Heyas! and here's the next instalment. Enjoy! Apologies for getting any placements wrong. I'm Aussie. and I used Google maps. Blame Google maps ;)

Chapter 5

The cab pulled up in front of the famous park's main gate and John turned to his companion,

"Stay here." He said and Sherlock raised an eyebrow,

'It would be better if the two of us were out there," he said and John nodded,

"I know, I know," he swallowed and looked at Sherlock, 'Do you trust me?" he asked, his voice a whisper. Immediately, Sherlock softened, the side he showed only to John shining through and John felt his heart melt,

"With my life," Sherlock said, cocking his head to the side, "That's actually quite literal," he added, breaking the moment. John allowed a small smile, "Stay here," he said and Sherlock nodded. He hated being the one who had to stay behind. But John asked, so he would listen. Anyway, he conceded as John climbed out of the car, I just run off. At least John tells me where he's going. And when.

The slightly warmer afternoon air hit John and he winced as he walked away from the curb and into the park, entering the relative tranquillity that was Hyde Park. The noise of the city just seemed to drift away as he jogged lightly along the path, following it as it wound along. The trees that he passed waved gently in the breeze, the sound comforting, warm, and welcoming. John inhaled the earthy scent that surrounded him as he hurried past couples sitting on the grass, enjoying the calm weather. He was sure that it would turn into a storm soon, but he smiled at the thought, and couldn't blame them for wanting to enjoy every moment. Hell he'd happily be here with Sherlock…only, the man couldn't sit still for more than twenty minutes – max. That would've been a failure if they tried it. John smiled as he kept up the light pace.

He took a right and picked up the pace, his thoughts on Sherlock – especially on how insatiable Sherlock seemed to be these days – he was like a rabbit in spring. John shook his head as he continued, glad to find that his stamina had not in anyway reduced. His thoughts wandered as he finally reached exhibition road and turned left, running up it with all the determination of a man on a mission. He knew what had led him here – a thought that floated through his mind before he almost concussed himself. Lestrade had told him once, when he was down at the pub with him, about how once, Juli and him had sat for half day, near the bridge that crossed the river, serpentine, and he had a hunch. He only hoped that it was right. He continued on his way and broke away from the path and onto the grass. Heading to his right, he kept running, his feet thudding on the lawn as the wind blew just that little bit harder, erasing any trace of warmth John had thought he felt.

He cut through the sparse trees, trying not to trip over any roots, and the amount of people lessened. After all, it was the middle of a working day. Soon, the only sound was his steps on the soft ground below, softened by all the rain they had been having. John kept his eyes ahead of him, stumbling as he hit the roots of the massive oaks that spread out around him. His breath caught as he saw a figure, leaning against a tree, staring out at the water, spreading out in front of him, nothing except his chest moving. John stopped taking in the DI's condition. He was in one piece – at least, physically he was. He didn't see John standing, about fifty meters from where he was, and John sighed. Now for the hard bit. Finding out what the hell that call was about.

John walked forward, as his breathing returned to normal and stopped in front of the DI. He sunk to the ground, ignoring as the wetness seeped through his pants, and looked at the DI,

"John?" he asked, confused,

'Yeah," John said gently, not surprised the DI didn't remember the call yet,

'What are you doing here?" he asked, shifted slightly. John's brow furrowed,

'You called, remember?" he asked, laying a hand on the DI's shoulder,

"No," Lestrade shook his head, his voice a little stronger as he came back to life, the walls he had held the entire cab ride home earlier that day locking back into place,

"It was your voice," John said, suspicion starting to creep into his mind. The DI wasn't that out of it that he would forget the call altogether, right?

"I never called you, John." Lestrade asserted.

Both men jumped as a man stepped out from behind a tree three meters away. His deep laugh boomed around the silent clearing, and John swore as he recognised him,

'Stone!" he exclaimed, and the agent laughed,

'Indeed" he said, walking towards them,'

"What the hell is this all about?" John asked,

'Oh, just a little test," he pressed a button on the stopwatch he had been holding and both John and Greg gaped at him,

'What is wrong with you?" John exclaimed, getting to his feet, outraged and Greg joined him, staring at their new boss. He was not in the slightest perturbed by their reactions,

"I needed to know how you worked together," He said, "Your response time was fantastic. You obviously care for each other. I believe that Miss. Donovan is searching at all the bridges in the vicinity and Mr. Holmes is sitting in the cab outside the park,

'Bridges?" Lestrade asked looking at John and the doctor flushed,

'We-we-thought-he called us-and-we thought-you-well-" John stuttered and Stone laughed again. Lestrade looked fairly affronted,

"How'd you know where I'd be?" he asked, turning to Stone,

"We followed you when you didn't go straight home. We called John, and using an old recording-"

'You have a recording of me?" Lestrade asked, everything moving way too fast. John was just staring at the man in front of them,

"Yeah," he shrugged like it was perfectly normal, "He got worried and they thought you were suicidal." He shrugged again, smiling slightly, "They went looking for you,"

"You bastard," John finally managed, his fists clenched, as he glared at Stone. The man didn't so much as blink.

