A/N hello, so I feel the need to explain something that you've all been kind enough to let slide – I suck at punctuation, I also can't spell worth crap, I use the spell check on Microsoft word and I swear it has a fascist hatred of all the names I use! And that is the reason why it refuses to capitalize them. And although I know I should proof read again before I post a chapter, but it goes something like this – shy gets a day off, shy writes for a few hours, shy feels guilty she has done fuck all but write when there is work to be done around the house, shy does a quick spell check and then posts chapter and banks on the readers understanding and goodwill towards the flaws. I'd love to say I'll try harder….but I'm lucky I carve out time to do what I already do, but I am sorry if it's annoying or makes it hard to read, also I have no idea what ao3 is?
Lock hadn't been back to the youth shelter in a few months (a few too many prying questions) but after a particularly bad fight where he was out numbered, he decided that he'd put up with the meddling workers if it meant he could rest for a while without having to worry, the other kids who stayed there knew to steer clear of him and those that didn't know would be warned quick enough.
He'd walked in and braced for the reactions he knew would be coming. Sure enough one of the young not yet jaded staff was at his side asking if he was ok and a hundred other questions Lock had no intention of answering. He grunted something that didn't qualify as words, and headed for an empty bed. He dropped his back pack at the foot of the cot and fell heavily onto the mattress intent on going to sleep as soon as he was able.
A few of the kids that knew they could trust him waved hello, but knew better than to try and talk to him until he'd gotten some rest, even the staff didn't want to bother him when he looked that tired and pissed off. Lock laid back and sighed, he was too tired to block out the dark thoughts that haunted him on a daily basis and slipped into a nightmare.
A gentle hand stopped his thrashing, and a soft voice called out to him that it was ok, he was safe. Locks eyes flew open and settled furiously on the person dumb enough to touch him while he was asleep! Or at all really, Lock wasn't a touchy feely kind of guy under the best circumstances. It took a moment for the sleep to fade out of his gray eyes enough for them to focus on the person who'd dare touch him.
Sitting on the edge of the cot was the single most beautiful, put together looking woman Lock had ever seen, he knew right away she wasn't one of the shelter kids, but the look that so angered him in the eyes of the social workers – wasn't there in hers? He stared hard into the woman's eyes and noticed that one was blue and the other green, if he hadn't been so furious at the intrusion on his space, he might have asked about the anomaly – but he was pissed off.
"The fuck you doing lady?!" he snapped while pulling away from her touch.
"You were having a nightmare, so I was trying to wake you up" she explained unperturbed at his outburst or the dark threatening look on his face.
"Did I ask for your help lady? Who the hell are you anyway?" Lock spat angrily while he pulled himself into a sitting positions and tried to shake the grogginess from his head.
"If I waited for stubborn boys to ask for my help id have enough time to learn mandarin" the pretty girl told him dryly "and since you asked soooo politely, my names Jackie" she told Lock with a small smirk.
Lock sized her up with the speed he'd honed over the last few years of danger and sketchy situations, she wasn't afraid, not of him – not yet.
He was about to tell her to buzz off, but she was already talking again.
"Don't bother introducing yourself, I already know your name, you're infamous around here Sherlock" she told him without the smirk on her face shifting a millimeter when he glared back at her.
"Good for you, did you pick up the part about how I don't like you do-gooders pushing their noses in my business?" he asked flatly
"Yeah, the other councilors might have said something about how you don't like to be bothered or something? But it was boring and stupid so I stopped listening, I mean – sure you're pissed off and scary and all that but why would I avoid you because of it? So far as I'm concerned your whole grumpy deal means I should just try that much harder to get to know you!" she said happily
Sherlock wondered if she was too dumb to know how crazy she sounded, or too crazy to know how dumb what she was saying was? Whichever it was Sherlock was working on a way to get the perky woman to leave him alone so he could get back to sleep.
"Look lady, I don't want to get to know you or anybody else ok? I just wanted a shower and some sleep, if you aren't going to let me sleep then what's the point of this fucking place?" he asked through gritted teeth.
Jackie rolled her eyes at his attitude, but it wasn't anything so far she couldn't handle.
"well excuse me for wanting to be friendly!" she cried throwing her hands in the air and hiding a smile when she saw that he seemed to think he'd won, her eyes fell on a familiar name scrawled in black marker on the problem child's dirty backpack.
"You like Rockwall Flood?!" she asked smiling hugely at the truculent teen.
His reaction was much what she expected, complete with eye roll "right, like you've ever actually heard of them? Give it up lady, I've had a lot of your kind try and find a way to make a connection with me, but someone like you trying to claim you've heard of a band like them? That's almost sad, do yourself a favor and go feel like a good person by bugging someone else ok?" he told her with a pitying note for her lame attempt with him.
"Ok Mr., I'm going to go for now, but don't you think you've won! You are hardly the first person to misjudge me and ill prove you wrong just like I did to them, you and I will be friends you mark my words!" Jackie told him ominously while pointing one perfectly painted red nail at his startled face.
