Hey guys, I'm back! I hope you all had a happy Thanksgiving and ate lots of yummy homemade treats! I know I certainly did.
Well, judging by the comments that I've received from the last chapter, general consensus is that the audience wants to kill/cause horrible bodily harm to Wallace for what he's done...don't you worry, friends, he'll get what's coming to him soon enough!
In this chapter, Basil and company head back to London, and Danielle gets a visit from a very special guest.
The next day was one full of misery and sadness. After burying Hiram in a quick but meaningful midnight ceremony at a local cemetery, the Baker Street mice boarded an early morning train back to London. Basil and Dawson sat together in one aisle, and Mrs. Judson and Olivia sat in the aisle behind them. Olivia was crying over the death of her father and the kidnapping of her sister, and Mrs. Judson was hugging her and trying to comfort her. "There, there, sweetie. Your father is in a better place now. It'll be all right."
"What do we do now, Basil?" Dawson asked the detective, who was wistfully looking out the window at the passing scenery, his deerstalker hat resting on his lap.
Basil sighed as he fingered the brim of his hat. "I'm afraid there's nothing we CAN do, Doctor."
"Nothing we can do? But we have to find Danielle!"
Basil shook his head, tears stinging his eyes. "It's no use, Dawson. We'll never be able to catch up to Wallace before he does anything to Danielle. And even if we did, I doubt she'd even want to see me. She probably hates me after what I said. I let her believe that I could love her when I can't. I let her down. No, I can't do a thing."
"Can't do a thing?" Olivia repeated, standing up on the seat. "Can't do a thing?! You're Basil of Baker Street! You figured out where my father was when Professor Ratigan kidnapped him! You stopped the professor from murdering the Queen! You saved me when I was about to get crushed by those big gears in the clock tower! You can do ANYTHING! And I know that you can save Danielle. You just have to get over your past and believe in yourself!"
Basil looked over at the little girl, amazed. "Such wisdom coming from such a young mouth." He smiled. "You're right, Miss Flamiel..."
"Flaversham."
"Right, sorry. I CAN do anything! WE can do anything!" Basil put his hat back on his head. "We'll start the search as soon as we reach London. We are going to find Danielle and bring her back!"
Meanwhile, at Wallace's flat, Danielle was being dressed and waited on by several maids. They were all extremely kind and friendly to the young woman, but she felt too depressed to notice. Just then, Wallace came in.
"My sainted mother, God rest her soul, wore this dress on her wedding day," he told his future bride, who didn't look him in the eye once. "However, her beauty pales in comparison to yours." His eye caught the gold necklace around Danielle's neck. "Ugh! You don't REALLY want to get married with THAT ugly old thing around your neck, do you?" Wallace took the necklace off of Danielle, who didn't even try to fight back, and set it on the vanity she was seated at. He then took out a silver necklace with a diamond pendant and put it around her neck. "There you go. NOW you look like the perfect bride. Come now, ladies, let's leave the future Mrs. Wallace to finish preparing by herself. I'll come get you when it's time to go to the church, my love." They all left, leaving Danielle alone and hopeless.
Danielle groaned and buried her face in her hands. "So this is where my life is going. I'm wearing the dress of a woman I've never met, about to marry a man I can't stand!"
"So then why are you marrying him?" Danielle jumped at the familiar-sounding voice. No, it couldn't be...could it? She lifted her head and slowly turned around to see her father standing behind her. "Daddy? Is it really you?"
Ratigan smiled sadly. "In a manner of speaking, yes. It's really me, but I am but an apparition. I can't do anything but talk to you...no matter how much I want to hold my baby girl again."
Danielle sighed. "Oh, Daddy, I don't know what to do. I absolutely HATE Wallace and the thought of spending the rest of my life with him makes me sick to my stomach, but if I don't marry him he'll have Olivia killed! Why did I have to get involved in all of this?" She looked over at her father's ghost. "You were always so much smarter than I am! You never would have gotten into this gigantic mess!" She started to cry with frustration.
"You're right, I never would have gotten into this gigantic mess," Ratigan admitted. "But that has nothing to do with being smart, my little honey bunny. It's all about caring for someone other than yourself, something you've always been FAR better at than I ever was. The only reason you're even thinking about going through with this is because you care about Olivia's safety. But if being with Wallace really does, as you said, make you sick to your stomach, well then you deserve a better life with someone you CAN tolerate." He grinned. "Perhaps even with Basil?"
"Basil? No, that's impossible! He closed off his heart when Aunt Evelyn died."
"Yes, but not completely, else he would've turned evil like me. No, our dear Basil just needs the right woman in his life to reopen his heart...and you, Miss Danielle Mary Ratigan, you just might be the one."
