Disclaimer: I do not own Sherlock (the BBC show, any other show, movies or any of the original works by Arthur Conan Doyle) or any of the characters. I merely own my OC Ana.
Ten: Sleep Now...
Deciding to not walk back home in the icy cold, the trio caught a cab back home; Sherlock paying no attention to whatever conversation may have come up (he honestly didn't even register anything but his own thoughts... as usual). When they arrived at Baker Street, John and Ana ended up splitting the cost of the ride, seeing as Sherlock bounded out of the cab with John's camera in hand before the vehicle had even stopped. The consulting detective left the front door ajar and his footsteps could be heard pounding up to their flat.
As Ana rolled her eyes to the man's behavior, John brought up a thought that had been plaguing him since they'd left the train yard.
" You... you're not going to... you know... show that video of Sherlock and I to anyone, are you?" He inquired nervously. He ruffled his hair with a hand as he looked over at her, sincerely hoping her reply would be no. They climbed the few steps to the door and stepped into the warmth, leaving the cold air behind. Ana laughed and patted the pocket where her phone was.
" Depends. I'll keep it for blackmail... Should I ever need to do it to either of you. But, otherwise, I don't think I will," She told the doctor, smiling. He let out a relieved breath, shutting the door behind them. He then paused as he processed her words. He wasn't sure whether to relax or continue to be nervous over the possibility she would use it against them. John was sure someone would insinuate something about the two men from that video... Hell, it would probably be Anderson or Sally who did it.
" Um... I'm... reassured? Should I be? I don't know if that is reassuring..." He trailed off. Earning a laugh from Ana, the two shed their coats and headed upstairs, where Sherlock dutifully pinned up a printed copy of John's photograph.
Sherlock's brows pulled down in determination as he began to try and sort out all of the numbers... and what they meant.
" I say I make us some hot tea, fight the chill off," Ana suggested. She sniffed and rubbed at her red nose, almost emphasizing her point.
" Oh, that'd be nice..." John sighed in appreciation, rubbing his cold hands together. As Ana moved to go make said drink, Sherlock retreated to John's laptop and began to enlarge the numerals and print out copies of those. Once they were all printed, he scribbled numbers on the papers with black sharpie, muttering them under his breath when he pinned them up. Instead of just one numeral spaced evenly between others, there were two numerals close together before the next set was painted… pairs…
The night passed by with Sherlock muttering things to them, printing more photos, tossing them away and reprinting them again and with John and Ana drifting off every now and then, only being able to leave the room to go change when the morning light began to break over the rooftops of London.
John exhaustedly sat at the table, face resting in his hand as he began to drift off. The cold was wearing off and the promise of Ana's tea was probably the only thing keeping the doctor awake. He didn't understand how Sherlock could spend days on end without sleep and manage to function.
" Always in pairs, John, look," Sherlock informed as he stared at the pages that were now completely covering the mirror.
" Hmm?" John hummed, barely registering his friend's words. His eyes suddenly opened and he looked over to where Sherlock stood. He sucked in a breath and tried to wake himself up more, scrunching up his nose and forehead.
" Tea…" Ana mumbled, setting a cup in front of him. They were probably on their fourth pot of tea in the span of the night, hoping it would give them some sort of energy to face the day.
" Oh… thanks," He whispered, picking up the steaming cup. He held it to his lips and took a gulp of the scalding tea. Ana, who looked equally as tired, sipped at her own cup, staring at Sherlock's back.
" Pairs?" She urged him to continue.
" Numbers come with partners…"
" God I need to sleep…" John muttered, looking over to the clock. Ana grunted in agreement, muttering,
" I'm lucky my boss likes me or I'd be fired by now… missed enough work…" She scrubbed a hand over her face and shook her head. As much as all of this truly interested her, she still needed to work or she couldn't pay rent or get groceries.
" Why did he paint it so near the tracks?" Sherlock mused, ignoring their comments.
" No idea," John grunted as he stretched in his seat.
Sherlock's fingers were poised on one of the photographs, eyes scanning over each number set. He felt no exhaustion or need to rest. His mind was turning and turning, keeping him thinking at every moment, every turn. Each problem he encountered has to be figured out; he couldn't just let something hang there unsolved. And at the current moment, why someone would leave a critical cipher in a train yard was making his brain work harder.
" Thousands of people pass by there everyday…"
" Just twenty minutes," John begged. Sherlock had a tendency to make him stay up and suffer as he worked through the night, having the need to tell someone everything he thought up.
A smile pulled onto Sherlock's face.
