So,here we are again, if this goes as it should you should be getting the first part of the real drama in this chapter and it should continue quickly from there. So we know Jack ran from something and that something is coming that seems to bother her quite a bit. Have fun with the story, I know I am.
Disclaimer: don't own nothin
Preview: Sherlock accepts that he just might want to keep Jack around and Jack begins to break.
Lestrade wandered the halls near the lab. A few cases had popped up this week. Two addicts had been found dead and a women had walked into her house to find her husband dead, gun shot to the shoulder. After a few weeks of no activity the sudden flux was leaving him feeling strained but happy to be active at the least. Molly wanted to show him her finding and he figured he would stop by Jack's lab before he left. He knew she listened to loud music while working but he was not prepared for the sheer volume. He ignored his lab tech and the consulting detective to switch off the noise.
"Hey" she yelled, even Sherlock looked up in surprise.
"You're going to lose your hearing like that"
"What was that?" She asked
"I said you're going to"
"Lestrade if you can not tell she is poking fun at your previous statement then I will lose hope in the safety of England."Sherlock interrupted but both the inspector and Jack laughed.
"Cool it scarecrow" she warned moving to meet Lestrade as he thumbed through her notes.
"What do you need boss man?"
"Anything on out corpses?" He asked as he handed back the papers. Jack dropped into the swivel chair she had stolen from Molly's office.
"Both druggies died of over dose. Blood levels show they took in normal amount of cocain but the purity was to high for their systems. I would say we may see a few more like these in the next few days if this is the new stock on the streets."Lestrade scowled.
" I will let narcotics know to keep an eye out. Maybe even spread word on the street if you think this will be serious." Jack swiveled around in the chair, her hair in two very high pig tails danced around her face as she moved along with her ever present feather.
"And the other one then, Matthew Sanders?"
"Oh, he was a treat" She looked a bit to happy now. Her green eyes glinted under the red and gold painted across her lids. Sherlock huffed at them.
"He was an OD as well, toxic screen shows he had cocain from the same batch as our druggies he got split open next to yesterday" Lestrade grimace at the imagery.
"Then how the hell did he end up shot?"
"Molly found it was after he died that he got shot. He had cocain on his face and hands"
"So he was an addict like the others just with a wife and kids to hide it from?" Lestrade watched her, her smile was mischievous.
"Nope, different purity. He was taking it recreationally which is what we found outside if him but he has no trace of the stuff that killed him on his skin" She looked more then smug they had a case, a real case now. The DI. sighed and rolled his eyes over to Sherlock who had been for the most part quite. The silver and red glittery head phone hung around his neck.
"You want in on this one then?" He asked the dark haired man. Sherlock looked between the two of them seeming to consider the offer.
"If you feel I am needed" he didn't seem all that excited in the case but if Jack understood his grading system though she wasn't entirely sure she did this had to be at least a seven. Sherlock looked back at the chemicals in small cylinders in front of him as he was measuring them all out for testing. Lestrade looked back to his tech and she shrugged before turning her back on him to kick back on her music but keeping it quitter. Lestrade left to head over to narcotics. Jack left her chair to stand near the consulting detective.
"You know much about drugs?" Sherlock stiffened beside her.
"A bit" he answered tightly.
"Ok then, this needs to work" She grabbed either side of his face and dragged him suddenly to her kissing him square on the lips, it was over in a second but Sherlock felt like his mind was somewhere between in overdrive and for the first time since his first hit, blank. He couldn't find his tongue to form the sentences.
"While I have your attention this shit needs to stop mop top. John thinks if I leave you be you will stop trying to push me away and get over this thing you have going on the sentiment is worthless, I'm better on my own, and I can't feel crap but I need that brain of yours running at full thrusters so we need to work this out now. I do need your help on this case instinct is telling me this one is going to get weird, your brand of weird so I need you. I told you once I don't have friends well now I do and believe me I don't want them but I have them and I cope with that but if I can be forced to have friends so can you. John said you would be trying to protect me because you think when people get close to you it puts them in danger" She tilted her head to the side in thought.
"Well maybe it does but if working with you to save a lot of people means sometimes my life may get a bit more uncomfortable then I will manage. Got it?" She had not released his face yet from her hands and they felt warm and soft against his cheeks but he tried to ignore that.
"I can not take you seriously when you have the hair style of a child" his answer was warmer then it had been in weeks.
"And here I was thinking that dinner out was going to help us on the whole friend thing." She patted his cheeks but finally released him.
"More uncomfortable?" He questioned, she looked at his with a quizzical expression.
"You said your life would be a bit more uncomfortable then is is now meaning there is something in your life that makes you uncomfortable" he saw the pain again in her eyes like when her other side showed.
"Don't we all?" She asked
"I was an addict" Sherlock looked startled by his own admission to her, it was not pertinent to the case but he suddenly felt she should know. Truth had garnered her trust last time and he felt perhaps it could work again. She stopped, mulling over his words.
"So you know a thing or two about drugs?"
"A bit" his answer was less dismissive then before.
