Look out for the <>

I woke up late the next morning because of the late night. I got out of my bedroom to see the flat empty. Sherlock had already left. In Russia, I was used to being alone. In Russia, there had been countless days that I was lonely and thought nothing of it but today was different.  I wanted someone here. I didn't want to be alone. 

I quickly got ready then snagged a yogurt for breakfast because I knew that I was the only one that was going to eat them. Then I made my way down stairs, hoping that I would come across some company just only for a bit.  

As I followed the smell of freshly baked goods I found myself in Miss Hudson's kitchen. "Morning dear," she said and smiled at me widely as she made some scones for her bakery. They smelt fantastic and I was really tempted to ask for one but didn't.

"Morning," I said and smiled at her and took a seat on a stool.

"I saw Sherlock leave an hour ago."

I nodded. "He's going to be gone for a few days."

"Well if that is the case, want to join me for dinner tonight? Just the two of us. I can make you a good meal, something Sherlock is not so talented at."

I smiled. She was almost like a grandmother to me. No matter how unpleasant I have been towards her, she has always been welcoming to me. That was just the company I wanted. Some nice chats about the weather and news, nothing important, that's what I wanted the most right now. "Of course. What time?"

"Six?"

"Great. Well, I'm heading out, I'll talk to you later." With that I got up from my seat and left her to her cooking, knowing I had a stack of things to do. 

Quicker than normal I found myself walking through the front doors of the library. I hadn't been here in months but as I looked around, I realized that it hadn't changed one bit. I remember a time when I pretty much lived here. I didn't have anywhere else to go but the library accepted me with open arms. That was an interesting time, full of pink hair and deaths. I changed a lot since then. I used to think that case was the hardest one I had ever done but now after Russia, I knew I was wrong. Russia changed me. It shaped me into something else and I wasn't sure if that was good or bad yet.

I walked up the staircase and went into the records section of the library.

After I got an arm full of papers, I found a long desk that no one was at and I sat down then started to read. I had a lot of records to look through I didn't want to be by people. Today was going to be a long day.

Hours of studding went by in silence until a man came up to me and broke my concentration. "You don't see many beautiful girls at the library anymore." He brushed his brown hair from his forehead as he sat down next to me and stared as if he wanted something from me. He was almost hansom, but something felt off with him, it made me think that he was not as handsome as other men his age.

As I looked into his eyes and saw something that I hadn't seen, curiosity with venom. "Get off." 

He chuckled. "You don't have to be rude about it, sweet."

His voice made my skin crawl. Something about him just rubbed me the wrong way. "And you don't have to be a douche, but some things just happen." With that I went back to my records, waiting for him to leave. It must have been some time later because when I looked back up, he was gone.  

I spent the next five hours looking at different sheets of information. I took some names down on a spare piece of paper that I would look more into at home, but I only found about seven names worth looking into. I looked at the time and saw that it was time to leave if I wanted to get to dinner on time.  

I walked down Baker Street with my head down, feeling discouraged. It had been a long day full of disappointment and false hope. I hadn't found as much as I wanted to and I highly doubted that these names that I did get were going to lead anywhere. I wanted answers but all I seemed to get were more questions. All I wanted now was ice cream, maybe dinner and then bed, in that order. I walked into 221 and saw a note on the banister.

"We'll have to do dinner tomorrow. Something came up and I have to meet up with a friend. Sorry, Miss Hudson."

I took the note and crushed it in my hand feeling more depressed. Why did I always end up alone? I was tired of it. But for some reason that seemed to be my default by nature. I didn't even try and I always ended up alone. Not even John would be willing to come over now that he had Marry back in his life to keep him company.

I walked up the steps of 221 to get to my flat but as I got to the door I saw that it was already cracked open. I felt my heart race in my chest. I shut the door when I left. They had found me. Beijo killed everyone in Russia and now they were going to kill me. They finally decided to end it and it was about time. I must have gotten too close to finding out who ran the group.

