For Joan

[theodorelasso]

Continued from here.

(warnings: sexytimes. also, panic attacks, brutal violence, attempted murder, discussion of suicide and actual murder... )

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[theodorelasso]

Ted continues to have strange, anxious dreams, that aren't quite enough to wake him up, but enough to make him gently frown and stir in his sleep.

He is however still fast asleep when the doorbell rings in the morning.

[formersurgeon]

The doorbell wakes Joan up, and she pushes herself up to sitting, rubbing her eyes.

"Is someone at the door?" she says, her voice still blurred by sleep.

"It would seem," Sherlock says, rising. He looks at Watson. "Awake?"

She groans a little. "I think."

"Excellent." He leaves her and goes to answer the door.

[theodorelasso]

At the door stands a middle aged man wearing a grey suit and carrying a briefcase, and who smiles politely when Sherlock opens the door.

"Mr. Holmes," he greets. It's not a question. "My name is Harry Wilson, I'm a lawyer. My former company used to represent Rupert Mannion, and I have some information you might be interested in."

His accent is American, and he's recently arrived in the country. He also seems very pleased to be there, beyond mere politeness.

[formersurgeon]

Well this is unexpected.

Sherlock narrows his eyes, taking in their visitor for an uncomfortably long moment.

"Interesting," he says finally, and stands aside. "Please, come in and have a seat." He gestures toward the living room.

[theodorelasso]

Harry seems mildly confused and curious about the very lengthy scrutiny, but also not entirely surprised by it.

"Thank you," he answers with a smile and heads inside. He notes the empty living room, and the open door to the bedroom. He assumes that's where Mr Lasso and Ms Watson are. He sits down in a chair and puts the briefcase on the table and opens it, getting straight to the point.

"These have already been delivered to the police, but I assumed you would like to see them as well, given your personal stakes," he says, sorting through some papers.

"We don't have much on the incident with the car, but we do have some rather compelling reading regarding the plane," he continues.

He starts putting down papers on the table, briefly summarising each one. There's memos, in-house emails, further financial information, documentation of how Rupert had no intention of going on that trip - none of it is conclusive evidence, which is exactly why he hasn't come forward with it earlier.

But all together it does paint a pretty obvious picture, and it also provides fresh leads to follow up on, potentially to some real proof. But even without that, it makes a much stronger case than what the police had before.

[formersurgeon]

Sherlock continues his observation of the man, noting the glance toward the bedroom door that suggests their visitor is aware that Sherlock is not alone in the apartment. Considering the clear fact that Mr. Wilson knew exactly who Sherlock was, it raises some questions. He sits across from Mr. Wilson and surveys the documentation as it is presented. Many of the vague aspects of Sherlock's investigation into the plane crash are brought into sharp focus by what Mr. Wilson is presenting. Sherlock had been expecting that their best chance of making sure Rupert went away for a long, long time was to nail him on his attempts to kill Ted. But with this information, they might have had Rupert dead to rights without putting Ted and Joan in harm's way.

"Mr. Wilson," he says after the last document is laid out. "Who do you work for, and how do you know where we are staying?"

In the bedroom, Joan can hear what's being said, and it's clear this is something they likely both want to be present for. She gently shakes Ted to wake him.

[theodorelasso]

Ted blinks awake groggily. "What? You okay?" he asks, bleary-eyed. Then he hears an unfamiliar voice in the living room, and he starts waking up a lot quicker.

"Oh, thieves," Harry answers immediately, and with a smile. Obviously this is not something he would normally disclose, especially so frankly, but he's been told there is extremely little reason to lie to Mr Holmes. He's likely to find out the truth eventually, and that will just make him trust them less.

"After Mannion's arrest, my team looked into you guys," he explains. "Rest assured though, these papers are legit, and were sent to the police directly from the firm - though perhaps as much to their surprise as the police's - so there shouldn't be any doubt as to their credibility."

"Mostly I'm here because I wanted to thank you for giving us an opportunity to help take Mannion down," he adds. And he very genuinely means that. He almost looks a tiny bit giddy, though he's obviously trying to control himself, because the circumstances could've been better.

[formersurgeon]

"I don't know who that is," Joan whispers, looking around for her clothes. "But they're talking about Rupert."

In the living room, Sherlock tilts his head and furrows his brow at the man's answers to his questions. Both of them are frankly unsettling.

"You work for thieves who have been investigating and monitoring us," he surmises, tapping his middle finger against his thumb as he wraps his brain around the situation. "And who have secured this information from your firm and without the firm's knowledge. I would ask if you are a member of Everyone, but I doubt Everyone would send an American to London on short notice. You clearly have some personal connection to the case apart from or in addition to your affiliation with this company. What is it?"

[theodorelasso]

Ted gets up, rubbing sleep from his eyes, and goes to help Joan with her clothes. While also trying to listen for what's going on.

At the description of 'investigating and monitoring', Harry gestures a wobbly hand, meaning he doesn't necessarily agree with the way that's being framed, but also doesn't outright disagree with it.

He doesn't actually really know who Everyone is - though he thinks maybe Hardison has mentioned them? Something hacker related, then?

At the question he does get a bit more sober and sincere. "Not exactly. I personally never worked for Mannion. But I did work for a lot of people like him," he explains. He does not look remotely proud of that fact. "I guess I'm just looking for redemption. One greedy rich bastard at a time." He looks both genuine and a little bit sad at that. Like he's still doubting if it'll ever be enough.

