Chapter 12: A punishment of god
'Present, London - 2010'
John woke up with a much clearer mind. It was quite surprising, considering the amount of alcohol that he and Greg had drank the previous evening. He hope his friend didn't have a hangover. After his morning routine, which became a bit more complicated due to his finger being wrapped up , in a plastic bag, he called Molly.
After half a minute Molly answered sleepily. "Yes? Molly Hooper speaking." She sounded as if John had woken her.
"It's John, good morning. Sorry for walking you." John thought that apologizing would get him back in her good graces. He hadn't slept for long after he'd come home in the middle of the night.
"Don't worry. I had to get up anyway. Are you alright?" She sounded worried again, like the night he'd come back.
"Everything is alright. Great, actually. Do you remember our conversation in the Café about the thing for Sherlock? I found it." He sounded very enthusiastic about it, but after last time they met, he wanted to make sure Sherlock had something.
"Really? What is it? No wait, on second thought, don't tell me. But you should give it to me before work. I'll put it in your clothes for today's mission."
"Thanks Molly, you're the best. Let's meet at the Café, there will be coffee waiting for you." They ended the call, and John got ready. A coffee was not enough to repay her for what she's doing for him. He'd have to think of something special for her. Maybe he could ask Sherlock. He seemed to be surprisingly good at these things.
John was waiting for her in front of the same café that they'd had their breakfast together before. He had an hour before he had to be at the office, which was enough time for Molly to hide his gift and pretend this meeting never happened. What he was doing was against the law. He wasn't allowed to bring items from the present into the past.
On his way to the cafe, he ignored the people who stared at him and his black eye. He knew that he looked like he had been in a fight the night before, but he couldn't do anything about it.
Molly arrived only five minutes later and accepted the offered portion of caffeine. "Thanks for doing this" John said. . "I know it's risky and against the rules."
She shook her head lightly. "You don't need to thank me. I see something beautiful growing between you two, and I'm honored to I help. Now, show me what it is that you got him."
After looking around, John pulled his shirt collar down and took out a metal chain from under his clothes. His military identification tag swung in the air between them.
"Are these your dog tags from the Army?" Molly sounded surprised. She'd known many soldiers, but as far as she could tell, none of them ever gave their tags away, not for any reason in the world.
"Yes, they're mine, and I want them to give them to Sherlock. He … I don't know, maybe he won't even want them. I hope he takes them." John suddenly didn't sound or feel very confident about his idea anymore. What if Sherlock did want them ? What if he was offended or hurt by the offer? Before he could change his mind, Molly took the tags and held them carefully in her hand before letting them them disappear into her pocket.
"Don't worry." She said, smiling. "He'll like them and keep them. He'll be happy you thought about him like that." With those words, Molly stood up from the table and they went their separate ways.
When John arrived at the office, he was greeted by a clearly huangover Greg. "Sorry. It wasn't my intention to make your last day this week a living hell."
"Don't talk so loud." Greg had a pill in his hand, which he swallowed dry.
"Don't look at me like that. It's just aspirin. You can have your fun now."
"Why, where am I going?" John was surprised that Molly hadn't said something about the next mission that morning at the cafe . He figured that if it was going to be something bad she would have mentioned it.
"It's not about that, you'll need Sally's make up skills." And true to Greg´s words, a moment later John saw not only Molly with his clothes, but also Sally with a makeup case waiting for him.
"First change your clothes." Commanded Sally, and John followed the instructions. He didn't look closely at his clothes, but he could feel the dog tags in a secret pocket over his heart. He was glad they'd found his way back to him. He felt naked without them. But he also knew that Sherlock needed them more than he did.
After he'd dressed himself, he sat down in a chair and let Sally do her job by hiding the purple-greenish bruises under make up, while Molly carefully changed his bandages to something historically correct. When both women finished, he stood in front of his boss, who gave him a small booklet with the title Schatz der wîsheit, or Treasure of the Wise.
John recognized the writing and could understand it. It was about the bubonic plague, the Black Death of the medieval age. "Sir? I'm guessing that I'll be visiting a plague filled Europe. Am I right?"
