Wonder what 'Oddo and Susato thought about the weather over 'ere. Thought Gina Lestrade, doing up her collar as rain attacked her, so heavy it could knock a lesser detective out cold, and so cold an epidemic of breaking and entering would take place in order to get some warmth - by penguins. I should ask Iris when I get 'ome. She decided She was their flatmate before me. If she could speak, that is - she had woken up the previous day with a sore throat and bad headache, but had carried on with her day nonetheless.

Gina looked at Gregson's watch (her watch, she reminded herself). It was nine thirty in the evening. Maria slept in the Morgue, so there was no real deadline in getting there. As water poured over her coat, she scoured the road, looking for a carriage. None in sight. Not even a horse-cart where she could bury herself under a mound of hay.

She sighed, before going on her way. It was several miles to the prison, and she wasn't going to get closer by standing around. Besides, beat officers walked way more than this on a good day - what was her struggles compared to others, even if she had been feeling sh*te lately?

The rain soon felt more like bullets, going from a 'Pitter-patter' to a 'Duh-duh-duh-duh-duh!'. Gina began to wonder if Maria had ever had someone killed by weather like this.

As her cheeks heated up at the name, she sighed. You know she'd just 'ate you if you told her. She told herself, glum as a slum.

. . .

After an entire hour of walking through 'im upstairs' way of taking out his anger, Gina finally… finally arrived at the Morgue. She figured if she jumped into the Thames, she would probably end up drier.

"Gina." greeted Maria, ripping off her mask to reveal a look of concern "You're soaked through."

"I'll be fine." grunted the very wet detective, sounding rather hoarse "Just gimme the report for Lucy Lemon and I'll be on my way."

Reluctantly, Maria did as she was asked "At least stay for some hot chocolate! You look like you need it!"

"Uh… no thanks, 'Ria." Gina told her with a sniff, more scared of what the coroner considered Hot chocolate than drowning. Besides, she had work to do.

As Maria bent over to fetch one from the cupboard, Gina averted her eyes for reasons I'll leave you to make your own dance of deduction about.

"Here you are." Maria told her, handing her the autopsy report "May I come with you, Gina? London's dangerous at night."

The former pickpocket paused for a moment, before she turned away and shook her head "Sorry, 'Ria. No thanks." With that she practically ran out of the Morgue, slamming the door behind her.

Maria sighed. Gina had been tired and stressed lately, and wasn't she sounding a bit hoarse back there? Not to mention that someone could jump out from the cover of darkness…

"Hang it all." she sighed, grabbing her raincoat. She was going with Gina whether she liked it or not.

She threw open the door, putting on her hat just in time to see something that shilled her to the bone.

"Gina! GINA!"

. . .

"Is she alright!?"

"Come on, let's get her to bed!"

"It looks like a bit of flu. Hurley, Dr. Gorey, I think we should just leave her to rest for a bit."

"No… 'Ria… stay wi' me…"

Blackness…

Then a crack of light as Gina made a spectacular reunion with consciousness (and immediately wished she hadn't). Her head felt like a drunken rhinoceros was break-dancing inside of it and farting fog at the same time, her throat felt like Herlock Sholmes was diving inside of it, she was shivering like mad and worst of all, she felt so bloody weak! It was like her muscles were jelly, lying limply at her sides like a corpse.

Through her hazy vision, she could see that Maria was right next to her, pressing a damp cloth to her forehead.

"Gerrof, will ya?" moaned Gina, making a feeble attempt to push the coroner's damp cloth off her searing forehead.

"Stop struggling." Maria told her, undeterred. "I don't want to see you on my table yet."

With a pout, Gina did as she was told.

She looked around. The red-faced, sweat-soaked Detective lay on her bed in what was once the bedroom of Susato Mikatoba - rented by Gina from the wonderful Mrs. Hudson after the previous occupant (who had taken residence after Susato left for Japan) had run like thunder out of the door in a charred nightdress, screaming for the police, the fire brigade, and the Archbishop of Canterbury. It was still very pink - an addition left behind by Gina's Japanese friend. She hadn't gotten round to redecorating just yet.

"I must say, I wasn't expecting your room to look like this." remarked Maria with a small smile "I figured you for more of a green wallpaper kind of person. You seem to love that colour."

"'aven't 'ad the chance to redecorate." shrugged Gina, weakly "Been busy."

"The cause for this, I'll be bound." sighed Maria, before changing the subject. "I'm surprised you're not delirious yet." remarked the good doctor "After all, your temperature has been rising since you collapsed in the morgue last night."

