Chapter Two: Changing

"Poisoned?" Mr. McCarron asked. "Wait now, how can you be sure it was poison?"

I was pleasantly surprised by Zoey's father. He was a stern looking man but had gentle eyes, showing his true temperament. Most would be intimidated by his size but Sherlock matched him, both making the other seem less foreboding.

"But Sherlock," Zoey piped up. "Isn't an allergic reaction a type of poisoning?"

He paused for a moment before he responded to the girl who was, no doubt, trying to get a rise out of him. "In a sense, yes. A foreign entity enters the body and it responds in a negative manner. However, I am talking about literal poison and not just peanuts."

"She wasn't allergic to peanuts." Ana sniffed, making Sherlock roll his eyes.

"It was an example." He huffed, making Zoey smirk. No doubt his frustration was a small victory and a sort of payback for his unexpected arrival. As Sherlock opened his mouth to explain himself further, Zoey stopped him.

"As fascinating as all your little crime facts are, now is not the time to share them. We need time to wind down from this afternoon. We can meet up with you later, okay?"

"Zoey, a crime was committed that hit very close to home for you, I would expect you of all people to want this solved as soon as possible." Sherlock replied simply, giving her a rather cocky look. He was pushing her buttons now. It probably had to do with the fact that we had just flown halfway around the world for a reason still unknown to me and he was bored. However, I had a feeling she had something to do with it.

"Don't even go there, Sherlock." Zoey growled in an obviously annoyed tone. "Give me three hours to get home and change and cool down, okay? Then I will willingly be dragged about on another one of your excursions. Lord knows someone needs to keep you on a leash." She looked at me this time, a slightly apologetic look in her eyes. No doubt she knew I did the best I could, but she also knew he was impossible at times so the more people to rein him in, especially in a foreign country, the better.

"Fine then, three hours." Sherlock agreed a slight smirk across his face which worried me some.

In exactly three hours, Ana was opening the door of their home. Zoey was sitting on the kitchen counter in a purple hoodie and blue sweats with her hair pulled quickly back, eating a bowl of cereal . "How the hell?" She exclaimed after nearly choking on the rainbow loops.

"Phonebook." Sherlock said as he glanced down at his phone and made a slight face of disapproval. "And these web directions are off. It's 3.6 miles from Broade street, not 3.5."

"What are you doing here?" She jumped off the counter onto the hardwood floor. she landed quieter than I would have thought until I noticed she was barefoot.

"We've come to pick you up and investigate." Sherlock said as if it were obvious. "You said three hours and, seeing as how you never specified a meeting place…"

"This is stalking, Sherlock." Zoey sighed as she pulled out her hair tie, combing her fingers through her hair.

Ana was standing by the door still, looking between the two of them. She glanced over at me and grinned knowingly.

"No it isn't. It's simple assumption as to where you would be at this time so we could get back to work."

"I'm not ready to go tromping about the city with you looking like this!" Zoey said, gesturing to her sweats. In all honesty, she seemed perfectly fine to me.

"I've noticed how you Americans dress, Zoey. You still look young enough to fit into a college campus setting and with how I've observed most university students dress, you won't stand out at all."

"If that's the case then," Zoey yanked off Sherlock's scarf and then pulled at his overcoat. "You need to blend in as well. As if your accent isn't enough of an attention grabber, your style definitely will. John, lose the jumper."

Ana jumped slightly at that and looked at me. "But, he's not wearing a dress…"

"His sweater, Ana." Zoey sighed and shook her head. As if trying to teach us American terms and traditions wasn't hard enough, she now had to teach her family as well. "Dad! Sherlock and John are here. Do you have anything to wear that they could borrow?" She called out.

"Hold on, I'll check." Came a response from above us.

After a moment we heard a thundering noise coming from upstairs an instant before the two young boys appeared. Ian leapt down the stairs, taking two at a time while Kayden scrambled to keep up, racing his brother to greet us.

Correction. To greet Sherlock.

"Sherly!" Kayden squealed as he jumped off the last four steps, nearly tumbling onto his face before he recovered and latched onto Sherlock's waist. "You came to see us!"

"Are you going to play detective with Zoey?" Ian asked, a grin plastered to his face with excitement.

"He doesn't play detective," I said with a smile as I pulled off my jumper and handed it to Zoey. "He is one. Remember?"

"Oh yeah!" The two boys answered at once. That managed to get a smile out of Zoey as she looked at them and then me.

"I think you're actually fine, John. No jumper did the trick." She spun and tossed Sherlock's scarf onto the couch. "You, however, stand out a bit too much. No one around here wears a suit for casual occasions. Especially in college."

"What do you propose then?" Sherlock asked, crossing his arms

"A t-shirt and jeans."

"Dull. Typical." He sighed and was nearly hit in the face with the clothes Mr. McCarron tossed at him.

"Here you go." Mr. McCarron said with a smile. "Try those on for size."

"Thanks, Dad." Zoey grinned as Sherlock sighed and started taking off his jacket. Zoey's eyes suddenly widened when Ana nudged her and made a low growling noise. "Not in here! Change somewhere else!"

"You can use my room." Kayden offered as he ran up a couple of stairs before looking over his shoulder. "This way."

I stood in the main room with the majority of Zoey's family as Edwin, her father, started conversation and Kayden came down the stairs after leading Sherlock to his bedroom. His small face was beaming with pride. Zoey had followed them upstairs to see if she couldn't find a back up shirt in case the first one didn't fit Sherlock right off.

Two light knocks were heard at the top of the stairs as she rapped on the door. "Sherlock?" I heard the handle turn as she opened it. "Try this one if that one doesn't- OH, BALLS!" All heads turned to look in the direction of the stairs as Zoey exclaimed and slammed the door again, scolding him from the hallway. " Sherlock! Why didn't you tell me you were still changing?"

"We lived in the same flat for several weeks, Zoey." Came a slightly muffled reply through the closed door.

Ana was standing behind Zoey now, having run up the stairs with me when she had yelled. Zoey's face flushed as Ana raised a brow.

"Lived together?"

"It wasn't like that! It was a job assignment."

Sherlock opened the door, wearing a navy tshirt and blue jeans. The casual look was strange to see on him, yet it managed to look natural at the same time. "Come now, Zoey, we raised a child together."

I thought I saw Zoey falter just for a moment as she eyed Sherlock but she did quite well hiding her true reaction. "We didn't raise him." She said, a hint of sadness in her voice as she remembered Ben. "We took care of him."

"You were my wife. I gave you a ring." He smirked, enjoying the female reactions before him. Zoey flinched, her face turning red fairly quickly as her fists clenched. It was more than embarrassment I was seeing. What it truly was, however, I couldn't quite identify. Ana let out a shocked squeal and grabbed Zoey by the shoulders, shaking her.

"Wife? Ring?"

"It was for a job!" Zoey shouted as she broke free of her sister and stepped back to look at both of them. "It was an act, Ana. We weren't really married. I gave the ring back…" Her voice grew slightly softer when she said that bit. I wondered if Sherlock caught that. "And we never did anything while we were living together!"

"You know…" She turned around and headed for the stairs, stopping when Sherlock piped up. He was now leaning against the doorframe, examining a rocket shaped sticker on the door. "You walked in on me from behind… What you exclaimed was incorrect. You were actually looking at my arse."