Chapter 2: She reminds me of you

The phone kept ringing and every time the telephone ring was heard, John Watson would put the pillow against his head and press hard so that the sound would not penetrate his ears, but it was impossible, who was calling had no interest in giving up.

"John..." his wife, who seemed not to bother her so much that the phone would ring late at night, babbled.

"No Mary..." he replied.

The sound continued throughout the Watson residence, and accepting his defeat, the doctor got out of bed, and walked through the lobby barely noticing the furniture or any other object with which he could hit himself. It was not yet dawn and the dream dominated him deeply. As he approached the table, he took the phone and with a huge yawn he answered.

"He...? llo?" Curious, John did not hear anything. "Hello?!" he exclaimed groggily.

"John, your phone is upside down," he heard and looked at the device strangely, he turned out to be true. John tsked his tongue annoyingly and set the phone straight.

"Hello?" he repeated.

"John, I need you to come, I have a case."

"Sherlock?" he exclaimed confused. "My God, Sherlock! It is five o'clock in the morning! What the hell were you thinking to call at this hour?"

"You always get up early, John. I need you to come."

"But for... Sherlock, I..." and therein he heard the phone hang up.

John sighed bitterly, settled the phone, and walked to his room to go back to sleep. As he entered his bedroom, his wife with a seven-month pregnancy, was huddled between the sheets. He smiled when he saw her, she looked so beautiful, so gently and he lay on the bed and never stopped looking at her.

"What did Sherlock want?" Mary asked as she felt her husband next to her.

"Ah!" he exclaimed. "Nothing important."

"Are you sure?"

"Well, yes," he answered in a tired voice, "he said something about a case, but I will go later. I now want to stay asleep," he hugged her, "and be with my wife."

Mary smiled, turned to hug him, and kiss him on his lips. John did not avoid his wife's mime and responded to that kiss, however, the cell phone rang and separated from his wife's sweet lips. With a bitter sigh, John took his cell phone and looked at the text message that had reached him. As Mary looked at him, she smiled amusement.

"I'm waiting for you."

SH.

John opened his eyes wide and with that expression he rose out of bed. Mary kept her smile. "I think it's very important the Sherlock's case, don't you?"

"I hope so, or I'll beat him for getting me out of bed."

John Watson performed his morning routine: a bath, shave and a quick breakfast consisting of a sip of coffee and a bite to a slice of toast. A proper routine when it came to meeting Sherlock Holmes. Mary saw her husband, who was putting on her vest and getting ready for her next adventure. "I'll try to be here before dinner."

"I do not think so," she said with a playful smile as she helped him fit the neck of his trench coat. " John, take care and send our regards to Sherlock."

He smiled at his wife and gave her a warm kiss on those nice, soft lips and ended with one on her belly. With one last smile John left his home and headed to 221B Baker Street.

That little girl slowly opened her eyes and stood up to look confused around her, everything was blurry, she focused her sights and having a less cloudy view, she looked more attentively at the room that stood out with a very homely design. She sat on the edge of the bed, thinking for a few moments, when she noticed the door was being opened.

"Hey!" exclaimed that lady, who had received her at dawn. "How are you this morning, honey?" She looked at her still with fear and did not respond. "Well," she continued with a nervous smile when the little one did not give her an answer. "I hope you had plenty of rest last night."

"Sherlock," the girl released.

"Oh, honey, don't despair!" she burst, as she sat beside her. "Sherlock will see you as soon as he can, only he's waiting for John; he can't solve a case without him, they're quite a duo. But if we are waiting for John to arrive, why don't you take a bath and have a breakfast?"

The girl was still so surprised that she did not blink. The lady kept her smile, but she did not really know what was going on with her and, in her, she did not know how to express herself anymore.

"I think... we haven't presented ourselves properly," she said to break the cold silence. "I'm Mrs Hudson, I own this flat and yet they tend to confuse me with the housekeeper. And your name is...?" The little girl's eyes began to flicker with the usual naturalness, but she did not respond. Mrs Hudson looked more perplexed at the girl. "Well, how about you take a bath? I'll prepare you the breakfast."

She did not answer. The girl just got up and Mrs Hudson led her to the bathroom. Meanwhile, Sherlock was locked in his flat, sitting in front of his laptop looking for news on everything related to Northampton. His primary focus was on homicides; however, he found no notes from the last four weeks that were spoken of. He consulted armed robberies, kidnapping, aggravated rape, anything that could lead to a death, but nothing. He placed his hands under his chin and thought because there were no yellow journalism versions on that locality. Curious he took his cell phone and sent a message:

"I need reports on any incident in Northampton. ASAP."

SH.

He rose from the chair and continued to make a call. "Hello?" someone answered after the first bell. "I need you to send me the newspapers for the last four weeks and to contain columns related to Northampton."

