Ripple

By: Raven612

Chapter 7: Squidmire the Third

Summary: Sherlock comes up with a new lead and is confident he's got the killer…also some twins mixed in to make things more interesting. Also, there will be a dramatic ending!

A/N: I'm going to cry from lack of reviews. I need them! I cannot write without them! Also, sorry this chapter took so damn long, I just couldn't find my inspiration, but it did come back and I was able to write again! I am going to shamelessly self promote right now. You guys should all follow me on tumblr. I have become very addicted to it. Here is my link, erase spaces of course. ht tp: / malzy07. tumblr .c om / Also, again, no Beta or Brit-pick so I apologize for any errors in the story!

*Day 5 of Hell*

Sherlock scanned through the pages of potential suspects that Lestrade and his crack team had compiled. His gaze narrowed at each name. After he scanned the page for the fifth time he sighed and slapped it down on the desk. He looked up and across to Lestrade sitting opposite him. "He's not on any of these lists," he muttered and pressed the tips of his fingers against his eyes. He couldn't understand it. The man had to be staying in a hotel; unless…Sherlock looked up suddenly his mouth open in an 'o' shape and his eyes went wide.

"Care to fill me in Sherlock?" Lestrade asked as he narrowed his gaze. He hated when Sherlock chased a lead on his own; that's not how things were supposed to be done.

Sherlock looked up with a smirk; he pulled out his phone and began to type frantically, "He isn't in a hotel! He's a New Yorker with a flat here in London. Of course, makes perfect sense now. They've fashioned the killer after Patrick Bateman," Sherlock's grin widened as he hit send and finally looked at Lestrade.

Lestrade sighed, and reached across the table, and picked up the useless pieces of paper and put them back in the file, "I take it you texted Mycroft? Trust he'll point you to the man we're looking for?" the DI asked with a quirked brow and slipped the folder into a drawer.

Sherlock looked up as he slipped the phone in his pocket, "We're looking for an upper class man. He's rich, well connected, well established, has an important job as a day trader, is very intelligent, and frequents London. Of course Mycroft will know him," Sherlock nearly spat, but at the last moment caught himself as a sharp whisper went through his head. Trust John to always chastise him even if he wasn't in the room.

Lestrade nodded and stood from his chair. He arched his back and eased the kinks from his aching lower back, "You better be right about this man this time around Sherlock, I've already expended many of my men and women to the agencies the man is ordering the girls from."

Sherlock shot him a glare. He didn't like that he'd been wrong the first time around, but now that he had the book Moriarty and his man were drawing their inspiration from, he was more confident. He stood abruptly from his chair, "You'll have your man within a few hours. I have to go now," he said in short and clipped tones before turning on his heel and exiting the DI's office.

Lestrade sighed and closed his eyes for a moment. Sherlock had been spending a lot of time in the office to get away from the twins so that he might think, but being at New Scotland Yard was also wearing on the detective. Lestrade actually chuckled a bit at how flustered Sherlock seemed in the past few days. He moved out of his office when Sherlock had gone and found Donovan and Anderson. He filled them in as much as he was able with the new developments. He then sent them both to work pulling up records of any Americans who owned flats in London.

John groaned as he stood from his desk chair. It had been a long day at the surgery. It seemed flu season was officially upon them now. He'd seen patient after patient for three hours straight and even had to skip lunch for one particularly crotchety old woman who insisted she was dying. John sighed as he turned to gaze out his window. Fall was fading quickly and winter was swiftly moving in to take its place.

"John, sorry to bother you but you've got one more patient," Sarah said as she poked her head into his office.

John turned to face her and frowned, he'd checked his schedule, he was a free man. He opened his mouth to protest, but instead he said, "Alright, send them in," and he deflated again into his chair. He stated to scribble a few notes and start a list of items and groceries for on his way home when the clicking of footsteps interrupted his thinking. He looked up, and his eyes widened for a moment.

"Afternoon doctor Watson," the man said with a cordial grin and sat in the chair next to John's desk.

John blinked, then narrowed his gaze, "Sebastian," he greeted icily. To be frank, John rather disliked the man. They had served together briefly in the army, and from what John had seen there, Sebastian seemed to be a bastard of a man with deadly accurate aim.

Sebastian himself only grinned widely before settling back in his chair, "It's been a while John, just heard you were in London not long ago from some mates. A little birdie even told me where to find you."

John didn't say anything. He looked down at the chart a nurse had given him, "Chest pains, am I to believe that?" he asked as he looked up eyeing the man.

Sebastian chuckled, "I just wanted to come say hi. Didn't think you'd fancy meeting me for a pint unless I spoke to you in person," he said with a slight shrug, "faking chest pain was a pretty simple solution," he amended as John put the chart off to the side.

