A/N: Hello! Wow we've reached 30 reviews, that's amazing! Thank you to all my readers, reviewers, favourites, followers...you all make me happy! So, there is a lot coming up that will send this story twisting and turning. I apologise for the delay, work, life and Christmas got in the way. Also Naturocs and I keep writing and planning sequel ideas! Keep your eyes peeled, she'll have a sequel out soon.
Chapter 30 – Once upon a Time
I don't know what had changed Jim's mind or calmed him down, but when I got home we talked. In fact we stayed up all night talking about so much, my relapse, his worries, my insecurities, Moran, we covered everything. Our all-night therapy session did us the world of good. When I woke up the next day, I felt stronger and happier than I had for a while. We could and would survive anything.
Everyday Jim took my to my rehab and therapy session, he would collect me and we'd go for a walk through the park. It was so normal; there was no drama, no crime ring, just us. Don't get me wrong, I love my life and I love Jim, but every now and then I needed a break, just time to step away and be ordinary.
I had been home for nearly three weeks and was allowed to start leaving the house. Jim walked with me to Angie's. I kissed him good-bye and promised to call him when I wanted to come home.
Mrs. Hudson let me in with a warm greeting and told me to head on upstairs. I knocked on the door before I entered, even though I knew I could just go in. I was met with a frantic Angie, she was pacing, pulling furniture and shelves apart.
"Hey Ang. Everything alright?" I asked.
"Uh, not really. I don't know where Sherlock is. He's not here, Mrs. Hudson said he came by for a few minutes after we argued, and then he left again, and he's not answering my texts..." Her voice trailed off, her panic rising.
"Don't worry, he'll be back eventually, you know what he's like. He needs his space." I was a bit angry with him, I knew he was safe, he text me that morning to tell me he arrived. Where he was I didn't know and what he was doing was a mystery. I felt awful for Angie.
"I don't know, he always texts back, even if it was just to say he's still mad. I'll try calling him again." She was shaking. Seeing Angie so frustrated was scary, she was always so even.
"Sweetie, its alright, calm down. Just give him some time." I said gently,
"He was really upset, Percy. What if he relapses again?! Maybe I should call Lestrade. No, I can't do that, he doesn't even know Sherlock's alive, not to mention Sherlock would kill me." She was scared and hurt. She kept wiping stray tears away, not yet realising she was crying.
"I know he was, he'll be fine." He was busy; the drugs had lost their appeal after my overdose, not just for him, but for me too. "Mycroft is taking me to my appointment tomorrow, I'll ask him if he's seen Sherlock." I offered.
"Thanks." Said Angie, I nodded with a smile. She picked up her phone and dialed Sherlock again. A ringing rang out into the room.
"Do you hear that? It's coming from the mantle. ...It's his phone. Sherlock left his phone. He never leaves his phone!" Shock and total despair flashed across Angie's face.
"Okay, Angie, it's fine." I tried to reassure her.
"Well, at least he actually looked at my texts, so he wasn't ignoring me completely. Hold on, there's a note, too." She was still hoping this would have all the answers.
"Angie, come on you need to calm down. You're not thinking rationally. We'll read it together." Angie looked at me and nodded. She picked up the piece of paper an
"It just says 'I forgive you'. If he forgives me, for something that happened ten years ago, by the way, then why would he leave?" She asked, tears shining in her eyes. So he took my advice? Interesting. I wanted to wave a wand and make all this hurt go away.
"It's Sherlock you are talking about, he's not an ordinary man. He just needs some space." I offered in solace.
"But I still don't understand why he left his phone. He always has his phone with him." Angie wasn't really speaking to me, just thinking out loud. I didn't answer for a bit, but I felt her looking at me, so I said:
"I don't know either. He'll be fine. Mycroft will know where he is."
"He probably will. I'll bet this has something to do with those damn files Sherlock kept hiding from me. He actually took those with him. Convenient." Her hurt was turning to rage.
"Try not to be angry with him, he's probably being noble and trying to keep you safe, in his own special way." He really was, I felt that Sherlock needed defending a little; he had gone for the right reasons, just not gone about it in the best way.
"I am sick of people thinking they need to keep me safe! I am 100% capable of taking care of myself! What is it that makes everyone think I need protecting?! Is it my name, cause if it makes people think I'm some defenseless angel, I'll change my name!" She ranted; I gave a wry smile at the end of her tirade.
"No sweetie, its because your compassionate and we all love you. None of us doubt you, but the world would be a darker place without you." I said honestly. She was so strong, but there was something about Angie that we all strived to protect. Angie sat in Sherlock's chair, her shoulders slumped, she looked tired and fed up.
"I just wish someone would just tell me what's going on and everybody stop keeping things from me." I knelt in front of her.
"I'm in the dark too. I'll see if Mycroft will tell me anything."
"You're lying." Angie accused, her voice dark and quiet.
"I'm not lying Ang." I said, hurt at her accusation. Her head shot up, her eyes cold.