" Of course. Of course! He wants information. He's trying to communicate with his people in the underworld. Whatever was stolen, he wants it back," He announced, voice getting slightly quieter as he looked over the photograph again. Ana stepped up beside him, sipping her tea as she stared at the photo as well. " And it's somewhere here… in a code." His voice became somewhat gruff as he muttered to himself, something that caused Ana to look up at him. She'd have to hit Liz for bringing up the damned question of if she'd want to date Sherlock or John every day she went to work… It made her think too hard about whether she liked either of them.
" It's too late to figure out a code…" Ana muttered, flopping into John's chair by the fireplace.
" Well, we can't crack it without Soo Lin Yao," He told her, tearing off pictures and keeping them in hand.
" Oh, good," John sighed as Sherlock, once more, headed to the door.
" Well, you two have fun, I actually have to work," Ana told them, causing the two to look back at her. " Don't give me those looks! I have every intention to help as best I can, but I need my pay check and if I don't get it, I can't pay my portion of the rent. So, if you find anything of vital importance, shoot me a text and I'll meet you wherever you may need me." Sherlock gave a short nod as he swept out with his jacket. John yawned as he clumsily pulled on his jacket to follow the dark haired man to the cab.
O
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O
The two arrived back at the museum and once more hunted Andy down. They were once again in the room full of Chinese antiques, Sherlock speaking urgently.
" Two men who traveled back from China were murdered, and their killer left them messages in Hang Zhou numerals," He said.
" Soo Lin Yao's in danger," John added, making the entire conversation dummed down to one sentence. " That cipher, it was just the same pattern as the others, he means to kill her as well.
" Look, I've tried everywhere—friends, colleagues… I don't know where she's gone, I mean, she could be a thousand miles away," Andy told them, tiredly rubbing his face. It was that moment that Sherlock's eye had caught on a display case… one he'd been peering into the other day. A set of matching clay teapots sat inside, some of them glossed, the others dulled. That couldn't be right…
John noticed that his sightline wasn't on the young man any more and questioned,
" What are you looking at?"
" Tell me more about those teapots," He said to Andy, pointing with a gloved hand. He walked over, brow creasing as he looked back on his memories from the day before.
" The pots were her obsession. They need urgent work. If they dry out, then the clay can start to crumble. Apparently you just have to keep making tea in them," Andy explained as the consulting detective leaned down to stare critically at them all. John's brows creased at his behavior. As much as he loved learning about ancient teapots as the next man, they were after a killer.
" Yesterday only one of those pots was shinning," Sherlock explained. " Now there are two." Straightening up, Sherlock pulled out his phone and began to send a text; apparently Ana would be having a short day at work.
O
OOO
O
" Ana, are you still alive?" Liz questioned, patting her friend on the cheek a few times. Ana jumped, eyes flying open from her position leaning against the bar. She groaned and ran a hand through her already tangled curls, shaking her head.
The lunch rush had ended and it was easing into evening, the sky turning a purplish pink. She'd yet to get any news from Sherlock or John and was trying to keep herself from collapsing onto the rickety wooden floors.
" No, I don't think I am… I had a long… interesting night," She sighed, leaning against the counter top, rubbing her eyes. Liz offered a smirk as she raised an arched eyebrow. She could have too much fun with this…
" Did Sherlock keep you awake?" Liz questioned with a slightly suggestive tone.
" Mm…" Ana hummed in agreement before her eyes snapped open again. " No! Not like that, Liz! Mind out of the gutter now! Uhg! I was helping him on a case!" She quickly got out. Liz let out a burst of laughter and rolled her eyes.
" You talk about him so much, you do know that, don't you? 'Sherlock' this and 'Sherlock' that! I think you fancy him."
" I do not talk about him that often."
" You're gone from work a lot to help him…"
" It interests me, and we're with John too, so shut your trap or I'll shut it for you!" Ana threatened, feeling just that much more awake.
" Anything wrong?" Asked their boss, Mr. Rutland. They looked over to him as he smirked at them. He was a kind, tall man with graying auburn hair, who loved to joke around and spend time with the patrons of the pub. He was never one to get angry, and treated his workers like they were his own children.
" Just Liz being her usual self," Ana replied. Ana yawned for the fifth time in the last twenty minutes.
" Only because Ana's exhausted and falling asleep each time she stops walking," Liz teased.
" Hah! Better stop those late nights, Ana, I need you here, you know that," Mr. Rutland said with a kind smile, patting her on the back. She laughed and smiled just as her phone buzzed in her waist apron pocket. She pulled it out and looked at the message, which read as,
Soo Lin has been continuing her work at the museum in secret, most likely at night. Meet us at the museum at once.
