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A Study in Duets	By : LadyLaran Category: S through Z > Sherlock (BBC) > Sherlock (BBC) Views: 2300 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Sherlock or make money from this story.

Chapter List
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Author’s Note – Okay, so word of warning, I am not a pianist. I’m a flute player that has had some training in playing the piano so I will probably make some mistakes from here on out. If I do, please let me know and I’ll try to avoid the mistake in the future.
Thanks to everyone for the amazing reviews and kudos you left for me. I love hearing your comments, and you challenge me every time!
Disclaimer – I do not own “Sherlock” nor do I make any money from this story.
Chapter Three – Etude
For the next few days, whenever Sherlock wasn’t trying to dissolve the kitchen table in acid or other caustic chemicals, Johanna focused herself on bringing her skills on the piano back to what she considered to be an acceptable level. Despite the repetition that went on, her flatmate did not complain and that both surprised and warmed the doctor.
There were plenty of times when she and the consulting detective couldn’t quite make themselves understood in spoken language, but they certainly could through the language of music. In truth, it was marvelous and she loved it. Sherlock seemed to be rather pleased with the new understanding as well and often seemed less stressed than he usually was.
The only gray cloud on her horizon was the fact that her left hand was sluggish and didn’t react with the speed it once had. The nerve damage had made it difficult for her to provide the proper chording and counterpoint to the music written on the treble clef line, and she spent a lot of time trying to work with it. It was difficult keeping her temper when she realized that her injury had made one of her favorite activities more difficult to enjoy.
Sherlock never made mention of the problems, which she was grateful for since she knew she wouldn’t be able to keep her temper from flaring if he had done so. The loss of coordination had been devastating when she’d been told she couldn’t continue on her career as a surgeon and realizing it was affecting something she loved was only making it harder for her not to lash out at everyone while trying to find a way to compensate for it.
Johanna was playing a piece by Telemann, focusing on the music and enjoying the fact that her hand was cooperating for once, when the peaceful atmosphere was ended by the entrance of two men into the flat. She turned on the bench, immediately recognizing Greg Lestrade and Mycroft Holmes.
“Good afternoon,” the doctor greeted politely, gesturing for them to sit down. “Sherlock, we’ve got company!”
The consulting detective emerged from the kitchen, pulling a pair of safety goggles off of his head as he did so. His eyes narrowed at the sight of his brother, and his voice was cool when he addressed his sibling.
“What is it, Mycroft? We don’t have any cake for you so you really don’t have a reason to be here,” he told him, dropping into his usual seat.
“Actually, we have a case for you,” the older Holmes brother informed him, ignoring his brother’s petulant behavior.
“What, the both of you,” Johanna asked, a bit stunned by the announcement. It was practically unheard of for Scotland Yard and whatever Mycroft’s office was to have the same mystery for her flatmate to solve.
“I’m afraid so,” Mycroft told her. “We’ve a theft of sensitive information and murder that will affect an international competition that will be taking place in a few weeks. I had an agent in place to investigate rumors of illegal smuggling.”
“Said agent was found dead in her flat, garroted by one of her spare strings,” Lestrade told them, handing the crime scene photos to Sherlock to peruse.
“So you came to me with this? Surely you can find another agent to fill in for this competition.”
“That’s the problem, little brother. She was the only one in my agency who could play the violin well enough to compete. As it stands, you’re the only option I have left to send in undercover.”
“Are you talking about the Stradivarius Violin Competition,” he asked, sitting up straight and staring at his brother.
“I am,” Mycroft informed him. “As I mentioned, it’s being hosted in London this year and there are several key people that may have a hand in the smuggling of certain government documents out of the country. No one thinks to check the instruments as many of the competitors use violins that are incredibly valuable.
“I need you to enter, find out who is the mastermind behind all of this as well as who murdered Agent Brennan.”
“In order to do this, I’m going to have to work my way through various levels of competition before I can get close to the sponsors of this event,” Sherlock warned. “Which means I’m going to have to divide my attention between the music and the investigation.”
“I understand, Sherlock,” he told his brother. “You’re the only one I know of that has the skills and talent to do this. Multitasking is your forte after all.”
Sherlock typed in some information into his mobile’s web browser, reading over a few things before looking up at his sibling.
“You can get me and my chosen accompanist into this competition? They don’t hand out invitations to just anyone,” he asked, worried about how his brother would be able to get them in that wouldn’t tip off the people he was going to investigate.
