At around midday, the door of 221B Baker Street opened with a loud creek as a tall Sherlock Holmes entered. He was dressed in his usual attire: a two-piece suit as black as the night sky (without a tie of any sort); a white fitted shirt; the upturned collar of his coat engulfing a navy blue scarf tied around his neck in the conventional manner in addition to a long, black coat draping down to his knees.
"Oh my word! Sherlock, you're back" his housekeeper, Mrs Hudson immediately cried with delight.
"Yes," Sherlock replied. "I was originally planning to visit Eastern Europe but as I was departing, Mycroft told me that there was something I was needed for here. So, I stayed."
"Good choice", she replied.
"Hmmm...I'm not sure if that's the right way of describing my presence" he responded. "After all, I indeed am a well-rounded, obnoxious arsehole. Anyway, is Mycroft in?"
"Yes, he's waiting for you in your sitting room upstairs" she replied.
Sherlock briskly began to make his way up the single flight of stairs, despite him oozing in pain.
"Sherlock, are you ok?" Mrs Hudson enquired.
"Yes, I'm fine" he replied, continuing up the stairs. However, his walking turned to creeping as he had heard a peculiar noise - the noise of a flute duet.
"Mycroft doesn't play the flute", Sherlock thought. "And who's the other person playing? Think, think...ah yes. They must be the villains who I must defeat. Yes!"
As he opened the door of the first floor so fast that he had slammed it against the interior wall, he was taken aback to see two young girls in his sitting room, each playing the flute. They both had slender figures, wore similar clothes consisting of patterned jeans and wacky T-shirts, and looked about the same age of fourteen. Yet one of them had straight hair of a colour which was ever so slightly lighter than Sherlock's himself, and was much taller than the other, who had straight brunette hair, some of which was dip-dyed blonde.
"Hi", the shorter girl introduced herself. "I'm Issy, and this is my friend Imogen", she spoke, pointing at the taller girl.
"Hi", Sherlock replied. After a couple of seconds, he slowly raised his gun to them, with a wide grin on his face, exclaiming
"You're the villains who are here to kill me, but killing me is almost impossible."
"No Sherlock! You're absolutely mistaken. We're friends with that girl whom you met at that party." Imogen responded.
"She told you then", Sherlock deduced. "Great playing by the way."
"Thanks", Issy answered.
"You're most certainly welcome. Do any of you know where my older brother is?" he enquired.
"He's upstairs, where he normally is" Issy responded.
"Thank you, and nice to meet you." Sherlock greeted whilst walking up the next flight of stairs. He very shortly approached the door to Mycroft's office and opened it with confidence.
"Hello, Sherlock!" Mycroft snarled.
"Hello. Thanks for sending me back here when I'm needed." Sherlock replied.
"No worries", his elder brother replied. "This is the reason it!"
He then turned on the TV to reveal a familiar face repeatedly saying the words "Did you miss me?"
"Moriarty", Sherlock gasped. "He faked his death too, like I did, at the top of St. Bart's Hospital. Argh, I'm back to being an old idiot again, aren't I?"
"If you say so", Mycroft responded. "Now your task, younger brother, is to get rid of him immediately."
"Mycroft?", Sherlock asked while shrieking with pain. "Is it alright if you start solving the case for today and I join in tomorrow? It's just that I'm still aching terribly from Mary's gunshot."
"Yes, that's fine. Here's some morphine, if you want." he replied.
"Yes, I could do with some actually", Sherlock answered. "Thank you." After taking a high dosage of morphine, he then rushed back downstairs to his sitting room. This time, however, it was completely deserted. After noticing that the two flautists had gone, he immediately headed for one of his ever-so-comfortable sofas. However, once he'd done so, he immediately noticed a sleek, shimmering object on his table.
"One of the girls has left her phone behind. It's Issy", he deduced, whilst examining it using his magnifying glass. He then spent a while attempting to decipher the phone password, which was in fact none other than her birthday itself.
"Bad choice of password" Sherlock thought. Once he had unlocked the phone, he noticed that the apps on it didn't intrigue the detective in any way, shape or form.
"I'm bored," he therefore declared. "I can't shoot holes in the wall again or else I'd get told off. I could use this phone...yes! I could text someone from this phone. But who...?"
Meanwhile, at around 5:30pm, John was enjoying the high life with Mary at his other house when he received this text from an unknown mobile number:
"Hi, it's your former school friend Shirley. Since we haven't seen each other for a long time, I thought we could meet up. How about you meet me tonight at 6pm at the 'Il Borgo' Italian Restaurant opposite Hyde Park?"
"Yeah sure. See ya." was his reply.
"Sorry Mary! I've got to get ready and go now", John exclaimed and gave her a kiss. He then got into his best black suit and set out for Hyde Park via his usual method of transport around London - the Underground!