~SH
Ana sighed as she stared at the words. She pursed her lips and scratched the side of her head as she wondered what to do. She could ask for an early evening off or she could just wait till her shift ended and not go to the museum… and that situation might get her into the direct path of Sherlock's fury, something she didn't wish to experience. The music playing of the speakers in the pub became slowly annoying and she groaned again.
" Who's it from?" Mr. Rutland asked curiously.
" One of my flat mates, Sherlock…"
" Sherlock Holmes?" Ana looked up at him and nodded. He smiled. " Ah, just the perfect flat mate for our resident aspiring detective! Is that where you've been up to these past few days? Solving crimes?" Ana nodded again, slightly surprised. " Well, if he's calling you away, I'd say it's more important than falling asleep on my bar. Go on, you can pick up your pay check tomorrow." With a final smile and a pat on the pack, Mr. Rutland walked off, calling out to a friend across the room.
Liz and Ana shared a surprised look before Ana pulled off her apron and began to walk towards the back room.
" I want to meet this Sherlock guy, you know!" Liz called after her.
" We'll see if that happens!" Came Ana's reply.
O
OOO
O
The museum was dark and empty, the smallest sounds echoing around the spacious rooms. A shadow shifted along the walls towards the restoration rooms, not once pausing on its way. Foot steps delicately came from the figure the shadow belonged to, only stopping when none other than Soo Lin sat at her former desk, pouring tea into one of the pots. She poured the liquid into two clay cups and then poured some of it out, sloshing the tea inside the pot. It was damp with the liquid and it was creating the glaze that the other teapots had obtained.
" Fancy a biscuit with that?" Asked Sherlock's deep voice. Soo Lin gasped and spun around, the pot falling from her hands. Sherlock's gloved hands shot out and caught it, crouching slightly and the room fell into silence again as his ice blue eyes met hers. " Centuries old. Don't want to break that." Soo Lin gingerly took the pot pack as he stood straight again, switching the lights on her desk on. " Hello. Sherlock Holmes. I believe you can help my friends and I out with something."
Ana and John walked in, both taking spots behind Sherlock.
" I don't understand what-" Soo Lin began but Ana quickly interjected.
" I'm sure you must have heard about the two murders in the last few days?" She asked, eyeing the woman's now lit face. Soo Lin's gaze shot immediately to the only other woman in the room. Ana noted the fear that crossed through Soo Lin's eyes.
" Please… take a seat," Soo Lin said in a soft, almost timid voice. The three sat down around her desk, Ana taking a seat to Soo Lin's right.
" We've been investigating the murders and…" Ana paused to think over a few ways to say what she wanted to say. " We've… been to the crime scenes and also to the archives here at the museum… we saw that statue. It had the yellow markings on it." Soo Lin sucked in a breath and gave a single nod.
" You saw the cipher… You know he is coming for me," She told them.
" You've been clever to avoid him so far," Sherlock admitted.
" I had to finish, to finish this work." She stared at the teapot and the cups. " It's only a matter of time. I know he will find me."
" Who is he? Have you met him before?" Sherlock inquired. Soo Lin's eyes snapped up to meet his.
" When I was a girl… living back in China." Her eyes moved back to the table. " I recognize his… signature."
" The cipher."
" Only he would do this. Zhi Zhu," She said.
" Zhi Zhu?" John questioned.
" The Spider," Sherlock translated. Soo Lin silently lifted her right foot to rest on her left knee, unlacing her shoes and pulling them off with the heel of her sock, revealing a small black tattoo of a lotus with a circle surrounding it.
" You know this mark?" She asked specifically to Sherlock. With the slightest of nods he replied with,
" Yes. It's the mark of a Tong."
" Tong?" Ana asked curiously, both she and John waiting for an explanation.
" Ancient crime syndicate, based in China," Sherlock explained.
Soo Lin stared down at her hands as she pulled her shoe back on.
" Every foot soldier bares the mark. Everyone who hauls for them…" She trailed off.
" Hauls?" John questioned. Soo Lin gave him a pointed look. " You mean… you were a smuggler?"
" I was fifteen. My parents were dead. I had no livelihood, no way of surviving day to day, except to work for the bosses."
" Who are they?" Sherlock asked in a deep tone.
" They are called…" She seemed to hesitate. " The Black Lotus. By the time I was sixteen, I was taking thousands of pounds worth of drugs across the border into Hong Kong…" Her eyes began to tear up. " I managed to leave that life behind me. I came to England. They gave me a job… here… Everything was good. New life."
" Then he came looking for you." Sherlock seemed to know exactly what happened.
