****Here we are chapter three. I am a slow writer and a juniour in high school so these little writings of mine might be spread out quite a bit. (Looks sheepish) Sorry. ****



Chapter Three

We had finally managed to help Holmes up the stairs and get him to sit down in a chair near the fire. As I got a blanket for Holmes from his room Ms. Holmes poured him a glass of brandy. I placed a blanket around Holmes's shoulders then went and sat down in a chair next to him and the fire.

Holmes looked over at the girl who was claiming to be his great granddaughter and said, "Well, I do believe that you have some explaining to do."

She bowed her head slightly in a consenting manner. "That is very true," she said.

It was at this time that I took notice of what she looked like. She was wearing a plain dress of black velvet, which seemed to make her very uncomfortable as if she was not accustomed to wearing one. She looked about sixteen or seventeen, with dark black hair that came just level with her jaw and piercing grey eyes. She was very pale, very skinny and at least six feet tall. She definitely looked like a Holmes, although her nose was not as hawk like as my dear friend's. The longer I looked at her she seemed to grow more attractive. Not that she was ugly upon first looking at her; it was just that she was extraordinary in a non- extraordinary way. She seemed to stand out in one's mind quickly before fading away again.

"Let me begin," she said leaning back languidly, although somewhat stiffly I noticed, and stretching her legs in front her. "By stating that my name is in fact Shannon Holmes. I am your great granddaughter, Mr. Holmes although I do believe that I have already pointed that out. My best friend, oddly enough, is one David Watson." She looked at me, "your great grandson, Dr. Watson. I now that the two of you think that I must be insane and the truth is, I thought the very same thing my self, but as my memoury started coming back over the past few days, I remembered what had happened to me."

"Do you mind if I have some of that stuff?" she asked pointing to the brandy on the table across the room. "My father let me have it," she added as an afterthought.

Holmes looked at me, and then back at her, "I see no reason why not."

"Well." I started.

She gave me a sardonic little smile and stood up and walked over to the table. I once again noticed that she was moving somewhat stiffly, but I really did not make anything of it at the time. Picking up a glass, she picked up the bottle and poured herself a generous quantity of the stuff before coming to sit back down. Taking a sip she began again.

"You see, Watson.my Watson that is, and I were working on a case. It was against Moriarty. Yes, there is also a Moriarty in the future as well, how could there not be?" She shrugged, "anyway, I was close on the heels of Moriarty or so I thought. I had some information that he wanted and I would not give to him. This, of course, made him slightly angry with me. Moriarty knew that I would never give him the information but he thought that I might have told Watson. So he kid napped him. I took about three days but I finally found him. When I did, I discovered that he had been interrogated somewhat harder than I would have thought fair. As soon as I had untied her gag, she belatedly informed that it was a trap. Moriarty and several henchmen came walking through the door. After some more interrogation of the two of us Moriarty and his thugs stopped coming. I am not sure how long we were locked up but on what seemed like third of fourth day that they had not come the door opened. Through it walked a person, I am not sure whether or not he was male or female due to the fact that he was covered from head to foot in loose fitting black clothing and had his or face completely covered. He or she untied Watson and took her from the room. As he did so I heard a voice in my mind saying that she was being released and not to worry for nothing was going to happen to him. He then came back into the room several hours later. He began to say odd sounding words and when I woke up I was here. The only thing I had with me is the bag sitting over there in that corner." She pointed to a rather large bag that was sitting next to the door. "The only reason that that was with me is because I had brought it into the room with me, or at least that is the only reason that I can think of. There that is my story, believe it or not."

Holmes and I both sat perfectly still, looking at her and mulling over her words. Finally, after several minutes Holmes spoke up.

"Is your stiffness caused by your interrogation?"

She hesitated, took a deep drink of the brandy and sighed. "Yes, yes it is. Since Moriarty knew that he could not get the information out of me he tried to get it out of Watson, by making him watch as I was.subjected to some very.unpleasant things."

Holmes nodded, "I see. I for one believe you."

I looked over at Holmes. I did not expect him to believe this girl. Why on earth would he. I wanted to be sure.

"If you do not mind, Ms. Holmes, I would like to examine any wounds that you may have to make sure that they are not infected."

She nodded and drank the rest of her brandy in one swift delicate swallow. "I am sure that that might be one of the reasons, Dr. Watson, but you and Watson.David are too much alike. You also want to verify my story."

I blushed for being so easy to read and tried to act as if nothing was at all amiss.

"Do not worry I do not take offense."

She turned her back towards me, "would you mind undoing the clasps for me? Do not worry, I have clothing other than undergarments on underneath."

I walked over and undid the clasps on the back of her dress.

"Thanks," she said as she took off the dress to reveal what I would call a man's undershirt and a pair of tight black pants.

"This is not what I normally wear, it was the only thing that would fit under that infernal dress. Go ahead Dr. Watson, unless blood has seeped through the shirt. I tried to clean my self up a bit but," she shrugged.

I took a step closer to her and lifted the back of her shirt up. I gasped and the next instant Holmes was standing besides me. Her back looked horrible. There were slashes, cuts, welts, bruises and what appeared to burns all over her back.

"Do you believe me now," she asked.

"Yes," I whispered. "I apologize for not believing you."

"That's ok. I am not sure that I would have believed it my self."

"I can, clean these up and put dressings on them... if you want of course," I said blushing. I am after all a man and she was a teenaged girl.

She turned around. "That would be really nice of you but I will not ask you to if it would make you uncomfortable. I can do it on my own, I am used to taking care of my self, but it would be much easier if you were to do it for me." She said smiling at me.

"Alright then, sit on that stool over there." She did as I asked of her as I went and retrieved my medical bag.

"This is going to sting a bit."

She shrugged, " that's fine."

As I was cleaning her wounds, it occurred to me that Holmes had not said anything for quite some time. I looked over to the chair where he had sat down to find him sleeping soundly.

"Ms. Holmes, look," I said pointing at Holmes.

Turning her head to look at him she said, "oh, I know. He fell asleep quite some time ago, but he does look content." She thought for a moment then a slight frown creased her face.

"What is the matter?" I asked.

"What? Oh, nothing. Are you almost done?" she asked, smiling sweetly.

"As a matter of fact I am," I said pulling down the back of her shirt.

"Thanks," she said standing up. She walked silently over to stand next to Holmes. "Wake up, Mr. Holmes, wake up," she said shaking him slightly.

"What is it?" he asked waking up almost instantly.

"Nothing." She smiled. "You fell asleep in your chair and I was waking you up to send you to your bed."

"Oh, I was thinking about that. I wish for you to have my bed, I am more than capable of sleeping on the sofa."

"Nah, don't worry about it. I'll just be going, I did not mean to take so much of you guys's time." She walked over to the door and grabbed her bag.

"Nonsense," Holmes said as he jumped up and walked over to her. "You are staying here, and you are using my bed."

"Since you seem so adamant, I will stay here but you get to use your own bed. I am used to sleeping on couches.sofas and it will not bother in the slightest. Now, please leave my room," she said smiling mischievously and sitting down on the sofa.