Fic: Puzzle Peace: G
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holmes_minorTitle: Puzzle Peace
Length: 500
Rating: Gen
Characters/Pairing: Lomax/Lestrade, Holmes/Watson, OFC (Violeta Lomax)
Notes: For National Puzzle Day; the last of my Lestrade/Lomax ficlets (for now!); follows on from [Rating: Mature] Secret Rendezvous in which Lomax spends the night at 221b and Lestrade stops by and then in the morning Lomax's sister shows up and wants to take him back to Spain to recover.
Summary: Puzzles are great ice-breakers.
Violeta Lomax was not a villain from a novel, she was simply a concerned sister. She’d heard about Lomax’s injuries from his landlord, who was distantly related to the family, and when she’d understood that he had to remain under direct doctor’s care, naturally, she thought the worst.
But when she stormed into 221B and saw her brother, her plan of whisking him away to their ancestral Iberian home for a full convalescence dissolved at once. Nevertheless, she was no fool, and she knew from a glance he’d been through an ordeal.
Violeta accepted Doctor Watson’s invitation to breakfast on the condition Lomax tell her the whole story. Holmes joined them, and the details of the case was recounted.
Violeta could not hide her surprise. “Francisco!” she exclaimed more than once, at which Lomax always managed to look properly, if briefly, contrite.
“This inspector,” she mused, frowning.
“He’s the best the Yard has,” interjected Holmes.
“He’s a good friend, Vi,” added Lomax. “The best of friends in a pinch.”
“A pinch you got yourself into by being a tonto!” Violeta cried. Then she sighed, and her expression softened. “You need a holiday, Francisco.”
It was then that Doctor Watson extolled the benefits of the English seaside cure. The siblings Lomax set off that very morning.
“Bournemouth?” exclaimed Lestrade when he arrived too late to say good-bye.
“It’s closer than what she had in mind,” replied Watson. “They will be there until Monday. Why don’t you pay them a visit?”
“Meet the family?” Lestrade looked like he’d rather be stuffed in a magician’s trunk and cut in half.
“I wouldn’t go empty-handed,” said Holmes. “In fact, I think I have just the ice-breaking gift.” He rose and hunted about underneath the desk. “It was given to me by a grateful client.”
Lestrade protested. “I couldn’t take…”
“If you reduce the fire hazard,” said Watson, nodding at the mess. “You’ll be doing us a favour.”
“Here,” said Holmes, producing a box.
Lestrade stared at it. One eyebrow rose. He nodded.
---
The first five minutes were awkward, but then Lestrade produced the box.
Violeta Lomax tore off the brown paper and made a noise. “Mira, Francisco.” She turned it towards Lomax.
Lomax smiled.
It was a jigsaw puzzle, and the scene was El Greco’s Vista de Toledo.
By the time the border was finished, they were chatting amicably. Soon, they were laughing heartily. About half of the hills of Toledo were in place when Violeta asked,
“Inspector Lestrade?”
“At your service,” said Lestrade.
“I want to visit a friend in Poole this afternoon. I will stay overnight, and she and I will go out sketching tomorrow. Stay with Francisco. Make certain he does not get into any trouble.”
“My pleasure,” said Lestrade.
“Don’t finish this without me,” Violeta said as she fit one more piece in. Then she got to her feet and ruffled Lomax’s hair and left.
Lestrade shook his head at the puzzle. “Sherlock Holmes is a bloody genius.”
Lomax laughed.
Length: 500
Rating: Gen
Characters/Pairing: Lomax/Lestrade, Holmes/Watson, OFC (Violeta Lomax)
Notes: For National Puzzle Day; the last of my Lestrade/Lomax ficlets (for now!); follows on from [Rating: Mature] Secret Rendezvous in which Lomax spends the night at 221b and Lestrade stops by and then in the morning Lomax's sister shows up and wants to take him back to Spain to recover.
Summary: Puzzles are great ice-breakers.
Violeta Lomax was not a villain from a novel, she was simply a concerned sister. She’d heard about Lomax’s injuries from his landlord, who was distantly related to the family, and when she’d understood that he had to remain under direct doctor’s care, naturally, she thought the worst.
But when she stormed into 221B and saw her brother, her plan of whisking him away to their ancestral Iberian home for a full convalescence dissolved at once. Nevertheless, she was no fool, and she knew from a glance he’d been through an ordeal.
Violeta accepted Doctor Watson’s invitation to breakfast on the condition Lomax tell her the whole story. Holmes joined them, and the details of the case was recounted.
Violeta could not hide her surprise. “Francisco!” she exclaimed more than once, at which Lomax always managed to look properly, if briefly, contrite.
“This inspector,” she mused, frowning.
“He’s the best the Yard has,” interjected Holmes.
“He’s a good friend, Vi,” added Lomax. “The best of friends in a pinch.”
“A pinch you got yourself into by being a tonto!” Violeta cried. Then she sighed, and her expression softened. “You need a holiday, Francisco.”
It was then that Doctor Watson extolled the benefits of the English seaside cure. The siblings Lomax set off that very morning.
“Bournemouth?” exclaimed Lestrade when he arrived too late to say good-bye.
“It’s closer than what she had in mind,” replied Watson. “They will be there until Monday. Why don’t you pay them a visit?”
“Meet the family?” Lestrade looked like he’d rather be stuffed in a magician’s trunk and cut in half.
“I wouldn’t go empty-handed,” said Holmes. “In fact, I think I have just the ice-breaking gift.” He rose and hunted about underneath the desk. “It was given to me by a grateful client.”
Lestrade protested. “I couldn’t take…”
“If you reduce the fire hazard,” said Watson, nodding at the mess. “You’ll be doing us a favour.”
“Here,” said Holmes, producing a box.
Lestrade stared at it. One eyebrow rose. He nodded.
---
The first five minutes were awkward, but then Lestrade produced the box.
Violeta Lomax tore off the brown paper and made a noise. “Mira, Francisco.” She turned it towards Lomax.
Lomax smiled.
It was a jigsaw puzzle, and the scene was El Greco’s Vista de Toledo.
By the time the border was finished, they were chatting amicably. Soon, they were laughing heartily. About half of the hills of Toledo were in place when Violeta asked,
“Inspector Lestrade?”
“At your service,” said Lestrade.
“I want to visit a friend in Poole this afternoon. I will stay overnight, and she and I will go out sketching tomorrow. Stay with Francisco. Make certain he does not get into any trouble.”
“My pleasure,” said Lestrade.
“Don’t finish this without me,” Violeta said as she fit one more piece in. Then she got to her feet and ruffled Lomax’s hair and left.
Lestrade shook his head at the puzzle. “Sherlock Holmes is a bloody genius.”
Lomax laughed.
no subject
Date: 2020-01-29 08:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-01-29 08:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-01-31 12:44 am (UTC)And echoing Small Hobbit - I was greatly amused by the reduction of the fire hazard at 221B ^___^ It's lovely that the puzzle brought everybody together.
no subject
Date: 2020-01-31 01:22 am (UTC)I can imagine that meeting Lomax's sister is the very last appealing thing to Lestrade in the natural order of things.
Hee! I thought the mods would appreciate that point. I genuinely feel that puzzles are good for that. Plus, it gives you something to talk about (the puzzle) when you want to talk for whatever reason. And most people like to help out.