[ A/N ] Hello again, here is the next chapter. Thank you to everyone who reviewed and followed! I would give you all cookies of your choice but that's a bit difficult through the internet.
Enjoy!
[ Once in a Lifetime ]
[ Chapter Two ]
"Just because it burns, doesn't mean you're going to die. You've got to get up and try, try, try."
-Pink 'Try'
:: | :: | ::
"Gwendolyn Bishop. Gwendolyn Bishop. Gwendolyn Bishop." Sherlock paced the room as he muttered the name under his breath. He was accessing every part of his memory. Why? Because he had heard that name before. This girl, the one who had just woken up on his couch was oddly familiar to him. He just didn't know how.
John in the meantime had turned his attention away from Sherlock. "Look, Gwen?" he paused and waited until she nodded before he continued "I would like to call you an ambulance so you can get a proper check up at the hospital, but I'm afraid at this time in the morning, accident and emergency is full of drunks" he looked up at the clock which read 2:12am "So, I'll call you one later on in the morning when you'll have a better chance at getting straight through and you can spend the rest of the night here. Either way you'll have to wait a few hours, so at least here you'll be comfortable." She nodded in response as John gave her a warm smile.
"What's the date?" she asked, her voice sounding stronger as she began to relax a little.
"The date?" John repeated.
"Yes John, the date. Didn't you hear her?" Sherlock stopped pacing and turned to face Gwen, she was beginning to get more colour in her face and appeared to be relaxing but he noticed her eyes were still scared, extremely scared. Whatever she had been through it was no walk in the park. "Eighteenth of March, Twenty twelve" he stated, watching closely for her reaction.
"I- I need to call my dad" she stuttered as she began to stand, suddenly looking very uneasy, John gently pushed her back down and handed her his phone out of his pocket. "Thank you" she managed a weak smile and began to dial her father's number. Silence filled the room as she held the phone to her ear, when nobody picked up she left a small message on voicemail. "Dad? It's me Gwen. I'm okay." She said in disbelief. She lingered on the line for a minute, unsure what to say, when she couldn't think of anything else she pressed the end button and handed to phone back to John.
"Of course, of course!" Sherlock said with excitement, "How did I not realise earlier?" he asked himself rather than anyone else. He clapped his hands together causing Gwen to flinch slightly "Your name is Gwendolyn Bishop, your father's name is Charles Bishop. You're twenty-six years old and went missing less than three months ago on January twenty-fourth. Presumed dead. Prior to going missing you worked as a librarian at the British Library. Your father was and still is might I add a professor at the University of Cambridge. You were meeting a couple of friends at a café when you were kidnapped."
He rushed over to the table and started sorting through various pieces of paper, throwing old books and brown files on the ground until he found what he was looking for. He held a newspaper up, which dated back to the 31st of January. It had a picture of a girl with a large mass of brown ringlets and dark green eyes. The headline above the picture was bold and read MISSING. "And that was only the information I got from the papers. I also know that you've been missing for approximately fifty three days. Judging by the state of your feet you've been traveling on foot for a long time. The grazes on your knees indicate that you've either had a very harsh fall or you've been dragged around, looking at your hair I would say the latter. You have bruises on the right side of your face as well as a small split on the right side of your lip this means your attacker was most likely left handed—"
"Sherlock, a word please" John interrupted as he got up from where he had been kneeling and walked into the kitchen. He turned to glace back at Gwen, who had tears pooling in her eyes to make sure she was out of earshot before facing Sherlock. "Now is not the time to be showing off" he said in a hushed but firm tone "Look at her! She's in shock and you're not helping by bringing back the memories of what she's been through!"
"I was simply—" Sherlock started before he was interrupted by John once more.
"Stating what you noticed, yes I understand that" He sighed and softened his expression "All I'm trying to say is that this isn't a corpse we're talking about. She is very much alive and very much terrified" There was a short silence before Sherlock headed into his bedroom while John walked back into the living room.
While the two men had been talking in the kitchen, Gwen picked up the newspaper that was sitting on the coffee table; she began to read the article on the inside of the front page, it contained another picture of her, one that had been taken with her father. Her father was slightly taller than her, with lighter hair littered with the occasional grey patch. He wore large glasses and had a small scruff of a beard. She smiled at the picture; her father was the only real family she had left.
"Gwen" she looked up from the paper, it was John. "I assume you would like to take a shower and change into some clean clothes"
She nodded "That would be lovely" her voice quiet as she spoke. She watched as John walked over the small table by the door where he picked up a pile of clothes.
"These should fit you fine" he said as he handed her the clothes "They're from landlady downstairs, Mrs Hudson. I don't even know why she has these; I've never seen her wear them. Oh and when you're done with the clothes you're wearing I can get them washed for you."
"Thank you John. You've been so kind" She smiled at him as he showed her the bathroom.
:: | :: | ::
For the first time in three months Gwen looked at herself in the mirror. She had bruises on the right side of her face as Sherlock said. She also had bruises on her neck and arms. Her hair was a mess, tangled and sticking out in all directions. But the worst was the cut that ran from behind her left ear and under her jaw. The cut had begun to heal, it wasn't very deep aside from the start of the cut, behind her ear; she hoped it wouldn't scar.
She stood under the warm spray of the shower, the water washing away all the blood and dirt of the last three months. She decided to only take a short shower as she was extremely tired and emerged from the warm spray to put on the clothes she had been given.
When she was done she was dressed in a light grey tank top with darker grey sweatpants and dark blue cardigan. She had towel dried her hair, and pulled it back off her face with a hair tie that was on the top of the pile of clothes John had given her. Whoever this Mrs Hudson was she was a very thoughtful person.
"So, you can take my room. It's just upstairs. If you need anything I'll be down here" she heard John offer as she entered the room.
"Oh no, it's fine really. You've already done so much for me. I am certainly not taking your bed as well" she watched as John got up and took her dress from her hands as well as the jacket that had been thrown over the top of the couch.
"Are you sure? It's not going to bother me"
"Yes John, I'll take the couch" she paused and took a breath "After sleeping what I assumed was a budget prison mattress I'm sure the couch will feel like a cloud."
He chuckled a bit "Well, I'll be upstairs then and Sherlock is in the room next to the bathroom, if you'll be needing him for god knows what" he started walking out of the room to put the jacket and dress in the washing machine and head off to bed himself pausing in the doorway he looked back at the young woman who was making herself comfortable on the couch "Sleep well Gwen"
Gwen smiled back and watched as he closed the door, she was exhausted and surprised to be alive. If it wasn't for John she was sure she would be dead and she couldn't believe it.
Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed, please remember to review and if you think any characters are getting OOC let me know!