" Yes." She took a long moment to swallow back a sob as more tears filled her eyes. " I had hoped after five years maybe they would have forgotten me… But they never really let you leave. A small community like ours, they are never very far away." She had to wipe the tears off her cheeks before she could continue. " He came to my flat. He asked me to help him track down something that was stolen.
" And you have no idea what it was?" John asked.
" I refused to help."
" So… you knew him well when you were living back in China?" She nodded silently.
" Oh yes…" She said. " He's my brother." Everyone stared at her. " Two orphans. We had no choice. We could work for the Black Lotus or starve on the streets like beggars. My brother has become their puppet, in the power of the one they call Shan, Black Lotus General. I turned my brother away. He said I had betrayed him. Next day, I came to work and the cipher was waiting."
Sherlock stood and removed some of the print out copies of the photos from Baker Street out of his pockets and placed them on the lit table.
" Can you decipher these?" He asked her.
" These are numbers," She said, pointing to the yellow marks in the Shad Sanderson building.
" Yes, I know."
" Here, the line across the man's eyes, it's a Chinese number one."
" And this one is fifteen. But what's the code?"
" All the smugglers know it. It's based upon a book," Soo Lin began to explain.
A loud thud resounded through the restoration room as the power was shut off, drenching them all in darkness.
" He's here… Zhi Zhu… He has found me," She whispered shutting her eyes tight. Sherlock spun around and ran towards the door, earning protests from John.
" No, no, Sherlock, Sherlock, wait!" John shouted just as Sherlock burst through the door. He spun to face both women. " Come here." He took Soo Lin's arm and led her around to another desk where they both crouched down, Ana soon coming to join them.
" Oh, today just gets worse," She muttered.
Sherlock bounded into an open lobby-like area with a lone statue feet away from the base of a stair case. As he caught his breath, Sherlock looked around frantically, hoping to catch sight of Soo Lin's brother. He failed to notice a shadow come to a halt on an upper landing of the stairs. When he did notice, it was just as the figure fired a gun, which he just managed to dodge by turning and diving behind the statue. Two more shots were fired.
From the restoration room, they heard the shots muffled by the walls that separated them. John and Ana shared a worried glance.
" I have to go and help him," John told them. " Bolt the door after me. John scrambled to his feet, making a run for the door. Ana jumped up after him, knowing he'd probably get himself killed or in trouble in some way. They ran out the door, evading gun shots by hiding behind a pillar. Two more shots.
Sherlock bolted up the stairs where the shooter had dashed off to, following the footsteps into another exhibit displaying skulls. Ancient skulls and bones. Another shot echoed out, causing him to skid onto his knees on the floor, hiding behind a display case. Another shot.
" Careful!" Sherlock shouted. BANG. " Some of those skulls are over two hundred thousand years old! Have a bit of respect!" He caught his breath and not another shot was fired. " Thank you." In fact… there was no sound at all. Peering around from his hiding place, the shooter was gone.
John had gone on to search the halls carefully, Ana going in an opposite direction only to feel a twinge of guilt for leaving the terrified woman alone. She spun on her heel and began sprinting back towards the restoration room. Only a hall away was when a solitary gun shot rang out with a tone of finality.
" Oh dear God, no," Ana muttered when the sound had stopped her in her tracks. Then, after the initial horror sank in, she continued to run, heart leaping up into her throat.
John, who had also been making his way towards the restoration room as well, burst through the doors, cautiously looking around for the shooter. He was panting from the run he'd made and his eyes widened in horror when he saw Soo Lin's hand sprawled out across her desk, a origami black lotus in her palm. Ana a few feet away, staring at the gunshot wound that had killed Soo Lin. John stood beside her and she shook her head.
" I shouldn't have left…" She muttered, putting her hands to her head. " I shouldn't have left…" John rubbed her shoulder and turned her around to face the door, saying,
" It's not your fault… He would have killed you had you been here… come on… we need to find Sherlock and call Dimmock."
Afterword: First off, these updates are so irregular I'm SO SORRY. Life has been hectic and less then kind to me for a bit and I hope that you can forgive me! Gah! Well, this one was longer than the last few I've written, so I hope it sort of makes up for it!
REVIEW REPLIES!
grapejuice101: Thanks for the reply and the support! I'm glad you're enjoying it! Thanks again!
Gwilwillith: I'm glad you liked it! Sorry about the late update, hope the chapter was okay! Thanks again!
Guest(s): Thanks for the reviews! They mean a lot! Hope you enjoyed! Thanks again!
And thank you to those who have read and added this to their favorites and story alerts! It means a lot! I like to know I have people who like to read my writing!
Well, that's it for THIS chapter, hopefully I can get the next one up soon, and I say that every time, sorry XD Thanks again you guys!
~Mary