Elusive

“Sherlock…”

Aria was covered in sweat, but she wasn’t about to stop now. Her late night shifts at the pub were a workout, but it hardly held a candle to this. This was dirty, reckless, and exhilarating all at the same time. She could’ve sworn that her heart was about to burst out of her chest and she would pass out before it was done. A tiny groan escaped her clenched jaw as she swore out loud and threw her head back.

“Just a little more, Aria,” Sherlock said, his calm voice tinged with a mild, tight urgency.

She let out a frustrated sigh and bit down on the inside of her cheek. Aria had done her best to endure it and her patience was wearing thin.

“Where the hell is John?” Aria asked, jumping up to latch onto the chain link fence in the same manner as the man beside her.

She made a noise of protest as Sherlock unapologetically used her shoulder to push himself up and over the top of it and she made sure to call him a sequence of unkind words in return. Aria’s tiny feet easily found hold in the holes and she scaled the obstacle with ease. She landed hard on the other side and hauled herself back up to pursue Sherlock, who was already halfway down the alley and rounding the corner..

“Where are you going? You’ll never catch him like that!” Aria shouted, though it seemed to fall on deaf ears. “This is ridiculous.”

Her hand sought out her phone in her pocket as she switched routes and took off running again until she emerged onto one of the main streets. Aria came to a halt, ignoring the curious stares of the other pedestrians and scouring the crowd as she raked her hair out of her face. Her chest heaved, but she squinted and focused on a single disturbance that was fast approaching. Aria drew a breath and started towards it, straightening her jacket as she picked out Sherlock’s mop of hair bouncing a few feet behind the running man.

She didn’t want to draw any attention to herself, so she walked. As soon as the man broke through a line and started to sprint. Aria extended her arm and lunged forward, catching the man at his neck and clotheslining him so that he fell hard on his back. Sherlock and John emerged and Lestrade’s car pulled up to the curb shortly after. Aria threw her arms up with a victorious cheer and grinned at the three men.

“That makes three for me, boys,” she teased. “I think your age puts you all at a disadvantage.”

Sherlock scoffed. “Please, Aria, you’re in horrible shape. Too much sugar in your tea and all those junk foods you consume makes you no better than John or Lestrade.”

“My shape is fine,” Aria sniffed, turning to the other two men. “Right?”

John and Lestrade both stared at her, brows raised and caught off guard by her sudden question. Lestrade was the first to blink when he sensed the silence had gone on too long. “Yes, of course,” he said. John’s head bounced along in agreement as they traded a glance and mirrored each other’s actions.

Aria’s lips pressed into a satisfied smile before she cocked her head at Sherlock.

“They’re obviously only agreeing because they’re smitten with you,” Sherlock insisted with a roll of his eyes. His blue eyes drew over to her with more purpose and they rested brazenly below her neck. “And you might want to adjust your blouse.”

“What?” She looked down and gasped when she realized that her buttons had come undone in the chase.

Aria flushed and snapped it closed, shooting a scathing glare towards the other two who quickly averted their gaze and dove into the task of helping Donovan cuff the criminal and stick him in the car. By now, Aria had gotten used to this lifestyle and she hadn’t gotten anything more than a scratch since her last injury. Even so, she still had ways to go when it came to the great chase and Aria was just looking forward to when she wouldn’t be so winded at the end of it.

She yawned, waiting for them as they sorted everything out and spoke to some bystanders. Aria rubbed the back of her neck and paused as something out of the corner of her eye caught her attention. When she looked, there was a man staring at her in a manner that separated him from the crowd. But her face remained straight as she considered him and crossed her arms over her chest. Aria got the sense that he knew her and he was seeing her as she truly was, but she was too stubborn to let her mask slip.

“You alright, Aria?” Lestrade touched her shoulder and Aria turned, realizing that they were watching.

“Yeah, Greg,” she replied, curving her mouth into a smile. “Just worn out.”

Though she wasn’t the only one to notice the odd man, no one said anything about it. Aria swallowed and tucked her hair behind her ear, noticing Sherlock was already descending into his thought process.

“I’m actually going to head back first,” Aria said. “I have work in the morning.”

“I don’t have any more need for those two,” Lestrade frowned. “Just go along with them. You shouldn’t travel alone at night.”

“Actually, we do have another place to stop by,” Sherlock said suddenly, surprising John.

