I Can't Stand You, Sherlock

Chapter 5: A Pound For a Life (Part 2)

I woke up with the sun pouring into my room. I rolled over and tried to go back to sleep again. Last night was crazy. We didn't get home till late because Sherlock insisted in going to get a drink with me but it was awkward. We just sat there in silence as we both drank. It was like he was trying to make amends in a weird sort of Sherlock way. I didn't like it. If he wasn't going to be direct with me like I knew he was with everyone else, I wasn't going to be direct with him. When we finally got home it had to be close to one.

After about laying in bed for about another 30 minutes I realized that I wasn't going to go back to sleep so I rolled out of bed and walked over to my desk where my paper was laying the a pencil next to it. I didn't get anymore facts since the hospital and I wasn't sure where to turn next.

I walked out of my room and into the main living room to see books lying all over the floor.

"What the hell happened here?" I asked as I saw Sherlock lying on the couch with a book in his hands. I was sure a little hung over, but he, didn't seem to be effected by the drinks from the past night.

"Did you know why he didn't talk much about his family?" Sherlock asked me, not taking his eyes off his book.

"No, didn't ask." I said and shook my head as I looked at one of the books on the ground. It was about fake identities and how to make them. If he wanted to know how to make them he should have asked me, oh wait, I wouldn't have told him anyhow. How did he even get a book about that? "Did you even sleep last night?"

"I am on the verge of something Rori. He didn't talk about his family because he had a different Identity. He isn't Cedric." He said and shot up with a grin on his face. He jumped off the couch and ran over to the computer where a young boy with a cute smile was on the screen. "Luke Welfore, this is the man, this is who died. The facts match up, the age, where he's from, everything. His other identity is almost perfect but not."

I was shocked that he found that. How did he find that?

"Why you ask would he have a fake Identity, why do you have one?" he continued, as if reading my mind.

I looked at him with a frown and I'm sure I had a dumbfounded look on my face as well. No one knew that I had a fake identity, mine was flawless. I should know, I made it. How did he know if everyone else thought that Maire Brennan was dead? On the records it says she was dead. I killed her myself and out of the ashes rose Rori Anderson.

Before I could respond sharply, he said, "Because he's running from something. How hard is it to make an identity?"

I didn't say anything back to him. I was mad at him about knowing that I wasn't who I said I was. I was furious that he was accusing that I was running from something. The nerve he had. How easy was I to read to him? Almost no one knew these things but in a matter of a few days he had already uncovered one of my secrets. If he knew how many other people knew? Would he tell anyone? It didn't matter if what he was saying was true or not, I was about to slap the smug look on his face. I had to make it known that I had boundaries and he couldn't dig up my past without some kind of payment. I could feel my face turning red at him.

"I'm sure it's hard and expensive. He grew up in a poor part of London. He worked hard but what if he didn't work hard enough. What if he had help? What If he had help from the wrong places? he would want to get away from that fast. What if he didn't pay back all of it?"

I knew he was talking about Cedric but a part of me felt like he was still attacking me. "Oi, shut it." I spat out, letting my Irish accent show and then turned back into my room, slamming my door behind me. I couldn't believe that he figured out part of my past in a matter of a day. This was a sign to me that living with him was never going to work. By time the three year were going to be over he would know all of my secrets.

If he found out about the fake identity so fast what else did he know about me? This was normally the point when I would run but I couldn't. I was stuck here, with him, the man that could read my every move.

My life had been full of running and I was fine with that. I always stayed out of the way and in the shadows. The world didn't need to know of Maire or even Rori for that matter. That's why I was so good at what I did, no one noticed me.

After a while of thinking about what I could say to him I just gave up. If he was going to spill my secrets, he was going to spill. There was nothing I could say to make him stop, I knew that. Once these three years were up I would just have to reinvent myself again. Not lingering on the subject any longer, I started to think about what he said about Cedric.

I went to my list again and looked over it.

· New name, Luke Welfore. Had fake identity.

After I added that to my list I put it into my pocket and walked out of my room, realizing that I was really hungry and needed to eat. I walked into the kitchen and looked into the fridge and saw that he had nothing to eat except some molding cheese and some wine.

"There's some money on the table, get some food." Sherlock said me not even looking up from his book he was reading on the couch.

