"Once you return we have things to discuss"
"Sir, Scotland Yard is going to need me because of those files I asked transferred to them"
"I know that Donavan, however I have my reasons to keep you here for a little longer, reasons that Scotland Yard will be aware of before your break is over with since I need to talk to them anyways about something"
"Will I be told once I report back in?"
"Yes you will be I promise"
"Then I guess I'll see you in a month"
"Oh and while you're on your mandatory month long break you're not allowed to visit Scotland Yard, that's Scotland Yard's request by the way"
"I know, they told me that they didn't want to see me at all during my mandatory break before I flew back here, I have a destination in mind in any case though for my break, or at least for part of my break"
And so once Donavan was fully debriefed he went all the way to Aberdeen and went to the beach where he laid flowers down at a specific location which had been permanently closed by the choice of the people fifteen years earlier.
"Hey guys sorry I'm late, but you know how it is with my job, when I have an assignment, especially one that requires me to be undercover and thus go wherever my fake bosses send me I have to go and miss the anniversary though I hate whenever that happens"
Donavan let's out a sigh before he continues
"So, I actually found my birth family, though they won't talk to me for complicated reasons I guess and I haven't told my adoptive parents yet either for complicated reasons also. Though I'm hoping to finally have answers about what happened to me when I was a baby and allowed to be adopted by my parents, though I also don't know if I'm going to ultimately like the answers to those questions"
After another few moments of silence Donavan spoke up again
"It's still hard to believe that it's been fifteen years since the day I lost you guys to a freak accident, and though I've returned to the water I can't bring myself to volunteer for lifeguard duties, and this is the closest I ever get to going into the ocean. My job has learned it's lessons regarding those kinds of training sessions or missions the hard way unfortunately"
Donavan would spend the entire month in Aberdeen but eventually returned to work like he knew was needed.
"I'm back, though I'm wondering what the delay is about"
"Simple Donavan, we need you to train a couple of officers in regards to your specialty, not only in case you actually wind up joining Scotland Yard but because we might need it while you're helping them with your past"
"Oh, that makes sense actually, why isn't anyone else trained in that again?"
"Two reasons, one we were stupid enough to not think about it, and the other was because we didn't really see anyone who was inclined towards working within that specialty"
"Oh, and you didn't think about asking if anyone was willing to train in my specialty even if it wasn't what they were first thinking about when joining the police"
"Precisely, though we would have allowed transfers if they truly were suited for the job or after a time and knowing that there were others trained in it requested it"
"Oh, well then let's get to it"
And so the next day the classes began
"Hello, you're here to learn what I do, what I am is someone who is an expert at reading body language and thus helping in interrogations and a fingerprint analysis specialist. I chose the fingerprint job because while technology helps us identify someone quickly if they already have a criminal record technology can still fail and that's when you have to look at fingerprints in person and on paper which takes time. As for the body language sometimes it's an indicator of guilt and others it's simply someone stressed and worried about something else, I've interrogated plenty of parents who were simply stressed and worried about a child in the hospital that they wanted or needed to get back to so it happens"
"Why are we being trained in these things now though Donavan?"
"I'm leaving to help Scotland Yard with something, add in the fact that I'm probably going to join them and that means that this department loses my specialties unless others are trained in them and I deem the officers competent"
"Oh, how long do we have for training?"
"Two months minimum, Scotland Yard is aware of this training though so them helping me with my thing can wait until I deem you guys ready to be on your own"
The next two months were extremely intense for those training in Donavan's specialties and Donavan himself actually cut a member after only a week due to what they had done one day during training. As for the rest they were slowly but surely becoming as good as he was in fingerprint analysis and interrogation through reading body language, though they weren't quite to his level yet but considering that they had only just begun that training it was understandable. At the moment though he was having them secretly observed by the higher ups to see if his suspicions were correct in regards to their skill level.
"So...it looks like they're doing pretty well all things considered"
"Yes, though I understand why you wanted us to observe them, after all you're too close to the situation aren't you?"
"Yes, yes I am while you guys are neutral enough to notice things that I might miss"
"Though to be honest we're surprised that you want the observation done so soon"
"It's getting to the two month mark and I told the group that the training would last for two months minimum, this is just a test to see how much progress they've made, I don't actually expect them to pass any of the tests I put before them today"
"And if they do pass the tests?"
"Then they've made progress a lot faster than I expected, by the way who's this mystery person with you?"
"They're from Scotland Yard, they heard about you being our only expert in these two areas and will talk to these guys after their tests to explain a few things about the specialties they're learning, about how while it's not common in Scotland Yard there's more than one person who can do multiple skills, including the ones they're learning right now"
"Oh, okay that makes sense"
"By the way Donavan, I'm also here for you"
"What do you mean by that?"