When he arrived at the Italian restaurant named 'Il Borgo', he noticed a neatly set table with a beautiful young woman waiting alone, with fair skin and black hair containing several neat ringlets, tied back into one large ponytail. She was also wearing a tight-fitting laced dress, dark purple in colour and was clutching her dark tote handbag using her feet. Although this woman's face seemed very heavily made up,John still took it in a positive way to enhance her beauty. After recognising this woman as his old schoolfriend Shirley, he walked towards her at a brisk.
"Hey John!" she exclaimed with such delight on her face, whilst getting up from her seat to give him a hug.
Her voice seemed to sound at an abnormally high pitch for a woman of her age, yet it had that gentle and fluttery quality to it, making John reply to her words.
"Hi Shirley", John replied in a friendly tone. "I haven't seen you for ages! How are you doing these days?"
"Erm...yeah. I'm good thanks", she responded. "How about you?"
"Yes I'm good as well thank you", he replied.
Taken aback by how much her appearance had changed, he then asked "What've you done to your hair? It was blonde before."
"Oh. It's because people kept making fun of me saying that I was stupid when I was (and still am), actually really intelligent", she responded.
"Haha yes! You were the most intelligent in my class", he remarked. "You should meet my flatmate. He's also such a genius. He'd be great for you!"
"Yes he's called Sherlock Holmes, and he always calls himself a 'high-functioning sociopath' when he's only human. He's indeed..."
"How on Earth do you know so much about Sherlock Holmes?" John indignantly asked, shocked by her detailed knowledge of his best friend.
"Haha I can also make deductions like that you know", she replied, whilst simultaneously giving him a wink.
As these words were spat out of her mouth, a waiter arrived asking them for their orders,
"Excuse me. Please may I have your orders."
"For a drink, I'd like some mulled wine", John was the first to reply.
"For me, an Appletiser" was Shirley's reply.
"Shirley", John muttered under his breath, "why don't you also get mulled wine like I'm doing?"
"To be honest, I don't drink alcohol. I'm a tee-totaller", she replied.
"For main course, I'd like..." John began, but was unable to finish his sentence.
"We'd like one large pepperoni pizza between us", Shirley immediately interrupted.
"Thank you very much", the waiter remarked with a smile on his face and thereafter left their sight.
"Wow! I can't believe you deduced that I was going to order a pepperoni pizza" John commented with such an expression of awe on his face.
"Yes", she replied. "I was also going to order the same item as you. Therefore, I then deduced that it works out cheaper getting a large pizza to share rather than getting two small pizzas for ourselves."
"Oh my word!" John exclaimed. "You are just exactly like Sherlock. You absolutely should meet him. He'd make such a great match for you."
"Actually, I have already met him", she replied, giving him such a wide grin on her face.
"Really?" John reacted with such shock. "When?"
"During the two years between his Reichenbach fall and when he met you again", she stated in a frank manner.
"Oh my..." John was taken aback by what had happened to Sherlock since the fall. "So are you two a couple now?"
"Unfortunately not", she answered. " I've heard that he doesn't treat women very well. For instance, a friend of mine, named Jeanine, actually thought she went out with him, when he was only pretending to love her."
"Ah yes", John responded. "It's always better to play it safe when it comes to Sherlock. You'll never know what he could do to exploit you."
As this statement came to an end, the waiter arrived with their drinks.
"One glass of mulled wine and a bottle of Appletiser" he exclaimed.
"Thank you", each of them replied as they each received their drinks respectively.
"Hmm. I have to admit that the waiters here are so much nicer than one I experienced in a French restaurant not long ago." John remarked.
"Ah yes I know about that." Shirley responded. "Unlike me, you're not single. At that time, you were dating your partner, now your wife, named Mary Morstan. You were getting engaged when a waiter who appeared to be acting like a "well-rounded, obnoxious arsehole" revealed himself to you as Sherlock, after not seeing you for two whole years."
"Oh my word. You weren't supposed to know that!" John shockingly replied, fascinated by her wealth of knowledge about his personal life.
"Why not?" she questioned whilst giving him another strange wink.
"It's really personal", John answered as he then burst into tears.
"Aaw John! Don't cry!" she reassured him, whilst passing him some tissues. "Look, the pizza has arrived now, just to cheer you up!"
"Thank you", she greeted the waiter whilst receiving the gigantic pizza.
"Is your friend alright?" the waiter then enquired, noticing John in tears.
"Yes, he's fine. Don't worry about him." she responded to the waiter, as he then left their table.
After seeing the pizza, John brought his crying to an end and just sat there patiently, expecting Shirley to take the first slice.
"Come on, John", Shirley exclaimed. "What are you waiting for? Let's eat, shall we?"
They then dived into the pizza in such a state of hunger, although they did so in a tidy fashion
After finishing their pizza, Shirley paid the bill and were getting ready to go. Meanwhile, John was fishing out some change from his purse when she had stopped him,
"No need to pay yourself, John!" she remarked. "Your half of the pizza was my gift to you."
