Born Mad

Chapter Eighteen: America the Beautiful

"Aurora, are you alright?"

I couldn't move, positively transfixed by the private jet looming above us. "This is really happening, isn't it, Doc?"

Doc smiled and laughed, jogging back to my side. "Why yes, yes it is."

"No, I mean, this is really happening. I'm really going to meet my parents," I murmured, looking down to discover that my fists had unconsciously clenched. "I'm going to meet the people who hated me enough to literally throw me away..."

"Hey, hey, hey," he whispered, laying his hands on my shoulders. "It's going to be alright. Now come on..."

He grabbed my hand, gently pulling me towards the jet. "...Mycroft didn't get this for us to waste it."

I soon found myself being pampered in luxury, aboard one of the most expensive jets the nation had to offer.

"Really?! You can jump off buildings into oceans and leap from rooftop to rooftop, but you can still be afraid of heights?!"

I gave a sheepish smile, clutching at the armrests of my leather seat almost desperately as I met the detective's eye. "Yeah, well, remember the old phrase 'don't look down'? It kinda works."

"We should be there in about eight hours. 'Til then, just relax," Watson tried to soothe, gently tucking a blanket around my shoulders. "Need anything; just ask."

I nodded, squeezing my eyes shut and wondering where on earth my composure had decided to get to. 

"Doc?"

It was a couple hours since we had last spoken, and I was trying to sleep, but I was just too anxious. I nudged his shoulder before taking to poking him in the cheek in an attempt to prod him awake. "Doc, wake up. Come on... Please?"

He eventually stirred, murmuring, "What? What is it, Aurora?"

"I can't sleep..."

"Something bothering you?"

I shook my head, plopping down in the seat beside him and closing my eyes with a sigh. "I don't know... I just don't know."

He shifted, throwing his blanket over me despite my protests.

"You need it more than me, Aurora," Watson stated simply, smiling as I moved to curl up in my seat. "Now just try and relax, alright?"

We talked a little while more, but I didn't pay it much mind because, before long, I had drifted to his voice.

When I woke, we had landed, and the Doc and Snappy-Pants were grabbing their small duffel bags. Doc grinned at me when I woke, and he teased, "Get enough beauty sleep?"

I wasn't in the mood and merely replied dryly, "I got sleep, but it sure as hell wasn't that kind."

He tossed a hairbrush to me, and I rolled my eyes with a groan, raking the brush through my hair quickly and impatiently, before I threw it back to him. "Snappy-Pants, address."

"Fifteen minutes from here, but we need to get to the hotel first; we have to discuss our plan of action."

Of course I didn't listen. Why would I?

The second we were checked into that hotel, I tackled the two in a hug.

"This is unexpected," was all Holmes murmured, but Doc smiled warmly, wrapping me up close in his arms without protest.

"I'll be right back...!"

"Where are you going?"

"Loo. I'm allowed to do that right, Doc?"