Fight for Me

Chapter 27

It took nine minutes by cab to get to the crime scene. Surprisingly, Sherlock remembered that he wasn't with John and couldn't just leave him to pay the cabbie, instead restraining himself from hurrying off to the dead body and opening his own wallet to pay the fare. Lydia followed him uncertainly, wondering how the police would react to seeing her there considering she had no qualifications.

Sherlock noticed her hesitance, but didn't think much of it, he was sure that she would prove herself smarter than Scotland Yard. Although her expertise seemed to lie more with the living than with the dead. He would have wondered if she could even handle the sight of a dead body, but recalling how she barely reacted to the severed head in their fridge put that worry to rest.

Sally Donovan was the first to see Sherlock headed towards the body and she let out a rather loud groan, immediately grabbing Lydia's attention. Sherlock's face soured upon seeing her and Lydia realised that there must have been a history between the two of them.

It became clear how much they disliked each other when Donovan asked, "what are you doing here, freak? We don't need you."

"Considering your superior called me in, I would say that you really do. Besides, when was the last time you actually solved something, Donovan? Never?" Sherlock shot right back at her, barely giving her a glance. "If you want the killer caught, you need me. You'd never be able to catch them."

Donovan looked about ready to punch Sherlock, but her eyes landed on Lydia as Sherlock walked away towards the body. Her lip curling in disgust, she asked, "and who are you?"

"My name's Lydia, I'm a friend of... John's." Lydia was tempted to proclaim herself a friend of Sherlock's but she had a feeling that that would not go over well with this sergeant. Nor did she know if Sherlock would actually be ok with her using that title. Their relationship wasn't exactly a friendship.

"Why are you hanging about Sherlock, then?"

"John's on a date, I'm supposed to be filling in? Honestly, I have no idea what I'm doing here, so if you want to just send me away because a civilian's not allowed at an active crime scene, feel free to do so."

Donovan frowned at her, confused by her willingness to follow Sherlock, but at the same time she didn't seem to much like him. Still, Donovan took notice to how Lydia's eyes traveled over to where Sherlock was now crouching beside the body, excitement sparkling in her blue irises.

"He's not worth it, you know."

Lydia turned her attention back to Donovan and gave her a inquisitive look, "sorry?"

"Sherlock. You'd best stay away from him. He's not who you think he is, he's a complete psychopath. I'll tell you what I told John. Sherlock doesn't get paid to consult, he does it because he gets high off of these things. One day solving the crime's not going to be enough. One day we'll all be standing around a body and he'll be the one that put it there. He's a freak."

Lydia's eyes darkened and she turned on the sergeant, "listen, I don't know what your problem is with Sherlock, but that does not give you the right to call him a freak. He may be different, but let's face it, none of us are actually the same, so that argument is utter bull. Be glad that he's using his genius to help you out. I may not have known him for long, and trust me there have been many times that I've wanted nothing more than to punch him, but I can tell you this. If Sherlock ever loses it and turns into a serial murderer it will because people like you pushed him to do so."

It was as though the temperate outside dropped ten degrees under Lydia's icy glare, but Donovan merely scoffed. "You have no idea what he's like-"

"Oh no, I actually think I do. See I've seen him at work, he's brilliant. You're just jealous because he comes in here and makes what you fail to do look like child's play. Why don't you just accept that he's smarter than you and move on, you don't need to steep to the level of a primary school bully."