.
"Damn it Holmes," she yelled, but he gave no response. She started crying a bit too. She then did the only thing she could think of. Maneuvering herself so she was basically straddling him, she grabbed him by the lapels of his jacket, and kissed him.
That brought him around! His eyes grew wide for a moment, but then they closed and he found himself returning the kiss. He wasn't sure why he was returning the kiss, but he chalked it up to the concussion. He wrapped his only working arm around her and she ran her hands threw his hair, careful of the bump on his head. They were then interrupted by a dog barking and running toward them. Katelyn jumped up and then relaxed when she saw it was only Bailey who was followed closely by John.
"Oh thank God," he said when he rounded the corner. "Are you both alright?"
Neither one of then answered for a moment and then Katelyn spoke up. "I found him half buried in the snow. He's got a nasty bump on the head and a nasty gash on his leg. His left arm is most likely broken as well. Other than that," she shrugged with a smile.
"Well let's get you both home," John said tossing Katelyn a blanket. "When I arrived back at Baker Street, I found Bailey waiting for me. I ran in, grabbed a few blankets, and asked Mrs. Hudson to have a fire and hot tea waiting for us. Do you think you can help me walk him home Katelyn?"
She nodded and wrapped the blanket around herself. John wrapped a blanket around Holmes as well, who mumbled a thank you. Katelyn took Holmes right side and John took his injured left arm.
"On the count of three alright Holmes," John asked and Holmes nodded.
"One, two, three," they lifted and Holmes hissed in pain.
"Hold on," Holmes gasped and you two stopped. They gave him a moment to regain his footing and then started back to Baker Street.
It was slow going, and they had to stop every once in a while so Holmes could rest a bit. After a good hour, they made it back and all sat in front of the fire. John tended to Holmes' injuries (while lecturing him about how idiotic he was) and set his arm. He then checked on Katelyn, who was fine, and said he would be sleeping on the couch and Katelyn could have his room.
"That's not necessary Watson," Holmes said from his place on the couch. "I'm not sure I could manage the stairs so I will take the couch and Miss. Jennings can have my bed."
"That's fine with me," Katelyn said and John nodded.
"Alright then. Goodnight everyone," he said and headed off to bed.
Katelyn then attempted to talk to Holmes. "I'm sorry about that kiss," she began but Holmes held up a hand to silence her.
"Think nothing of it my dear," he said. "You were only trying to help me stay awake. I should really be thanking you for that kiss."
"Well then why don't you," she said smiling.
He smiled back, "Thank you for that lovely kiss Miss. Jennings."
"You're very welcome Mr. Holmes," she said laughing. She was a little disappointed that he didn't understand that she had feelings for him, but she wasn't surprised. But, then again, he did return the kiss. She smiled as an idea crossed her mind.
"Well," she said standing up, "I best be getting to bed."
"Goodnight Miss. Jennings," Holmes said.
She crossed the room over to the couch to a confused looking Holmes. Then she leaned down and kissed him again. The reaction was the same. His eyes bugged out for a moment, but then he relaxed and returned the kiss. Katelyn broke the kiss and whispered, "Goodnight Mr. Holmes."
She called Bailey to her and headed up the stairs with a smile on her face, and a very confused Holmes behind her.