A/N: Hey, I'm still here. Don't worry. I got a sudden inspiration to write this since there's the 2005+ episodes of Doctor Who going in TV now. I know this chapter isn't that much of the Doctor and that's probably the reason why it took such a long time for me to continue this... but in any case here this is. I hope you like.
9. That smart kid
The day was weird to say the least. Well, actually it was quite normal for some who lived in Tardis but as soon as they had handled the situation, Sierra knew she'd better slip to some other place and time quite soon.
"What's he doing here?" The sandy blonde teen blurted out when she laid her eyes on Elton while the Doctor was distracting some freaky alien(surprise here…) with meat while Rose was fetching the 'not-blue' bucket.
"Get out of here, quickly!" Doctor was telling the other man who just continued staring at the monster before addressing the monster once again. "Have some, boy! Wouldn't you like a porky-choppy then?"
And the attention went to Elton again.
"I said, run!"
And right on cue the resident blonde – AKA Rose Tyler - came charging onto the scene and with a loud cry, flung the contents of a blue steaming bucket onto the monster. Sierra just rolled her eyes on shook her head while leaning against the wall behind Elton. The monster howled and clutched its eyes, obviously furious now.
"Wrong one! You made it worse!" The human-like alien yelled over the monster.
"You said blue!" Rose yelled back.
"I/He said "not blue"!" The Doctor and Sierra said simultaneously. And then the monster spotted Rose who fled to the direction she'd come from.
"Oh... hold on!" The Doctor slammed the door he'd come from shut and disappeared somewhere behind it. A silence followed. Sierra let out a sigh and pushed herself off the wall. It had been what? A week from when they met Elton last time. When the Doctor and Rose had solved the dilemma with that one alien from the sister planet of Raxacoricofallapatorius, Clom. By the way, wasn't Clom one of the missing planets in the season four? Or was it one of its moons? The details had begun to be a bit hazy… Nevermind, that hadn't happened yet.
"You'd better get out of here." The girl stated to Elton before a scene disturbingly alike to running scenes in Scooby Doo occurred. The monster chased Rose and the Doctor back and forth the three long corridors. Sierra just went to one of them while none of the running trio was there and picked up the red bucket. Then she stepped out on the main corridor, waited until Rose had run behind her before flinging the contents of the bucket at the monster that was still hidden from Elton at one of the corridors. The monster stopped and collapsed in dead faint.
"Well… That was surprisingly easy." Sierra dropped the bucket and wiped her hands on her jeans. Rose stepped next to brunette, catching her breath and straightening up just when the Doctor came to the two stopping, noticing Elton and…
"Hold on... don't I know you?" The Time Lord frowned in confusion. Elton fled.
"Wasn't he the idiot who kind of seduced Jackie in order to get information about you to his little group LINDA?" Sierra asked. "The idiot with concrete-slab-girlfriend Ursula?"
"Oh, that idiot!" The alien realized.
"Yeah, that idiot." Rose nodded. "Speaking of which… Where were you that time, Sierra? You just slipped away again."
"Oh… What I always do…" Sierra waved her hand dismissively. "Playing an imaginary friend to kids and showing how amazing the universe is."
"Right…" The blonde frowned but didn't comment otherwise. She turned to look at the Doctor. "So… What are we going to do with this one?"
A week ago
Jackie finished telling her tale about handsome and talented young man named Elton she'd met when she'd been doing laundry. Sierra didn't really listen but got the gist that the woman had been obviously more interested in the guy than vice versa. Nevertheless Jackie was upset so naturally Rose wasn't really happy either. So she and Doctor went to find this 'Elton' while Sierra stated she'd be off once again.
"Don't worry. I'll stay on this planet." She added, when she arrived to the console room, shrugging on a jacket and wrapping a blue scarf around her neck.
"Why do you keep disappearing somewhere?" Rose asked right when the other girl was about to exit. Sierra turned around and blinked once.
"Oh…"
"Why?"
"I just do." The dimensionally lost girl looked sadly at the blonde before stepping out of the time machine. She chose coordinates randomly and was gone in the next second.
Chilly autumn wind whipped against Sierra's face and bare shins as she only had knee length light grey college pants and a pair of the same pink ballerinas she'd worn during the Idiot's Lantern.
"Okay… Bad choice of clothes." The girl mused, beginning to walk onwards in order to warm up. While she was thankful she'd put on a jacket, she still had only a short sleeved light grey Angry Birds t-shirt underneath it. "Brr… I wonder where am I?"
Sierra continued walking while glancing curiously at the buildings and road signs around her. It seemed she was still somewhere in Britain. And not too far in the past. Maybe around 1970 or -80? Hmm… Was she even in London? It did look some sort of city though Sierra couldn't spot any familiar landmarks from where she was walking.
