Fight for Me

Chapter 80

Sherlock crouched beside the body, trying to find any sort of abnormality. So far everything seemed quite straight forward; the cause of death was a kitchen knife lodged between his ribs, the time of death was recorded by the watch that had broken upon impact with the floor. The man himself was not difficult to read. In fact, Sherlock was certain he knew the man's entire life story just from the two minutes he had been in the room. This case was clearly a two, at best.

"Sherlock, thank you for coming," Greg spoke, entering the room with a cup of coffee grasped in his hand. Sherlock immediately noted how exhausted and worn out he seemed, no doubt why he thought that Sherlock would find such a boring case worth his time.

Much to Sherlock's displeasure, Sergeant Donavan came into the room after Lestrade and her face soured upon seeing the consultant detective. With an heir of superiority, she asked, "what, no girlfriend today, freak? Did you finally stop drugging her so she left?"

Sherlock elected to ignore Sally's insensitive comments and instead turned to Lestrade, "why did you want me here, the death appears to be very straight forward."

"Except there's one problem."

"Which is?" Sherlock inquired, excitement bubbling up inside him. He could use a good case to help ignore all of the new emotions swirling around.

"This man died four years ago from a stab wound to the chest."

...

"Yes, I'm with Sherlock Holmes, he texted me to let me know that he had been called here on a case," Lydia explained to the officer out front, surprised when she was stopped from entering the building. "Would you like the see the messages?"

"I'm sorry, ma'am, but I'm afraid I cannot let anyone in without the proper credentials."

Lydia frowned, "you're new to Scotland Yard, aren't you?"

"Yes, ma'am, and that means I'm not willing to bend the rules for you."

"Very well, I'll have Greg come out and get me," Lydia offered the officer a smile, the kind you give when you're annoyed with someone but you know it's not worth fighting them on the matter any longer. So she turned away and rang up John, figuring that Sherlock would be busy with the case and would probably not even answer his phone.

"Lydia, how'd the audition go?" John answered, causing a radiant smile to break out across her face.

"It actually went really well, I can tell you all about it later. I actually arrived at the crime scene and they've got someone new on the perimeter who's not letting me in. Would you be able to send Greg out to let me inside?"

"Yeah of course, hang on a moment."

Lydia thanked John before hanging up and turning back to the front door, waiting for Greg to come to her aid. It didn't take long for him to get outside, quickly explaining to the officer who she was and that she was allowed into the crime scene despite not being in the department.

The young officer muttered a small apology as he lifted the tape for Lydia to come inside and she gave him a nod in response, understanding that he was just trying to do his job despite still being slightly annoyed. Greg led her up to the flat with the body, explaining what was waiting for her.

"Four years ago, really? So you reckon he faked his own death because someone was after him?"

"And I think that someone just caught up to him," Greg added as he opened the door for her.

Sherlock was now going through the victims belongings, looking for clues about his past life. He really did hate having to reorganise his thoughts after he already had a clear picture of a victim's life. But with the knowledge that he had faked his own death, everything he thought he knew had to be re-evaluated.

He heard the sounds of Lydia's heels on the tile floor, causing him to look up from the papers he was rifling through, immediately catching her eyes. She was radiant, more so than usual. That must have been because of her excitement, she must have gotten the role. He wasn't sure why she was as happy as she was considering it was only for a concert production, rehearsals would only be about two weeks and then it would be up for six performances. But she must have assumed it was a turning point in her career.

"Sherlock?" Lestrade's voice brought him back out of his thoughts and back to reality.

He tore his gaze from Lydia and requested, "I am going to need the name of the person who did the autopsy on Mr. Griffiths as well as a full history of his life before he faked his death."

"Yeah, sure. Sherlock, you don't happen to have any leads, do you?"

"I will let you know once I've found anything useful," Sherlock snapped as he left the room quickly, grabbing Lydia's arm as he passed by and trusting John to follow them out.

Lydia had grown used to these sudden exits, however she had wished she had gotten a better look at the crime scene before being whisked away. She had had the time to take it in a bit, but when Sherlock's eyes had met hers, she found herself entranced by their azure gaze and the crime scene had become of little importance. He had looked so beautiful crouched in front a slew of papers, his curls a mess and a flustered look that quickly melted into admiration upon meeting Lydia's eyes. If there had been no other people in that room, Lydia was unsure if she would have been able to stop herself from taking him right there.

"Congratulations," Sherlock spoke suddenly, breaking Lydia out of her daydream.

"Sorry, what?" Lydia questioned, nervously tucking some hair behind her ear.

Sherlock glanced over at her, "you got the role, didn't you?"

"Yeah, I- wait, how do you know- oh, never mind," Lydia struggled to get out, shaking her head at herself. Of course he had figured it out, he was Sherlock Holmes. "Thanks."

Sherlock slipped his hand into hers, causing Lydia's breath to hitch in her throat. If he noticed how flustered he was making her, he didn't comment upon it. Instead he confessed, "I'm going to miss you, Lia. I've grown quite used to always having you around and I'm not entirely sure how I'm going to adjust to you being at rehearsals and performances. But I am happy for you, you truly deserve this."

Lydia was taken aback by Sherlock's honesty, but offered him a kind smile, "well, it's just a concert production so I won't be busy for long. Besides, it's probably for the best. If I keep hanging about you, I'm sure you'll grow tired of me."

"I'm afraid that could never happen," Sherlock replied, pulling Lydia to his so that she was flush against his body. Tilting his chin up his hand, Sherlock brought his lips down to meet hers, eyes closing upon contact.

"I'm really going to have to ask you to warn me before you start snogging so I don't have to walk in on it," John interrupted their kiss, catching up with the two of them.

Lydia's cheeks flushed pink, "sorry, John, we thought you had stayed behind a bit longer."

"Come, we have to visit Mr. Griffith's work," Sherlock snapped, taking Lydia's hand again and leading the three of them down to a cab, annoyed at John for interrupting them. He had just wanted to kiss the woman he loved in peace, but it seemed John always had to come and ruin that.

-

(A/N): Is this chapter coherent? No idea. But it seemed so to my half-awake self. I'm going to go get some sleep, but I hope you enjoyed this chapter and the beginnings of a new case!