"I sing" she smiled at his surprise. He had started to ignore the ache he felt when he couldn't figure her out. He only got the truth from her when she offered it which was rare even before he began to hold her at arms length.
"When you have the headphones on and I check you are super focused on what ever you are doing I will sometimes sing with my music." She smiled as she offered a piece offering, she motioned to her work station for him to come over and double check her findings.
When Sherlock swept into the flat nearing nine that evening John was already in his dressing gown watching the evening programs. He was more then surprised when Jack followed close behind his flat mate she had not been over to 221b in weeks thanks to Sherlock's recent attitude.
"So whomever is putting it out onto the streets is doing so selectively?" She asked
"They used the addicts to test their levels before handing it off to their intended targets." Sherlock dropped into his chair while Jack continued to pace, neither acknowledged the doctor.
"So are we looking at a serial killer or was this one a once off?" Sherlock looked displeased with her choice of wording but made no comment on it.
"We won't know unless another body shows up, that's the thing about serial killers you have to wait till they make a mistake" Jack leaned on the back of John's chair running her hand through his short hair as she thought. John flushed pink at the contact and Sherlock looked confused, she never showed herself to be a touchy person. She stayed like that for a few minutes, neither man vocalizing their concerns till suddenly her hand stilled and she looked surprised herself.
"I, have no idea what that, oh my god John" She looked more embarrassed then they had ever seen her.
"It is a gesture you consider comforting in stressful times. You consider John close enough to you for contact but this gesture you consider more intimate so perhaps something you did often with your last serious partner and have not felt comfortable enough to since then."
"Sherlock" John reprimanded sharply and the deductions fell away when he saw her face. She looked mortified.
"I am sorry" He apologized quickly as she stood and brushed past her into the kitchen to escape what ever had just transpired.
"So you two are talking agian?" She took a few breaths to steady herself before sitting.
"Apparently" she muttered finally making eye contact with the man who's scalp she had just molested.
"Told you he just needed space" John smiled
"Oh that, no, it wasn't working so I kissed him" she laughed as the man sputtered in shock.
"I'm sorry, you kissed Sherlock Holmes"
"Well yeah, to get him to shut up and listen it worked quite well then I talked, he talked, I talked again and now apparently all is forgiven and forgotten, for the most part."
"Yeah, I'm still stuck on you kissed him" Jack laughed.
"Did you hit him with a riding crop as well?" John asked as they both rolled with laughter.
"Should I have?" Jack asked
"The last women who kissed him did"
"I will have to keep that in mind" she gave him a saucy wink.
"So you're working a case then?" He asked once they had settled down a bit.
"Yeah, someone's selling drugs that kill" John sobered up completely at that.
"You know he use to" his words tapered off when she nodded.
"He told me" she looked to the kitchen where she could hear him working, obviously choosing to ignore the two in the sitting room.
"Jack" Sherlock didn't look up but called the women over to join him in his mini lab. She smiled to John as she left knowing even when only in the next room she would most likely not see him agian that night. John frowned when she was turned away, her smile was not reaching her eyes anymore.
Sherlock watched as Molly pulled the blood samples as well as the liver and kidneys for him and Jack to test.
"You have a new boyfriend. He plans to take you out this evening but you are unsure if you will make it because of work but you have not yet told him, still holding out hope Molly Hooper. Domesticity fits you well." he smirked.
"Keep an eye on her tonight Sherlock" Molly ignored his deductions, they were all true.
"Why would another night in the lab be any different then all the others?"
"She just doesn't seem right. Like when she smiles she is not really smiling" Sherlock looked confused by Molly's words.
"She has helped you a lot has she not" Sherlock asked moving closer to the pathologist. She still looked down but she didn't cower or stutter like she once had.
"Yeah, she has"
"I will look out for her" he promised. He took the samples and went to the lab finding her already bobbing to her music as she loaded the mass spectrometer. She had her hair in her usual ridiculous bun, pens already pushed into it with a dark purple, tight fitting top over black skinny jeans covered in varying sized pockets and her favorite boots with gold buckles. When she tuned to face him, holding out his headphones to trade for the blood sample from the latest victim of their killer drug dealer. Her face was painted up as always in plum colored hues and gold accents, her nose stud a deep purple gem. He tried to spot what Molly was seeing but all he could see was she was exhausted, more so then in days before with bags under her eyes, their color hidden beneath the makeup. She seemed to move a bit slower despite the alarming amount of coffee cups that surrounded her. She got to work while he dissected the liver and set up the cassettes to hold the flesh while the analyzed it.
More often then usual he found himself glancing up to watch the self proclaimed lab jockey. Her movements were different every time, changes in the music dictating how she danced to it he deduced but he could see her energy waning till when it was nearing midnight she was no longer bouncing to the beats. She stood leaning over her scoop, something interesting she had found in the liver sample he had sent over to her. She was leaning heavily in her elbows to support her weight against the table she looked like she was fighting to hold her eyes level and he could make out a rather noticeable tremor in her hands and knees. He suddenly felt Molly may have been onto something before something was off about Jack. As he watched a small drop of blood ran from her nose dripping onto her work surface but she laid it no mind. For a moment Sherlock felt fear surge through him the last time she had bled it was because she was dying.