Without a word to him I took the money and walked out. I knew where the closest Tesco was but all that was on my mind was Luke Welfore, I knew where he grew up at. I had lived there myself before. If I could just get some solid proof of my own, I could nail how he was killed. If I beat Sherlock at his own game, that would shut him up. But first I needed to talk to his family. I got on the baker street Tube and went down to the closest tube drop off from where he lived.

I got off the Tube and before long I was on a street with plastered white houses. It was a simple street as I looked around at the children playing with a beat up football. I continued to walked down the road but then stopped when I realized that I didn't know what house he lived in. I smiled to myself and shrugged, what's the fun in following the rules. I walked up to the closest house and looked into the trash quickly. I picked up a couple envelopes and saw them address to people that I wasn't looking for. The next house I walked up to I knocked on the door. The intercom went on and said, "hello?"

"Oh yes, I'm looking for the Welfore's do you know where they live?"

"Oh um, they um, they..." and with that the intercom turned off.

Found them. That was easier then I thought it would be. I smiled again knowing that they were probably making a run for it. They were making this fun for me. I got on my knees and took out a couple bobby pins from my hair and unlocked the door.

"I'm coming in now." I said before I walked into the house slowly. When I walked in I saw an older women with a gun in her hands. "I'm not going to hurt you." I said calmly as I put my hands over my head to show peace.

"Why do you want me?" she said and c****d the small gun.

"I just want to talk." I took a step forward but stopped when she pointed the gun back at me.

"Stay right there." She demanded

I nodded at her. She was prepared for something like this to happen. It made me wonder what her family was really doing. "Ok, that's fine. Are you the mother of Luke Welfore?" I asked calmly to her.

"Who's asking?"

Before I knew what I was doing I said, "The police, Miss Welfore, I am so sorry, but your son has died." As soon as she said that she dropped the gun and started to sob.

"I knew this would happen. I told him to go as far from this place as possible."

"Can I ask you some questions?" I said politely to her as I walked up to her. She looked at me again but in a different light. I saw in her eyes understanding instead of fear. She nodded and then did something I was not expecting, she reached over to me and hugged me as she cried into my shoulder.

It took all my mental power not to push her off of me. instead I just stiffened my body hopping that she would catch the hint that this was uncomfortable. Instead she stayed where she was, like she didn't even notice what I was doing.

This was outside of my comfort zone, I never let anyone hug me and I never hugged anyone back. My mum started that when I was just little. She was not the most affectionate towards me or anyone so I never learned myself. I knew this wasn't normal but I couldn't break the habit. Because I never learned how to act in situations like this, I didn't know how to handle it.

After what felt like forever but I think was only a minute, I pushed her off my shoulder gently and gave her the best sympathetic pat I could muster. "I could come back another day." I said gently as I took a step back from her. It would be better not only for me if I left but it would be for her as well. I was not the best person to help with emotional moments. It was only time until I said the wrong thing to her or over reacted.

"No, stay, please, I'll answer your questions." She said as tears still fell down her face.

I held back a sigh. Why did every one want me to say for this kind of stuff? Could she see that I was uncomfortable?

"Here, come in." she said and walked into the family room and took a seat. Right away I could tell that her family meant the world to her. There where family photographs all over the wall. I could tell that she had 3 kids, two boys, one girl, and they had lived in the same house for at least 25 years. All kids were out of the house because she only had young old photos of them and her husband, dead. There were photographs of him to but yet she didn't call him when I told her the news. She was poor as well, with the couch and chairs, worn out, probably got them when her kids were little.

"How did he die?" she barely spoke.

I sighed, knowing that when I told her this a fresh wave a tears would come. "He died at work, a head wound." I said stiffly as I watched her face as tears started falling again. "I'm sorry." With as much sympathy as I could muster. I couldn't believe I was doing this, comforting a woman that I didn't even know about her son that I never met. This was not me.

"He was such a good kid." She sobbed.

"Do you know who would do this to him?"

For a minute she just sat there and cried but then she spoke up, "he wasn't always a good kid. When he was young he was in a gang. But I don't know why they would hurt him. He got out of the stuff when he was 17. He knew he was better then them."

"Hu..." I said as I thought about it. Before I made any more guesses about Cedric or Luke I needed to find out more. What was the gang and from there I would tack them down and ask them questions about him. I knew the gangs where really dangerous but I felt like I had enough street smarts to outsmart them if I would question them. "Do you know what the gang was called?"

