Here it is, the final chapter of The Lady Mouse Detective! I hope you've enjoyed reading it so far, and I hope you enjoy this chap!

The two mice made their way to the corner of Dorset and Chiltern. They went into an alley to check. "Well, this is where our friend told us he last saw Kingsleigh," Danielle confirmed. "But I don't see any signs of anyone being here, do you, Doctor?" She looked over at Dawson, who she noticed had his eyes fixed on her belly. She groaned. "Hey, Doctor, my eyes are up here."

"Oh, sorry, Danielle," Dawson apologized, shifting his gaze to her face. "I just can't believe that you're expecting. And so soon. I mean, you and Basil just got married last August."

Danielle shrugged. "What can I say, we Ratigans tend to do things fast. My father went from being a university student to being head of the mathematics department in one summer."

"Well, have you any idea how far along you are?" Dawson asked.

"Hey, I've only known that I was pregnant for a few hours longer than you have, remember?" Danielle sighed as she gently rubbed her stomach. "But if I had to guess, I'd say probably a month and a half, seeing as that's the last time Basil and I...well, you know." She blushed a little. "But we should be focusing on the case now, not my baby."

"Of course." With that, the two mice shut up about the subject and continued searching for any signs of Kingsleigh.

Suddenly, they heard a crashing sound coming from near a garbage can. "Is that...?" Dawson asked. They turned towards the source of the crash...to see a large black and white cat standing there. "Oh my word!" Dawson ran to hide from the cat, but Danielle stood her ground. "Danielle! Get over here!" But she didn't move. Dawson winced and shut his eyes, expecting to hear bones crunching as the cat devoured Danielle and her unborn child...

...and instead heard purring. Confused, Dawson opened one eye and looked over, then gaped at the sight of Danielle rubbing the cat behind the ear as it lay on the ground, essentially taming it. "What the devil...?"

Danielle smiled. "My father wasn't the ONLY member of the family who was able to make friends with cats." She continued rubbing the cat behind the ear. The cat then flipped over onto its back, and Danielle began to rub its belly, making it purr even more.

Dawson frowned as he approached the scene. "You don't think that cat...?"

Once Danielle realized what Dawson was saying, she gasped. "I hadn't thought about that, but it IS possible." She turned to the cat. "Mr. Cat, by any chance, did you see a mouse a few nights ago?" The cat flipped back onto his stomach and eyed her. "A mouse who looks like this?" She took a newspaper clipping out of her pocket that had a picture of Kingsleigh on it. The cat looked at the picture and nodded. "Do you know where he is now?" The cat nodded again. "Well, is he still alive?" Again, the cat nodded.

"Oh thank goodness," Dawson sighed with relief. "I would've hated to have to inform Mrs. Kingsleigh that her husband had been eaten by a cat."

"So would I," Danielle agreed. She looked back at the cat. "Could you please take us to where he is?" The cat positioned himself so that the two mice could climb onto his back, which they did so. Once they were on, he got back onto his paws and slinked off.


"My, this is the first time I've ever traveled by cat," Dawson commented as they rode the cat down Dorset Street.

Danielle laughed. "It's fun, isn't it?"

Dawson clutched onto some fur as the cat leapt onto a fence and leapt back down onto the ground. "Not really."


Finally, the cat stopped in front of a discarded boot in an alley. He pointed a paw at it. The mice climbed off of his back. "Thank you, Mr. Cat," Danielle told the feline, petting him. The cat slinked away, and the mice went over to the boot and peered inside, where they saw a male mouse in his early thirties, with chocolate brown fur and dark brown eyes, lying there, breathing but looking badly hurt. Danielle took out her clipping and compared the picture to the mouse. "It's him," she confirmed. She went up to him. "Mr. Kingsleigh?"

The mouse jumped and looked up at her. "Y-Yes. Who are you?"

"My name is Danielle Benson," Danielle introduced herself. "Over there is my friend, Dr. Dawson. We've been sent by your wife Vanessa to find you."

Kingsleigh blinked. "Vanessa sent someone to find me?" He shook his head. "It's been four days since I've seen her. Oh God, my poor Vanessa! She must be worried sick!"

"Yes, she is," Danielle assured him. "Come on, let's get you home." She reached for Kingsleigh's hand, but he jerked away from her.

"No, no, I can't go." He quivered. "I can't leave this boot, or they'll go after Vanessa next. They said that if I left this boot, they'd go to our flat and murder her!"

"Who's they?" Danielle asked.

"That would be us," came a gruff voice. Danielle turned to the mouth of the boot, where a group of tough-looking mice stood. The largest of them had Dawson in a headlock and had covered the doctor's mouth with his hand.

"Who are YOU?" Danielle demanded, unafraid.

"We're the Dorset Bunch, the toughest, meanest thugs this side of the pond," the head thug replied. "Maybe you've heard of us, girly? Or do ya not follow the news?"

"I've heard of you boys, all right," Danielle responded, placing her hands on her hips. "You're those ruffians who held up Norris' jewelry store on Manchester Street last April and made off with nearly twenty thousand pounds worth of jewels."

"That's right," the head thug sneered. "And we woulda gotten away with it, too, if it hadn't been for that Kingsleigh bastard. He was the prosecutin' attorney representin' Norris', and he made such a case that we all spent three months in the slammer, so when we saw him in our neck of the woods a few nights ago, we jumped him. He now serves as our personal punchin' bag."

"Your arrest and prosecution were hardly Mr. Kingsleigh's fault," Danielle retorted. "If you didn't want to spend time in jail, you shouldn't have robbed a hard-working jeweler."

