Chapter 7 Fear & Pain

Sherlock wasn't sure if the drive to Henry's was strained or not, the silence between them wasn't exactly awkward, especially with John chipping in every once and a while to break it but there was... something, lying beneath the quiet and it was starting to piss Sherlock off. Since they'd left Baskerville and John's little confession behind, the Omega had been acting completely normal and how he could do that after dropping a bombshell like that? Sherlock had no idea, he couldn't do that, why couldn't he do that? He wanted to, God knows he did but he just couldn't.

He couldn't forget what John smelled like, tasted like, how he felt cocooned beneath Sherlock's larger body. He couldn't forget that John preferred his scent to any other Alphas, Couldn't forget that John hadn't washed away Sherlock's scent marking at his nape and he just couldn't forget the way his heart had missed a beat when John told him, that the only Alpha John wanted to bind himself to, was him. He wanted to delete it all but try as he might, it was impossible.

The confusion was overwhelming, his brain was shouting two arguing points at him and he didn't know which one to listen to. On the one hand Sherlock had never been interested in bonding or heat, hell he'd never had any interest in Betas let alone Omegas, heat or otherwise. Although he did go through a faze at Uni where he was fascinated by the chemicals the brain released during heats by both participants but his interest only went as far as what he'd read in books, he'd never actually experienced it in reality. Why would he need to?

On the other hand, John could be his.

No more annoying Beta and Alpha females. No more 'Sorry Sherlock, I've got a date tonight.' and no more fear that John might finally get fed up and leave him. Sherlock's eyes widened a fraction, he wasn't actually considering- No of course he wasn't that'd be ridiculous! That was it, Sherlock couldn't take much more of this, anymore Alpha/Omega bonding crap and he'd snap! If he couldn't forget about that afternoon then he'd do the next best thing, ignore it, it was the only logical thing to do and as long as John contained himself there should be no problem.

Sherlock's eyes refocused and he realized he was pulling up in front of Henry's house, he must have set himself on auto pilot whilst he analysed his situation; he did tend to drift when he was preoccupied. The car had barely stopped before John was jumping out and marching off towards the conservatory entrance, bad move, Sherlock's Alpha instincts had been running wild all day and any kind of assertive move John made would be considered a challenge by this point. For example Sherlock didn't like being lead, it was the Alpha who was always in front so he put his long legs to good use and stomped up in front of John, glancing down at John over his Shoulder reproachfully.

John sensing that Sherlock felt undermined, innocently tilted his head to the side and presented his neck to the man in submission and that was the straw that broke the Alpha's back, Sherlock stopped dead and John bumped into his back.

"Wha-" He didn't dare let John finish, Sherlock spun quickly around and pinned John to the doorframe they had just passed, the Alpha hormones pouring off of Sherlock were intoxicating and not in a good way. John's instinct to calm his Alpha rose and John lifted his head up to nuzzle under Sherlock's chin.

"Stop it!" He pressed John harder against the wood, snarling in John's face and sinking his fingers into John's shoulder. The smaller man whimpered in pain and pressed his chin to his chest, breaking any eye contact and hiding his neck to avoid further angering the furious Alpha. Sherlock didn't seem to care though, the display only made him angrier and he pulled John forward to slam him back against the jam.

Sherlock's mind was completely ruled by domineering Alpha now and there was nothing that could make him stop... or that's what he thought anyway but then he wasn't expecting the little cry John gave when his left shoulder came into contact with the wooden frame and the now palpable stink of fear in the air. The loud growl that had been tearing through the air from Sherlock stopped and his eyes that had dilated to black cleared, he jumped back fiercely and John gave a sigh of relief.

"John, I'm sorry, are you alright?" God damn these Alpha urges, he never wanted to hurt John, never. Sherlock moved to take a step forward but John flinched so he stayed where he was listening to John pant and whimper against the pain he must be feeling. Sherlock wanted nothing more than to reach over and pull John close, stroke his hair, make everything alright again and this time it had nothing to do with Alpha instincts, it was just Sherlock but he didn't dare move lest he frighten John off completely.

