Chapter 8: Sherrinford's Salvation~
"Ok, so, we don't wanna know about your days as an assassin. That's outside my division..."
Sherlock was pacing the room ,like a tiger on watch duty. "For once it's beneficial when you say that!" he cried in exasperation, throwing a hand in the air.
Any other time, Greg would have been irritated by this outburst. But knowing now what he knew about Sherlock, he couldn't be angry with even his most off-putting traits. The kid was just very ,very misunderstood, and clearly no one had ever sought to help him. Not even his foster parents, which was the question of the day...
"Ok, so Mary..." Greg continued, taking her hand. Now that it was her turn, and she could remember, she was scared. John was holding her around the waste, feeling the bruises Sherlock had accidently put there.
"It's ok..."Greg whispered, as Mary's eyes went wide with terror. "What can you remember about the day of Sherlock's accident? About the day your foster family told you your brother "Billy" died..."
Mary swallowed. "Mum, -and by "Mum" I mean Chaya-had taken us to the park. Redbeard was just a puppy, and liked to chew on things a little too much-" Sherlock's ears pricked .He would have to delete any theories of the Keys trying to play with his head ,by giving him a pet they turned around and made him put down. Cleary Redbeard had been his before he went to live with them.
"He was a little puppy, like he still fit in Mum's book bag. She loved to read,and take pictures. When she and Dad -and when I say "Dad", I mean Nigel Holmes, an MI6 officer,and trained assasin that my Mum met while they were working on a mission together-anyway, when she and Dad got out , we were relocated, all 6 of us(if you count Redbeard) by Dad's superiors ,into Outer London. I actually don't really remember where exactly we lived, I mean me and Sherlock were only 7, (I am 3 hours older than Sherlock,and always held that over his head when we were little,and I wanted to be bossy). But Mum had opened a studio, and ,for practice ,she was gonna take me and Sherlock's pictures-Mycroft was at a friends house for the day, not very far from the old home on the river ,with a really cool old garden, and a view of the old warehouse in the background, that had been converted into a playground-where she was taking these pictures..."
Sherlock froze midstep,and clutched the table, remembering this detail,
"Sherlock, darling! You aren't LOOKING at the camera!"
"Baby, look in the lense, Mummy wants to see your lovely eyes in her pictures."
"Oi, Sherlock, It took me 9 months to make your gorgeous little face, now will you turn it towards the BLASTED lense?!"
His mother... her long dark, curly hair. He had gotten his hair from his mother, his fine cheekbones from his father, and his eyes were a mixture of both. Mary had her daddy's eyes, huge and blue, and her hair was more auburn than blonde as a little girl(she kept it dyed now, Sherlock had suspected this for a long time).
"See, Sherlock, dear, Sherrinford is smiling! She likes this, don't you ,darling?Even Redbeard is smiling, and he's only a tiny puppy! Ok, we'll take a break for a minute, so we can eat lunch. Mummy's gonna run to the truck real quick and get it. I bought you some figs, Sherlock, you like those, yeah?Bubbeh Goldier's favorite! Try not to look so cross, I don't make you take pictures all the time..."
Mary swallowed now, trying, and failing, not to cry. John clutched her closer, full of dread.
"She never came back..."
"Oi, what's TAKING her so long! Wanna get this over, so I can try out my new magnifying glass..."
"Why can't we play detective WITHOUT it?"
"Because a proper detective needs one..."
"We don't need a glass, we need a Redbeard. He can smell the nasty blokes out..."
Which is exactly what he did.
"Redbeard got nervous,and started to yip and whine."Mary recalled. "Sherlock went to see what was taking forever, and when he came back his face was white."
"What?"
"Sherry...Mum's not at the truck..."
"Not?But she said.."Sherrinford got scared,and started to cry.
"The nasty blokes.."Sherlock whispered."Sherry come on...I need you and Redbeard to stake out for me..."
"There was this really beautiful bird-bath statue thing in the garden,called the "Baptism of Christ" that had a statue depicitng the Christ rising from baptism, with a dove seated on His palm. And between his feet was a bird-bath, that had long ago dryed up. Sherlock stuck me down inside of it,and put Redbeard squirming on my lap,and buried us in leaves...Then he went to see where Mum was gone, or rather..."Mary started to cry,and Sherlock bowed his head, raven hair falling over his face like curtains at the show's end.
"Alright ,Mr. Christ, Sir." Sherlock was chewing his lip,"Look out for them. I'll be right back..."
"Sherlock?!"
"Stay here, and keep an eye out. And don't let the puppy follow me...he'll only make noises."
"Sher-"
"Stay!It's alright."
Mary was looking at Sherlock now with an expression that could only be described as love.
"You -and the Christ statue-saved my life that day. And I never got to thank you, or even tell you I was ok. The last time I saw you, you were in a coma, not expected to wake up. But to ease your mind atlast, Redbeard got really scaired and started to howl. Mycroft and Winsor, his friend from down the street, heard the awful noise,and had seen mum's truck. And then... Mycroft smelled smoke. Winsor ran and got his parents, to call firefighters;Mycroft ran full blast for the burning warehouse, and..and found you...He was only 14, it was so hard!..."Mary was shaking her head...and swallowed."Winsor,-bless him!-had the sense to dial our dad from his house, and he came flying on two wheels. By then I was at Winsor's house,and his mum had given me cocoa,and tried to calm me down,-I was completely hysterical! And after...when Mum was buried,and they pulled the plug on your life support, Dad rejoined MI6. He left Mycroft with you, because he couldn't bare to leave you while you were passing, even if you didn't know you were alone...But he took me with him...Which was the start of my career as an assasin-in-training..."
Mycroft nodded. "Might 've joined you later. But Sherlock, eventually, woke up."
"How?"John asked, absolutely dumbstruck by this story.
Sherlock laughed,"Redbeard..."