The Mystery of Jayden Holmes (A Greg Lestrade fanfic)

Chapter Six

“Victoria, darling, where is Sherlock at?” my mum called from the kitchen.

“How am I supposed to know? I’m not his babysitter. That’s Mycroft’s job, not mine.” I walked into the bright kitchen where Mum was preparing dinner and opened up the small, white refrigerator to grab some juice. I closed the door back and reached for a glass, not looking at her as I continued. “And can you please remember Mum, it’s not Victoria anymore, I prefer Jayden now. I’ve preferred Jayden for over a month now.”

“Why Jayden? If you had to change your name, why couldn’t you have at least gone by your middle name, like Sherlock?” She stopped cutting up the vegetables and turned toward me. Faint wrinkles surrounded her bright eyes and a look of disappointment was obvious on her aging features. “And what’s the matter with Victoria? I think it’s a beautiful name for a young lady.”

“It’s your name Mum, of course you like it. And there’s really nothing wrong with it, I just don’t think it fits me. Victoria Elise Holmes...it just doesn’t sound like me. If it makes you feel better, I can have a ridiculously long name like Sherlock and go by Jayden Victoria Elise. Is that better?” I took a sip of my juice, the tart taste matching her expression.

“No,” she said bluntly and turned back to dinner. “And how do you expect me to start calling you by an entirely different name after seventeen years? At least we started calling your brother Sherlock, instead of William, when he was around eight.”

“All because his dog died,” Mycroft rudely interrupted as he strutted into the room.

“Myc!” our mother scolded him with a quick, harsh tone.

“While on the topic of names, why name me Mycroft if you can’t even be bothered to finish saying the name?” he groaned in total annoyance and I hit him on the arm.

“Mycroft! Seriously! Are you completely incapable of showing anyone the slightest bit of respect? Grow up some, will you?” my tone was venomous as I spoke.

“I’ve already grown up, sister mine. You’re the one lacking in adult mentality. Do you not remember that we are allowed to voice complaints to our parents?”

My blood was boiling and I was ready to scream at him but, for whatever reason, I found slapping the smug look off of his face to be a better solution.

“That’s enough! Both of you!” my mother yelled, turning around after she heard the contact. “Mycroft, you’re old enough that I can’t tell you what to do, but Victoria Elise, I can still tell you to go to your room. I have had enough of the two of you arguing like this. I don’t care how much you two disagree, but you are brother and sister and I don’t want to see either of you lay a hand on each other ever again. Now, Victoria, you are grounded. Go to your room and I’ll call for you when dinner is ready. Myc, if you could please not provoke your sister, that would be brilliant.”

“This isn’t fair!” I nearly screamed. “I was trying to stand up for you and I’m the one that gets punished?”

“You could have done so without slapping your brother.”

Mycroft gave me the smug little smirk he always gave me when I got in trouble and I stormed out of the room and upstairs, slamming my door shut. I fell on my bed and it was only moments later when my door opened and I looked up to see Sherlock standing in the doorway.

“What happened this time?” he questioned and I sat up.

“What do you think? Mycroft was being a git and I’m the one that got in trouble. Of course, slapping him didn’t help, but still!”

Sherlock sat next to me and wrapped an arm around my shoulders. I sighed and leaned my head on his shoulder. I was lucky to have him as my brother; he always stood up for me when I got into an argument with anyone in our family. He was kind of like my comfort blanket and I was going to miss that.

“So, you really slapped him?” he asked after a moment of silence.

“Yeah…”

His deep laughter filled the room and I couldn’t help but to chuckle at his amusement. Sherlock wasn’t one to laugh often, so it was nice when I was the cause of his laughter.

“Oh, by the way, I actually came up here to give you this.” He pulled an envelope from his coat pocket and I took it eagerly.

There was only one person who ever wrote to me and no one else knew who he was. He was like my dirty little secret and my knight in shining armour all in one. He and I had met at a school function a couple of years ago. His school was visiting mine and he and I were the ‘weird’ ones that stayed in the back, away from everyone. Our mums had forced the both of us to go and that was how we met. One sarcastic comment from him and an even better comeback from me and the rest was history. Neither of us had the ability to travel so far to see each other so we wrote to each other and that was how we kept in touch. No one had ever read our letters to each other, of course, and I had grown more secretive about our conversations after they began to take darker turns and we planned our ‘Sweet Escape’ as we had come to call it, however cliché it sounded.

“So, are you ever going to tell me about him?” Sherlock spoke up, breaking me from my trance I hadn’t realized I was in.

“What?”

“Your mystery man you never speak about, are you ever going to at least tell me about him?”

“Sorry, Sherl, but this is the one secret I have to keep to myself. Maybe I’ll tell you about him some day, but not today. I will tell you this though, he’s very smart and it’s not like he’s some creeper that is going to kidnap me.” I leaned over and gave him a sisterly kiss on the cheek. “I’m going to try to read this before Mum calls us down for dinner.”

“Alright.” He stood up and walked to the door.

“Love you, Sherl!” I called as he shut the door, earning no reply. I turned my attention back to the envelope and carefully opened it. The white, lined paper was folded in perfect thirds and his name was scrawled on the front of the letter.

‘How have you been, Kitten? I’m hoping we’re still a secret to everyone. I also hope to hear that you have everything ready for our plan. Everything is done on my end, now all that is left is to hear from you. Happy early birthday, Kitten. The days can’t pass fast enough for us to leave. Sorry this letter has to be cut so short, but I have been quite busy lately. See you soon.

Sincerely,

J. Moriarty’

I smiled to myself. My birthday was the middle of next week and that was when he and I were heading to America together. I felt bad, leaving Sherlock to have to suffer through Mycroft alone, but I obviously couldn’t stand much longer with our older brother, and Jim was my golden ticket out. I would be sure to write a little letter for Sherlock, and Sherlock only, to leave behind when I left. No one knew I was leaving, and it was going to stay that way. They would only find out when they woke up the next morning to find out that I was no longer there.

Even when Mum sent Sherlock up to get me after calling multiple times, I didn’t eat dinner that night. I stayed locked in my room, writing my reply to Jim.

‘Dear Jim,

All is well here. No one suspects a thing. My brother was asking if I would ever tell him about you, but my answer was no, of course. I wouldn’t dare tell a soul. I know that if I did, they would try to keep me from leaving, so no fear there. Thank you for the birthday wishes, I can’t wait either. Everything is ready here as well, all that is left if for the day to finally arrive.

Yours Truly,

J. Holmes’

 

*   *   *

It was a little heartbreaking to leave home, but after one last, good argument with Mycroft, on my birthday nonetheless, there was no love lost. I had left a letter under Sherlock’s pillow and that was the last of me in England. Jim had arranged for my pickup a few blocks down the road and, being as late at night as it was, no one saw a thing. I had left without a trace.

When I had gotten to Jim I couldn’t help but to smile. He had grown quite a bit taller since our first meeting, but otherwise looked about the same. He smiled slightly when he saw me as well and placed a hand on my cheek, gently. His touch was warm in comparison to the bitter night air of January.

“Good to see you, Kitten,”