Posted by Bowen Cates on 3/10/2008, 12:24 pm, in reply to "Chapter seventeen part one"
24.207.121.197
“Ya, about that smile…well, I do like Holmes, I like him a lot, but I’ve had people who think we’re dating, - probably cause we spend so much time together on cases - come up to me and tell me how disgusting they think it is, even when he’s standing right next to me.
“Some people think it’s gross because he’s been dead…but two out of every three people say that I shouldn’t be around him because it’s no different from a ninety year old geezer running around after younger women.”
Theodore found himself feeling distinctly sobered, finally he coughed out a “what do you think?” he was almost afraid to hear the answer.
“Come on Theo!” she laughed, “If you ask me, Holmes was always ninety, even in his first life when he was twenty he thought like a ninety year old. He didn’t change much as the years went by. Sure, he got more experienced and stuff like that, but his personality and way of thinking have always been the same.
“And now he’s back in a young body, well, he hasn’t changed much because of that either, haven’t you noticed that his young self with his young brain and his modern self, they think and say the same things? They like the same jokes? They share the same ideas and theories? There is not, and never was, any difference, just the century they’re in.”
“You know, I think you’re right” Theodore was laughing himself now; he would never have thought her capable of such insight.
“Thanks” she was suddenly a great deal different, all her stern macho-ness was gone and her eyes sparkled with amusement. “I know why you’re mad at me, I know it feels like I’m betraying the way Holmes is supposed to be - has always been, and I know that it feels like he’s going back on his word.
“And hey, it was just one zedding smile! He’ll probably never act on it, and until he does, if ever, I won’t, ‘cause I would prefer to have his friendship then nothing at all, I don’t want to make him feel awkward or guilty, like he gave me the wrong idea or something.
“And as far as the change, it’s good that he can change, you know intelligence is actually measured by a person’s ability to adjust to new environments?”
“Really?”
“Yup, and you know Holmes would never replace Watson with me or anyone else, they’ve been friends for two lives and they’re gunna stay that way.
“Besides, it shouldn’t matter what we think about how Holmes should feel, as long as what he does feel makes him happy, it’s not our place to judge him like that.”
They were both silent for a moment, Lestrade, because she wanted to see Theodore’s reaction, and Theodore because he was trying to think of what that reaction should be.
“I…I have two questions” he decided “then I’ll tell you what I think, okay?”
“Sounds good.”
“Alright; one: isn’t Holmes happy now? I mean, he has Watson after all.”
“That’s a really hard one, you know, I think he’s happy most of the time, but the transition to this century has been really hard for him, even if he doesn’t show it.” she sighed “I wonder sometimes if it would be easier for him if he had his violin.”
“I think it would,” Theodore agreed, thinking back to early that morning, and the way Holmes’ eyes had looked as he talked about his beloved Stradivarius.
“Ya, it’s like it’s in his soul, it’s…strangling him, not to be able to play his music, you know?”
As of that moment a plan began to hatch in Theodore’s mind, a really, really, good plan, oh, he grinned, why hadn’t he thought of this before? It was so obvious, so perfect!
“Hey, what’s the grin for?”
He didn’t want to tell her, not yet, he wanted this to be his plan and his plan alone, a way of repaying 1800 Holmes and his counterpart for all they had done…and all it would take was one request…yes, he would keep it to himself.
“Uh…can I ask you the second question now?” he remembered, trying to change the subject
Lestrade looked a bit suspicious at Theodore’s evident aversion to telling her what he had been thinking about, but nodded.
“Okay, shoot.”
“Why is your hair like that? I mean, I never saw anyone who had it like that naturally and you don’t seem like the kind of person that uses dye, it’s really pretty and all, but I just wondered.”
Lestrade smiled, and barked out a hearty laugh.
“You’re right kid, I hate dye. When I was fourteen I decided I wanted to try to do some chemistry like Holmes, you know, I wanted to be like him, I’m sure you know what that’s like…
“Well, I was working on this preparation using bleach, which of course, my parents didn’t know about, and my mom came into the room without knocking to get my dirty laundry.
“She surprised me and I turned around to try to explain what I was doing, when I bumped a test tube - I had a big chemistry set from my birthday the year before - and the whole thing went flying. It got dumped all over my head. It took ages for the worse of it to grow out but this glob got down to the roots and bleached them so my hair started growing out lighter in that one spot.”
He giggled.
“Hey, it wasn’t as bad as it could’ve been, that was a time when all the girls were streaking their hair, I didn’t really suffer for it until a year later when the fashion changed, then I got made fun of for it. Everyone thought I just liked the streak, it never occurred to them that I couldn’t get rid of it.”
Images of his face covered in purple marker - a result of his run-ins with Adam and his bully friends - flashed across Theodore’s mind. “You could have just kept dying it to match your hair,” he suggested with understanding.
“Na, I told you I hate dye.” she reminded him, flipping her hair about a bit for effect. “And I’d have to keep it up, too much work. Any more questions, or are you satisfied?”
“Ya, I’m satisfied, by the way, that was a really nice lecture thing you did earlier, I could never have done that.”
“Kid, when you’ve spent a few years in the force, I guarantee you, you’ll be able to do it just as well…but you haven’t told me what you think yet.”
“Huh?”
Lestrade sighed impatiently.
“You were gunna tell me what you think about Holmes and me.”
“Oh ya” he thought for a moment “I think…I think that you remind me of Hatty Doran.”
“What’s that got to do with anything?” she asked, puzzled.
“Well, you know when Lord St. Simon talks about Hatty? And he says that long speech about her…you know...” He took a deep breath “She is what we call in England a tomboy, with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of traditions. She is impetuous—volcanic; she is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the name which I have the honor to bear had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that anything dishonorable would be repugnant to her.”
“Wow, big speech, I’m impressed, but what’s the point?”
“Well, you’re like that too, I don’t think that you would do anything that you didn’t think was right, and you seem like the kind of person who does the best they can in life even when it’s hard. You’re a bit pig headed sometimes and you don’t listen to people, but I think we’re all like that.” He shrugged his shoulders in a tired way “me too…you’re not as bad as I thought you were.”
Lestrade smiled “I’m glad you think so.”
Theodore returned the expression as she glanced down at her wrist communicator.
“Well, we better go, we’ve got a mad scientist to arrest and another, slightly saner one to meet with after.” she rose from the pavement and began to stretch.
“Hargreaves is the one who helped you bring Holmes back to life?”
“Well, he did all the work, I just brought the corpse, that was handed down along with the manuscripts, kind of a weird thought, but true non the less”
“Was he really in honey or was Watson just joking?”
“Oh, he was in honey alright, wasn’t his fault, some messed up scientist wanna-be with a matching sense of humor, looking for a bit of fame.”
“What do you mean?” he asked, scratching his head, all this talk about hair had made him itchy.
“Zed Theo! He was a bee keeper for god’s sake, some people found that funny, you know, the world’s greatest detective turned bee keeper?”
He chuckled “well, it is kind of funny that someone as logical as Sherlock Holmes would spend the rest of his life making honey.”
“Ya well” she said, starting towards the cruiser with Theodore following in her wake “not nearly as funny as him being preserved in it.”
“I’d have to agree with you there,” Theodore laughed as Lestrade climbed in.
“Hop in Theo” she told him, shutting her door “you, of all people, should be conscious of the time.”
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