Sherlock and Declan are ready for school before Clement wakes up, so they walk to school without waking Clement. They meet John on the corner, where they usually do, and John asks if everything's ok.
Sherlock assures them that everything is fine, then tells them to focus on Ashley's case.
"I'm going to talk to the dog-walker this afternoon," Sherlock says. "Join?"
John frowns. "I've got to..." he glances uneasily at Declan, so Declan pretends to be busy on his phone. "I've got to go visit my dad today."
"Oh..." Sherlock says. "Did you want...am I..."
"You don't have to go," John says. "My mum's taking me and Harry's actually going, too. I would postpone to go with you, but it's his birthday, so..."
Sherlock nods. "Ok. Call me after then."
John nods.
Sherlock turns to Declan. "What about you?"
"Hmm?" Declan looks up. "Oh, I've got a date. Sorry, dude."
Sherlock frowns, but nods.
"Maybe Duke will go with you?" John tries as they start towards school again.
Sherlock shrugs.
Duke finds them and Sherlock asks if he'll go to the dog-walker's flat, but Duke says he's busy, too.
Sherlock frowns, then frowns deeper when Olive joins them.
"Hey, guys!" Olive greets.
"Do you know anything about dogs?" Sherlock questions.
Olive eyes him. "Eh...no, but-"
Sherlock sighs and turns back to his locker.
"You still mad at me, Holmes?" Olive asks.
Sherlock ignores her, not because he wants to but because he's thinking.
John elbows him.
Sherlock jumps and turns around. "What?!"
"I asked if you're still mad at me," Olive repeats.
"Why would I be? Because you asked my boyfriend to a dance? Mad? No."
"Uh-huh," Olive says. "Well, I'll just keep the information I have to myself."
Sherlock eyes her. "What information?"
Olive shrugs and turns to talk away. "It's not important now, you'll figure it out."
Sherlock rushes to follow her. "What is it? Tell me."
"No," Olive says, turning down the hall towards her class.
Sherlock follows her, even though his class is the opposite direction. "Please, Olive? Please?"
Olive enters her class. Sherlock follows.
"Mister Holmes, I don't believe you're in this class," the teacher, Mr. Hall says.
"Just a second," Sherlock tells him. "Please, Olive?"
"Say you forgive me."
"Fine," Sherlock says. "I forgive you for taking my boyfriend to the dance."
Olive smiles. "Good enough. So Brendan's best friend, Avery, is all beat up with allergies. I heard someone ask why, and she said her brother got a new dog and that she's terribly allergic to it. But it sounded like such a lie!"
Sherlock glares at her. "So?"
"So?! Come on, Sherlock Holmes, you're not that thick. Brendan's dating that arsehole Ashley and suddenly his dog is missing when Brendan's, quote, 'best friend's brother', gets a new dog? That's no coincidence."
Sherlock pauses to think. "Brendan stole the dog and asked her friend to hold it."
"Duh."
Sherlock shakes his head. "That's too easy. I'm still going to talk to the dog-walker."
"Take me with you."
Sherlock sighs. "Fine. Meet me at my locker after school and you can go with me."
Olive smiles, then Sherlock leaves.
Throughout the morning, he thinks about his and Olive's conversation. He wonders why Brendan would take the dog of a boy she's known only a week, so he goes to find her during lunch.
"Hey, Brendan," Sherlock says, approaching her table.
She looks at him, confused. "Hey...Sherlock, was it?"
"Yeah. Can I talk to you a minute?"
Brendan nods and follows Sherlock out of the cafeteria.
"How long have you known Ashley?" Sherlock asks her once they're out.
"A few years," Brendan says.
"How?"
"My aunt lives in his building. I babysit my cousins sometimes, so I met him a long time ago."
Sherlock nods. "Ok, that's it. Thanks."
He leaves before Brendan can question why he's asking.
After school, he waits for Olive to go to the dog-walker's house. He checks his watch every ten seconds, as if Olive is taking forever, but she arrives two minutes after school ends.
"I was waiting on you," Olive says, walking towards the front doors of the school.
Sherlock looks shocked, then follows her out the door.
Sherlock has the money to get a cab for them to take to the dog-walker's house, but he doesn't miss the uneasy look the Olive gives when he hails the cab.