"Simple Lestrade knew that you might get anxious after a while in regards to delaying your search further and as such sent me as a kind of relay person who has clearance to know what the research actually is"
"That actually makes sense, thank you, and tell Lestrade I also said thanks to him"
"Will do"
"In the meantime there are people that are needing testing and then going from there in regards to their results"
"Right"
Ultimately some would actually pass parts of the tests but no one would completely pass any of the hidden tests and most failed the majority simply due to not having enough experience, but since that was expected Donavan wasn't angry at any of them for failing parts or entire sections of the tests.
"Wait, why aren't you angry?"
"Because these tests were actually designed to have you fail them either as a whole or parts of them"
"Why do something like that though?"
"To not only prevent you guys from getting too cocky, but to also show you guys where you still have work to do in regards to what I'm teaching you"
"How so sir?"
"I'm going to let a guest from Scotland Yard explain further what I mean"
And so the officer gets to the podium
"Now then, the first thing you should know is that several officers are dual specialists in Scotland Yard, but not everyone, either because they have no ability to do so, or their specialty is such that they're only allowed to specialize in that one thing due to time commitment or danger. As for the cocky issue and knowing what you still need to work on, that's also a thing that we test at Scotland Yard regularly so that you understand your limitations even if you do ultimately manage to dual specialize because doing so is not easy and you sometimes use one skill more than the other which means you can get rusty at the skill you don't use as often, or get too cocky on a skill you do use regularly"
After a moment to allow that part to sink in the Scotland Yard representative speaks up again
"And that's something you're going to have to learn to do on your own actually, regularly use both skills even if it's just a staged assignment or in the case of fingerprint analysis regularly look at fingerprints on cards and try and name the person with evidence without having access to a name"
Donavan speaks up again
"He's right, whenever I don't use my fingerprint skills because the computers work or I'm needed in my other specialty more I request hard copies of old cases including the fingerprints and try and figure out the culprit without access to the end results. I even managed to resolve a pretty old cold case once by pure accident simply doing maintenance training"
Suddenly Donavan's boss speaks up
"So that's what happened, we always did wonder why you suddenly asked to reopen that case and then how you resolved it so quickly considering that no one from that situation is no longer alive to appreciate it"
"The descendants of that case deserved answers boss, especially..."
"Yeah, you have a point those two particular people really did deserve closer all things considered"
"How old was the case you're talking about anyways?"
"It happened 125 years ago to the day when Donavan finally resolved the case"
"Wait the year 2140?, the case was that old?"
"Wrong, the year the case happened was actually 2132, and everyone originally involved in the case had been dead for at least 25 years before it was finally resolved"
"Whoa, that's a long time"
"It is what it is, now then I have individual reports for everyone in regards to what you did correct and what you did wrong in each test and each stage of each test so that you can learn from your mistakes"
And so Donavan gave the group their reports and continued to work with them while also working on his own case with the Scotland Yard representative alongside him. Three months later and not only did Donavan have a break in his own case but he could truly say that his recruits were ready to work without his guidance.
"You're ready to handle things on your own now, and I've made my decision finally, I'm joining Scotland Yard"
"But...we still need you"
"No you don't, I have taught you everything you need to know about your specialties and you can do them as well as I can, besides I can't have you guys leaning on me too much, but I will always be just a phone call away if you need advice or need to vent to someone that understands what you're going through"
"What will you do in Scotland Yard then?"
"The same as always really, plus...I have a lead on a personal case of mine that I need to follow"
"But that doesn't mean you have to join Scotland Yard to follow it does it?"
"Yes and no, I could technically speaking simply request a leave of absence and then go to Scotland Yard and start working on the case that ways, but at the same time...I need to move on guys and at Scotland Yard...well it's more complicated then what you think as to why I need to be with them"
"Then I guess good luck is all I can say"
And so Donavan goes to his old place for the last time to ensure that the last of the packing had been finished and then turns in his apartment keys and starts the drive to Scotland Yard knowing that no matter the end result he was finally going to have closure on his past while still maintaining a connection with his adoptive parents. Once the group knew that Donavan had settled into his new job the group met with him in private
"So...what lead is it that you have anyways?"
"Hospital records surprisingly enough"
"What did you catch that we missed?"
"Simple actually, at least once you truly look for it that is, you see when I was looking over my birth and hospital records again I noticed that there was a nurse that signed off on a lot of things regarding my care. The problem was that some of what they were signing off on should have been the doctor's signature, and because of that descrepency I decided to see if that nurse had been involved in other births and mysterious deaths soon afterwords and they were, which then led me to the hospital director because the director was the one who signed those death certificates with the nurse the co-signer"
"So...this is basically bigger than what we initially thought it was"
"Exactly, in fact there's a good chance that the hospital is either willingly or unknowingly part of a smuggling ring and has been for a long time"
"Is the hospital director who signed your death certificate still working at that hospital?"
