A/N- Really happy with this chapter, for once, took my a while to write it... I got Sims 4, enough said XD
Not edited yet...
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Darcy's POV
Nobody spoke as we trekked back to Henry's house. I was still trying to comprehend what exactly we had seen out at Dewer's Hollow. Whether it was a gigantic Hound or not and if so whether it had anything to do with Baskerville.
Henry kept going on and on about what we had supposedly seen, he was certain it was the Hound and the more he insisted the less I believed him. My mind was already whirring non-stop as we reached his house and I put my hand on the car door handle.
"Open the car." Was all I could manage to say and Sherlock did as I demanded, in a second I was sat in the back of the car with my fingers steepled beneath my chin.
John and Sherlock had taken Henry inside to get him settled after what had happened but I just wanted to be alone.
To think.
Hound.
H O U N D
H.O.U.N.D.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath as I tried to conjure something from everything I knew, or could have heard since arriving in Dartmoor.
"Mr Holmes, they were the footprints of a gigantic hound!"
"Stories? Is that all you reckon it is?"
"Rats a big as dogs, he said, and dogs... dogs the size of horses."
I let out an anger filled scream and threw my arms up in the air, I hadn't realised how long I'd been thinking so intensely but when I opened my eyes again I saw we were on the road.
"Something the matter?" John queried and turned around in his seat to face me.
All I did was glare at him. "Nothing... just... too much..." I gestured to my head and sighed, "I can't... doesn't matter."
So we sat, all of us silent, I don't think anybody knew exactly what to say. I just stared down at my slightly trembling hand and clenched it into a fist in an attempt to stop it from doing so.
As soon as we pulled up in the car park of the inn I immediately got out the car and ran my hands through my hair. I felt John put a hand on my shoulder. "Are you sure you're alright?"
"I'm fine, John!" I snapped and took off walking in the direction of the inn.
It didn't take long for us to settle down in the living style area of the inn and John was sorting something out in his room. Sherlock still wasn't speaking and his eyes were wider than normal. I sat on the floor in front of Sherlock and my body was shuddering slightly, not because of the cold neither since the roaring fire kept me very warm indeed.
"Well, he is in a pretty bad way." John announced as he sat down in the armchair across from Sherlock, one I'd purposefully left empty for him. "He's manic, totally convinced there's some mutant super-dog roaming the moors." I knew John was talking about Henry and I neglected to respond.
I just sat staring into the flames of the fire while John continued speaking, "And there isn't, though, is there? 'Cause if people knew how to make a mutant super-dog, we'd know."
"Would we?" I asked rhetorically but didn't turn my gaze away from the fire at all.
John cleared his throat. "Well, yeah we would, they'd be for sale. I mean, that's how it works." He went silent for a moment and I focused on the sound of the crackling fire, the people sat around us eating their food. "Er, listen: er, on the moor I saw someone signalling."
My ears pricked up as he said that but I waited for him to finish, "Er, Morse- I guess it's Morse. Doesn't seem to make much sense." I heard Sherlock breath in sharply and I started to wonder if he really was alright. "Er, U, M, Q, R, A. Does that mean... anything... to, er, either of you?"
I interlocked my fingers to stop them from shaking and I blinked rapidly, tucking my legs up closer to my chest. I was trying to find every conceivable thought or possibility of this Hound existing but I was coming up with very little if anything at all.
"So, okay, what have we got?" John asked in an attempt to distract Sherlock and myself from thinking about what we may or may not have seen. "We know there's footprints, 'cause Henry found them; so did the tour guide bloke. We all heard something."
I closed my eyes and took in a deep breath at the thought of the Hollow, the sound of howls that filled the area. I let out the breath shakily and rested my hands on my knees as they shook violently.
"Maybe we should just look for whoever's got a big dog." John suggested.
I fought the urge to roll my eyes since everything had somewhat fallen into place or what I assumed was the right place. "Henry's right." Sherlock stated and I glanced away from the fire to see John frowning.
"What?" He asked, clearly confused after we had both been so insistent on the fact that we hadn't seen anything.
"We saw it too." I said breathlessly, knowing what Sherlock meant, and visibly gulped.
John blinked and looked over at us, shocked. "What?"
"We saw it too, John." Sherlock repeated for me and I knew we were both on the same page.
John looked between us both with wide eyes. "Just... just a minute." He sat forward in his chair. "You saw what?"
"A hound, out there in the Hollow. A gigantic hound." Sherlock spoke through gritted teeth.
I clenched my hands on my knees and blinked back the small amount of water that had formed in my eyes. I glared as best as I could at him as John almost laughed at how we were reacting.