'Oh calm down," he said, as the two men just kept standing and staring, trying to control their anger, "It just sealed the deal,"

'You are a bastard," Lestrade said, looking at John, and placing a calming hand on his shoulder, "You come here," he said, taking a step closer to Stone, "To the last place I went with my wife and you-you PLAY US!" The last words came out as a shout as Lestrade finally found the words.

All the tension that had been building since he left his wife exploded and he grabbed Stone by the lapels, the first glint of fear entering the man's eyes, "YOU COME HERE AND USE ME FORSOME SORT OF TEST?" He roared, pinning the man, who was a couple inches taller and several kilograms heavier than he was, to the tree. John ran forward and grabbed Lestrade by the arm,

"He's not worth it," He said, and Lestrade turned his head slowly, to look at John. His chest was heaving with emotion and his eyes were burning, gluing John to the spot,

'You need to relax," he said, putting a hand on Lestrade's arm, ignoring the struggling Stone, who still couldn't move from Greg's death grip, "Relax," John repeated, hoping the worry in his own eyes wasn't showing.

Greg swallowed and then, suddenly, he stepped back and Stone slid to the ground, coughing as the air rushed back into his lungs. Lestrade kept looking in John's eyes. The deep, loving eyes, eyes that had seen torture, survived torture, seen loved ones die, almost died himself; it was those eyes that was keeping the DI where he was. That stopped him from taking everything out of the MI6 agent. Which was tempting. Hell, John had to control himself, but he knew that the DI needed time. And Stone just happened to push him over the edge,

"Are you alright?" he asked, and Lestrade nodded,

"Yeah," His voice cracked. From the ground, Stone made a sound and John looked back at him to check whether or not he was actually chocking. And then he realised that the man was laughing. Sitting there, his eyes glinting, laughing like it was the funniest thing in the world.

"What's so funny?" John asked coldly,

"You lot," Stone gasped, getting to his feet and dusting himself off. He shook his head, and rubbed his neck, 'ahhh," he said, looking at the doctor and the detective, "I'll see you tomorrow," With that, just as simple as that – John was still in half a mind to throw him into the river – Stone walked away, still laughing.

'What was that?' Lestrade asked and John hook his head, clapping the DI on the back,

'The reason we were on this wild goose chase," John chuckled and pulled the DI gently along with him, as he started walking along the park, the anger dissolving as relief took its place. They walked in silence for a few minutes, the DI contemplative, before he finally spoke up,

'You really cared that much about me?" he asked and John stopped walking. The DI took a few more steps and turned to face John,

'Of course," John's face was open, loving, sweet – himself– and Lestrade felt something inside him move. The past twenty four hours was like walking as if a curtain had been thrown over his sun, not allowing it to warm him, and he had frozen, inside. Like he didn't even have a heart anymore. As he stood there, on that green grass, and with the trees on either side of them, John looking at him, a slightly curious light in his brown eyes, he felt the ice block around his heart thaw a little.

"Thank you," he said, and John smiled, the smile that made the sides of his crinkle just a bit, and the smile that the DI was coming to miss whenever he wasn't around.

"Let's get back," John said, bringing Greg out of his reverie,

"Let's," the DI motioned for John to go first and followed behind. He was glad they were going to boot camp. He would get to spend the next two weeks with John.

If you had walked up to Doctor John Watson, forty-eight hours ago, and told him that he was going to be standing in front of SIS headquarters, his bags packed for boot camp, shivering in his boots, he would've laughed in your face and told you that you're insane. Now he was the one who was feeling like his depraved brain has conjured up another false reality, in which him and all his friends were trapped.

Unfortunately, as John put his bags down and the cold bit at his nose, he knew it couldn't be a dream. He was shivering way too violently and his heart was beating far too rapidly in his chest.

'John, you need to calm down," Sherlock laid a comforting hand on the doctor's shoulder, although, through the five layers, John barely felt it. He did however feel Sherlock's scorching eyes on his and felt his face flush. Sherlock chuckled and was very tempted to move closer when a second cab drove up and John stepped away, gently, to show he wasn't rejecting Sherlock, just putting some respectable distance between them. Sally threw a bag out onto the cement and climbed out onto the footpath. Paying the driver, she turned to her partner's watching as she kicked her bag towards them.

