Chapter 11

For a few hours, Sherlock worked on investigating the teleportation devices, mainly with Jack's help. Now and then, John and Ianto shared a somewhat worried look when the two other men's joking around started to look a lot like flirting. Eliza on the other hand just sat where she was, now and then sipping from a cup of tea if Ianto supplied her with one, a dreamy look on her face as she watched Sherlock.

"Actually, you're doing it wrong," she said as Jack had started on explaining the last of the devices, waking up from her trance of admiration. "You have to hold it in the other direction, otherwise it'll never work."

Jack frowned and looked up at her.

"Don't worry about it. I also did it wrong at first, it does look more logical that way. But it won't work," Eliza shrugged.

Sherlock put a hand on Jack's arm. "Need a break, Captain?" he asked, chuckling. "Have I been working you too hard?"
He was enjoying himself thoroughly, but experience, and John, had taught him that very few people were able to keep up with him in the long run.

Jack gave him a look. "You're a terrible tease, Mr. Holmes. If you want, we could take a break in a minute, but I don't really need it - I can go on for hours." He winked.

"Oh, I'm only just hitting my stride." Sherlock grinned. "And please, no more 'Mr Holmes'. That's my brother. Just call me Sherlock."

Ianto, who had been watching them from the sofa, abruptly got to his feet and began clearing away the abundance of empty cups abandoned on every available surface.
"Seriously now, Eliza..." Jack said. "Are you telling me that your species has teleportation devices?"

Eliza nodded. "Of course. Don't you? Daddy has one almost exactly like the one you're holding."

Sherlock turned to Eliza. "Can you show me, then?"

"Of course," she said with a brilliant smile, jumping up. "Look, you hold it like this, and then you just press here and here..." Suddenly she was standing on the other side of the sofa, grinning widely. "Wow, I didn't even realise it was that simple! I don't have my teleportation license yet, so it could as well have exploded when I did that."

She ran back to Sherlock, who raised an eyebrow. "Show me again?"

Eliza looked a little disappointed. "Surely you got it the first time, with that brain of yours!"

"He just wants to be sure that he doesn't make the thing explode," John said, giving Sherlock a quick look to make clear that explosions were a bad idea.

"Alright then," she said with a little pout, quickly pressing the same buttons and reappearing in the kitchen. "Hmm, I was aiming for the sofa again. Hi, Ianto!"

Ianto jumped in surprise and dropped three cups into the sink with a loud clatter. "Jesus. Where did you come from?"

"Teleport," Eliza smiled. "Obviously. You're very nice, but not quite as bright as Pretty Brain, hmm?" She skipped out of the kitchen, back to the others. "Do you get it now?" she asked Sherlock, pushing the device into his hands.

Sherlock glanced at John before pushing the buttons. A fraction of a second later, he found himself in Jack's office. He laughed as he walked to the door and looked down at the others. "Can I keep this?" he called.

"I'm afraid not, but as long as you're at the Hub, you can teleport yourself into my office any time," Jack called back.

John glared at him.

"Well done!" Eliza beamed.

Sherlock laughed and teleported himself back down. "You should try this John," he said, beaming.

"Why did you teleport there?" John mumbled.

"It was within line of sight, but far enough to make it interesting," Sherlock answered with a shrug.

"I don't know if it's a good idea if someone else tries it, though," Eliza said quickly. "It works on the mind, and most humans wouldn't be strong enough to focus their thoughts enough on the place where they want the device to send them."

John huffed and Sherlock turned to Eliza. "Can it only teleport the operator?" he asked. "Or could I move Ianto in here if I wanted to?"

"I think that would be possible," Eliza nodded. "But I don't see why you would want that, since he hasn't finished the tea yet, and also I don't know how it works to do that."

"Oh, okay." Sherlock frowned. He examined the device more closely. "I wonder what this does," he muttered as he pressed a button.

"Watch your eyebrows!" Eliza called just in time, as the device began to spit long red flames up in the air.

"Bloody hell," John said, jumping back and covering his eyes from the fierce light.

"That's for when someone needs to find you after a teleportation. The flames are visible from miles away," Eliza explained. "I have no idea how to put it off. Be careful with pressing buttons."

Sherlock put the device down. "Right." He said. "Maybe we should see if we could get our hands on a manual before experimenting any more."

"We didn't find anything like a manual with it," Jack said. "Probably it has a help function inside, but we'd need a manual to find that."

He looked at Eliza, but she shrugged, shaking her head. "Told you. Didn't get my teleportation license."

"Alright, that device is a lot of fun, but did we actually get any closer to finding Ms Cooper?" John asked.

Sherlock smiled at him. "I gained some actual first-hand experience with teleportation. I doubt that was a complete waste of time." He turned to look at Jack. "It would seem this device is used by Eliza's species. Is there any way of contacting more mature creatures to learn more?"

"Oy, I'm not a child just because I didn't have time yet to learn everything about the complicated matter of teleportation," Eliza protested, crossing her arms.

"Of course not. You can help us," Jack told her. "How do you contact your family?"

"I don't," Eliza shrugged. "They always contact me. Annoyingly often. That's always embarrassing on a day when I haven't learned much. Fortunately I'm very good, so they don't have much reason to be disappointed."

Ianto reappeared, carrying a tray with five fresh cups of tea. "Is anyone hungry?" he asked. "Should I order pizza?"
Sherlock shook his head and wandered off, lost in thought.

"Actually I am rather hungry," John said. "Pizza would be great."

Ianto smiled and nodded, then turned to Jack. "Sir?"

"Yes, please," Jack nodded.

...

After they had eaten, John excused himself and went to find Sherlock, who was sitting on the floor in Jack's office. "Hey. There's a bit of pizza left if you want," he said, sitting down next to him. "There's a reason why people invented chairs, you know."

Sherlock smiled and leaned over, resting his head on John's shoulder. "I know," he said. "But sometimes I think better like this. And there's so much to think about with this case. It's like the whole world has gotten a hundred times bigger in a matter of hours."

John smiled and kissed his hair. "Make sure your head doesn't explode from all that. Eliza would be greatly disappointed. Even she is taking a nap now. It's getting late."

He frowned. "It is? How long have we been here?"

"Hours," John shrugged, leaning closer. "It's almost early again. Let's go find a hotel room and take a nap."

Sherlock pouted slightly. "I don't need a nap," he said. "I'm working."

"I need one, and I'm not leaving you here alone with Jack," John said. "I trust you, but I don't trust him."

"What do you mean you don't trust him? You can't seriously be suggesting that he is somehow involved in the disappearance of Ms Cooper."

John actually burst out laughing. "God, no. You can't be saying that you haven't noticed how he's flirting with you all the time."

Sherlock frowned. "Flirting? Don't be ridiculous. We work well together, that's all."

John gave him a look. "Ianto told me that Jack is flirting all the time. He's got his eye on you, Mr. Observant. So if you don't mind, I'd like to properly reclaim what is mine and we can't do that here."

Sherlock jumped to his feet. "Right," he said with a grin. "Hotel room. Do you think Ianto could recommend some place?"

"Most probably." John grinned and followed him out the office.