Chapter Three
Sienna woke at 9:27, a grey light streaming through the open curtains. She rolled onto her back and blinked for a moment, before getting up and making the bed. She stretched and winced, feeling the full effect of the turmoil of the last few weeks on her slightly wasted muscles, sore and aching. She padded barefoot to the living room, then the kitchen and second bathroom and finally what she could only describe as a storage room. The flat was empty, she was alone, in a complete stranger's home. In the kitchen was a note "Help yourself to food and drink, the clothes should fit" Sienna looked around confused. There was a selection of bags on the kitchen table. A brown paper schuh bag with white size 5 converse, her size. A brightly coloured Selfridges bag with a navy military jacket, scarf and leather gloves. A Select bag with a two checked shirts, one burgundy, the other dark blue, a denim shirt and a khaki shirt. There were also white, grey and black tank tops. Among the other relatively cheap brands where jeans, socks, pants and bras, all in her size, which she felt slightly unnerving.
She made herself tea and toast and sat at the table with the newspaper, placed on the corner with a pint of milk on top. It seemed Sherlock had been shopping. After her bland breakfast, she carried her bags to Sherlock's bedroom and quickly showered and changed. The flat was still empty when she returned to the living room. In the corner of her eye, she noticed a land line phone, she quickly picked it up, then stared at it then realised she had no one in the world to call, she was beginning to well up when Sherlock stepped onto the landing silently and into the room.
"I don't mind, call whomever you like" He watched as she looked at the phone, then held out his hand "Or perhaps you don't have anyone, that's why no one reported you missing" She looked at him, a tears fell down her cheeks and she breathed out, as though she had been holding her breath since he arrived. Sherlock returned the phone to its charging pod and sat in his usual chair. "I've been busy all day as you can imagine, trying perilously to find out who you are and how you got here, tell me if I'm wrong. Your name is Sienna Harrison, 22 years old, graduated with an MSC in Biochemistry, specialising in Forensic toxicology from Aston University. You moved to Worcester after the death of your grandmother with whom you had been living since the death of your mother when you were 13. Prior to then you had lived with her in Maine. Estranged father?"
"Yeah"
"In Worcester you worked in the medical labs of St Oswalds, a group of men came to the facility while you were there, stole tens of thousands of pounds of equipment and took you with them. Correct?"
"Pretty much" By this point Sienna had herself sat in John's old chair, so that she was facing Sherlock. "They were from London, I think, their accents I mean, they sounded like stereotypical cockneys, but the guy who I spoke to, the guy who needed the tests, he was Irish… Northern Irish I think." Sherlock looked up from his knotted hands and raised his eyebrow, puzzled. "It's really only him that I can remember. I could describe him, pick him out of a line up or something. The others, all called him Jimmy. I can't really tell you much more than that about him, besides what he looks like."
"What was he like, short, dark hair, Blue eyes, camp, slightly psychotic?" Sherlock's voice was strained, he was not pleased with the deductions his mind had made from Sienna's monologue.
"Um not, none of that really, psychotic maybe. He had reddish hair and a beard, not that long though, dark eyes, a little brooding I guess. And he had a pretty bad temper too" Sherlock rubbed his forehead and returned his composure, the panic was over, she had not met Moriarty, Moriarty was dead. After a second or two, Sherlock rose to his feet.
"Coat, we are leaving"
"Where?"
"Coat! Scotland Yard, you can work with a sketch artist, then we can find your Irish man" Sienna struggled to keep up with Sherlock as they hunted down a cab, her limbs where still suffering from the beatings and loss of muscle. Eventually Sherlock took her hand in his gloved hand and pulled her slightly behind him. Eventually they reached a main road dotted with parked cabs, Sherlock tapped on the window of one, opened the door and ushered his companion in, supporting her while she clambered in. He realised she was a little stiff, and that perhaps he should be a little more delicate with her. He slid into the seat beside her and instructed the driver to take them to "New Scotland Yard, Broadway" The cabby hummed a Hindi tune, Sienna could smell his lunch, feel the heat, and quickly put her seatbelt on as the car swayed violently over the ice. She looked at Sherlock who was staring out of the window. "What is it?"
"Nothing, just why didn't you take me to the hospital or police station?"