"Yes Mr. Watson, you have determined your destination correctly. But what you are holding is your mission." John took a closer look. The booklet was about medical treatments for the plague and people who have it. He couldn't find anything special about it. Some German author had written it... until he read though the names, and he found what his boss wanted him to see. The names were Rudolf Schwenninger, Bernhard von Rostock, Heinrich von Lübeck, Heinisch von Sachsen, Albert von Parma and the last name was Sherlock von Franken.
"Sherlock wrote this?" John asked, and Mycroft nodded.
"Yes, he and the other men were assigned by the council of Strasbourg to write this for the fight against the plague that they said had been sent by God. We will send you back to a point before the booklet was finished. I want you to find out how much his status as an immortal lead to this collection of knowledge, was he the leading power behind this and any other relevant information that you can give us."
"Yes sir." John gave back the booklet and entered HOPE.
Now, the journey could begin.
Anderson entereds the room and found it empty. Not empty of people, but missing one time travel agent and one time machine. "Sir, Agent Watson can' go. He has to come back. His file shows that he has no vaccination for the plague." Mycroft was not amused and debated what to do. But the safety of his agent was still his primary goal.
"Miss Donovan, call him back." Mycroft's commanding voice sent her half running to the communication center. But after calling the agent more than once without getting any signal or answer, they all knew it was too late. John Watson had ran directly into the plague without any protection.
Making another quick decision, Mycroft stood up. "Everyone has to leave immediately. I don't want anyone in this room when he comes back. Miss Donovan, call for Emergency Protocol 'Ladybird'."
'~1349 AD, Strasbourg'
John lost no time when he arrived, He jumped out of HOPE, hid it and ran right into the small but busy streets of Strasbourg to try to find Sherlock. Due to the fact that John had no idea where Sherlock lived, he decided to go is looking for his workplace. He thought that maybe Sherlock would have a laboratory, but he wasn't sure if they existed at this time.
It wasn't too hard to find him in the end. Strasbourg was no more than a big village when compared to London or any other modern city. John found the only official looking building and entered it without being stopped. It seemed that the guards of had bigger problems other than attempting to check visitors. Thinking back to the what he saw of the city as he walked through it, he could imagine the reasoning behind it. Many buildings looked empty, others were under lockdown. Whole parts of the city were closed off The entire town, had the dark cloak of the black death draped over it.
John had listened to the conversations of the people in the streets. They were all asking the same question. What did they do to deserve God's punishment? John knew that he could answer the question, but it wouldn't help them, since they lacked the understanding of disease transmission and the proper precautions against this sickness. They didn't even understand it as a sickness, the people of this time saw it as punishment. The rules that Sherlock and the other doctors wrote in the pamphlet were the first steps in the right direction. But history taught John that it would be a long time until the plague stopped killing of the citizens of Europe.
John found Sherlock in a room with five other people, probably the other authors, amongst a ton of books. John knocked before entering and was greeted with a smile and five confused pair of eyes. "John, welcome. How was your journey?" Sherlock was happy and not at all surprised to see him. He really is able to sense me, John thought to himself.
"Hello Sherlock. Do you have time for a walk?" John knew that talking with Sherlock with the other people in the same room was a terrible idea.
"Yes, of course. Gentleman, if you'll excuse me. My friend is only in town for a short time." Sherlock nodded to the other men and left the room, and John followed. He knew that they would talk about it, but people did little else, anyway.
Sherlock looked good, more than good, actually. The image of him bloody and beaten was still in John's mind from the last time they had met. Even though it had only been a day and a half for John, Sherlock had had 100 years to overcome the witch hunt, burning and torture. John still felt awful for leaving him. Yes, rationally it had been the right thing to do. John wouldn't have survived a stay in a Middle Aged prison.
"How' are you feeling?" John asked.
Sherlock could see the pain of the last meeting in his friend's eyes. He also noticed the attempt to cover up the injuries John had obtained in the cell. They hadn't had time yet to heal. Perhaps in a day or two, no more. This was new entry added to the mystery called John Watson. "I'm fine John, it was a long time ago."
"Last time you said 100 years wasn't a long time." John countered.
"I ... Yes you're right. I said that, but I can't keep going when I let myself be pulled down by something like that." A sad smile appeareds on Sherlock's face. John knew then that something like this had happened before, and that Sherlock has had to keep on fighting.
