A Study In Satin

Part 3 - Dum Vivimus Vivamus


by Tigger



Chapter 16 - Game Over


Within minutes, Sherla was again asleep. She slept deeply the
entire ride.  As they approached the Englischer Hof, Irene tried
to rouse her, with only limited success. *Poor dear has expended
her last bit of stamina this day.*

So, Sherla was still only half awake when a petite, dark-haired
whirlwind pounced the moment Hans-Peter's sleigh slid to a stop
in front of the hotel.  "I have been worried out of my HEAD over
you!  Are you all right?  What happened up there?  Are you all
right? Here, let me help you out of the sleigh  Are you all
RIGHT?  Why did you take so long?  Are you all RIGHT?  Why aren't
you answering me?"

"Katrina?" Sherla asked very carefully.

"WHAT?!" the exasperated girl nearly bellowed.

"Ummm. . .do you realize you are holding me nearly over your head
off the ground?"

"I'm what?"  Katrina squealed, as she realized she was doing
precisely what Sherla had accused her of doing.  Very carefully,
she eased her lover down to the ground and then pulled her into
her arms for a hug.

"I did say that it was the changes in the muscle tissue that
helped us convince Moriarty that we were on the trail of the
antidote he sought," Doctor Buchner said as he came upon the
small group.  "I would say that Fraulein Katrina has experienced
much the same effect."

"So it. . . did," Sherla said as she tried to find the ground
with both feet.  "Uh, Katrina?"

"Yes, Sherla?"

"I feel . . . very. . .strange. . " and the world went black.

~---------------~

When Sherla regained consciousness, she had been stripped of her
black ski clothing and long underwear, and had been bundled into
a warm flannel nightgown.  She was tucked into a soft bed with
thick quilts.  "What. . . what happened?"  She managed to ask.

"YOU FAINTED!" an obviously upset Katrina accused.  "Practically
fell into a snow bank if I hadn't caught you.  What is the
matter?  Are you ill?  The doctors said you aren't running a
fever but why did you faint?"

"If you let her get a word in edgewise, Katrina," Irene's amused
voice interrupted, "I think you will find out that she is simply
exhausted and needs rest, warm food and more rest.  She has been
exerting herself most dreadfully ever since we discovered you
were abducted."

"Well, she is going to rest now, aren't you, Sherla?" Katrina
demanded.  "You're going to lay there in bed and let us watch
over and take care of you."

Something deep inside Sherla started to resist - let someone else 
responsibility for her safety?  And then, the resistance
crumbled.  This was Katrina, the woman she had pledged herself to
and Irene, one of the two women who had shown her what maternal
caring and love was supposed to be.  She loved them both, and
just as importantly, she trusted them both. . . . with her love
and with her life.  "Thank you," she whispered as her eyes
drifted closed again, "I am so very tired."

"We will BOTH be here, dear," Irene said softly.  Then she doused
the bed lamp.  "Sleep well."

~----------------~

The sun had gone down again when Sherla next awoke to find Irene
seated by her bed, watching over her.  "I sent Katrina to bed. 
She is still tired as well, for all her new found strength." 
Irene then sent for the soup that Frau Steiler had made for the
invalids.  Sherla had initially be upset when Irene had insisted
on feeding her, but that had passed into resignation when the
still-empty spoon shook in her hands.

After her meal, Irene had asked her about the fight.  Sherla had
told her the entire story, including her offer to relent on her
plan to kill Moriarty out of hand.

"I offered him the rest of the drug, enough that he could have
survived and completed the transition." Sherla told Irene as they
walked up to the clearing.

"But he refused to take it, didn't he?"  Irene asked, and then
smiled knowingly when Sherla shook her head "I wouldn't have
thought he'd accept that, given what you've told me about him,
but still neither would we have wanted Moriarty loose in the
world, young and full of energy.  Female or otherwise."  

"I wasn't worried about that, Irene.  His ego would never have
accepted the idea of becoming a woman, and in any event, he would
not have found the help that made it possible for me to grow into
a new, fulfilling life," Sherla said as she took pressed Irene's
hand to her cheek.  "He threw the syringe at the falls, then
followed after it.  I have always intended his death, but this is
somehow easier.  I gave him the same chance he gave me and while
he is still dead, my conscience is clear."  

"Good, dear.  It is time we put this behind us.  This has been a
very difficult time for you, these last two months.  I think it
is past time that we all go home to Paris," Irene said.  "But for
now, I want you to try and sleep some more.  You took far more
out of yourself than you realize, I think.

"I think you are in the right of that.  You go to bed, too, for I
shall be all right now. Good night, Irene." 

A mischievous gleam lit Irene Adler's lovely amber eyes, as she
recalled another time, and another Holmes. "Good evening to you,"
she said, her voice dropping an octave into her male tones, "Miss
Sherla Holmes."