A/N: Bree and I are both working on this fanfic, so some chapters will be by her and some will be written by me. -JC

Chapter 1- John

"Sherlock!" I called, bringing the groceries inside. "I bought food!" I walked into the living room where he usually sat while I was gone.

And froze.

He wasn't there. I checked his room, the kitchen, everywhere. He was gone. Then I noticed a letter that hadn't been on the counter when I'd left to go shopping. It was addressed to me. There was a scrap of paper inside it, and written on that paper was a single sentence.

-He's not the only showoff now.

This had to be some kind of sick joke. Sherlock couldn't get… kidnapped, could he? That wasn't possible. I stared at the note. It seemed genuine, and Sherlock wasn't one to play pranks. It had to be real.

I dialed Mycroft's number.

"Hello, John." He sounded completely uninterested, as always.

"Have you seen Sherlock today?"

"No. Why? Haven't you? I mean, you live with him."

"No, actually. I think… Mycroft, I think he's been abducted."

"What?"

"He's not here. I haven't seen him since this morning, and I found this letter…"

"Mind if I drop by?"

"Not at all." Then he hung up.

I paced the room. How had the kidnapper, whoever he was, taken Sherlock, and, more importantly, where? I sat down and tried to think clearly- I could probably rule out all the big cities in England, because they'd have too many witnesses. The problem was that there were so many smaller cities and I couldn't search them all.

Suddenly I remembered the letter. I ran back into Sherlock's room to get it, and looked at the return address on the envelope. I didn't recognize the city name, so it was very likely a small one. It seemed too easy; why abduct Sherlock only to lead me right to him?

Before I could think of an answer to that puzzling question, I heard a knock at the door. "Come in!" I yelled.

Mycroft entered, shutting the door behind him. "Show me the letter."

I passed it to him. He looked at it for a long moment. "Sounds like whoever wrote this wants to impress us."

I nodded. "This could be Moriaty, but I wouldn't count on it. It could be anyone. Sherlock doesn't exactly have a shortage of enemies."

"Any ideas for where they took him?" he asked.

I showed him the envelope.

"Let's go."

-Bree