Chapter 10 The Run Around
Sherlock strutted down the corridor towards the room where Lestrade was like the cat that'd caught the canary, he was positively radiating satisfied smugness and why shouldn't he be after that lovely little interlude John had provided him with. The dark haired Alpha was man enough to admit he went in there with every intention of pouncing on John and marking him in a way that meant no other Alpha would come near him again, ever. Then John had gone all pliant and lovely and started telling Sherlock all those wonderful things and just melted like hot chocolate to let Sherlock fuck his mouth; he hadn't been expecting that.
On the other hand, Sherlock was still a little pissed off that Lestrade of all people had shared one of John's heats, it didn't matter that back then Sherlock had no interest or knowledge of John's heat and it didn't matter that he had been disgusted by the very thought of being involved in one. All that mattered was right now, and right now Sherlock was pissed that Lestrade had been inside his Omega.
Although that thought would make the next part of his plan slightly easier to go through with; part of John's punishment for letting that useless lump inside his lovely body. When Sherlock finally entered the room where Lestrade was interrogating Gary and Billy, he had steeled himself to go through with his plan, he really didn't want to do anything to harm John and he'd make sure no physical harm would befall him but still... no, he had to do this. Lestrade was flicking through a book of sales records when he strode in but looked up at Sherlock nervously when he heard the man enter, Sherlock just gave him a smug grin and padded over to the little mini kitchen off to the side to prepare some coffee for John.
Speaking of John, the little Omega finally ambled into the room just as the kettle finished boiling and Sherlock smirked at the flushed, satisfied look he was wearing, he looked beautiful, Sherlock couldn't wait to see what that look would translate into during a heat. John gave him a quick smile and then turned his attention over to the table where the three men sat, Sherlock felt the pull of jealousy that John's attention wasn't on him anymore but pushed it away, it was for the best that John's attention wasn't completely focused on him right now so he could get his task done.
When he was done preparing his 'coffee' he put the cup on a saucer and strode over to John's side with it, John who had been so deep in thought that he started when Sherlock appeared beside him with a suspicious looking cup.
"What's this?"
"Coffee. I made Coffee." Sherlock clarified and pressed the cup forward a little more.
"You never make coffee." John snorted and Sherlock gave him a hurt expression.
"I just did. Don't you want it?" He gave John a pleading look.
"Are you still apologising for last night?" John asked gently and Sherlock got the most brilliant idea.
"Perhaps..." He mumbled looking away and thought about the way John had gone down on him earlier to let a blush stain his cheeks. John smiled at him and took the offered coffee, taking a sip, Sherlock looked on pleased but then John winced and pulled back.
"Mm. I don't take sugar..." Sherlock pulled the kicked puppy face again and John relented and continued drinking.
"That's nice. That's good." John lied and winced again when he took another sip before turning to place it on the mantel behind him, Sherlock watched him like a hawk, and in truth he was a little surprised that John had taken a second sip regardless of Sherlock's facial expression but then again this was John and John would do almost anything to please him. It made Sherlock feel a little bit guilty about drugging John with tainted sugar but he had to know if his theory was correct.
"These records go back nearly two months." They heard Lestrade muse and looked back over to table, Gary was clutching Billy's hand tightly in his own to comfort his Omega, and it was understandable considering the ginger man was trembling slightly.
"Is that when you had the idea, after the TV show went out?" Lestrade asked, giving Gary a challenging glare so hard that poor Billy cracked under the weight of it.
"It's me. It was me. I'm sorry, Gary – I couldn't help it. I had a bacon sandwich at Cal's wedding and one thing just led to another..." Sherlock smirked behind the man's back and Lestrade looked off to the side to hide his own amusement, it would be terribly unprofessional if he didn't. When he looked back over at Billy it was with a face of incredulity.
"Nice try." Gary chose that moment to speak up and spare his Omega any more distress.
"Look, we were just trying to give things a bit of a boost, you know? A great big dog run wild up on the moor – it was heaven-sent. It was like us having our own Loch Ness Monster." Gary said trying to appeal to Lestrade, trying to explain but the DI just looked appalled.
"Where do you keep it?" He asked and Gary looked away, resigned.
"There's an old mineshaft. It's not too far. It was all right there." Gary confessed and Sherlock chose that moment to jump in after picking up on a key word.
"Was?" He drawled in question and Gary snarled, not liking being ganged up on by two Alphas; Billy leaned over and nuzzled his lover's bristly cheek to calm him down. The image brought forth the memory of John doing something similar back in that dining room earlier and Sherlock smiled lightly and glanced out the corner of his eye towards his own lover.
"We couldn't control the bloody thing! It was vicious! And then, a month ago, Billy took him to the vet and, er ... you know." The man softened his voice near the end when he caught sight of his Omega's distressed look but John needed clarification.
"It's dead?"
"Put down." Gary softened.
"Yeah. No choice. So it's over." Billy finished and Gary sighed beside him once more trying to get Lestrade to see the lightness of the crime.
