Her cat was peeing on her bed.
The metaphor of things smelling like cat piss had never seemed like an omen for her life, until she actually got a cat.
Danielle groaned as she pulled herself out of bed. She clicked her tongue at Nightwing, muttering out things that were most definitely not English words at the cat. It wasn't human language by a long shot.
The cat jumped off the bed, rushing out of the room.
The smell was getting to her again. Danielle took off the bedding. She guessed that Nightwing would only have peed on the bed if the litterbox wasn't to her liking. Which meant anything from it being used to one of Erika's toys had gotten in it. Nightwing was picky like that.
None of this helped that Danielle woke up with a headache.
A shiver went through her. Not of disgust- she'd cleaned up worse than a bed splattered in cat pee. No this was a shiver of a more baser instinct.
Fear.
Danielle took a deep breath.
She balled up the bedding, walking it out of her room towards the laundry.
Sand falling out from a bag.
Erika yipped.
"Yeah, yeah I know you want-"
Her dog's fur under her hand. She heard her own voice scolding someone but she couldn't remember the who or the why just now.
"-food I'll get you some-"
She had gone to get food. That was all. Just some damned food and then she was gone.
Danielle paused. She braced herself, taking a deep breath.
She could do this.
It was just laundry.
She could do this one thing.
She could do it- she could keep Soo Lin safe- she could do it, John, really-
She could think about other things later. In order.
But first, laundry. Then the litter. Then the food.
==NKMHLY==
She made it twenty minutes.
==NKMHLY==
Back at 221B, Sherlock and John we're going about their normal morning routines.
It had been a rough night. After telling Inspector Dimmock the report, they had brought Danielle and her dog back home. She was wrung out by all the excitement, clinging tightly to her dog the entire drive home. They had made sure she was settled back in her home before either man felt comfortable enough to rest.
A fitful rest, for all it was worth. John was sure Sherlock hadn't even slept once since this all started. John wondered how he was still standing upright, or being able of proper thought. Himself, John had slept poorly. All he'd seen at night was the sight of Danielle tied to a chair, the sound of her sobs when she was let go, the thought of what might have been if they hadn't moved her in time-
Though he'd only known her for a short time, Danielle was becoming something like a friend. To see her go through the events of last night was horrible beyond belief.
John blinked. He was so exhausted, he could barely remember how he got to the breakfast table.
Or when Sherlock had made tea.
Or had John made it, then forgot he'd had it out?
It could've been any number of things.
John was too bloody tired to notice or care. "Ta." John thanked Sherlock for the tea. He picked up the cup. "So, 'Nine mill'." He was more awake now and further from a near death experience, so he didn't need to think about preventing triggers for himself or Danielle.
Though Sherlock he could piss off as much as he liked.
"Million." Sherlock finished the word.
"Million, yes; 'Nine million for jade pin. Dragon den, black Tramway.'" John read off the translations that Sherlock had penned out.
"An instruction to all their London operatives." Sherlock explained. John hummed. "A message; what they were trying to reclaim."
"What, a jade pin?" John reasoned.
"Worth nine million pounds." Sherlock added. He pointed at the picture and the written words. John looked down to follow along, missing Sherlock's look towards the living room. "Bring it to the Tramway, their London hideout."
"Hang on. A hairpin worth nine million pounds?" John asked, confused.
Sherlock made a face that said he too was confused about the idea of something so small being worth so much. "Apparently." He raised his mug of tea up for a sip.
"Why so much?" John wondered.
"Depends who owned it." Sherlock pointed out. "Any speculations, Danielle?"
John snapped his head up. Sure enough, Danielle was standing in their living room. She was wearing a dark gray long sleeved shirt with swirling lighter gray patterns, tugging on the sleeves. Another thing John had noticed- that he doubted he would ever be too tired not to see- was that her eyes were red and had heavy bags under them.
Had she even slept after they brought her home?
"Sorry. I've haven't got any." Danielle replied. She reached the shirt sleeve up to her face, wiping it away once more. "You do, right?"
Sherlock sipped at his tea.
John stood up from his chair. He walked over to Danielle. "Are you-"
She held up her hand. "Don't ask me anything, okay? Don't ask me any of it. If you ask me I can't promise I won't break down. I would like to find out where this magical nine million pound piece of jewelry is."
Sherlock grinned behind his mug.
John was worried- oh so worried- that Danielle wouldn't be ready for this battlefield.
==NKMHLY==
They had returned to the bank.
Danielle wasn't panicking.
She was fine. There wasn't anything to be worried over. If there was any hope for something good to come of this, Danielle had to hold onto it.
"Two operatives based in London." Sherlock explained to them. "They travel over to Dalian to smuggle those vases. One of them helps himself to something: a little hairpin."
"Worth nine million pounds." John repeated.
