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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[formersurgeon]

As it turns out, Joan is sleeping in. The case concluded late the night before and into the early morning, with Joan and Sherlock questioning their suspect until the man confessed and gave up his immediate co-conspirators. He also revealed what Joan and Sherlock had suspected and feared: the cabal of jewel thieves had ties to Moriarty, Sherlock's ex and nemesis. They would have to figure out exactly what the connections entailed, but that would take time. For the moment they can breathe. And sleep. Both detectives crash hard once they reach 221B. Joan doesn't even stop to check her phone for texts from Ted.

Joan is fast asleep when her phone rings. She has to swim out of the deep slumber to be mostly awake when she answers the phone. She frowns at coach Beard's question.

"Um...no." She rubs her bleary eyes. "No, I've been on a case this weekend. I haven't seen him since Friday." She glances at her alarm clock. It's later than she thought. And about two hours after Ted usually starts practice.

She sits up straight.

"Wait...he didn't show up to practice?"

She's wide awake now.

[theodorelasso]

"No," Beard answers, sounding serious. Even more serious than he usually is. "No one's heard from him since Saturday."

He hasn't wanted to worry anyone before he checked with her. But Joan definitely ought to know, both by virtue of being Ted's girlfriend, and because if anyone can track him down, it's her.

[formersurgeon]

Joan knows this is serious. Ted wouldn't be late to practice for even five minutes without letting someone know, most likely Beard. Being AWOL for two hours?

She puts the phone on speaker and checks for texts. Usually Ted would text her several times, even when she's on a case. She loves being able to go back and read his texts when she's done, knowing that he was thinking about her.

There are no texts from Sunday.

"Shit," she breathes. "Has anyone been to his apartment?"

[theodorelasso]

"Not yet," Beard answers, already grabbing his jacket. He can tell Joan is kicking into gear, and he definitely doesn't want to sit around.

"Meet you there?"

[formersurgeon]

Joan is out of bed and grabbing her clothes. "I'll be there in ten minutes," she says.

Joan hangs up the phone, throws clothes on, and rushes out the door. Sherlock is still asleep, so Joan sends him a text for when he wakes up, telling him Ted is missing and she's looking for him.

In the cab on the way to Ted's apartment, Joan calls Scotland Yard to ask for their help. To her dismay, the people she talks to are completely dismissive.

"Maybe he just took off and didn't tell anybody."

"He wouldn't do that."

"Who knows with these yanks? Besides, he can't be officially declared missing until he's been gone for 24 hours."

"It's been longer than that already. No one has seen him since Saturday."

"Just because they didn't see him doesn't mean he's missing."

Joan ended the call with a string of obscenities that had the cabby looking at her in the rear view mirror.

She gets to the apartment a little before coach Beard. She doesn't have a key, so she looks around, then takes her lockpicks out of her pocket. When Beard arrives, he finds her crouched at the door, picking the lock.

[theodorelasso]

Beard cancels practice, not wanting to leave Nathan alone while all this is going on. He's come into his own, but Ted being missing and Beard taking off after will probably wreak hell on his anxiety, even without the responsibility of running practice on his own. He informs Rebecca as well, but doesn't tell anything to the team.

He arrives as quickly as possible, and honestly, Beard's not even surprised by what he sees. Though he's continually a little bit baffled that this is who Ted is dating.

He clears his throat to get her attention, holding up a key. He arranged for their housing, of course he has an extra key.

[formersurgeon]

She looks up and sees Beard standing there with the key.

"Hi. Thanks, but I've got it."

She twists one of the picks a little to the right, and there's a click as the tumblers fall into place. She carefully turns both the picks clockwise, and the door opens.

Joan puts the picks back into her pocket and enters the apartment.

"Ted?" She checks the kitchen, then looks around the living room, then the bathroom and the bedroom. She had been terrified that she would find Ted hurt or unconscious or worse. But not only is Ted not there, the apartment is spotless.

"He's not here," she says to Beard, looking around with a detective's analytical eye. "And there's no sign of intrusion or struggle. If something happened to him, it didn't happen here."