I felt temped to run away but knew that would only delay the enviable. I took a deep breath and put my keys between my fingers to make a fist. I was going to be the one that attacked first. 

<>

I slowly opened the door and looked around to see only one man slumped on the couch. I knew that freckly face anywhere. Kale. He was beat up and covered in blood. He smiled weakly at me. "Sorry I didn't close the door." And then he was out.

"Kale," I said and rushed over to him to make sure he was still breathing. I put my hand on his chest, feeling the steady rhythm of his heart beneath my hand.

I got up from the floor and paced the room, Kale was in my flat. The last time I saw him was when he dropped me off at the plane about three or four weeks ago. What happened to him? Did this happen in Russia or here in London. Should I call John, just to make sure he was ok? I wanted to say that I could but I had no idea what condition Kale was in and I was no doctor.

I walked over to my phone then dialed John's number. "Hello?" he asked on the other line.

"Yes, um, John. Can you help me? Someone's hurt and I don't know what state he's in."

"Of course. Are you at the flat now? I'll be there in 20 minutes."

"Thank you," I said then hung up the phone. I could always trust John and that would never change.  

Minutes ticked by until I heard the stairs creek. I knew it was john. "The door is open! Just come in!" I shouted at the cracked door that I never managed to close.

John came in with his medical bag in hand. "Who is this?"

I thought of a lot of ways to introduce him. I thought about lying about it. I looked at the sleeping man in front of us. "This is Kale."    

"Kale? As in the Kale you dated? The love of your life Kale?"

John asked too many redundant questions. Of course, he was, I didn't know any other person named Kale. I got frustrated with him. "Yes." I heard Kale move and my gaze witched back to Kale to make sure he was ok.

John walked over to him and looked into his bag off of medical things. "Did he say what happened to him?"

"No. He just was here when I came in. I have no idea when he came in or what happened to him. That's why I called you, I figured you would know more about this stuff then I would."

"Ok that answers my next question," he said as he felt Kale's pulse.

There were a few minutes of silence. I figured it was best not to distract him from his work. So I just sat there in silence as I watched John work on Kale. "I think he has a sprained ankle, dislocated shoulder, and maybe a concussion.... Probably a concussion. He might have a few other things wrong but I need more advanced medical equipment to tell."

I was afraid he would recommend that. Kale would never want to go nor was it safe for him. The people that did this could be in London and they'll be looking out for him in the hospitals. No, Kale trusted me to look out for him and I was going to do it.  "I don't know if that's smart. He obviously got into some trouble and going to the hospital might set off red flags."

"Then we'll wait until he wakes to ask him ourselves," John said and sat down on a chair across from me. He smiled at me, wanting to talk. He always wanted to talk and since Russia I was never in the mood for these heart felt conversations. "So how was your day?"

I gave a small cynical laugh. "You're really trying small talk with me? You want to talk about more then that. You haven't seen me in months and when you did see me last, I didn't speak much. You want to know more than just how my day went."

John frowned at me as if I said something wrong. "You're right. I do want to know more about what happened over there but I figure you will tell me that when you are ready.  I mainly just want to know how your day went."

I was surprised by his statement. "Honestly, it was disappointing...." I stopped in mid-sentence. For weeks I had tried so hard to push my memories to the back of my mind, talking about it brought the pain to the surface again. I didn't want to think about Russia, but I did at the same time. If I remembered, it was real, what I did. It reminded me not to give up. But those memories still kept me up at night.  "My day was lonely. I felt lonely. Normally that doesn't bother me but today it did. I went to the library for a case I am working on and that seemed like a dead end. I was looking forward to dinner with Miss Hudson but she canceled. Then I found Kale, beaten and blood on my couch."

"Sorry."

"It's ok. I'm really glad to see Kale but not like this. I need to find out what happened to him. Just add that to my list of things to do."

"What's on your list?"

