Chapter 54

Disclaimer: I don't own Sherlock or anything.

Author's note: Please review! Thank you!

John woke up to a certain someone caressing his stomach.

"You are getting so fit…" Sherlock said gently once he knew John was waking up.

"Mmm… it's all the rugby and being a waiter I suppose…" John said tiredly.

"People must laugh when they look at us… I'm so skinny and tall and you're just… perfect." Sherlock said.

John turned his head to look at his husband with a frown "Excuse me, in my book you being skinny and tall is perfect… actually you in general are perfect."

"Don't be silly… I've been informed that you are far more of a catch than I am." Sherlock said.

"And who said that?" John frowned slightly deeper.

"I overheard a group chatting about it in the canteen." Sherlock shrugged.

"Well… they're wrong. You are definitely quite the catch… I cannot believe I am with the most clever and extraordinary man on the planet!" John exclaimed.

Sherlock blushed adorably "Well don't worry, I don't care what they think, I know I'm lanky but that doesn't matter, my appearance matters little in comparison to my brains."

"Yes, I noticed that when you didn't brush your hair or shave for two weeks because you were experimenting and didn't have the time… I looked like I was married to a junkie, especially in that old hoodie of mine you wore!" John said.

Sherlock chuckled "Why would I be a junkie? I have better things to do with my time."

John made a sound of agreement and then said "Love you lots!"

Sherlock smiled and kissed his lovely lover.

"So… should we get up today or spend the day in bed?" Sherlock asked and rubbed John's hip gently.

"Ohh… I'm up for just staying in bed all day." John played with Sherlock's curls.

"Screw class." Sherlock chuckled.

"Exactly." John grinned mischievously.

"Oh you're such a rule-breaker! I've taught you well!" Sherlock smiled, pleased with himself.

"Hey! I'm a born rule-breaker! You didn't have any influence! In fact, smarty-pants, I probably made you into a little rebel." John teased.

"As if!" Sherlock rolled on top of John and John caught his hands and they shared a moment of giddiness together, staring into each other's eyes.

"Oh we aren't leaving this bed… not even for dinner." John said huskily, Sherlock giggled almost excitedly and they kissed roughly in their lust.


"Excuse me." Sherlock was woken up to a knocking on the door and the sound of a man "Is this the residence of Mr Watson-Holmes?"

Sherlock stretched and looked at the clock, it was three in the afternoon and he lay in a tangle of covers and his husband's limbs.

"Which one?!" Sherlock called through the door, John snuffled in his sleep but continued to sleep soundly in his post-coital exhaustion, he cutely had his head resting on Sherlock's chest, his hand holding Sherlock's sharp hipbone.

"The detective! The lady at the reception of these halls let me in… I need your help, Mr Watson-Holmes!" the man called.

"Fine, I'll be just a minute!" Sherlock said.

Sherlock untangled himself from John and pressed a gentle kiss to his temple, then he put the covers over John snugly and quickly changed into a suit, he scrawled a note to John to tell him he had gone out for a case and would be back as soon as he could then he opened the door and was met with a rather interesting man. He was clearly an office worker, middle aged, losing his hair slightly, financially stable and hard working, but he wore incredibly expensive shoes and a watch-not something likely to be owned simply by someone who was stable in finance, they'd have to be wealthy, incredibly wealthy.

Sherlock made a "Hm." Noise then said "I'm afraid I can't allow you to come into my room, my husband is sleeping, but we can talk in the canteen, follow me."

Sherlock lead the man to the canteen and they sharply sat down, Sherlock with a cup of tea and the man with a strong coffee.

"Name?" Sherlock asked and kept searching the man with his eyes.

"Ian Walker." The man said, he looked both cross but reserved.

"So, Mr Walker, how can I help?" Sherlock asked.

"My girlfriend has gone…" he said nervously.

Sherlock rolled his eyes "For God's sake! My first client in months and it's a relationship issue. Do not consult me about such things, I have no interest beyond my own marriage thank you very much." He made to stand up and leave when the man grabbed his wrist.

"Please, Mr Watson-Holmes! I don't mean she's gone… I mean… she is gone, as in missing, as in I can't find her! She's a librarian! This doesn't happen to people like me and her!" he said "I went to the police but she's not been missing for forty eight hours yet so they aren't interested. I know her… I've known her for half of my life! I know her better than I know myself, she has a routine… she always gets home at four thirty sharp… she didn't turn up yesterday and her mobile is switched off… this isn't her, trust me! You will want this case and I need you to take this case on!" Ian was desperate.

Sherlock sighed "You should have started with that, not mamby pamby drawl. Now you have my attention. Tell me everything."