In Sherlock's experience, it didn't take much to run off one of the young idealist social workers or volunteers. Even the ones that weren't intimidated by him tended to respect his wish of space and left him alone, but this crazy eyed woman was not only standing up to him, but threatening him with friendship! Sherlock shook his head at her insanity and settled back onto the cot, he could ignore this one longer than she could keep up her efforts to win him over, and even if she never tired (she seemed to have more than the normal amount of energy) he could always simply leave the shelter. This thought made him smile triumphantly to himself, one way or the other he would be the victor….or so he thought.
Not even two days later Sherlock heard the unmistakable voice of Miss Jackie as the other kids called her, he'd asked around a bit about her after she'd intruded on his personal space before and learned that she was a solid favorite of all the kids there, not only did her sunny personality cheer them up, but they trusted this young woman and would go to her with even their most private troubles. But Sherlock wasn't going to be pulled in so easily, she might be nice and cheerful and all that, but after Pebbles he would be damned if he ever trusted another person again. he'd thought Pebbles was his best friend, that she really cared about him, but she'd bailed on him for fucking heroin like more than a few before her had!
Sherlock kept his head down staring resolutely at his book while miss Jackie's voice grew closer and closer, he hoped she would stay away from him and not force him to be mean, she seemed like a nice enough person but kindness was lost on him and she would be better off to keep her distance from the trouble that he knew he was.
"That's a good book you've got there" a woman's voice he didn't recognize said from over him.
Sherlock looked up at the new arrival, his jaw fell open and he could only gape at her. It was King Macgregor from Rockwall! What the hell was she doing at a youth shelter?! Sherlock wondered blankly while he kept staring rudely at his hero. King grinned at him and plucked the book out of his hands while taking a seat at the end of the cot without waiting for an invitation.
"Edmond Dantes was fucking badass! He didn't get his revenge by killing, he ripped those mother fuckers' worlds apart and sailed off into the sunset" King said while flipping through his battered paper back, her voice impressed with the hero's quest.
"you're….you're…" he stammered embarrassingly, he'd followed and loved her band since he'd first heard them, hell, he'd traveled to other towns just to watch them play, and now there she was sitting on his cot holding his book and talking about Edmonds carefully planned revenge.
"Kingsley Macgregor" she said with a crooked grin and held out one calloused hand to him, Sherlock hesitantly shook her offered hand, still looking like a total dork at meeting his idol.
"Sherlock" he told her softly
"Oh I heard all about you already kid" she told him with a knowing smirk.
"You did?" Sherlock asked unable to figure how that could be possible?
Kings raised one eyebrow and gave him a hard look "you had a bit of a run in the other day with my best friend" she informed him pointedly
"I did?" Sherlock asked again, he was fully aware he sounded like an ass, but what else could he say? He had no recollection of what she was talking about.
"You did" King told him again
"When, who?" he asked blankly
King grinned again and pointed over at Miss Jackie where she was handing out tiny soaps and shampoo's she'd somehow gotten a local hotel to donate to the shelter.
"She's your best friend?!" Sherlock nearly shouted.
"Well, she's one of them yes" King said thoughtfully
"How is someone like miss sunshine over there YOUR best friend?" he just couldn't wrap his head around it.
"Watch the attitude kid" King told him sharply "she's tougher then you'd think kid, hell I'd bet even money she's tougher then you. That chicks lost everything she's ever known and been left in the cold by everyone she cared about and she still picked herself up and chose to help a bunch of difficult pissed off kids" King spoke of Jackie with calm respect and Sherlock took notice.
"Sorry, it's just…you two seem too different to be friends you know?" he explained less rudely
"Yeah I get what you mean, but that's sort of why I agreed to come here today. Now before you get it in your head that she asked me to come meet you so she'd seem cool, let me tell you that is not the case. Jackie asked me to come here and meet you because she found out you like my band and she wanted to do something that'd make you happy – she wants all of you here to be happy and if she finds a way to bring that happiness to you she'll bulldoze anyone to make it happen – including me! So that's why I'm here – someone I love and respect asked me to do them a favor, but now that I've met you I want you to understand a few things. Jackie isn't going to give up on this place no matter what so I don't want to hear about you making it harder on her, and that includes giving her shit for being cheerful and peppy! I might not share her….constant enthusiasm, but I do appreciate it and if you give her a chance you will too" King told him quietly
"I don't have a problem with her specifically, but I don't trust these people that claim to want to help" Sherlock half explained.
"Hey I get that, I really do and being cautious around people you don't know is smart. Especially in a place like this where they're required to send you back to a home that might not be safe because the law says they have to, I know Jackie's still torn up over a case like that from a few weeks back. All I'm asking you to do kid, is to give her a chance and treat her with the respect she deserves, she's not what she seems at first glance, she's not like the others – she cares. Don't make a snap judgment on her because she defies categorization, do you think you can do that Sherlock?" King asked him.
