A/N: Sorry that this one's a little all over the place. I tried to put in a little bit of everyone's point of view, although I didn't realize how hard it is to write as Sherlock!! He's just too smart for me to capture all of his thoughts :) but anyway, hope you like it, and don't forget to review!
and next chapter we'll be starting the real big case/main plot thing... I know I said it would be this chapter, but I'm just really really bad at planning things out ahead of time, everything always ends up being longer than I expected
Disclaimer: I don't own Sherlock Holmes, Mrs. Hudson, the Baker Street Irregulars, Dr. Watson, or 221B Baker Street, or anything else recognizable
It was just past four thirty in the afternoon, and Mrs. Hudson was bustling around the kitchen quite happily. She was feeling much better; a nice, long nap had done a very good job of curing the crankiness brought about by yet another sleepless night (due, of course, do her tenant's incessant late-night violin playing).
The tea kettle whistled impatiently from over on the stovetop, and the woman hurried over to take it off. She poured a small cup of tea, then, carefully tucking loose strands of what was once flaming red hair back behind her ear in an effort to look somewhat presentable, she scurried out of the kitchen to deliver the drink to Mr. Sherlock Holmes.
The man was sitting in a chair with pipe in his mouth, gazing out the parlor window down onto Baker Street. He gave a slight nod to acknowledge the landlady's presence as she set the cup of tea down on the table beside him, but his eyes never left the window.
Mrs. Hudson wiped her hands on her apron and looked out the window as well. Everything seemed completely in order outside. There were people bustling down Baker Street just as always, hurrying around downtown London. Mrs. Hudson didn't see anything odd about it. She carefully watched Holmes's face for some sign of his thought process.
But Sherlock was, as usual, expressionless. He continued staring out the window, not necessarily looking at anything in particular, a faraway look in his striking blue eyes. Mrs. Hudson stood there for a little while longer in hope that he might say something, but of course, he remained silent. Disappointed, she let out a sigh and went back into the kitchen to resume her work.
Holmes set down his pipe for just a moment in order to take a small sip of tea. He continued gazing out the window. You should know, of course, that this – staring aimlessly out the window, that is – was not an unusual thing for Sherlock Holmes to do. He could often be found "people watching"; just observing the normal day-to-day occurrences of random people as they passed by his parlor window. He found this extremely intriguing, as you might guess.
But today was slightly different. He wasn't merely observing the passersby; he was actually looking for someone in particular. And of course, this person was his niece, Jackie.
Thinking back on it, he probably shouldn't have let her go out on the streets of London alone. Or perhaps he should have at least given her some direction, or more importantly, a time to be home. Because here it was, just past four in the afternoon, and they had a dinner arrangement with Dr. Watson that he had almost completely forgot about.
"What do you mean you just forgot about it?" Mrs. Hudson sputtered after he asked her if she would mind pressing his other pair of slacks. "At six o'clock tonight? And did you even bother to tell your niece?"
Of course he hadn't. If he hadn't remembered that they had a place to be a six o'clock, he certainly wouldn't have told Jackie about it.
Holmes wondered where she had run off to. He had half a mind to go out looking for her, but of course, what good would that do? It was impossible to look over every single nook and cranny in the city of London. It was much too big. Even Sherlock Holmes, who knew the city like the back of his hand and could make his way through it while walking backwards with his eyes closed, would have a tough time finding a thirteen-year-old girl running around in it.
After debating for quite a while as to whether or not he actually should go on a search for her, he decided that it would be best to just stay put for a little while longer and see what happened.
And after he had been sitting there for about a half hour longer, continuing to look down at the street below, when he caught a sudden flicker of movement out of the corner of his eye.
He turned slightly and looked up at the mirror above the fireplace, in which he could see the windows of the house across the street, which gave a very nice reflection of several people attempting to climb up the drainpipe.
A wry smile appeared on Sherlock's face, and he slowly got up from his chair and started to make his way up the staircase.
Outside, Jackie was staring up at the drainpipe incredulously. Wiggins was nearly to the window, and Finn was starting up behind him.
"Come on, Jackie, it's really not that bad!" Finn cried, blowing a dirty strand of strawberry blond hair out of his face. "It's not hard at all!"
"Easy for you to say," scoffed Jackie. "You're not wearing a dress!"
Wiggins slid back down to the ground, pushing Finn down with him.
"Come on, Jack, it's fine," he said. "We can help you if you want."
"No thanks," Jackie said with a glare, and she took a deep breath and started up the drainpipe.
