Nicotine (Sheriarty)

10

Next up was Lestrade.

Sherlock walked into Scotland Yard and asked to speak with him and the woman at the front desk sent him up. Simple as that.

Once he'd reached the Detective Inspectors office, he peered through the glass. There sat a familiar man at his desk eating a donut. He was on the phone but hung up as soon as he saw Sherlock. The sociopath suddenly felt his stomach twist as he saw the man smile.

He closed the door behind him and sat in the chair opposite Lestrade.

"What can I do for you?" He asked through a mouthful of donut.

"I just wanted to say..." Sherlock struggled to find the right words to say.

"Spit it out." He said taking another bite from his donut.

"Thank you."

With that, Lestrade theatrically choked on his donut.

"What?" He asked finally after finishing his dramatic display.

"I just wanted to thank you for all the years of helping me. I couldn't have done it without you." That sounded about right. Sherlock silently congratulated himself for coming up with a coherent sentence.

"You're thanking me?"

"Yes."

Sherlock stood up expecting the man to follow (which he did) and walked over to him. Lestrade pulled him into a hug which Sherlock gladly excepted.

"Goodbye, Greg." Sherlock said finally, leaving Lestrade standing alone with his mouth open.

As Sherlock walked through the office, he was stopped by two more familiar faces.

"What was that about freak?" Sally asked with Anderson nodding along beside her.

Sherlock took a deep breath, "I said the same thing to him that I'm going to say to you. Thank you."

The duo's eyes opened widely.

"Thank you?" Anderson repeated.

"What for?" Sally asked.

"Helping me will all the cases. I couldn't have done it without you two." Sherlock stared at their confused faces, "Can you do me a favour and go and tell D.I. Dimmock that too?"

He manoeuvred his way around the pair who, like Lestrade, stood with their mouths wide open.

4 down. 4 to go.