Once Upon Another Time (Third Book In The "Life Is But A Dream" Saga)

The Sign of Three: Part Eight

I woke up the next morning on the couch, and to the sound of Lestrade banging on the door. Groggily, I stood up and let him in.
"Aspen, we've got to go, Sherlock and John are locked up." He stated.

"Sorry, I thought you said Sherlock and John were locked up." I said groggily to the Detective Inspector.

"I did. They got wrapped up in trouble at a pub." Lestrade clarified to my dismay.

"Well- I don't even want to know." I told him while following him into his car outside.

I checked my phone for messages, potentially from Daniel or Lucy regarding last night. Unfortunately, nothing was there and I was met with a dry phone.

I rubbed my head to ease the throbbing as we arrived. Lestrade rather quickly, and in an upsetting manner. I followed him as best as I could inside, where he spoke to the guard and then flashed his badge.

"Got family here to as well." He stated, and the guard led us down to a cell, where I was baffled to find Sherlock laying down on a bench and John sitting on the floor.

"What the hell." I said as the door clanged open.

"Wakey-wakey!" Lestrade shouted in a sarcastically cheerful manner. I heard John mumble something as he stood, while I walked over to Sherlock, who was fast asleep.

"Get up. I'm gonna put you two in a taxi. Managed to square things with the desk sergeant." Lestrade ordered the two. "What a couple of lightweights! You couldn't even make it to closing time!"  He joked as I nudged Sherlock's shoulder in attempt to wake him up.

"C-could you whisper?" John asked the Detective Inspector.

"Not really!" Lestrade damn near yelled right in my uncle's ear.

I stepped back as Sherlock jolted up in a frazzled and weary state. I put my hand on his shoulder mockingly.

"Good morning sleeping beauty!"  I joked as he swatted my hand away before standing and wobbling. 

"Bugger off, Aspen." Sherlock muttered as I helped him stand steady and exit the cell.

-

I chuckled lightly at the memories, for those 24 hours were some of my favorite. I looked up to Daniel, who i made eye contact with before he switched his gaze to Sherlock, and tried to look engulfed in his speech. Unfortunately, I hadn't paid much attention up to this point, and tried to jump back into Sherlock's story from there.

He spoke of how he was able to contact women who had been with this "Mayfly Man" on a chatroom, and questioned them further. If it wasn't for John however, Sherlock would have never assumed that the man was-

"Married, obviously.  Our Mayfly Man was trying to escape the suffocating chains of domesticity..." Sherlock trailed off, realizing where he was in that moment. "and instead of endless nights in watching the telly or going to barbecues with awful dreadful boring people he couldn't stand, he used his wits, cleverness and powers of disguise, he uh-" 

He halted his umpteenth rant about domestic life and was swallowed by his thoughts. I looked to the detective puzzled, as did everyone else in the room.