Disclaimer I DO NOT OWN Sherlock, just my OC(S)!
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When Sherlock and John came back to the flat I was half-way of falling asleep on the couch with the book laying on my stomach.
"Not just a criminal organization, it's a cult" Sherlock said walking into the flat taking his coat off and shutting the door.
"Oh! You two are back" I said yawning sitting up, "How did everything go?"
"The brother was corrupted by one of its leaders" Sherlock continued as if I hadn't said anything.
"Soo Lin said the name" John said sitting in his chair.
"Yes, Shan. General Shan" Sherlock said and I let out sigh as I set the book down onto the table.
"We're still no closer to finding him" John said.
"Wrong. We've hot almost all we need to know" Sherlock said.
"How?" I asked rubbing my eyes to get rid of the sleep in my eyes.
"She gave us most of the missing pieces" Sherlock told us, "Why did he need to visit his sister? Why did he need her expertise?"
"She worked at the museum" John said.
"Exactly" Sherlock said.
"An expert in antiquities. Mm, of course. I see" John said.
"Valuable antiquities, John. Ancient Chinese relics purchased on the black market. China's home to a thousand treasures hidden after Mao's revolution" Sherlock said.
"The Black Lotus is selling them" I said.
Sherlock had a look on his face and grabbed a laptop. He quickly went to an auction site that sold Chinese and other Asian art works.
"Check for the dates" Sherlock said as he clicked the next button on the website showing a pair of Chinese Ming Vases with John and I hover next to him looking at the screen, "Here, John, Maria. Arrived in China four days ago. Anonymous. And it doesn't give his name. Two undiscovered treasures from the East"
"One in Lukis's suitcase" John said.
"And one in Van Coon's" I said.
"Antiquities sold at auction" Sherlock said as he typed it into the search bar, "Look, here's another one. Arrived from China a month ago. Chinese ceramic statue, sold 400.000."
"Uh, look, the month before that. Chinese painting half a million" John said.
"From an anonymous source" I said.
"They're stealing them back in China one by one and they're feeding them into Britain" Sherlock said and I nodded my head in agreement.
"Well, every single auction coincides with Lukis or Van Coon traveling to China" John said looking at Van Coon's schedule and and Lukis's journal.
"So what if one of them get greedy when they were in China? What if one of them stole something?" Sherlock asked looking at John.
"That's why Zhi Zhu's come" John said.
There was a light knock at the door causing all three of us to look at the door to see Mrs. Hudson.
"Sorry. Are we collecting for charity, Sherlock?" Mrs. Hudson asked.
"What?" Sherlock asked her.
"A young man's outside with crates of books" Mrs. Hudson told us.
Soon after that police officers were walking in and out carrying large crates of books into the flat.
"So the numbers are references" Sherlock said.
"To books?" John asked looking at some of the crates.
"It seems so" I said.
"To specific pages and specific words on those pages" Sherlock told us.
"Right, so 15 and one that means..." I began.
"Turn to page 15 and it's the first word you read" He told me and I nodded.
It made sense. So now we have to go through all of these books to find that special one. Oh it's going to take us forever! I just know it.
"Okay, so what's the message?" John asked.
"Depends on the book. That's the cunning of the book code. Has to be one that they both own. " Sherlock told him.
"Well boys, we better get started" I told them and walked over to a crate.
"Okay, then. Well, this shouldn't take too long, should it?" John asked opening a crate.
I began to look through the crate finding some books that seemed interesting. I put those to the side to read later. As I set a stack of books down on the ground, Dimmock walked into the flat.
"We found these at the museum" Dimmock said holding up a baggie.
I paused for a second to look at it. The pictures of the ciphers were in it.
"Is this your writing?" Dimmock asked Sherlock as I went back to searching.
"Uh, we hoped Soo Lin could decipher it for us" John told him taking the pictures from him.
"Anything else I can do? To assist you, I mean?" He asked.
"Some silence right now would be marvelous" Sherlock told him.
"And placing these books some where out of the way would be lovely too" I told him handing him a stack of books.
"Right" he said after glancing at John and leaving the flat after putting the books out of the way.