"I got it," Sherlock mutters, then opens the door for her.
She slightly smiles, then climbs in.
They're silent for most of the ride, and Olive breaks the silence.
"What do your parents do?" she timidly asks.
"Uhm, my mum's in business and my dad's kind of a stay-at-home parent."
"Oh, really?" she asks. "Your dad doesn't work?"
"Well, he helps my mum. He went to school for accounting so he kind of consults on things."
Olive nods.
"What about yours?"
"My dad's a cop and my mum works at Tesco."
"A cop? That's neat."
"Yeah. He's taught me a lot."
"Oh? Like what?"
Olive glances at him. "I can tell that you got a haircut last week."
Sherlock eyes her, he hadn't even told John about his haircut. "How?"
Olive reaches over and pulls at a long patch of hair on the back of his head, where it's longer than the rest because the barber missed a piece. Sherlock grabs at it and notices.
"Can't see the back of your own head," Olive says.
Sherlock nods.
"And," Olive adds, "You didn't kiss John today."
Sherlock eyes her again. "What makes you think that?"
"When you kiss John, your lips go dry and puffy. Like you're having an allergic reaction. Or you've had too much salt. I've noticed. Plus, you're all grumpy."
Sherlock shrugs. "That is quite observant, actually."
"Thanks," she says, looking out the window again.
Sherlock looks at her and deduces everything he can about her; pancakes for breakfast (syrup in her hair), switched shampoos yesterday (she smells different), took a bus to school (dry mud on her shin where she stumbled getting in), which also means she must have been late waking up (she ran to the bus). There's so much more, but Sherlock doesn't say any of it out loud. Instead, he shuts his mouth and looks out his window.
They finally get to the dog-walkers house and catch her as she's arriving home.
"Hello, ma'am, I'm Sherlock Holmes and this is my—" Sherlock pauses and glances at Olive. "Friend," he spits out, "Olive Degas. We've got a few questions concerning Ashley Damien's lost dog."
"Oh," she mutters. "Sure, yeah, come in."
She introduces herself as Kate, and she offers the kids tea and cookies. Olive accepts, but Sherlock declines. He glares at her.
"What? I'm hungry."
Sherlock rolls his eyes as Kate returns to them.
"So, how can I help you guys?" Kate asks.
Sherlock looks around the room as Olive starts with questions.
"How long have you been walking Ashley's dog?"
"A few years," Kate says. "The Damien family has lived here for years, and I've kept the dog the whole time."
"And you've never had problems with her before?"
She shakes her head. "No, none before now. Usually I'm able to let the pups run loose in the park, and I normally have no problem getting Yankee back. But last week, she was gone."
"You didn't see her being taken?" Sherlock asks, remembering that Ashley said she'd said a boy took the dog.
"N..." she pauses, catching her mistake. "No," she says anyway.
Sherlock nods and stands. "That's all. Thank you."
Olive confusedly stands and follows him out, taking the last of her cookies with her.
They get out of the house and down the street.
"What the heck?" Olive says. "I barely got a look around."
"She's in on it," Sherlock says. "She doesn't have the dog, though. Someone paid her to lie."
"Brendan?"
"Probably. But who was the kid who delivered the letter to Ashley at school?"
"What kid?" Olive asks.
"Exactly."
"No, I'm asking what kid did Ashley describe?"
"Uh, a 'little first year'."
Olive looks at him. "Brendan's got a first year cousin. Or brother."
Sherlock looks at her and raises an eyebrow. "You don't say?" he questions.
Sherlock can't do anything about confronting Brendan that night, so he goes home to check on his dad. Clement is up and dressed (and sober). When Sherlock walks in, he's watching television.
"Hey, Dad," Sherlock says.
Clement looks up and smiles. "Hey, Sherlock. Come sit down."
Sherlock hangs his coat and goes to the sofa.
Clement pats his shoulder. "I'm sorry about last night. I…I freaked out, I guess. I didn't know what to do. But…" Clement grasps his shoulder. "I'm fine."
Sherlock looks into his eyes. "What are you going to do, Dad?"
Clement takes a deep breath. "Well, when Myc gets here this weekend, I'm going to sit down with both of you to consult. As of now, I don't know, but we'll talk this weekend. Ok?"