"Well, then take this as my formal declination of meeting you for anything." John told him coldly and set his shoulders stiffly.

Sebastian grinned and put his cap back onto his head, "Well then mate, it was nice seeing you again, maybe we'll run into one another some other time," Sebastian grinned again and pushed himself to his feet, "until then, take care of yourself…doctor," he winked and started to whistle a war song as he exited John's office.

John had turned in his seat to watch the man exit. Only after the sound of his whistling died did John let himself relax. He let out a breath and brought his right hand up and rubbed it against his eyes. He hated reminders of his past, and seeing Sebastian Moran was not on his list of things he wanted to do today, or ever. He couldn't even fathom why the man had come to see him, they didn't know one another very well. He let his hand fall back to his side and he stood from his chair. He shrugged out of his white jacket and moved to the small cabinet along his wall and opened it. He grabbed his black jacket and put it on. He then grabbed his phone from the desk and slipped it into his pocket. He wrapped a scarf around his neck and exited his office.

Sarah looked up from the front desk and smiled, "Off for the day then?" she asked him. John was eternally grateful that she didn't seem to hold anything against him for ending their relationship to pursue Sherlock; if anything she greatly encouraged them.

John forced a smile for her and nodded, "Off to get the twins and some groceries, winters on its way, have to prepare for it," he told her with a small smile.

Sarah nodded, "See you in the morning then, have a good night doctor Watson," she called to him as he exited the small surgery.

John waved back at her before turning to face the cold day. He frowned and shoved his hands into his pockets. He'd have about a block to walk in order to successfully hail a cab; he didn't seem to possess the cab hailing powers that his lover did. John walked briskly to keep himself warm, his shoulder hunched up to his ears. He was glad that he'd taken the extra time to bundle the twins up this morning, otherwise they'd be the next ones to fall ill. John groaned inwardly at the thought…if they weren't ill already anyways. He shivered just thinking of what could be contained by the walls of their daycare. Finally John reached the block he needed. He stepped up to the curb and lifted his hand into the air to hail a cab. Three cabbies passed him by before the fourth one finally stopped. John thanked whatever was looking after him and slipped in. He gave the cabbie the address of the daycare and sat back to re-warm himself.

Ten minutes later John found himself standing in the doorway of the room where Annabelle and James had their daycare. Annabelle stood on one side looking very miffed while James clung to John's knees and took to hiding behind him.

"If it happens again Mr. Watson, I will not allow them to come back," the woman said to him.

John flinched and shot Anna a look before tiredly nodding his head, "Understood Miss Lee. I'll be having a little chat with Annabelle when we get home tonight," he informed the teacher sternly as his gaze slid down to his niece. Anna huffed and crossed her arms and looked away from him.

"Good," the woman nodded and turned on her heel. John tried very hard to not crack a smile when he saw the line of red pain staining the back of her trousers. Anna saw it and she grinned widely.

"Come on Anna," he sighed and held his hand out for her.

"She deserved it Uncle John, really she did," Anna protested a few minutes later as they sat in the back of a cab.

John frowned, "She's your instructor Anna, you don't go and paint her chair just because she gave you a low mark on your writing," he told her as he leaned forward a bit.

Anna glared hard at him, "Mummy always told me to stand up for myself," she retorted and crossed her arms and swung her head to look out the window.

"I'm sure mummy didn't mean that you go and paint your teacher when she said that though," he muttered, "no telly for you for three days now," he said to her sternly as way to dissuade her from making an argument, and when she opened her mouth to do so, John gave her a sharp look and shook his head.

Anna stuck her tongue out and resumed staring out the window into the cold grey day.

A bag of frozen peas smacked John square in his temple. He glared and bent to pick them up. As he stood up he was met with James standing in the cart glaring, "I hate peas Uncle John, mummy never makes me eat them," he mumbled.

John threw the peas back in the cart, "Well, I'm not your mummy now am I?" he retorted and bent to the side to grab a few ripe tomatoes.

James bent to pick up the peas again, "I said no peas," he tossed them over the cart then instead of at John.

John sighed and pushed the cart forward and picked them up again, "I don't care if you eat them or not, I need them for the flat," he said and set them in the cart a bit further from James. He then looked around. He'd sent Anna to get some bread five minutes ago. John turned the cart to go look for her.

Crackling sounded overhead, "John Watson, we have your niece at the customer service desk, John Watson, your niece is looking for you," a female voice sounded above his head.

John shuddered, "Oh what the bloody hell now?" he steamed and started to push the cart with a bit more force towards the front of the store. He went up to the counter, "I'm John Watson," he told the woman behind it in a tired tone.