"Why do you need all that?" he questioned. "You just come and drop them off at 221B Baker Street." And he hung up.

On the other hand, Inspector Greg Lestrade brought his American coffee and donuts to complement his morning routine when he felt his cell phone vibrate. Strangely and with difficulty, he took it out of his coat bag and looked at the source of the message.

"Oh my God..." he said reluctantly.

"Is something wrong, boss?" asked Agent Donovan who was come up next to him.

"I need a huge favour," he turned to look worried.

"It has to do with that psychopath, right?" she questioned with an arched eyebrow.

"Does that matter? I need you to get me a record of any incidents that have happened recently in Northampton."

"Northampton?" she exclaimed surprised. "It's not even part of our divisions."

"Never mind, Donovan, you get me everything you can from these past few weeks."

Inspector Lestrade took a huge bite out of his doughnut and as fast as lightning he enters to the edifice and Donovan left the officer startled with the order.

The bath that the little girl had taken had been wonderful for her, Mrs. Hudson was kneeling in front of her, drying her short brown hair and discovering that her skin was of a beautiful warn beige colour. The girl did not stop looking at her, because she never stopped talking.

"You are a very pretty girl," she beamed. "You know, I have a little dress that maybe you could wear while you stay here and we get you something more suitable, okay?" And she nodded. "Wow!" Mrs Hudson gushed, "at last an answer. Okay, I'm done drying your hair, now I want you to put on this underwear while I go get that dress, okay?"

Again, the little one nodded again and Mrs. Hudson smiled. She got up from the ground and walked to the door to go for that dress. As she walked back to her room, she heard the knock on the principal door and surprised her, she came to answer the call and received a huge surprise.

"How can I help you?" Mrs. Hudson questioned when she saw four men in different uniforms and several stacks of newspapers.

"We're here to let this charge that was requested from this address."

Mrs. Hudson pulled her head out to discover the four delivery trucks parked in front of her building. Without being able to understand she turned to the steps and I do not doubt it or moment more.

"Sherlock?!" she shouted.

"Let them in!" he replied from his living room.

"Well... go ahead gentlemen" Mrs. Hudson conceded as she stepped aside, and the men began to pass with the piles of newspapers.

At that time John arrived at Baker Street and as he approached his old house, he could see several men passing by carrying the piles of newspapers. Confused, he entered the apartment and looked at Mrs. Hudson at the bottom of the stairs.

"Mrs Hudson," he called as he approached to greet her.

"John, dear, how are you doing?" she said as she answered the greeting. "Could you stay and check them out? I have something to do."

"But, Mrs Hudson, what is all this?" he quizzed as he saw her leave.

"It's about the case Sherlock has!"

"I should have guessed," he replied and continued his way up the stairs to the living room. He went in and looked at the detective, reading a newspaper and how he was in the middle of huge piles of them. "Sherlock?"

"You're finally here. Three hours late, but you arrived," he replied without putting the paper down.

"I wasn't going to come here at five o'clock in the morning," he hesitated.

"What a shame!" He closed the paper and looked at him. "How irresponsible of you."

John let out a sigh with annoyance and at that moment heard one of the men who brought newspapers asking permission to pass, he stepped aside and looked at the scene in confusion.

"Where do I leave these?" the young man asked to Sherlock.

"Right there," he replied without looking at him.

"Sherlock, what's this about?"

"It's part of the John case and speaking of the case..." he mentioned as he walked to the door. "Mrs. Hudson, she is already awake?!" he shouted. John was more confused than he already was. "Yes, we are having breakfast!" she replied. Sherlock headed down the stairs quickly.

"Wait, Sherlock!" John exclaimed as he went after him. "What is this case about?"

"You'll see for yourself."

John did nothing but march on his friend, until they both arrived in the kitchen, and to John's surprise, there was a little girl eating like it was the end of the world.

When the door was heard, she looked up and observed the two men: One was tall; white complexion; curly black hair, bright green eyes, and a very striking cheekbone. The other one was a little short; very light brown hair, almost blond with a few grey hairs being somewhat visible on the side of the temples and with grey eyes full of surprise.

Having looked at them, and apparently analysed them, she looked down and continued to eat.

"Do you guys want breakfast?" Mrs. Hudson asked when she noticed no action from them.

Still confused John turned to look at her and could see how she was wearing her apron, in one hand her spatula and in the other a frying pan preparing some scrambled eggs that smelled delicious.

"No, thank you, Mrs Hudson," Sherlock spoke for both and took the chair in front of the little one and sat down.

The little girl looked up again and saw the tall man, who looked at her in detail. Seeing the pressure Sherlock was generating, John approached him and saw the girl move her brown eyes toward him.

"Ah... Sherlock, an explanation would be nice," he spoke grudgingly as he grinned.