“Maybe you could you go with her, Greg?” John suggested.

Lestrade shrugged his shoulders and nodded his head in agreement, but Aria quickly protested.

“No, it’s fine,” she smiled. “You’re busy here.”

“Sergeant Donovan can take it from here, right?” He looked over his shoulder to find the young woman as she leaned against the car. Donovan raised her brows, but ultimately relented and nodded her head before opening the driver’s side door and getting in.

“See? It’s all taken care of,” he said with a smile.

Aria looked from him to the other two and scratched the back of her head, left without any reason to reject his offer. She nodded and gestured him along after bidding good night to everyone. Sherlock and John received a strict warning to be careful, but then they were off. They walked to the end of the block before Aria took hold of Lestrade’s arm, like she often did when she was walking with John.

“So are we not going to talk about that suspicious looking fellow eying you back there?” Lestrade asked.

“I’m a pretty young woman, I get eyed all the time,” Aria replied.

“That seemed a little different, Aria,” he said, looking over at her. “Are you sure everything is alright? If anything is wrong, you can tell me. I can help you.”

Aria sighed and leaned her head on his shoulder as she tightened her grip. It killed her that he was asking her about it so nicely, unlike Sherlock who swore to dig it up himself and John who merely prodded her about it once. It was becoming harder and harder to deny that anything was wrong.

Shit was about to hit the fan and she was doing them no favors in keeping secrets.

“My past is messy, Greg,” she murmured. “It’s better for everyone if we leave it where it is.”

“Doesn’t your family worry at all?”

Aria was quiet until they reached the end of the next block and waited for the light to change.

“I already lost my family,” she said. “A long time ago.”

“Oh god, I’m so sorry, Aria,” he tensed under her hand. “I didn’t mean-”

“It’s fine, Greg,” Aria laughed, looking up at him. “You guys are the closest thing to family that I have now and I’m not lonely anymore.”

She looked up at him and offered a reassuring smile to help placate his obvious guilt. Lestrade still looked half horrified, however, so she glanced around before tugging him along in a different direction.

"Wait, where are we going?"

"You're off work now, aren't you?" Aria asked, glancing back at him over her shoulder. "Buy me a drink."

"But you have work tomorrow," he said, though he made no motion to stop.

"A few drinks are nothing for me," she scoffed. "Don't worry, I'll see you home if you get too drunk."

"Well… since you insist, I know a good place," Lestrade took the lead, steering her away from her intended path with ease. "Eventually I'll show you all the prime spots in London."

Aria nodded her head in approval, taking no issue with that proposition as they continued into the night.

. . .

"Oh my God."

"No."

"Oh. My God."

"John, shut up. You're going to get me in trouble," Aria hissed, threatening to hit him over the head with the heavy book in her hand.

"What is this called again? The walk of shame!" John exclaimed, though he was considerate enough to lower his voice dramatically.

Aria fixed him with a withering stare as he continued to gape at her, wide eyed and in blatant shock. It was clear that he wasn't going to let her live this down, even as good natured as he was. It was rare for anyone to show up at the library, but if she'd known that John was going to pop up, she'd have gone through the trouble of swinging by the flat to change.

"Ok, you're blowing things way out of proportion," Aria said sternly. "Contrary to what you might be assuming, nothing happened. We had a few drinks and I crashed at his place because we were talking. That's all."

"He divorced his wife, you know."

"Yes, I know that. We talked a lot," she replied, shelving the books on her cart. "I didn't expect this from you, John. I'm disappointed."

"What?" John scoffed, though he couldn't keep the large smile off his face. "I'm just teasing you, Aria. Don't be upset. But seriously, this is the first time you've gone out for fun. Bloody hell, this is the first time you've gone anywhere with anyone aside from me, Sherlock, or Mrs. Hudson."

Aria turned as if she had something to say to that, but John silenced her with a finger.

"And cases do not count."

"Go away, John," she sniffed, turning away as a blush rose to her cheeks and shooing him with a motion of her hand. "I have work to do."

"We'll talk later then," he promised. "If you don't have plans to talk to Greg already."

Aria whipped around to hit him on the shoulder, but he was already escaping in quiet laughter. She huffed in annoyance and made a mental note to get back at him sometime in the future. In the meantime, she focused on her task at hand despite the throbbing headache that threatened to kill her.