"Um, look, we have to be rational about this, okay? Now you two, of all people, can't just..." He said and Sherlock breathed out loudly, so John sighed, "Let's just stick to what we know, yes? Stick to the facts."
I raised my eyebrows at John. "The facts?"
"Once you've ruled out the impossible, whatever remains- however improbable- must be true." Sherlock spoke softly and I glanced over my shoulder to see his almost sneering face, he had what appeared to be tears in his eyes as well.
He was doubting what his mind was telling him, just as I was.
"What does that mean?" John asked.
I crossed my legs and rested my hands in my lap, since they were shaking uncontrollably. "I'm scared." I said quietly and I doubt either of them could hear me.
"Look at me. I'm afraid, John. Afraid." Sherlock sniggered and I glanced up to see him holding up a trembling hand. He reached by me and picked up a glass of whiskey, I smiled slightly as the drink reminded me of someone.
I leant against the arm chair as Sherlock took a sip from his drink. "Sherlock?" John spoke with a worried tone as neither of us ever reacted like this and he looked down to meet my gaze.
"Always been able to keep myself distant..." Sherlock explained and paused as he took another drink, "... divorce myself from... feelings. But, look, you see..." I looked up at his shaking hand, "...body's betraying me. Interesting, yes? Emotions."
I flinched as he slammed his glass down on the table and I shuffled away from him, sure this thing was bothering me but Sherlock had taken it to another level. He glanced over at me and I stared at him with wide eyes as in my somewhat fragile state he scared me.
"The grit on the lens, the fly in the ointment." Sherlock continued.
"Yeah, all right, Spock, just..." John said with a raised voice and I flinched at that too before he lowered his voice, "...take it easy." He glanced over at me, my eyes were still wide and I knew I must have looked pretty terrified, "Hey, Darcy-?"
I looked at him and composed myself a little but that didn't stop my hands from shaking as I cut him off, "I'm good." I replied shakily.
My fear only grew once again as I saw the panicked look in Sherlock's eyes as he stared at John. He was breathing heavily as he tried to bring his emotions under control.
"You've both been pretty wired lately, you know you have. I think you've both just gone out there and got yourselves worked up." John tried to find a reason as to why were behaving this way and also try to calm us down.
I blinked furiously. "Worked...up?" I spoke slowly and looked at Sherlock who seemed to be more angry than anything.
"It was dark and scary..." John continued with his supposed comforting tone.
Sherlock let out a sarcastic laugh. "Me?! There's nothing wrong with me." I watched as he started to hyperventilate and pressed his fingers to his temple, this did nothing ease my nerves.
My hands started to shake more violently and I wrapped my arms around my legs as my whole body shook. Out of the corner of my eye I saw John look between us in concern.
"Sherlock..." He said slowly and then noticed me practically shivering, Sherlock breathing heavily and his fingers trembled against his skin. "Sher..."
"THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH ME!" Sherlock interrupted him loudly and angrily.
So loud that it shocked me so much that I rose to my feet and virtually leapt away from him. My nerves were shot and even more so as he glared over at John, "DO YOU UNDERSTAND?"
I opened my mouth to speak to say something to calm him down if I could but nothing came out. I put my hands up to my head and then raised them in surrender. "I need a minute."
With that I made my way through the inn, past all the patrons that were eating and all of whom were staring at me as I left, I paid no attention to John who was calling after me either. I clenched my shaking hands into fists as I walked out of the inn and felt the cold air hit me, which didn't help at all.
But I couldn't go back for my coat now so I made my way over to a picnic table, the parasol was down and I had my back facing the door as I stared into the shrubbery. I wrapped my arms around myself and rubbed my upper arms in an effort to keep warm.
It wasn't just the cold that was making me shiver it was the thought of what we'd seen, the piercing red eyes, coal black fur. Just as Henry said it was.
"Trouble in paradise?" A comforting voice said in the darkness of the evening and I turned towards the voice with a smile. "Happy to see me?" Scott commented with a laugh as he stood there.
I got quickly and wrapped my arms around his middle in an embrace, then nestled my face in his chest. "You have no idea." I managed to mutter.
He immediately tensed as I'd never been this affectionate before and I suppose he knew there was something seriously the matter. I felt Scott put one arm around my back and a hand on the back of my head. "Hey, it's okay." He said softly in my ear and rubbed my head comfortingly.
"I s-saw i-it." I stuttered and gripped him tighter. "The H-Hound."
Scott just pulled me closer to him if that was possible. "Ssh, it's not here... I'm here. I'm here."
Then I did something strange I cried, not for very long or even a lot of tears just a little. I buried my face in Scott's chest and sniffled, he on the other hand didn't seem to know what to do.
