Chapter Text
For the past several months, life at 221b Baker Street went on as normal. Well, as normal as life could be with a consulting detective who liked to conduct peculiar experiments and play the violin at odd hours of the night; a no-longer-stray calico that very much claimed to be the true ruler of the domain; and an ex-army doctor who worked with said detective and could communicate with said cat, along with being able to communicate with all animals in general.
For the first few weeks, John was sure that Sherlock would find out his odd not-so-little secret. Cass, despite her affection towards Sherlock, was an endless chatterbox. Always making conversation whenever John was in the house. She did keep to his rules, allowing him to ignore her when someone was around, like Mrs. Hudson, Sherlock, or the odd chances that Mycroft was around. Still, she would always make commentary, and it was sometimes rather difficult for him to keep a straight face. Sherlock had sometimes shot him peculiar looks, but he never brought it up. Either he knew and was waiting for him to finally admit it himself, or he really didn’t know and was possibly trying to puzzle it out.
Either way, John was still a little surprised at how well Cass and Sherlock got along. He was sure he would’ve tired of her, but he never did. In fact, he once tried to bring her along to a crime scene before Lestrade could nip that idea in the butt. Lestrade wasn’t a genius like Sherlock or Mycroft, but he could tell when Sherlock was lying about Cass being a sniffer cat. Lestrade also seemed to like Cass, but judging by the way his eyes would water and how violent his sneezes would get, John knew that the DI cat lover was allergic.
Things went well, and John wasn’t as fearful as he used to be about a bunch of men in white coats carting him away. That Sherlock would wise up and immediately react in a negative way.
Of course, things were bound to happen to change that. Things that would raise Sherlock’s suspicions and cause him to realize what it was that John was hiding.
The first time it happened was when someone walked in, offering Sherlock a mystery to solve. She seemed rather nice, though a bit loud and sporting far too much lipstick. Apparently, the case had something to do with her recently-deceased husband. John wanted to pay further attention to it, but he was quite distracted.
His distraction? The woman brought her dog.
John had no idea what specific breed it was. All he knew was that it had incredibly long fur, and that chaos would erupt the moment they stepped inside.
Sure enough, the moment Mrs. Hudson opened the door, Cass shot up from her spot on the sofa.
“I smell dog.” She said flatly as John put out the chair. “John, why do I smell dog?”
John merely sent her a look, since Sherlock was just entering the sitting room, no longer in his robe and adjusting his suit. Thankfully, he didn’t have to answer, for they could easily hear the excited chatter growing louder as the woman and dog walked up the stairs.
The chatter, John knew, came from the dog.
“Hi! Hello! Hello, new people!” It cheered. “Oh, such new smells! I don’t think I’ve ever smelt anything like this in my life!”
“Dog!” Cass shouted in alarm, leaping from the couch and onto John’s shoulders, causing him to wince.
“Cat!” The dog cried in delight, dancing around John’s feet and staring up at Cass. “Cat! Cat, let’s play! I want to play with you!”
“No.” She hissed, literally. “Now, leave me alone!”
“Elliot!” The woman reprimanded, yanking on the dog’s leash and bringing it back to her feet. “I am so sorry about that. He can be quite… excitable.”
“Indeed.” John heard Sherlock grouse, and he winced when he pulled Cass from his shoulder.
“John!” Cass snarled, fur fluffed and eyes alight with fury. “John, you get that dog out of here right now!”
“Kitty! Mama, I wanna play with the kitty!” Elliot continued, tugging on their leash to try and get at Sherlock now.
“Elliot, stop! Listen to your mama!” She demanded. “Oh, I really am terribly sorry. He’s usually not like this! He’s very well behaved most of the time!”
“Yes, but Elliot has never been around cats before.” Sherlock continued, trying to soothe Cass and trying to keep her from shredding his suit in her attempts to flee.
“Why-No, he’s been around cats, but-!”
“Elliot!”
Everyone turned to look at John as he spoke to the small dog, even Elliot.
“Human?” Elliot inquired.
“Elliot, sit.”
“Oh, okay!” The dog said as he did just that. “Hey, do you understand me? Can you just tell them I want to play with the kitty?”
“Tell that idiot that the kitty does not want to play with him!” Cass snarled. “And Sherlock, let me go! If that dog’s going to be here, then I’m not!”
“That’s wonderful!” The woman cheered, beaming, and John had to fight the urge to cringe when he saw hints of lipstick on her teeth. “I don’t think Elliot has ever taken commands from anyone besides me and my late husband!”
John doesn’t even spare Sherlock a glance, knowing that his flatmate was clearly irked at the woman’s grammar.
“Well, look,” He said, taking a struggling Cass from Sherlock and allowing her to nestle into his shoulder. “Why don’t I just put Cass in the back bedroom temporarily, and then we can discuss the case, alright?”