"It was just a joke, y'know?" Oddly enough the DI failed to see the funny side and stood up looking down at the pair angrily.
"Yeah, hilarious. You've nearly driven a man out of his mind." He snarled and then marched out of the place followed by John, Sherlock hung back to see the couple exchanging guilty looks and then proceeded to follow his companions out. When he got to the front door of the pub and looked out he saw John and Lestrade standing way to close and sharing a joke, his eyes narrowed at the image and he stomped over quickly to slide his body in front of John's slightly, John sensing Sherlock's discomfort at his closeness with the other Alpha took a step back, nodding for Greg to do the same.
"So, you believe him about having the dog destroyed?" Lestrade asked, trying to change the subject and stop Sherlock from getting all protective.
"No reason not to." Sherlock answered and looked John up and down from the corner of his eye to make sure he was okay and hadn't been handled. Lestrade seeing that his little diversionary tactic wasn't working decided to bow out gracefully and took a couple of steps back to show Sherlock he was leaving.
"Well, hopefully there's no harm done. Not quite sure what I'd charge him with anyway. I'll have a word with the local Force. Right, that's that, then. Catch you later. I'm enjoying this! It's nice to get London out of your lungs!" Lestrade called backwards as he left and John smiled and made a point to buy the DI a drink once his heat was over, when he glanced back to Sherlock he was pleased to note that the man had relaxed from Greg's departure.
"So that was their dog that people saw out on the moor?" John asked, Sherlock eyes left the departing figure of Lestrade and locked on John.
"Looks like it." Sherlock answered making John frown.
"But that wasn't what you saw. That wasn't just an ordinary dog." John pressed and Sherlock got a distant look in his eyes.
"No. It was immense, had burning red eyes and it was glowing, John. Its whole body was glowing." Sherlock shuddered, shook his head and turned to walk towards the car with John trailing after him.
"I've got a theory but I need to get back into Baskerville to test it." Sherlock told John who frowned in thought whilst Sherlock got out his phone and started flipping through his contacts 'til he reached 'M'.
"How? Can't pull off the ID trick again." John asked, Sherlock smirked at him and hit dial before lifting the phone to his ear.
"Might not have to." Then the person on the other end of the phone answered and Sherlock's whole demeanour changed to one of forced sincerity.
"Hello brother dear, how are you?" John shook his head, this man could be absolutely terrible sometimes; pity the man in question didn't really care.
"Sherlock, what do you want?" Mycroft answered testily.
"Why do you assume I'm asking for something? Perhaps I'm just concerned about my big brothers welfare." Sherlock pouted and leaned against the 4x4 as both John and Mycroft collectively snorted.
"Sherlock. What do you want?" Sherlock rolled his eyes, obviously if he wanted what he wanted he'd have to play ball with Mycroft.
"Very well, I need to get back into Baskerville, today and have unlimited access to the labs." Sherlock heard his brother choking on the other side and smirked at John as he reached his hand out to pull the man against his side so he could press his ear to the back of Sherlock's phone and listen in.
"What on Earth makes you think for one moment that I'd even consider such a ridiculous idea?" Mycroft sniffed and John could hear the Beta's trademark smugness over the phone, it almost made him roll his eyes but instead the Doctor let out a squeak all when he felt Sherlock's hand grab his arse and slapped the man on the chest.
"What was that?" Mycroft drawled and Sherlock grinned.
"Nothing, just a passing animal molesting its mate. Now back to my request, look I have no interest in doing anything that'll destroy your lovely army base but I suspect there is someone in there experimenting on the residents of Grimpen village so I need to get in there and run a little experiment of my own to prove my theory. I'll do two cases for you?" Sherlock bargained and he could practically hear Mycroft thinking, Sherlock estimated at least two minutes and thirty seconds of silence so he gestured for John whom he was still holding on to, to hold the phone to Sherlock's other ear. John frowned at him and did as he was told but nearly dropped the phone when Sherlock tipped his head back and dropped his own to lay a kiss at the skin just at his Shirt collar.
"Sher-" He started but Sherlock silenced him with a kiss on the lips and whispered against them.
"Hush." The dipped back down to start nipping, licking and sucking on John's neck causing the Omega to bite his lip so as not to make any more embarrassing noises. When Sherlock nipped at a particularly sensitive bit of skin near John's ear, the smaller man gave up all resistance and lifted his free hand up to scratch through Sherlock's hair, making the big Alpha growl low in appreciation. It was such an odd thing to experience for John because of how unexpected Sherlock's affection was, one day Sherlock was fighting against everything Alpha/Omega and today he's kissing John in front of people and necking in the car park.
"Very well brother. However it will be five cases and no arguments." John whined lowly when Sherlock's head shot up and he grabbed the phone out of John's hand.
"Very well, how long will it take for you to make the call?" Sherlock asked, breath hitching when John leaned in to return the favour to Sherlock's neck.
