Title: What Nobody Sees

Rating: T

Summary: Hostage situation. Boring right? Not when your flat mate is the hostage.

Warnings: I know very little about the British Society and wording, so you'll forgive me if I'm just another ignorant American too poor to visit the actual place this story is going on in and can only Google places, buildings and procedures.

Author Note: Sorry guys! I know I said it would be up before Christmas and I tried but seeing as this is the worst Christmas ever for my family, the arrival of my nephew (Dec. 24 at 11:15 am.. 9lbs 10 oz) and all the dramatic shit that went on since my sibling is a complete ass I had little time to write. Since I've been home I've also been putting in hours at the barn I work at, so I've had little time to write. So, yes it's late but here it is!

Chapter seven

The words uttered by John drew everyone listening to the transmission from the ear bud up short, their eyes widening slightly at the lack of emotion in the man's voice. The members of Scotland Yard who had worked closely with Sherlock's flat mate have all developed the same opinion of the former soldier and it was that he was a good man and considered one of the yarders.

"Seth!" John's voice calls from over the frequency, along with the click-snap of a gun being drawn. Lestrade holds his breath as Sherlock twitches slightly, his eyes narrowing into sharp slits.

"Oh ho, wanna play doctor?" Seth mocks, the sound of a much larger gun being cocked makes Lestrade close his eyes. It's not something he would have risked, asking the war injured former military doctor to be the distraction while his team evacuated the hostages, but there was no one else.

"Don't worry, he might not like heroes but he has the heart of one." Sherlock states firmly, his words pulling the detective out of his thoughts.

"There was that time he threw himself into someone to knock them out of the way of a moving vehicle." Lestrade states, licking his lips and looks back at the building.

"Yeah, then he got up and did some emergency first aid on the driver when it finally crashed." Donovan states and Sherlock nods.

"He brandished a plunger and went boldly into the bathroom that time too…" he trails off at the looks Lestrade and Donovan were giving him and quickly adds "Well, it was a big, water spewing problem. He emerged victorious as well." He states hurriedly as Donovan shakes her head with a mutter of "freak" under her breath before moving away. Lestrade turns his attention back to the voices coming over the transmission, his breath catching with every word.

"Are you going to shoot me doctor?" Seth asks sarcastically.

"If I have to, to stop this madness… yes." John states sternly in what the men around the Yard dubbed his 'military' voice. The tone is almost chilling coming from a warm, personable man like John Watson and must have sent many of men shivering in their boots at the chill even in the warm climate of Afghanistan.

"Ooh, I think I should be worried. Hate to break it to you doctor, but my guns bigger than yours." Seth states and Sherlock shakes his head.

"that may be, but I am a better shot." John retorts tersely as the corner of Sherlock's mouth turns upward at the distinctive tone in his flat mate's voice. Lestrade had heard the tone before on numerous occasions when someone needed to be put in their place or taken down a notch or two.

"Get the hostages out now." Lestrade orders into his radio and watches with hands on his hips as the men on the extraction team begin to move in, a hand on the shoulder in front of them. It only takes a matter of second till Seth's angry voice rattles in Lestrade's ears.

"What the fuck!" along with several shouts from the team as they round up the hostages and move them out of the bank. Sherlock shakes his head at the lot of them, trembling and crying as the members of the black clad SWAT team cover their escape. Honestly, the reaction of the human mind when under duress will never cease to confuse him.

"Stand down or I will shoot you!" John orders, the edge to his voice hard and uncompromising. Sherlock's head snaps back to the front of the bank, his eyes widening a fraction. Lestrade's walkie talkie starts to squawk with voices.

"The hostages are out, John I'm going to give the boys the go ahead and their coming in to get that son of a bitch." Lestrade snaps, his anger rising at the sight of the elderly people and the young mother over by the ambulances, their shaking bodies wrapped in the bright yellow blankets.

"Their coming to get you Seth, either way your little temper tantrum is at an end." John states slowly from somewhere inside the bank, the communicator picking up on his tone and the stressed tinge to his words.

"Is that what you think this is Doctor man? A temper tantrum? You have no idea what I've seen, what I've done." Seth justifies angrily as the audience outside the bank listen with baited breath. Lestrade's fingers tap a rhythm less tempo on the hood of the cruiser, his eyes shifting nervously to where the SWAT team was assembling.

"That's where you're wrong…" John states sternly and Sherlock can almost envision his friend tightening his grip on the gun, the muscle in his jaw standing out as he clenches his jaw and tenses his shoulder.

"You've never seen people.." Seth starts but the doctor cuts him off.

"Oh, I've seen people. In a much more intimate way. Limbs blown off by mines, arteries shredded from bullets. Oh, I've seen children cut down by bombs while out just trying to earn money for their family. I've seen mothers hugging their husbands and children, sobbing into the dirt as they try to hold in their own intestines. Seen women, girls maimed by the men their supposed to love because of a belief I don't understand. I've seen bigger men than you sobbing into the shoulders of their brothers because I and my staff were unable to save him after his hummer was blown to bits, shrapnel carving off half his face." John's words drawn tears to the eyes of Donovan and the harder, veteran members of the Yard up short. Lestrade had seen the news reports, seen the men in the hospital and read reports of incidents involving the returning vets but to hear of some of the things John had seen sends a chill down his spine.

"How does he deal with it?" he asks quietly, the questions posed to no one in particular but Sherlock angles himself to give Lestrade an almost quizzical look, his eyes narrowed a fraction.

"The same way you deal with multiple homicides. Some days aren't as good as others, but he deals and moves on just like anyone else does." He states before turning his attention back to the front of the bank. The two men inside are silent and within the span of a minute Lestrade is giving the order to the group of black clad SWAT members.

"Move in."

Author Note: Almost done guys. Sorry again for the long wait. I'm into another fandom and have been reading like mad, plus working and doing family stuff. Real life gets in the way and it's no fun. Does anyone know when the new season of Sherlock will be aired? Thanks for reading!