Hey. So, long time no write. Don't kill me. I have many excuses but the penguin won't let me say them. In all seriousness though, I've been busy with work and grade twelve. Shit happens. Oh well, enjoy the story!
Previously:
We continued to talk about the scores and laugh at Damion as we ate dinner. I, for once, was actually tired. I excused myself from the group to go to bed. However, I could not sleep as my mind was plagued by thoughts of the past, thoughts of my father, thoughts of the case, and thoughts of how to get home. Cam is right, we don't belong here and I would be selfish to keep my comrades stuck here in this time without trying to find a way home.
I pick up a tablet and continue to work on trying to find away home, to our original time. I work until my half lidded eyes refuse to open again, my hands cease to move and fingers stop tapping equations, algorithms, and plans on the tablet. I fall asleep with the tablet tucked under my right hand and blissfully enter the darkness.
Holmes's POV
I woke up again only a few hours later, my mind too plagued to sleep. I roll myself out of the bed and started to slowly walk around my room. I try to tire myself out by walking about. I sit back down and pick up the tablet. I turn it on and stare at the screen until it backs out. I put it back on the bed and stand up again. I let out a long sigh. I'm too tired to sleep but I don't want to do anything. I'm restless. I need to clear my head.
With that thought in mind, I leave my room and head to the roof of the building. I take the elevator to the uppermost floor then find a set of stairs leading to the roof. Once outside, I take a walk over to the other side of the roof. I sit down on the edge and dangle my feet off the side of the building. This is the highest I've ever been, it's relaxing.
I lean back on my hands and close my eyes. I love heights. Heights and fresh air have always helped me when I've overworked. I relax there for some time, resting my tired eyes. I open my eyes again to see a brilliant orange globe rising over the Manhattan skyline. I realize I had fallen asleep at some point and the sun was now rising. I pull myself back up into a sitting position, my legs still dangling over the edge. I watch as the sun slowly makes its ascent higher in the early morning sky.
I slowly rise to my feet and head back to the stairwell I used the previous night. I head back down to my room and switch off my tablet, after saving all my data, for the day. Time to relax.
It's still pretty early so I find only myself the only one awake when I reach the kitchen. I pull out ingredients and set to work on making waffles, eggs, bacon, and toast. I also bring out fruit, milk, and juice. I set to making coffee and tea as I fry the bacon. Just as I finish setting everything out on the table, I hear the sound of several pairs of feet shuffling towards the kitchen.
I turn around to see everyone slowly entering the kitchen like a trickle of water streaming down a window I the light rain.
"Mornin' everyone." I greet them with a smile.
I receive a few replies as people grab their share of food. I notice Watson and Lestrade giving me a weird look and I quickly shoot them a glare. They look away in opposite directions and then notice the food. While everyone is eating and talking, I observe them while quietly sipping my tea. Watson and Jenifer sit next to each other talking about something I don't quite understand, for once, and Lestrade is playing a game on his tablet, looking up every so often at Jamie.
I look away. My eyes immediately find Cam's blue ones. I look away again and find Luca staring at me. He doesn't look away even when my hazel-green eyes meet his emerald green eyes. I can't seem to look away until I hear a soft cough. I notice it came from Cam. I look back down to my food and continue to eat. The atmosphere is quiet, calm, but to me, it's suffocating and awkward.
I quickly stand up and leave the table. Once in the hall, I request Jarvis not to tell anyone where I am. I head to the only place I can think of at this moment. The roof.
Luca's POV
She goes back to eating after Cam coughs. We're all sitting and eating quietly, even our parents have joined us. Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye I see Holmes stand up and leave. I'm tempted to get up and run after her, but I don't. I think she just needs some space. Usually she'll excuse herself from the table when she leaves, which means something is bugging her.
I see Cam stand and start to go after her.
"Cam, don't." I say.
"Why not?" He asks quickly, continuing to the door.
"Because something is bothering her." I explain.
"That's why I'm following her. Someone has too." Came his reply.
"She probably just needs space." I try, standing to stop him.
"If something is wrong, it's best to leave Holmes alone." I hear a voice pipe in.
Lestrade.
I look to see her friends, along with everyone else looking at us.
"Really, you just need to leave her alone. Trust us, Holmes is quite stubborn. She doesn't handle emotions very well at all. Just give her some time and it'll be like nothing happened with her at all." Watson says.
"But- Fine." He reluctantly sat back down.
I sit back down but I don't eat anymore. I can't. I suppose I'm worried. She doesn't really know the city well, now I see why Cam really wanted to chase after her.
"I can't take it!" I say exasperatedly as the thought popped into my head.