Wiggins just rolled his eyes.
"Fine then, if you don't want any help, I guess we'll be going. See you tomorrow, though?"
Jackie stopped and looked back down at the boy standing on the ground beneath her. They really did have a lot of fun that day. The whole afternoon was basically spent running around London, exploring hidden alleys and playing down by the river. It had been so much being around the Irregulars, even if they were slightly annoying at times.
"Maybe," Jackie said finally, giving them a smile that just made Wiggins roll his eyes again. Then she turned back around and continued her climb up to her second floor bedroom.
She finally made it all the way up. She turned and saw the boys disappear down an alley, and then carefully crawled through the window onto her desk, and then stepped onto the floor. She let out a sigh and was about to go flop down on her bed when she jumped suddenly and let out a tiny squeak.
There was her uncle, sitting in the chair by the door, giving her a very curious smile.
"You look nice," he commented.
Jackie looked down at her brand new blue dress, which was now covered in mud and had a huge rip down the side. She didn't even want to know how dirty her face was, and she could tell that her hair was a completely mess.
"And you know you don't always have to climb through the window," he continued. "The front door is a perfectly acceptable means of entrance."
Jackie nodded. She was still getting over the surprise of him sitting there to even respond.
"I assume you found yourself some friends," he added, nodding towards the window. "They're an interesting group of lads, aren't they?"
"They surely are," Jackie agreed.
Holmes chuckled. "Well, we are going to meeting Dr. Watson and his wife for a dinner arrangement in about an hour," he said, standing up. "It would be very nice indeed if you could be all cleaned up and looking decent by that time.
"Yes, sir," Jackie replied, fingering the edge of her skirt nervously. "I'll be ready."
"Excellent." Holmes looked her over one last time, as though trying to figure something out, and then turned and left the room, closing the door behind him.
Jackie stood there for just a minute longer, turning over all the events of the day in her mind. Then, remembering that she actually had to make herself look somewhat nice for dinner tonight, she quickly started cleaning herself up.
But even as she busied herself with fixing her hair and washing her face, her mind was still on the Baker Street Irregulars. They were a sort of escape from all the properness of 221B, where she was expected to look nice and act like a young lady. Of course, that really wasn't quite who she was, and she was pretty sure her uncle knew that, too.
"Well, isn't she ready yet?" Mrs. Hudson asked, busting around the parlor downstairs.
"Hm, well I told her to get ready about forty minutes ago, give her some time," Holmes said. He checked his reflection in the mirror on the mantle, carefully fixing his tie and smoothing his hair.
"If she wouldn't come in looking like a complete mess maybe she'd get ready faster," Mrs. Hudson grumbled. "Did you see her dress? What on earth was the child doing all day long?"
Holmes chuckled as the landlady shook a very dirty, ratty-looking blue dress in the air. He turned around and gave her a small smile.
"I suppose she was just out having fun," he said finally, smirking at Mrs. Hudson's disbelieving stare.
"Well, there are plenty of fun things to do inside the house, without ending up with one very terrible looking dress," she said, glaring at Sherlock. "In fact, I wouldn't be in the least bit surprised if some of your strange habits are rubbing off on her! Just look at you, running around chasing criminals, and… and playing that blasted fiddle all night long! You're possibly the worst role model any child could have!"
If Holmes took that to heart at all, he certainly didn't show it. He merely continued smirking and went back to smoothing his hair, much to the annoyance of Mrs. Hudson. But before the landlady could burst into another rant, Jackie appeared on the staircase.
"I'm ready," she said softly, descending the stairs.
"Dear, you look absolutely lovely," Mrs. Hudson said, immediately hurrying over to fix the girl's hair and straighten her bow. "Lovely indeed, like a perfectly proper young lady."
Jackie smoothed the skirt of her dress, which was white with tiny blue flowers, quite similar in style to the one she had just ruined that morning. She looked up and smiled at her uncle, who nodded with approval.
"The cab is waiting outside," he said, checking his pocket watch. "We had best be on our way, as we don't want to be late."
Mrs. Hudson nodded and pushed Jackie out the door.
"Watch your mouth with this one around, Mr. Holmes," she whispered before Sherlock followed Jackie out to the street. "Honestly, just letting her do as she pleases is no way to raise a child."
Holmes gave her a strange look before walking down the stairs and stepping into the carriage. Jackie leaned out the window and gave Mrs. Hudson a wave goodbye, and then the cab took off down the street.