Fight for Me

Chapter 49

"The Falls of the Reichenbach, Turner's masterpiece, thankfully recovered owing to the prodigious talent of Mr. Sherlock Holmes," the gallery director spoke as the patrons of the museum gathered around the reframed painting, resting on an easel for the time being until it could be returned to its spot on the wall.

The audience politely applauded and Lydia fought to suppress the laughter that threatened to bubble up at Sherlock's uncomfortable expression. Beside him, John was stoic but at the same time at least looked appreciative of the honour they were receiving, unlike Sherlock who would no doubt rather be back at the flat shooting the walls or something of the like.

"A small token of our gratitude," the director smiled, approaching Sherlock with a box in hand and offering it to Sherlock who merely looked down on it in disgust.

"Diamond cufflinks, all my cuffs have buttons," Lydia could hear him complain as he unwillingly accepted the present.

John was quick to jump in and attempt to remedy the situation, addressing the rather taken-back director. "He means thank you."

"Do I?"

"Just say it," John muttered under his breath, his gaze flickering back to the director.

Sherlock grimaced but forced the words to come out of his mouth, "thank you."

With that Sherlock attempted to get away, but John quickly grabbed him so that the photographers could capture the moment. Lydia watched, bemused by the pained expression on Sherlock's face as she stood on the sidelines, thankful she had managed to talk her way out of being recognised for her help in retrieving the painting. Sherlock caught her gaze and sent her a glare, which only made her smile larger.

"Shouldn't you be up there? After all, I heard you were quite essential in getting the painting back safely," a woman in a suit mused as she approached Lydia's side, her gaze focused instead on Sherlock and John.

Lydia turned to her in surprise, wondering how she knew her. But she quickly realised that she must have been part of the Foundation, although that did nothing to calm her nerves. Still, Lydia took in a deep breath and kept the smile painted on her face, "yes, well, Sherlock did all of the work tracking the thieves down, I merely aided in the recovery of the painting once he discovered where it was going to be sold. Besides, I'm not much one for the public eye."

"If Sherlock continues on solving high profile cases such as these, you may very well have no choice in the matter."

"I take it my orders are to stay with him for longer then?" Lydia inquired, keeping her gaze fixed on the boys, who were finally freed from the photographer's demands but were now being swarmed by patrons thanking them for their work.

The woman beside her gave a slight nod, "you will remain at 221B indefinitely."

"I don't suppose they offered me any good excuse to tell Sherlock."

"That is your own responsibility."

Lydia sighed, "very well, perhaps I will feign an injury or something of the like. Is that all?"

"No, your objective has altered as well. You will have to keep Sherlock from solving some robberies for the Foundation."

Her lips downturned into a frown, "well, I am sure that that won't be too difficult, unless you plan on stealing something high profile. He typically does not gain an interest in theft, but I'll be sure to steer him away from the investigation in case he does get called in."

"The boss has also requested that you get closer to him."

"Closer?" Lydia echoed, her brows furrowing in confusion. "To Sherlock?"

The woman huffed impatiently, "yes, that is what I just said. Get him to fall for you Lydia, seduce him."

Lydia quickly suppressed a snort, playing it off as a cough, "you do realise that Sherlock Holmes has never been interested in anyone in a romantic way in his life? I can get him to trust me perhaps, but seducing him is out of the question. He thinks that sentiment is a dangerous disadvantage."

"That may be so, but Sherlock Holmes is nothing but a man, Lydia, and men will always fall."

"Not Sherlock," Lydia muttered under her breath as the agent skillfully disappeared into the crowd. She closed her eyes for a moment to process everything that had just happened and took in a shaking breath. It will be fine, she reminded herself, hoping to calm down before reuniting with the boys. Everything is planned to take down the Foundation, nothing that was just said matters anymore.

"Lydia, are you alright?" John asked as he placed his hand on her arm, causing her to jump upon his touch.

But she quickly recovered and flashed him a large smile, "yeah, just a bit of a headache, don't worry. Is Sherlock's torment over?"

"Finally," the man in question growled, approaching the duo with a disgusted look on his face. "We should get out of here before they decide they actually want more photos."

"I was actually quite enjoying their insistence to commemorate the occasion," Lydia teased as they followed Sherlock out of the museum. "It was quite amusing to watch you attempt to look happy."

"Well I am glad that my pain could be of such entertainment to you," he shot back, actually seeming a bit upset.

Confused by his harsh reaction, Lydia slipped her arm through his, "I didn't mean to anger you, Sherlock, just trying to lighten the mood. Trust me, I have survived many events similar to that one through the Foundation, it was just nice not to be in front of the camera for once."

"I shouldn't have been in front of the camera at all. I'm a private detective, I can't be having photos of me cropping up everywhere."

"You've already got John's blog, I'm fairly certain the descriptor 'private' dissipated ages ago."

Sherlock gave no response as a cab finally pulled up and he slipped into the back seat. Sighing in defeat, Lydia slipped in next, followed by John, who was simply grateful that he didn't have to deal with controlling Sherlock at the event any longer.

As the cabbie pulled away from the curb, Sherlock turned to Lydia and signed, "was that someone from the Foundation talking to you?"

She nodded and answered, "they want me to stay at the flat for a longer period of time. But I suppose it doesn't matter considering what we have planned."

With that Sherlock returned to his own thoughts and John wished that he had a better understanding of sign language. He was trying to learn it, but he had to rely on Sherlock to inform him of his conversations with Lydia once she was out of the room in order to know what they were talking about. There were a few words that he could catch, however, and that made him proud enough considering the short time he had had to learn it.

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(A/N): This one was a bit of a filler, but I wanted to set up the next chapter, I hope you're all excited for Lydia's attempt to break away from the Foundation! And I hope that you enjoyed this chapter!