This is just a random idea that I had and thought it was interesting. This is currently just a one-shot, but I might add more if I want to. I was going to start from the beginning where Sherlock met her, but my brain decided not to work for me on that. So I decided to go to the middle instead. Anyway, enjoy!
Sherlock looked at the young teenage girl who sat at the table reading a book called The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. She was eating an apple and her black hair was held back in a tight pony-tail and she had her reading glasses on. Sherlock gave a small side smirk. She looked so adorable with those glasses on, they were a bright blood red and held her tiny hairs behind her ears. Sherlock couldn't believe he would ever think anyone was adorable. But she had rubbed off on him, and he did like her. And she didn't mind him and some of his odd habits. She never complained when she saw body parts in the fridge, or a dead rat in the microwave. She would simply stare a long moment before shrugging it off and doing what she was going to do anyway. And she had a dart board set up on the wall that she really didn't mind if he used a gun with it. She was very laid back and hardly ever talked. And her name was Jessica, Sherlock loved that name oh so very much. It was pretty, but short and simple. He enjoyed how it rolled off his tongue when he said it, and it suited her. Little spunky, matter-of-fact, brave, strong, ever so joking Jessica.
Jessica took a bite of her apple and chewed it as she read. Sherlock knew that she knew he was looking at her, thinking, deducing her. And yet, she didn't mind in the slightest. She wasn't impressed nor insulted. The best part was that she had the perfect game for him to play when he was bored and shooting his pistol didn't cure him. It was a game called Clue. An American game as she had told him. And she was willing to play it with him whenever he wished. She simply spoiled him as normal people might say. He had met Jessica about a month after he had faked his death. She wouldn't leave him alone and followed him everywhere until he finally turned around and paid at least a smidgen of attention to her. Once he did she told him her name, that she knew who he was, and that if he needed a place to hide she would be happy to have him. She than gave him an address and phone number before just walking away without another word.
Sherlock was impressed with Jessica, she was so simple and yet so complicated. What leads a person, normal or not, to just randomly give you number and address to a man in his thirties and he's over half your age? Sherlock smirked. Brave indeed. He admired that about her. No, what he admired was how laid back she was and yet she could hit a worm on a tree branch at fifty yards with only barely grazing the branch it sat on. And that wasn't a metaphor, Sherlock was being serious. She had done that just to impress him. This kid was persistent, entertaining, deadly, and about a million other things Sherlock liked. And for the record Sherlock hates kids, teenagers even more so.
"Do you want something, Sherlock?" she asked dryly as she looked over at him. Sherlock glanced at the clock and saw he had been staring at her in thought for over twenty minutes now. Whoops. He looked back at her. She wasn't tense, but she wasn't relaxed either. He was amazed at how she never ceased to amazing him. Such an odd child. "Well?" Sherlock blinked. Right, she asked him a question.
"Just thinking," he said. Jessica leaned her head down slightly and stared at him as she looked over her glasses. His mouth moved in a funny way as he tried not to laugh at the sight. That's right, laugh. Jessica could sometimes make the great Sherlock Holmes laugh. She took her glasses off and shut the book she was reading. She her glasses in a small case before setting them and the book on a shelf.
"And what, pray tell, are you thinking about?" she asked sitting in a chair across from him. Sherlock looked at her and noted that she had her normal calm expression. Jessica never seemed to get excited very often, or angry, or sad, or anything else for that matter. Her blank expression and ever calm voice made Sherlock relax to a point he never had before. Normal people were always feeling to much at once and talking more than they should. But Jessica was perfectly calm and only ever said what needed to be said. Sherlock liked this quality in Jessica, he really did. He shrugged in response to her question.
"Thinking about stuff," he said. She raised an eyebrow towards him and tilted her head forward ever so slightly. Sherlock gave the tiniest of smirks and nodded. "Yes, you stuff." Jessica smiled a bit and leaned back in her chair. Sherlock sniffed the air a bit, something wasn't right. He didn't know what it was, but it made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. Something big was going to happen, and he was unhappy with the fact that he didn't know what. Jessica pushed herself up from where she sat and Sherlock watched as she put her hat on.