Maybe it was because she didn't have that tone of condescension he was so used to, or because what she had said about being judged unfairly struck a chord with him? But Sherlock found himself promising the woman he so admired, that he would give her unlikely friend a fair chance. In return King uncapped a pen with her teeth and wrote a small message inside his copy of the count of Monte Cristo. She slapped his hand in a low five and said she'd see him later, before strolling away to speak to Jackie. Sherlock looked down at what King had written to him and frowned.
'In the end, we all have to let go of our anger and let ourselves move on' he didn't exactly understand what she meant by that? But as he watched her and Jackie laugh and talk across the large room Sherlock saw that she was right – there was more to this crusader then he'd run across before and he'd have to approach her differently than he had the others.
It was much later when Jackie eventually made her way to where Sherlock sat thinking over his conversation with King; she hadn't been what he'd been expecting. After so many Rockwall shows, Sherlock had thought she would be a crazy punk with no regard for anything, but that wasn't the vibe he'd gotten from talking to her, she was calm and smart and totally cool, he hoped he'd meet her again under better circumstances but he wasn't about to fake it with Jackie to meet King again.
But he would give her a fair chance like King had asked him to.
Jackie pulled up a chair beside his cot and waited patiently for him to speak first, it took a few minutes for Sherlock to crack but he did.
"So you really do know who Rockwall is I guess" he said as a sort of apology for their last conversation, frankly it was more than Jackie had expected.
"So it would seem" Jackie grinned slightly at his struggle between being nice and being the only way he knew.
"She – King, she uh said that I shouldn't judge you without getting to know you" Sherlock shared with Jackie grudgingly.
"King has this way of cutting through your bullshit and saying what's real, I've been on the receiving end and although at first it's not what you'd call 'pleasant', after a while you come to appreciate it because it really does help" Jackie told him truthfully
"It wasn't too bad…I wouldn't want to do it too often or anything" he added dryly
"Yeah my fiancé's gone through it a lot more then I have and he's usually a bit quiet after she's done with him" Jackie laughed softly at a memory Sherlock could only imagine.
"You look too young to have a fiancé, how old are you anyway?" Sherlock asked bordering on rudely.
"I am 20 thank you very much! How old are you?!" she snapped indignantly, the only thing worse than people thinking you're old is them thinking you're still a kid.
"Not sure really? 14 or 15, I was born in '65 but it's been awhile since I've bothered with celebrating a birthday ya know?" he said with a wry smirk.
Jackie felt too sad at such a calm acceptance of losing his childhood for reasons she didn't yet know, to say anything for a moment, she had to pause to keep from the sadness showing in her voice. Had Sherlock been looking at Jackie he doubtless would have seen it, but as it happened he was staring uncomfortably at the wool blanket on his cot. He wasn't at all used to feeling anything for anyone, and he found himself not minding too much that she was still sitting across from him.
Jackie observed him for another moment and decided on a course of action for him.
"You can tell that hearing that makes me very sad can't you?" Jackie asked him in a tone that said she was sure of what she said; she had a theory that this jaded damaged boy was far cleverer than the shelter workers had thought.
"So what if I can? Most people that have had a normal birthday with cake and presents and shit would feel sad for someone who hadn't, the problem is that most of them feel that sadness because it makes it harder for them to relate to the person who didn't have what they did, sends them scrambling for common ground, but without such a normal point of reference in common the person that didn't have what they did might as well be a monster for all they can relate to them, they're not sad for the other person, they're sad for themselves. They don't see a person like that as a person, they see them as a poor unfortunate soul who needs to be fixed, and that automatically puts them above the other person – at least in their own mind. But I'm not below anyone, and I'm not going to let them think I am even for a second just to be polite!" Sherlock said angrily and with deep conviction,
Jackie was sure of her assessment of him more than ever.
"I think that that might be true sometimes, but that if you look for the best in people you have a good chance of finding it" Jackie told him solemnly
"Sounds like a nice fairy tale, but sorry if I don't think it's possible" Sherlock told her gravely.
"well you don't right now, but I intend to restore at least a tiny bit of your faith in people, not all at once and not quickly, but eventually" Jackie told him seriously
Sherlock regarded her for a few moments and finally gave Jackie a slight half smile "we'll see about that"
"Do they call you Sherlock because you're that smart?" Jackie asked curiously, changing topics as quickly as ever.
"That's part of it I guess, most of the time people just call me Lock" he told her with a shrug
"Ugh! Boys and their tough nicknames!" she sighed irritably
"What the hell are you talking about?" Sherlock asked with a confused expression.
"It's a long story" Jackie told him with a shake of her dark hair and a wry smile.
Sherlock stared back at her for a moment as if he was considering something? At last he made a move; he set his book aside and crossed his arms behind his head.
"If I had somewhere to be id be there already" he told her.
Jackie knew an invitation to talk when she heard one – rare though it had been – and crossed her legs to get comfortable.
"So it was my first day at public school" she began her story and her bid to become someone Sherlock trusted.