Sherlock nods.
Clement kisses his head. "I love you, son. It's alright."
Sherlock nods.
"How about we go out for dinner, hmm? Just you and me? Declan's with Ellery and it looks like John's busy."
Sherlock gasps and remembers that his phone rang when he was at Olive's house (he wanted to meet her cop father). He fishes the mobile out of his pocket and checks it; sure enough, there's a missed call from John.
"Sorry, Dad," Sherlock says. "Hang on a bit?"
"Yeah, no problem," Clement says, turning the volume up on the television again.
Sherlock rushes up to his room and calls John. John answers almost immediately.
"Hello?" he sounds upset.
"John? What happened?"
"He didn't see us," John says. "He didn't want to see us."
"They can do that?"
"Apparently," John mutters.
"How do you feel?"
"Not great," John says. "How's Ashley's case going?"
"I'm not talking about his case or about me right now," Sherlock says. "Are you angry?"
John sighs. "A bit."
"At what?"
"At…" John pauses. "At my dad, I guess. He didn't want to see us, Sherlock. So we drove all the way over to see him and…he…refused."
Sherlock frowns. "I'm sorry, John."
"It's just…" John sighs. "My mum still tries so fucking hard, you know? Before Christmas, we go. His birthday, we go. Father's Day, we go. We used to go for our birthdays until we found other things to do for our birthdays, remember? But the fucking arsehole can't be fucking bothered to see us this time."
"Did you even really want to see him, John? Do you ever?"
"It's just…he didn't want to see us, you know? He's the adult, he's the one who was, just a few months ago, telling us how he was going to try to make everything right."
"He won't, John," Sherlock quietly says.
"I fucking know that, Sherlock," John sternly says.
Sherlock closes his eyes and wishes he hadn't said that.
"I was fucking there, I know he's never going to make anything right."
"Ok," Sherlock whispers. "I'm sorry."
John takes a deep breath. "No, I'm sorry. It's not you I'm mad at. As a matter of fact, you're the only person I'm not mad at."
"Even though I took Olive to talk to the dog-walker?"
John chuckles. "Yes. Even though you took Olive to see the dog-walker instead of me."
Sherlock smiles. "Come to dinner with my dad and I. Please?"
"Ok, love. I'll be over in a minute."
"Ok," Sherlock says. "See you soon."
"See you," John says, then hangs up.
Sherlock goes downstairs again to tell Clement that John will be joining them for dinner.
"Perfect," Clement says with a smile. "Where is he now, though? You said you went out with Olive."
"First of all," Sherlock says, sitting next to Clement. "I did not go out with Olive. Olive and I went to interview a suspect."
Clement chuckles.
"Anyway," Sherlock says. "John had to go see his dad today."
"Oh," Clement mutters.
"And his dad didn't want to see him. They went all the way over there and he didn't want to see John or Harry."
"Oh, man."
"Yeah. He's a bit upset."
"Understandable."
Sherlock nods.
Clement pats his shoulder. "It'll be ok."
Sherlock runs his hands through his hair. "Everything is just so fucked up lately." He pauses for Clement to address his cursing. When he doesn't, Sherlock goes on. "Mum, this, Mycroft and Lestrade," Sherlock sighs. "I just…everything is so weird."
Clement eyes him. "What about Mycroft and Lestrade?"
Sherlock slowly shifts his gaze over. "Uhm…"
"What happened with Mycroft and Lestrade?"
"Well," Sherlock holds his hands up. "It's not about what happened, it's about…what isn't happening."
"Tell me."
Sherlock quickly stands from the sofa. "Nope."
"Sherlock!"
Sherlock rushes out of the sitting room and runs upstairs to wait for John.
Dinner goes well, even though Clement is awkwardly trying not to talk about John's situation and also asking over and over what's going on with Mycroft and Lestrade. Sherlock doesn't offer any information, and Clement ends up flustered about it the whole time.
A/N: If you read my story Being 16 (and if you haven't you should!), you'll know there's one character in these stories that I like more than the main characters, and in this story, that character is Olive. She's back and useful and I enjoy her too much. Anyway, thanks for reading! Please review!