Promises Series

Promise of Love - Lost!

The title of this chapter is "Lost!" by Coldplay

"He was going to hurt me," Julia whispered into Sherlock's chest.

"He wasn't here."

"No, I mean- when you came to kill him," the girl explained. "He was going to hurt me. It was worse that time. You arrived just as he was about to..." Her breath hitched, and she closed her eyes.

"You don't have to tell me."

"Thank you."

Sherlock hummed in acknowledgement. They sat in silence, Sherlock lost in his thoughts. Something had triggered Julia's outburst, and he had to figure out what it was. If they avoided it in the future, this wouldn't happen again. Julia wouldn't feel so helpless again. He opened his mouth to speak when Julia cut him off.

"The oven's gonna go off."

"John shut it off before he left."

"Oh."

"Yes," he said. He took a deep breath. "Julia. Do you know what happened?"

"I'm just going crazy," she said. "Don't mind me."

"Having a flashback doesn't make you insane."

"I'm pretty sure it does."

"Yes, but I know much more about psychology than you do, don't I?" replied Sherlock. "Having a flashback doesn't make you insane. All right? It just means that there's something else in our life that we haven't anticipated."

"You anticipate everything," Julia said dully.

"You manage to surprise me." Sherlock squeezed her bicep. "Now, what reminded you of Moran?"

"John- John was getting annoyed with me because I didn't want to stay at the flat while you two went to the Yard," she said. "He got all tense and told me to go inside. That's an order. That's what he said. That's what Moran said before he tried to ra-"

"He did what?" Sherlock growled, holding Julia away from him so he could look at her face. She cast her eyes downward, chewing on her lip nervously. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't think it mattered," the girl said weakly. She suddenly looked up at Sherlock, her eyes widening. Tears gathered in her eyes. "He didn't do anything. You showed up in time to stop him; he didn't touch me. I didn't want him to touch me, I didn't want him to do anything, please, I-"

"Stop!"

Julia flinched, and Sherlock's heart dropped. All the anger that had been coursing through him was replaced with concern at the sight of tears steadily dripping down his daughter's face.

"Shh. Stop talking. I'm not angry," he remedied, wiping tears from her cheeks. "You're all right. Everything's all right. I won't let anyone hurt you again."

"But-"

"You didn't ask for it. It's not your fault. Do you understand me? It's not your fault."

"Okay."

Sherlock leaned back against the tiled wall of the bathroom, sighing. "Even if- even if he had done that to you, it wouldn't cause me to love you any less."

There was silence.

"What did you say?"

The detective fixed his gaze on her. "I said it wouldn't change anything-"

"No, I mean... exactly."

"Even if he had done that to you, it wouldn't make me love you any less..." Sherlock frowned. "I don't hear anything wrong with that. It's just a fact."