"Come on, ssh, this isn't like you." He spoke calmly and rested his chin on the top of my head.
I pulled away from him and he removed his arms that were wrapped tightly around me to place his hands on my arms. "I know I saw it." I insisted with puffy, red eyes from crying even that little bit.
"And I don't doubt that, not for a second." Scott reassured me and wiped a stray tear from my face. "It's moments like this that I live for." He tried to lighten the subject but I didn't feel very much like laughing with him.
I dropped back down to sit on the small bench and twiddled my shaking thumbs together. "But my mind keeps telling me I couldn't have... it doesn't make sense. None of the science or, god forbid, the supernatural is logical."
Scott wrapped his hands around my shaking ones and turned to me. "So perhaps you didn't see it."
"But I did." I insisted again and looked at him desperately.
Scott seemed to smile and back off a little. "Alright, so you did. Now what?" His question left me a little puzzled and I frowned so her explained, "You have to find the proof. Or at least facts that prove it to be true. What happened to Just Darcy that confident, talented, not scared to attack me and knock me unconscious girl?"
I laughed lightly and he pulled our mess of hands closer to him. "Because if anyone can figure this out, it's you... and Sherlock Holmes. I mean, my own Mother didn't realise my Father was embezzling money until he came along."
"You're right." I spoke softly and clamed down a little.
"Let's get back inside, you're freezing." Scott tried to coax me to stand up as he did.
But I refused and sat with my arms crossed. "I can't go in there, not yet. Sherlock's still being... odd, even for Sherlock."
Scott sighed and sat back down beside me. "Okay, fine, we'll stay out here. If I get hypothermia, I'm blaming you."
I let out a quiet laugh and looked down at my pale, shaking hands but I knew that now it was from the cold. Scott put his arm around my shoulders in an attempt to keep me warm, I surprised both him and myself by resting my head on his shoulder.
We sat like that for a while, he didn't say a word as if the silence was something fragile that he couldn't break. But the more my previous emotions seemed to drift away I couldn't bear the silence.
"Byrne." I stated quietly, almost so quiet that neither of us could hear it.
Scott pulled me up off his shoulder and his forehead creased in confusion. "What?"
"Darcy Byrne." I said again and smiled. "That's my name. You probably already knew it since you had to find where I was living but... I thought you should hear it from me."
Scott shook his head and chuckled under his breath. "No, I didn't know... I just Googled Sherlock Holmes and found Dr Watson's blog, led me straight to you and Baker Street." I nodded slowly and leant my head back down on his shoulder. "Thank you for telling me, seriously, it means a lot."
"It's okay, it was about time I did, right?" I answered and felt myself shivering again.
Scott didn't say anything in reply but pressed a kiss to the top of my head. "This is so weird..." I heard him mutter under his breath.
"Why?" I asked quietly.
He laughed slightly. "Just, this, us right now... I didn't think we'd get back to this. We seem to go round and round in circles."
"It keeps you guessing though, I suppose that's a good thing." I chuckled along with him and tried to tuck my hands in to keep them warm.
"Oh, yeah, it's great. Not knowing which Darcy I'm gonna get." Scott retorted sarcastically and I hit him in the stomach lightly from where I was leant into his side. "Perhaps I deserved that."
I raised my eyebrows at him. "Perhaps?"
"Definitely deserved it." He chuckled and pressed another kiss to my head. "I don't want you to be alone tonight." He added softly.
I sat up straight immediately and frowned at him, holding him at arms length. "I'm sorry, what?"
Scott's eyes widened. "Oh, god no, not like that!" His reaction seemed to perturb me further and I shot him a look of disgust. He grimaced and ran a hand through his hair. "Not that you're not... that I don't think you're... look, what if you start panicking again? I just don't want you to go through that on your own."
"So, what are you suggesting?" I asked sceptically and retracted my arms from him.
Scott cleared his throat and scratched his forehead. "Is there a sofa in your room?"
"Yeah, why?" I frowned at him and sort of new where he was going with this.
"Well, I could sleep on there, just in case." He explained and rubbed the back of his neck anxiously.
I sighed as I deliberated his offer, he did seem to calm me down somewhat, but I wasn't totally dependent on him either. I rubbed my forehead as I thought about what to do but then gave Scott an innocent looking smile to which he smiled widely in return.
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After changing into my pyjamas, I sat cross-legged on my double bed in the light of the bedside lamps. I'd sacrificed one of my pillows along with the throw from on top of the bed to put on the sofa opposite the end of the bed.
I had a cushion in my lap and I was picking at a thread on the corner of it, the quietness of the room had me feeling uneasy. My pyjamas were nothing fancy but were simply long sleeved and dark purple. Mrs Hudson had bought them for me.
