This won't make much sense if you haven't read Brothers in Arms first
"Are you going to tell me what information we need?"
He made no reply, his firm grip keeping me upright against the crowd and gusting wind. With the rest of the gang captured, I would have expected him to go after the ringleaders, not lead me through winding backstreets.
"Holmes?"
"You will see. It is not far."
I scowled at him, but someone shoved through the crowd ahead of us before I could try again. I barely braced myself before the stranger slammed into me.
"Sorry, mate!" One hand reached out as if to catch me, retreating when he saw Holmes' arm in mine. A tip of his hat saw him resume his hurried pace, though not quite the same degree of shoving.
"How do you expect me to help when I don't know for what we are looking?"
"You will know when you see it."
I doubted that, highly, though I would not say as much. I simply hoped wherever we were going had a chair. Holmes would never pause this lengthy denouement for something so "trivial" as food, but the lack of real meals was beginning to catch up with me. I leaned on him far more than I wanted.
We turned into the next alley, and I could not conceal a sigh of relief. The crowds proved just as challenging as the incoming weather front. At least the debris filling the alley did not push back.
Though it still tried to trip me. I carefully moved around a broken pallet.
"You know I help better if I understand the situation going in." A loose cobblestone tried to turn my ankle. "If only the two ringleaders are free, what do you need to investigate?"
"We," he corrected, "and something important. Turn here."
He took the narrower of two possible paths, still steadying me by the arm, but a glance sparked a worried frown. He slowed marginally.
"We are almost there."
I waved him off. He did not need to know how poorly I felt. The longer we walked, the more I wanted to sit. The void twisting my middle did not help matters.
"I'm fine. Just—" The maze of alleys funneled the wind into one intersection, and I fought to keep my balance. "Just been on my feet for a while," I finished. A while. Not "too long." I would not give him any more reasons to leave me behind. He had plenty of those already. "Where are we going?"
"This way." His smirk only partially broke free. "Is that why you are limping?"
Technically, but I would not yet admit that I had overdone it. "I always limp. You know that."
"Not this much." Keen eyes surveyed my uneven gait. "You are leaning on me more than you were earlier."
"Storm." I took some of my weight off his arm. The weather would account for part of the problem, though mostly my limp. We had not been able to bring my cane with us.
"That still does not explain your posture," he retorted accurately—and irritatingly. "I thought you said your ribs had healed?"
"They have—" I nearly tripped over a large piece of debris. A hand against the wall prevented him from having to catch me. "I'm fine. What do we need from a back alley?"
He made no answer, repeated glances noting my slow pace and how frequently I supported myself on him or the wall.
"Honestly," I insisted. "I'm fine. Stop staring at me."
He let out a faint harrumph but said nothing else, and I let the silence stretch. As much I wanted to know where we were going, I did not want him to know just how much I struggled to keep up with him. If not for this case, I would still be all but confined to the settee, and the occasional bout of vertigo declared me close to my limit. I would have to slow down soon to avoid a relapse.
Not yet, though. We would finish the case today. I could make it that long. Especially if I could sit down for a few minutes.
He stopped next to a cracked brick wall, letting go of me to fumble with a key, and a nearly invisible door swung open to reveal one of his lesser-used boltholes. Complete with a table, a chair, and a small sofa, it looked very much like every other hideaway we had used in the last days, but the smell hit me before I could wonder what we needed from a cramped hole in the wall.
"Holmes?"
He pretended not to hear, his full attention apparently on the Simpson's dish sitting on the small table. Only one restaurant in the city saw nothing wrong with bringing your own plate to take the meal to an invalid.
Or to a bolthole. Another dish sat nearby.
"Holmes, since when does luncheon qualify as reconnaissance?"
I could not see his face, but something in his shoulders suggested he smothered a grin. "Since Simpson's added another dish to their menu," he answered, his tone serious despite the amusement he obviously tried to hide. My surprise pleased him. "Eat, Watson. O'Brian will only wait so long for news."
I slowly took my own serving to the sofa, my stomach growling at the still-warm food filling the plate. We had not had access to anything like a real meal since our last night at Baker Street, which meant, when we considered my illness, I had not had anything more substantial than stale rations since before I fell sick. The entire dish smelled heavenly.
That did not mean I believed his assertion.
"On what are you waiting?"
"You to eat." Facetiousness did nothing to cover the beginnings of irritation leaking into the words. "Can I not pause for a meal?"
"Not when you usually ignore any mention of food until you grow faint from hunger," I shot back, quickly wiping the sauce dripping down my chin. "Is Carver or Johnson searching for information?"
He finally glanced up to let me see his scowl. "Carver." The grudging answer carried a hint of amusement—that I had deduced his reasoning—mixed with frustration that I had called him on it. "I asked him to check the hideouts to ensure the Yard captured the entire gang. We cannot confront O'Brian until he alone is free."
"How long do we have?"
"Not long." Two large bites finished the rest of his meat. He had been hungrier than he would admit. "Stop talking and eat."
I did not need to stop talking to eat. He glanced up again when I chuckled.
"Ready when you are."
Disbelief flicked his gaze between my empty plate and the smirk turning my mouth. The military had taught me how to eat quickly.
And hunger. Hunger had also contributed to how fast I ate, but I would not tell him just how satisfying a real meal had been. While stale bread and the occasional bit of meat would keep a healthy man going, it did not facilitate recovery. I felt full for the first time in days.
"You need to teach me how to do that."
"But then I wouldn't get to see your surprise each time." My grin widened as I mopped up the sauce. "You know I had to be ready at a moment's notice. If someone invaded camp, we could hardly wait to finish a meal before defending ourselves."
He did not turn away quickly enough to hide a shot of amusement, probably remembering the "pawky" comment I had included the last time we had discussed this.
"The ability would be useful for cases."
"Why, so you can continue to skip meals, just at double the speed?" I ducked a pea. "Now who needs to hurry up and eat?"
He grumbled something about "proper decorum at work" but pushed the plate away.
"So I do not lose a trail," he corrected, making me dodge another pea. "Come. Carver should be done by now."
Feeling much better, I set my depleted plate next to his to follow him out the door. We soon reentered the crowd on our way to that run-down manor—and resumed the discussion he had started on the way to the bolthole.
"I'm fine, Holmes. Stop acting like you expect me to collapse."
He merely tightened his grip against an ill-timed gust of wind.
Hope you enjoyed this little missing scene! :) Don't forget to drop your thoughts below
Fireguardian 22: Thank you very much for your kind words! Also, good catch on its ties to the Moving On series. Yes, this is meant to tie in to that, but then, so do many of my stories touching on the post-Reichenbach reaction. It's the fun of having all my stories dovetail into each other :)
Corynutz: So glad you enjoyed. And yes, I had quite a bit of fun exploring how several of my AU scenes might have played out "canonically." I still have a few others to incorporate, I believe, but Brothers in Arms worked nicely for many of them :D
JannerWingfeather: and thank you for the review. each one makes my day :)