"She didn't come home last night, I tried to call her, I asked around her friends and colleagues, nobody has seen her! I went searching all last night and this morning! This isn't normal behaviour and I don't have a clue where she is…" he explained.

"Okay. Well, I'll take the case. Let me just get my jacket and I will accompany you to your home and also her workplace, I shall gather my evidence and it'll be done by tomorrow." Sherlock said and stood up, he sipped some of his tea.

The man grabbed his wrist again and Sherlock looked down at him irately, but the man looked broken "Tomorrow? You'll only have all the evidence by tomorrow? But she could be gone forever by then!"

"No, Mr Walker, you misunderstand me. I will have found your girlfriend by tomorrow." Sherlock said, the man heaved a sigh of relief and said "Thank you!"

"Don't thank me yet." Sherlock said "Wait here, I will collect my things."


In the evening Ian had decided to stay at home while Sherlock continued working on the case. Sherlock was in his and John's bedroom pacing, he had pinned a collage of the case to their wall and kept referring to it and mumbling under his breath as John sat in bed reading.

Sherlock had been pacing for an hour and getting nowhere when he fell forward onto the bed and groaned.

"What's wrong?" John asked and stroked his hair.

"It's not making any sense. She's too… normal for this to happen. He is also too normal for this too happen!" Sherlock exclaimed into their duvet.

"Sherlock, nobody is ever entirely normal." John said.

"They are! There is nothing unique about them that gives indication as to what has happened to her! Or to what she has done! Unless it was a crime without a motive of some such…" Sherlock sighed.

They sat in silence for a few minutes then John was twirling his fingers through Sherlock's hair when he said to the man "Why does Ian wear expensive materials?"

"Huh?" Sherlock asked, taking his head out of the covers and looking at his lover.

"Ian. You keep commenting that he has expensive shoes and a watch and the like… why is that significant?" John frowned.

Sherlock was silent for a moment then leapt up, kissed John, and said "You wonderful man! You've got it!" he held John's face between his hands in glee.

"I really haven't got it… what do I get?" John was puzzled.

"They are obviously gifts! His salary certainly doesn't support those luxury items he owns! And he has no close family that would spend such a price on him! It's obviously her!" Sherlock jumped over to the collage, John stood up to and stood beside him.

"But… how can a librarian afford that!? Savings?" John queried.

"Not savings… oh no… if she had savings it'd likely be in a bank, he showed me all of her bank statements and I did my research there, she doesn't have much to speak of in her accounts, nor do many out of the ordinary transactions occur! I believe that she is involved in something such as the drug industry, specifically illegal drugs! She is obviously involved somewhere in the system, gets quite a lot of cash for it that she has to get rid of, fast, in case the police are after her. So she blows it on material goods for them both! Shoes, watches, the lot! He said she has a routine, well she would wouldn't she? With a job like that she would have to make sure she had a schedule that nobody could get suspicious of! She had to be reliable so as not to arouse any suspicion! Obviously somebody has either taken her or she has gone…. Oh Nancy Nancy Nancy, what a secret she has kept! Oh and the small portion of her wardrobe that doesn't coincide with her normal outfits, all those hoodies and unfitting clothes, a disguise of some sort! This makes so much sense!" Sherlock grinned like a maniac.

"So… if this theory is correct how are we going to find her?" John asked.

"How do we find anything in London? By looking." Sherlock grinned and ran out the door. John grabbed their jackets and a torch and followed at his husband's heals.


Sherlock was fast to get information from some homeless people he knew fairly well, and was quickly underground and they were searching through drug dens for Nancy. John shined his torch around three separate dens before finally it fell upon a lady sat against the wall in jeans and a hoodie, she looked drained.

John rushed over and knelt next to her "Nancy? Nancy, can you hear me?"

Nancy groaned tiredly.

"She's high." John said to Sherlock, who stood behind him.

"I didn't think she was a user, John, just a trafficker. Her life is too stable to be a user." Sherlock frowned.

"Some people like to try stuff out." John shrugged "Maybe she spent so much time with drugs she thought she'd give it a go and it landed her here, it happens."

Sherlock nodded in understanding "Shall we take her home or to a hospital?"

"A hospital." John said and helped her stand, she leant against him trustingly.

"Won't they ask questions and perhaps get her put in prison?" Sherlock asked.

"Probably but that isn't our problem. We have to do what is right for her health, if she has involved herself with drugs then she should bear the consequences." John said.

"Okay." Sherlock nodded and helped John carry her.


Ian Walker was surprised to say the least to discover his long term girlfriend was a drug trafficker, but he stayed with her at the hospital as she recovered from her drug use and as she was handcuffed and watched by the police.

He didn't thank Sherlock.