"Did the bags do something to you?" John asked, mildly, amazed that he was even able to speak – it felt like every part of his body was made out of granite as he lost feeling in it,

'Yes," Sally replied,

'Technically speaking-" Sally clapped him on the shoulder and held his gaze,

"Don't finish that sentence Sherlock," she said

'Why?" Sherlock asked cheekily and John rolled his eyes, tuning as he heard another cab,

'Because," Sally grinned, "I will ensure there is some damage to the family jewels," Sherlock looked slightly miffed and John bit back a laugh before letting it out, the sound resonating off the silent buildings, and water that was not to far away.

Lestrade had seen the three people he was to meet up with on the curb, from further down the street and fought the heavy curtain that was lying around him. He had to go back to his house to get his clothes. He had to face the blood on the sheets. He barely made it out of there. It had taken all of his willpower not to just stop and jump out of the window his own, personal apocalypse had climbed through. As he climbed out of the Taxi and the sound of John's laughter, loud and clear reached his ears, the shroud lifted and he was able to see clearly again. He pulled his bag out of the back, paid and made his way over to the group, a genuine smile on his face as he took in their laughing faces – well, Sally and John was laughing – Sherlock was pouting.

'Awfully happy for the morning, don't you think?" he asked, putting his bags down,

"Who said anything about being happy?" Sherlock mumbled, irritated and John laughed again, clapping the man on the back,

"No one ever said you were happy," he grinned and both he and Sally dissolved in a fit of laughter. Greg rolled his eyes, feeling truly at home for the first time in days, as he watched the people around him.

They were still chuckling and throwing constant jabs around when they heard a growling in the distance, which was probably a car, but it was way to early for sane thoughts, 'If that's an earthquake, I swear I'm going to kill someone," Sally said,

'What if we're already dead?" Greg asked and she grinned,

"I'll get Sherlock to think of a way to resurrect you. Use that brain of his, you know," Sally replied and Sherlock raised an eyebrow,

"You'd go to all that trouble for me?" Greg asked, and John grinned. Not just because this was hilarious, but also because here was the old DI. The DI that used to yell at them for stupidity, laugh with them when Sherlock pouted and tell Sherlock off for being so happy about a murder.

"Hell yeah," Sally nodded; "Only so I can kill you again," Lestrade rolled his eyes as Sally chuckled.

They quietened as a black car turned onto their road. Ever since the kidnapping all of them were fairly wary of black tinted cars that pulled up next to them. Sherlock called it irrational fear, John called it completely normal, Greg decided that he didn't care if anyone else thought he was nuts, he was just wanted to avoid those sort of cars for now and Sally said that they were all idiots.

The car stopped a metre from where they were standing, staring at the thing as if it were a bomb as Stone stepped out. John and Greg exchanged a glance. Both had decided against telling anyone of what happened at the lake, and thanks to Sherlock's aroused state, he had not been able to concentrate enough to figure out what had been happening in the forest from the way that the DI's tie was aligned with his shirt. John subtly running his hand up and down his leg had aided that process.

"Ah, good morning agents!" the SIS director said, wrapping a scarf around his neck and shutting the door as he walked towards them, his arms spread wide as if he actually wanted to hug each of them. John wouldn't actually put it past the man. "What a wonderful day to be starting your training, right?" he asked. Receiving no response other than their glares, ranging from Sherlock's mildly irritated to Lestrade's baleful one, Stone sighed.

"Listen, I understand that some of you," He glared pointedly at Greg who just looked straight back at the man, "don't want to be here," he went on, 'but your country needs you. She needs you to be strong, to put yourself in the line of fire to save the civilians who believe that the government is for them," John rolled his eyes. This was almost identical to the speech given to him before he was shoved off a plane and landed smack bang in the middle of a desert. No idea where he was, no idea what to do. Just follow the others and think of nothing but Queen and country. He shook his head and bent down to pick up his bag, erasing the pictures of those rolling dunes and the sudden, random and dangerous attacks of the militia that were hidden under them.

"You can skip the pep talk," he said, as the other copied his movements, 'we don't have a choice anyway," With that he pushed past Stone and opened the door, climbing into the blissfully warm cab, waiting for everyone else to join them and wondering just what the hell they had gotten themselves into.

As the car drove away from MI6, John leaned back as Stone pulled out an ipad,

"Amazing," Sherlock said, 'You know how to use one of those?' The others had to hide their smiles. They knew they were testing the man's patience, but they weren't voluntary agents. They had been dragged into this and weren't going down without a fight.