[theodorelasso]

Alright, well, he was gonna save her from technically doing something illegal, but sure. He won't tell, and Ted won't mind.

Beard looks around too, looking first for Ted, then for anything out of place, agreeing with her assessment. It looks like he just left like a normal day. He goes to check the trash, then turns to Joan.

"I walked him home on Saturday, and I doubt he would've gone out. We usually get coffee in the morning next-door. There's no cups in the trash. The weather wasn't great yesterday, I doubt he would've drunk it outside."

He knows just as well as her that it's circumstantial guesswork, but it's a start.

[formersurgeon]

She blinks, impressed. "That's a really good observation. So...he went out for coffee yesterday morning and something happened on the way there or on the way back?"

She knows where the coffee shop is, since he gets coffee there for both of them on many mornings that they wake up together.

"We should go ask the baristas if they saw him yesterday."

[theodorelasso]

Beard nods in agreement, heading outside as soon as she says so. There is also the chance that he just didn't get coffee yesterday, but it shouldn't take long to determine that.

[formersurgeon]

Joan follows Beard out the door.

"Has he ever done anything like this before?" she asks him. "Went off somewhere without telling anyone?"

She's almost certain it's something Ted would never do, but she recognizes that the two of them have only been together for about a month. If there's any chance of Ted having gone off on his own, Beard would be far more likely to know.

[theodorelasso]

"No, he's never bailed on work. He's overslept, like, twice, for as long as I've worked with him." Beard answers. He's obviously pretty distressed about this too. And there's no way in hell he ever would've bailed on Henry. "Can you call hospitals or something? If he was in an accident without his wallet or phone, they might not have known who to call."

[formersurgeon]

"I'll get my partner on looking into local hospitals for John Does," she says, pulling out her phone. There's a text from Sherlock:

What do you need?

She's so grateful to her friend. He's had a tough time accepting Ted into Joan's life, but when the chips are down he will do what is necessary to help them both.

She texts back:

Plz check hosp for John Does Saturday PM to Sunday AM

She tucks the phone back into her pocket and looks at Beard. She can tell he's distressed, and her heart goes out to him. She reaches out and touches his shoulder, giving it a squeeze.

"We're going to find him," she reassures him.

[theodorelasso]

Beard can see why Ted likes her. Not only is she clever, but by all accounts, she should be just as distressed as he is -- and she probably is -- yet she's the one reassuring him. He gives her a tight-lipped smile in response.

He steps into the coffee shop, and heads up to the counter to ask, since he's been in here with Ted countless times.

"Hey Carla, were you working yesterday? Did you see Ted?" he asks. He only knows the barista's name because Ted would say it out loud all the time.

"Yeah? He came in like he usually does. Not as chipper though. Don't blame him after that match," she answers, but is obviously confused and surprised by the question.

"Did he say whether he was going somewhere or doing anything?"

"He was heading to the bakery."

"Alright, thanks," Beard answers, turning back to Joan and nodding in the direction they should go.

[formersurgeon]

Joan is terrified. She had started losing the fear that something terrible would happen to Ted because of their relationship, but this brought it roaring back. Something terrible did happen, and right when a case she was working with Sherlock started to zero in on Moriarty, who would have no qualms whatsoever about making Joan suffer by hurting or killing Ted.

As terrified as she is, though, she's extremely good at hiding that fear, especially when with someone she's trying to reassure. It's one skill she developed as a doctor that is just as vital in her life as a detective.

She goes with Beard, knowing where the bakery is. On the way they pass by an alley, and Joan glances down it and stops with a small gasp. She goes into the alley and crouches down to look at an overturned coffee cup and a small bag of pastries on the ground. She pulls a pair of nitrile gloves out of her pocket and pulls them on, then gently lifts the bag, noting that the puddle of coffee is big enough that the cup was probably full when it turned over. She opens the bag to look inside, and finds the pastries Ted always gets for breakfast at the bakery.

She looks up at Beard, unable to hide the fear now.

