The Doctor's Daughter | Wholock {1}

Chapter 28: Blur

                  

"The Doctor just stuck his nose where it didn't belong," Brook said. If ever a single sentence could sum up Kimmy's travels with the Doctor, that was probably it. "Mary, on the other hand—if she and her unborn daughter die on your watch, John will never forgive you."

"It doesn't matter anymore, Brook," Kimmy snapped. "We're here. We finished this damn game of yours in time. Now let them go."

"Who said anything about letting them go?" Brook asked with obviously fake puzzlement. "I said you had forty-eight hours to find them, not save them."

Kimmy looked at the Doctor, hoping he would have some sort of a plan. Or, at least, part of a plan. For someone who had spent most of his life time traveling, it seemed that he spent most of his time just winging it. There had been plenty of times that she'd worried for their safety or the safety of whatever planet they were on, but never had she been truly afraid. When she saw the look in the Doctor's eyes—a look that was caught somewhere between reassurance and an apology—she felt genuine fear.

From the inside pocket of his coat, Brook drew a handgun and pointed it at the Doctor's head, saying, "Sorry, dears, but you're out of time."

The events that unfolded next ran through Kimmy's mind in an adrenaline-filled blur. Before Brook could pull the trigger, Mary stood up—much quicker than Kimmy would have thought possible, given the fact that Mary was so big—and spun, hitting Brook in the back with the legs of her chair, knocking him off-balance. The Doctor kicked the ground, flipping his chair back so he was facing the ceiling, and kicked Brook in the wrist, making him drop the gun.

Sherlock sprang into action and dove for the gun, but Brook quickly recovered and dove for it at the same time. The two collided and Sherlock's elbow hit the gun, knocking it across the floor. Brook, yelling in anger, slammed his fist into Sherlock's face. Kimmy could hear the sickening crunch of the detective's nose breaking from halfway across the room.

The sound brought Kimmy back to reality. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a vase sitting on a table and snatched it up. She ran to Sherlock's aid and brought the vase down on Brook's head before he could punch Sherlock's again. The fragile vase shattered, cutting Kimmy's hands and leaving a gash on the back of Brook's head.

The pain flaring in Kimmy's hands distracted her for a split second too long. Brook shakily sprung to his feet and backhanded her across the face. The blow knocked her off-balance and made her stagger into a table, knocking books and a framed picture to the ground. Brook grabbed a handful of her hair and threw her to the ground. She instinctively held her hands in front of her to stop her fall, and couldn't stop herself form crying out when her hands came into contact with the floor.

A loud bang filled the air, making Kimmy jump. At the same time, Brook cried out in pain. Kimmy looked up to see Mary, who had somehow managed to free one of her hands, was holding Brook's discarded handgun with her free hand. Kimmy looked over her shoulder and saw Brook leaning against a wall, clutching his shoulder with one hand. Blood was pouring form between his fingers and staining the sleeve of his jacket. Having grown up aground Sherlock and his experiments, she was used to such sights and wasn't sickened by it as most her age might have been.

Sherlock had gotten to his feet and picked up what was left of the roll of duct tape Brook had used to cover the Doctor's and Mary's mouths. Sherlock roughly grabbed Brook by his injured arm and yanked it behind his back before taping his wrists together. "Kimmy, help them," Sherlock ordered as he did, nodding at the Doctor and Mary.

Kimmy nodded as she stood and ran to the Doctor's side. Mary had already ripped the tape off of her mouth and was working on untying her other hand. "Sorry about this," Kimmy mumbled as she yanked the tape off of the Doctor's mouth.

"Are you okay?" he demanded as soon as he could speak.

"Nothing I won't recover from," she answered as she started untying his hands. "You?"

"Fine," he reassured her.

"Mary?" Kimmy asked, looking over at her mother.

"I'm okay," she answered, nodding.

"Good," Sherlock said. Kimmy looked back at him and saw that he'd finished taping Brook's hands behind his back and had taped his mouth shut. Sherlock's nose had stopped bleeding, but was swollen and a bruise was forming around his eye. He held his phone up to his ear, evidently waiting for someone to answer. "Mycroft," he finally said, "there has been a development in the Moriarty case. I need to you send people who can be trusted with what I'm about to tell you."

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So much for finishing the book before classes started. But here's an update, even if it's late.