"Incredibly stupid." A voice of a boy stated. Sierra halted her step and spun around on her left heel. The kid was about nine or ten, standing about a meter from her and had obviously waited until she'd passed him before speaking.
"What's incredibly stupid?" Sierra asked, arching her eye brows.
"Walking outside in clothes like that. You'll get sick. Even simpler people realize it." The boy scoffed.
"Is that so?" The teen girl took in the boy's own appearance. Pale eyes, mass of black curls sitting top of his head, high cheekbones obscured by the roundness of a child's face… He was wearing a jacket and long dark grey pants and had a school bag on his back. "Well, good that you are clothed properly then. Kids have lesser resistance against sickness than adults."
The kid frowned before harrumphing and averting his eyes from Sierra.
"Besides I'm not that cold. It's a bit chilly, yes, but I've been in worse conditions." The young woman continued with a shrug. The boy's head perked up in interest.
"Like what?"
"Hmmm-hm." Sierra hummed. "I don't know if I should tell you… Are you smart enough to understand the concept of the way I travel?"
"Tell me. I'm smart. Smarter than anyone else in our school."
"Nope." The girl spun on her heels and continued walking to the end of the street. The kid jogged after her.
"Tell me."
"No."
"Why not?"
"You wouldn't believe me."
"Try me." The boy demanded when they reached a junction. Sierra gave him a flat and unimpressed look.
"Grow up first, kiddo."
The kid looked up at her in bafflement. Apparently no one had ever spoken to him like that. Sierra let out a sigh a rubbed the bridge of her nose.
"Just… Go home, okay? I'm sure your parents or grandparents or nanny or whoever is worried about you. If you really want to know, I'll pop by around your bedtime."
"You don't even know where I live. And I'm not going to tell you."
"Oh, trust me, I'll find you." The girl waved her hand dismissively and walked off. This time the boy didn't follow her.
It was around nine pm. Sierra looked up at the large townhouse in front of her. The kid seemed to come from an old money. The girl put her hand on her hips and let a smile grace her face. It hadn't really been that hard to find the place the kid lived. She first found his school: there weren't that many in the walkable distance from their meeting place, and from the school records found the kid's name and address.
"Sherlock Holmes. Who knew I'd become your imaginary friend?" Sierra took a glance on Timmy and teleported herself to the window sill of the boy's room. The room was a mess but she didn't really bother with it. After seeing the adult Holmes' apartment in future, she'd gotten a feeling he hadn't been that different as a child.
The kid Holmes in the other hand was sitting at his desk and reading some book in the light of desk lamp. With his other hand he was making some notes to a notebook. The boy's back was turned so he didn't notice Sierra sitting in the opened window.
"Hello, kiddo."
It had the desired effect. The young smart-minded boy jumped in his seat and almost toppled on the floor.
"I do have a name." The boy drawled as he got up from his chair and walked slowly to the window, eyeing curiously at the girl sitting there.
"Oh… Do tell me." Sierra mocked. "Kiddo."
"Sherlock Holmes."
"That's an unusual name."
"What's yours then?" Sherlock challenged.
"Hmm… I don't if I should tell it to you… After all I'm not really here." Sierra leaned against the window pane and stretched her legs out, neatly crossing her right ankle over left one. She also folded her hands on her lap, intertwining her fingers, and tilted her head towards to boy, watching his every expression that crossed his face. There was curiosity, disbelief, confusion and anger. The last one was probably directed towards the boy himself since he couldn't figure it out on his own.
"What?" The boy finally asked, a frown etched on his face.
"You see… I'm not from this time. I'm not even born yet. So if we were to meet in future, it would mess up the timeline the worst way possible if you were to know me before I know you." Although in Sherlock Holmes' case, he could just explain it away. Sneaky liar.
"Not from this time?" Oh, stop frowning. That might leave a permanent mark on your face.
"Yep." Sierra nodded. She could see that the boy didn't believe her but it only made the things easier for now. He could then believe her other explanation then.
"… How did you find me then?"
"I promised to come so I came. Isn't that what imaginary friends do?"
"Imaginary friends don't exist."
"Then how am I here?"
"I…" But Sherlock didn't have an answer. Sierra smirked.
"Exactly."
"Okay… But you promised me to tell where you have endured worse than October in London in too little clothing."
"Alright. Take a seat." Sierra gestured the plush carpet and the pillows scattered around. The boy obliged. "It was… almost a year ago for me but two hundred thousand years to future. Give or take. Me and my friends…"
"My friends and I." Sherlock corrected with almost a bored note.
"Yes, but don't interrupt me. Otherwise I won't tell you." The teen glared before turning to stare the ceiling and continued her story. She crossed her arms on her chest slowly and inhaled deep. "In any case… it was a satellite that kept the human race updated on the news going on around the galaxies. But the information was corrupted and we were going to find out why and how was that… The satellite had five-hundred floors and in the top floor was the boss of the place."