Danielle looked at her father, confused. "How can you even support the idea of your only daughter being with your worst enemy?"
"A father's first priority is making sure that his daughter is happy," Ratigan explained. "And when you were with Basil, you were the happiest I've ever seen you since my death." He sighed. "Danielle, I cannot make your decisions for you. You're a grown woman, and you have the ability and the intelligence to choose your own future. Just know that whatever you choose, I'm very proud of you, my little princess, and I'll always love you." And with that, just as quickly as he had arrived, the ghost of Professor Ratigan was gone.
Danielle thought about what her father had told her. She really didn't want to disobey what he had suggested to her, but at the same time she couldn't let Olivia be harmed by her decisions. And besides, if life with Wallace was really as horrible as she predicted it would be, she could always get an annulment of the marriage...very untraditional, but then when had anything in her life been traditional? Danielle smiled, took the silver necklace off, and put the gold necklace back on.
All right, then, let the ceremony begin.
As Danielle was having her conversation with her father's spirit, Jenkins was helping Wallace get ready for the wedding.
"How splendid," Wallace commented as he observed himself in the mirror. "You know, Jenkins, my father wore this suit the day he married my mother. I do believe I look somewhat like him, don't I?"
"The spitting image," Jenkins replied, practically spitting himself.
Wallace eyed his butler oddly. "Whatever is the matter with you, Jenkins? I'm about to marry into vast wealth. You should be happy for me."
"And YOU should be ashamed of yourself!" Jenkins shot back.
"Excuse me?"
"You murdered that toymaker in cold blood, you left his poor daughter without a family, you lied to Miss Ratigan in order to get her to marry you, you plan on murdering HER once you're married in order to get to her money...I'm sorry, Master Wallace, but you have completely disgraced your family name AND your parents, and I can no longer sit by idly while you act like such a vile, contemptible ass! Consider this my resignation!" Jenkins started for the door.
"And consider THIS my firing you!" Wallace replied, grabbing a nearby knife and throwing it into Jenkins' back. The butler fell to the floor. "I'm sorry, Jenkins, but I can't let your change of heart get in the way of gaining my fortune." With that, Wallace stepped over the dying butler and left the room to collect Danielle.
Five minutes after the engaged couple left for the church, Basil and company arrived at Wallace's flat and found Jenkins lying on the floor, bleeding out but still alive. "Oh, my goodness, you poor man!" Mrs. Judson cried out, kneeling next to him.
"Wallace did this to you, didn't he?" Basil asked. Jenkins nodded. "Where is Danielle?"
"Wallace has taken her to St. Paul's for the wedding," Jenkins moaned. "You should know, Wallace plans on murdering Miss Ratigan once they're married in order to inherit her money."
The others gasped. "I should have KNOWN that fiend couldn't have wanted to marry Danielle for love!" Basil practically screamed.
"I'm so sorry for everything my stupid master has done to you," Jenkins gasped. He looked at Olivia. "Especially for your father, my dear." He looked up at Basil. "You must stop Wallace and save Miss Ratigan. You are...her...only...hope..." Jenkins then collapsed, having spoken his last words.
Basil took his hat off his head in reverence. "Rest well, my friend. You've earned it." He put his hat back on. "Dawson, Mrs. Judson, Olivia, you all stay here and help prepare our friend's body. I've got a wedding to stop!"
"I'm coming with you!" Olivia responded.
"Olivia, this is too dangerous for you..." Basil began.
"I don't care! Danielle is my sister and I want to help save her!"
Basil sighed. "All right, but stay close." He held her hand and the two started off.
"Basil..." The detective turned to face Dawson. "...good luck, my friend." Basil smiled at the doctor's kind words and he and Olivia ran out of the room and out of the flat, heading for St. Paul's.
Poor Jenkins...but then again, he was an OC, so technically I haven't broken my promise of no more character deaths in this story, now have I? Heehee, I just love loopholes!
I know there are probably tons of churches in London, but having never actually BEEN there (although I would love to someday), I just went with the only church I know of, St. Paul's (and the only real reason I know of it is from the song "Feed the Birds" from Mary Poppins...yeah, I'm a Disney freak.)
Before anyone asks, yes, I stole the whole Danielle-talking-to-her-dead-father's-ghost scene from The Lion King, when Mufasa's ghost convinces Simba to go back to Pride Rock and face Scar...what can I say, it's a very powerful scene, it inspired me heavily.
I hope you guys enjoyed this chap, and I'll see you soon for more. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go jog to Detroit to work off Thanksgiving dinner (and I live in Connecticut, just to give you an idea of how far I'm jogging).
All my best, DiscordantPrincess.