John quickly typed out the text that Sherlock had asked him to send while Julia reclined in her father's arm chair. He shooed her briskly and she move from the seat without a second thought. Sherlock then grabbed the pink case and placed it on a stool in front of the chair, sitting down and noticing that John was giving him a strange look. Julia knelt beside her father and inspected the case closely, reaching out to the tag that had all the owners contact details.

"Jennifer Wilson..." She breathed, letting go of it and crossing her legs. "Was she the victim?"

Sherlock nodded and unzipped the case, inspecting it. John moved closer and it was obvious what he was thinking.

"That's her case, that's the pink lady's case." He stated, his voice full of suspicion. Sherlock stopped what he was doing and faced him.

"I suppose I should say that I didn't kill her."

John shook his head and sat in the seat opposite Sherlock who was grinning triumphantly at his findings, Julia leaned against the chair and remembered how many times her father had been accused of committing the crimes in the past. People really were too stupid for their own good.

"I never said you did..." John said defensively.

"Considering that I have the case and the text I have just had you send, it's a perfectly logical assumption."

Sherlock stated as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. John eyed him curiously and hesitantly asked the next question:

"Do people normally assume you are the murderer?"

"Now and then, yes." He smirked, changing his sitting position to where his feet were on the chair. Julia wrapped her arms around her knees and chipped in.

"More like, ninety percent of the time." She said slyly, quickly adding on to the end "Until he solves the case of course" When Sherlock shot her an annoyed look.

Julia's phone bleeped once again and she knew that it was Mycroft texting her. She was no longer pissed off at him by that time.

Does my brother know that you went into town earlier this evening? MH

She chose not to respond. John had mentioned before that he had met Sherlock's arch enemy – as he liked to put it. There was only one person that Sherlock genuinely hated more than Anderson and Donovan and that was his older brother Mycroft. It was not a difficult deduction. He was offering John money to spy on her father again but he loyally chose not to accept it. When her phone buzzed once more, Sherlock bopped her on the head lightly with his palm causing John to let out a stifled laugh. The relationship the father and daughter had was really quite something.

"Shut up!" Sherlock said through a whisper, ruffling Julia's hair to annoy her. She held her hands up defeat and set the mobile phone to silent.

Of course he doesn't. Good luck tomorrow. I will ensure your safety. MH

That patronising bastard…

She snapped her head up when John's phone started to blare its' ring tone – The number was withheld and she knew straight away that it was the murderer. It was too coincidental considering the text John had sent before. Her phone buzzed at the same time and her heart practically stopped, she recognised that pattern, it repeated again, and again, and again. The two men didn't notice Julia's expression and her shaky hands swiping the lock screen to view who was texting her.

Tranny. [Unknown}

{Incoming call – Withheld}

Then three seconds later.

You have a new voicemail!

She barely paid attention to the conversation that was going on in front of her. They'd gone a step further now. This was going to end painfully, she could tell. The call had been very brief. Maybe they had not meant to call her, maybe the voicemail message was empty. She slipped the phone into her back pocket after turning it off and held onto her desperate hope. Perhaps if her phone was turned off, they would give up. She noticed that Sherlock was no longer in the chair and halfway across the room fastening the buttons on his coat, John was still sitting comfortably but she knew straight away what was happening.

"Where are you going?" She asked, standing up and stretching her stiff joints.

"Angelo's. Unless you have forgotten that John and I are on a case." He answered sardonically. Julia ambled towards him and grabbed his arm, before he could leave the room, causing his breath to hitch. She knew that Sherlock never ate on a case, and she knew what street it was situated. They were going to sojourn directly into the path of a murderer which sounded much more fun that sitting at home.

"What about me?"

Her eyes gave everything away, they were big and susceptible to displaying emotion, be it through hurt, joy or wonder. She wanted to join him. He knew her by now, in fact this was the first case he had not allowed her on. Another reason why he needed a flat mate was so that Julia would not have her life risked almost every week. She was intelligent and deduced to an acceptable standard but she lacked physical strength and Sherlock was always very reluctant to bring her with him. He couldn't let anything harm one of his only pressure points.

"You can't come. I told you before."