John calmed down after a few minutes but he didn't raise his eyes up to Sherlock's, instead he just cleared his throat, his walls coming down to protect himself.

"Shall we go and see Henry, then?" John asked hoarsely, back to being 'Default John.' but unwilling to move first lest he challenge Sherlock again. Sensing his friend didn't want to talk about this and feeling the same way himself, Sherlock just nodded and strode towards the door to ring the doorbell. He heard John shuffle up next to him but didn't look over, he didn't know if he could look at him right now without choking on his Shame. They only had to wait a few moments before the door swung open to reveal Henry who smiled at them in welcome, noticing the tension in the air though he let his smile drop and glance between John and Sherlock curiously.

"Aren't you going to invite us in?" Sherlock asked warningly when he sensed a question brewing and Henry swallowed and nodded.

"Yes, yes, of course, sorry. Please, come in." He stood aside and Sherlock walked in followed by a blank faced John. John lagged a bit when he noticed the size and style of the house and he glanced at Henry curiously.

"This is, uh... are you, um... rich?" John stuttered and Henry glanced around dispassionately at his lodgings.

"Yeah." He sighed as if put upon, John couldn't help looking over at Sherlock and raising an eyebrow, was this man serious, he'd kill for a place like this, Sherlock looked away quickly, unable to hold John's gaze, even for appearances sake.

"Right." John finally said, sadness and hurt creeping into his tone and followed Henry and Sherlock into the kitchen.

/

Henry had been every bit the polite host and offered them both a cup of tea, leaving out the milk and sugar for John and Sherlock to use at their leisure, he told them about his therapy session with Dr. Mortimer and John noted down the two words 'Liberty' and 'In' that Henry said had appeared when he was remembering that afternoon. Electing to be professional John turned to Sherlock when Henry was putting the milk back.

"Mean anything to you?" He asked gesturing to the words written in his notepad, Sherlock looked as if he wanted to say something else but held his tongue, sticking to the case.

"'Liberty in Death' isn't that the expression? The only true freedom." He answered softly, John nodded and a silence fell over them again, John closed his eyes for a moment and when they opened he moved as if to speak but Henry had returned by then.

"What now, then?" The posh man asked nervously and John honestly didn't know, with all that had been going on today he hadn't really been paying attention to the case, he supposed he should feel bad about that but... well. He did remember Sherlock saying something about a plan when they were talking to Fletcher though so he'd go with that.

"Sherlock's got a plan?" He asked and cringed when it came out more of a question. He looked over to Sherlock who was lowering his tea mug and smiling strangely.

"Yes." He chirped and Henry nodded eagerly.

"We'll take you back out onto the moor..." Sherlock began.

"Okay."

"... and see if anything attacks you." He finished and John's looked at him like he was crazy, which if he was honest probably wouldn't be far off the mark with the way Sherlock had been acting today, the bruises he could feel on his shoulders gave a throb at the thought.

"What?!" He asked incredulously instead of clearing his throat nervously.

"That should bring things to a head." Sherlock reasoned and Henry's face went white.

"At night? You want me to go out there at night?" he asked robotically and Sherlock hummed in affirmation taking another sip of tea.

"That's your plan?! Brilliant!" John snorted.

"Got any better ideas?" Sherlock asked John and the truth was no. He didn't.

"That's not a plan." He replied weakly, Sherlock sighed.

"Listen, if there is a monster out there, John, there's only one thing to do: Find out where it lives." The detective drawled and smiled at Henry. John gave a mirthless laugh and then winced when the force of it hurt his shoulders, Henry glanced at him concerned.

"Are you quite alright, John?" He asked and John smiled at him.

"Yes, yes, I'm fine, I just... can I use your bathroom?" Henry blinked at him and nodded.

