(Tues 20:43)
Sherlock, I need your help. -JW
(Tues 20:43)
Who is this? -SH
(Tues 20:44)
John. -JW
(Tues 20:47)
John, as in John Watson? -SH
(Tues 20:47)
Yes. Please, I know it's late but I need your help. -JW
(Tues 20:55)
What's wrong? -SH
(Tues 20:55)
My daughter is missing. -JW
(Tues 20:56)
Please. I can't find her. She'd usually be back by half three and it's nearly nine... I'm freaking out. -JW
(Tues 21:05)
So, you need my help? -SH
(Tues 21:05)
Yes. I need your help, Sherlock. -JW
(Tues 21:06)
We need to talk further. Where can we meet? -SH
(Tues 21:06)
My house, please. In case she comes back. Harry is out looking right now. Lestrade's helping too... -JW
(Tues 21:07)
[Address] Here. -JW
(Tues 21:10)
Okay. I will be there in 20 minutes -SH
(Tues 21:11)
Thank you. -JW
(Tues 21:25)
Please hurry. -JW
(Tues 21:34)
Outside -SH
John took a breath, extremely nervous about seeing Sherlock after such along time. Not only was Sherlock the only person he had truly loved but he couldn't get the tall, handsome Alpha out of his mind. He clearly remembered the last time he had seen him and it made his head spin.
He was spread out on the sofa, limbs everywhere, like an octopus capturing its prey wearing his dressing gown over a freshly pressed white shirt and super slim fit pair of trousers. He hung his head over the arm of the sofa, his unique eyes latching onto John just as he entered the living room.
John's heart beat faster as he caught Sherlock staring at him as he went by his daily routine. He could see that Sherlock really wanted to scent him, make sure that no one could touch because they were not bonded but John wouldn't let him like every other day that he went to work. Not only because he felt uncomfortable letting Sherlock rub his scent onto him but also because he knew he would break down, knowing that it would be the last time that Sherlock would ever touch him.
So John quickly said his goodbyes to Sherlock before going to work, trying to force the sharp, bitter feeling back as he went to work and acted like everything was normal. His inner Omega screamed at him, telling him that he was making a mistake but he knew he wasn't. He just had to ignore the voice because that his inner Omega thought was the least of his concerns...
But it wasn't the last time. Sherlock was right there, in front of his house, waiting for him to open the door and let him in. Despite the history between the pair and the panic that overwhelmed him at the thought of seeing Sherlock again, John's concern for his daughter overtook every possible thought that went through his head.
He pulled the door open and gave a quick smile before pulling Sherlock in, ignoring every feeling that hit him as he saw the detective again. "Right! She has two mains friends but she doesn't really go out a whole lot. I've asked her friends, no sign. There's a park she likes but she isn't there..."
Sherlock stood at the door, overwhelmed by all the information that was being fired at him as he was pulled into the house. He took a moment to compose himself, looking at the man who had once been such an important part of his life before processing the information that said man had thrown at him. "What's her name?"
"Alexandra Louise Watson."
"How old is she?"
"12"
"What school does she go to?"
"St Richmond's."
"Does she have any enemies?"
"She has an issue with a girl named Mina but other than that, no. No enemies. Just girls... being bitchy." He laughed nervously while standing still in the middle of the hall, twiddling his thumbs in an attempt to calm himself down. He had no idea what to do. His baby girl had been missing for nearly five hours. Where could she possibly be at this time of night...
Sherlock didn't really know what to think of the circumstances. This girl....John's daughter was lost and John, his ex needed his help. But how could John just disappear from his life and then get in contact with him years later as if he had never been away? It wasn't even as if they had been fighting when John left. They had been happy, really happy, just about to bond but then he wasn't there and even to that day Sherlock didn't know why.
However he realised that he needed to stop thinking about the past. He had a case, an important case and he couldn't let what happened with John all those years ago get in the way of it. John still meant everything to him and if finding his daughter was the only thing he could do to help, then he would find her. All he had to do was treat this case like he would any other one so he could find her and stop John from worrying.
The Girl. He couldn't think of her as John's child, simply The Girl. It would make it easier for him to concentrate on finding her.
John was jumpy and nervous, hoping that Harry, who was out looking, would text or call to say that she had found his little girl. That would be the best outcome. John couldn't stop coming up with new ideas as to what had happened to her. Anything could have happened. He had a lot of enemies after all of his days chasing criminals with Sherlock and it could be possible,that one of them had kidnapped his precious daughter as revenge for catching them. All he knew was if someone had touched a single curly hair on her head, he would find them and the police wouldn't be able to recognise the body after he was finished with it. But he knew, deep down inside, that Sherlock would find her in perfect condition. If Sherlock meant what he said when he told John that he would do anything to keep him happy, he would bring his daughter back to him in perfect condition.