Danielle thought they'd said it's worth enough. John had been repeating it under his breath for most of the ride over. She got it. It was a hairpin worth nine million pounds. They could shut up about it-
"Eddie Van Coon was the thief. He stole the treasure when he was in China." Sherlock revealed.
"Seriously? Him?" Danielle noted. "If it was him, why did they go after Lukis?"
"More to the point. How d'you know it was Van Coon, not Lukis? Even the killer didn't know that." John stated.
Sherlock paused, just in front of the revolving door to the bank. "Because of the soap." He grinned- his usual arrogance clear across.
Yes. Danielle would be okay.
Hard not to be with Sherlock being smug. Things usually went okay when Sherlock was that smug.
==NKMHLY==
Sherlock brought them to Sebatian's office. John went in much faster, most likely to buffer against Sherlock. Yet as soon as John walked in Sherlock walked off. Danielle found herself following him. Her mind coming up with a hundred different fears for it.
He's going to get himself caught by the Foot this time-
He'll be dragged away in a taxi-
He's going after Paul to punch his face-
He's going to end up outside climbing the walls for no reason-
He's going to-
He's off to-
He's-
He's-
Danielle reminded herself to breathe. Sure, her inner monologue had no need for breath but her racing heart needed oxygen.
She bumped into something. Danielle stumbled, feeling arms catch her. Looking up she saw Sherlock giving her a Spock worthy eyebrow raise. She distinctly didn't like it.
"Come." Sherlock instructed.
Danielle followed, albeit at a much more hyper aware pace.
They went to Van Coon's office. Sherlock pulled out his phone.
At the desk, Danielle was the secretary answering a call.
"Amanda." She greeted.
"He bought you a present." Sherlock reported.
"Oh. Hello."
Danielle glanced between Sherlock and the secretary. He hated talking over the phone. Perhaps he just wanted to confirm that the secretary was in today. But why would he want that?
"A little gift when he came back from China." Sherlock reported. He walked himself and Danielle to the desk, just out of sight from the secretary.
"How do you know that?" The secretary asked, sitting up in her seat.
"You weren't just his P.A., were you?" Sherlock asked.
The secretary whirled around. Danielle herself flinched back- more in reflex than actual surprise. Sherlock hung up, tucking his phone away.
"Someone's been gossiping." The secretary let out a breath. She put her phone away. Danielle finally spotted it- the jade pin in her hair.
Bloody hell.
Fucking Christ.
You are joking.
Danielle wasn't sure if she was in shock or if she was offended.
"No." Sherlock replied, smiling smugly again.
"Then I don't understand. Why-?" The secretary glanced between Sherlock and Danielle.
All this grief.
All this shit
Because a man wanted to get his girl a souvenir.
"Scented hand soap in his apartment." Sherlock supplied. "Three hundred millilitres of it. Bottle almost finished."
The secretary blinked. "Sorry?"
"I don't think Eddie Van Coon was the type of chap to buy himself hand soap – not unless he had a lady coming over. And it's the same brand as that hand cream there on your desk." Sherlock revealed.
Danielle has watched a girl die.
Because of a romantic gesture.
"Look, it wasn't serious between us. It was over in a flash. It couldn't last– he was my boss." The secretary dismissed.
"What happened? Why did you end it?" Sherlock pressed.
The secretary sighed. "I thought he didn't appreciate me." She explained. "Took me for granted. Stood me up once too often– we'd plan to go away for the weekend and then he'd just leave; fly off to China at a moment's notice."
"And he brought you a present from abroad to say sorry." Sherlock reasoned. He looked up at the jade hairpin. "Can I... just have a look at it?" He held out his hand.
The secretary saw no issue. She pulled out the pin, using her hand to hold up her hand. She handed out the pin. "Said he bought it in a street market."
Sherlock took it, handling it delicately. "Oh, I don't think that's true. I think he pinched it."
She laughed, bittersweet for her ex. "Yeah, that's Eddie."
"Didn't know its value; just thought it would suit you." Sherlock mused.
Danielle walked up, getting a better look at the pin that had messed up the last week of her life.
"Oh? What's it worth?" The secretary was smiling, probably expecting something in the hundreds.
Sherlock's smirk would've made anyone second guess themselves. "Nine...million...pounds."
The secretary's face fell into shock. "Oh my God! Oh my G..." She got up from her desk, storming off. "Nine million!"
Danielle huffed. Sherlock held up the pin. "What do you think?"
"I think it's tacky." Danielle answered. "And not my color."
Sherlock only grinned.
"Danielle!" Paul's voice called out.
Danielle made a face. "Damn."
The man rushed up to the secretary's desk. Danielle put on her best smile, pushing away any feelings of what a man running up to her brought up. Her brother looked mad which didn't help anything.
"Hear me out-" She began.
"Do you have any idea what you did?!" Paul snapped, getting in Danielle's face.