"Percy, I can tell when you're lying, not to mention you're looking pretty guilty right now, like you do know something about this, but you're not going to tell me. Just like all those times when you and Sherlock would be whispering together and then change the subject when I walk in, and then make up some lousy excuse about what you were talking about. You know something about this, don't you?" Her accusatory tone really hurt, I lost my temper. I felt my still healing wounds twinge as I stood sharply.
"I'm not lying. I don't know where Sherlock is. I don't know why he left. If you must know Sherlock was helping me get my will sorted out. He was helping me sort out arrangements, in case I die. That's what we've been talking about. I didn't want to upset you or Mycroft or Jim so Sherlock and I kept it secret. A few of the files were from My Ripper case; Sherlock was looking at it for me. I don't know about any other files." I said back, my voice sharp.
"Alright, so that explains what you're were talking about a mortician. But what about before that, like at Lady Holmes' house in the study? Was that about you're will, too? I don't see how that would lead around to you trying to get Sherlock to propose." Now I would have to lie.
"I was irritated with Sherlock about being distant and told him he would lose you if he didn't get his act together." I replied, I kept eye contact with her.
"Talk about being distant. God knows where he is now." She replied breaking my gaze.
"Angie there isn't some big conspiracy against you." Angie chuckled darkly and mirthlessly.
"Well, you're right about one thing. He has lost me. He broke up with me, fine. I'm not gonna bother with him anymore. Let him do whatever the hell he wants."
"Okay. You're both adults."
"I was probably just someone for him to talk to, a replacement for his skull." Angie curled up into herself, all her doubts and insecurities coming out.
"No, he really cared about you. He's a massive idiot, but he loved you. I am going to kick him when he gets home." I assured her. He loved her, he'd told me as much.
"If he ever comes back."
"He will come back."
"He could end up dead somewhere, and I would never even know." She said moodily.
"Mycroft would be the first to know, he would tell us."
"Oh my god, this is why Mycroft was being so nice to me. I should have known something was up when he started acting like that."
"No he's being nice because I told him to stop being grumpy and that you belonged with the family. He does like you Angie, Mycroft is very similar to Sherlock, he just takes a while to trust people."
"He trusted John pretty quick, willing to let a complete stranger move in with Sherlock so he could spy on him." She replied, sounding like a pouting toddler. I didn't know what to reply to that. I put a cushion back on the sofa and sat down.
"I'm just sick of men. I'm sick of everything. I just want to go and bury myself in a hole." Said Angie breaking the silence.
"Mycroft liked John's loyalty and stubbornness. Men are annoying, sometimes we need them though." I replied.
"What am I supposed to do about Moran now? What if Moran had something to do with this?" I hadn't really thought about Seb, but now I did the fear crept in.
"I'm leaving Moran to Jim, he'll sort it out." I said more for myself than Angie.
"Don't get upset if that doesn't really reassure me." Said Angie sardonically.
"I'm not upset." I smiled. Angie curled in on herself more, I could hear her crying. I went over to Angie and wrapped my arms round her.
"God, this is stupid. I shouldn't be crying." Sniffed Angie.
"You're allowed to cry Angie, you don't always have to be strong." I told her.
"I don't like crying."
"It's not good to keep it locked away."
"I hate feeling vulnerable."
"You're with me, if you can't let me see you cry, who can you show?"
"We're going to face this together."
"Thanks, Percy."
"Anytime sweetie, and always." I said, hugging her closer.
"I feel like my life is so messed up right now. Why is it that the one man who hasn't been pulled from my life is the obsessive killer?" Angie asked with a groan. I wondered if we should take a long holiday away from all of the drama.
"Because that would be too easy. Life isn't a fairytale."
"Yeah, my life's a James Bond movie, between the assassin and the CIA agent and the detective." Replied Angie, still sounding glum. I had to find a way to cheer her up. Ah, the light-bulb moment, what if we wrote a book?
"We should write a book about our lives, mo one would believe it, it would be a best seller!" I said with glint in my eye. This seemed to distract Angie. It would help us both escape, be healthy therapy for the both if us. My therapist did suggest I write down my fears and troubles.
"Yeah, we should. That's not a bad idea. Gives us something to do. And hopefully it wouldn't be as bad as my poetry." Angie's humour and excitement had been sparked.
"It won't! You've grown up out of your mopey teenager phase. How shall we start the book? Once upon a time?" I asked.
"But that would be going against 'Life isn't a fairytale.' Well, hold on. We could start it once upon a time and switch it around and say how it'd be nice if it started that way, but life isn't a fairytale." Quipped Angie, pulling out her laptop.
"I think you're right. Where to start? When we met as kids, or when we re-met as adults?" I asked, watching Angie.
"Hmm...I think we should start it off as kids, not much happened back then, maybe just do how we met, then go back and forth between our stories, with my meeting Seb and then you're being bullied, and maybe do something about how we kept almost running into each other, cause that really is weird. Then we can start it off with when we were reunited!" Said Angie excitedly.
"I see a brilliant book. It's not like anyone will believe its real." I replied, I didn't believe our lives were real half the time. I had a sudden thought. "We'll have to change all the names of everyone."