Hours went by as we searched through the crates. I set an empty crate on top of another empty one and let out a sigh. The light of the sun was coming through the windows. We've been up all night and had found nothing yet! Well I did find about ten or so books to read during my free time. So that's good, I guess.
"What's wrong, John?" I asked him as he let out a sigh after checking his beeping wristwatch.
"I have to go to work" He said standing up.
"Have a good day at work" I told him sitting on the ground indian style as I went through a new crate.
"Yeah, thanks" He said and left the room to get ready.
A few minutes passed and John had left the flat. My stomach began to rumble for food. I stood up setting one of the books down and walked into the kitchen.
"What are you doing?" Sherlock asked as his eyes scanned a book.
"Getting something to eat. Unlike you, I need food to survive" I told him grabbing a muffin from a box.
I un-wrapped the plastic from it and ate the snack food that would get me through for a some time. I got a drink of water and went back to searching through the crate.
"So what type of book do you think it is?" I asked Sherlock as I scanned through a book.
"I don't know, but it has to be a book that everybody would own" He told me as I set the book down.
I let out a yawn and shook my head an hour later. I stood up and stretched. I heard my back crack and smiled a little at how good it felt. I shook myself before checking a crate. I back up a bit and tripped over a tower of books.
I would had landed on the books, if it wasn't for Sherlock quickly grabbing me. On instinct I latched onto him. I exhaled a breath that I was holding and looked up at him with a small blush on my cheeks. I never really noticed, but his eyes were beautiful shade of silvery blue.
"Thanks for catching me again" I told him and let go.
"You're welcome" He said letting me go, "Be more careful. I might not be there to always catch you"
Sherlock went back to searching the crates. I let out a sigh looking at him before going back to the crate. A few more hours went by and still nothing. I was starting to think that book wasn't here at all!
"A book that everybody would own" Sherlock said and grabbed a few books from his bookshelf.
"Which seems that we don't own" I muttered flipping a few pages from a book.
After all of this was over, I don't even want to look at another book again!
"15, entry one" He said flipping through the pages from one of the books.
"How was work?" I asked John as he stepped into the room.
"I need to get some air" Sherlock said before John could say anything, "We're going out tonight"
"Actually, I've got a date" John said.
"What?" Sherlock and I asked him at the same time.
John never had dates. Well not since I've known him. Same goes for Sherlock, but I think he never had gone on a date before.
"It's where two people who like each other go out and have fun" John told him.
"That's what I was suggesting" Sherlock said and I giggled at that.
From the way he said sounded like he was asking John on a date. It kind of made me think that he had a thing for John.
"No, it wasn't" John said, "At least I hope not"
"Where are you taking her?" Sherlock asked him.
"Cinema" John said.
"Really? The cinema? John, you should take her out to dinner, have a walk through a park or something like that. Something romantic" I told him.
"Dull, boring, predictable. Why don't you try this?" Sherlock said and handed John something, "In London for one night only"
"Thanks, but I don't come to you for dating advice, but however I will go to Maria. Like you were saying earlier, what kind of restaurant should I take her too?" John said.
I opened my mouth to say something, but Sherlock cut me off.
"What is wrong with the circus? It's fun, it's exciting and I'm sure she'll love it" Sherlock said.
"I agree with Sherlock on this one actually. It does seem fun and exciting. Every girl loves a good circus performance. I do" I told him and he nodded.
"Okay, then I'll give it a shot then. No harm can come from it" He said and I smiled, "I better get ready"
John walked out of the room and up the stairs to his room. I looked over at Sherlock who was looking out the window.
"That was kind of you to give him advice on taking his date to the circus" I told him.
"Like you had told me once. He is my friend. I should treat him as such" Sherlock said and turned to me, "Since John has a date tonight. Would you like to go on one with me?"
My eyes went wide. Did I hear him right? Did Sherlock Holmes just ask me out on a date? Oh, bloody hell! The world's coming to an end!
"Uh, s-sure" I stuttered out of shock and nerves.
"Good. Be ready by six" Sherlock said and turned back to the window.