Deciding that it was time to change the subject, John pulled out his present. Molly had wrapped it up in a cloth for protection inside his shirt. "I told you about my friend Molly, right? She helped me with something that's highly forbidden where I come from.
"She's been a really great help. I couldn't have managed this without her." John was so happy that he'd been able to bring Sherlock a present that he didn't notice the change in Sherlock's face. A dark shadow crawled over his eyes.
"So, she did something. And?" Sherlock´s voice had changed, which gave him away. John looked up. For some unknown reason the usually unreadable Sherlock had jealousy written all over his face.
Before this could lead to something both of them would regret John offered him the wrapped present. "For you." Sherlock looked at the present, then back to John before he took it and unwrapped it.
"I was a soldier once." John explained. " Everyone gets a set of these. They identify us if we die on the battlefield, so our family can be told what happened. These tags give us the security of knowing that someone cares. I'll be that someone for you." John hadn't actually planned to say anything, but it suddenly seemed important.
Sherlock stared at the tags. He lifted a finger and touched the metal as if it could break if it was handled roughly. "They're yours?" He asked, and John nodded.
"And they're very important for you, right?" Another nod.
"And you're giving them away to me?"
"I have nothing else that's more important. Nothing I could give you. I' m risking, mine and Molly's jobs for this, so you'll have something to hold on to in the darkest of times. They've helped me on days when I didn't know if I'd see the next sunrise."
John smiled at him, and picked up the chain. Sherlock lowered his head and let John put the chain around his neck. "You'll never have to fear that I won't come back to you."
"But why?" Sherlock asked. It was a question that John had thought about, but still didn't have an answer to. Maybe one day they'd both understand.
John put the dog tags under Sherlock's clothes with a look that silently reminded him to keep them hidden.
"How's your work going? Were the men in the room your colleagues?" John had still a mission to complete. He couldn't come back empty handed, especially the one time he was breaking the rules.
"…What? Oh, you mean our fight against an invisible death that will probably kill off half this city? Yes, we're doing great." Sarcasm, John mused.
"Ok, it is not that bad, we, my colleagues as you called them and I, are working on a solution for this disaster. We can't figure out where it comes from or how it's spread, but we can help people to prepare themselves and take precautions to minimize the risks. We're writing something that'll be available to everyone. We're hoping that it'll help."
"You're doing a noble thing by working on this. You have much more experience than your colleagues, and maybe your help will change something."
John knew he had the information he needed to give to Mycroft. He didn't want to leave, but he couldn't stay too long. This mission had to be a quick in and out. Taking twenty minutes to talk about dog tags that shouldn't technically even be in this time period had been quite dangerous.
"Sherlock, I have to go now. I´m sorry I can't stay longer."
"I know John. Don't be sorry. You always come back, whether in dark or bright times. You change the world around me, and show me that not everything is simple or linear."
Sherlock was quiet for a bit. He laid his hand on his chest and closed his eyes for a second, feeling the metal chain and the tags on his skin under his clothes. "Thanks for letting me have something of yours."
"Can't wait to see you next time." And with that, John said his goodbyes and left a slightly brighter Sherlock behind. There were still dark times ahead, and many things could possibly happen in the years they were apart. John cleared his thoughts and hit the home button.
Sherlock closed his hand around the 'dog tags' as John had called them. They had his name and birthdate he tried not to think about the fact that his birth hadn't happened yet. He understood that this little piece of metal had been very important to John. Even if the man himself couldn't stay, he had given Sherlock the closestd thing there was to him being there.
Sherlock went back to his colleagues so they could all continue their work. It was all he could do until he saw his impossible John again.
…His.
'Present, London - 2010 '
John opened the time machine and didn't immediately recognize where he was. The room and his office were gone. It looked like plastic covered the entire room, and there were people in yellow hazard suits, looking frightened and keeping their distance from him. One of them took a step closer to John.
"Agent Watson you must leave your vehicle and go to the decontamination shower over there." The man pointed to the corner of the room, where there was a shower with two people in suits with horses waiting anxiously to spray him down. "Agent Watson, I will not repeat myself. Leave your vehicle. Now."
"What's happening?" was the first thing to pop into John´s head.
AN: For the next week we have ...
Chapter 13: My lady, I will follow you into hell and back
Let´s see if you are able to find out who is one of my favorite female historical people. ^^
