athena ➢ sherlock's daughter

Christmas Special, Part 2/3

Riley got to her house ten minutes later, holding two Starbucks cups, one in either hand. Athena opened the door for him and smiled a little bit at the goofy smile on his face. His cheeks and nose were bright red, and he was wrapped up in a black peacoat and plaid scarf. His light brown hair was disheveled and still had snowflakes sprinkled throughout it. "I know that I took a bit, but I come bearing gifts."

"In that case, you're forgiven. Come with me, I have some things to explain," she said, moving to the side so that he could shuffle through the door. She pushed the door closed quietly behind him and turned to follow after him to her room.

∞

"Joseph's missing?" Riley asked, sitting criss-cross-apple-sauce on her bed.

"Yeah. All the glass is gone- excepts this." With a glint in her eye, she pulled the shard of glass from its place nestled in her lap and handed it to him. "The edges are covered in graphite."

"Graphite? What'd they use- pencils?"

She smacked his arm lightly. "No. I don't know what was used...yet."

"Yet?"

"This is where we begin our search, dear Riley. Square one: graphite."

He nodded and grabbed her laptop, typing in some things before turning it to her. "There's a graphite mine fifteen minutes outside the city. That's a start."

Athena hummed quietly in concentration, her thoughts flying a thousand miles a minute. "I suppose..."

She sent a quick text to Sherlock, stuffed her laptop in her bag, grabbed her Starbucks, and dashed out the door with Riley.

∞

Meanwhile...

Joseph smiled up at the man before him, holding onto his gun tightly. "I can assure you, sir, he won't make it past this week."

"No, don't kill him. I want to do that."

He nodded. "Yes, sir. Of cour-"

"But, I do want you to kill the girl. She's brought me way too much trouble. Her insubordination cost me a relationship with her and two of my best men, and I don't really appreciate that."

Joseph's eyes grew wide. "But, sir, she's-"

"The love of your life. Blah, blah, blah. You'd never hurt her. Blah, blah, blah. Love is dead!"

"I can't kill her."

"You can and you will." The man gave a wicked grin. "Or I'll kill your family."

He weighed what to do in his mind, tears forming just the smallest bit. Then, coming to a decision, he sighed. "Whatever you say, sir."

∞

Riley and Athena hopped out of their cab mere feet from the old graphite mine. It was abandoned a long time ago, which gave it a slightly eerie aura. An old warehouse sat at the front, while the mine was a mile or two behind it.

Athena gave a silent nod to Riley, showing him her gun, which was stuffed in the waistband of her jeans. Well, it was John's but he had three and this one was his least favorite.

Riley flashed his- it was Sherlock's second gun. They wouldn't notice the missing guns unless they were looking for them.

Together, they went to the building and moved along the wall to the back. "We can't use the front door," Athena whispered as quietly as possible.

"There's no other entrance," Riley countered.

She smirked at him and looked right above them... at a window. "You just gotta hoist me up because...well..." She motioned at their apparent height difference.

He nodded and they began the easy process of getting Athena through the window. Riley jumped and used his upper body strength to get himself through the window. [A/N: Anyone else got a thing for arm muscles? Because I love arm muscles. So much. So damn much.] They each landed with a soft thud onto the floor of the warehouse.

It only took Athena a few minutes to glance around the room before noticing a scared and tattered Joseph. Relief washed over her entirely. Joseph saw her and brightened immediately before sliding back into panic. As she launched herself into his arms, he frowned.

"What are you doing here, princesa?"

"I had to find you," she muttered, her face buried into his chest.

"It's too dangerous. I'd never be able to live with myself if you got hurt," he said.

Riley, who suddenly became very hot and flustered, was searching for an exit. "The door's locked," he called.

Then he began to ponder. "Why didn't you just climb out the window?"

Joseph visibly froze for a small second, but that didn't go unnoticed by Athena. She took a step away from him for a moment and analyzed his features.

"I was tortured. I couldn't support my body, no matter how much I wanted to," he breathed, voice shaking with emotion. The young girl seemed to buy it, which made Joseph relax a bit.

Riley, on the other hand, did not. He crossed his arms and faked an understanding smile. "Dude, it's close in here. Let's just push some of these crates up to the window and get the fuck out before you get hypothermia or something."

Joseph nodded wordlessly while Athena's eyes widened. In an instant, she was fawning over him in worry. Was he okay? Did he get sick? How long had he been here? She could diagnose him if he gave her enough information.

Riley clamped his mouth shut and let Athena do what she wanted, pushing the crates to the window. Whatever. They were just friends. That's all they would ever be.

∞

Hello!

First off, I know that Christmas Eve is tomorrow, so Part 3 is all fluff. I swear I'll have it up by either tomorrow or Christmas.

Also, I have a friend the_new_adel_waters who is writing a story called 'Forget Me Not Blue'

Usually I don't advertise friend's material, but I convinced her to upload it, so checking that out would mean the world.

Also, I have the rest of Athena planned out, including the SEQUEL, which will be called Holmes. It's not for a good while, but just a heads up, there will be TWO official books, then a book of one shots, where you guys can request plot lines, quirks, ask the characters questions, et cetera. But that will be AFTER the sequel.