Sherlock continued to stare at her. Stunned. The gears of his mind had ground to a terrifying halt. After a moment of silence, she spoke again, her gaze boring into him. "May I come in?"
He snapped back into reality, swinging to the side and muttering 'Of course.' Under his breath. Once she was through the doorway he closed it behind her slowly, it let out an audible screech as it moved before clicking into place.
Eventually he cleared his throat and looked at her, finally allowing himself to look into her eyes. "How did you...um. Get in?" He asked in an out-of-character scattering of words. She frowned at him.
"Sherlock, I learnt how to pick locks with you."
Finally he spoke loudly and clearly, gathering his thoughts together. "You're supposed to be dead."
She smiled at him warmly. He relaxed instantly, it was the same smile she used when she had outsmarted either him or Mycroft. "Well theoretically, so are you."
"It's good to see you Lizzie." Sherlock said looking a lot more relaxed. His mind, however, was still all over the place.
He sauntered across the living room once more and slumped onto his armchair, she slid into John's seat opposite. "So what's your story? Don't hesitate with the details I have all night."
She stared to her right as she composed her answer. The lighting of the room exaggerated her features as Sherlock watched her. Her face was clean of blemishes allowing her pale skin to shine clearly. She was still recognisable but everything about her had matured, everything but her eyes. Her hair was no longer a frizzy mess of brown curls, but rested in tame waves on her shoulders. She wasn't, and had never been, conventionally beautiful. She wouldn't sit comfortably on the cover of a magazine. However, she had the beauty of a subject from a Renaissance painting. She seemed to carry this ethereal atmosphere about her that was worthy of an artist's attention. It would make sense for a painter to slave away for hours in an attempt to capture it.
"I take it you are fully aware of my actions and whereabouts before my 'death'. Despite his influence Mycroft isn't very subtle about his surveillance." She sighed, he could see her piecing together words in her mind. "There's a difference between being Moriarty's enemy and being his ally. He treated them both with the same brutality. But it was much harder for him to let an ally go. I knew too much about him and he knew too much about me. I couldn't go anywhere because of the information he had and he wouldn't let me go for the information I had, and still have. There was only one option, to die.
"But to do what you did wasn't enough. His network was vast, as you know, you deconstructed it." She smirked at this before finally looking at him in the eye. "I had to die enough for it to reach my records, enough for it to fool Mycroft. It took far more planning than yours to pull off."
"I know. I'm impressed." Sherlock added, now leaning back into his chair comfortably.
"Thought you would be. I was always better at the bigger ones."
"Shut up."
She laughed through her nose before continuing. "I've been keeping an eye on you two, although not as effectively as Mycroft, I don't have the help of the British Government. I was even at your funeral, well, watching it from a distance. I could tell it was fake from the beginning.
"So, with Moriarty dead, I came back to life under the new name of Bethany Williams. The more you dissolved his network, the more public I could become and here I am." She stopped talking and a silence gradually swallowed up the room.
Sherlock had barely moved during this. His face was emotionless, but she knew of the volumes in his mind. "You have a reason for doing everything, you didn't just decide to visit me. Knowing you it was because you were concerned about me. Why? What has happened that caused you to return?" He questioned her, maintaining the same expression throughout.
"Sherlock, it's starting again. You were talking to yourself outside of the wedding hall. John Watson may not leave you but you are convinced he will. I don't want to witness you withdrawing to yourself and the drugs once again. Last time I couldn't do anything about it but now I can."
Silence filled the room once more as they both watched each other, analysing every micro-movement.
"How do you know I need 'help'?" Sherlock spat out the word looking slightly bitter. "I have changed." Elizabeth was unmoved by this, she was used to Sherlock's outbursts.
"Sherlock I know you better than anyone else, probably even you. You haven't changed one bit." She gave him a slight lopsided grin in a sort of peace offering, that he returned. A more comfortable atmosphere filled the room. "It's good to be back. You wouldn't believe how hard it is to stay under your radar."
"Oh I know." Sherlock arrogantly said before swinging his long legs around and jumping off of the armchair. He had a sudden burst of energy and was suddenly feeling very bored. He took a few steps before sitting down at his desk and turning on his computer in one swift movement. "Have you got a place in London then?" He asked.
"Of course, about fifteen minutes away but you already knew that."
"Yes, well, nothing about me can surprise you anymore."
"Hmmm, you never know." She paused for a moment, watching him type away at his laptop. "You're bored and need distracting, have you got a case going right now?" She asked from the armchair.
