Sherlock's Daughter

2 - Questions

Questions

Sherlock begins to pace, frantically around the living room of 221B Baker Street to the extent of marks being etched into the wooden floor. Juliet sits quietly after being shushed several times by the consulting detective despite attempts to give reason for her sudden outburst. She is tempted to just get up, grab her coat and run out but being so weak she worries that she won't even make it to the end of the road without collapsing in a crumpled heap. Then the authorities would come, scoop her up and take her away. For good. Sherlock pauses by the large window and peers outside; his brother's sleek Jaguar has pulled up to the curb and the high functioning sociopath ruffles his hair. "Mycroft is here." He states in a disgusted tone as Juliet jumps up in panic. "Talk quickly."

"What? No I have to hide!" She whisper shouts while shifting from foot to foot.

"Talk quickly." Sherlock repeats with a sense of urgency in his voice and Juliet sighs in defeat.

"Ever since I was born I have been locked up in a room in his stupid government buildings." Sherlock tilts his head as he takes in the information. "I was educated in that room, slept in that room and ate in that room. I never left the room." She rushes as there is a knock on the front door. "Mycroft told me that it was for my own good when I was child but when I reached puberty he told me the truth. It was to protect you...my father." The door downstairs is opened and Juliet's eyes are full of terror like a deer when it sees an approaching vehicle.

Sherlock extends his arm and erects his index finger, pointing down the hall way and whispers, "The bathroom now!" Without a second thought, Juliet rushes in direction of the bathroom after grabbing the coat off the sofa and shuts the door behind her. Sherlock on the other hand puts on his poker face and falls back into his chair just before his brother enters the room. "Ah brother mine, it has been a while since you have checked up on me."

Mycroft rolls his eyes and takes a quiet, elegant seat opposite Sherlock in John's old chair. "I do not check on you every day Sherlock."

"Yes you do. I see you drive past every day but you haven't for about four days." He reasons and Mycroft scrunches up his nose at the thought of being outwitted by his own baby brother. "What do you want? I have things to do, experiments to finish." Sherlock can feel his heart beating against his ribcage so loudly but luckily he has trained himself to be able to fool his brother.

"We have lost something." Mycroft drags out and taps the handle of his umbrella in a steady rhythm.

"We?"

"The government has lost something. We need it back." He pronounces each word clearly and with precision. No wonder everyone finds him so irritating. "I was wondering if you have seen it."

"Seen what?" Sherlock questions with a raised eyebrow.

"That I cannot say, you would know if you have seen it but you obviously haven't so good day." The older Holmes rushes as he gets to his feet and charges out of the flat without another word. As soon as he leaves the younger Holmes ruffles his hair - again - and runs his hands down his face as he pants heavily. How can he have a daughter? He can feel himself panicking, the last time he felt like this was when he was stumped by Moriarty all those years ago. He feels clueless.

Mrs Hudson bursts in when she hears Sherlock's heavy panting with a worried expression on her face. "Oh Sherlock what is the matter?" She asks, "Where is Juliet? I don't remember seeing her leave." Sherlock glares at her and does not bother answering. He has got too much on his plate at the moment to even think about talking. "Mr Holmes asked if I had seen a young girl here. I found that a bit suspicious..." She trails.

"What did you tell him?" Sherlock bursts.

"I didn't tell him anything." She smiles, "Sherlock who is she?" Mrs Hudson questions when the curiosity gets the better of her. The consulting detective knows that he can trust his land lady with anything because even if she is a bit of a gossiper (especially with Mrs Turner from next door) she has always proved herself to be trustful. Sherlock remembers when the CIA attacked her because of the Woman's phone but did Mrs Hudson hand over the device? No she did not.

"She is my daughter..." Sherlock mumbles and Mrs Hudson opens her mouth in shock. Before she can reply Sherlock cuts her off. "I cannot really get my head around it either but apparently my brother has been keeping her shut off from the world for the past sixteen years...he cannot know that she is here. She ran away and has been on the streets for the past few days. She needs clothes and food..." He blathers.

"Mrs Turner's niece is about Juliet's age I think, I can see if she has any clothes of hers." Mrs Hudson ponders, "Oh and I will cook her up something nice even though I am not your housekeeper, I think that it is important that she gets a decent meal and I have seen the contents of your fridge dearie. Do you want me to call John and Mary?"

"Whatever for?" Sherlock spits.

"They both work at a doctor's surgery, Juliet should be checked over if she has been living on the streets." He nods at her frankly good point and she scurries off to make the call.

\~.~.~.~.~/

John wanders out of Sherlock's bedroom where he has been examining Juliet with Mary. He has his medical kit in his right hand and a look of seriousness on his face, like this is business not pleasure. "Well?" Sherlock speaks up when he enters the living room. He expects the worse.

"She is seriously underweight Sherlock." John begins in a sad tone, "She needs to be eating proper meals every meal time which will take commitment from your part but it needs to happen." Sherlock nods. "I am also pretty sure that she is on the verge of depression but that should all be mended over time maybe. I am not a specialist in that area. I cannot discuss everything with you because she does not want me to but I think with the right care she should be absolutely fine."

"Why can't you tell me? I'm her..." Sherlock shakes his head and dares say the last word.

"She is over sixteen. She has a right but she is definitely not happy in her borrowed clothes, she says they are too big and too pink." Sherlock chuckles at this under his breath so no one notices. As soon as John drops his medical supplies on the floor it is like he drops his professionalism and he just the blogger again. "Sherlock if you need help we will help you. Mary is in there now and they are getting on like a house on fire." John smiles and Sherlock nods - which the shorter man takes as a nod of gratitude.

The door to Sherlock's bedroom creaks open and the two females walk out slowly into the living room. Mary smiles a sad smile in Sherlock's direction while Juliet just keeps a straight and flops down onto the sofa with the coat wrapped around her. "I gather that you have been educated well." Sherlock breaks the silence and the teenager shrugs her shoulders showing that she in unsure whether she has or not. "One hundred and sixty three times nine?"

"One thousand, four hundred and sixty seven." Juliet replies with only a second of thought time to the Watson's astonishment.

"What is the Haber process?"

"An industrial process for producing ammonia from nitrogen and hydrogen, using an iron catalyst at high temperature and pressure." She reels off and John cannot help but let his mouth hang open.

"How many chromosomes are there in each human cell?"

"Forty six."

"State Hooke's law." Sherlock continues to quiz.

"When an elastic object is stretched, the increased length is called its extension. The extension of an elastic object is directly proportional to the force applied to it." Juliet yawns for the first time in everyone's presence and it shows how fatigued she actually is.

"One last question. How many languages do you speak?" Juliet sighs like she is unimpressed by the question or maybe it is her answer - Sherlock has yet to deduce.

"Only five..."

"Five?!" John exclaims in pure amazement.

"Yes. French, Spanish, German, English and Swedish." She explains before adding, "I was about to go onto Italian and Russian but then I kind of escaped." Silence floods the room but luckily Mrs Hudson soon enters beckoning the girl to come and eat some food that has been prepared for her downstairs. Juliet follows the landlady leaving the three adults alone.

"What is troubling you John?" Sherlock questions, "Do not be vague. I do not have time for that."

"The coat Sherlock." John grunts, "Doesn't it seem familiar to you?"