The Surrogate Sister (a Sherlock fanfiction)

Chapter 3

The next morning, John walks into the kitchen to make himself a cup of tea.

“Good morning, John.”

John peaks over to the living room to find Victoria sitting criss-cross on the couch with a blanket wrapped around her. Her hair is wet, as if she had just taken a shower, and a laptop sits on her lap.

“I hope you don’t mind, but I had to borrow your laptop,” Victoria says, not bothering to look up from the computer screen.

“That’s fine but, uh,” John raises his eyebrow. “How did you log in?”

“Well, maybe you should stop making your password the names of your ex-girlfriends.” Sherlock walks into the room from behind John, startling him. Victoria just chuckles.

“Wait… but how would you…” John sighs. “Nevermind. What exactly are you doing with my laptop anyway?”

Victoria rolls her eyes and looks up at John. “Well if you must know, I’m hacking into super top secret stuff.”

Noting the sarcasm in her voice, John sighs and says “Well, if that’s all, I guess you may continue.”

“And I will.” And with that, Victoria looks back down at the screen and resumes typing.

John turns to Sherlock, who is sitting in his chair, violin in hand. “So, what’s the plan?”

Sherlock looks up at John. “Plan?”

“Yes, plan. You know, to help Victoria?”

“Oh,” Sherlock goes back to his violin. “Don’t have one yet.” He begins to play his violin.

“Of course you don't.” John sighs and makes his way back to the kitchen.

A few minutes pass until Victoria stops typing and moans, annoyed.

“Shit.”

Sherlock stops with his violin and looks at her. John comes back with his cup of tea. “What?”

Victoria turns to Sherlock. “Uhm… expect a call from your brother in about-“

Sherlock’s phone rings.

“Now.”

Sherlock takes out his cellphone and answers the call. “Hello, dear brother.”

"Why are you trying to hack into highly classified government files?"

Sherlock smirks. “Oh, I’m not.”

"Oh really. You expect me to believe John is doing this?"

“Actually,” Sherlock glances over at Victoria. She puts the laptop down on the coffee table and motions for Sherlock to give her the phone. He gets up and hands her the cellphone.

“Hello, Mycroft.”

"Oh, hello. And you are…"

“Victoria, remember me? Yeah, I’m the one who took John’s laptop. Did you get my message?”

John walks over to Sherlock with a confused look on his face. “Wait, what’s going on?”

“She hacked into some government files and caught Mycroft’s attention.” Sherlock’s eyes observe Victoria, who does not look pleased.

“Wait… she wasn’t kidding?”

Sherlock smirks, “Apparently not.”

“Are you serious?” Victoria asks, upset. The boys look at her.

"I’m sorry. I don’t have authorization."

Victoria breathes a deep sigh. “Fine. Thanks anyway.” She hangs up and tosses the phone back at Sherlock. At the same time, Mrs. Hudson comes in with a pile of clothes in hand.

“Here you go, dearie.” She places the clothes on the couch. “I washed your clothes. I also found some old clothes that my daughter used to wear.”

Victoria smiles. “Thank you so much Mrs. Hudson.”

“Oh, not a problem. I just hope they fit. You look about her size.”

“I can go try them on now, if you’d like.”

“Oh, no, that’s unnecessary.”

“No, it’s fine.” Victoria unwraps the blanket, sets it aside, and stands up. “I want to get out of these sweats anyway. Thank you, again, for loaning them to me.”

“You are very welcome, dearie.” Mrs. Hudson smiles. “And you can keep these other clothes. I have no need for them.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Hudson.” Victoria grabs the pile of clothes and heads out of the room towards the bathroom.

Mrs. Hudson turns towards the boys. “She’s a very sweet girl. I hope she stays here a while, I quite like her.” She turns and walks out of the room.

Sherlock calls after her, “Oh, Mrs. Hudson! We’re out of milk!”

Mrs. Hudson shouts back from downstairs, “Not your housekeeper!”

Sherlock turns to John and shrugs. “Worth a shot.”

John sits down in the chair across from his flatmate and takes a sip of his tea. “So, tell me, why are we helping her?”

“Why not? We have nothing else better to do.”

“Seriously, Sherlock. You didn’t hesitate at all when she asked. Is there some kind of debt you need to pay or-”

“Why I chose to help her isn’t relevant, John.”

“Alright, fine.” John takes another sip. “I’ll stop asking.”

“Thank you.” Sherlock’s phone chirps and he whips it out to read the incoming text.

Victoria walks in wearing her black skinny jeans, a white knit sweater, and a tan faux leather jacket. She walks over to the mirror over the fireplace and pulls her hair up into a ponytail. She inspects her clothes through the mirror. “This’ll do.”

“That looks nice.” John

“I don’t think I asked for your opinion,” she turns to John with a fake smile. “But thanks.” She walks over to the couch and puts on her converse. John just stares at her, feeling a bit offended.

“We have another case.” Sherlock jumps up from his chair and glides over to the door to grab his coat and scarf. “C’mon John.”

John places his tea on the side table and gets up.

“Tory, you’re coming with us.” Sherlock states as he puts on his scarf.

“What? Why?” John looks at Sherlock as he grabs his coat from the rack.

“Because, John, it would be absolutely stupid to leave her out of our sight when people are out to get her. Think, John.” Sherlock rushes out the room. Victoria follows, flashing John a victorious smile. John breathes out an annoyed huff and walks out of the room.