"Nope." Sherlock replied, popping the 'p'. His phone made a noise from the coffee table across the room.
"Now you do."
They both got up and looked at his phone. Within ten seconds they had both read the message.
"Looks interesting enough." Sherlock commented.
"Want to go check it out?" She turned to face him, a smile playing at her lips.
"God yes." He replied, already moving towards where his scarf lay on the sofa.
They grabbed their coats and went to the door but Elizabeth stopped before opening it, resting her hand lightly on the handle instead. Sherlock halted at the sudden stop.
"Hang on. I'm not going as your assistant."
"Well it looks like you are," Sherlock gestured towards himself. "International reputation."
"I don't do assisting, I do solving." She replied sharply.
"It's a small case and late at night. The press won't be there."
"Partners then, for now." She suggested. "Or I'm not going."
"Ok. fine. Now hurry up we have a crime scene waiting."
They flew out of the door and slammed it shut behind them.
******
All three teenagers sat in the research room of the Holmes household. Initially, it had been constructed as a play room for the brothers. However it soon became the headquarters of their bizarre experiments and investigations. They were all spread across the room doing various activities in a comfortable silence. All that could be heard was the scratching of pencil on paper.
"I need more brick dust from different sources." Moaned Mycroft whilst looking into a microscope. "Three samples just aren't enough."
"Oh Mycroft stop moaning, we got you what you wanted." Sherlock snapped, looking up from the book he was reading. He was lazily lying on the red sofa, sprawled out, seemingly in an attempt to cover as much surface area as possible.
"Sherlock you're bored, you read that book yesterday. If you two stay in this room it'll end up in another fight." Elizabeth paused, looking up from what she was doing. Her hair was tied up in a ponytail and she wore a lab coat that had been a birthday present from the brothers. "I know, Sherlock and I will go out and find more brick dust." Elizabeth was sat on the same table as Mycroft recording the results of the three petri-dishes laid out in front of her.
The brothers fell silent, considering her proposition."Yes, Ok. You two go and find some more." Mycroft eventually agreed. He looked at his brother. "Sherlock?"
Sherlock let out a long sigh, making an effort to draw it out and attempting to make it as loud as possible. "I guess it's something to do. But leave some for me."
"Well I can't make any promis-"
"Mycroft." Scorned Elizabeth. Looking up from her work. He let out a long sigh that rivalled his sibling's before finally agreeing.
"Okay. Yes brother dear." His voice turned sour towards the end.
Elizabeth finished writing then pushed the paper towards Mycroft. "There you go. All of the dust has been checked 3 times each for vegetation and acidity. The results for all are written down along with the averages. "
"Thank you Elizabeth." Mycroft smiled warmly at her as she stood up.
"Come on Sherlock. Time to stop correcting the low level chemistry." She threw his coat at him and it landed on the page he was writing on. Disgruntled, Sherlock put down the book and pen before putting it on as well as his scarf.
"Bye Mycroft."
"See you brother."
They both walked out and closed the door behind them.
Seconds later Sherlock popped his head back round the door. "Leave some of the brick dust or we wont bring back any." He warned. Mycroft made a disapproving noise as Sherlock slammed the door shut.
******
John Watson burst into 221B, loudly shutting the door behind him. "Sherlock." He called for his friend. There was no answer. He was about to move towards the bedroom but froze when an unfamiliar young woman stepped out of the kitchen.
A warm smile filled her face. "John Watson isn't it? Shouldn't you be at a honeymoon or something?"
John's answer came slowly as he took in this turn of events. "Yes," He said eventually, glancing about the room as if to check for any other unusual addition. "Sorry but who are you?"
"Oh yes, sorry. Elizabeth-Louise Parker an old friend of Sherlock's." She held out her hand for him to shake. John only looked at it, feeling suspicious and somewhat protective.
"He never mentioned you."
"Well I was dead yesterday."
John gave her a puzzled look. "Are you a-?"
"Sociopath. Yes I am."
"No, I was going to say ex-girlfriend." A fat silence descended for a moment after he spoke as both of them took in the ridiculousness of what John had just said.
She laughed. "No. Sherlock has never had a relationship. I thought you may have guessed that by now"
"Do you know where he is?"
"Asleep. He hasn't woken up yet. Would you like some tea?"
"Yes please."
John sat down slowly as Elizabeth busied herself in the kitchen. She eventually came back with two cups of tea balanced in her hands. They both sat in matching saucers that John didn't even recognise, despite his years of living there.
