This story's idea came to my mind last month and I have been working on it since. I have already three more chapters waiting to be published. As you know, I don't own anything you'll recognize in this story. My native isn't English. Please review and tell your thoughts about this so I can develop my skills as a writer. Enjoy...

"This is useless", Joan whined and sighed.

"Well, we did find at least one interesting file", Sherlock pointed out. He threw the file on the table.

Joan and Sherlock were at the precinct rifling through old cold cases. Joan was sitting on a chair and Sherlock was lying on the floor of the file room surrounded by dozens of files. They had been doing it for five hours now.

"Sherlock? Would you take the Anderson file home with you?" Joan asked.

"Yeah, sure", he said and looked at his watch. "Oh, I had better get going. Alfredo is already waiting." Sherlock stood up and grabbed the file from her hand. Then he began to put his coat on.

"How long are going to be here?" Sherlock asked.

"For the next two hours, I think. If you have something, call me. And, I'll text you when I'm coming home", Joan said reading a file.

"Yeah, okay." Sherlock wrapped his scarf around his neck. "And, Watson?"

"Yeah?" Joan lifted her gaze from the file looking over her reading glasses at him.

"Be careful when you... come home. It's really slippery out there." Sherlock said and pointed to the door.

Joan smiled. "You too, okay?" she said and laid her gaze back to the papers.

"Yeah... Bye!"

"Bye!"

Sherlock walked along the corridor to take the elevator. Bell was heading home too and was standing right next to him.

"Going home early, ha?" Bell asked when they entered to the lift.

"Yeah", Sherlock sighed. He wasn't on the mood to speak.

"Where's Joan?"

"She is in the file room, rifling through some old cold cases."

Bell looked at him curiously.

"I left her there because I have an errand to run. She'll be ready in… one hour and 57 minutes", Sherlock said looking at his watch a bit annoyed.

"I didn't ask."

The elevator stopped and the doors opened.

"No, you didn't but you were going to ask", Sherlock said and got out from the elevator. Then he quickly strode outside from the precinct.

When the cold January air reached him, he shivered. It was really cold outside. He tightened his scarf around his neck and took his gloves out from his pockets. Then he began to walk towards the nearest subway station.

After a moment, Sherlock's phone clinked. He grabbed the phone from his pocket and unlocked it. Alfonso had sent him a message.

02.08 p.m. Alfredo
"Where're you?"

02.09 p.m. Me
"On the way"

Joan had fallen asleep. She sat on the chair and her head was resting on her hands on the table. Gregson had entered the room and was now looking at her.

"Joan", he said quietly. "Joan." He poked her a little bit.

She raised her head really quickly and shook her head slightly. "Yeah?" she asked rubbing her eyes.

"You were sleeping."

Suddenly Joan was fully awake.

"What's the time?" she asked quickly.

"It's five to three. Don't worry."

Joan sighed.

"A long night?" Gregson asked.

"Yeah... It's always with Sherlock." Joan yawned and untangled her hair. "We finished work around three a.m."

"What were you doing? You haven't even a case to solve. That's why you're rifling through those old cold cases", Gregson said as he sat on the table.

"We were organizing books, files and some other papers. It's really messy in the brownstone. There is still like hundreds of papers on the floor and on the tables in the brownstone."

"Joan... Have you two ever considered some kind of vacation? It would do great to your sometimes overworked minds."

"Well, my friends are heading to Florida and I thought that I could go. But... I don't know. I wouldn't care to leave Sherlock here alone", Joan sighed and leaned back in her chair.

"He is a grown-up man, you know", Gregson pointed out. "Well, at least to some extent."

Joan smiled. "Yeah. I just thought that he might need my help with something. I don't really know", she muttered.

"I'm not really good at these things but I can see that you're quite fond of him."

"Yeah... He is my only friend who truly understands me. It's really nice."

They sat in silence for a moment and it was broken by Joan's yawning. "Maybe I should go home to get some rest", she finally said and stretched her arms.

"Yeah, enough sleep keeps your brain and body on form", Gregson said and getting up to stand.

"You sounded just like Sherlock", Joan laughed. She grabbed her bag and coat from the floor.

"That man had affected us in many ways", Gregson said and smiled.

Joan got up from the chair and began to put her coat on.

"Let me help you with that", he said and pointed her coat.

"Oh, thanks." She handed him the coat and he helped her to get it on.

"You know, Thomas. Even though Sherlock is sometimes a little, or a lot, childish, he can still be like a gentleman."

Gregson opened the door for her.

"I know. Just keep that in mind when he pisses you off next time." They both laughed.

"I'm sure I will. Bye!"

"Bye!"

In front of the precinct Joan threw her bag over her shoulder. She wrapped her coat tighter against her body and put her beret on. Then she hailed a taxi.

"Hello! To Brooklyn, please", Joan said to the driver. He was a nice looking quite young man.

"Okay, fasten your seat belt. It's really slippery around here."

Joan heard straight away the driver's Canadian accent and thought that without her job with Sherlock she wouldn't have paid attention to it, at least not so much. Then she put her seat belt on and took her phone out from her pocket.

03.01 p.m. Me
"I'm coming home."

Joan put the phone away and looked out of the window. A thick layer of snow covered the whole city. Dog walkers had covered their dogs with different kind of coats and jackets. Children were having fun on the sidewalks. They had built snowmen and snow lanterns. Some boys were having snowball fight. A mailman also received a fair share of their fun. Some boy threw a snow ball straight to his back. Joan laughed.

"This slipperiness drives me bonkers", the taxi driver said suddenly. "Did you hear about the kastaveup, by the way?"

"About what?" Joan asked nonplussed.

"Sorry, I meant the accident. On the main road."

"No, I didn't. What happened?" she asked.

"Two cars crashed into each other. The other driver had lost control of his car and the car had slid to the other lane. After that they were also hit by another three cars. Luckily no-one died. The road is closed so we have to pick another route."

"Okay. That's fine by me."

One kilometer later the taxi driver spoke again. "It's really pretty out there, eh?"

"Yes, there is", Joan said quietly and thought what to say next. "You are from Canada, aren't you?" She tried to maintain the conversation.

"Yeah, my family lives there. I moved here three months ago."

"How about your acc..." Joan was just asking when her phone rang. "Hi!" she greeted.

"Where're you?" Sherlock asked.

"In a taxi. Why?"

"Clyde needs more lettuce. Would you go to the nearest shop to pick it up?"

"Yes, sure. Where are you?" Joan asked.

"Home, why?"

"Just asked. I'll be there presently."

"Okay, bye!"

"Bye!"

Joan slipped her phone back to her pocket.

"Could I change my destination?" she asked.

"Yeah, sure. Where do you want to go?"

"To the nearest store, please. I need to buy something."

The taxi driver stopped in front of a small store.

"Am I waiting here?" the taxi driver asked.

"No, you don't have to. I have less than a kilometer walk home."

The taxi driver looked at her.

"Are you absolutely sure because it looks like it's starting to snow?"

"Yeah, I'm sure", Joan said and looked at the sky. She paid the bill and jumped out from the car.

After Joan had bought the lettuce and some milk she began to walk back home. Snowing had started and it was thickening fast. The visibility wasn't really good. The wind was blowing hard and she shivered. Joan covered her head with a hood. She walked down on the sidewalk and started to cross a street. Just a moment after she noticed a car which was turning straight towards her. Joan tried to dodge but the car had too much speed. The car hit her and she fell to the snow hitting her head to the pavement.

Thanks for reading... :)