"I'm going to go to the store, we're out of those forks you use," she said. Sherlock found it in him to smile. He was always using those odd shaped forks she had for his experiments and such. He found it amusing how she didn't seem to mind that he used them, and completely destroyed them for that matter, and just simply went out to buy more. "Don't do anything utterly stupid while I'm gone." And with that, Jessica was gone. Sherlock sat in silence for a moment, as if questioning it. Something was wrong, and he didn't know why but something in the back of his mind told him to follow her.
With only a moments thought Sherlock was out of his chair. He grabbed one of Jessica's many hats, she told him that they were her father's, and put it on his head. He put his jacket over his shoulders and hid his face as he walked out onto the street. It took him a mere two seconds to spot her walking down the street in the small drizzle of rain. He followed right behind. He was slow enough as to not draw attention but not to slow that he would lose her. Sherlock looked up over the rim of his hat and stopped. Jessica was gone. He looked around. She couldn't have just disappeared, and he was sure she hadn't noticed him. He froze and listened closely. In an instant Sherlock had broken into a run and ran into one of the thin alleyways.
There he found Jessica being held by a boy of about eighteen against the brick wall to Sherlock's left. He had one hand over her mouth and held her legs firmly in place with his own. His other hand, however, had a knife and was ripping through her shirt. Sherlock felt his face get hot and his expression tightened. She already had a long cut down her right arm and one on her stomach. He was now tracing her ribcage. In three long strides Sherlock made his way over to them and put a firm, angry hand on the boy's shoulder. The boy jumped in surprise and turned to face Sherlock, who was looking down ever so slightly as to not let the boy see his face.
"I'm thinking you might just want to give me that knife, and get lost," Sherlock said. Sherlock smirked ever so slightly at the drop of sweat trailing down the boy's temple. Sherlock reached out his hand. "Trust me, you don't want a tassel." The boy glared and dug the knife into Jessica's side, making her yelp under the boy's hand. Sherlock shoved his hand against the boy's shoulder and put his other hand on the knife, making sure it wasn't yanked out. He whirled the boy around and tied his jacket sleeves together. He than zipped up his jacket so that it covered his face. He than kicked him to the ground. "For the record, I did warn you." Sherlock than picked him up by his hair and tossed him towards the exit. "Now beat it!" Without a moments hesitation the boy ran out of the alleyway.
"Sh-Sherlock...?" He turned towards Jessica. She had taken out the knife and was staring at it, her hands shaken violently. The knife fell out of her hands and she fell to her knees. Sherlock ran over and knelt down next to her. She looked over at him, her eyes not fulling comprehending. Sherlock took his jacket off and wrapped her up in it before lifting her off the ground and holding her bridle-style.
"Come on, let's go home," he said walking out of the alleyway. People gave them some funny looks as they walked passed but Sherlock ignored them. That boy was lucky Sherlock didn't do any more damage. The reason he made him leave was so that he didn't hurt him to much. He looked down at Jessica as she rested against him, shaking from shock. Sherlock had never been in shock, but he understood the science of it quite well and could understand why she was shaking. He opened the door and walked up the stairs. He set her down on the couch and found that she had gone unconscious.
Sherlock took his jacket and hung it up before assessing her wounds. The cut on her arm was going to need sewing, but the other two weren't to bad. He had just missed her ribcage and the blood had harden, so there wasn't any bleeding. The stomach wound was pretty bad, but wouldn't be too hard to fix. Sherlock stood up and went to get the medical kit. Jessica was a very strong girl, she would make it through this easy. It wasn't as if he had completely raped her or anything like that, she Sherlock was sure she would bounce back and be herself in no time.
...
Sherlock glanced up at Jessica as she sat down on the chair in silence. She wasn't reading, or even on the computer writing stories like she normally did. Sherlock's nerves were unsteady at this. He knew Jessica almost as well as John, but not even John went off and was weird like this. Sherlock kept calm while his mind raced. He took a quiet deep breath and calmed his thoughts. Jessica was calm, but something was off. And it bugged Sherlock that he couldn't figure it out. He mumbled to himself and set his chin in his palm. Jessica looked over at him with a raised eyebrow, but didn't speak. Sherlock didn't like this, it made him extremely uneasy.
...
Sherlock lay in bed in silence. He couldn't seem to fall asleep, he had this feeling nagging at the back of his mind and he couldn't seem to make it stop. The entire afternoon, and the evening for that matter, Jessica's personality seemed a bit off. It wasn't as if she wasn't paying attention or her mind was somewhere else, she just wasn't Jessica. A lot of her jokes hadn't been used and she didn't seem as perky. And there was a point were Sherlock could've sworn she looked like she was about to burst into tears.