There was knock at the door and I jumped before realising who it was then relaxed before going over to the door. I smiled as I opened it to find Scott stood there in a pair of light blue striped pyjamas, he had the inn's branded slippers on his feet as well.
I held back a laugh at his attire, it seemed so unlike him, he glared at me playfully and held his arms out. "It was all I could pick up on the way down here. I barely went back to our apartment and forgot to pick up my pyjamas. I had thought about not bothering at all-"
"Thank you, too much information." I cut him off and held up a hand to silence him. "Um, come in anyway." I opened the door further to allow him in.
Scott wandered into the room with a smirk on his face until his eyes landed on the little bed I'd set up on the sofa. "Cosy. Looks good." I closed the door and he turned around, on the spot, to face me. "So, um, what now?"
"I don't know about you but I'm going to bed." I stated and jumped onto my bed, picking up the cushion again and then threw it off the bed. I got under the covers and snuggled into the pillows. "Turn the light off, would you?"
I heard him huff a little and then rustling of the sofa as he sorted his temporary bed out before the lamps both went off, as they were controlled by one main switch. "Night, Dee." Scott said softly and I mumbled in reply as my eyes drifted closed.
It can't have been barely five minutes before the wind picked up outside and I could hear a tree hitting against the window. My body tensed and I pulled the quilt closer up to my face to almost shield myself from what I knew perfectly well was just a tree branch.
"Dee? Are you awake?" Scott spoke a little shakily into the darkness of the room. I mumbled a yes and he took a deep breath. "What's that noise?"
I rolled my eyes even though they were closed. "It's just a tree, Scott, go to sleep." I think it was safe to say I had my confidence back, Scott on the other hand seemed to have lost all of his after hearing that I had seen the Hound.
"Okay, night Dee." He said again and I got myself comfortable again under the covers.
As soon as I started to drift off to a comfortable sleep the tree scratched against the window and what followed could only be described as a high pitched yelp. The next thing I knew the other side of the bed, behind me, dipped considerably.
I turned, with difficulty, under the quilt and squinted into the dark to see a worried looking Scott laying on top of the covers beside. "Seriously?" I said quietly.
"Don't judge me. There used to be a tree right next to the window in our old house before we moved into the hotel." He explained and I somehow felt sorry for him.
I just assumed he'd lived in that penthouse his whole life, it never occurred to me that he'd ever lived in a normal house. "What was your house like?" I asked him, wanting to know more.
"It was just a regular London townhouse, my room was at the back of the house... there was a really tall tree that would hit against my window. Put it this way six year old me didn't sleep in my own room in bad weather." Scott chuckled quietly and even though we were closely facing each other I couldn't see the smile on his face.
I tucked one hand underneath my pillow to prop my head up more knowing I wasn't getting to sleep until Scott did. "Did you like it there, beside the tree of course."
"Yeah, it was quiet, you know? Vicky loved the garden, she'd spend hours out there playing, and Mum had her own little vegetable patch. Dad was hardly home, since he travelled to the hotel for work so much." Scott explained and I could hear the nostalgia in his voice.
I decided against speaking as he sighed before continuing, "It was better there, for us anyway, Dad hated it. The commute. So we moved to the hotel. Mum pretended she didn't mind but I knew she did. Vicky was too young to know what was happening. I had to grow up, at age six Dad was already teaching me about the business."
Scott laughed breathlessly and rolled onto his back. "Here am I complaining about my parents and you don't have any."
"I'd rather not have my parents than have to watch my family fall apart. I literally can't imagine what that must have been like." I said softly. "I spent two years being raised by a psychopath and then the rest of my childhood in an orphanage, I really can't talk about family life."
Scott seemed to dwell on what I'd said for a moment before probably deciding it was best not to ask any questions about it. "I hate to break up the pity party for us both but I'm tired..." I yawned and closed my eyes, "...so please decide where you're gonna sleep and get on with it."
I smiled slightly as the bed moved and he turned away from me, his quiet snoring soon followed. I turned my back to him and finally settled down properly to sleep.
Today had been a hell of a day, no doubt Sherlock would have some kind of plan about what to do in the morning. I just hoped he wasn't on the edge of a breakdown anymore.
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Thoughts? I wanted to put Scott in there a bit more... their relationship is up and down I know, I kinda like it though.
Series 4... oh my god... just wow, I really loved it but I know there are some out there who didn't. Each to their own I suppose...
Thanks to Ariane DeVere for the transcript, my updates would take so much longer without the script XD
Pleeassee vote and comment guys, it means a lot ;)
-HBH xxxx
Disclaimer- I don't own any of the characters, except Darcy and Scott, or any lines from he show. Those rights belong to the BBC and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.