"Naturally." The boy scoffed.
"Well, yes. We had already lost one of our new friends to the floor 500. People who got promoted there never came back you see. No one knew what exactly was in there but people rumored the walls were made of gold."
"Not true." Sherlock stated and Sierra nodded absently. She was lost in her memories while the boy was listening with a rapt attention.
"Definitely not true. We got our first hint when we realized that the whole satellite was boiling hot. I had been injured previously on my leg so it was extremely uncomfortable."
"How were you injured?"
"I got shot. We had visited a underground base previously."
"Oh…"
"Yeah, 'oh'… The heat wasn't nice but it raised a question where did it come from. Naturally a satellite that big should have a proper cooling system. One of my friends went digging around and found out that all that heat was directed downstairs to keep floor 500 cool."
"So you went there."
"Yes, and the wall were definitely not made of gold. They were made of steel and covered in ice due the cold. And it was freezing here! I'm surprised I didn't get any frostbites there. But in any case we went from one extreme to another. Compared to that little chill in London is nothing." Especially when the weather in Finland is colder around the year.
"What did you do then in the floor 500? What was in there?" Sherlock asked. Sierra smiled and continued her story.
"I beat the creature with a cricket bat and we fled to the elevator." She finished. The kid was staring at her in a slight awe. Sierra frowned. "You actually believe me? No one else has believed me…" She muttered.
"Well, if you are a figment of imagination I guess all those things you tell me are impossible in real life. This just happens to be some sort of weird dream I'm having while actually lying on my bed asleep." Sherlock shrugged.
"True. And if that really is the case…" Sierra tossed her feet to the room before settling on a crouch on the windowsill. She leaned an elbow on her knee and a chin against her palm and smiled widely. "What do you think of a little trip to somewhere impossible?"
The kid's eyes widened to unbelievably big of size and he openly gaped at her. Very out of character that was. "Really? You could? Anything?"
"Yep. I can take you to the past, to the future or even outside the Earth. It's just imagination, right?" The boy nodded. "Grab you jacket, kiddo; we are going to have an adventure."
Two pairs of feet hit the cobblestone street leading to a city. Sierra straightened up and dusted first her and then Sherlock's jacket.
"Let's see…" She looked eagerly around the city. There was sea right below it and lot of ships in the port. Old ships!
"I think we are around the late 1700's." Sherlock stated. "In America."
"Oh, that's lovely." Sierra smiled. She naturally knew where they were but it was interesting to see what the kid would find out.
"It's winter." The boy was shivering.
"Yes, it is." The blonde girl nodded. Then she looked at the boy. "Your clothes blend in enough… But I think I'll need something. If only to cover my gender." She grimaced. If there was one thing she hated when time travelling, it was definitely arriving to about anywhere in the past and being looked down on just because she was a female.
"There're some houses with clothes drying outside." Sherlock was quick to point out.
"Thanks but no thanks… I rather take something I prepared beforehand." Sierra shrugged off her backpack and dug out a pair of long, dark green, trousers and black boots. She also changed her jacket into a longer coat similar to the one Doctor like to use. "I'll go into those shrubs to pull these on. I don't want anyone spot me before my transformation."
"Okay…"
"Don't wander off."
"Yes…"
"Good boy."
"I'm not a dog!"
"I never said so."
Sierra disappeared to the bushes and pulled on the garments she had. As a finishing touch, the girl took down her pigtails and pulled her hair on only one low ponytail. It would do quite nicely. When she was ready and appeared by Sherlock's side again, the boy had figured out where and when they were.
"December 16th 1773, the Boston Tea Party!" He announced gleefully.
"That's right. What do you think? Do you want to push down some chests full of tea? It's not like being a pirate but quite close, right?"
"Sure, I do!" The boy nodded enthusiastically. Sierra couldn't help but smile. The kid was so different from his adult self.
The duo made their way towards the port. Night had already fallen when they hid near the docks. They weren't the only ones. Here and there people were hiding and inching towards the three ships full of tea crates. Sierra beckoned Sherlock to follow her as they sprinted in a half crouch in the shadow of some wooden boxes stacked atop of each other. They weren't alone. Two young men were there too, one ginger and one brunette. The brunette had tried to disguise as a native American. Poorly, to say.
"Hey, what-?" The ginger began but Sierra slapped her hand on his mouth.
"Shh… Don't yell or ye will give us out." She growled with a Scottish accent.
"Who are you?" The ginger hissed once the hand was removed.
"Ethan McLain, an' that's kiddo." She nodded her head at Sherlock who was crouched behind her. "An' ye?"
