Devils in the Details

Chapter Three // Abiding Notion

"Shut up," Sherlock snapped, his voice quiet but clear.

John just shook his head towards Will. He didn't approve of the rudeness from Sherlock, but he wasn't going to fight with it at the moment. Frankly, he was too tired to do anything about it.

"Should we head somewhere else?" Will whispered, glancing over towards John.

"No," answered John. "If he's snapping at us, he's going to be done thinking soon. Trust me, I recognise the symptoms."

Will nodded several times in order to make it clear that he understood what John had said. He wasn't the sort to be impatient, but at the moment he was somewhat irritated with Sherlock. He had been expecting to discuss how he was supposed to stay in London, but instead he ended up being yelled at for being too loud.

"It won't be too much longer, I think," John whispered. He smiled slightly as he nodded. "Any moment now."

Sure enough, John was correct. He just knew Sherlock too well.

"The body," Sherlock murmured. His eyes flew open as he said, "I need to go see the body again."

"Get your coat on," John said to Will. "We're heading back to St. Bart's."

Will didn't question John's conclusion - he found the doctor's judgement to be sounder and saner than Sherlock's, even if he did find himself trusting the consulting detective quite a bit. The trio walked towards the front door of 221B and grabbed their coats from the rack, swinging them on in a frenzy of motion.

Six feet soon hit London pavement as Sherlock stepped ahead of the group and called for a cab. It was like the cars were naturally attracted to him - only a matter of seconds later one appeared in front of them. Soon they were on their way to St. Bartholomew's Hospital once again.

"So," Will began, trying to initiate a conversation. "Do you go to St. Bart's often, or it is just sort of an occassional thing for the cases?"

"Actually, I trained there," John replied, making sure to say something before Sherlock made his way in and started being irritating. "We head there fairly often - Sherlock's always working in the lab on this or that."

"I have very important work to do concerning the lab," Sherlock protested. "It's far more than just 'this and that.' If I could do it at home, I would, but Mrs. Hudson refuses to let me have some of the equipment."

"She's right about that, you know," John replied. "We don't have the room or the power to run all of the machinery you're interested in."

"Of course we have enough room, you're just putting things in the way."

"Yes, like tables and chairs," John said, shaking his head slightly.

"All completely unneccessary, of course."

The cab became silent for several moments while all of the men contained within went over their thoughts for a minute. Now that John had returned, Will most certainly felt like some sort of third wheel in the group. Even though he had started a conversation, he had been pushed out of it almost immediately.

Despite being almost one hundred percent sure that his attempt would fail yet again, he decided to try and speak.

"Is that girl always there? You know...Molly, I think?"

"Yes, Molly. Molly Hooper," John confirmed. "She's usually there. I mean, she works there."

"Yeah, she told me. She works in the morgue, right?"

"Correct," Sherlock said. "Well, I'm sure she'll be pleased to find out that you have taken an interest in her."

"Wait, what?"