The head thug chuckled and turned to his men, jerking a thumb in Danielle's direction. "Aww, will ya listen to this bitch, boys? She sounds like one of 'em uppity Scotland Yard detectives!" That got the rest of the men laughing. "Or even worse, she sounds like that dumbass consultin' detective Basil of Baker Street!" That got them laughing even harder.

POW! Danielle punched the head thug right in the nose, knocking him flat on his back. "Don't you DARE insult my husband like that!" she threatened him.

The head thug rubbed his nose and got up. "Well what are you guys waitin' for? Get her!"

The Dorset Bunch began to attack Danielle. Unfortunately for them, they had no idea that the girl was such a good fighter. She punched and kicked like a professional boxer. At one point, one of the men had gotten behind her and pulled a knife out of his pocket. Dawson managed to get his captor to uncover his mouth. "Danielle! Look out!" Danielle turned to see the thug and managed to kick the knife out of his hand before he could stab her, then threw him over her shoulder, slamming him to the ground. By the end, all of the thugs were on the ground moaning, partially because they were in pain and partially because they were shocked that a nineteen-year-old girl had managed to beat them all up.

Danielle pushed a strand of hair behind her ear. "If you know what's good for you, you'll leave now and never show your ugly faces in this part of London again," she told them. With that, the Dorset Bunch, the toughest, meanest thugs that side of the pond, ran away screaming like little girls. Danielle smirked as she folded her arms over her chest. "Smart men."

Dawson went up to Kingsleigh and helped him onto his feet. "Come on, my good fellow, let's get you home."


The detectives escorted Kingsleigh back to his flat, where he was greeted by an overjoyed Vanessa with a tight embrace and a kiss. They sat him down on the sofa, where Dawson tended to his injuries.

Vanessa was sobbing with joy as Danielle told her the story. "You've saved my darling Harold from those villains! Oh, I don't know how to thank you enough!" She hugged Danielle tightly.

"You could start by not trying to break all of my bones," Danielle gasped.

"Oh, sorry," Vanessa apologized, letting go of the lady detective. "I'm just so thankful to both of you!"

"Well, most of your thanks should be going to Danielle," Dawson told her. "She's the one who fought off the Dorset Bunch."

Vanessa eyed Danielle oddly. "A lady fighting off a group of thugs? I must say, that's quite unorthodox...but then again, so is a lady detective, I suppose. Thank you so much, my dear."

Danielle smiled. "You're welcome, Mrs. Kingsleigh."


"...and then she threw one of those ruffians over her shoulder and just pounded him into the ground, like a hammer!"

The two were back at Baker Street. Dawson was telling the story of the case to Basil, who was feeling well enough to get out of bed, and Mrs. Judson.

"...and then when she was done, they all ran away from her like scared little kittens!" Dawson laughed. "Oh, Basil, you should have SEEN it! Your wife positively mopped the FLOOR with those cretins!"

Basil smiled at his wife, who was sitting next to him, resting her head on his shoulder. "That's my girl." He kissed the top of her head. "You did a marvelous job, Danielle my love. Perhaps I should have you come along on more of my cases."

Danielle giggled. "Thank you, Basil, but I don't think I'll be going back on anymore cases anytime soon...especially seeing as in a few months my tummy will be growing too big to fit into any of your disguises."

Basil eyed his wife oddly, then gasped as he realized what she meant. "You mean, you're...I'm...we're...?" Danielle nodded. "Wha...gah...I can't...this is..." The detective fainted.

Mrs. Judson chuckled. "I'd say he took the news swimmingly."


Once Basil had come to, the Baker Street crew celebrated the news of Basil and Danielle having a baby. That night, the future parents snuggled in bed together for the first time since Basil got sick, with Basil gently pressing his hand against his wife's stomach. Danielle giggled. "You DO know that it's too soon for the baby to be kicking quite yet, right?" she asked. "It's too little right now."

"I know, but I just can't believe after all these years, I'm finally going to be a father," Basil sighed. "It's just so surreal."

"You think it's surreal for YOU? I'M the one who's going to be carrying it for the next seven and a half months."

"Seven and a half months..." Basil repeated. "Landsakes, I don't think I could carry ANYTHING in my belly for seven and a half months." He smirked. "I guess that's why God made it so that women have the babies...He knew men wouldn't be able to handle it." They both laughed.

Once they had calmed down from their laughter, Basil smiled at his wife. "I really am quite proud of you, Danielle. You handled your first case like a regular professional. I really should make you another partner once the baby is weaned."

Danielle laughed. "Slow down, Basil, the baby's just gotten in here..." She gently patted her tummy. "...and already you're talking about when it's going to be weaned."

Basil shrugged. "I like to think things ahead."

"You, Basil Sherringford Benson, are insane," Danielle playfully teased her husband. She kissed him on the cheek. "And I love you for that."

OK, admittingly the ending was kinda mushy...then again, I'm a mushy, mushy person, so yeah.

Now before you guys get on my case about Basil's comment about men not being able to handle having a baby...I originally heard that comment from one of my best guy friends, and when I asked my dad AND my older brother about its validity they both said that it was true, so I DO have male support on the validity of the comment, so HA!

I know what you're probably thinking...where was Olivia in this fic? She's living at Baker Street now since you killed off her dad, right? Yes, she is, but she wasn't really relevant to the story, so just pretend that she's either at school or in bed in the various chapters. Also, I'm thinking about writing a one-shot where Basil and Danielle tell her that they're going to have a baby. Would you guys read that?

Thanks for reading, y'all! Hope you enjoyed this fic!

All my best, DiscordantPrincess.