Chapter 7

Watson let out a yawn as he stretched and proceeded opened his window and looked outside the next morning with a smile on his face. But when he looked down towards the flower garden expecting to see Mrs. Hudson, the good doctor saw Cinderella standing outside attending to the flowers instead sporting a light green dress and white apron. And when the young woman looked up and saw that he was awake she smiled up at him and said, "Good morning, Doctor."

"Good morning, dear." Watson replied, as he give her a big smile. But when he leaned outside of the window he added, "You wouldn't happen to know where Mrs. Hudson is do you?"

"Well, I would assume she's getting breakfast ready since I offered to water the flowers for her." The young woman informed the Scottish Terrier.

"Oh, she is? Well, that's splendid!" Watson replied before he heard the window to Hound's room being opened. And upon leaning a bit more forward the doctor saw the detective was already dressed and was currently brushing his teeth while he fixed his bow tie and looked out the window when he called out to him, "Good morning, Hound."

"Good morning, Watson." The anthro fox replied back, before he moved away from the window to rinse his mouth. And upon doing so Watson saw the detective place his hands on the open windowsill and look down to where Cinderella was standing as he added, "And good morning to you as well, Cinderella. I do hope that Mrs. Hudson hurries with breakfast since I'm famished"

"Good morning, Sherlock. And don't worry I'm sure it'll be done any minute now." Cinderella told him, to which the doctor just smiled and walked away.

But once he had helped away and began to get dressed for the day he suddenly heard Hound quickly move out of his room and before the anthro dog knew it he was at his door and was knocking on it as he implored, "Watson, you best hurry old boy. It seems we received a message from Inspector Lestrade."

"Alright Hound, I'll hurry." Watson replied while he picked up the pace. But as he got dressed the teal furred doctor mentally added, "Now what could Lestrade want that could possibly make us miss breakfast?"

After he had gotten dressed though he quickly ran down the stairs right behind Hound. However, when the detective opened the left front door Watson found himself bumping into Hound which caused him to stumble backwards a step or two. Once he had regained his balance though the Scottish Terrier saw that Sherlock had stopped because Cinderella was standing in the doorway. And to both their surprise the young woman had her arms crossed in front of her when she asked, "And where you two heading off to in such a rush?"

"Apologizes for leaving so soon. But I'm afraid someone I know needs to speak with me right away." Hound explained with an apologetic look on his face.

Watson found himself giving her the same look as he reassured her, "But don't worry, my dear. I'm certain we should be back in time for tea."

To both the males surprise though the strawberry blonde stood her ground when she calmly remarked, "I'm sorry but I won't allow you to waste the food that Marie is finishing for you to eat right now. So I'm afraid your friend will just have to wait a little bit longer before you can go and speak with them." The young woman then started to walk inside the house which caused the two anthro men to walk backwards a bit. And once she had closed the door she smiled at them and continued with, "And if your friend gets upset with you about being late. Then I'll gladly go with you so that I can explain why you didn't show up on time."

This caught both Watson and Hound off guard with their eyes widen in shock and their ears pointing straight up while the doctor commented, "Well Hound, I guess we'll be having breakfast today after all."

"It would seem so." Hound let out, before the two walked back upstairs and into Hound's room.

ooooooo

Inspector Lestrade paced back and forth from within his office as he waited for both Hound and Watson to show up so that he could show them an odd letter that was sent to him. However, what was so strange about it was the fact that it was addressed to Hound instead of the police officer. Not only that, but the message was sent from Professor Moriarty which only caused the anthro bulldog to become angry as he let out a growl and remarked to himself, "What in the world is Moriarty plotting now? And what's keeping Hound? It's not like him to be late like this."

Once he had finished his little rant though the inspector stopped with his pacing when he heard a knock on his door followed by a voice from own of his men when they announced, "Inspector, Sherlock Hound and Doctor Watson are here."

