The Torchwood team, plus John and Sherlock and the visiting Dr. Jones, assembled in the conference room to receive the update from Owen and Martha about what they learned from Marie before her death. Marie had confirmed Sherlock's deduction that she had been cured of her HIV infection. Marie had attributed it to the drug called "Reset", but that was all that she got out before flat-lining.
"Reset, Obviously." Sherlock drawled. "That unidentified substance that you had found in her bloodstream from the initial tests."
Just as Ianto arrived with their extra large order of Chinese food, the image of the alien parasite, dozens of which flew from Marie's body after her death, was cast up on the screen. They all marveled at the beauty of the strange creature as well as the terrible irony of how it cured the host's ails only to kill them as it developed inside them.
"Still gives me shivers." whispered Martha to Gwen. "I've seen a lot of stuff in my time but I think I'll have nightmares about those little guys crawling up my nostrils or in my hair for weeks!"
"When you two are done giggling like school girls and the rest of you are done shoveling dim sum in your faces, perhaps I can hear about the rest of the details." Said Sherlock. His empty plate laid before him as if accusing the others of gluttony. John swallowed a large bite and put down his chopsticks.
"That's it. That's all we've got. There is no drug called 'Reset' or one that has that particular chemical make-up cited in any recent papers or research applications. Without knowing where the clinical trials of this stuff are being done, there it no way to track it down." replied Owen with a tone that indicated that he did not appreciate being mocked for lack of thoroughness.
Sherlock pushed back from the table on his rolling chair. He straightened his posture and but tucked both legs as if preparing to meditate. His eyes stared ahead but lost focus.
He waved his hand dismissively and said "Leave me! I need to go to my mind palace. Hopefully, thanks to the information that John and I gathered during the investigation, there will be enough to go on."
Sherlock steepled his fingers under his chin.
John Watson rolled his eyes and waited for the inevitable question.
"I'm sorry, your what?" Gwen ventured.
John took an inhale in preparation to explain, but Ianto Jones beat him to the punch.
"It's a memory tool. It's a way of mapping information into different areas of the brain, like storing things in files in a hard drive, but always with a trail of breadcrumbs. In essence, if done right, you won't ever forget anything. But it may take a while to track down the right trail of crumbs."
"SSShhhhhhhh!" Said Sherlock, breaking the spell of his concentration. "Correct, but ssshhhhhhhh!"
John rose. "Captain Harkness, can we borrow your office for a bit?"
"Have at it gentleman, just don't do anything I wouldn't do." He snickered.
"That's a pretty short list, Jack." muttered Ianto whilst removing the napkin that was protecting his suit from splatters of soy sauce. He held the door to Jack's office open with an accommodating grin.
John gripped the back of Sherlock's chair and wheeled him right on through. Although it was an undignified form of transport, Sherlock didn't seem to mind. A moment later John re-appeared and quickly grabbed a container of lo mein.
"This could take a a few minutes or a few hours. And he usually starts talking to me when he comes out of it, even if I'm not in the room, so I better..." the doctor trailed off as he joined Sherlock and then shut the door behind him.
Everyone ate in comfortable silence for some length of time, flipping through the info on their computers and pointing things out to each other. Gwen started getting fidgety, glancing at the door to Jack's office a few times.
"Soooo..." she started in an overly-casual tone. "What do we think of the other mystery in our midst?" She received a few confused gazes and a few knowing ones in return.
"C'mon!? Are they a couple or no? I can't be the only one wondering, right?"
"I've always said no. Based on John's blog, he's dated women. But he hasn't wrote anything along those lines in a while. And now, seeing them together..." said Tosh.
"Do you think anyone could stand being in a relationship with that wanker, though?" asked Owen, who was clearly no longer as big of a fan of the detective.
"What do you think, Jack? This is more your department, yeah?" asked Martha.
Jack leaned back in his chair and folded his hands behind his head. He gave a thoughtful look towards the closed door of his office. "They remind me of relationships forged in the heat of battle. They are clearly really close. Have a kind of unspoken communication. Protective. Possessive even. Romance? Not sure yet. Maybe they aren't sure yet. But soul mates of some form or another? I'd place good money on it."
Ianto shot him a confused look.
"What?" said Jack.
"You believe in soul mates? You?" asked Ianto.
"Yeah! And you don't?" posed Jack in return, bordering on defensive.
The door of Jack's office burst open. "Pharm! Computer! Now!"
Sherlock had his hands on Tosh's keyboard before she even properly cleared out of her seat.
"What about a farm, now?" asked Gwen.
"Not 'farm' with an 'f', 'pharm' as in 'pharmaceuticals. Do keep up. In Marie's planner, right before she stopped going to her HIV support group meetings, she had a notation simply marked "Ph". I was able to make the connection through an article I once read about the founder, a Dr. Aaron Copeland, who is a leader in his field in..."
"Immunology! Yeah, I cited his work in my doctoral thesis quite a bit." interjected Owen.
"And where is the Pharm located? Why just outside of Cardiff of course." ended Sherlock, just as the facility's website popped up on the wall screen.
Sherlock relinquished Toshiko's computer back to her as he paced the room. She tried to access the Pharm's network but to no avail. If they could keep Tosh out, then clearly they had the capacity to get into the NHS's database to wipe records.
"Looks like we will need to make a house call to Dr. Copeland. Owen, you're with me." said Jack.
The two men were almost out the door, Sherlock right on their tail. "Come along, John." he said.
Jack turned on his heel with military precision. He walked up to Sherlock's face, standing toe to toe. "NO."
"What do you mean, no? You need me. I'll be able to take one look at Copland and tell you his life story and how best to predict what his next moves will be. You need me, Captain." said Sherlock. He didn't flinch but actually stepped closer into Jack's space to make his point.
With an exasperated huff, Jack gave in. "Fine! But let Owen and I do all the talking. And John, you stay here and assist Martha in further analysis. We don't need to barnstorm his office with a party of four."
Sherlock shot John a cheeky, victorious grin before tailing Captain Harkness and Dr. Harper out.
John settled into the lab with Martha Jones. He felt a bit out of his league, but Martha was kind and didn't mind explaining what she needed him to do. John was checking samples under the high-powered microscope as Ianto placed a cup of coffee at his elbow.
"Ta" said John. He motioned toward the microscope he was using "You all have all first rate kit around here, yeah? Sherlock would act like a kid on Christmas if one of these things landed on his workspace a our kitchen table."
Martha seized the opportunity to ask "So, you two are flatmates, then?"
"Yeah. Most think I'm crazy for it, but, well, I'm never bored."
The fondness in Dr. Watson's tone was not lost on Martha or Ianto. They exchanged a look. Martha dove back in.
"So are you too, you know, more than flatmates then?" she asked.
"Don't mind Martha, John. She's on a roll with the questions about people's personal lives lately. Earlier I had to field questions about Jack's 'dabbling'."
John nearly choked on his coffee. Once recovered he replied "I'm not gay, actually."
"Sorry. We didn't mean to pry. I'm sure you get that question a lot. You and Sherlock being as close of friends as you clearly are." Ianto said.
"One might use the term soul-mates, even." Martha added.
"But don't worry. None of us here put too much weight in those types of titles and definitions." Then Ianto leaned in closer to John under the premise of stacking some papers. He dropped his voice so only John could here. "But for the record, John. You never really answered the question, not properly. And also, I'm not gay either. It's just Jack. It's...just him. Sometimes things just work out that way."