I stand up and leave the room, much the same as Holmes. Only I can hear foot steps follow me. I can instantly tell its Cam. We're so close we're like brothers. I don't take the elevator because I prefer the stairs. Cam follows me until I reach the target range. I walk over to the far corner and pick up my fencing gear, Cam does the same.
Once we have our gear on we start our match. Stress relief. I don't think my hands are steady enough to throw any knives currently, they're already shaking as I take a swing at Cam. I miss which just aggravates me more. I miss again and just throw my gear to the ground and slump against the wall, head in my hands. I heave a great sigh from between my hands. Cam sits down beside me in silence. He waits for me to talk.
Not gonna happen. Nope.
"Why?!" I hear a cry.
I realize it came from me.
"Why what?" Cam asks calmly, even though the two of us practically having been in a fight not ten minutes ago.
"Why everything? Why her? Why am I like this? Why-why us?!" I almost yell.
"Well-" Cam begins before I hear the vent cover shift and a pair of feet softly hit the floor.
"Because you like her and the both of you are jealous of each other gaining her attention. Personally, I'd drop it. She's not from this time, she has to leave eventually."
"I don't like her like that dad! That's impossible!" I say.
"Jealous?" Cam says looking towards me.
He looks back at my dad and continues, "Besides, she wants to stay. She's already said so."
"Yeah. I already know this. She practically fights with herself in her closet trying to decide if she should stay or go home. She always ends with the decision to go home in the end." My dad explains.
"She- Do I really like her?" I can't help but ask, not understanding my own feelings.
"Only you can say for sure Luca." My dad replies, climbing back into the vent.
Cam and I just sit in silence for a while before we both get up and leave separate ways.
Watson's POV
A few minutes after Luca and Cam left, everything went back to normal. I glance at Lestrade and notice he's looking towards the doorway. He looks towards me and I understand we've reached the same conclusion. We won't see Holmes all day.
Over time we've learned that, depending on the outburst, Holmes will spend up to a day apart from all contact. From this outburst we know it will be a full day and nothing less before we could see her again.
I break eye contact from Lestrade and continue my conversation with Jen. We later move down to the lab she shares with her brother. For the whole day we talk and preform small experiments. As the day is coming to a close I start to worry about my dear friend Holmes. As if sensing my thoughts Jen speaks up.
"She'll be fine. Oh, I know! Why don't we watch a movie, just the two of us to distract you for a while?"
"I don't know, something feels wrong somehow."
"I'm sure you're just worried, Jack." She replies calmly.
When she says my name, I look in her eyes. I'm ashamed to admit I lost myself in her pale amethyst eyes. I forgot about Holmes completely.
"Alright. A movie never hurt anyone, right?"
"Exactly, that's the spirit! Come on!"
She dragged my by the hand until we reached her room. We sat on a couch in the corner and Jarvis started a movie on her television. I was so relaxed and exhausted that as she ran her fingers through my hair I fell asleep.
I wake up to a pounding on the door.
"Watson! Watson, I know you're in there, Jarvis informed me! Open the bloody door right now! Watson!" Lestrade yelled from the other side, feverishly pounding on the door.
I quietly run over to stop him from waking Jenifer. I open the door and, none too kindly, ask him why he was pounding on the door at 7:00AM.
"Watson, it's Holmes!" He says quickly.
It takes a moment for my sleep fogged brain to process his words.
"What about her?" I ask wearily.
"She's gone!" He breaths out.
"SHE'S WHAT?!" I yell.
"What's going on?" I hear a female voice behind me.
Jenifer.
"Pardon me. I apologize for waking you Jen." I reply sheepishly.
"No, I was gonna wake up soon anyways." She says with a small smile that melts my heart.
"I'm still so terribly sorry-" I get cut off by Lestrade.
"Now's not the time you bloody moron! You can flirt with your girlfriend after we find Holmes!" He yells.
"Find her?" Jenifer asks.
"Find who?" Luca asks walking up with Cam.
"HOLMES!" Lestrade screams, reaching the peak of his frustration.
Everyone winces. I intervene to try to calm him down.
"How can you be sure she's not here? Jarvis won't tell anyone where she is."
"Because she left this!" He says shoving a piece of paper I front of my face.
I calmly take it from him and read it silently, Jen reading it to everyone from over my shoulder.
Lestrade, Watson,
I thought it best to inform the both of you that I need some time and space. I need to be alone right now. This time has me currently far too stressed out. I just want to get home now. I miss my father, as I'm sure the both of you miss yours. Dante, keep Jack out of trouble while I sort out my problems. I'm sorry I did not inform you in person, you were both asleep when I checked on you in the movie room. These problems are mine alone, please do not worry about me. I'll be back soon.