"Send them in." The bulldog ordered to which the door was opened and Hound along with Watson right behind him walked inside the office. And once those had entered the room Lestrade was more then a little confused when he saw a young woman walk into the room after she had thanked the office who had taken them to the office. And once she had entered the room and the door was closed the inspector pointed a finger at her while he asked in annoyance, "Oi, who's this here? Is she a client of yours, Hound?"

"Well yes I suppose you could call her a client. But she is also a guest at my home. And her name is Cinderella." Hound explained before the anthro bulldog saw him look over at the human woman. Upon doing so he went on with, "Cinderella, this is Inspector Lestrade."

Hearing the young woman's name caused Lestrade to stare for a bit in confusion as the young woman gave him a small nod and said, "It's very nice to meet you, Inspector. And I'm afraid I'm the reason why Hound and Watson were late to meet with you."

In response to this Lestrade tipped his hat to her before the woman's name processed in his head. Once that occurred his eyes widen in shock as he asked, "Wait your name is Cinderella? As in the young woman who married that Prince Charming follow and became Princess in that small far off kingdom?" After he had said this though the anthro dog saw Hound give him a very serious glare which prompted the inspector to become a bit confused as he added in the form of a question, "Oy, why are you staring at me like that, Hound?"

"Shouldn't it be obvious Inspector?" The anthro fox countered, his expression unchanging.

It took the bulldog a few moments before Hounds respond sunk in. But once it had he proceeded to clear his throat when he said, "Oh yes, I understand. She's obviously here in secret right?"

"I suppose you could say so." Sherlock answered back, now with a lighter expression on his face.

"Alright then I won't bring it up again." Lestrade remarked before he grabbed the piece of paper and handed it over to Hound. Once he did the bulldog then began to walk out of the room as he added, "But this message was sent to you...and it's from Professor Moriarty."

"Moriarty?! What does he want?!" Watson demanded as an anger expression formed on his face now.

Lestrade did not answer at first instead deciding to open the door to his office. Upon doing so he turned around to face the three when he warned, "I don't know what he wants. But I bet it isn't anything good." He then looked over at the young woman and added, "But if you feel at any point that you need more protection Your Highness. Then I and my men will do our best to keep you safe."

"Yes, of course. But I'm afraid you're mistaken since I am no longer a princess." Cinderella lightly protested to which Lestrade let out a light chuckle of amusement.

Upon doing this he tipped his hat to her again and commented, "Oh right, of course." He then closed the door to his office right after he had uttered those words..

ooooooo

Hound slowly began to unfold the piece of paper that was addressed to him as he thought, "Hmm, I wonder what the Professor is plotting this time?"

And upon fully unfolding the message he found out that it said:

Dear Hound,

I know that you are within the company of a certain Princess named, Cinderella. And that she is currently staying at your humble abode. So I have decided to give you a fair warning, which is that I will be kidnapping her in doe time. When that day will be is undetermined for right now. So for the time being you had best keep a close eye on her."

From,

Professor Moriarty

After he had finished reading the letter Hound proceeded to crumple it up and then throw it away while Watson asked in concern, "What did the message say, Hound?"

"Well, it would seem Moriarty has learned about Cinderella's presence." Sherlock informed the the two as he turned to face them.

"Oh dear. That certain isn't good..." Watson muttered out loud. Within a few seconds though the anthro fox saw his friend look over at the young woman when he quickly told her, "But now don't you worry my dear. Both Hound and I will make sure that the Professor never lays a hand on you."

"Thank you for saying that, Doctor. But I'm afraid you've been missed informed for as I said earlier I am no longer a princess." The human woman lightly protested once more.

This caught Hound's attention as he replied, "Well it would certainly explain why those soldiers acted the way they did when you were dropped off here. And so I must assume that this also has something to do with that information you have yet to tell us, correct?"

"Yes." The blue eyed woman let out as her gaze moved towards the ground.

Seeing this prompted a frown to form on the anthro fox's features before he walked up to her and placed a hand on her right shoulder when he told her, "Very well. Then I will still stand by what I told you last time. Whenever you're ready to tell us what happened then we will be more then happy to listen."

"Thank you." Cinderella softly replied, relief clear in her voice.