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A Study in Partnership	By : LadyLaran Category: S through Z > Sherlock (BBC) > Sherlock (BBC) Views: 4968 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own "Sherlock" as that belongs to the BBC. Nor do I make money from this!

Chapter List
- 7
- 8
- 9
Author’s Note – Wow, you guys really are incredible and I am so very flattered by the reactions all of you had to this tale of mine. The responses to the last update were very encouraging, and it seems everyone loves Johanna. Her handling of Donovan has brought up a lot of positive comments, and I’m pleased that I’m on the right track with this story.
I do apologize for the time that it’s taken to get the update done. Between issues regarding my grandfather as well as familial issues in my own life, I haven’t had had or motivation to write much. My father, deciding that he had no tolerance for my health issues, decided to throw me out of the house. I’ve been working with a lawyer regarding SSI since I can’t work, but it seems it wasn’t good enough for my dad. Fortunately, my mom had room for me and is willing to give me sanctuary until I win the SSI battle and am able to find a place of my own. Needless to say, the holiday has been a freaking nightmare and the new year has not had a good start at all.
Just a heads up, the dialogue is similar to the original but changed to conform to my ideas regarding the plot. It’s just another sign of the AU warning in play.
Disclaimer – I do not own “Sherlock” nor do I make money from this tale. I am simply enjoying the chance to play with the characters.
Chapter Eight – Entering the Battlefield
“We were able to track down who Rachel is,” Lestrade began as the discussion about the case was opened. “It was the name of the victim’s stillborn daughter; this happened fourteen years ago.”
Sherlock started pacing, unaware of Johanna and the others watching him as he worked through the facts. There were a few things he didn’t understand due to his own theories regarding the woman in pink. Given her relationship issues as well as the career she had been involved in, showing that type of sentimentality did not make sense to the detective.
“If that’s the case, then why would she spend her dying moments scratching that name on the floor? It’s been a long while so it wouldn’t be something she’d try to pass on. Johanna told us earlier that the death would have been incredibly painful so she wouldn’t have wasted her time writing something that wouldn’t be of use to us. She wouldn’t have been sentimental since she wanted us to find her murderer.”
The short haired woman tilted her head, thinking as Sherlock brainstormed. Her flatmate had a point regarding the victim’s use of time. A thought occurred to her, and she voiced it in hopes that the tall male might be able to use it.
“Sherlock, what if it had to do with the missing mobile? It’s obvious she planted it on him for that very same reason. It’s something I would do in order to get justice.”
The consulting detective blinked as the facts came together, and he headed to his laptop. There was a look of focused intent on his face.
“Johanna, read the website information off of the tag on the case,” he instructed, opening the device while she scrambled to where the pink suitcase was laying.
The physician held the tag between her fingers, reading off the information to him. She could hear his fingers moving rapidly over the keyboard and looked up when Anderson opened his mouth.
“So we can read her email; how is that supposed to help us?”
“Do be quiet, Anderson, or you’ll lower the IQ of the whole street,” Sherlock snapped as he worked with the website. “Most mobiles now have GPS and in case of theft or being misplaced, there is a way to track them. Considering her lifestyle, that mobile was essential to her and she would not have disabled the GPS tracking on it.”
“Which means I was right, she had to have placed it on the killer so we could track him,” Johanna commented. “Brilliant. Where’s the mobile now, Sherlock?”
“Baker Street,” the curly haired man answered, voice soft. He sounded as confused by that answer as she felt when she heard his answer.
“Great, fat lot of good that’s done us. It’s probably buried here under the mess,” Lestrade commented but was cut off by the curt tones of the small doctor.
“Not likely,” the blond woman bit out, infuriated that the flat was now messy and that the police had done this. “This flat was organized and neat before you brought in your squad of trained monkeys to do an illegal drugs bust. That mobile was not here earlier and unless one of your ham handed thugs brought it in, it’s not here now. We happen to know that because we texted the mobile earlier, and there was no text alert or anything. Given she’d been traveling, she would have had the volume up for the alerts so as not to miss it.”
“I don’t have it,” Sherlock said, placing his hands together as if he was praying and pressed the tips of his fingers below his chin as he worked through the problem.
“Yes well, you’re not ham handed or a thug,” she pointed out to her flatmate, giving the team a glare that would have had her former unit quivering in fear.
“So what now,” Lestrade asked as Johanna eyed the laptop for a moment. He wasn’t pleased with the doctor’s comments but couldn’t argue as he’d handled the situation poorly. Apparently, the consulting detective’s flatmate was someone that would not be a push-over, and the DI approved of her.
“Is the doorbell not working? Sherlock, did either you or Johanna order a taxi? There’s one here,” a new voice interjected, distracting Johanna away from the conversation going on behind her.
“No one ordered a taxi,” the physician said, a tad confused as to why her landlady would announce that a cab had arrived when one hadn’t been ordered.
Realization dawned on her just as Sherlock vacated the flat. The only reason the mobile would be pinging here was because the driver had the device on him. She moved to the window, mentally cursing when she spotted her idiotic flatmate get into the car.