"That's a good sign, innit Iris?" grinned Gina.

Maria sighed "I stand corrected. Try not to move."

Suddenly, in burst none other than Herlock Sholmes himself, kicking the door open with gusto. "Good morning, Inspector! I hope you're quite well after last night!"

"Hurley!" scolded Iris, following close behind with Kazuma, Toby, and Lord van Zieks. "I told you not to be so loud!" she turned to Gina "How are you, Ginny?"

"No, I don't need datin' advice from a bloke 'oo shut himself orf from the wurld fer ten years, Van Zieks!" grunted Gina in response.

"She's quite delirious." Maria explained. "It'll pass."

"Wha?" slurred Gina, going even redder "I don't want to make a pass a' anyone!"

Herlock then proceeded to eye the coroner next to her. "Oho! What have we here?" he remarked, wiggling his eyebrows in a complicated dance.

"Gina wanted her by her side." Iris explained as Maria just stared at him "You were there, remember?"

Hurley put his pipe in his mouth (the wrong way, a fact which he quickly corrected). "To a child such as yourself Iris, this means nothing. However, to an adult with even basic knowledge of such matters…" he tossed the pipe, accidentally hitting poor Wahagai "...the solution is simple!"

"Do 'such matters' involve inane deductions that lead nowhere until someone corrects you?" Barok remarked scathingly.

Ignoring the Prosecutor, the Great Detective announced "Herlock Sholmes presents to you… his logic and reasoning spectacular!"

He spun around as if he were a ballerina on ice, before stabbing a finger at Gina "It begins at ten o'clock last night - our dear friend Gina Lestrade collapses at work after catching an ill-chosen bug known as the flu in the net that is her immune system."

"Not many people choose to get sick." remarked van Zieks, dryly.

"I have frequently done so!" Sholmes replied with a grin "All for science!"

"Of course you have…"

"As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted…" continued Sholmes "Doctor Gorey brings her home and has stayed by her side the entire night, at her request. She has complied with the conduct of a gentlewoman - or perhaps something more."

He proceeded to jump on top of the nearest bookshelf, somehow not toppling it over, in spite of (or because of his) being Herlock Sholmes. "Let us travel back in time… from the moment Maria saw young Gina picking her pocket at their first meeting, they have been nigh inseparable. Inspector Lestrade has been visiting the Morgue even when off-duty, and she has been all she's been able to talk about since they met. And Doctor Sithe has gone out of her way to take time off in order to spend time with her, which is highly unusual for her. Quite good 'friends' they are to one another. Or are they?"

Maria's brow began to furrow.

Herlock then leapt off the bookshelf, landing flat on his face with a CRASH! He immediately scrambled to his feet, blood beginning to drip from his nose. "Thirdly, have you not seen the stares they have been giving one another? The blushes… the pining… even one as oblivious as Mr. Asogi has surely noticed by now!" remarked Sholmes, gesturing at the man in possession of a deadly weapon. "To put it simply… these two are in a relationship! So concludes, Herlock Sholmes' logic and reasoning spectacular."

Everyone stared at him, silent as a dead man. Then spoke Doctor Sithe herself "No."

"Pardon?" asked Herlock, moving neither his body nor his expression.

"I'm afraid you're mistaken." said Maria, expressionless as usual "We're just good friends."

"And we haven't noticed any pining either." said Kazuma.

"Nor any non-work visits to the Morgue by Lestrade." pointed out Barok, before pointing his infamous pointing finger at Herlock "Speak such nonsense again, and I'll send you there myself!"

THUMP!

"Look what you did, Uncle Barry!" admonished Iris "He's knocked himself out because of you!"

"Maybe he should grow thick enough skin to not fall over whenever someone tells him what they think of his jiggery-pokery!"

"It's not everyone… just anyone we meet."

Once Barok and Kazuma had carried the unconscious detective out and Iris Gina's loyal hound, the Coroner and the ex-pickpocket were alone again.

Maria was re-soaking the cloth when Gina, even redder in the face, took the Coroner's hand, muttered something she couldn't quite catch, and fell into a deep slumber, leaving the red-faced Coroner with her thoughts.

. . .

That night, Herlock Sholmes sat in his bedroom, rubbing his hands together "Everyone played right into my hands... I do adore it when a plan comes together…" with that, he let out a cackle like that mad scientist he was.

. . .

For those going to say rain doesn't make you sick, we're using cartoon logic here.

Hope you enjoyed! Leave a comment and tell me what you think?