... Sisters- Part Two

The next morning, Shelby was the first to wake up. It was a Saturday so Mrs Hudson wasn't coming but Mycroft still had work. It was the best day for her as she could anything she wanted.

Jane was still asleep. 9AM? That's way too early! What kind of crazy person gets up this early on a weekend?

Shelby started to cook her breakfast, a cup of tea, and chopped a cube of cheese off the block in the fridge. She walked over to the big oak bookcase in the corner of the kitchen (there was a bookcase in every room at Shelby's request) and placed it just in front of the gap underneath it. A tiny, furry head poked out of the gap and sniffed the air. When it was sure it was clear it stepped out fully towards the cheese. Shelby picked it up along with the cheese. She held the mouse in one hand and the cheese in the other, letting it nibble at the food.

"There are no signs of poisoning from the hair lotion. He seems to be okay!" she put the mouse down with the cheese and walked back into the front room. From one of the many piles of books, she pulled a leather bound journal and began to write in it. "It looks like Mycroft's hair re-growth serum is going to be a great birthday present." She put the journal back into the pile and went to get washed and changed.

When Jane finally dared to open her eyes at ten thirty, she was met with the sight of Sheila staring down at her with much magnified eyes.

"Shit, what the hell!" she screamed as she bolted upright, flailing her limbs a little as well. Shelby managed to avoid her arms but did get kicked in the shin.

"You have excellent skin, for a teenager."

"What an earth are you-"

"While I was waiting for you to wake up I got bored, so, I decided to look at your skin. It's very exfoliated; hardly any dead skin."

"Thanks" Was Jane's witty reply. For a girl who spent almost her entire day commenting on others stuff, she was fairly rubbish in real life.

"Do you want any breakfast?" Shelby moved out of Jane's way and she stood up.

"Sure, what cereal do you have?" she asked stretching her arms and yawning.

"Umm, we used to have muesli but recently Mycroft started to buy porridge. I think it's to keep warm during the winter months-"

"So you have porridge."

"Yes"

"Okay, I'll have porridge."

"Can't do."

"Why's that?"

"I'm not allowed to use anything in the kitchen that heats stuff up without Mycroft's supervision" It was strange that it was mainly the things Shelby said herself that scared Jane the most.

"What did you have then?"

"A cup of tea."

"Doesn't that require a kettle to heat the water?" Shelby stared at her.

"It does, doesn't it?"

"Yes"

"Since you've already broken you brother's rule, can I have that porridge then?"

"Okay" Shelby rushed out to start cooking the porridge. Jane started towards the door, but realised she was still wearing her crumpled clothes from yesterday. Her jeans were okay, but her jumper had a gravy stain from the day before.

"Do you have a top I can borrow?" she called out of the bedroom. She didn't fancy wearing whatever Shelby considered fashionable, but she didn't have a choice, she had no way to get into her bedroom.

"The purple jumper in my wardrobe." Was all that Shelby said in reply. Jane ventured over to wardrobe and saw the jumper straight away in amongst all the sundresses that wear hung up. She pulled it off the hanger and replaced her dirty one with it. It was a little big for her but if she rolled up the sleeves it was okay. God, she loved jumpers!

She left the bedroom and found the way to the kitchen where Shelby was serving a bowl of porridge. It was plain but it was better than nothing. Shelby simply sat and watched Jane eat. It was a bit creepy but it was expected by this point.

As soon as the last spoonful had been swallowed, Shelby blurted out

"Do you want to go to the library?" She looked so enthusiastic for Jane to come. She remembered how she'd been thinking the night before that Shelby probably didn't have friends. This was a new thing and anything that was new and unknown was exciting to this girl.

"There's a Library in Baskerville?" Jane genuinely wasn't sure. She'd been here one week and was already thinking there was nothing to do. London had always been much better.

Shelby led the way into town. It had been rather cold, but the jumper was warm enough for Jane. Shelby put on a very old trench coat that had holes in the pockets and buttons missing; she still wore a sundress underneath so when they ventured outside, Jane was sure her legs turned blue. She carried a very old canvas backpack as well. As they walked Jane noticed that Shelby twirled the edges of the coat with her hands, so it flew out, every time she went round a corner.