"There's one just down the hall." John thanked him and dismounted the stool he was sitting on to shuffle off, unaware of the eyes following his every move. Once he was secured in the bathroom, John slipped of his jacket and jumper, then unbuttoned the red shirt beneath to slip that off too so he could get a look at the marks on his shoulders in the mirror behind the sink. They had already turned a painful looking purple and the bullet wound scar on his left shoulder was lit up a bright red.

John hissed at the image he made and started looking around for some kind of soothing cream or balm Henry might have lying around, he was too busy looking through the cupboards under the sink that he didn't hear the bathroom door open and close softly. The only warning he got that someone was in the room with him was the hot puff of breath of the back of his neck before two long arms surrounded him and pulled him back against a strong, lean chest.

"I'm sorry, I'm so very sorry, John." Sherlock whispered into his hair, John swallowed and tried to pull away but Sherlock's arms just tightened across his waist, it seemed Sherlock was back into Alpha mode again, he wasn't going to win this one with strength, he'd need to use his brain.

"Sherlock, let me go, please. My shoulders hurt and I need to treat them." John said lowly and shifted his head back against Sherlock's shoulder so he could nuzzle at the big Alpha's neck hesitantly, after all he didn't want another repeat of what happened earlier. Sherlock purred appreciatively though and in turn, shifted so he could nuzzle at John's hair. John let the mutual nuzzling continue, he knew Sherlock needed to do this even if the idiot didn't know why and he was enjoying it. In fact John was enjoying the affection so much that he lost track of time and it wasn't until the last rays of sunlight disappeared that he realised they must've been in there together for at least a half hour.

Luckily Sherlock also noticed the lack of daylight and pulled back surprisingly gently but that could mean anything right now, John kept his eyes locked on the silhouette of the detective in the mirror, waiting for whatever explosion Sherlock would have this time but to John's shocked delight the detective only dropped his head down to place a kiss on John's left shoulder and slipped a tube of ointment into his hand before disappearing back out the door.

Maybe, there was some hope after all.

/

Well that had been a disaster.

John gently closed the front door to Henry's house, not wanting to disturb the hyperactive man who was now sleeping off a strong dose of sleeping pills John had given him. A hound indeed, John hadn't seen anything, well he'd see the flashing Morse code but that was it, then again he did hear something but still the idea of some kind of crazy, monster, dog roaming the moors of some arsey little town in the middle of nowhere seemed highly unlikely.

Plus Sherlock had said he hadn't seen anything either and he was with Henry so John could only assume that the poor man was just so traumatised from the ordeal he had suffered as a child, that he was seeing things.

Poor bastard.

John smiled when he caught sight of 'The Cross Keys', he wanted to find out of Sherlock had deduced anything yet from their little outing, usually the man would've started rattling off ideas as soon as he had seen what he had to see but the Alpha had been in a bit of an odd mood when John caught up to him and Henry and he just took off in the direction of the pub. John just assumed he was thinking hard and needed some peace.

When John entered the pub he looked around curiously for Sherlock but saw no sign of the man in the main area, Gary spotted him looking around and pointed over to the little dining room with the fire place in it, John nodded to the man and made his way through, Sherlock was sitting at one of the big chairs in front of the fire with a brandy at his side, John frowned, that was odd, Sherlock never drank, still, John made his way over to join the man.

"Well, he's in a pretty bad way. He's manic, totally convinced there's some mutant, super dog roaming the moors..." John informed as he sat down and Sherlock tensed, looking at John stiffly from the corner of his eye.

"And there isn't, though, is there? 'Cause if people knew how to make a mutant, super dog, we'd know..." Sherlock started to breathe heavily, rocking back and forth slightly and clasping and unclasping his hands.

"They'd be for sale. I mean, that's how it works." John finished but then realised he hadn't told Sherlock about the Morse code.

"Oh! Listen, on the moor I saw someone signalling. Er. Morse, I guess it's Morse." Sherlock started blinking rapidly as if to clear something from his eyes.

