The Shadowmen

Chapter Seven

Chapter 7

Sherlock's hands unhitched themselves from their resting place on his forehead. His eyes shot open. "We've got him now."

The Doctor glanced up from cleaning the TARDIS console, and looked at Sherlock. "I'm glad to see that you're back to reality." He said, wiping his hands on his pants.

"We have to investigate the crime scene at night."

"What?"

"The crime scene. You heard those people- the 'Shadows' attacked them. We've always investigated during the day, never the night. That's why we haven't come across the 'Shadows' yet. If we go to the crime scene at night, we could run into one of the- well, we should give them a name, shouldn't we?"

The Doctor raised an eyebrow, as Sherlock got up and paced around, staring at the glass floor. "The TARDIS won't accept any of the titles I've made up for them. They're nameless. I prefer to call them the Shadowmen, though. I want to give them an awesome name. Latin, maybe? I don't know. Maybe once we know what they are, exactly."

"It's better than 'Shadow.'" Sherlock ruffled his hair.

The Doctor had a smug smile. "I know. Come on, then. Let's go."

Sherlock looked up and glared at the Doctor. "I spent about ten hours thinking. By the time we walk there, it'll be about seven in the morning. I'm not waiting an entire day. Doctor, I have things to do."

"What could possibly occupy your time? We've got an almost certainly non-human crime. You're a great detective. This should be like the one thing you have to do.!"

Sherlock looked at the Doctor. "It's just, I have a friend, back home in London. I had to leave him, to save his life. And, I still haven't worked up the courage to see him again. He was my best friend, and my only friend. I let him down, and I fear he'll be quite angry. I just don't know how he'll take it,"

The Doctor's smile melted. "So, you've lost people too? At least they're alive. Maybe, I'll show you something I don't often show the common folk." At that remark, Sherlock's face turned to that of annoyance. He opened his mouth to protest, but the Doctor interrupted. "Ah, dear Sherlock, why must we wait till morning?"

He ran to the console and flipped quite a few switches and threw quite a few levers. Sherlock's eyes drifted from the TARDIS console to the Doctor's cheeky smile.

The TARDIS lurched to the side, setting Sherlock off-balance. He groped around for something to balance himself on, before stumbling across to the console, and grabbing onto it. "You know, I'm sure that you could SOMEHOW manage the make this thing a bit more stable. What's going on that could cause this sort of disturbance?" He said, though hint of excitement in his voice did no more than expose his evident happiness.

The TARDIS jolted to a stop, and the Doctor and Sherlock let go of the console. "I bet you can figure out what's waiting right outside those doors."

Sherlock let out an exclamation of surprise. "Ohhhhhh."

The Doctor nodded, that cheeky smile still spread across his face.

Sherlock's footsteps echoed all throughout the control room. He approached the doors before swinging them open, letting in the cool air. "Time AND space travel then." He chuckled. "Clever."

The Doctor straightened his bow tie before following Sherlock out the doors and into the night.