"Thomas Glendale." The brunette answered.
"Jasper Higgs…" The ginger muttered. "What are you doing here?"
"The same that you!" Sherlock whispered.
"What he said." Sierra nodded.
"Bringing a kid? Are you insane?" Jasper glared at her furiously.
"He wanted to come." The girl shrugged. "So, what's the plan?"
"Quite straightforward actually." Thomas chuckled. "Get on the ships, get them under our control, get rid of the tea."
"I see."
"We are just waiting for a signal from one of the other groups. You better stay out of our way." Jasper added, receiving a nod from both Sierra and Sherlock.
"Don't worry. We'll do our portion too." The girl assured the red head who was eyeing them suspiciously.
"Definitely." Sherlock added with a mischievous glint in his eyes. He almost resembled some sort of a cat.
In the end the way to the ships was easy. And so was subduing the crew of the ships. Blitz attack and all. The hard part came when was time to dump the tea. The crates were heavy! Even after Sierra had taken some tiles of tea and put them into her bag(hey, authentic tea from Boston Tea Party. How could any tea addict pass the chance?), the crate was still almost too heavy for her to lift alone. Thankfully Thomas came to her help. Sherlock in the other hand was assisting Jasper who begrudgingly accepted the help. Judging by his face though, he seemed to rather toss the kid overboard along with the tea.
The night was starting to turn into dawn by the time they were finished. Sierra let out a sigh of relief since her bag was beginning to weight quite much. She had now a lot of different sorts of tea. The Tardis would be nicely stocked up when she'd go back.
Sherlock sat down by the railing of the ship and sighed too. Sierra glanced at him amusedly before sitting down next to him.
"Okay, what do you want to do next, kiddo?"
The boy looked up at her wearily.
"Eat? I'm hungry."
"Moving around and sea air does that to you." The girl mused. "Do you want to see the future now?"
"Is it okay?" Sherlock tilted his head but Sierra was already pressing coordinates into Timmy.
"Of course it is! This is just imagination, right?" The young woman wrapped an arm around the boy and they were gone, leaving only wind blow in the place they'd been.
"When are we? I can see this is London but…"
"January 30th 2011. Not too far from my own time. C'mon now, kiddo. We aren't far."
Sherlock had to take two steps at the time when Sierra took only one long step. In the other words the boy had to half-run in order to keep up with the teen.
"Where are we going?" The boy asked. He had a long ago given up any attempt to get the 'imaginary friend' say his name.
"To a restaurant. Don't worry, I have money with me."
"Why do we have to pay? This is imaginary, right?" Sierra suppressed a sigh at the question. It was something she'd expected but at the same time she hadn't.
"This is imaginary, yes, but only to you. To me… This works like any other world. Mostly with normal rules. So we need to pay for our food." The young female answered. "Ah, here we are." She opened the door and gestured the boy inside. "After you, kiddo."
Sherlock grinned and stepped in. He went immediately to a table placed in a booth in the corner. It had a perfect view to the rest of the restaurant. Sierra smiled and went after him, sitting her back towards the wall. The boy took the seat opposite her, half-facing the table by the window.
"Why this restaurant?" The boy asked after a moment of silence during which the waiter had brought them the lists. Sierra glanced at him amusedly.
"Why not?" She smiled. Sherlock frowned. He leaned closer to her while hiding behind his menu, giving her a scrutinizing gaze.
"You wouldn't bring me somewhere simply to eat. Something is going on." And he got it spot on.
"True." Sierra smirked and pulled her hair off from the ponytail before tying it up again on two pigtails. "We are going to play spies while eating. Have you decided yet?"
They ate in silence, with Sherlock looking around in the restaurant, Angelo's, in interest. No doubt he was making those little deductions about the people there. Unfortunately he forgot to eat occasionally and Sierra had to remind him.
"You know… No one can think with an empty stomach. Brains require energy. And while it's true that full stomach makes you tired thus slowing your brain work, you just need to eat right both by nutrition and the amount…"
"I do know that." Sherlock grumbled but turned his attention on his plate again, resuming eating.
"Oh, do you? Do you always sleep enough so your brains can rest and actually process everything you've learnt during the day?"
"Yes!" The boy whisper-shouted. Sierra just gave him a look.
"Liar."
Sherlock huffed and turned to look at the door through which two people had just stepped in. One was tall, with dark hair and dressed in a long coat and other expensive looking clothes while the other was… quite boring actually. Wheat-colored hair, short, had a cane and his clothes were quite average.
Sierra followed the boy's line of sight and smiled then.
"So they're here." She said quietly. The boy looked at her. Were those two who they were supposed to be 'spying'?
"Who are they?" The boy asked with a frown.
