The Danger Night: A Dance of Distraction

I do not own this show at all. Now that that is out of the way please enjoy the story.

Lestrade watched as Sherlock grew colder and colder as the weeks went by. He thought Sherlock was abrasive before but he'd never seen Sherlock grieve before. He just seemed to shove everything he felt into some dark corner in the back of his head and what was left behind was so cold that now Sherlock could make Mycroft seem warm. When he wasn't being frosty enough to bring on a new ice age he was zoned out on the couch firmly in his mind palace. Whoever this John was she must have been something if she could bring him to this. He wouldn't even take cases anymore and not even a locked door case could tempt him to come out of his mind palace for long.

He'd managed to drag Sherlock off of his couch and forced him to put on some real clothes and dragged him into the office where he convinced Sherlock to look over an envelope that was addressed to him. He pulled a pink phone from the envelope one that was an almost exact replica of Jennifer Wilson's from the Killer Cabbie case as the press had taken to calling it. All that was on the phone was a voice message made of blips and a photo of a mystery room that turned out to be 221c. It was like this case was designed to light a fire in the man with how quickly it consumed Sherlock. He ran back and forth through London chasing paper thin leads that somehow produced results. At Scotland Yard they had little chance to do much but let him run and chase after him with the mystery criminal using a victim he'd strapped a bomb to as his mouthpiece as leverage.

Even through this chaos everyone that worked with Sherlock before had noticed that something was off with him as they followed him from clue to clue. He barreled through the scene like he would fall apart the instant he stopped. He even took the case from Mycroft without complaint to fill his time. He was focused like a laser no wasted breath on banter or insults, no lingering longer than necessary to bask in their awe or contempt, all he did was list off his deductions and took a pair of trainers they found on the scene to the lab where he and Molly would analyze everything. Muttering about pools and someone named Carl Powers as he did.

Lestrade followed him everywhere noting that the most emotion the man showed was disgust when Molly's new boyfriend Jim from It tried to hit on him. He winced in sympathy when Sherlock bluntly announced that the man was gay in front of her watching as horror filled her face.

"He's not gay! He's not!" Molly said shaking her head her hands tightening into fists.

But Sherlock barreled on listing all the reasons he knew her boyfriend was gay ending with him holding up the phone number. She ran out of the room and Lestrade followed after her hoping to calm her down and put some distance between Sherlock and himself before he blew up at the man. He managed to catch her in the hall before she could retreat into the ladies room.

"You alright?" He asked immediately cursing his mouth for letting him saying the worst thing he could say.

She laughed but it was a strained bitter thing. "No. I feel so humiliated. How could he do that?"

He nodded sympathetically. "He's been through a rough time recently."

She looked up at him her face already stained with tears. "What happened to him?"

"His wife died." Lestrade said softly still not quite able to wrap his head around that fact.

"He was married and I…" Molly ran into the ladies room unable to finish talking.

Lestrade stood in the hall feeling like an idiot of course Molly wouldn't know about Sherlock's wife. He walked back into the lab and nearly had a heart attack when he couldn't see hide or hair of Sherlock. Sherlock wasn't known for making the best choices and he was like a dog with a bone when it came to an interesting case. He just hoped the younger man hadn't gotten himself into trouble. Sherlock however wasn't concerned about himself. He played the game and let the bomber make him dance. He ran from crime scene to crime scene four in all solving each one until he'd had enough games. He was ready to face this criminal mastermind that had dragged him out of the fog of his grief.

He logged onto his website and typed in a request to meet at the pool from where Carl Powers had been murdered. He hopped in a cab with the flash drive containing the missile plans from the case Mycroft sent him on. He waltzed into the pool putting on a show for his mystery caller. He held up the flash drive as he looked out over the water at the empty room. He turned as though expecting the man to come up behind him. "Brought you a little getting to know you present. This is what it has all been for isn't it? All your little puzzles, making me dance, all to distract me from this." Sherlock said holding up the flash drive.

"Evening." A voice rang through the pool clear as a 's heart stopped beating as he turned to face the source of that painfully familiar voice. They continued seemingly oblivious to Sherlock's shock. "This is a turn up isn't it Sherlock."

If you've seen the Great Game then you know who is talking to Sherlock at the pool. Everything that happened in the episode happens here except without John and with Lestrade taking Johns place in the lab with Jim and Molly. As for what happens to Molly Mycroft takes her out to dinner in order to smooth things over so that Sherlock does not lose one of his only friends and they hit it off. This is a continuation of Chapter 5, The Danger Night. Thank yous to everyone, who read, reviewed, followed, and/or favorited and special thanks to Arty Diane and Princess Mew Mew for your suggestions and a belated special thanks to the Guest who suggested Mollcroft.