Fight for Me

Chapter 96

"Right, then. The professionals have finished if the amateurs want to go in and have their turn," Donovan announced, sneering at Sherlock as she and Greg emerged from the room in which they had been questioning Claudette.

Greg quickly stopped Sherlock before he could go inside. "Now remember, she's in shock and she's just seven years old so anything you can do to..."

"Not be myself," Sherlock finished for him, a bit of bite in his words. Lydia reached over and wrapped her fingers around his in a comforting way, knowing that Greg was right to have this conversation, but also knowing that Sherlock could be one of the most considerate men when he wanted to be. People never did quite seem to understand that.

Sherlock took his hand out of hers to fix the collar of his coat before entering the room, John and Lydia trailing behind him. Sherlock barely got out to words before Claudette looked up at him and let out a scream. Not understanding what he had done wrong, Sherlock tried to explain himself and assure her that he didn't mean any harm, but Lydia, Greg, and John quickly ushered him out of there before a bigger scene could be made.

Greg tried to assure Lydia and John that the girl was just traumatised, but Lydia could tell Sherlock was shaken by the event. He stood apart from the group, wordlessly staring out the window as he processed everything. She was worried for him, he was rarely affected by anything in this way.

She managed to extract herself from the conversation and went to Sherlock's side, slipping her hand into his.

"You alright?" She asked, squeezing his hand lightly.

He merely gave a nod, peeling his gaze from the window. He looked instead at their clasped hands, a glimmer of what appeared to be remorse flashing across his face.

A bit nervous as to what he had planned, Lydia tried to assure him, "you know you can tell me anything, Sherlock. Do you know what Moriarty has planned?"

He shook his head, "besides my fall, I haven't figured out his play yet. I should be better than this, Lia. If you get hurt because-"

"Don't focus on protecting me, Sherlock. I could never forgive myself if you ended up sacrificing your life for mine. Besides, I have faith you'll figure out Moriarty's plan before it's too late. We'll make it through this, together."

Sherlock nodded and turned from the window, turning to leave the room, seeming lost in thought. Donovan saw this movement and spoke up, "brilliant work you did, finding those kids from just a footprint. It's really amazing."

"Thank you," Sherlock replied, although he clearly hadn't listened to a word she had spoken. Lydia, however, had and she had a bad feeling as to where she was going with it.

"Unbelievable," Donovan added.

Lydia finally turned to her, "I'd bet it was unbelievable to you, you couldn't catch a murderer if they were stabbing the victim right in front of you."

Much to Lydia's surprise, Sherlock pulled her along before she could get into a fully fledged fight with the Sergeant. Lydia frowned but quickened her pace to match Sherlock, letting him lead them out of Scotland Yard.

John hailed a cab once the three of them arrived outside and asked Sherlock, "you okay?"

"Thinking," came Sherlock's response.

John glanced over at Lydia, seeming unconvinced by Sherlock's answer. But she simply shook her head, just as concerned about the detective as John seemed to be.

"This is my cab, you get the next one," Sherlock spoke, seemingly unaware of his friends' unspoken concern for him.

John frowned, "why?"