[formersurgeon]

Joan dresses as quickly as she can while also trying to listen to as much of what is going on as possible.

Sherlock's own expression softens a little at that. He believes Mr. Wilson. What's more, he can sympathize with him.

"As the son of a greedy rich bastard," he says, "I commend your objective. I'm afraid redemption may be elusive, however. The world is unfortunately populated with far too many of the sort."

[theodorelasso]

"Don't I know it," Harry agrees. "Anyway, I just wanted to deliver these, and..." He reaches into a pocket and pulls out a business card that reads Leverage Consulting & Associates, placing it on the table as well. "If you need help with something a little bit outside the scope of the law."

He knows Holmes himself sometimes nudges at those boundaries. They're pretty selective about the jobs they take, but offering up some assistance here and there should be doable.

[formersurgeon]

Sherlock picks up the business card and nods. "As I am sure you are aware, my partner and I often operate a little bit outside the scope of the law. If I may I would like to offer our services as well, in gratitude for this information. It is greatly appreciated." He nods toward the bedroom door. "If you can stay for a moment, I'm certain Miss Watson and Mr. Lasso would like to offer their thanks as well."

[theodorelasso]

"Of course," Harry answers. He's glad they could also establish this connection. "We're happy to help. And Parker was really excited about getting a London trip," he mentions off-handedly. It does not necessarily occur to him that 'Parker' is a rather legendary name in certain circles, of one of the best thieves in the business.

Meanwhile Ted is helping Joan into the wheelchair so they can go join them.

[formersurgeon]

Sherlock's eyebrows rise slightly. He is familiar with the name, having heard it on the lips of other thieves he's encountered, usually with some degree of awe. Interesting.

Joan is able to move into the wheelchair fairly well. She's tempted to say they should just walk into the living room, but she knows that would be pushing it.

[theodorelasso]

Once Ted and Joan make their way into the living room, Harry gets to his feet with a smile.

"Ms Watson, Mr Lasso, good to meet you," he greets politely. "My name's Harry Wilson. I assume you heard at least some of that?"

[formersurgeon]

"It's nice to meet you," Joan responds with a smile as she does much the same evaluation Sherlock did, only less conspicuously. "I heard you have information on Rupert?"

[theodorelasso]

Ted nods and smiles, though he intends to do more listening than talking for this part. And not just because he just woke up - he has very little he wants to say about Rupert.

"Yes, indeed," Harry answers, gesturing to the table. "I informed Mr. Holmes here about everything. I used to work for a company that represented him back in the day, so I've given the police everything related to the plane crash, and it should go a long way in getting him convicted."

[formersurgeon]

"I see," she says, looking at the documents spread over the table. She glances up at Ted. "Can you help me onto the couch?" she asks quietly. Then she looks back at Harry. "Can we get you something to drink? Maybe some tea?"

[theodorelasso]

"Sure, thank you!" Harry accepts, sitting back down, while Ted makes sure Joan gets to the couch safely, and then sits down next to her.

"I'm glad to see you're recovering," Harry says to both of them, respectfully. He doesn't want to be overly familiar, but it did sadden him to hear Mannion had hurt someone else - but he's glad it wasn't fatal this time.

[formersurgeon]

Once Ted is sitting next to her, Joan takes his hand and threads their fingers together, giving it a squeeze. She knows that hearing things about Rupert and the terrible things he's done isn't easy for him. Meanwhile, Sherlock gets up and heads to the kitchen to make tea.

"Thank you," she says. "Did the news make it to America?"

Clearly he's newly arrived from the US, and Joan's curious whether he got his information from the news or from another source.

[theodorelasso]

At least Ted doesn't think today will bring any surprises about additional stuff. From what he overheard, it seemed to be mostly just documentation about what they already suspected. But he still appreciates Joan's comfort.

"Not widely, no, but the people I work with keep track of a lot of stuff," Harry answers. "And Mannion was on our list of people to keep track of."

[formersurgeon]

"This isn't the first time his reputation has preceded him," she remarks. "Are you familiar with Jamie Moriarty?"

She'd be surprised if he wasn't, considering how deep the strands of Moriarty's web run.

[theodorelasso]

"Um. Only by name," he answers, frowning curiously. "Not really my area. My clients were mostly rich businessmen, and now my clients are.. people who have been screwed over by rich businessmen."

Ted nods in approval at that. Sounds like a good career change to make.

[formersurgeon]

Joan agrees with Ted. She's all too familiar with seeking redemption and paying penance, and as much as one can go overboard with it, it can also be a good thing, both for the world and for your own peace of mind.

"Moriarty was the one who pointed us in Rupert's direction," Joan explains, intentionally leaving out the details. "She also said she couldn't deal with him directly, although she wasn't clear why."

[theodorelasso]

"Well, probably for much the same reason it would've been pointless for us to come forward with this evidence before now. He was simply too powerful, no one would touch him," Harry answers. "Actually, by putting yourselves in harm's way, you may have helped a lot more people than you know. There's potential for a lot of cases to be reopened as a result of this, not just this one. And there's a lot of people who want to make sure that the risk you guys two took won't be in vain."

Ted hadn't really considered the big picture in that way. Perhaps because, really, he knew very little about Rupert's business, beyond what he'd done to those handful people. But if he was capable of doing that, just to maintain his own power and wealth, it makes sense he's hurt a lot more people...

Ted squeezes Joan's hand a bit. He hadn't expected to feel emotional during this - well, not for these reasons, anyway.