Disadvantageous

Chapter 13

For the next few weeks Lydia focused very hard on trying not to think about Sherlock Holmes. She had spent her time with Zoe and Peter or else Lawrence and his new boyfriend, Theo. It pained her at times when she was constantly be the third wheeling. Even Lily had started seeing someone, leaving Lydia feeling awfully alone.

But at least she had Willow to keep her company. Of course, the young girl had begun to wonder why she hadn't seen her dad in so long. Not wanting her to know the truth, both because it was far to early to try to teach her about drugs and because she didn't want to taint her image of her father once she did understand, Lydia had often made up lies that he was away working a very difficult case. Lydia wasn't sure how long she could keep using that excuse, she was sure that Willow had already noted how quickly Sherlock solved cases. She was incredibly smart for her age.

But other than her daughter's inquiries and the few passing moments her brain drifted to the thought of Sherlock, Lydia had mostly been able to shut out the detective. Of course that was rather difficult when his face was on all of the papers, the world finally being told of his problems with drugs. Lydia's mum had rung her up upon seeing that headline, demanding to know if Willow was still staying with him despite his drug problem. Lydia had assured her that she had taken full custody of Willow, but had not succeeded in keeping her sharp tone out of her voice. Her mum hadn't seemed to take much offense at it, but Lydia assumed it was probably due to the guilt.

"Lily, I'm so glad you could make it, come in," Lydia smiled, ushering her little sister into her flat.

"Thanks, Lids, I hope you don't mind me dropping by unannounced."

"Oh, it's no matter, not like I had much going on anyway. Tell me, what's up?"

She sighed, "I guess I just needed to get away from mum and dad for a bit, it's like they're suffocating me."

"Probably mum's way of trying to make up for failing with me."

"So Sherlock was right then," Lily nodded, remembering Sherlock's deductive rant the first night they had met. Suddenly realising that she had mentioned the name no longer spoken in the flat, Lily covered her mouth with her hand. "Oh god, sorry Lids, I didn't mean-"

"Don't worry about it," she replied through a tight smile. "It's not like I can avoid hearing about him with all the media coverage. It's fine, really. And he was right, though I don't know why that would surprise me. He's always right."

"Not always," Lily corrected, trying to speak carefully. "I don't think he was right when he jumped off that building, he wasn't right to let you go."

"Perhaps he was, perhaps it was what was needed to meet Janine. I just need to move on with my life as well. But enough about him, how are you doing? I know it must be exhausting planning for uni."

Thankful for a change of subject, Lily nodded, "yeah, I think that might be part of the reason mum and dad are clinging so tightly to me. They don't want to see their little girl leave home."

"I can't say I blame them. I know I've a long way to go, but I don't think I'll ever be ready Willow to go off to uni. But at least you'll be in London, so they can always tell me to check up on you."

Lily cringed, "I'd rather hoped you wouldn't agree to that."

"Hey, there's a lot of dangers out there on the streets of London. Trust me, I've been to enough crime scenes for me to know," Lydia replied playfully, assuring Lily that she wouldn't be overbearing, but would still be there for her if she ever needed it.

Lydia's mobile went off, alerting her to a message from her mum, causing her to look up at Lily, "you've been caught."

"Please, Lids, can you let me stay the night?"

Without responding, Lydia pressed the call button next to her mum's contact and brought the mobile up to her ear. Keeping eye contact with her sister, she answered, "hey mum, don't worry, Lily's with me. We were messaging earlier and decided to get together, I told her I would let you know and I completely forgot. I'm so sorry."

"Well, I suppose at least I know she's safe," Eleanor breathed a sigh of relief and Lydia could picture her releasing all of the tension that no doubt had built up upon realising her daughter was missing. "But if you do this again, I'm going to have to ban her from visiting you, do you understand?"

"It won't happen again, I promise," Lydia assured her, rolling her eyes as she spoke. It was like her mum didn't even realise that her daughter was now an adult fully capable of making her own decisions. "Sorry for making you worry, but we are in the middle of a very intense card game that we're trying to finish before it gets too late. I'll ring you in the morning, yeah?"

"Alright, just tell Lily that I love her and expect her home by noon tomorrow. Love you."

"Love you, too, mum. I'll keep Lily safe."

With that Lydia hung up and turned to her sister, "you owe me one."

"You're the best, Lids."

Lydia gave a shrug, "you're going to have to help out around the flat, I might as well make use of you while you're here. I was thinking about remodelling the-"

She cut off as her mobile went off again. Heaving a sigh, she brought it back up to her ear and answered, "mum, I've told you, everything's fine. I'll send Lily back in the morning."

"Lydia, it's John," the voice on the other end corrected, causing Lydia to frown.

"Oh, sorry. Lily's just decided to run away from home for a bit and I was settling things with my mum. But what's up? How's Mary?"

"She's fine, it's not her I'm ringing about," John replied, his voice awfully serious for her liking.

"Well then who are you ringing about?"

"Sherlock's been shot."

"What? How?" Lydia demanded, leaping from her seated position. The past weeks of trying to block the detective out of her mind went up in smoke. She didn't care how much it hurt to think about him, she needed to know that he was alright.

"I dunno, we were trying to get into this man's office and Janine had been knocked out so I was with her when I heard the gunshot. It's pretty serious."

"Is he at St. Bart's?"

"Yeah, he's still in surgery."

"I'll be there in a few," Lydia ended the conversation, hanging up and running to get her coat.

Lily watched her in confusion, finally asking, "what's going on?"

"Sherlock's been shot. I know you'll probably reprimand me for wanting to go see him, but I have to know that he'll be ok. Willow's sleeping in her room. Could you just check on her before going to bed? I don't know when I'll be back."

"Of course, let me know if there's anything you need," Lily said, wrapping her arms around Lydia in a reassuring hug. Lydia gave her a quick smile before rushing out the door, focused solely on getting to the hospital.

-

(A/N): Is this near death experience Lydia's way back into Sherlock's life? Or will I be cruel and keep them apart even longer? I hope that you enjoyed this chapter!