Danielle kept a straight face. "You were-"
"It was none of your business!" Paul interrupted. Danielle clapped her lips shut. "God, you don't even know how annoying you are! Butting into things that have nothing to do with you! Can't you just kind your own business?!"
"It wasn't right-" 'To hide the truth. To lie to Natalie like that. To think you'd actually tell the truth.'
"For once you get it! What you did wasn't bloody-" Paul's rant- which no doubt would've made the best office water cooler talk if anyone heard it, was cut off by a rather insistent detective. Truly it was quite rude that nobody had paid him attention in the past minute even though he'd solved the case.
Sherlock pulled a silent Danielle back, taking her place in front of Paul. "You'll find that your girlfriend is already creating a social media post about your affair. If you have any sense, which I must believe with your relation with Danielle, you would go to manage the fallout."
"You can't know that." Paul countered, though he did look alarmed at the idea. He still pulled out his phone. "She won't have."
"She will." Sherlock stated. He kept his face in a firm line. "Leave."
Paul glanced from his phone to Sherlock's face. Like many who were met with that quiet rage from the consulting detective, Paul retreated. Sherlock waited until Paul was out of sight to turn back.
His neighbor had her fists clenched together, held over her mouth. Her eyes were shut tight. Sherlock could see tear tracks on her cheeks. Danielle let out a shaking slow breath. "I would like to go home now." She stated.
Sherlock nodded. He reached over, putting his hand on her shoulder. "Of course. Come, let's collect John. Alright?" Danielle nodded. "Alright."
==NKMHLY==
She leaned against her door, letting out a long breath.
Erika barked. She rushed over to Danielle, bopping her nose on her legs. Danielle slid herself to the door, hugging her dog. Erika picked at Danielle's face. It got her to laugh.
She sat there for a long while. Her mind was running fast.
Something was wrongwrongwrong.
Danielle's mind couldn't catch up with any of it. She tried to calm herself down, to take steadying slow breaths to relax. She scratched Erika's ears, which helped. She could hear Nightwing meowing in another room.
Her pets were safe at home.
She'd just seen Sherlock and John in their flats.
She hadn't seen anything dangerous.
But why was she so afraid?
Someone knocked on the door.
Danielle jumped. Erika barked. The dog pulled back to scratch at the door. Danielle swallowed down her fear, pushing it somewhere back in her mind to focus on never.
She could do it.
She could definitely do it.
She went to her door. Erika barked.
She checked the peephole.
She'd recognize that messy head of brown hair anywhere. And those big dark brown eyes. She threw the door open. "Lix?"
"Ellie!" Felix breathed out in relief. He pulled Danielle in for a hug.
She went along with it, shocked still. She returned the hug quickly enough.
Felix held her tight. The warm kind of tight that could only come from family. The two of them walked into Danielle's flat, closing the door behind them. "I'm so glad you're okay."
Danielle rested her head on Felix's shoulder. The pros of being the same height as your baby brother.
"I don't think I am, Lixxy." She hiccuped a small sob.
Felix gave her an assuring squeeze. "Okay...okay...how-"
Erika barked. She rushed at Felix, trying to get Felix's attention. He gave her a vague scratch of the head. Danielle pulled back from Felix, wiping at her cheeks.
"Do you still have the DVD of Star Trek:2009?" Felix asked.
Danielle sniffled. "Yeah."
"Then we'll sit on the couch to watch it." Felix decided. He started ushering his sister towards the couch.
Danielle shook her head. "No, no I- I have to do chores-"
"Danielle Nolan, putting off Stark Trek for chores?" Felix questioned. Danielle gave him a small smile. "You're a disgrace."
A laugh escaped from her anxiously closed throat. Danielle let herself be moved to the couch. Her cat hopped on her lap. Danielle hugged the cat close, the cat purred.
After some shuffling and technical work around, Felix got the movie playing. Erika had settled in Danielle's lap now. Nightwing moved onto greener pastures (meaning: he spotted a warm spot).
Felix sat beside his sister, pulling out a blanket for them to sit under. "I turned on the kettle. Do you got any-"
"Drawer beside the microwave." Danielle supplied. "Right next to the marshmallows."
Felix beamed. "Bril." He ran off towards the kitchen.
She'd had a bad week. But Danielle could feel infinitely better spending time with her brother and dog watching a movie with mugs of hot chocolate.
==NKMHLY==
AN: When I say 'Danielle' you say 'needs therapy!' DANIELLE! ...guys come on I called on you.
Thanks to bloodyhell99, xxemilydoxx, InsanityatBest, Athena-Spencer, Kyrian Mikaelson, AllyKat15, sheinapotter, Allana Winchester, , and caseymarierose for favoriting
Thanks to Ronnie.H, Captain19, bloodyhell99, InsanityatBest, Kyrian Mikaelson, AllyKat15, K.C.96, Allana Winchester, , and caseymarierose for following