"Targets." Sierra smirked. "Now shush…"
The man with dark hair nodded to a building over the road as he and his companion were seated in the window table. "Twenty-two Northumberland Street. Keep your eyes on it." He told the blonde man.
"He isn't just gonna ring the doorbell, though, is he? He'd need to be mad." The other man retorted wearily.
"He has killed four people." Came the reply.
"Who?" Sherlock mouthed to Sierra who was looking at the dessert menu. She lifted her gaze from the categorized cakes and hummed when looking towards the duo by the window.
"A serial killer." She whispered. "They are waiting for him to appear."
"... Okay." The blond man with the cane admitted finally. About that time the owner of the restaurant came over the two men, clearly pleased to see the taller one of them.
"Sherlock." The owner shook hands with the man. At this the boy sitting next to Sierra perked up, giving the girl a wide-eyed look. The female didn't react at all.
"Anything on the menu, whatever you want, free." Angelo laid a couple of menus on the table. "On the house, for you and for your date."
"That's me?" The kid Sherlock mouthed to the young woman again. She didn't answer, just smiled mysteriously.
"Do you want to eat?" The adult Sherlock asked John – like Sierra knew him to be.
"I'm not his date." John sated firmly to Angelo. The kid snorted into his drink and Sierra slapped him a top of his head with an extra menu.
"This man got me off a murder charge." Angelo continued, effectively over running the previous statement.
"This is Angelo." Sherlock(the adult) finally introduced and Angelo offered his hand to John, who shook it briefly. "Three years ago I successfully proved to Lestrade at the time of a particularly vicious triple murder that Angelo was in a completely different part of town, house-breaking."
"He cleared my name." The Latino man beamed.
"I cleared it a bit. Anything happening opposite?" Both Sierra and the kid realized the detective(Sierra whispered this to the boy's ear) was talking about the address mentioned a while ago.
"Nothing." Angelo answered before turning to John again. "But for this man, I'd have gone to prison."
"You did go to prison."
"I'll get a candle for the table. It's more romantic."
"I'm not his date!" John half shouted after Angelo. The kid snorted again at this. Sierra just sighed and told the boy to choose something to eat since they were going to be there for a while.
They ate their dessert in silence. Sherlock kept glancing at the duo in the window table while Sierra was making a little packet from a napkin and putting a packet of tea in it. The same tea she'd just acquired about two hours ago.
"People don't have arch-enemies." John finally spoke. It took a moment until Sherlock(adult) finally looked away from the window.
"I'm sorry?"
"In real life. There are no arch-enemies in real life. Doesn't happen."
"Doesn't it? Sounds a bit dull." The detective turned towards the window again.
"So who did I meet?" John enquired.
"What do real people have, then, in their 'real lives'?"
"Friends; people they know; people they like; people they don't like ... Girlfriends, boyfriends ..."
"Yes, well, as I was saying – dull."
"Dull…" The kid echoed, nodding his head in agreement.
"I'm not dull, am I?" Sierra asked in amusement. The boy shook his head. "Good." She smiled.
An awkward conversation about girlfriends and boyfriends ensued and the spying duo had troubles keeping a straight faces during it. Sierra ordered the bill and paid it.
"What now? The boy asked.
"We wait until those two leave and then leave ourselves." The girl replied. And in no time the adult Sherlock was on his feet, he grabbing his coat and scarf and already heading for the door. John picked up his own jacket and followed... completely forgetting to take his cane with him.
"We going now?" The kid asked, pulling on his jacket once he noted Sierra doing the same. Angelo stopped by the window table, taking the plates and then the cane with him.
"Yes. I just leave this little packet to be delivered by Angelo." The female got up and wrapped the packet neatly together, tying a black silk ribbon she'd fished from her pocket around it. "Just wait a bit."
Sierra walked to the counter where Angelo was talking to his waiter, Billy.
"Excuse me, sir…"
"Yes, my lovely madame?" Angelo smiled to her.
"I'd just wanted to thank you for the delicious meal and ask if you could possibly do a favor to me…" The girl fidgeted. "It's about Sherlock Holmes… He helped me and a friend of mine once and I wanted to express my gratitude somehow…" Her gaze dropped on the packet she was holding.
"Ah, you need someone to deliver that to him." Angelo smiled.
"Well… yes. I just have never met him face to face and the matter back then was quite awkward but easily solved so we were in contact only via mail." She was blushing now. "I'm sorry, I'm rambling… He was just such a great help but I'm not sure if I could actually face him. I even came here to see if I could but…"
"It's alright madame, I was going to go soon to meet him anyways." Angelo assured the 'distressed' girl. "His date left his cane so I can drop your packet to him on the same trip."
"Really?" A visible relief graced Sierra's features. "Thank you so much!"
And the packet exchanged hands.