"Why do you do that?" Jane asked as it was starting to get on her nerves.

"My dad's coat used to do it naturally. It made him look like he had wings; like he was about to take flight." She did the pirouette from the night before and her breath froze in a cloud around her head. From where Jane stood it looked like a halo. "We're here!"

From the outside it looked like an old bank or hospital. Above the doorway the words 'St. Bartholomew's Hospital' were etched into the stone arch. This confirmed the idea that it was an old hospital. Inside shelves upon shelves of books lined the large expanse of the hall as well as an upper balcony area which was accessed by the grand staircase on the left-hand side. Doors at the far side of the wall lead off to corridors of meeting and classrooms. The main desk was to their right, at it, a young lady with blonde hair and wide eyes. She was the perfect image of the pretty intellectual.

"Good morning Shelby! Who's your friend?" she was very nice, but she was speaking to Shelby like she was a small child. Even though she had only known her for less than twenty-four hours, Jane found this quite insulting.

"Oh, yes, she's Jane. Jane, Molly Hooper. Molly Hooper, Jane." Jane gave a smile. "Molly, do you have my new books?"

"I do" Molly reached under the desk and hauled up a large cardboard box and placed it on the counter. Jane picked up the box and carried it off to a nearby sofa where she opened it and pulled out the first book and began to read. Jane wandered up to the desk where Molly was watching Shelby.

"Does she get a month's worth of books at a time or something?" she asked, leaning on the counter. Molly looked up at her. She couldn't be much older than the two girls. Twenty? Twenty-one? But she had lines on her face than said she had seen her fair share of life already.

"No, that's a week's reading for her." Jane's mouth dropped open. Molly laughed at her reaction. "I know, it's crazy, but she's a smart girl" She looked back over at the troubled teen. "Always has been..." There was the look in her eye. The look people get when they're remembering a fond memory.

"How many does she read in a month?" Jane knew it would make her feel inadequate but she was curious.

"Twenty-five a month, thirty if there's a school holiday." Jane was impressed. "She's read over two thousand already. She's been coming here for a long time"

"I can't read with you two staring at me." Shelby announced without looking up from the novel. Both of them started to laugh.

"What can I do for you? Do you want to sign up for a library card?" Jane thought about it for a while. She was probably going to be here a while, might as well get one. Molly produced the application form and Jane filled it in. She was given a temporary card to use until her proper was sent out.

"Is there a book you'd like to read now?" Molly asked after filing away the paper. Jane knew just what book she wanted to read.

"Yeah, can you tell me where 'A Study in Scarlett' is?"

The girls spent the day in the library. Shelby managed to get through three books and Jane got halfway through a 'Study in Scarlett'. Shelby stuffed her remaining books into her backpack and Jane took out 'The Sign of the Four' to make sure she had plenty to read.

Back at the house, Mr. Hounds still hadn't returned and so they started on season two of 'Sherlock'. After they had watched 'The Reichenbach Fall', Jane couldn't resist abusing her new friend's intellect.

"So how do you think he faked his own death" she asked as casually as she could. Shelby looked back at her confused. Oh right! She hasn't read the books or anything. "He faked his death, you know to stop Morriarty. You find out in the next book." She nodded in understanding.

"Well, it's obvious, isn't it?"

"It is?"

"Oh yes, there was a massive clue left by the writers. I thought it was a slip up but now that you've told me it was staged than it makes much more sense." And with that, Mr. Hounds returned home and insisted that they go get ready for dinner. Jane asked no more.

No one bothered to ask when Jane's mother was coming home. With their lack of visitors, it was very likely that Mycroft and Shelby didn't know that spending two nights at your house wasn't a good sign that they were going to return.

Sunday came and Mycroft decided to finally make some enquiries to where Jane's mother was. While Shelby sat at the table and Jane was still asleep, he picked up the phone and rang the station at which they worked. The news wasn't good. When he put down the phone, Shelby already knew something was wrong.

"Sister, I'm afraid I'm going to have to go out." He told her as he slipped on his coat.

"Is this about Jane's parents?" He couldn't tell her, for her own safety, but he knew if he didn't she would attempt to find out herself.