"What do you mean I cannot come?" She protested, crossing her arms and leaning indignantly on the door frame. Her hair cascaded in front of her eyes as she tilted her head with a kicked puppy expression on her face. Sherlock narrowed his eyes and gritted his teeth in annoyance. He watched her hold her pathetic plead for a little while longer. It was very childish of her but it had worked before.

"I have John now."

He scanned his eyes across Julia's face for emotion when he saw that her smile had faltered. Her pupils dilated, her bottom lip trembled and her eyes glossed over. Her skin seemed to pale noticeably as well. The way her body went rigid and how her fists clenched against her side gave an indication of her feelings. – hurt. Why was she hurt? Sherlock could not understand. He had told her the truth, wasn't that a good thing? She took a moment and found her voice.

"So I was just there to keep you company? I didn't actually serve any relevance to the cases at hand?" She inhaled deeply and waited for her father respond. The room fell into a deafening silence and the atmosphere could be cut with a knife. When he stared at her emptily, unsure of the answer himself, Julia answered it for him. "No...I was just your baggage."

Sherlock shook his head at even the thought of that statement and placed his hand softly on her shoulder blade, the tension receded and she looked at him, still hurt but curious.

"You are more than that Julia. I simply need you to be safe." He assured through a very small, barely noticeable smile. It didn't take a genius for Julia to be capable of reading that he was talking genuinely. He removed his hand and glanced at John who returned the gaze briefly with uncertainty of how to behave. For the entire conversation he had sat there watching with great discomfort. A flash of doubt struck him whether or not it would be a good idea for him to intrude on their lives. He brought a finger to his bottom lip thoughtfully and tightened his grip on his cane. The scenes of Julia proudly deducing and Sherlock tickling her nose with a violin bow replaying in his mind reminded him that it wasn't always going to be like this. It made him chuckle slightly.

"You can always stay here and watched telly" Sherlock quipped with a smirk, raising his eyebrows, ignoring that Julia was fighting a smile. His human side was showing again. John looked up at him and he found that he was enjoying being around the two. They were polar opposites yet at the same time, very similar. Julia, it seems, was far more capable of understanding and acting on her emotions and feelings. Something that Sherlock was still inexperienced in.

"You want me to come with you?" John asked, already knowing what the answer to that question was.

"I do like company when I go out, and Julia could do with extra protection." He answered, wrapping his scarf around his neck and winking at Julia who grinned widely at the implication. She hugged her father dramatically and he rolled his eyes, patting her back awkwardly. He knew that if he kept Julia away, she would only follow in the end. She reminded him far too much of himself when he was younger in so many aspects. When she pulled away she was already running upstairs to her bedroom to get her coat. Sherlock could hear things being thrown around carelessly but thought nothing of it.

John stood up and hobbled towards the door to the landing, cane clanking. He wished he knew what would cause it to stop. He knew a long time ago that it was purely in his head that the pain was there. Sherlock looked at him up and down as though trying to make another deduction but he shook his head and listened for Julia.

"Does it run in the family?" John asked, noticing the look that the detective was giving him.

"Does what?" Sherlock asked him, his brows furrowing.

"That thing you do..."

Sherlock smiled and watched Julia come into view as she bounded down stairs. With her hair tied back loosely, she wore her favourite coat. It was almost identical to her fathers and it was striking how similar the two looked. She only ever wore it on cases. As much as she admired her father and all the work he did, she was against the idea of being looked upon as a miniature Sherlock. – She was her own person. The cases were simply an enjoyable hobby. She wanted to treasure her time as a child for as long as she could – there was still a deep innocence that existed inside her that she didn't want to lose too quickly. As she entered the room her blue eyes looked up at her father and her mouth twitched in that sly grin that she seemed to have Inherited..

"Yes, I believe it does." Her father answered, slipping his gloves on and leaving the flat with Julia and an amused John trailing behind him.

Sorry this was so late! I've been very ill lately and have been unable to get to my laptop for a while! D:

Sorry for any errors. I intend to correct any of them in in my previous chapters and edit a few of them once I recover, thank you for your patience!

Thank you to my new reviewer: RobustPhysics

They helped so much and I cant begin to say thank you for taking your time to write such detailed reviews! ^.^

Also thank you to anybody else who had reviewed and/favourited and followed this story.