"It's tea… From Boston. If you say it's from Ethan McLain, he'll understand."
After the final reassurance from the Latino restaurant owner, Sierra headed to the door where the kid was already waiting for her. Neither of them said anything until they were out of the door.
"That was embarrassing." Sierra sighed.
"You were quite good actor." Sherlock remarked.
"I was?"
"Okay. Not so much but right enough to fool a gullible person like that Angelo." The boy snorted. "What's our next stop?"
"Hmm… I was thinking something impossible." Sierra mused as they made their way down the street.
"And future and past aren't impossible?"
"Well…There's something even more so… but before that I need to do something else. You can join if you want to."
"What is it?"
They were standing a top of the Tower of London. Sierra took a look on Timmy.
"Still the same day… a couple of hours later. How nice…"
"What are we doing here?" Sherlock asked, wrapping his arms around his torso against the wind.
"I have an agreement with a mutual acquaintance of ours that every time I'm in London, I'll inform him by jumping off some random building." Sierra shrugged, tucking her hands into the pockets of her pants.
"That's insane!"
"Nope. Just a bit crazy. And with Timmy I always land safely." She grinned and stepped on the ledge. The girl offered a hand to the boy a couple of meters behind her. "You coming? This is just imagination after all."
"…" Sherlock hesitated a moment before taking the hand. "Fine."
"Brilliant." Sierra wrapped her right arm around the boy's waist and showed Timmy to him then. "When you feel like it, slam you hand on Timmy. We'll get teleported elsewhere. If you don't, it'll do it automatically when we are fifteen meters from the ground. Understand?"
The boy nodded.
"Good. Ready now? Three… two… one…" And they tipped off the ledge. Sherlock latched onto Sierra's coat that flapped in the air in their freefall. The girl grinned widely, not loosening her hold on the boy's waist even an inch. The ground was coming closer and closer until…
Zap!
Sierra had solid ground underneath her feet again.
"By the way… You are not going to make habit of jumping down from buildings, okay?"
Sherlock looked around in daze before realizing the young woman was still holding him around the waist, keeping his feet off the ground and making him feel like a sack of potatoes.
"Let me down." The boy growled.
"Nope. Not yet." Sierra smiled, looking around too. Her expression indicated to Sherlock that they'd landed to the right place. It looked some sort of a school and it had ambulances and police cars scattered around the yard. Sierra strode to the edge of the area, letting the kid down finally. "There they are…" She pointed the same duo they'd seen in the restaurant.
"You were gonna take that damned pill, weren't you?" John accused the consulting detective as they made their way away from the ambulances. Sherlock turned to face him.
"Course I wasn't. Biding my time. Knew you'd turn up." He huffed.
"No you didn't. It's how you get your kicks, isn't it? You risk your life to prove you're clever."
"Why would I do that?" The detective questioned with a slight interest and amusement.
"Because you're an idiot." The ex-army doctor told the taller man.
And Sherlock smiled. Though after a moment he forced the smile down.
"Dinner?"
"Starving."
"End of Baker Street, there's a good Chinese stays open 'til two. You can always tell a good Chinese by examining the bottom third of the door handle."
As the consulting detective spoke, a few yards ahead of them a car pulled up and a man with expensive suit, red-ish hair and an umbrella stepped out. John stared.
"Sherlock. That's him. That's the man I was talking to you about." The blonde man whispered. The kid next to Sierra arched his eyebrows. That new man looked somewhat familiar…
"I know exactly who that is." The adult Sherlock muttered once taking in the other man. He walked closer to this man and stopped, looking at him angrily.
"So, another case cracked." The umbrella man spoke. "How very public spirited ... though that's never really your motivation, is it?"
"What are you doing here?" Sherlock demanded.
"As ever, I'm concerned about you."
"Yes, I've been hearing about your 'concern'."
"Always so aggressive." The ginger man sighed. "Did it never occur to you that you and I belong on the same side?"
"Oddly enough, no!"
"Is he…" The kidlock frowned. Sierra glanced at him.
"Who?"
"Is he the acquaintance you talked about?"
"Yeah. Why?"
The boy pouted. "Mycroft has gained weight." He merely stated.
And Sierra laughed. "Yes, definitely. He absolutely abhors legwork. But in any case I visit him time to time even if only to annoy him."
They tuned back to conversation.
"It wasn't me that upset her, Mycroft." The adult Sherlock huffed.
"No, no, wait. Mummy? Who's Mummy?" John interrupted.
"Mother – our mother. This is my brother, Mycroft."
And John stared at the umbrella man.
"He'd make a good goldfish…" The kid muttered.
"Putting on weight again?" The consulting detective noted.
"Losing it, in fact." Mycroft huffed with dignity.
"As if…" The boy smirked.