You're both my brothers, take care of each other,
Holmes.
P.S. Dante, please take care of my knife.
"Wait, what?" Cam asks.
"I'm confused." Luca adds.
"I thought she'd return by now?" Jen asks.
"She should have." I tell her.
"I told you Watson, she's missing!" Lestrade says sadly.
"Her note said she needed space to figure things out. How is she missing?" Cam asks.
"Listen, we're detectives. We know a false note when we see it." I start.
"Holmes never talks like this. In a letter she would never use our first names." Lestrade adds.
"She also said that she wanted to stay in this time, only wanting to get home to get us back safely, but in the letter she said she wanted to go home, nothing about us. She would never leave us like that, she would take us back home with her, even in writing." I continue.
"Lastly, her knife. She made that knife with her own two hands when she got her hands on the correct materials. She never leaves without it, or her gun. The knife is her good luck charm as well as defence, same as the gun. I have both. They were with her letter in her room, on her bed with her tablet with the case information, presumably, smashed under her bed. Something about all of this just is not right." Lestrade finishes.
"Wait, if she checked on Jack she would haven known he was in my room watching movies with me all night." Jenifer piped in.
"Dante and I we're teaming up and playing against each other in video games all night. Absolutely no sleep." I hear Jamie say.
"So how did she check on them?" Cam asks.
"She didn't. She's leaving behind clues in her note, informing us of the exact opposite. She didn't leave for time to figure things out, she was abducted!" I become as enthusiastic as Lestrade was a few moments ago.
God, how stupid can I get!
"So, what do we do?" Jamie asks quietly.
And just like that, the mood changes. Everyone becomes silent as we think. This has never happened before, Holmes has always been there to keep Lestrade and I from killing each other. Now we have to find her.
If only someone knew something. Wait.
"What if we ask Jarvis?" I wonder aloud, speaking slowly.
"He won't say anything. He wouldn't yesterday." Luca mutters.
"I can hack his system!" Jamie exclaims.
"How?" Lestrade asks.
"Easy, I help my dad configure his systems monthly. That and I have security access codes." She replied.
She sets about typing furiously on a tablet, presumably hacking Jarvis. We wait for a while before we start to feel restless.
"Can you go any faster?" I ask.
"Lay off. She's doing her best Watson." Lestrade says.
"Her best is not enough!" I yell.
"Calm down! You're going to upset her!" He yells back at me.
"Stop worrying about your girlfriend and start worrying about our sister, Holmes is more important than anyone here right now!" I get right in his face, yelling mindlessly.
"Enough! The both of you are acting like children! If you care so much about Holmes, start acting like it! For God's sake! Fighting right now will get you nowhere! And insulting the people trying to help you will only delay the search more!" Luca pushes us apart yelling at us.
From his shove I'm pushed back into the wall and I see Lestrade hit the floor. I suddenly feel grief over my actions. I feel the colour drain from my face. I sink to the floor from my position against the wall. Lestrade walks over and sits next to me.
"God, I'm sorry. I never should have said any of that. It was uncalled for and unnecessary. I apologize Jamie. Everyone." I apologize to everyone in the room.
"It's fine. It stung a little, but we understand how you feel. You're stressed out." Jamie says apprehensively.
"We'll find her. We always find who we look for." Jen says putting a hand on my shoulder.
"Really, how often do you have to look for people?" I ask.
"Not too often, but we do it for fun!" Jamie looks over at us and smiles then continues, "Besides, with Jarvis helping, it should be easy."
"Got it!" She yells.
"Jarvis, where is Holmes? What happened after she left the kitchen?" I hear a voice ask.
Holmes had gone to the roof of the building. It would seem that something had caught her eye down in the streets. She then ran down all flights of stairs until she reached ground level. Three minutes after, she returned to the building with a man. They took the back way to this floor and left a message for everyone, commanded myself not to report it while the man smashed the tablet from Master Stark. They then left the building and I could no longer track them.
We all sit in a stunned silence.
"Could you pull up a picture of the man?" Jenifer asks.
An image of a man appears on a holo screen.
"Wait a minute. That's the lawyer, Jaccob Viron." Cam says.
"No. That's Lord Ikrum." Lestrade says.
"Who?" Jamie asks.
"A very dangerous man. We've been trying to catch him for many months. And now, he has Holmes." I voice my reply.
Yeah, short chapter. Sorry 'bout that. So, Holmes got kidnapped. By the criminal they were searching for and trying to convict. Well, now I have to think things through... If anyone wants to have input for Lord Ikrum/Jaccob Viron's character or appearance, go right ahead and review or PM me. Thanks!
