2.

Sherlock started down the stairs, stopping a floor down in front of Mrs Hudson's door. He knocked.

"Come in," Mrs Hudson called.

Sherlock opened the door and walked into the flat to find Mrs Hudson lying back on her couch. "Oh Sherlock! I'm so glad you're here. I'm afraid I may have taken a few too many of my herbal soothers. I'm feeling very odd."

"How so?"

"Well, for one thing, the kettle will never boil. And for for some reason, my bedroom has become an night club."

Sherlock opened her bedroom door and noticed the pink and gold lights. Men smoked sitting at round tables, and girls wearing only feathers danced on stage.

"Why Mrs Hudson, was this by any chance the club that you used to work at?"

"Why yes. I started as a cigarette girl, and then moved on to dancer. I was quite well thought of in my day."

"I have no doubt."

"Now Sherlock, I know why I might be seeing things, but I don't see any reason why you should be sharing the same hallucination."

"We aren't hallucinating, Mrs Hudson. This is a shared dream."

"A shared dream? But how can that happen?"

"I don't know, but Moriarty is involved somehow."

"Moriarty! That man that tried have me and John killed? The one who made you jump, he's here?"

"Yes, unfortunately."

"Then we need to wake up."

"I'd like nothing better, Mrs Hudson, but I believe that he is the only one who can wake us at this point and he won't until I answer a question for him."

"What question?"

"The meaning of life."

"Oh Sherlock, we'll never wake again will we?"

"Have faith, Mrs Hudson. We will find a way."

Sherlock looked around the flat, and then peered through the door again. "This is interesting. I understand my own mind palace, but this is not a room that I have ever seen. This must be coming from your mind, but how is it made? Are you in my thoughts, filling up a room in the mind palace, or am I in yours? Are any of these thoughts yours alone?"

"Well, I'm pretty sure that you don't know where I keep my herbal soothers."

"Top shelf, under the tea cosy."

"Oh! Well did you know about this?"

Mrs Hudson reaches under the sink and pulls out a casserole dish. There is a large gun inside. Sherlock looks surprised. "Well, it's nice to know that even you miss something from time to time dear."

"Bring it."

"Bring it where dear? I think that with everything that's going on, I should just have a little lie down on the couch."

"No time. We have less than eight hours to find the meaning of life, no time for sleep."

"But where are we going?"

"Let's start with your nightclub."

Mrs Hudson picks up her purse and puts the gun inside, then Sherlock grabs her hand and pulls her through the door.

They walk down the steps into a cloud of cigarette smoke. Sherlock goes over to a table and pulls out a chair for Mrs Hudson. "Thank you dear, she says as she sits."

Sherlock takes out a note and waves it toward a cigarette girl. She comes over in her short microminiskirt and high boots, and smiles down at him "May I help you sir?"

"Yes, Sobranie cocktail cigarettes, please."

"Oh Sherlock, we never sold those here."

"Here you go, sir."

"Keep the change."

"Thank you, sir!"

Sherlock opens up a rainbow colored box and takes out a brown gold-tipped cigarette.

"But Sherlock, I thought that you had given up smoking."

"Helps me think. Besides, how can it possibly make a difference when we are in a dream?" He lights the cigarette, and watches as a woman comes on stage holding feathered fans over her naked body.

"Oh dear, it's Katie and her ridiculous fan dance. She was never any good at it."

"So, Mrs Hudson? Is this a memory of yours, watching your friend, Katie, do the fan dance."

"I don't think that I'd call her a friend."

"Well is it?"

"Not exactly dear. This place is as I remember it, yes, but I never sat here to watch the show. By the time we switched to this show, I was working backstage. And like I said, we never sold those brands of cigarettes. We mostly sold Cuban cigars."

"Interesting. It means that I am able to influence your thoughts. This suggests that we are building this simulation together. If that is true, then we should be able to find the others."

"What others?"

"Moriarty said that my friends were here. All of them except Molly."

"Then John is here somewhere?"

"And Lestrade, but they will be in constructed worlds of their own. I need to find them, but how?"

"How did you find me dear?"

"I simply walked down the stairs to your door."

"Then it must be the doors, dear. Go to a door and imagine where you want to go. When you open it, you'll find yourself there."

"Do you think it will be that simple."

"I've been dreaming for a lot longer than you, my boy. You can't let dreams rule you. You have to go in and take charge. Look, that's the door to the back hall. Why don't you try there."

Sherlock put out the cigarette and rose to his feet, pocketing the rest. He walked over to the door and stood for a moment with his hand resting on the handle. He looked back at Mrs Hudson who nodded encouragingly. Then he turned the knob opening the door into the office at Scotland Yard.