Chapter Twenty-One: Mrs. Holmes

Sherlock won, but that was because he hadn't unpacked his suitcase from last night. I couldn't believe it! But he gave me the money back and said he'd collect the fee from me later tonight.

It wasn't a long train ride, but I hated riding on trains. Sherlock was lost in thought the whole time. John realized I was somewhat bored, so we went into the dining car and played a bunch of odd little games on his phone. John almost persuaded me to buy a new phone, but I soon realized that it wouldn't be sensible, as I didn't have time to play games.

Once our train trip ended, we piled into a cab and checked into the Cross Keys Pub. John and I got the rooms while Sherlock began investing. John and I actually got mistaken for a married couple, which embarrassed the heck out of me. But for John, it was a relief to finally not being mistaken for Sherlock's boyfriend. I didn't understand why people thought Sherlock and John were a couple, I could see the deep friendship between them, but I didn't see any signs of romance at all. Why was I thinking that? That was just silly.

Then we went out to find that Sherlock had told some young man named Fletcher that he'd 'bet' John 50 quid that Fletcher didn't have any proof that there was an actual hound. But after Sherlock egging him on, he was able to supply enough proof that forced Sherlock to hand over the 50 quid. Then, we all piled into a black Land Rover, heading out towards Baskerville. Sherlock tried for most part to get the 50 quid back, but John refused to hand it over, saying that Sherlock owed him for all the taxi rides that John covered.

My poor body was so tired that I fell asleep in the back. I'd flown back to London the night before, got on a train this morning and now I was taking a car ride! And during that time I'd packed and unpacked at least twice! I woke, to hear the sounds of a loud, blaring alarm going off.

The door to the car flew open and a man with a huge rifle shouted. "Get out of the car! Now!"

"All right!" I stumbled out of the car and fell flat on my face. At that moment, I was wishing I had Rambo or Rocky standing beside me at this moment.

"Get up!"

"All right!" I said as I hauled myself up. He grabbed a hold of my arm and gave me a shove forward. "Take it easy! I haven't done anything!"

"Be quiet!"

"Tammy?" I looked up to see the last face I'd expected to see. "Robert! What are you doing here?"

"What am I doing here?" I stared at Robert. "What are you doing here?" I shouted at him. At that moment the sirens stopped blaring and I lowered my voice. "Sorry."

He turned to the soldier. "I've got this. It's all right. I know her." The soldier shot me a dirty look and walked away. I brushed off my clothes. Robert reached out and brushed some dirt off my shoulder. "Sorry about that, we obviously had some intruders."

Sherlock. I thought to myself as I shifted away from him. "I was sleeping."

"I can tell." He looked me up and down; my flesh crawled under his gaze. True, my flesh crawled when Sherlock looked at me, but this was different. Sherlock was my husband, Robert was not and no man had any right to look at me in that manner anymore. "You look different."

"How?"

He shook his head. "I don't know. Your face, I don't know, you just look like you're…glowing. Your figure, it's…wonderful, I never noticed how-

Now, I was getting creeped out. "Thanks for the compliment, but what are you doing here?" I repeated. "I thought that you were back in the States!"

"I got a job here, with Dr. Franklyn. After my aunt's death, and you here, I just couldn't go back to the states. I figured I'd give you a few months and then try again." He said. "What are you doing here? This is a military base!"

"So I figured!" I crossed my arms. "I'm here on business."

"I thought you were sleeping."

"So, I fell asleep during business hours, hardly unusual."

"What kind of business?"

"Personal business that doesn't concern you," I looked up to see Sherlock and John approaching us. I exhaled in relief.

"Sherlock whatever-your-middle-name-is Holmes," I said. "what did you do?"

"I'll explain it in the car, but I didn't do anything, really." He stated. He glanced at Robert with disdain. "What are you doing here?"

"I work here!" Robert said. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm on a case." Sherlock looked towards me. "What are you doing talking to him? You were supposed to be asleep in the car! I told them not to disturb you!"

"There was a super loud red alert alarm off and that evidentially you set off and woke me up!" I said. "Besides, some soldier pulled me out of the car, started pushing me around and Robert got him to stop pushing me around."

Sherlock walked towards me, his eyes scanning me. "You ok?"

I nodded. "I'm fine." He reached for my hands, running his long fingers over my scraped palms. His eyes narrowed and I hastened to assure him. "I'm fine, honest."

"He threw you to the ground." His eyes studied me really quick. "And he grabbed you."

"I'm fine Sherlock. Believe me."

"So," Robert asked. "you two are still….dating?"

"No, we're not dating anymore." Sherlock held up my hand. "Dating was so boring that we decided to get married, it's really much more interesting."

The look on Robert's face told me that there was a fight coming. "Don't even think about it!"

Robert swung at Sherlock, which he sidestepped easily. Robert spun around and ran right into Sherlock's fist. Robert let out a shout as Sherlock punched him three more times. Sherlock smoothed his coat back into place. "He's been asking for that." I yawned and he frowned. "I just decked your ex and you're yawning?"

