elementary fusion au

[guarderen]

Mikasa's mother was a Japanese immigrant to London. She came from Japan to be an artist and married Mikasa's dad. Their family was poor, but her parents did their best to shield Mikasa from their poverty.

When she was 9 years old, her family was the victim of a home invasion. Her parents were murdered and, finding nothing else of value in the home, the killers took Mikasa to sell to a child traffiking ring.

Sherlock was not asked to consult on this case, but he happened to be at Scotland Yard when it came in and he heard that there was a child missing, so he volunteered. He's the one who found her and rescued her.

Child protective services take her in, but she keeps running away from every foster family to be with him.

Comments

[cases]

( watson is staring at him in demand for an explanation, he knows. he can feel her gaze boring a hole into him without even glancing at her. but sherlock's mind is occupied with other things at the moment, and he doesn't have the time or consideration to spare for a lengthy story, especially since it's so closely tied with his own addiction and the murky past within the ranks of scotland yard.

he had tried, in the past, to keep an eye on mikasa, even if he never reached out to her. he watched her foster care documents, read her report cards every once in a while. it wasn't his responsibility to take care of her, he knows. but sherlock also knows how awful the foster care system. he knows about every seedy bit of corruption and abuse within the system. he makes sure that mikasa gets sent to decent families. he pulls his strings behind the scenes.

or at least, he used to. up until his addiction had reached such heights as to interfere with his thinking. sherlock never intended to become an addict. he'd only wanted to dull the world a little bit. but in his arrogance, he had assumed that he could handle it. that someone of his intellect would surely never succumb. that he was in control -- until the day came to admit that no, he wasn't.

he had very few wits about him during that time, to remember to check up on a little girl in a foster home. it's been years now, but sherlock hasn't forgotten. even if he didn't know it was her when he'd noticed someone stalking the brownstone. he only knew that the stalker had some modicum of talent.

it's been years since then, but she's still wearing the scarf he gave her on the day she was rescued. )

Your reconnaissance skills have improved since the last time we met.

[guarderen]

[Mikasa just stares at him. She's had years to master the perfect blank expression, one that gives away nothing of what she feels. That was the first thing he'd taught her: how to shield her feelings so that they couldn't be used against her.

She doesn't bother responding to his comment.]

Are you all right?

[The burglar at her feet groans, and she kicks his head hard.]

[cases]

( she's learned well. but that isn't surprising to him. he's always known that mikasa was bright, that she had potential. he doesn't find himself wasting his precious time and effort on incompetent people when he has such little patience for it to begin with. when he looks at her expression, it's nearly a blank slate. it's perfectly calculated. )

Far better than he'll be.

( sherlock nods. almost in approval. detective bell has already been called, of course. )

[guarderen]

[The woman doesn't approve, that much is clear. She's two seconds away from demanding an explanation, but Mikasa doesn't care.

Sherlock's here. He's here, and he's safe, and he's not kicking her out. Nothing matters beyond that.]

I need some rope.

[Nothing matters except keeping him safe.]

[cases]

Allow me.

( sherlock has handcuffs around the brownstone, of course he does. in his line of work, they're often invaluable -- especially for practice in learning how to escape them should he need to. he owns several pairs, one of which he clasps around the burglar's hands. )

Your methods are blunt, and imprecise. But they are effective.

[guarderen]

[That's the important part, isn't it? If she were the type of person to roll her eyes, she would be rolling them right now, but she's too serious for that level of sarcasm. Instead, she just shrugs and heads straight for his kitchen. She can't remember her last decent meal, and she's home now.

Later on, maybe, she'll resent the way he vanished from her life. No word, no warning. After the death of her parents, he had been the only constant in her life right up until he disappeared. She'll wonder why she had to track him down, when he was the world's greatest consulting detective. Whether he had thought about her at all.

Later. For now, the relief of his presence is enough to drown out every unpleasant thought.]

[cases]

( he wonders if it's overly sentimental that he's feeling not an insignificant amount of guilt about the fact that he had neglected to keep in touch with her. it's intriguing. this isn't his legal obligation, he's already set her up with good homes. he should be sending her back to the home she came from. sherlock has helped a great many people over the course of his career and never spoken to the vast majority of them afterwards. he wonders if it's because she's so young. that there's something in his mind that defaults to obligation and responsibility at the moment even when he's certainly not suited for it.

sherlock knows that he isn't quite a nice man. he's aware that he has his moments -- of selfishness, of abrasiveness. he knows that he treads along the gray areas between the law and criminalities sometimes to achieve his ends. he does not nurture with affection. she is wrong to see him as the figure that she does.

he watches her go into the kitchen. she can help herself to whatever, that isn't an issue for him. while she goes, he quietly explains a few things to watson, enough to keep her in the loop. he waits for detective bell to arrive to cart the burglar away, opening the door for him as he does. only after all that does he follow her to the kitchen. )

You've left your foster home. As parents, the two that I had selected for you should have been perfectly fine. And yet, you left. What do you intend to do now?

[guarderen]

[The ones he selected. At this point, she can hardly remember the ones he picked. It was one thing to say I understand that the child I'm taking in has been through severe trauma, another thing entirely to live through it. In the years since Sherlock's been out of her life, she's been in and out of a number of foster homes. None of them understood that she had no capacity left to care. Sherlock was the only person her heart had room for.]

I'm going to stay with you. [Even if it means sleeping on the street by his house.]

[cases]

( here in the brownstone, they don't exactly have a lot as far as meals go. they're no longer cultivating mould in the refrigerator thanks to the efforts of mrs. hudson, but sherlock can never bring himself to care about mundane things like eating and all the self-indulgent claptrap that goes along with the epicurean delights. see: mycroft holmes, exhibit A.

they have takeout from tonight sitting in the fridge. watson refuses to cook, so it's more or less takeout every night. mikasa looks like she hasn't eaten in a while - all the signs are there, she's just chosen to ignore them.

she's a lot like him, in that respect. the takeout goes in the microwave. watson is giving the both of them space, and he's appreciative of that.

he's weighing the options here. he's involved in a dangerous line of work, but mikasa's more than capable of taking care of herself. but on the other hand -- she'd have to go to school. he'd have to facilitate that, and sherlock does not know if he has the time or ability to do so at the moment. not when the scars moriarty left are still fresh, not when he's only just gotten back on his feet from addiction. )

I am not your parent or your guardian, Mikasa. It's important that you understand that. And it has been made abundantly clear to me that this is no place for someone of your age.

( he's being kind of patronizing, true. )

[guarderen]

[I am not your guardian. The words hurt more than she expects them to, even though she's had a few years to get used to the idea. He had saved her once, but it had always been up to her to save herself afterwards.]

I can take care of myself. [Who's the one who saved you from the man breaking into the brownstone, after all?]

[cases]

That much is evident. Obviously.

( and he can already tell what watson's going to tell him. she's a teenaged girl, she needs structure. teenagers need structure and support and a bunch of other things that sherlock didn't necessarily receive growing up either -- and look how he turned out. perfectly alright, thank you very much.

ah, so. what's he supposed to do when logic tells him one thing, but his emotions tell him another? sherlock isn't a man who is terribly prone to emotion, but he's been known to go with his gut instincts from time to time. sometimes to disastrous results. )

You should stay here. Until we find a suitable foster family for you. And I promise you, we will find the right one this time.

[guarderen]

[I don’t want another foster family. She doesn't have to say the words out loud; Sherlock has to know she doesn't want another family. He's her family. He's the only one who understands her. He's the only one who can make her feel safe, just by being there.]

Thank you.

[Not for the foster family, but for letting her stay here.]