Sherlock knew that he wouldn't sleep until he checked on her, his mind wouldn't allow him too if he didn't. He sighed and sat up in bed. He pulled his rob over his body and walked down the hallway to check on her. He stopped a few inches from her door and listened closely to the sound he was hearing. His heart sunk a little bit at the crying sound coming from behind the door. Now, Jessica wasn't crying loudly, most likely because she didn't want to wake him. But she wasn't exactly crying quietly either. She was just, crying.
Sherlock opened the door slowly and quietly and looked in at Jessica, who was currently sitting in the corner opposite the door curled up in a ball as her body shook from the tears she shed. Sherlock felt something twist inside his chest where his heart was at the sight. He shut the door just as slowly and quietly as before, for it didn't seem she had noticed him yet, and perhaps it would be better the longer she didn't sense his presence. Though she would know he was there soon.
Sherlock stood about half a foot away from her when her crying slowly stopped and she looked up at him from behind her knees where her face hid. He saw her tense up the moment she saw him standing there, looking at her. Did he really unsettle her that much? Well, she did set her standers by him, perhaps she held him on to high a pedestal. She stood up and avoided eye contact at all costs. Sherlock took two steps towards her and she glanced at him for a short moment. She stood motionless as Sherlock wrapped his arms around her.
Jessica set her forehead to rest on his chest but didn't move, just stood there. Sherlock sighed quietly and looked down at the young girl he held in his arms. She was so young and small, but sometimes Sherlock forgot how young she really was. She was so brave, and strong, and wasn't scared of anything or anyone. Sherlock truly was impressed by her. But Sherlock sometimes forgot that she was only thirteen, he forgot that she got scared, and he forgot that sometimes she needed him to protect her.
But he wasn't missing the fact that she needed to cry, but he knew very well she would rather die than have him see her cry. She stood there wrapped up in his embrace, probably wondering when he would just leave without a word and leave her alone, hopefully forgetting that he had seen her crying. But this was not the case. Sherlock set his chin gently on the top of her head gently and whispered one word. Just one word, and with that one word Jessica understood many.
"Cry." His voice was flat but kind as he spoke. And with the one word Jessica knew exactly what he was telling her. He wasn't going to tell anyone, he didn't care that she didn't hold herself together, that he understood that she needed to burst, and that he was there for her. And with that one word spoken, Jessica allowed herself to fall apart in his arms. Sherlock held her a little tighter and held her closer to him as she cried.
Jessica's body shook and she held onto Sherlock tightly, as if he were her tie to this word and that if she let go she would be lost forever. Sherlock felt a pain in his chest at seeing Jessica break down and fall apart. He had forgotten how fragile she could be, the day they first met Jessica hadn't been a very strong person. But as she hung around with Sherlock she became stronger, more fierce and unafraid. But she was still Jessica, she was still just a thirteen-year-old girl who every-once-and-a-while was going to be scared out of her mind.
Jessica's crying slowly stopped and she stood holding onto Sherlock tightly. He looked back down at her as she stood there. She was still that strong, brave girl he knew and loved, but he was reminded of how she was just a young girl as well. He sighed lightly and stood back a bit. He put his hands on her shoulders and she looked up at him. He gave a small smile and wiped her tears away with his hands. He than knelt down to her height, being 6'7 he towered over her a great deal, and stood there a moment, just looking at her.
"You should get some sleep," he told her. Jessica nodded and took a deep breath. Sherlock blinked. What had just happened? He had let feelings rule his head, this was new. Sherlock shook it off for the time being, he could think about it later. Jessica smiled and wrapped her arms around Sherlock's neck in a hug.
"Thank you, Sherlock," she said. Sherlock hugged her back and hummed a 'you're welcome' to her. Jessica pulled back and hopped back into bed. Sherlock walked over and pulled the covers over her, and smirked at the surprised look on on her face. She curled up and closed her eyes. "That basterd had your beat-down coming." Sherlock chuckled and kissed her forehead.
"That's my girl," he said gently and left the room.
Well, that's that. Hope you enjoyed!
Thanks for reading and please review!