"He's your brother?!" John managed to get the question out of his system finally.
"Of course he's my brother."
"So he's not ..."
"Not what?"
The brothers looked at the poor doctor who shrugged in embarrassment.
"I dunno – criminal mastermind?"
The kid quaffed at that and went to hide behind Sierra and bite the back of her coat to silence himself. The girl herself snickered too.
"Close enough." Sherlock noted.
"For goodness' sake. I occupy a minor position in the British government." Mycroft retorted.
"He is the British government, when he's not too busy being the British Secret Service or the CIA on a freelance basis... Good evening, Mycroft. Try not to start a war before I get home. You know what it does for the traffic." And the detective walked away, John following him quite soon after that. The duo went out of earshot so Sierra and mini-Sherlock couldn't hear what they were talking about.
"Sir, there was another sighting of someone jumping down and vanishing in midway down. This time from the Tower." Anthea was telling Mycroft.
"How long ago?" The man asked, noticing Sierra standing on the edge of the area.
"Twenty-three minutes ago." Came the reply but mister umbrella was already making his way towards the girl.
"Sierra Adler. We meet again."
"So we do, Mycroft, and will in a couple of months unless I'll do more pit stops in future…"
"And still jumping off buildings."
"I don't change my habits that much." Sierra crossed her arms on her chest and smirked. "And neither do you apparently."
"Apparently?" Mycroft repeated, intrigued by the choice of words.
"Yes, kiddo recognized you quite quickly."
"And who is…" The man's eyes caught the younger version of his brother who was thankfully hiding behind Sierra.
"I plucked him from the past and have been showing him the universe. Gotta bring him back soon though. It's way past his bedtime." The girl laid and hand on Sherlock's shoulder indicating him to stay put.
"Taking a leaf out of the Doctor's book then?" Mycroft questioned, looking up at Sierra again. If he had a hunch who the boy was, he didn't let it show.
"A bit yeah." Sierra began pressing buttons on her VM. "Okay, kiddo, one more stop left. Do you have a proper hold on my coat? I'd hate to leave you behind with Mr. Umbrella."
Kidlock snorted but nodded. Mycroft arched his eyebrows at the remark.
"Alright, off we go then. By the way, I'm stopping by sometime in 2014 quite soon. Just so you know."
"You contradict you own statement, Miss Adler."
"I know." Sierra grinned.
Zap!
Floating. In the middle of space. Sherlock looked around in awe. Sierra smiled widely and moved the kid in front of her, hugging him in process. The boy didn't notice it.
"I promised something impossible to you and here we are." The girl told the boy, leaning her chin a top of his head.
"How can we breathe?" Was the first from the kid.
"Timmy protects us. It's like the Tardis, a space ship of my friend's. She provides air and gravity even when the doors are opened."
"I see…" The lapsed into a silence, just watching the dark, the stars, the planets, the Earth behind and beneath them.
"Do you think I'll actually meet a person like that John?" Sherlock asked eventually.
"I'm sure you will." Sierra smiled. "Just you wait." Another silence descended around them.
"Imagination is important you know… When it comes thinking solutions." Sierra began after a while.
"Logic is more useful." Sherlock argued.
"Yes, logic is important too. When it comes to straightforward thinking… But imagination is more important. It helps you find shortcuts and detours. Find unconventional solutions that others might not even consider possible. And then they are cob smacked when they realize you are right." Sierra grinned. Sherlock was quiet, thinking. Eventually he opened his mouth though.
"…It's pretty." The boy muttered, his eyelids drooping.
"Yeah, the universe is pretty." The young woman admitted and the kid went limp on her arms. "Time to get you back then…"
It was mere minutes after Sierra had taken Sherlock with her so no one had noticed the boy was gone. The blonde girl carried the boy to his bed and after removing the jacket and shoes, laid him down and tucked him in. She was about to leave when she stopped and took her blue scarf from around her neck and placed it on the boy's hands. Unconsciously, Sherlock took the scarf and hugged it against his chest tightly. Sierra smiled, went to close the window she'd come from and was gone then.
A shadow appeared to the doorway of the boy's room. Young Mycroft Holmes looked at his sleeping brother for a moment before closing the door.
2014, Late October, 221B Baker Street, living room
"All very interesting, Sherlock, but the terror alert has been raised to Critical." Mycroft scoffed. He and Sherlock were sitting opposite each other in front of the unlit fireplace. And naturally Sherlock was still in his dressing gown. He sat back from making a move on the chess set between them, his eyes locked onto Mycroft's.
"Boring. Your move." The younger Holmes told the elder one.
"We have solid information. An attack is coming." The ginger glanced down to make his move.
"'Solid information.' A secret terrorist organisation's planning an attack – that's what secret terrorist organisations do, isn't it? It's their version of golf."