"Ten minutes. Good luck little brother, do tell me how you get on." Then there was a click and Sherlock shoved his phone in his pocket and turned so John's back was pressed against their car before reattaching his lips to the wanton little Omega. They kissed, sucked, licked and moaned for the ten minutes that Mycroft had said it would take for arrangements to be made before the detective pulled back from John's lips, not far though, just a breath away from touching him.
"As much as I would love to keep going, we do have an appointment at Baskerville." Sherlock husked.
"Mm-yes- and we should-make good- on that-" John said in between little pecks to Sherlock's lips, they shared one last deep kiss and then Sherlock pulled away completely to get into the driver's seat.
"Well then, let's get this over with shall we?" Sherlock called grinning and John grinned back and jumped in the car too.
/
This was proving to be very difficult to watch, Sherlock had assumed he was braced for watching John's reaction to the drug but there was no way any Alpha could be prepared to watch their Omega run around in the dark terrified of the sounds Sherlock was playing over the speaker system. Right at this very moment, Sherlock hated himself, hated himself with more passion than he could possibly imagine. John was trembling so hard he could see it on these fuzzy monitors, he watched the poor man stop and reach into his pocket for his phone and then he heard his own phone start to ring but he fought to ignore it and kept watch on the screen before him.
John ran around for another couple of minutes before Sherlock played a particularly vicious growl over the speakers causing John's whole body stop and go pale before the man made a run for one of the cages along the side of the room, when Sherlock saw no more movement for a time he finally reached the end of his patience, heart hammering in his chest and picked up the phone to call John. When the man answered he was panting heavily and squeaking through his words.
"It's here. It's in here with me."
"Where are you?" He really didn't want to ask since he knew when John was anyway but he had to if he wanted to keep this a secret form John.
"Get me out, Sherlock. You have got to get me out. The big lab: the first lab that we saw." Sherlock was already on route but he had to keep John talking, one, so he knew the outcome of his experiment and two, he couldn't bear it if John had a panic attack because of him.
"John? John?" He called when there was no sound for a second.
"Now, Sherlock. Please." John begged and Sherlock started to run.
"All right, I'll find you. Keep talking."
"I can't. It'll hear me."
"Keep talking. What are you seeing?" Sherlock insisted and quietly pushed his way into the lab.
"I don't know. I don't know, but I can hear it." Sherlock was looking around for the cages but it was a little different down here than looking at an overview monitor.
"Can you see it?" Sherlock asked as he approached the cage John was hiding in and paused when he saw John move forward to peek out the crack, he heard John start to deny it but then he trailed off.
"I can see it. It's here." John said flatly and Sherlock rushed over to pull the sheet from the cage and slide it open, when the lights blinked on John looked absolutely terrified and the smell of his fear was making Sherlock both angry and sick at the same time. He had done this, he had made John like this even if he had managed to prove his theory it was not worth the look on John's face or the pallor of his skin.
"Are you all right?" Sherlock asked worriedly and wasn't expecting the flying leap John took from the back of the cage into Sherlock's arms, knocking him on his arse, nor was he expecting the desperate kiss John planted on his lips before the man launched himself back onto his feet to start pacing and panicking.
"Jesus Christ... It was the hound, Sherlock. It was here. I swear it, Sherlock. It must..." Sherlock stood up and reached for the terrified Omega.
"John..." The man just cut him off and strode forward to warp his arms around Sherlock and buried his head in the man's coat.
"Did ... did ... did you see it? You must have!" He looked up at Sherlock and asked frantically but Sherlock pressed him back against his chest and held him tight, placing a soothing kiss on top of John's head.
"It's all right. It's okay now."
"NO IT'S NOT! IT'S NOT OKAY! I saw it. I was wrong!" John screamed and panted into Sherlock's chest making the detective wince.
"Well, let's not jump to conclusions." Sherlock said softly and John looked up at him again.
"What?"
"What did you see?" John frowned and pressed himself as tightly to Sherlock as humanly possible.
"I told you; I saw the hound." John huffed, snuggling Sherlock and making the man smile and rub his chin against the top of John's head.
"Huge; red eyes?" Sherlock asked.
"Yes."
"Glowing?"
"Yeah." Sherlock smirked and tipped up John's head to look up at him.
"No."
"What?" John was starting to pull away but Sherlock couldn't have that so he kept a tight grip on John and explained.
"I made up the bit about glowing. You saw what you expected to see because I told you. You have been drugged. We have all been drugged." John's eyes widened and Sherlock gave him a comforting squeeze.
"Drugged?" John asked and screwed up his face.
"Can you walk?" Sherlock questioned and John nodded but didn't let go of Sherlock so Sherlock shifted them around so he could put a steadying arm around John's shoulders and keep one of the man's arms around his waist.
"Come on, then. It's time to lay this ghost." Sherlock said gently to the Omega and pulled him slowly in the direction of Stapleton's lab.