"Yes, but it's nothing to worry about. I just need to sort out some more long-term arrangements for her." And with that he exited the apartment and Shelby sat at the table waiting for Jane to awake so she could put her plan into action.

Jane was shocked to hear something was up with her mother, well not really, she was a police officer, and she'd got used to the idea that she may not return one night a long time ago. What was shocking was that she hadn't been told.

"I have a plan." Shelby told her.

"What do you mean a plan?"

"We're going to find your mother, just like Sherlock would!" She looked so excited by this, like it was s a game and not a possible fatal idea.

"I don't think that's a good-"

"Come on!" she begged, gripping Jane's hand. "We could snoop around your apartment, gather some clues and then I can prove to Mycroft that I'm not a child." Jane was tempted. It didn't sound like they would be doing anything illegal or dangerous, and she would find out what was up with her mother and Shelby would be finally treated with some respect. She may have only known her a day, but Jane already knew nobody took Shelby seriously. She was just another child genius.

"Okay, but no more ballet" she put a hand on Shelby's shoulder to prevent her doing another excited twirl. Shelby pouted.

"What about my cello?" She nodded at a corner of the room where a cello stood, bow by its side. Of course, Jane thought, like there weren't already enough parallels.

After Shelby's celebratory cello concerto, Shelby began to explain her plan.

"We need to get into your apartment."

"I don't have any keys."

"But it's your apartment."

"Yes but there was only one set of keys and my mum has those." Shelby stood for a while, thinking. She began to hum and pace the room.

"Why do you always hum when you think?"

"Why do you have so many questions?" was her retort. Shelby would always be better at comebacks than Jane.

"I asked first" Shelby sighed, annoyed that she was being interrupted during her thinking time.

"I used to play the cello when I was thinking but it got to difficult to constantly keep setting up, so I hum instead. I used to think about learning the violin but I always found it too fiddly" Jane laughed at the pun but Shelby had already re-entered her mind.

"The window!" Jane blurted out. She ran to Shelby's room and opened the window. Shelby followed and stood waiting for the explanation. "I think my room is directly below yours, so I should be able to climb down and go in through the window" She hung out of the window and looked down and sure enough she could see her own bedroom window about seven feet below. Luckily for her, she had left it open. "It's open" she perched on the window sill ready to jump out when Shelby grabbed her arm.

"You'll break your leg if you jump from here." Her eyes showed concern but her face was its usual relaxed mask. Why couldn't she show she actually cared?

"I'm very resilient." And with that she leapt from the window. When she reached the ground she instinctively rolled to reduce the momentum. She stood up and looked back at the window but Shelby was nowhere to be seen.

"Shelby?" she yelled up. The answer came from behind her.

"Yes?" Shelby stood there in her coat.

"How'd you get down here?"

"The front door. While we couldn't enter your apartment through the door, we could exit mine that way." She gave a sarcastic smile and shoved past Jane to get to the window muttering 'idiot' as she did. They both climbed through the window and into Jane's bedroom.

It was painted a pastel shade of pink and blue and photos created collages on the walls. Everything was put away in drawers or remained still unpacked in cardboard boxes. It was all too neat for Shelby's liking. From there their found their way to the main bedroom where Sally had been sleeping. Jane wasn't allowed in her mum's room so she felt odd entering it now. The room was just as neat and also had things stuck on the walls, but these were not photos, they were sheets of paper all printed with official looking things. Jane remained in the doorway still getting over the fact that this is what her mum's room looked like. Shelby roamed around touching each paper and soaking in the information like a sponge. Within ten minutes, she had all she needed.

"From what I've read, your mother and uncle were working on bringing down some sort of organised crime society. They seemed to have discovered that the nearby industrial estate is their base of operations." She turned to Jane. "Did you hear that?"

"Yeah, organised crime, industrial estate-"

"No, I meant in the other room..." Jane was knocked unconscious from behind and crumpled to the floor. Before she could run anywhere, Shelby was tackled by a large figure in black. She screamed out for her brother, for anyone really, but a white handkerchief was shoved in her mouth. Something on it made her pass out within seconds.

With that, the infamous duo was in trouble.