"An agent gave his life to tell us that."
"Oh, well, perhaps he shouldn't have done. He was obviously just trying to show off."
"None of these markers of yours is behaving in any way suspiciously?" Mycroft glanced down again and made a move. "Your move."
"No, Mycroft, but you have to trust me. I'll find the answer. It'll be in an odd phrase in an online blog, or an unexpected trip to the countryside, or a misplaced Lonely Hearts ad. Your move."
Mycroft glanced down briefly at their game before raising his eyes to Sherlock's again.
"I've given the Prime Minister my personal assurance you're on the case." The umbrella man stated.
"I am on the case. We're both on the case. Look at us right now."
Buzzz!
"Oh, bugger!" Mycroft angrily dropped the small tweezers he was using in their game of Operation they'd actually been playing. A quiet snort was heard by the sofa in the other end of the living room but neither of the men heard it. A pair of boot-clad feet was neatly placed on the coffee table in front of the sofa and next to the chess board on it.
"Oopsie!" Sherlock remarked unapologetically and looked at which piece Mycroft had failed to remove successfully. "Can't handle a broken heart – how very telling." He mused smugly before sitting back in his chair and crossing his legs. The right boot lifted up and crossed the ankle of the left one by the coffee table.
"Don't be smart." Mycroft not quite glared.
"That takes me back." Sherlock changed his voice into a little boy's one, obviously mimicking Mycroft when he was younger. "'Don't be smart, Sherlock. I'm the smart one.'"
"I am the smart one."
"I used to think I was an idiot." The younger Holmes looked to the side, completely missing Sierra with her Tardis Key. He was obviously a bit distracted by the memories.
"Both of us thought you were an idiot, Sherlock. We had nothing else to go on 'til we met other children." Mycroft reminded.
"Oh, yes. That was a mistake."
"Ghastly. What were they thinking of?"
"Probably something about trying to make friends."
"Oh yes. Friends. Of course, you go in for that sort of thing now."
"And you don't? Ever?"
"If you seem slow to me, Sherlock, can you imagine what real people are like? I'm living in a world of goldfish." Mr. Umbrella scoffed.
"Yes…" Sherlock looked at his brother intently. "But I've been away for two years."
"So?"
"Oh, I don't know." The detective shrugged. "I thought perhaps you might have found yourself a ... goldfish".
"Change the subject – now!" The British Government barked, getting up from his seat and walking over to the fireplace.
"Rest assured, Mycroft – whatever this underground network of yours is up to, the secret will reside in something seemingly insignificant or bizarre."
"Like missing cart of a subway…" Sierra thought amusedly just when Mrs. Hudson walked into the room, carrying a tray of tea.
"Speaking of which ..." Mycroft began. He was also a bit distracted due Sherlock's remark so he missed Sierra too. Probably also because he couldn't expect her to be there. Stressful times, Mr. Holmes, stressful times…
"I can't believe it. I just can't believe it! Him – sitting in his chair again!" Mrs. Hudson smiled and placed the tea tray on the dining table. "Oh, isn't it wonderful, Mr. Holmes?" She spoke to Mycroft who seemed to notice three teacups instead of two on the tray.
"I can barely contain myself." Mycroft stated through gritted teeth.
"Oh, he really can, you know." Sherlcok smiled.
"He's secretly pleased to see you underneath all that..." The old lady pulled a sour face, imitating… well, both of the Holmes brothers.
"Sorry – which of us?" Mycroft questioned as Mrs. Hudson picked one of the cups and went to take it to Sierra.
"Both of you." The girl smirked to the brothers who only now noticed she was there. "Thank you Mrs. Hudson."
"You are welcome, my dear. It's the same you just brought me. It is wonderful I'm telling you." The landlady tapped the young female's cheek gently before leaving the room. Sierra smiled at her retreating back before taking a sip from her cup.
"Wonderful indeed." She turned to look at the two brothers who were quite openly staring at her. Mycroft seemed to place her appearance and clothes around the time of Study in Pink but Sherlock was having difficulties.
"Did you delete something, kiddo?" Sierra smiled. Sherlock blinked and opened his mouth to reply but the girl beat him to it. "Nevermind, I had fun anyways." She shook her head sadly and sipped the tea again.
"Boston. The tea is from Boston. Same brand than the one I got via Angelo from Ethan McLain…"
"So you do remember something. That's good."
Mycroft observed the duo for a while.
"Imaginary friends, Sherlock? I thought you were becoming barmy back then."
"Mr. Umbrella shall shut up." Sherlock snapped. Sierra giggled. This was going to be a fun evening.
A/N: And here you go. Please review. I don't know when the next chapter is coming seeing that I have two other project under work and my school starts next week. But I hope you continue reading this and reviewing despite me not updating.