“But John-!” Cass whined as John began to walk off, only to be stopped by Sherlock’s hand on his elbow.
“John, we shouldn’t have to do that.” The consulting detective stated quietly.
“Sherlock,” John chided. “Plenty of people have had to put their pets in their bedrooms for company before. This is no exception.”
“This is Cass’s home just as it is ours.” Sherlock stated. Still quiet, but firm, and John was reminded of the fact that the man was quite assertive when it came to dealing with their cat. “She shouldn’t have to be tossed into a corner just because a woman has brought her dog.”
“She’s freaking out, Sherlock!” He hissed back. “What would you have me do? Let her go and have those two wreck our flat beyond repair?”
“You could always just kick the dog out.” Cass butted in, hissing when John gently pinched her leg. “Ow!”
“Why don’t you just offer to take the dog out for a walk, or… something.” Sherlock cut in, waving a hand towards said dog as it panted, tongue lolling out of his mouth. “I’ll just text you when the briefing is over.”
“I don’t think she’d be comfortable with-.”
“Oh, I don’t mind!” The woman cut in, and John flushed when he realized she was listening in. “I mean, as long as it isn’t too much trouble for you two...”
John bit back a tired sigh before handing Cass back to Sherlock, who took her with a smirk. “Very well.” He muttered before flashing a winning smile. “Just a quick walk around the block, then.”
“Great!” The woman jeered, handing the leash off to John’s waiting hand. “Just be quick, and don’t let him get into any trash, or anything! And don’t be afraid to be a little aggressive! That’s the only way he listens, sometimes!”
John fought the urge to slap the woman for her stupidity, and managed to just keep smiling. “We’ll be back before you know it!”
“Be good for the kind man, Elliot!” The woman cooed. “Don’t you worry, now, dear!”
“You’re taking me for a walk, human?” Elliot asked. “Yay! I love walks!”
“I shall pray for you, John.” Cass called as John merely grit his teeth and walked out of his flat door.
As soon as the door closed, Elliot paused on the steps and turned to him. “Can she hear me?”
John blinked, shaking his head, and his eyebrows shot up when Elliot let out a tired sigh.
“Thank god!” He cried. “Do you know how tiring it is to play the hyper puppy? Doing tricks and acting like an idiot for her? Ugh! Okay, let’s get going. I need to take a piss like nobody’s business!”
He bit back a grin, leading the dog down the steps and out the front door.
“Okay, over there. Over there!” Elliot said in a hurried voice, and John rushed him towards the side of the building, averting his eyes when the dog lifted his leg. “Oh, sweet mercy, that’s good! I’ve been holding this in for ages!”
“Glad I could be of assistance.” John replied, keeping his voice subdued enough so no passerby would hear him.
“You can understand me, can’t you?” The dog asked once he was done, kicking his hind legs back. “Like, I’m talking, and you can actually hear me.”
John nodded a little, looking own at the dog. “I can.”
“Good, because I’ve got some things that I want you to tell that detective guy that’s working on my mom’s case.” Elliot said firmly.
He blinked. “Really?” He asked. “What kind of things?”
“Let’s go for that walk.” Elliot said, completely off topic and leading the charge. “I’ll talk along the way.”
For the first few minutes of their walk, the dog said nothing, clearly more focused on smelling every little bit of the pavement he could and shouting at the cars and taxis that drove by. Despite the delay, John waited patiently. He knew that animals could become quite bull-headed when it came certain topics. If he pressed too hard, Elliot was bound to refuse to talk to him, and it would take a lot of human food to convince him otherwise. John wasn’t prepared to deal with the aftermath caused by that kind of mistake.
“You probably know why my mother came to you guys, right?” Elliot finally asked.
John nodded. “She suspects her husband didn’t commit suicide, but so do the police.” He answered. “Of course, they think she did it, and a lot of the evidence supports that theory, but they don’t have the right piece that would enable them to make an arrest, which is a large sum of money that was withdrawn from his account.”
“They think she took it and hid it somewhere.” Elliot cut in. “Load of crap, by the way. I know for a fact that she didn’t do it.”
“She thinks his mistress did it.” John said, nodding, only to freeze when the dog gave him a look.
“He had no mistress.” The dog revealed. “Trust me, no matter how hard a man could clean himself, a dog can still smell those things. He didn’t have one. Not to mention that my parents loved each other.”
“They were married for thirty-five years.” John argued. “A lot can change.”
“When you marry a woman regardless of the fact that she can’t give you the family you always wanted, and then stay with said woman, you love her.” Elliot said. “I’ve heard him say that on a number of occasions, trust me. I’ve also heard some interesting little bits of information that could help you track down my father’s killer.”
“What’s that?”
“Phone calls.” The dog answered. “My dad had a business line at home, and I’ve heard him argue with someone multiple times. Telling them to ‘stop calling him’, and to ‘get out of our lives’. I think a ‘I don’t love you’ or two was tossed around as well. Those calls really scared my dad.”
