The Other One *Editing*

Chapter 12 - Carl Powers

An update!! Sorry this has been long in the making I've just start Uni and tbh I'm struggling. But here we are! I hope you enjoy :) ~EK xxx

"You remember Carl powers?" Sherlock asked as they hurried down corridors.
"Of course." Lizzie smirked. "Was my favourite."   "What do you mean your favourite?" John said as he ran, struggling to keep up.
"See back then he didn't have a blogger to document all his cases but he did have me. As I grew up story time with Sherlock was my favourite time." She beamed. "He told mum they were fictional crime novels but we both knew they weren't. Carl Powers was his favourite, he always went back to it. His first unsolved case." Sherlock winced at the word unsolved, sticking his hand out for a taxi. 

"Nineteen eighty-nine, a young kid - champion swimmer came up from Brighton for a school sports tournament; drowned in the pool. Tragic accident." Sherlock said as they sat in the taxi back to Baker Street, flashing a news article at John. Lizzie was on her phone again, fingers tapping against the screen. "You wouldn't remember it. Why should you?" 
"But you two do." 
"Yes." Lizzie nodded.  "Something fishy about it?" "Nobody thought so – nobody except me. I was only a kid myself. I read about it in the papers."
"Started young, didn't you?" John said. Lizzie raised an eyebrow and smirked not looking up from her phone. 
"The boy, Carl Powers, had some kind of fit in the water, but by the time they got him out it was too late. But there was something wrong; something I couldn't get out of my head." Sherlock said speaking quicker now, like he was getting excited about the old case again. 
"What?"
"His shoes."
"What about them?" John asked. 
"They weren't there. I made a fuss; I tried to get the police interested, but nobody seemed to think it was important. He'd left all the rest of his clothes in his locker, but there was no sign of his shoes... He bent down and dramatically picked up the bag containing the shoes. "Until now."

Lizzie and Sherlock sat in the kitchen. Sherlock was reading over printed articles about Carl Powers death. Lizzie was still typing rapidly in her phone, occasionally writing on scraps of paper. Sherlock would read them and place them in his mind map of documents. The two of them working completely silently created a shared mental picture. "Can I help?" John interrupted the silence. "I want to help. There's only five hours left."

Both of them continued to ignore John until his phone buzzed. "It's your brother. He's texting me now." Great, Lizzie thought. Now she could add John to the family group chat. "How does he know my number?" John questioned.
"Must be a root canal." Sherlock said to Lizzie thoughtfully. 
"Look he did say 'national importance.' " John said seriously, walking into the kitchen towards Sherlock. "How quaint." Sherlock snorted, not looking up from his work. 
"What is?"
"You are. Queen and country." Lizzie did a small sarcastic salute with two fingers at John, placing her phone on the table. 
"You can't just ignore it." He said sternly.
"I'm not ignoring it. Putting my best man onto it right now." 
"Right. Good." John said crossing his arms and nodding in satisfaction.
"Who's that?" Lizzie just looked at him. A small smile playing on her face.  John rolled his eyes and went to get changed.

Not long after John left Lizzie's phone rang. Used to her phone constantly buzzing Sherlock easily tuned it out. It wasn't until the forth ring that Sherlock realised that Lizzie was not answering the call. Looking up from his research Sherlock saw that Lizzie was staring at her phone open mouthed. "What is it?" Sherlock asked, running round the table to see who was calling her. Expecting to see their criminal, surprised Sherlock saw "Mum <3". "Why aren't you answering?" Sherlock asked, looking at her, his eyebrows drawn together.
"I haven't spoken to her yet. Not since I... you know." She trailed off the phone stopped ringing and then started up again. "She's spoken to Mycroft I know he's been calming her down sorting things out. She's still gunna be pissed." This confused Sherlock more. Elizabeth Holmes was well known for causing trouble. Well known for aggravating their parents. Well known for not caring and continuing. So why now, would she care. The phone cut off again before continuing to ring. Their mum was relentless.

Gulping Lizzie swiped the call button across, moving into the sitting room. "I'm okay mum." Lizzie said rolling her eyes. "It's better for me here, it really is." Sherlock could hear his mother's voice ranting back, even from where he was sitting. Lizzie gave her time to let it out before continuing. "I couldn't stand it, I knew it all. I've got two degrees for fu-goodness sake." Lizzie said, managing to stop the swear word slipping out her mouth. More shouting followed despite this. "Yes, I know it was for my behaviour but I'm staying out of trouble, well I'm trying." Yet more shouting followed until Lizzie whispered, "they called me a freak mum."

It was barely audible but Sherlock still heard. The words echoed round his head. The boys in the playground, Donovan, his own brother all saying those words to him. Now his little sister. He walked over to where Lizzie was curled up and pulled the phone from her hand. "She's staying with me." He stated before hanging up the phone and chucking it down next to her.

The silence hung in the air for a second. "Thank y-" Lizzie started but was cut off by Sherlock.
"You never said."
"What?" Lizzie said, puzzled.
"You never said that's why you left. Why you wouldn't go back." He repeated, sitting down on the coffee table in front of her. 
"Why would I?" Lizzie said , looking straight into Sherlock's eyes. "It doesn't bother me." 
"Being smart doesn't mean the words don't hurt." "How would you know," she scoffed. "You and Mycroft, ice kings. Never letting anything hurt you, none of it effecting you. Ever." 
"Is that what you think?"
"What?" Lizzie said irritable now. 
"That nothing gets to us, that we don't have our moments."
"Well yeah." Lizzie said looking up at Sherlock, eyebrows drawing together and head tilting. Sherlock didn't say anything at first. He sat down on the sofa next to her and pulled her close. "You're mistaken Elizabeth."

There we go! Cute little Sherlock and Lizzie moment for you! Hope you enjoyed it and continue to be patient for updates! ~EK xxx