Chapter Nine

There was a tentative knock on DI Lestrade's office door. Lestrade frowned, puzzled, all his subordinates never knocked that mildly, and Sherlock never knocked at all. He put his pen down, he could finish his report later. "Come in."

The door opened and Sasaki poked her head in timidly. "Hello, is..." Her eyes fell on the unfinished report. "...Is now not a good time?"

Lestrade followed her gaze and quickly put the stationary away, shaking his head. "No, now's a fine a time as any." He smiled a little in a valiant effort to let the girl relax. "Come on in."

Sasaki sidled into the office and seated herself on a chair opposite the desk. "My name is Sasaki- you probably already knew that, though." she rambled. "I just wanted to come in and meet you officially and to thank you for everything you've done. I heard alot about you."

Lestrade nodded sagely at her. "And I you. I'm Lestrade." He began fiddling with a paper weight awkwardly. "I don't know if Sherlock, or anybody informed you about Katheryn Whitefield and Rodger Finnigan."

Sasaki nodded. "Sherlock told me your officers dug Katheryn out of the exploded building. And I saw Roger on my way out of his apartment."

"Best stay out of trouble from now on, eh?"

Sasaki chuckled. "I honestly love the adventure, but you're right about that."

Lestrade nodded. "So, you'll be returning to Japan, I gather?"

"I live there, yes. Seems an unchangeable destiny." Sasaki chuckled.

Lestrade nodded again, then narrowed his eyes. "So, you can tell me, what are you really here for?"

Sasaki raised her hands in mock defeat. "Alright! You got me!" She smiled sheepishly. "The thing is, I have to catch a plane back to Japan in the afternoon." She shrugged her shoulders helplessly. "I didn't exactly enjoy the thought of going through airport security talking and acting like an eccentric consulting detective."

Lestrade chuckled heartily. "Smart girl. What about the doctor?"

A grimace graced Sasaki's features. "Uh, he's- well, scraping gunk off their microwave. I didn't want to interrupt." Lestrade winced. "Mrs. Hudson is also out shopping for disinfectant."

"Ah, I see, that would cause a bit of a problem, wouldn't it?" Sasaki nodded grimly.

"Sherlock also forbid me from meeting with Sergent Donovan and a man named Anderson." By Sasaki's tone, she had no idea who they were.

"First smart thing he's ever done." Lestrade quipped.

"I'm having alot more mental clarity now, though, thanks." Lestrade let out a snorting laugh and covered his mouth with his hand.

"That's good. You'd better be off, then, shouldn't you?" Both he and Sasaki looked at their respective watches.

"Uh, huh, yup. I'll be seeing you... sometime." Sasaki smiled awkwardly as she left.

Sasaki grumbled as she wrestled with her baggage, she rarely brought much, but she was small so it made everything a little bigger. She sighed and went to line up at her designated gate, gripping her ticket and passport. She peeked ahead to see how many people were lining up before her and her heart sank. She'd be here for several minutes.

Her shoulder's sank in resignation and she looked around to distract herself while she waited. She saw a curly, black head sticking out awkwardly above the sea of heads and almost laughed. Sherlock heard her snickering and had to slouch a little to find her. "What are you doing here?" Sasaki asked him, stifling another laugh as Sherlock stubbed his toe on a bag lying on the ground.

"Investigating. One of the staff members here was found dead in the baggage department and nobody wants to create a scene by calling in the police." Sherlock replied, sticking his hands in his pocket nonchalantly.

Sasaki peered around the detective. "Where's John?"

"At Baker Street, right where you left him." Sherlock snickered at his flatmate. "Poor bloke." Then he shrugged his shoulders after a lengthy pause. "Well, I suppose I'd better apologize. I hadn't been the best of hosts while you were visiting."

"Not for the lack of trying, Sherlock." Sasaki smiled reassuringly at him. "Besides, I was bored, and your experiments were entertaining." She made a face. "Well, when they didn't explode, that is."

Sherlock nodded with a laugh. "Of course." Sasaki passed her ticket to the stewardess and was let through.

"So, see you next vacation, then?" She smiled at Sherlock.

"See you then." Sherlock nodded.

Sasaki waved at him, turned on her heel, and walked away.