"Aaw thank you so much" he replied, and beckoned towards her to give her a hug.
Whilst providing her with a warm embrace, he noticed that she was wearing a long, black trench coat exactly like the one which Sherlock wore, alongside a purple scarf tucked inside the inverted collar.
Then, as they were leaving the restaurant, John, after noticing her height whilst standing up, then moaned
"Argh! Why do you have to be so much taller than me?"
"Aaw I can imagine how it feels when pretty much everyone is taller than you", Shirley replied. "But hey, don't worry about it! After all, small is beautiful!" She then gave him another unusual wink.
After a short stroll down the road, Shirley had led them to a bench in the middle of Hyde Park.
"Do you want to take a seat here?" she enquired, making a gesture towards the bench.
"It's really dark here", he complained. "Can't we go nearer some building?"
"Oh come on, John!" she exclaimed. "It's not completely dark. The natural moonlight will be sufficient."
As a response to her wise remark, he hastily sat down on the bench. She also did the same after a short while.
"Shirley", John muttered tentatively.
"Yes?" she replied.
"There's something I've got to tell you", he exclaimed.
"Go on then", she answered.
"Well, I just wanted to say thanks for everything tonight", John stated. "Tonight has been amazing and it just wouldn't have been the same without you.'
"Aaw you're welcome", she politely responded. "I know you're having a tough time with Mary at the minute so I just thought I'd like to cheer you up."
"That's ever so sweet of you", he replied. "There's also something else that I've got to tell you, but I unfortunately can't express it in words."
For a couple of minutes, Shirley placed her fingers of each hand on the temples of her head, attempting to deduce what he was wanting to tell her.
"Argh I can't deduce it!" she grunted.
"Yes you can, Shirley, come on! You can deduce everything, including my emotions." John responded.
After a short while, Shirley's face started approaching John's at such swift speed that before he had any time to back away, the space between their lips became non-existent as they undertook their first kiss.
"Hey dear! I'm really sorry, but I absolutely must go now!" John declared afterwards to his new-found lover.
As he was approaching Shirley to kiss her goodbye, she then exclaimed "Hang on a second!"
John then turned his back towards her whilst she undid her ponytail, letting her ringlets drape down freely in addition to removing all her makeup in one go with a gigantic makeup wipe.
"John, turn around! It's me!" she ordered. Her voice suddenly sounded ridiculously low and deep like a jaguar hidden in a cello.
As John was about to enquire about her sudden change in voice, his words failed to escape from the tunnel of his mouth as he saw no one other than his own best friend stood tall in front of him.
"Sherlock" he gasped whilst diving backwards in such 'Shershock'.
"What happened to Shirley?" he then asked once he'd calmed down.
"She was never there. It was me all along", Sherlock replied, giving his best friend the awkward wink once again.
"Oh my word", John exclaimed. "So that's how you could explain so about Sherlock, because you ARE Sherlock."
"Indeed I am", Sherlock replied whilst giving a huge grin on his face in the shape of the cresent moon.
"But I don't understand...and I still don't understand! How on earth did you manage to trick me into this?" John moaned.
"I'm afraid I can't tell you that, nor can I tell you why I did it!" Sherlock frankly replied.
"Sherlock?" John then enquired.
"Yes?" Sherlock responded.
"Why on earth did you kiss me when you know perfectly well that I'm married to Mary?" John asked.
"I merely deduced your emotions about me, so that's how I responded to them", Sherlock answered bluntly. "Now there's a loo in this hut here. Let me get changed in there before I become a laughing stock."
After a couple of minutes, Sherlock returned in his usual attire. However, he wasn't carrying his large, black tote bag which he had until this point.
"Sherlock, you've left you're handbag in the toilet!" John made a declarative statement.
"I observed that, John," Sherlock replied. "Besides, I don't need any of that stuff anymore, so I can leave it there as a present for the next person who uses this loo.w
"What about your phone though, and your magnifying glass, and your gun? Weren't they in the bag?" John asked.
"I took them out and placed them in my coat pockets!" Sherlock responded. He then swiftly emptied his pockets to prove his point.
"Sherlock, I have one last thing!" John remarked.
"Go on, John. Tell me!" Sherlock ordered.
"Well, you know it always goes downhill from here?", John explained his point.
"Yes?" Sherlock answered.
"Why don't we do it again?" John asked.
After John took Sherlock's silent response as a 'yes', the space between their lips once again became non-existent as John aimed face on at Sherlock's sausage curls situated around his mouth.
Once they'd been released from each other, Sherlock then declared,
"Right, let's get back to Baker Street!"
After around 20 minutes of going on the tube, they finally arrived outside their house. Awaiting for them at their door was three familiar figures, one of which was stood on the step whilst the other two in front were holding hands.
THE END