"John, she is our client," he said as he put his hands under his chin.

"The little girl?" he puzzled. "I thought it had something to do with Moriarty."

"No," Sherlock fumed.

"I thought you would take no more cases, until you solved... that," he continued worried.

"I made an exception. You're here because your mother was murdered," John and Mrs. Hudson looked at him stumped, "so speak," he demanded sternly. The little girl looked surprised.

"Sherlock," John spoke with a smile and as he held his shoulder, "can we talk for a moment, in private? Please?"

"Now?" he questioned curious without taking off the little one's gaze.

"Yes, now," he said angrily and took the sleeve off his jacket and lifted him up.

Confused Sherlock began to move alongside John and they both left the kitchen.

"What was that?" he demanded angrily.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" John scolded.

"Are you really asking that?"

"No..." he stopped, and he look at him seriously, "No, that's not. I mean how you talk to the little girl like that."

"She witnessed her mother's murder," he replied as if nothing while cleaning the sleeve of his jacket.

"Sherlock," John continued as he put one of his hands on his forehead, in a sign of despair, "she is a child. We are dealing with a little girl, who is traumatized by her mother's incident, so I ask you to be gentle person with her." More confused than before, Sherlock looked at John and all he could do was arch his eyebrow, hinting that he did not understand what he was asking. John sighed desperately and saw him. "What I'm trying to say is, don't be you!"

"Oh!" he exclaimed. "I understand—no, not really," he ended with his frown.

John sighed again with that bitterness and seriousness that characterized him. Sherlock kept his eyebrow arched, but accepted what John had given him to understand, so they both went back to the kitchen and observed as Mrs. Hudson served those delicious eggs to the little one.

"Guys, don't you really want breakfast?" she insisted, like a worried mother.

"Later Mrs. Hudson," John replied with a smile.

Sherlock again took a seat in front of the girl and John took a chair to sit on middle of the table. They both looked at the little girl who kept eating.

"Hello," John spoke to break the ice. "I am Doctor John Watson, and this is Sherlock Holmes," and the little one raised her eyes. "Sherlock told me that you need our help to solve a case, how can we help you?" She took her glass and began to drink the juice desperately. John and Sherlock remained calm, one more than the other. "What's your name?" John asked when he saw that she had finished drinking her juice. She wiped herself with the sleeve of the dress and looked at them.

"Bell," she articulated. Mrs. Hudson and John were surprised; however, Sherlock only raised his eyebrow.

"Bell?" John asked curiously.

"It's short for Isabelle," Sherlock replied.

"Oh!" exclaimed John and Mrs Hudson.

"Bell," she repeated, somewhat annoyed.

"You don't like Isabelle?" Mrs. Hudson asked as she poured her some smoked sausages.

"That is why she said Bell, Mrs Hudson," Sherlock continued, and she looked at him with some disgust.

"Well, Bell," John continued, "tell us. What happened?"

Bell looked at John and he looked curious, there was something in her that he had seen before, but he did not remember where from. Silence reigned in the kitchen; they could only hear what Mrs Hudson was frying in the pan. John and Sherlock did not stop seeing her until she opened her mouth and what she said left the three of them surprised.

"Afghanistan..."

Upon hearing her, Mrs. Hudson turned to see her terrified, Sherlock lowered his hands from his chin and through his eyes showed himself that expression and John opened his eyes wide.

Hudson turned to see her terrified, Sherlock lowered his hands from his chin and through his eyes showed himself that expression and John opened his eyes wide
"I beg your pardon?" the Doctor asked nervously.

"Afghanistan," she repeated and ate a slice of bread while staring at them.

Sherlock and John looked at each other confused and with some fear.

"Pardon me, Bell," John continued, while observing Sherlock, "but why did you say Afghanistan?"

She finished eating the slice of bread and saw back at Doctor Watson, who looked back at her.

"War, war in Afghanistan. A leg injury has already improved. Married with a liar, a baby on the way and a brother who drinks a lot..."

Again, silence reigned in the room and everyone was amazed, to such an extent that Mrs. Hudson dropped the spatula, bringing the two men back to reality. Bell looked calm and kept eating as if nothing had happened.

"Sherlock," John called with much fear and as he looked back at his friend, he could see how he was as surprised as he was. "Sherlock?" "Excuse me," he said as he rose from the chair. Surprised by that reaction, John stood up and went after him.

"Wait, Sherlock!" he exclaimed and stopped at the first step. "Sherlock, what just happened?"

He moved his greyish green eyes toward his companion and barely swallowed saliva.

"She just... just did..." he said without being able to believe it. "She used the science of deduction."

A/N:

Thanks so much for reading. I will be deeply grateful with any comments, constructive criticism, opinions and / or suggestions :3