“I can,” Mycroft assured him. “Master Giuseppe has agreed to sponsor you if you agree to do this. He has strong enough connections in the musical community to get you in without anyone suspecting anything.”
“I’ll need everything you have on this smuggling spy ring,” he told his brother. “Lestrade, I won’t be available for cases until after this is over. I’m going to have to dedicate every moment I have to prepare for this contest, and I can’t afford the distraction.”
“Right, I can do that,” the policeman agreed. “Mycroft has the information the Yard put together on the murder and don’t worry, Anderson wasn’t working forensics on this one.”
“Even better,” Sherlock muttered, then looked to his flatmate. “You’ll want to hold off on posting Jennifer Wilson’s case on your blog like you spoke of doing. You and I will need anonymity while we work on this case.”
“Hold on,” she replied, staring at him in stunned disbelief. “Exactly how am I to help you on this case?”
“Quite simple, Johanna. You are going to be my accompanist for this competition,” he answered, making her gape at him with wide eyes.
“Have you lost your mind? I’m rusty as hell, and my left hand doesn’t quite do what I need it to do when playing. You need a better accompanist for this!”
“You and I read each other well enough,” Sherlock informed her. “That will follow into our music, and you also have the ability to blend in during certain situations. That will be useful for this investigation.”
“Also add to the fact you’re one of a small handful of people that can tolerate him for long periods of time,” Lestrade joked. “Any other pianist would murder him with his own instrument because he would drive them barking mad during rehearsal time.”
“If I do this, I do not want to hear any nagging if I’m a bit slower to get the music learned,” Johanna told Sherlock, knowing him well enough to know that he’d master the music before she would. “I’m well aware of what’s at stake, and I haven’t accompanied anyone in a duet before so this will require patience on your part. Understand?”
“Understood,” the detective replied, turning to his brother as he continued. “I’ll expect you to turn over everything that relates to the case and continue to supply current information as it becomes available. Also, we may need a few things in order to pull off a successful undercover operation.”
As he spoke, his eyes shifted to his flatmate once and the older Holmes understood. Because she couldn’t return to the medical field yet, her income would not allow for the clothing needed to blend in during this competition.
“I’ll have the files dropped off within the hour and will phone you to get the list of what you need for this,” Mycroft promised, silently showing that he understood what Sherlock had hinted at. “In the meantime, we shall leave you two for your rehearsing. Feel free to ring me should you require anything.”
Sherlock nodded, picking up Johanna’s laptop and opening it as the two men left the flat. Once they were alone, he spoke up, not looking up from the screen.
“You have concerns,” he stated.
“You’re absolutely right I have concerns,” the doctor answered, anxiety making her voice sound sharp. “How in bloody hell are we going to pull this off, Sherlock?”
“With a lot of practicing and planning,” he replied, looking up at her. “Yes, it will be difficult to learn enough music for this competition and to be able to play together in a harmonious way that shows we have done this for a while. However, I have faith in your ability to do this, Johanna. If the music we choose should be a problem for your left hand, we can rearrange the pieces so you can compensate for it.”
“Damn it,” she muttered, unable to argue against his logic. “Okay, I’ll do this. How long do we have before we need to decide which pieces we are going to use?”
“I’d like to have them picked out no later than the day after tomorrow,” the detective said, looking back down at the screen. “I am going to find a list of songs on youtube and play them for you so we can decide together on which ones we want to have prepared for the competition.”
“Right, in the meantime, we need to find some simple duets that are here in the flat,” the woman informed him. “While we can read each other perfectly while on cases, we’ve never tried playing duets together and I need to learn how to follow you. I’ve never done this before, and I need to master it as well as the pieces we choose. If I can’t read you well enough to follow you musically, then we won’t make this work at all.”
“That idea has merit,” he told her. “There are books on the shelf that are specifically for violin and piano. Find them and see which ones you would like to use for us to start learning to read each other. I’ll start on the list and join you once you’re ready.”
Johanna nodded, moving to the shelving unit that held all of the music books and sheet music for both violin and piano. As she thumbed through the books, the doctor wondered what the hell she had gotten herself into this time.
Author’s End Note - I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter. I get to go through youtube for duets so I know what I’m going to focus on for future chapters. Please let me know what you thought of the chapter! ~ Laran
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A Study in Duets