"Believe me when I say, I will be of more use to you than them, I'll find the Irish man. And the flats much nicer that anywhere they would put you"
"And the company"
"The company is irrelevant, though you might want to pop down to Mrs Hudson at some point, she will take it personally if you don't, she's sensitive at times." Sherlock glanced at her then back out of the window.
"Who I"
"The landlady, though she's more of a house keeper, but don't let her know you think that" Sherlock interrupted and thought how he hated how predictable stupid peoples thought processes and speech patterns where. Sienna nodded and rested her head against the head rest and closed her eyes, images flashed through her mind, images that Sherlock might find important, but she didn't care to interrupt him, she got the impression she had already tried his patients, thought she couldn't fathom what she had done which could irritate him. She stored the images away and returned to steady breathing almost meditating in the back of the cab with the windows fogging up.
The cab skidded to a halt, Sherlock paid the driver and got out, Sienna followed. They stood outside a tall building with an entire wall of windows from top to bottom.
"Shall we" Sherlock indicated towards the entrance, Sienna nodded and followed him, purposely stepping on the grit, which crunched under her weight. Sherlock led her to a small interview room and instructed her to sit down, he left and quickly returned with Lestrade.
"I'm just saying, you could have called, I don't even know is Eves free" Lestrade nodded at Sienna and sat opposite her, stretched out his arms and rested them on the table, hands linked at the fingers.
"This is Detective Inspector Greg Lestrade, I'll find Eve, did she lose any of that baby weight yet?"
"She wasn't pregnant Sherlock, she got divorced"
"That's a reasonable explanation, bit harsh though even for my taste"
"She put on the weight after the divorce"
"Well she won't find another husband by doing that"
"Sherlock!"
"I'll find her, and keep my mouth shut, shall I?" Lestrade scrunched up his face and nodded. Sherlock left and Lestrade was left with Sienna whom he had been given a brief bio of.
"Is there anything that you need? Cup of tea?" without letting her answer he left
"Brits" she sighed, why is it they think tea will solve everything, her grandma had been the same. She shook her head and waited for one of the men to return. Lestrade was the first to arrive, with two NSY mugs of builder's tea. They sat in silence till Sherlock returned with a curvaceous mixed race woman. She sat down and looked at Sherlock and Lestrade, raised an eyebrow and patronised:
"You can go now" They looked at each other, she placed her hand over the top of Lestrade's mug "Leave it" Lestrade tutted and left and Sherlock placed his finger tips on Sienna's shoulder.
"I'll be back" Then left silently, shutting the heavy door behind him.
"Right now that those two plonkers have gone, we can get started" She had a thick Black Country accent that Sienna found so comforting. "Start from the basics and ill work from anything you say, take your time, were in no rush, if you need to take a break just let me know." The two started their work, when they were done, Eve presented the sketch to Sienna, who furrowed her brows. "Now we concentrate on the little details, colouring, fine lines, scars, anything else you can remember, the sketch so far should joy your memory a bit" Sienna looked carefully.
"His hair was more red, but dark, like it hadn't been washed." Eve began her corrections "It was longer, kinda flicked out of the hat, sort of curly. His face was more sullen, like he had lost a little weight, gaunt I guess. He had jowls, they made him look a little older than the sketch, by maybe 4 or 5 years." His beard was a little brighter than his hair, but shorter like he just trimmed it with, grade 2 or 3." Eve carried on correcting, erasing and filling in. Sienna sipped at her second cup of tea. "His eyes where paler, they were slightly down turned, like he was gonna cry."
Sherlock knocked and walked in, sat beside Eve and peered at the finished sketch, Lestrade followed and did the same sitting next to Sienna, handing her a cup of tea and staring at the picture. Finally he turned to Sherlock "Any idea who he is?"
"Not a clue" Sherlock shook his head.
"Right then, I suppose we had better get it to facial recognition then, should take a few hours" Sherlock stood up.
"Right then we will be back, Sienna, let's go" Sienna set down the full cup, next to Lestrade,
"Thanks for the tea" She smiled at him and Eve who winked back at her. When she had caught up with Sherlock she was quite breathless, "What now?" She enquired
"Whoop, whoop" Sherlock received a text from John
"Hang on" It read "Need to bandage Sienna's wrists, can you bring her to Barts, Molly's office, John"
"We are going to the hospital, John wants you"
"Um ok" Sherlock hailed a cab and they both got in, they rode in silence for a few minutes, till Sherlock broke it.