I smirked and stretched up on tiptoe. "Sorry." I kissed him, biting his lip lightly. "You decked him very nicely."

Sherlock smiled. "That's more like it." He kissed me, slipping his tongue inside my mouth for good measure. I still wasn't used to being kissed like this, especially in public, with people looking on. Sherlock fortunately didn't make it a long drawn out kiss. But he really put some loud smacks into it while he gripped my hips tightly in his hand before drawing away. "Just making him miss what he had." He murmurs against my ear. "And it's really...making you look so hot and desirable."

"Thank you…I guess."

John had pulled Robert up, who was rubbing his jaw, but both of them were staring at the display Sherlock and I were making. "Why?" Robert demanded. "Why Tammy?"

Sherlock groaned. "I thought it was obvious, maybe it hasn't penetrated your funny little brain."

I covered Sherlock's mouth. "I, unfortunately, love him."

Sherlock uncovered my mouth. "Look, you cheated on her, threw her away, and then I got her. So, do everyone a favor, get over it and start looking for someone else instead of popping up in our lives like bad food."

'Thank you for that lovely picture Sherlock." I said. "Very eloquent. But I can handle this."

"Is this what you want?" Robert asked firmly. "Is he what you really want?"

I nodded. "Yes. Robert, I'm sorry, but everything got spoiled for us when you cheated on me. But, as heartless as it seems of me, I must thank you for cheating on me."

He tilted his head. "Why?"

"Because, if you hadn't cheated on me, I wouldn't have flown out here, met Sherlock, fallen in love, married him and be happily exposed to a life of extreme danger for the rest of my life."

Sherlock elbowed me. "I told you to stay home."

"And I said since we just got married last week, I wasn't leaving you. Now, I am sorry that things didn't work out, but things happen for a reason. I would have been happy to hate you, but now, I can say thank you, for everything. I wish you the very best and I hope you find the happiness that I found."

"Right," Sherlock said taking my arm and guiding me back to the Land Rover. "time to go. We'll have to talk later."

"Charming Sherlock."

"So?" John asked. "What was all that about the rabbit?"

I frowned. "The rabbit again?"

"Yeah. Oh." John groaned. "Can we not do this this time?

"Do what?" Sherlock asked and I looked at him to see that he'd turned his coat collar up.

"You being all mysterious with your cheekbones and turning your coat collar up so you look cool."

Sherlock looked indignant. "I don't do that."

"Yeah, you do."

"You're doing it this minute.' I said as I hopped into the back seat. "Like the look though."

"Thank you."

"She's your wife Sherlock. For all she cares you could dye your hair pink and she'd still love you because that's what wives do. Therefore...her opinion doesn't count."

Sherlock got in and we were back on the road. For a few minutes, there was silence, allowing Sherlock time to digest whatever he'd learned that day.

"So the email from Kirstie," John asked, breaking the silence. "the missing luminous rabbit."

"Kirstie Stapleton," Sherlock said. "whose mother specializes in genetic manipulation?"

John nodded. "She made her daughter's rabbit glow in the dark."

"Probably a fluorescent gene. Removed and spliced into the specimen, simple enough these days."

"Lovely thought." I said sarcastically. "I can now never look at a bunny rabbit in the same way again."

"So," Sherlock continued speaking as if he hadn't' heard me. "we know that Dr. Stapleton performs secret genetic experiments on animals. The question is, has she been working on something deadlier than a rabbit?"

"To be fair," John said. "that is quite a wide field."

"Indeed. There are hundred of animals." I said. "Where are we off to now?"

"Henry's." Sherlock said.

"Right," John said. "and Sherlock, in the future, you might want to mention that you two are actually married?"

Sherlock frowned. "Why?"

"Because," John shifted uncomfortably. "I had to explain that you two were married when he started questioning Tammy's…marital status."

I blushed. "Oh no!"

Sherlock looked at me. "I'm getting rather used to your frequent admirers Tammy, not that I blame them."

"Sherlock," I said. "in future, kindly refer to me as Mrs. Holmes in the future, in front of clients. Please?"

"Uhmm, no."

"Sherlock."

"Look," he glanced over his shoulder at me. "I'll refer to you as however I want and if you have a problem with that, why don't we discuss it later?"

"Right, shutting up," I said. "you're on a case."

"Well, don't shut up too long." He said. "if you're too quiet, I start looking around and wondering where you are. And don't go back to sleep again. If you do, you're not going to sleep well tonight."

"According to our bet, I wasn't going to be getting much sleep tonight anyway."

Sherlock nodded. "Right, I'll collect that another night."

"Fine."

John groaned. "I now see why honeymoons were invented."

"Why?"

"It takes about two weeks for the married couple to get all that love out of their systems. You only got a week's worth out. But I guess I can bear all this for another week."

I patted his shoulder. "Thanks John. You're such a sweet sport."

Sherlock made a face. "He is not sweet."

"Yes he is. You, are….hmm, I shall have to think about some adjectives that are suitable to you."

John groaned. "We'll have reached Africa by the time you find the proper words!"