"The black birds or somewhat like that. They came around the other day asking for him. That's when I called him and told him to leave. They aren't good people." she sniffled.

I knew I got all I could get out of her at this moment I and knew that I wouldn't be able to stand her crying much longer so with that I got up and said, "thanks for your time." Without her even replying, I left out the front door.

I took the tube the Jubilee line and ended up once again back on Baker Street. It seemed like as much as I wanted to get away from Baker Street, I couldn't escape it. "You got to be kidding me." I said and sighed loudly as I remembered that Sherlock was expecting me with food. He would know if something was up if I didn't come back with anything but I didn't feel like going to the store now. I had too much drama for one day and I just wanted to lock myself into my room and stay there.

Against my wishes I knew that I should just tough it out and go so with heavy steps I walked down the road to Tesco where I got some more cheese, bread, lunch meat and some junk food. With what I got I hoped that it would last us a week. While I was getting checked out the casher was checking me out. He was trying to be discreet about it but he kept staring at me.

"Are you new to around here?" he said and smiled as widely at me. I just wanted to leave. This was just the cherry to the ice cream. The random casher was the last person next to Sherlock that I wanted to talk to at this moment. Why couldn't he just do his job without saying anything?

I rolled my eyes at him as I gave him the 50 pound note in my back pocket. "Yeah."

"Well Baker street is nice. Close to the Jubilee line, it's convenient. I know it is for me any way. I've lived here my whole life though, don't know any different." He babbled on as he gave my change. He must be dunce because I was making it oblivious that I didn't want to talk to him. "Have a nice day." he said kindly and gave me my bags.

"Thanks." I said bluntly at him and walked out.

I walked down the street as fast as I could back to 221 Baker Street.

When I got up to the flat I saw that he was still on the couch looking at another book.

"You saw Luke Welfore's mother. I suppose you're wondering how I know that. There is a small wet spot on your shoulder that hasn't dried yet. I figure you went to see the mother and you told her that her son died. As much as you want to say you have no people skills, I know you do, you have a lot of them and you couldn't just let his mother not know the truth about her son. You were the first to go to her and she was distraught, she cried on your shoulder and you also have a faint smell of smoke on you. She grew up in a hard part of town so she spent money of cigarettes instead of working on getting out of where she was. " He said not even looking up at me.

"Actually no." Sometimes people couldn't get out of the place they were in because of other situations. He was so arrogant. "You are wrong." I said bluntly as I pulled my shoes off by the door and went to put the food where it needed to go in the kitchen.

"Well what did you find out?"

"I found out that I can't stand people." I stated hoping that he would catch the hint that I didn't want to talk to him.

"He was in a gang wasn't he?" he said.

"Yeah." I said not even bothering to ask him how he knew that. I didn't want to know really, I didn't care.

"It's called the black falcons." He stated as if it was a fact.

That sounded more like a gang name then that black birds. It was really sad that his own mother didn't know the name of the gang he was in and Sherlock who never met the man knew what gang he was in. I did have to admit, it was pretty amazing.

"And you didn't talk to them."

"No." I said flatly.

"Well get your shoes back on, we're going to meet up with them." he said and jumped to his feet.

"You are, not me." I said as I started walking into my room. I was still mad about earlier today and how he just mentioned my cover ID like it was no big deal. It bothered me that he had to know everything. I couldn't stand it.

"My brother." he stated.

"What?" I said as I turned to face him.

"My brother, he gave me a file about you before you came."

"So the government knows I'm fake!?" I shouted at him. It took me forever to make it it also cost me half of my saving's but I thought it was worth it, to start new, to stop running just for a little while. If the government knew that it was fake why wasn't I locked back in prison or who else knew about it?

"No but your file, it didn't match up. From that I inferred that your file was made, fake. No one else knows. Im not planning on telling anyone anyhow." He said and shrugged as if it was nothing.

I couldn't' help but breathe a sigh of relief when he said this. Like a huge weight had been taken off my chest. This whole day that had been in my mind, popping up a random times as much as I tried to think about other things. I worked better when I had nothing on my mind, I did less stupid things.

"So are you going to come? Or will I have to do this on my own?" he said as he put on a coat and flipped up his collar for whatever reason. If he thought it made him look cool, he was wrong.

I couldn't believe I was about to do this but I couldn't leave just him to deal with a gang. He needed back up of some kind even if it was just me. "I'll come." I sighed and pulled my shoes back on.