"Facial recognition should only take a few hours, John can sort you out and we can go back to the flat. Don't need to go back till the morning really."
"I don't mind"
"Or we could go straight from the hospital"
"Sure" Sherlock nodded and they returned to the silence.
John was in LAB011, waiting for Sienna with cotton swaps, antiseptic and bandages.
"It's just to stop you from catching it really, we don't want the scar to be raised." Sienna nodded as john gently slathered her wrists in antiseptic gel and gauze. "I've got Samson to get us a cat scan and a few x-rays, I just want to make sure. I managed to get admin at your Doctors to fax over your records. Sherlock gave me all the details I needed, I hope you don't mind."
"No not at all, it's not every day that I get two men hacking into various official databases to gather information about me. I feel like a fugitive." They looked at her, John slightly ashamed, head hung and Sherlock blankly, as he tried to process the sarcasm. "Guys I'm kidding, lighten up, I'm thankful that you're on the job, which way to the CAT suite?" she smiled sweetly at both and waited to be lead out. John rose to the occasion and led the way to the suite, followed by Sienna and Sherlock.
Sienna was placed in a hospital gown and slowly inserted in the CAT scanning machine.
"Everything ok in there" John said through the microphone
"Yeah, all good, thanks"
"Well the lights will start to come on and you will hear some loud banging noises, it's quite normal, just relax and try not to move, okay?"
"Okay" Sienna closed her eyes and listened for the banging, the lights that came on where visible, even though her closed lids. Another flood of memories cam, she flinched.
"Sienna? Are you alright? Try to stay still. Please" she did as she was told, and eventually the bright lights went out and the bed began to slide out of the scanner. She sat, legs dangling off the bed, waiting for John and Sherlock.
"No recent head trauma, that I can see, let's get you to an x ray suite." John smiled as her, reassuringly and Sherlock handed her, her jacket and shoes. The three marched to the next suite and a full body x ray was taken, Sienna dressed and they waited for the results, in an empty Lab.
"I can't be bothered with waiting, come find me when you're done" Sherlock groaned and walked off.
"Yeah, he does that" John huffed, Sienna opened her mouth to speak, but decided against it and closed it again and shook her head. "What is it?"
"What's up with you guys?"
"What?"
"I can see, a lot of people in Sherlock's life tolerate him. I don't really know why. But you kind of seem more tired of him than anyone else. Maybe I'm wrong but it seems to me that you guys where really close, but now you're not. Can I ask why?"
"We were roommates, Good friends too. But he did something unforgivable, and even though I know why he did it, to keep us safe, I can't bring myself to forgive him, because of what it did to me."
"Sounds complicated"
"No, it's quite simple really, there are some things that you just don't do to your friends, and even know I don't think he understands that."
"I know it's not my place to say, giving that I don't really know either of you, but he seems to care."
"Oh no doubt, and so do I, but some things need time, and that's what this is, I'm doing my thing, he's doing his. I just need space. Time and space"
"You kind of sound"
"John quickly cut her off "I'm not gay, we weren't a couple. I'm married. To a woman. We're pregnant. It's all good."
"Congratulations" The atmosphere became tense, till a lab technician came out with the printed X rays. John gave them all a once over and concluded that Sienna was fine and had not suffered any lasting damage from the kidnapping, although he doubted she was psychologically unscathed. They eventually found Sherlock, examining a human skull. Once outside, Sherlock and Sienna caught one cab home and John another back to his wife.
Back at the flat, Mrs Hudson was bustling about with shopping bags in the kitchen.
"Sherlock, you really do need to start going shopping, if it weren't for me you would happily starve."
"Oh Mrs Hudson, why would I go shopping for myself when I know that you will get mine when you get your own and simply add it on to the rent."
"I'm your landlady, not your housekeeper" Sherlock grinned.
"Mrs Hudson, this is Sienna, she will be staying with us for a while"
"Oh. My. G- Sherlock you don't mean to say that you've"
"She will be needing the upstairs bedroom Mrs Hudson, no need to get all excited."
"Oh I see, I'll go fetch the linens and put the kettle on and you can tell me all about it" Then set off down the stairs "I'm sure it'll be a one for the books"