Sherlock always solved every case (well... most of them)...
John had managed to follow Sherlock's work via Lestrade and the media. Of course he was still doing as well as he was when John was around, possibly even better which was.... good. The last thing John wanted was for Sherlock to be unhappy and, if the cases weren't coming in, he knew that the detective would not be happy , at all.
The fact that Sherlock was still doing well without him wasn't unexpected. Sherlock's mind was... well... out of this world and he missed being the one who praised his deductive skills with as many adjectives as possible but he knew that he did not have the right to miss his old life. He was the one who walked away, knowing exactly what he was leaving behind and still did it. Only because he didn't want Sherlock to hate him. He would prefer to never see Sherlock again knowing that Sherlock loved him than tell him the truth and be kicked out knowing that Sherlock hated him.
"Okay." Sherlock said, flicking his eyes around, taking in every detail of the room that he was standing in. The building that John now lived in was definitely a home... his home. It was more of a home than 221B had ever been to him over the years that they were friends and the year that they were together.
Pictures were everywhere, hung up on the walls, sitting on most of the surfaces. Most of them were of a girl who looked like John and gradually, in each photo, she grew older. This house was John's home. His ex's home. "I will need a recent photo of her so that I can get my homeless network onboard. They will be able to find out information about her disappearance quicker than Lestrade's team. "
John nodded, going into the living room and over to the fireplace where his daughter's most recent school photo sat. She was smiling bright, book settled in her lap, and her curls were framing her face. Dark, long ringlets. Beautiful. John handed over the picture with a small sigh. He was worried,his protective omega nature kicking in when he knew that his child was endanger as long as his daughter wasn't upstairs, tucked into her warm bed,he would be worried because that's where she belonged. Always.
Sherlock took the photo that John held out to him and stared at it for a moment. The first thing that caught his attention was that this child, who looked about 15 years old but was really 12, looked like a clone of John in female form. It was quite shocking for Sherlock to see the features that he loved on John, in a child. Although it was not just any child, it was John's and that was what upset him. John had gone and gotten pregnant with a child, without him...
Once upon a time Sherlock was John's alpha, destined to be together until they were old and unable to solve cases anymore. Maybe he should have made John bond with him sooner, that way John couldn't have run away from him, the bond making it impossible for John to leave him... but Sherlock would never do that. He couldn't force John to stay if he didn't want to. John was his own person. A doctor. A soldier. A father...
But stopped himself from thinking about it any further. He could let his emotions rule over him when he had more important things that had to be done. He quickly put up his emotion barrier and continued to examine the photo.
John swallowed and moved closer, pointing to her chin. "She has a scar on her chin now... She got into a fight. It's not all that noticeable but it might help. She disagreed with a girl about something and she has a slight anger issue so... She punched her and parents got called. Anyway... she has a scar."
"Yes, that might help me quite a bit, actually. The girl that punched her, was she the same girl you mentioned before?"
John nodded. "The exact same. They really don't get on... I've tried but the parents are also... disagreeable. Made me want to hit the guy once or twice..."
"Hymn." Sherlock hummed, thinking through a few ideas that came through his head. He had quite a few theories running through his head but he had to try and sort all the information into a better order if he wanted to find The Girl. He also had some questions that he really wanted to ask, a few more important and more relevant to the case than others but it seemed that he couldn't stop focusing on the unimportant ones.
How was John?
Was he doing well?
Was he still working at the surgery?
Why was John living on the other side of London?
Who did John have a child with?
Why did John leave him...?
Sherlock laughed at his inner self. How could he be so self absorbed when John, his John, was going out of his mind with worry because his daughter was missing and he was expecting Sherlock to find her. All Sherlock knew was that if he carried on thinking this way, he wasn't going to find The Girl any time soon.
"Do you know why they don't get on? And her parents, do you have their number? I could get one of Lestrade's more agreeable officers to call them up and ask where their daughter is? I believe a child that young, is able to do something as... drastic as kidnap another child but I don't believe that is the case. Although I will make sure that the parents are still called." Sherlock suddenly spat out, finally pausing for a moment before spinning around on the spot taking in as much information about his surroundings as possible. "I have missed something. Something really important that could help with the case. I don't know how or why or what it is but I will figure it out. I just need a few more moments to process things because I have only been on this case for... 10 minutes."
John bit his lip, hard during the last bit of Sherlock's little talk. He pulled the skin off of his upper lip until it was so sore that started biting his lower lip instead. He repeated the process, realising that his actions were not helping him one bit. He had to tell Sherlock before he figured it out himself.
"Before we contact them and everything, I should tell you something..." He sighed and lowered his eyes to the floor. "Alex, my daughter, she... Her... She's the reason I left... She's y... She's ours. She's your daughter too. I left because..."