"So did you spend the night here?" Asked John as she handed him on of the saucers before sitting down opposite him.
"Yes, well I stayed up and did some work on my laptop. I came here to help Sherlock so we went out and did some cases until late."
"Help him?"
"I've been keeping an eye on him. I didn't want him to start again."
"Start?"
She looked at him for a few seconds before giving him half a smile. "You have no idea what he was like before you met him do you?" John paused for a second.
"Not really... Do I want to kn-" He stopped when she pulled a face.
"You're worrying about him though aren't you?" She sat back and sipped some of her tea.
John reluctantly nodded. "I know I shouldn't but I do."
She smiled and put her empty cup back on the saucer. "We all do." John smiled back at her so she continued. "As long as I'm around he'll be fine, just... promise me you won't leave him."
"I won't." He responded without hesitation.
"You won't what?" A deep, sleepy voice came from the kitchen, Sherlock was stood in his blue dressing gown next to the table, a tired but puzzled look on his face.
"Oh hello Sherlock. Elizabeth-Louise was just asking me about my time in Afghanistan." John said, lying easily.
Sherlock gave him a look. He stared at John for a moment, the two sat in the chairs waited to see if he had noticed their lie. "It's Elizabeth or Lizzie. She hates her name." He said eventually. Elizabeth grinned at him.
"Well I'll be off then." John got up. "I just came to check if you were Ok."
"Goodbye John." Said Sherlock from the kitchen.
"Bye, have fun at your honeymoon." Said Elizabeth, getting up and following him to the door.
"It was nice meeting you Elizabeth. Goodbye." And with that John left, letting Lizzie close the door behind him.
Sherlock grabbed some food and jumped onto the couch. "Where's Mrs Hudson?" He asked.
"Oh she came up with some tea earlier but she had to go out." Elizabeth replied, not looking up from the book she had found.
Sherlock sat down and continued to eat. All that could be heard was the sound of his chewing and pages turning. Neither of them were looking at the other yet they were both silently analysing the other.
A silence filled the air. The tension was unmistakable. "You feel uncomfortable by my presence." Elizabeth said, not looking up from her book.
Sherlock didn't reply but his chewing slowed.
"Oh not replying are we? You really are uncomfortable. Sherlock Holmes in silence, never thought I'd see the day." She continued. Elizabeth glanced over the top of her book.
"Am I disturbing you in some way?" She asked, putting the book down. They both looked at each other, Elizabeth eventually started to smile at Sherlock. After a few seconds of analysing his facial expression, she came to a conclusion. "You kept thinking about me didn't you? You felt guilty."
Sherlock shifted uncomfortably. "I have been fine. It's just been a while." He finally spoke.
She raised an eyebrow at him and seemed to create an uncertain silence.
"Okay, if you have to know, I felt guilty."He grumbled reluctantly.
She smiled. "You didn't need to."
"Well I did." He snapped back, returning to the toast.
She grinned at how uncomfortable she was making him. Only she and Mycroft had ever been able to achieve this.
"Oh look a client." Sherlock changed the subject as the doorbell rang on cue. He sprung to his feet and out of the door, eager to move on the situation.
A few minutes later a middle-aged man was sat in front of the pair, their intense stares making him uncomfortable. "Sorry but," He began. "I've never seen you before." He looked at Elizabeth. "Are you two-?"
"No." Interrupted Sherlock.
"Not an assistant either." Elizabeth pulled in immediately after.
"I thought he meant-?" Sherlock began.
"No he didn't." She replied getting frustrated. "I'm female it's what they think."
"She's a visiting friend."
"Temporary partner."
They were plunged back into silence as they both continued to stare at the man. Neither of them had moved more than an inch while saying this.
Sherlock pressed his hands together and placed them under his chin. "Tell us your story and make it short." He eventually said.
"Well I met this girl... on the internet."
"And you think she might be a man." Elizabeth interrupted. Both of the men stared at her.
"How did you-?"
"She is." Sherlock concluded.
He gave them a questioning look.
"I pretty much asked you that but you confirmed that it was true." Elizabeth stated. "You thought that it might be the case but denied it because you would. You were going to say she was 'acting suspicious'." She raised her hands and made a little gesture at the last part.
"You hoped we would say differently but never brush away what is under your nose because you don't want to believe it. Chances are if you think that is the case it probably is." Sherlock finished it off.
"Oh."