The Hounds Of Baskerville (Sherlock Holmes X OC)

TWO- The Plot Thickens

Now, Anita was a hard worker. Hardly called sick and always showed up for her shifts. Over the many years that Anita worked at the Scotland Yard, she had accumulated a lot of vacation and sick days. And now she had a favor to ask of Lestrade. Usually you had to give some sort of notice to cash in those days, but Anita didn't exactly have the time. Lestrade of course agreed to letting Anita go, he had no real reason for her to stay.

After a quick stop at her flat to pack, Anita was now helping John carry his things out to the cab. Her bags were already in the car, courtesy of Sherlock. Sherlock was holding open the door of a cab for the pair when they started to hear shouting from Speedy's cafe. Anita peeked through the window to see Mrs. Hudson going off on Mr. Chatterjee.

"...cruise together. You had no intention of taking me on it..." she shouted and then threw something at the door and it bounced, heavily, off the glass. John recoiled at this while Anita let out a low whistle, promising to never piss Mrs. Hudson off.

"Oh! Looks like Mrs. Hudson finally got to the wife in Doncaster," John said.

"Yeah, I'm glad I'm not that guy," Anita replied.

"Wait til she finds out about the one in Islamabad," Sherlock commented and Anita and John snickered.

"Well, then, we definitely need to get out of here," Anita said as they started to climb into the cab. John sat next to the left window, Anita sat in the middle, and Sherlock sat to her right.

"Paddington Station, please," Sherlock told the driver.

"Watch your step," Sherlock said as he held a hand out to Anita to help her up onto a large stone outcrop. Anita took his hand and he pulled her up the rest of the way. Anita and the boys arrived at Dartmoor and decided to look around the landscape. John had opted to remain on the ground, while Anita and Sherlock were determined to climb the rock.

"Thank you," Anita told him once they reached the top. They held each other's hands a moment longer than most people would, before letting go. He hummed, glancing sideways at her. He liked the way the wind blew through her hair, making it ruffle and fluff a bit. He thought she looked absolutely adorable, even when the rare strand and blew into her face and she had to push it away.

As the pair walked towards the edge, John stood at the foot of the stone and was looking at a map. He pointed ahead of himself at a large array of buildings in the distance.

"There's Baskerville." Then he turned and pointed behind him.

"That's Grimpen Village," he said, then turned back and looked ahead of himself again, checking the map for the name of the heavily wooded area to the left of the Baskerville complex.

"So that must be...yeah, it's Dewer's Hollow," John stated. Sherlock pointed to an area in between the complex and the Hollow.

"What's that?" John lifted the binoculars, strapped around his neck, and looked closer at the fencing and the warning signs.

"Minefield? Technically, Baskerville's an army base, so I guess they've always been keen to keep people out," John said.

"Clearly," Anita commented.

Later, Sherlock drove them to the Grimpen Village and pulled into the car park of the Cross Keys Inn. Anita, John, and Sherlock got out of the car and walked towards the entrance of the pub, where a young man was talking to a group of tourists.

"Three times a day, tell your friends. Tell anyone! Don't be strangers, and remember...stay away from the moor at night if you value your lives!" the guy said as the trio walked past him. Anita didn't hear a word of what he said though. She had, unfortunately, zeroed in on a father and his daughter. The girl couldn't have been older than five and Anita's heart clenched. They were clearly close, the young girl's father was running his hand through his daughter's ponytail. Which was something Anita's father did all the time, even when she was in college. Anita had to pull her gaze away before she started to cry.