Chapter 4
It was simply too cold for running, but although Sherlock could feel the cold air hurting his lungs, he didn´t stop. He made sure the experiment wouldn´t explode without him, before he went to John´s room and took his gun from it´s hiding place under the bed. He didn´t like guns all that much, but he figured it would be easier.
Then he got two sets of handcuffs, both stolen from Lestrade during the last case, and hailed a cab.
It had taken him 23 minutes to get close to the bridge of his dream or vision or whatever Donovan had been in and he hoped he wasn´t too late. The sceptic part of him still feared there wouldn´t be anything happening at all, but even then nobody would even know he had gone there.
Also catching the two murderers was what counted.
So if he had the opportunity, he might as well use it. If he did save Sally Donovan´s life in the process, well, that would be a bonus.
He already saw Donovan fighting the two men from afar. It was unbelievlingly stupid how these men were acting so out in the open, where the could be seen by nearly the whole bridge, but then again the streets were deserted.
It was Christmas Eve after all.
Picking up his pace, Sherlock just made it over to them when the second man, who Donovan hadn´t seen at first, was about to hit her windpipe. In the vision, that had been the moment which had taken her breath away and given the other man the opportunity to kill her. But this time the man didn´t get to hit. Instead, said man felt something being aimed at his neck, followed by the click of the safety.
"Two against one isn´t really fair, is it?" Sherlock told them, which left them stunned for a moment. Donovan being quick on the uptake for once, used this short moment and took her elbow to her attackers stomach, before kicking him in the groin. Sherlock winced in sympathy before he hit his man with the gun he was holding and used the man´s resulting dizzyness to cuff him.
He held out the other pair of handcuffs to Donovan who used them instantely. Neither of them said anything when they heard the police sirens and a few seconds later, the actual police men running towards them.
Sally had decided to not come with back up, but Sherlock had called them just when he had gotten out of the cab. He thought this alone should be enough to show her what he thought of that decision.
#
As he left the office at the Yard after having given his statements, he saw Sally standing in the hallway, hands wrapped around a cup of bad Yard coffee, as if she was trying to milk it for warmth. She still kept shivering though, while she continued to stare out of the window.
"So you came to gloat?" she asked, without turning around as he came to stand beside her and Sherlock took a deep breath.
"No."
"Liar." she accused him then, but only half heartedly.
They stood besided each other for a few minutes before Sally began to speak again. "Thank you, though, for saving me. I´d no idea there´d be two." She looked down at the floor and he could tell that she wanted him to be gone.
And normally he´d laugh at her and then he´d leave, but strangely he had no such desires at this moment.
"I didn´t know either." he admitted and Sally all but shot around to look at him. She was surprised, he could tell. And he was surprised he admitted this himself. But it simply felt right.
"Sally?" he asked then, which resulted in an even more surprised face from her. "I need your help."
She huffed and he could tell she thought he was joking. "So what would the high and mighty Holmes need help with?" She teased, but there was not the full bite. It was strange, but there seemed to be no real hate between them tonight. "The spirit of Christmas" his Grandmother would probably say, but he still didn´t believe in it. Such things were humbug. For real this time.
Yet...
"Have you ever cooked a turkey? Or better a full Christmas meal? John is coming home from Harry´s tomorrow and wants to have a party and I thought I could surprise him by preparing some of the food."
Now he was the one who expected to be laughed at, but to his surprise Sally simply smiled. "That should be possible Mr. Holmes." She teased, suprising him even more, and then inquired. "What kind of items do you have at home? You said something about a turkey."
Sherlock hesitated then and it didn´t take a genius to tell what was up.
"So nothing at all?" She asked and received only a nod for an answer.
Sally laughed. And even though she was laughing at him, he couldn´t bring himself to hate the sound, as the cold, dead accusing eyes entered his mind for a second and were shuddered away.
It hasn´t happened he reminds himself. None of this is going to happen.
Sally´s laughter had stopped though and she was looking at him now. "Hey, don´t make such a face. I already have an idea. Come with me."
And with that she offered him her hand and Sherlock took it, the two of them willingly leaving the Yard together for the first time.
#
Later John pretended to not act at all surprised, when he found Sherlock and Donovan together in their kitchen, but Sherlock could tell he was stunned by it. Mrs. Hudson, Greg, Molly, hell even the hastily invited Mycroft and Anthea were in wonder as well, but nobody actually asked them about it that day. They seemed to take it for granted, just like these two had always been friendly with each other and no one made a comment about his aversion of Christmas before.
They didn´t even really inquire how Sherlock had known where to find Donovan and the serial killers. He told them something about having done some research and that seemed to be enough. Lestrade though grumbled at Donovan for going without back up and even John had to say something about that, which made Sherlock smile slightly. Somehow he was glad that his flatmate cared so much.
Not that he would ever admit it, mind.
Everyone simply celebrated and had fun, as if this party wasn't the biggest surprises of them all.
The meal thrown together by some of Donovan´s supplies and hastily bought items at 24h hour places had been delicious. Mrs. Hudson had made marvelous cookies and eggnog. Greg had brought a little gift for everyone and Sherlock for once had been surprised about his book and Greg knowing his love of bees.
The evening became a full success and Sherlock found that this time he quite enjoyed to have his friends celebrating under his roof.
Maybe, just maybe, he could embrace the Christmas spirit after all.
And maybe being friendly with someone was not always a chore.
Sometimes it seemed quite fun actually.
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This was the last chapter- now there´s only the Epilogue left. What do you guys think?