'Yes, I do," he said, through gritted teeth, 'Moving on from what I know or don't know," He flicked it off sleep and waited for the screen to appear fully, "right," He leaned forward and held the screen out to all of them. On it was a fact file of a man, dressed in army uniform, the beret sitting a little too lopsidedly on his head,

"Do you know who this is?" he asked, the question was directed at John and the doctor felt all eyes on him as he nodded,

'Scout Trott," he said, 'One of the best drill sergeants," Sally groaned next to him and he smiled just a little bit,

'Exactly," said Stone, as the car picked up pace, and Sherlock was sure they just turned onto the A3,

'Where are we going?" he asked. Stone grinned wickedly, the light from above them illuminating up all the shadows on the weathered face,

"You'll see."
"How long is the drive?" Sally asked and Stone was reminded just a little of taking his children to the beach. They asked as many questions as these two did,

'About two hours. Depends on traffic," Stone replied and Sherlock's mind flicked through all the possibilities. He sat back, copying John and the other two relaxed as well.

Interesting, Stone thought, they copy John. He observed the doctor, who leaned on Sherlock's shoulder as he closed his eyes to catch up on some sleep. Stone saw a flicker of something – he didn't know what, as Greg watched John and Sally decided she needed some sleep as well and contented herself with leaning against the window. He chuckled to himself as he too, settled back for a quick nap; they were going to make for a good year.

Even if it was filled with insubordination.

As the rhythm of the car below them changed and slowed, all the soon-to-be operatives woke up, slowly, as the first rays of sun cracked the horizon. Stone yawned loudly as he stretched and John stared out at the windows as they passed the many buildings,

'Where are we?" he asked, pushing back the thoughts of dejavu he was feeling as that was the same question they asked themselves a million times when they were lost and alone somewhere in England – which, they quickly learned was not a good position to be in.

"We, my friends, are in Portsmouth," Stone said, grinning as he recognised the buildings outside,

'Portsmouth?" Lestrade asked, sitting up straighter,

'You heard me" The Director looked at the DI as the man rolled down the windows and the wind hit them, waking everyone up fully and drawing a miaow of sorts from Sally.

"What's going on?" she mumbled, looking around her,

'We're going somewhere," John said and Sherlock chuckled,

'Well obviously," He said and John rolled his eyes,

'We're going somewhere in Portsmouth," Stone said, making Sally look at him,

'Why?" she asked and Lestrade answered, being the first to cotton on to what was happening,

'We're going to the docks," he said,

'If this is a training exercise, why couldn't it have been done at the London docks?" Sherlock asked and Stone sighed. There was no damn suspense with these people. They wanted answers and they wanted them right now.

"Do you really want to go diving in the Thames?" he asked, the good humour evaporating. After all, to deal with these four you did rather require the patience of a saint,

"No," John said, leaning over Lestrade to get a good look outside at the waking harbour town – and then it clicked,

'Diving?" he asked, spinning around to look at Stone. Sherlock felt the increased heart rate and noticed the wide eyes, and the flash of fear that appeared in their tawny depths,

'Yep," Stone smirked, 'Why? Scared, Major?" he asked, using the rank that John had not been addressed by since his return to England. John's jaw tensed and he looked away, back out the window,

'What's down there?" Sherlock asked, siting forward, the adrenaline already beginning to pump through him,

"Why don't we let the Major tell us?"

"Don't call me that," John said, turning back to Stone.

'What's down there?' Sherlock asked again, oblivious to the way John tensed up at the mention of whatever was down there,

"It's dangerous," he said, looking at Stone,

'We have a team on back up," he said, and John laughed sourly,

"Right, because when the damn sea caves in on us, they'll be so much help," he said and Sally sat up straight,

'What do you mean the sea caves in on us?" she asked, a slightly hysterical note to her voice,

'I mean," John looked at her, then Sherlock and the Greg, all of whom were watching him with apprehension on their faces, "That we're diving into a sunken ship," He turned back to Stone, 'One that will no doubt have something he wants us to retrieve as part of our so called training," The disdain in his voice was pretty obvious, and Stone settled back, looking like the cat that got the rat.

'Ah, doctor," He smiled slightly and John broke the eye contact, 'You certainly know how to make something overly dramatic," Stone looked at the others, as the car took one last turn and began to slow down even more and coming to a stop. Everyone stared out the windows and their eyes fell on the fifty-foot boat that was bobbing in the water, their drill sergeant standing at its helm, staring at the car, like a figurehead of some grand English boat. Stone leaned over them and opened the door, the cold air rushing in to take the warm and comforting air. Everyone watched as the agent climbed out,

"What are you siting there for?" he asked turning as he realised they weren't moving, 'you'll be fine," he assured them, as Lestrade climbed out first.

When all of them were standing on the pier and the sergeant was heading toward them, Stone added, "Just make sure you don't rock the ship…you'll regret it," John stared at his nerve and Stone smiled back sweetly at the man, "Enjoy," he mouthed, as he climbed back into the car, slamming the door behind him.

Yay! They're finally beginning training. And you didn't really think I was going to kill Greg when the fun was only just beginning? I'm not mad.

Review? 0_0 Pwease?

Aza

xoxo