A/N: As you may have guessed, this is for the December advent challenge. The prompt, from Hades Lord of the Dead, is to write a 221B with the last word "Begin".
When I first met Sherlock Holmes, I was so stunned by his brilliance that I would often overlook the flaws which I noticed in his character. As I got to know him better, however, I found that these became more and more intolerable. What truly rankled, though, was his treatment of female clients. While he was often brusque, his tolerance for the fairer sex seemed to decline rapidly once he had finished wringing from them the details of their case. This seemed most unjust to me, but it was several months into our acquaintance before matters finally came to a head.
After the case involving two pocket-watches and a faked suicide, Holmes' harsh reaction to her fiancée's desertion resulted in our poor client fleeing in tears. When Holmes professed to seeing nothing wrong with this, I will admit to seeing red, and coldly asked Holmes if he had no heart whatsoever.
"On the contrary, Watson, I do have a heart. I have you."
Stunned by this revelation, I could only stare.
"Indeed," he continued, seemingly oblivious to my speechlessness. "I have been attempting to emulate your methods, although I clearly do not have your caring nature."
I stammered out a grateful apology, but Holmes waved it away.
"Now, if you will indulge me, we have a new case. Shall we begin?