"U.M.Q.R.A. Does that mean... anything...?" That was when John noticed something wasn't right, Sherlock hadn't said a word and he was all twitchy and breathing deep, John just kept going though in an effort to bring Sherlock out of whatever crazy he'd sank into now.

"So, okay, what have we got? We know there's footprints, 'cause Henry found them; so did the tour guide bloke. We all heard something." John elected to leave out Fletcher's name so as not to aggravate the man but frowned when Sherlock let out a shaky breath.

"Maybe we should just look for whoever's got a big dog." John huffed in the end and that's when Sherlock finally spoke.

"Henry's right." John looked at him.

"What?"

"I saw it too." Sherlock said trembling, okay now he was frightening John, Sherlock Holmes never trembled.

"What?" John asked again

"I saw it too, John." Sherlock mumbled again.

"Just ... just a minute. You saw what?" John questioned sitting forward and finally taking in Sherlock's appearance. The man was pale, shaking and covered in sweat, a thick cover of it pooling in the dip between his collarbones and there was an odd bitterness in his scent that John had never smelled before.

"A hound, out there in the Hollow. A gigantic hound." Sherlock gritted out, finally locking eyes with John. The Omega couldn't believe what he was hearing, Sherlock had to be joking right? He tried to calm Sherlock down, tried to rationalize the situation but he obviously didn't word it properly as Sherlock took it as a criticism and lashed out at John furiously insisting there was nothing wrong with him, drawing the attention of all the diners around them and going on to prove himself by mocking John as he deduced a pair of diners sitting behind them, to the right.

"...I use my senses, John, unlike some people, so you see, I am fine, in fact I've never been better, so just leave me alone." Sherlock snarled out at the end of his rant, John swallowed and stared at Sherlock then looked away and cleared his throat.

"Yeah. Okay. Okay." John mumbled to calm his distress at Sherlock's venom, sitting back in his chair and trying to relax. He had to relax, less the cramping he could feel in his lower abdomen get worse.

"And why would you listen to me? I'm just your friend." John choked out sarcastically.

"I don't have friends." Sherlock said viciously, sounding absolutely disgusted by the idea and that cut deeper than any other cruel act Sherlock had inflicted upon him that day. No matter if Sherlock didn't want to share John's heat and bond with him, no matter that Sherlock's instincts ran hot and cold, leading John on and pushing him away again and no matter that it was Sherlock's Alpha pride that had pushed the man to harm John physically, none of that was unforgivable, bruises faded whether they were visible or not and John was always assured that even if their relationship didn't progress into something deeper, he'd always have this brilliant, gorgeous man's friendship.

It seemed that he never even had that. He had been wrong.

"Naah. Wonder why?" Slipped out softly as John stood up and rushed away, shoving past someone in his haste to get out of this place, so much for the hope that little kiss on John's shoulder had given him, it was obviously just one of Sherlock's Alpha mood swings. John fell to his knees in agony once he'd made it outside, the cramping in his belly that had started earlier only getting worse due to the emotional distress he was under, he was wrong, there was a good chance his heat was due in the next twenty-four hours and if he didn't find some way of dealing with it then who knows what could happen. John doubled over when his stomach gave a particularly violent twist, he rocked back and forth on his knees for a time until the pains past and took deep breaths and straightened up.

After thinking really hard, John knew what he had to do, tomorrow he'd go over to Henry's and apologise to the man, tell him that Sherlock was on his own and then head up to London, back to 221B where he could suffer in peace, by the time Sherlock was back in London, John's heat would be over. As John was sitting on his knees, trying to calculate when he'd get a train back home a flashing drew his attention out the corner of his eye, John looked up curiously, someone was signalling again! Maybe John could go and find out what the UMQRA business was all about before he left, maybe he could give Henry something of use before bowing out gracefully.

Mind made up, John stood up slowly and started making his way over to the flashing light in the distance, this time without Sherlock striding by his side.