John frowned, truly puzzled, even ignoring the way Elliot began to sniff his boots. Eventually, his phone went off and he saw that Sherlock was quite ready for them to return, so he guided the small dog back towards 221.
“There’s my baby!” The woman cooed, and Elliot immediately ran for her. “Oh, I hope he wasn’t too much trouble.”
“Oh, not at all.” John assured. “He was a very good dog!”
“That’s wonderful!” She cried, scooping Elliot up. “I think this calls for steak tonight!”
“Oh thank heavens!” Elliot cried with joy. “I haven’t had a good steak dinner in ages!”
“I want steak…” Cass muttered, sulking on her place on the mantle. “Think I deserve it.”
John merely sent her a side-glance, for they had such a conversation before. In fact, he had given her steak once, long before Mike introduced him to Sherlock.
It had not gone well.
“Well, you have my information.” The woman concluded. “Oh, I do hope you can figure it out, Mister Holmes and Doctor Watson. It would finally put Elliot and I at ease.”
“Yes, very well.” Sherlock replied airily as he turned away from her. “I’ll get to work as soon as possible. When we solve it, you will be the first to know. Now, I believe you know the way out…”
“Sherlock!” John chastised, but the woman waved him off.
“It’s alright. I can tell he’s a busy man. My husband was just like that.” She assured before heading out. “Come on, Elliot! Say ‘thank you’ to the nice men!”
“I’m getting steak!”
“Good boy!”
John waited, hearing them walk down the steps and out of the flat, before turning to Sherlock as he sat in his chair, hands steepled.
“What do you think?” He finally asked.
“She’s a delusional woman if she thinks her husband was ever truly that loyal.” Sherlock remarked. “Clearly, he had a lover who killed him and took the money for themselves. Now, we just have to track them down.”
John frowned, for that didn’t sound like anything that Elliot said at all. Animals were a lot of things, but being liars wasn’t one of them.
“Are you sure?” John pressed. “You didn’t know the man, and you can’t really judge after just meeting the woman once.”
“She had lipstick on her teeth-.”
“-And she was very polite, and did her best to keep her dog under control. She was a nice enough woman, Sherlock. That, and judging by her email, she and her husband loved each other dearly.” He cut in, and Sherlock sent him a look that caused him to raise his hands in defense. “Look, I’m not ruling out that there wasn’t some third party, but perhaps you should look further into it before jumping to conclusions. Maybe check up where he worked? See what was going there.”
Sherlock was frowning now. “I was just about to.” He muttered, and John swallowed, because he knew that stare. It was the stare Sherlock gave something, or someone, when he was trying to puzzle something together about them. Like they gave him a tiny hint to something and he was trying to work out the rest.
“Alright, then.” John finally replied. “I’m going to make tea.”
Sherlock made a noncommittal noise in response, and John tried to act as nonchalant as possible under his gaze, cursing himself for talking far too much about what he knew. What he wasn’t supposed to know normally.
As he set the kettle to boil and pulled out their mugs and tea, Cass left her sulking spot and joined him, leaping onto the counter.
“Code time?” She asked, referring to the system they created to communicate when someone was in the room or just nearby in general. “One tap yes, two taps no.”
John rested his hands on the counter, tapping once with his index finger.
“That mutt knew something, didn’t he?” Cass asked, and John sent her a look. “Oh, fine. That dog knew something.”
One tap.
“And he told you why his dad wouldn’t have someone on the side? That it might’ve been about something not-so-good?”
One tap.
“And now you can’t tell Sherlock what you know, because then that would mean telling him about your gift.”
One tap.
“See, this is why you should’ve told him, for moments just like this.” Cass ranted. “I even told you the first night I was here, didn’t I? But no, you didn’t listen! You’re a human male, after all. Why the hell would you listen to the female?”
John just sent her a look.
“Fine, whatever. Don’t listen to me just because I’m a cat.” She groused. “But don’t you want to tell him now?”
Two taps this time, and he watched as Cass flopped down.
“But why?” She whined. “You trust each other completely! This couldn’t be any different, could it?”
John pursed his lips, because he knew for a fact that she was wrong. That it could be different, be very different. It could all go downhill, and all because he happened to be able to do something no one else in the world could. By his knowledge, anyway.
“Just tell me this,” She pressed. “Do you really want to keep this a secret for as long as you’re in each other’s lives?”
He let out a long breath before tapping out his answer.
His two-tap answer.
“Then I suggest you work out how to tell him, and soon. He’s already growing suspicious, and he’s currently watching us for some reason.” She informed before pawing at his fingers playfully. “Now pet my head so he’ll stop watching us.”
John snorted and did just that, hearing her purr loudly before she abruptly pulled away.
“Also, take a bath.” She sneered, sticking her bum in the air before leaping off the counter and onto the ground. “You reek of that stupid dog.”