[theodorelasso]

Beard doesn't see what makes her stop at first, but when he does, it sends a chill down his spine. When she opens it and looks up at him, he takes a step back, covering his mouth with his hand.

"Have you called the cops?" he asks immediately. Beard is a problem-solver, but this is far above his pay-grade, not to mention his comfort level.

[formersurgeon]

"They said they couldn't do anything until he was gone for 24 hours," she says, her tone bitter.

She stands up and pulls off her gloves, bundling them together inside out and tucking them back into her pocket, then pulls out her phone. She takes pictures of the bag and the cup from several angles, then turns on the flashlight and starts scanning the ground. "There are tire tracks here," she says, taking pictures of the tracks in the alley then closeups of the tire tread.

She sends the pictures to Sherlock along with brief descriptions. Then she calls Scotland Yard.

"Look, I have evidence that he was kidnapped," she says to the person who they palm her off on. "Yes, I'm sure. No, I...are you kidding me right now? Connect me to Lieutenant Smith. Yes, Smith. I'm a consultant, I've worked with him for...yes. Yes. What? Joan Watson. Watson. Yes, I...with Sherlock...yes, Sherlock Holmes. No...no I need to talk to him now. No, I can't wait, this is...hello? Hello? FUCK!"

Joan only barely keeps herself from smashing her phone on the ground. She turns away from Beard and closes her eyes, taking a deep breath, then another, trying to get her emotions under control.

Her phone dings and she looks down at the text Sherlock has sent her.

Opel Vivaro van, likely 2017

[theodorelasso]

Beard hates feeling helpless, and he's feeling that double right now. Not only does he not know how to help Ted, he doesn't know how to comfort Joan either.

He hovers right behind her, heart breaking for her, but also feeling much the same anger and frustration and fear. He gives her a moment to gather herself.

"What do we do now?"

[formersurgeon]

Joan texts Sherlock back.

S.Y. not helping. Everyone?

A second later he responds.

On it.

Joan takes a deep breath, then turns to face Beard.

"Sherlock is going to contact a group of hackers we work with to see if they can get vehicle records for the type of van that left these tracks. In the meantime we should probably ask around. See if we can get a color and any information on who might have been driving. We can also ask local businesses if we can see their security tapes."

[theodorelasso]

"Rebecca might be able to help," he points out. If not with contacts, then certainly with money. "I should call her and let her know anyway..." He pauses, unsure. "Should we keep it quiet? Will media help or hurt?"

This will definitely get in the news at some point, but maybe it's better if it doesn't until they've actually found him.

[formersurgeon]

"Hurt," she answers immediately. "No media. We don't know who has him or why. If..." Her voice catches as images of Ted's dead body flood her mind. She takes a breath.

"If he's still alive, we don't want to chance spooking his kidnappers." If they panic they might cut (literally) and run.

"Rebecca might help. No one else should know."

[theodorelasso]

"He's still alive," Beard answers immediately, and without a shred of doubt in his voice. The kind of conviction you get from working with someone like Ted for years. "He's strong. And you're right, we're going to find him."

[formersurgeon]

His certainty gives her hope and steels her courage. She lifts her chin and nods.

"We are," she affirms.

She looks out at the street and at the little market across the street. "Think they'd have a camera?"

[theodorelasso]

"Let's ask," Beard answers. He feels better if he's doing something useful, and he wouldn't really know where to start without Joan, probably wouldn't have noticed the coffee to begin with, so he's glad he can assist her.

[formersurgeon]

The shop does have a camera that faces the alley. It's old, recording the footage onto well worn VHS tape, so the images are washed out and jittery. But as they watch, they see a white van drive into the alley. They fast forward a bit, watching the alley, hoping they see someone come out, but they don't.

They see Ted.

He's carrying a cup of coffee and a bag of pastries, the same cup and bag they found in the alley. He stops and seems to talk to someone. Then he walks into the alley.

And never comes out.

Joan's heart is thudding in her chest, but she stays calm. She looks at the timestamp on the image. 7:14am Sunday morning.

"Over 24 hours," she says.