I frowned, he listened a little too well. I wasn't use to that anymore. "Too many things to count."

He leaned back into his chair. "I have time."

I sighed loudly. There was no better time to tell, John was here until Kale woke. Knowing that I would not get out of this, I started to share. "While I was in Russia I was trying to find the group that Zane owed money too."

"I never understood why you went."

I frowned. Here I go, about to open a can of worms and I couldn't stop myself. "Mycroft told me that I could either work for him or Sherlock would spend a long time in prison."

"Black mail? That's illegal."

I shrugged. I had done a lot of illegal things under the watch of Mycroft. Mycroft was no saint, he never was. "But that's Mycroft, he can do whatever he wants and get away with it. But I couldn't go back to London until I gained enough information that was worth mine and Sherlock's freedom. Honestly, I think Mycroft would have just left me in that Russian prison if it wasn't for Kale," I said and then looked at Kale.

 "Did you find out who Zane owed money to?"

"Zane called them Beijo but I think that's a lie he made up just so I could come back and see him again and ask more questions. He's dying in there, not physically but mentally. And that makes me happy. I want to make him suffer, just like he's made us suffer." 

"Rori," John said with a sigh, wanting to see me in the best light.

I chuckled cynically again. "You're giving me that? You have no idea what I had to do in Russia to survive. Don't even go down that hole."

There were a few minutes of silence and then John couldn't keep his mouth shut. "Are you going back to Russia anytime soon?"

"I hope not. Goodness, I was in war over there. Did you know that? I still have nightmares about shooting people in Ukraine." I didn't want to say that, but he always had a way in making me honest. He made me feel safe.

John was silent for another minute as if finding the right words to say to me then finally he spoke up. "It gets better over time. People help, a lot. If you want to talk about it of course, I'm always here." 

I forgot that John was on the war front. He lived through that and he turned out alright. It gave me a small bit of hope that I would be ok, it would only take time. "I'm trying to be better about letting people in. I am trying. I think the universe hates me because every time I start to get happy or let people into my little bubble, they disappoint me or they are ripped from my grasp. I always end up alone."

John shrugged at me as if the answer was easy. "People make mistakes, they're always going to disappoint us or die, they're not immortal.  Marry disappoints me. The true challenge is, will you let them into your life and enjoy their company before it's too late? Time is the only thing we have. You can't waste it pushing people away."

"That's what I'm used to." I wasn't being an easy person to talk to. "I am really trying to be better about this."

"And I can see that, you called me. That's an improvement."

"I guess that is."

It was quite, but it wasn't like we ran out of things to talk about. We enjoyed the silence, thinking about the conversation in our minds. After a while Kale moved and groaned. I practically jumped out of my seat. "Kale?" I asked, as if to make sure he was awake.

"Aurora?"

"Oh goodness, Kale you had me so worried," I said as I moved to the floor so I could be right by his side.

"You always have me worried with you bounding into trouble all the time." He said weakly and then coughed. "My head is killing me, do you have some Tylenol?"

"Yes I'll get that. My friend John has some questions for you," I said and got up from the floor to get some painkiller as John took my spot. I tried to hear what they were talking about but my hands were shaking enough to make the pills rattle. I walked into the kitchen and got some water for him then walked back into the family room to see John putting on his coat. "So?" I asked him.

"I think he'll be ok. Just a mild concussion. Keep an eye on him tonight. Call me if anything changes."

"Thank you so much John, really, it means a lot."

He gave a smile. "I'm glad you called. Goodnight, Rori."

"Goodnight," I replied and watched him walk out and close the door behind him, leaving me alone with Kale to answer my million questions.

sorry this was so late! I have been working 60 hour weeks before I head off to school and it doesn't make much time for anything else. it's as terrible as it sounds... but anyhow I hope you enjoyed the turn in the story! Also the photo! I just wanted him to look happy because over all I believe that Kale is better at that then Rori is. That is why Rori needs him. They need each other. 

Darla H