Fight for Me

Chapter 1

The man in a black hoodie placed a small necklace into the shivering woman's hand, causing her breath to hitch in her throat. It was simple, just an ordinary silver chain carrying a small cross. But to her, it was her friend's life.

"You have until the end of the day to deliver it, but don't get caught," came Lydia's instructions as her fingers curled around the item.

She nodded, "and if I do this, Jacob will be let off the hook?"

"He will still have to answer for breaching his agreement, but he will pay with something less valuable than his life, yes."

"We hadn't heard anything from you for months and every single one of us wants to settle down, even if it's only for a year, to have a steady income, that's what we've all dreamt of."

"You know the rules, Ms. Evans, the boss needs you unattached. And he's getting quite annoyed at your group trying to settle down. Deliver the necklace or Jacob will suffer the consequences."

With that, the man turned and left her alone in the dreary London weather. She glanced down at the necklace, wondering what was so important about it. And why couldn't the boss just ship it to the flat? Or better yet, have one of his men break in during the middle of the night. She wasn't trained to do something like this, she feared he was simply setting her up for failure.

Nonetheless, she needed to accomplish this task if she wanted to save her friend. No, Jacob wasn't just a friend - he was family, they all were. They had been through thick and thin together and none of them had much in the way of a biological family, so all they had were each other.

She waited for fifteen minutes around the street corner for her mark before finally spotting him. He had gotten old, though that wasn't all that surprising considering the last time they had seen each other was when they were children. In fact, Lydia was sure he wouldn't even recognize her, not after all those years.

Making use of her acting skills, she pretended to bump into him, letting her phone drop to the pavement as his shopping fell from his grasp. She immediately apologised as she collected the fallen food, thankful that nothing seemed damaged. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry, I didn't see you there. I haven't hurt you have I?"

"Oh no, not at all," John smiled, picking up her fallen phone and handing it back to her.

She stared at him as she took her phone back, as though she was suddenly recognizing him and this wasn't all planned in advance.

"John? John Watson?"

"Er, yeah, that's me. Have we met?" He wore a layer of confusion on his face, but she didn't blame him for it, she hadn't recognised him when they had first showed her a photo of him.

"Sorry, I shouldn't expect you to remember me, I was only seven the last time you saw me. I'm Lydia Evans, our parents were friends and, well, I'd like to think we were too."

Recognition passed through his eyes and his lips spread into a warm smile, "Of course, Lydia, how have you been?"

"I've been well, just got into London this morning so I've been trying to reacclimate to the city. How about you, I've heard that you've been hanging about a famous detective?"

"Yeah, Sherlock. He's, erm, quite the handful. Never a boring day anymore, which I reckon is a good thing, keeps life interesting."

"I thought you were planning on going into the medical field?" She inquired, hoping to keep the small talk going so that he would invite her up into his flat. "It seems quite the leap from being a doctor to a detective."

"Well, I am actually a doctor. I served in Afghanistan and now work at a clinic. Or at least I try to. It's rather difficult maintaining a job when Sherlock randomly shows up to take you out on a case."