Beauty and the High-Functioning Sociopath {#PFCC2k16}

So Close

Sherlock and Alex were now home. Alex had explained everything to Mrs. Hudson so she wouldn't be offended if Sherlock didn't remember everything about her. Alex didn't hold or touch Sherlock very much anymore. She slept on the couch again since she didn't want to share a bed with someone who didn't remember her. She still loved Sherlock with all her heart, though. She was very occupied with taking care of her daughter and a dog. Sherlock had thought it was Redbeard at first until Alex had explained that she had bought him a dog for an engagment present for him. She had told him the dog's name and he was just as smitten with him as he'd been the day they first met the dog. Alex was worried. No more memories had really come back to Sherlock. Just fragments and pieces. 

"Sherlock, can you please try to remember something else about me?" Alex asked.

"I've been trying, Alex." Sherlock sighed. "I can remember bits and pieces of things about you."

"Like what?" Alex asked.

"Things that you like, what your laugh sounds like, some times I've made you angry." Sherlock said. "That's about it. It doesn't seem like we have a very happy marriage."

"No, we do." Alex nodded. "You're just remembering the wrong things."

"If you say so." Sherlock sighed. "You seem honest."

"I am." Alex nodded. 

"I believe you." Sherlock said. Alex sighed. 

"Try, Sherlock. Please, try." She pleaded. Sherlock gasped as something came back to him.

"It took us 30 minutes to get down here! There's not enough time to get away! If we don't do this, other people are going to die!" Alex said. "God, I hate you, Sherlock! Why did you have to drag me along?"

"Mind palace!" John said. They had less than two minutes to figure this out.

"Hm?" Sherlock said.

"Use your mind palace!" Alex said.

"How will that help?" Sherlock asked.

"You've sorted away every fact under the sun!" John said.

"What, do you two think I've just got, 'How to difuse a bomb' tucked away somewhere?" Sherlock asked.

"Yes!" John said.

"Maybe." Sherlock said. "Alex, sit down on the floor."

Alex obeyed. Sherock laid down and put his head in her lap. He looked up at her terrified face. She ran her fingers through his hair. 

"Try, Sherlock. Please, try." She whispered. 

Sherlock put his hands together and put them up to his face, almost like he was praying. Alex played with his hair. 

"Come on, you can do it! If you can run into a fire to save me, this should be easy!" She encouraged. "And after cheating death? Come on, you're so close!"

"I can't!" Sherlock opened his eyes. He looked up at Alex.

"Oh my God!" John said. "This is it!"

Sherlock kneeled by the main power source. Alex kneeled next to him. She looked at him, her gaze intense. She wasn't going to let him give up.

"Look! You've pushed me so far, and now I'm pushing you! You know, even when things seemed really bad on other cases I'd believe we'd make it because I thought you were to stubborn to quit!" Alex said. "Well, you're not gonna quit! Not now, not when we're this close! Now try again!"