"Sherlock?" Asked Flora nervously. "What's going on?"
They had just entered Baker Street and Sherlock eventually slowed down. He showed no sign or tiredness, unlike Flora.
"It's him, I'm sure," he whispered.
"Who?"
"Moriarty," Sherlock had said it so quietly that Flora barely caught what he had said.
"He can't be that bad, Sherlock." Flora got hold of Sherlock's hand tight with both of hers and smiled. Sherlock looked at the bundle of hands and then to Flora with a almost tearful look. "It's not like he's here with us," she finished.
He looked down again. "I couldn't bear the thought of having lost John that night," he said. "And now I might-"
"Might what?" Asked Flora after a couple of seconds of silence.
"Nevermind, I was foolish to think that." Sherlock shook his head, opened the door of 221B and hurried Flora along inside.
"Sherlock Holmes!" Shouted Flora from the bottom of the stairs to Sherlock at the top. He paused and turned around. "What in God's name has gotten into you? You've never acted like this before and from what I've heard, you haven't done it in the past either."
"Safety," he sighed and then holding the letter up. "This could be he death of all of us and I'm not going to let that happen." Sherlock walked away into the living room and Flora ran upstairs to follow him. He went over to his desk and sat down, still with his coat on, with his hands in the prayer position again. She sat down opposite him and threw her jacket over the back of the chair.
He must do it when he's thinking. Odd, thought Flora. "Safety of who?"
"John, Mrs Hudson and you," Flora noticed that he had struggled to say the last part. She blinked in surprise.
"Why me? I'm just your neighbour that you've only known for a couple of days."
"Neighbourly love," he said quickly. "Anyway..." He cleared his throat and carried on. "I'm pretty sure this is the work of Moriarty."
"Much, much worse is to fear," Flora quoted. "What does that mean? And what's The Final Problem?"
"He's saying we should fear him," said Sherlock glancing at the paper.
"But you do already," Flora said quietly.
Sherlock looked up in surprise. "Yes, well you know why. Look at me being all human... But that's not the point, whose blood is this?"
"I don't know, I thought that could be anybody's," Flora replied. "You could get forensics to take a look."
"I could," he said. "But they're too slow. I'll do it myself."
"How?"
"Molly can help out. There's some equipment at Bart's I can borrow."
"Let me guess," Flora groaned. "We're going to Bart's now?"
"You guessed correctly," Sherlock said with a faint smile. He got up and went over to the door. Flora was still sat looking at the piece of paper, she had so many questions that would probably never get answered.
"Coming?" Sherlock interrupted her thoughts.
"Erm... Yeah," she got up and followed Sherlock outside. He hailed a cab and told the cabbie their destination. The pair got to the hospital 10 minutes later. Flora checked her phone for the time: 3:26pm. Wow, today's gone quick, she said to herself. Sherlock took Flora to one of the labs on the second floor. It was dark and was jam packed with all sorts of equipment. Microscopes, test tubes and different chemicals were scattered all over the desks.
"It's very messy," said Flora.
"What do you expect from a science lab?" Asked Sherlock rhetorically sitting down with a microscope, petri dishes and some pipettes in front of him.
Flora sat down across the table from Sherlock. "Do you want me to do anything?"
"No, it's fine," he responded. "It will take my mind of Moriarty."
"Oh right okay," then the room fell into silence. Flora decided, after a while, that she would text Emily to see how she was getting on.
Hey Em. How are you?- Flora x
Minutes later she got a reply.
Great! How's London going? I hope you're liking it where you are. It would be good to meet up sometime. I have a new flatmate now and they're driving me crazy! :P -Em x
London's good. Love it, except my flatmate solves murders and I've got involved. It's all rather strange.
What are they doing to you?- Flora x
"Who are you texting?" Sherlock asked. Flora looked up from her phone to see that Sherlock had paused his work and was watching her.
"Just my old flatmate from Manchester," Flora replied. "It's not illegal is it?"
"I never said it was," he said sternly.
"Found anything yet?" She asked indicating to the petri dishes. Sherlock had filled 3 up with shreds of paper, from the corners, and he had put droplets of acid on them to see if they would react.
"Not yet," he sighed. "But I might be on to something."
"That's good to know."
You don't go getting your self into stuff like that! You don't know what could happen to you. Your flatmate better take care of you or I'll be having words...
Playing his guitar at 3 in the morning. I may need to move out if he carries on. It's giving me headache and I'm not sleeping well. -Em x
Good luck, just tell him straight. He could at least play it during the day?
It's too late now! But it's fun, I'll give you that. I'll make sure he does or I'll threaten him with you!- Flora x
"I don't think so," the voice made Flora jump. Sherlock's head was peering over Flora's shoulder. He was reading her texts the whole time.
"What are you reading my texts for?" She asked angrily.
"Emily's new flatmate likes her," said Sherlock with raised eyebrows. "Tell her that. And also say that he's writing a song for her and that's why he's up at all hours practicing. Not hard to notice that."
"How did you..."
"The science of deduction," he stood up straight and went over to a cupboard and pulled out a jar of blue liquid and them came to sit back down.
"Still, I don't read your texts do I?"
"No, you just ask and I tell you so there's no need to," he replied looking into the microscope.
"You'll always be a mystery to me, Sherlock Holmes," Flora smiled vaguely.
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We've been laughing and crying at Shora feels all day 😂😭
Spot any in this chapter?