Chapter Eight; Hymn for the Missing
After dinner, Maria convinced Sherlock to walk with her for a while before catching a cab home. The sun hadn't completely set yet and it was a nice evening. The continuing conversation from the dinner table easily flowed as they walked along, discussing previous cases together and their younger lives. It all seemed so far away from now. She was thinking back on times, old feelings, old emotions some that were still there even after all this time.
She found herself slipping her arm around his, part of her wondered how stupid she was but Sherlock didn't refuse her. She was the one, the only one, he welcomed touch from. She was gentle with him, others were brutal, but her touch was always gentle, always kind. Even before she'd left for the war, he'd always wanted to tell her…
"Sherlock, look, I'm a dragon!" Her voice broke through his thoughts as she blew out and her breath froze into smoke in front of her. Sherlock smiled down at her as she laughed.
"So where are we walking to?" Sherlock asked looking around. Maria shrugged.
"We're just walking, when was the last time you just walked around for the fun of it?" She asked. The correct answer was that he hadn't done this since she'd left, but the answer she got was a shrug. Maria laughed softly and looked around; trying to see anywhere interesting they could go when she caught sight of someone staring intently at them, moreover, at her. She stopped, Sherlock pausing beside her.
"Maria?" He asked and she looked up at him for a moment before back across the street but the person was gone. "What's the matter?"
"Nothing…I just…thought I saw something…" She said before setting off again, Sherlock following after her to catch up. It was unlike Maria to be distant to him. He reached out and grabbed her shoulder.
"Maybe we should go home," He suggested. "It's getting late." Before she had a chance to agree or disagree, he flagged down a cabby and dragged Maria over to it. She got inside without complaint but she was still uncharacteristically quiet. Sherlock was at a loss at what do to, he had to break her thoughts but how? Then he had an idea.
"Maria." She looked at him as he reached over and placed a hand on top of hers before leaning over planting a soft kiss on her cheek. She froze, her cheeks turning a pale pink. She stumbled over her words as he looked at her.
"Leave the thinking to me," He said with a kind smile that only melted her mind even more. She smiled slightly dumbly as the cab pulled up on Bakers street. She hopped out first and was the first one into the apartment taking off her coat.
"I call first shower," She said with a laugh before heading off. Sherlock pulled off his own coat, his mind wandering back to the unsolved case he had ready for him to solve before the police. He lay down on the couch as Maria had her shower. When she returned to the living room she was wearing her pyjamas, a pair of shorts and a shirt that looked three times to big for her. He couldn't deny she looked really cuddly.
"Your turn," She said drying her hair with a towel. Sherlock rose and walked past her into the bathroom. After he was gone, Maria sighed softly and threw down the towel over the back of the chair. She made her way over to the window to look out over the street. Her eyes widened.
There he was again, he man from earlier, so she wasn't crazy.
Maria didn't even stop to think she ran straight to the door. She was going to find out about this once and for all. She ran out onto the street in her pyjama's ignoring the cold that bit hungrily at her legs. The man was still there, seeing her however he turned and started off down an alley.
"Stop you!" Maria cried as she sprinted across the street after him, throwing caution to the wind. She was just out of sight, when Sherlock returned to the living room.
"Maria?" He asked spinning on the spot, doing a double check for the red-haired woman. Red-haired. The man had previously been a red head. Maria was….
"DAMN!" Sherlock shouted, diving for his phone.
Maria on the other hand had stopped in the middle of a freezing cold alleyway having lost sight of the man.
"Show yourself!" She cried turning on the spot, her breathing heavy and sporadic. When no-one answered her, she sighed and turned to head back inside, the cold starting to get to her. However turning around was her first mistake. She was grabbed from behind, a cloth quickly covering her mouth before she could scream or call for help. She struggled furiously against the attacker, but whatever he had on the cloth was slowly poisoning her air supply. Her vision blurred and then her world turned black.
Finally, Lestrade answered, though he didn't sound too happy about it.
"The pattern, he's going after red-heads," Sherlock said as he single-handedly put on his coat and scarf. "They've taken Maria. She's missing."