"Yeah, so we can put it in fiction, so Moran and Jim can't get on us about giving away secrets or anything, we'll just tell them it's a fiction book." She exclaimed, focusing on the screen. "Well, John and Angie are pretty generic names, I think we can get away with those, especially since there's the thing about everyone calling me an angel. I'm gonna start writing this stuff down." Angie's fingers already flying across the keys, her face animated and engrossed.
"True, change your surname and no-one will ever know." I offered, my mind thinking to my plans. I would leave clues for Angie. She was clever; she'd work it out.
"Is Wilson too close?" She asked.
"Perfect." I smiled.
"Now what about the Holmes family? That's a bit more difficult." Queried Angie.
"We all have very uncommon names too. How about Mark for Mycroft, Elizabeth for me and Benedict for Sherlock? Our Surname could be Fox." I really hoped Angie remembered these names. It might save her life one day.
"Benedict, Sherlock, both weird, that works. Fox, reminds me of You've Got Mail. Sounds good!"
"Well I thought Foxes are cunning." I offered.
"Yeah, I was just thinking that, it's brilliant. Very fitting." Smiled back Angie, still engrossed in typing down our ideas.
"One of my friends from college works in publishing, I'll talk to them." I said, Alex would help us he owed me a favour.
"Great! Oh, and my cousin's a publicity agent, I could call him after we get started."
I let my mind wonder a little, I felt peaceful for the first time in a long time. I listened to Angie typing away and though how funny the situation was, a Watson and former Holmes occupying 221b, planning and being devious. Angie looked up and suddenly added.
"Oh, for Moran we have to think of two names."
"You pick the names, I'll just say something very rude." I replied, I couldn't be kind about that man. According to my new therapist I had resentment and anger issues. "Instead, I'll think of a fitting name for Jim."
Angie nodded at me and kept typing.
"I'll do some research on name meanings, pick something fitting." She said, her mind working away, she appeared so much like Sherlock in that minute.
"This can be our little secret, we'll not tell the boys." I suggested. I think Angie needed a secret of her own to keep.
"Yeah, and if they happen to read the book, good for them. Are we going to have pseudonyms?" She asked.
"Oh yes." I replied, trying to sound like the Doctor. "They should leave clues and see if the boys work it out." I hoped she worked it out too.
"Hehe, this is going to be fun." Laughed Angie.
"How about Elizabeth Darke and Irene Angel?" I suggested. Angie made a face.
"Ugh, can't I use something besides Irene? I like yours, though. Maybe I can find a name that means Baker Street?" I laughed at her expression, she really hated Irene.
"Oh even better!"
"Would Vulica be too weird of a first name? It means 'street' in Belarusian, and Sherlock and I had a case in Belarus once, so Vulica Baker?" We looked at each other, I shook my head, it was too odd, not Angie at all.
"Calle Panadera it mean Baker Street in Spanish?!" I offered.
"Spanish is too easy for Sherlock."
"Vulica is a bit odd...sounds like a Mycroft's great Aunt. I did think German, but it's too easy. How about Latin?" I asked, before noticing Angie wasn't listening to me.
"Calle, like pronounced Callie, so Calle Baker?"
"Yes perfect. So Calle Baker shall we tell our story?!" I asked enthusiastically.
"Let's get started, Elizabeth Darke. Elizabeth Darke and Calle Baker, I think that's a great combination." Replied Angie smiling. In the hour we'd been discussing the book, she looked younger more carefree. It was so good to see her happy again.
"Me too! So once upon a time in a rainy town called Brecon in South Wales in a primary school, the new girl was being picked on, on the other side of the playground a little girl watched the boys who were being nasty and decided she's stop them. The rest they say is history." I said dramatically. Angie laughed.
"What are we going to call the book?"
"Good question." I started thinking of titles, letting them pour through my mind quickly.
"We can worry about that later. Let's see...The two girls became instant best friends, and grew up having the most wonderful adventures, even if they were only in their imaginations. Of course, those are the best adventures." I smiled at Angie's words, typing as she talked.
"How about 'Passing Bells and Sculptured Angels'?" It felt right, grand events, broken lives, criminals and heroes all thrown together and no-one sure who was good and who was bad.
"Hehe, Phantom reference. I love it!" Smiled Angie.
"Adventures that changed the world and our lives. Well we both love that Musical." I said.
"It's brilliant! So 'Passing Bells and Sculpted Angels' by Elizabeth Darke and Calle Baker." Replied Angie.
"I can't wait to read it!" I said.
"Me too!" Answered Angie excitedly.
We reminisced over childhood stories and Angie typed word after word. We got to the point where Angie met Seb and she said.
"Okay, I think for Moran's names, Alex James could be changed to Adam Jones, and Sebastian Moran could be Anthony...can't think of a last name. Well, Anthony Mark, Marc Antony was a traitor, so..." I smiled at Angie's words. We kept writing until late, my phone rang, it was Jim checking I was all right and that we hadn't gotten into trouble already. He came and walked me home. That night, everything felt right in the world.