“Great, he just drove off,” she told Lestrade, voice cool as she relied on the shield of icy reserve that the doctor had used since her injury in Afghanistan. The doctor wasn’t comfortable with these strangers in her flat, and she knew she had to move carefully so she could see to Sherlock’s safety.
“Now why did he do that,” Lestrade groused, dismissing his team. “I hate it when he goes off on his own like this.”
“He’s done it before,” Johanna asked, fighting down the urge to rush them out. She didn’t trust these idiots and didn’t know the DI well enough to put her flatmate’s safety in his hands. As she spoke, she set the computer to search for the mobile again.
“Too many times,” the detective inspector admitted, shrugging into his coat. “God help me, I need him though so I can’t fuss too much about it and just hope that he doesn’t put his damned foolish neck at risk.”
“Seems a bit foolish to just let him run as he wishes and not do something to keep him safe,” the former military woman pointed out.
“As I said, I need him,” Lestrade told her. “I know he is a great man and hope someday, he’ll become a good one. Right now, he needs someone to watch his back where I can’t.”
Johanna was quiet, watching him leave before scooping her jacket up and donning it. The computer beeped, telling her that the mobile’s current position had been located, and she was immediately out the door to flag down a taxi of her own.
Fortunately for her, the cabbie was rather patient and followed her directions as she monitored the computer. Once she was close to where the mobile’s signal had stopped, Johanna rang the Metropolitan Police Department and had a message sent to Lestrade in regards to where Sherlock was. This would give her enough time to bail her flatmate out of whatever situation he’d gotten himself into.
The twin buildings of Roland Kerr Further Education College seemed to mock her after she left the taxi, tucking the small laptop into a pocket. The doctor could hear the cab speed away, which she ignored as she tried to determine which building Sherlock was in.
“I’m going to wring his bloody neck after this is through,” she muttered, choosing a building and running into it. “This is beyond stupid.”
Worry twisted its way through her chest, making her heart pound and giving her difficulty in breathing as she made her way through the empty building. Each locked door and empty classroom only heightened the emotion, giving it life as it burrowed through every organ she possessed.
Worry transformed itself to irritation and fury when the former military doctor entered a classroom, spotting her flatmate in the building directly across. He was listening to someone, staring intently at something he held in his fingers. Johanna had a gut feeling she knew what that item was, and she was going to kill him after this was over.
“Damn it, Sherlock,” she muttered. “Don’t you do it! Don’t you take that poison, you idiot!”
As the object in his hand drew closer to his mouth, Johanna’s own hand went for the holster clipped to the back of her belt. She drew it smoothly, thumbing the safety off as she settled into a pose that was extremely natural to her. Johanna’s focus was centered on the cabbie, and she drew in a deep breath before taking aim.
Her senses were overtaken by the loud report of the gun as it fired in her hand, the breaking of two windows as the bullet tore its way to its target, and the scent of gunpowder that filled the air. Johanna took a brief second to ensure her target was down before she hurried out of the room, knowing she would need to hide until the situation had calmed down enough for her to emerge.
The cool evening air of London filled her lungs while she disappeared into the shadows. Johanna waited in silence, knowing the police would arrive soon. She’d come out of hiding then and wait for Sherlock to finish with the officers. It would take the right timing to ensure that no one suspected she’d been the one to pull the trigger to save her idiot flatmate’s life.
The doctor sighed, folding her arms across her chest as she waited. The last thing she had expected was to be put in a position where her personal sidearm would be used again. As a physician, she had taken an oath to save lives. It was an oath that often contradicted with the vow she had taken when she had gone into the military. In her mind, the only way life was allowed to be taken was in defense of her fellow soldiers and her own life.
Somehow, Sherlock had been placed in her mind as a fellow brother in arms and that put him in the category of someone she would protect at all costs. It felt good in a way, knowing that she had someone like that, but Johanna wasn’t sure it was a position he’d accept. For all she knew, he could turn her in if he realized who it was that had pulled the trigger. Also too was the thought that he may not want her there to protect him as he worked his cases.
It was nice feeling useful again; it chased away the cold grayness that had enveloped her after her wounding overseas. The feeling was something she wanted to hang onto and hoped that the detective would be willing to allow her to help him on his investigations. Johanna knew that her ability to fight, shoot, and be an in house doctor wasn’t all that she could bring to the table, and she really wanted to prove to him that she could continue to be useful.
Sirens pulled her out of her thoughts, and she watched as the police began cordoning off the area. When Sherlock exited the building and was escorted to the ambulance, the doctor emerged and was quickly filled in on what had happened by Donovan. So far, everyone was confused by who the gunman had been and Johanna was pleased.
The doctor waited, watching as Sherlock spoke to Lestrade, slowly becoming more animated. Johanna had a feeling that he was given the detective inspector clues regarding who the gunman could be, and it was obvious when he realized who it was.
The eyes of the genius locked with hers, and the blond doctor waited to see if her overtures as a fellow fighter in the battleground of London would be accepted.
Author’s End Note – Another chapter done! I can’t believe we’re nearing the end of this story. I’ve got ideas for the next one after this. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and thank you again for being so patient with me. Please let me know what you thought of the installment. See you next chapter! ~ Laran
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A Study in Partnership