He slammed his hand on the table to grab her attention but he had to do so a few times to break her focus when she looked up he gestured to her nose. When she swiped her her arm over the skin and it came back bloody she swore. Sherlock turned down the music and approached her while she pulled out some gauze she had squirreled away in a drawer near by.
"Are you ok?" He asked cautiously.
"Yeah, just a nose bleed" Her voice sounded off as she pressed it to her nose and held her head back. Sherlock placed a hand on her shoulder and repositioned her.
"You will do better with your head between your legs."
"Not use to hearing those words in that particular order" Jack muttered but Sherlock didn't catch her innuendo. When she didn't faint and the flow of blood tapered off he felt she was no longer in any danger but he could also feel she needed sleep, that this was perhaps brought on by sleepless nights and long work days though it had never occurred to him and they lived under similar schedules.
"You should go home" he offered.
"No" she snapped, her venom was surprising and even as the though formed Sherlock knew it would be necessary. She was not going to leave under her own duress so he would have to do something to make her want to leave. He could use inappropriate sexual advances much like Anderson but he was unsure he could do that with enough conviction for her to believe it but she did have a temper and it seemed more then active at the time. It would take little spurring to send her over the edge and she would no doubt storm out when she was done, effective in the short term though he had no doubt there would be repercussions. He stepped into her space using his height over her to seem more over baring.
"Why are you even here, you have ruined the sample" he grabbed the liver sample her blood had dripped onto and slammed it down next to her.
"You have botched this investigation" he ran through what he had deduced for her lately she was growing steadily less responsive to John and Molly coupled with her actions with John's hair he deduced it was nearing the time of year she found her last relationship was marred by infidelity and had broken off her engagement.
"You can't even pull your head out of you ass enough to work. Can't get over some unfortunate emotional trauma no doubt." He sneered and she stepped back pale and shaking more but he didn't let her escape and moved with her.
"No, the little bitch has to screw up everything, people will die because if you, maybe people have" he wanted her anger but she only grew more pale before finally she snapped and there was a sharp stinging in his cheek.
"You don't know anything about me Sherlock Holmes" She was mad, madder then he had ever witnessed and he wondered for a moment if he had said something that meant more then he realized.
"You parade around like some big shot but you're nothing more then a jackass with a big mouth. You don't deserve your friends, you deserve to die on the streets maybe even like these men with a needle in your arm" she was defending herself by using his own previous weaknesses against him he noticed. She was red in the face and the blood dried on her upper lip made her look even more frightening.
"Maybe you don't even have credentials maybe you just fuck the right people like a common whore to get what you want and make yourself look successful, maybe like you did with Exzander, used him for sexy then throw him away just like you were." She snarled as she shoved his against the table, he grunted as his back struck it painfully but didn't move to stop her. She would run home where she felt safe enough to cry away from anyone's attention, hopefully enough to exhaust herself further and drop off into sleep.
He wiped a hand down his face feeling the tender skin there. He felt guilt rolling his stomach marketing him feel queazy. He had said some rather horrible things, things to strike at her core and words he considered uncivilized. He would need John's help to fix this, even if he told her of his manipulation she would be unhappy. It was only the second time she had used his name and he found he disliked the situations in which she did so. He returned to 221b the next day to find John preparing to leave.
"Could exhaustion lead to nose bleeds?" He asked in John's medical opinion.
"What, why did you have a nose bleed?"
"No" Sherlock didn't offer any explanation
"I guess under extreme conditions if coupled with high levels of stress and malnutrition then yeah"
"Then I fear Jack may need your professional help as a doctor" John paused.
"What happened Sherlock?"
"While we worked I noticed she was unsteady in her feet and did not notice the blood on her face till I alerted her to it she was then very snippy in her response to my questioning and refused to leave for rest so I enraged her to the point where she would flee to find solace in her own flat." Sherlock sounded clinical in his answer and John's shoulders sagged.
"She may need both medical and emotional help from you" Sherlock amended.
"Yeah, I will, go to the lab with you tomorrow, until then give her space. I know you meant well but you may have really messed her up if she is so stressed she is getting nose bleeds." Sherlock nodded as he laid out in their sofa, his hands steepled beneath his chin in thought. He had intended to think over the case but he was trapped walking through the parts of his mind palace that he stored what he knew and didn't know about Jack. He kept himself glued to the seat to not think about the file with everything he wanted tucked away near by, he and John would fix it tomorrow and then they could solve this case and move on.
What are they going to find in the morning, happy Jack, angry Jack, pepper Jack... Bad joke aside how is it going so far? I found this chapter hard to get through but I pushed on. I don't really like making Sherlock use that kind of language but I think he would I this case to drive hits home, for her own good of course. John to the rescue I when it comes to emotions! So review please and make my day better and better.
-Thieves
