Human Error ~ A BBC Sherlock Fanfiction {Book IV}

Chapter XVI - Ultimatum

-Millie-

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The sky is bruising as we walk, darkening in mottled purples and surly shades of blue. Sherlock has his phone in his hand, his hair brushing the stiffened fabric of his coat collar and his cheeks tinted pink, made raw by the cold. I am keeping behind him - the olive sheen of my own raglan coat dulled by the first few flecks of snow - and Jamie is walking beside me in a heavy, woollen pullover that would make John Watson proud.

On cue, Sherlock's phone screen lights up with the incoming video call he has been avoiding for the duration of our excursion.

"Sherlock?"

Sherlock sighs as he walks, the exasperation visible in his silver exhalation.

"John."

"What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Lovely to see you too."

"Four days," says John, furiously. "Four days, and nothing."

From what I can make out, John has his back to the wallpaper of his living room, his eyes darkened by lack of sleep and face marked with new lines of exhaustion. His hair is unbrushed, his jumper inside out, and there is a large, pear-coloured stain that looks suspiciously like drying baby food on his left shoulder. Addy's thin wail can be heard in the distance, and there are plastic teething toys lining the back of the sofa, complete with abandoned milk bottles and undrunk cups of coffee.

"I waited for hours in our - your - apartment. No text, no message, no phone call. Mrs Hudson had no idea where you'd gone. She seemed convinced that you'd both been abducted. I was considering calling the police."

"The police? Your crime-solving skills really are deteriorating."

"This isn't funny, Sherlock. This isn't a joke. You can't... You don't do that. Not now. I contacted your brother."

"And?"

"He told me as little as he could get away with. Said that you'd left for Vermont with Millie - so help me God I told her she was supposed to stop these sorts of things from happening." John leans forwards, lowering his voice. "You're an idiot, Sherlock Holmes."

Sherlock stops walking. I have to halt Jamie physically, as he would have continued walking in a state of pensive unawareness had I not tugged at his arm.

"Did you really expect me to pass up a case like this?"

"I expected you to have more sense," contradicts John, viciously. "Colonel Moriarty. How could someone like you possibly believe something as ridiculous as that?"

Jamie blinks, mildly offended, but keeps quiet and out of view as Sherlock begins pacing irritably.

"I believe the facts, John."

"Yeah? Fine. Let me remind you of a few facts, then. Jim from IT. You dismissed him as unimportant. Richard Brook. He damn near ruined you. And now this. Jim Moriarty's twin-"

"You're being absurd."

"Absurd? I'm being absurd?!" John shakes his head. "How many falls do you have to take before you realise that this man is-"

Jamie clears his throat. "I'm here, for the record."

Sherlock turns the camera of his phone to Jamie. I watch John's mouth drop open.

"It's him, Sherlock."

"No. It's Jamie."

"Jamie? For God's sake-"