"Yes actually, which means this has to be done delicately"
"Good point, if we accuse him with no actual proof..."
"Our case could be blown sky high and all of us either fired or suspended"
"Exactly, as it is I discovered this by sheer chance and I don't have any proof that the nurse did any wrongdoing either except for being at my birth and follow up nurse up to my supposed 'death' so soon after I was born"
"Then we move slowly but assuredly and make sure to make no mistakes that could lead to trouble further down the line, however I do see one potential problem and that's jurisdiction issues"
"Actually I cleared that issue during my mentoring period, I told my superior's, well former superior's that we might have to investigate the hospital I was born in for me to finally get answers and they made a few calls themselves and I got a letter e-mailed to me which I printed immediately. The letter has no expiration date by the way"
"I see, then as soon as Sherlock is done with is Swiss job we'll check out the hospital discreetly and then go from there"
"Oh?"
"Yeah, apparently there were some documents that were too sensitive to send via a normal courier so Sherlock was chosen instead"
"Ah, makes sense then that there's a delay because I know better than to mess with a government mission"
"Yeah, and Sherlock's government job is tricky considering he's not only a private consultant but also works for both Great Britain and Switzerland"
"That's actually something I'm not entirely understanding, how can he work for both governments anyways?"
"A special agreement that was made after he returned to us after being thought dead for a time"
"Why was such an arrangement needed anyways?"
"It's...it's because Switzerland took care of him Donavan, you see we all thought he had been fatally shot at Reichenbach, but it turned out that he survived and was in a coma for six months and then in rehab for another six months where it was determined he had almost complete amnesia. It took finding out about your twin brother in the newspaper that triggered his memories about six or so months after he was discharged from the hospital and was traveling Europe in the hopes of regaining his memories"
"And during that entire time Switzerland was supporting him weren't they?"
"Yes, and after he regained his memories he became a consultant for them in repayment for what they had done for him while still keeping us in the dark about his survival for safety reasons"
"Makes sense I guess, so when exactly is he expected to get back anyways?"
"Next week if everything goes well on his mission"
"I see, then let's hope things do indeed go well"
A week later and Sherlock was back in England with his Switzerland assignment over for the moment though he could naturally be recalled as a Switzerland agent at any time.
"Now then he can't help immediately because somehow, and don't ask me how, but somehow he managed to catch something while in Switzerland, either that or on the trip back here and is in quarantine until we know for sure what it is he actually has"
As it would ultimately turn out Sherlock would have a combination of a nasty flu bug and malaria, and the only reason he was as sick as he was would be due to the malaria since his flu shot was helping fight the flu. But having two different diseases at once meant his body had a harder time creating antibodies to fight both diseases at once.
"Still, since we know what he actually has he's being released from quarantine, though not the hospital and the medical staff are still having to take precautions whenever they enter his room, but not nearly as strict as while he was in quarantine"
"What precautions are they still required to take then?
"Simple masks and the usual protections used whenever blood is taken will work now that we know what he actually has"
"That's something at least"
"Indeed, but because of the two combinations of diseases he'll be in the hospital a little while longer"
"I see, at least...at least with proper treatment what he has generally isn't fatal since he's healthy"
"Though even normal healthy people die of the flu every year"
"Still Sherlock has the better chance of survival then death so that's what we're going to think"
"Still, he's going to take time to recover after this isn't he?"
"True, but that's only to be expected, and more than likely he'll recover faster than you think since not only do we have modern medicine but whenever he knows he has a case he does his best to recover quickly which means not going against doctor's orders"
"And he definitely knows he has a case, I understand, let's hope he gets better and then recovers relatively quickly"
Ultimately Sherlock would be in the hospital for about a month and a half because he managed to get pneumonia on top of everything else, but eventually he recovered enough to go home, though not enough to even think about working on a case quite yet.
"I may not be able to work on an active case quite yet, and I'm also not quite up to being a courier between Switzerland and England, but I am strong enough to hear how cases that happened while I was in the hospital and were resolved went since you managed to keep that news from me the entire time I was hospitalized"
And so the group updated Sherlock on the mysteries and crimes he had missed while in the hospital and he in turn explained how he suspected he got the two diseases that put him in the hospital in the first place. Which actually confirmed Watson's and the other doctor's suspicions, at least in regards to the flu, but the malaria was a surprise since he had actually caught it in a way no one suspected