The woman grinned and pushed open the counter door and shoved Anna out, "This belongs to you then," she said and the door closed with a snap.

John looked down. Anna's face was covered in chocolate and other colors. He groaned and pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and knelt to the ground to clean her off, "I knew it, I knew I should have just brought you both home and done the shopping alone but I can't trust you and I bloody well can't trust Sherlock," he muttered to himself as he mopped up Anna's face.

Anna made a noise and pulled her head from John's grasp, "Stop it, I'm clean," she huffed and crossed her arms and stuck her bottom lip out.

John sighed and put his handkerchief back into his pocket, "We're going home," he announced and took them through the nearest check-out.

Sherlock didn't bother looking up when he heard John and the twins come into the flat. He ignored the two hellions as they whizzed past him and towards their room. He still didn't look up when he heard John set the groceries down with more force than was necessary. He kept his gaze on the book open in front of him. He'd read the novel in one sitting and was now looking for clues. Mycroft still hadn't gotten back to him, and Lestrade hadn't managed to pull the right man into the yard.

"Earth to Sherlock, I said I could use some help," John snapped as he stood in front of Sherlock and plucked the book from his hand.

Sherlock looked up, "John, I'm trying to catch a killer," he said and snatched his book back from his partner.

John glared and opened his mouth to throw something insulting at the detective, but as suddenly as the urge to be angry came, it left. He let out a breath instead and sagged as he turned back to the kitchen. Sherlock cocked a brow. John usually put up more fight, something was wrong. Sherlock set the novel off to the side and followed John. He stopped in the doorway as we watched John put the shopping away.

"What happened?" Sherlock asked him quietly; hoping to not grate even more on the doctor's obviously warn nerves.

John sighed and rocked back on the balls of his feet after putting a box of cereal into a cupboard. "Got a visit from an old army bloke, Anna misbehaved at daycare today, and both of the twins were an utter nightmare at the market," John sighed as he turned to face Sherlock. He leaned back against the counter.

Sherlock frowned and tipped his head, "The man from the army, not happy to see him?" Usually John enjoyed seeing his friends from the service and would actually be in better spirits afterwards.

John snorted and moved from the counter to the table to grab takeaway menus. He was not in the mood to cook, "He's not exactly on my list of friends," John admitted dryly and fished out the Chinese menu.

Sherlock narrowed his gaze. He didn't like what John was saying, "What did he do?"

John blinked, confused for a moment, then realized Sherlock meant what Sebastian had done to earn such a place in John's book, John shrugged, "Other than the fact that he's an arse and was discharged from the army…I suppose he didn't do anything. He's just got that personality," John said with a thoughtful expression. Sebastian had never done anything to John to warrant his dislike, there was just something about him that didn't seem to rub John the right way.

Sherlock nodded, "I'd still like it if you stayed away from him," Sherlock muttered and looked down as John came to stand in front of him.

John smirked, "Don't worry, I told him to bugger off. He was just looking to have a chat," John told him with a disinterested shrug and then pressed the Chinese menu to Sherlock's chest, "order please, I need to take a shower," John sighed before pushing himself up to press a quick kiss to Sherlock's lips.

Sherlock pressed his own lips to John's and wound his arms around the doctor to pull him in closer. One of his hands went between them and covered the one John had on his chest. He smirked and pulled the menu from his grasp, "I'll fill you in on the case when the twins are in bed," Sherlock promised against John's lips.

John nodded and settled back on his feet. He didn't ask about the case while the twins were awake and Sherlock never pressed it. "Have you made progress at least?" John asked him as he pulled away to go to the bathroom.

Sherlock turned to follow him with hungry eyes, "Yes, I'm still waiting for Mycroft to hold up his end, but we're getting very close," he told the ever fading back of his lover.

"Good," John said before stepping into the bathroom and closing the door.

Sherlock grinned and went back into the living room to grab his phone and order supper. He was striding past the mantle when the familiar beep reached his ears. He stopped and a shiver of dread slipped down his spine. He turned to look at his skull. He reached out one long arm and picked it up to reveal the pink phone hiding beneath it. He picked up the phone. There was one new text message. Sherlock unlocked the phone and opened the message.

Good evening Sherlock. Your pet seems to be exhausted tonight. No matter, I don't want to discuss him, instead, I want to know, can you be in two places at once? When it really matters my dear, can you manage to be in two places at once? Did you know I can?

JM

A/N: So, what do we think? I decided to be a bit creative with Sebastian xD Please review, it helps me to update faster! I really want to know how you guys like this story! This story does get a ton of action, but I still really need to know your thoughts and feelings on it! Thanks so much for reading! I love you all so very much! Also, shout-out to skyfullofstars. You all should read her stuff. It's all really freaking amazing! Alright, review! hehe