Hey guys, sorry about the almost one month late update. ^^; Anyways, here's the new chapter. I'll be updating the next chapter before the weekend. To all of my American readers, Happy early Fourth of July!

Now onto the story!

After Zoe pays the driver, she goes up to the country club that Sherlock text the address. Walking up the steps, she says to herself, "Where is he?"

She sees him waiting at the door, walking up to him; "Alright I'm here. Mind telling me why I'm here with a dress I'm not likely to wear anytime soon?"

"Go change into the dress. You've got 10 minutes." Sherlock orders her.

Zoe gives him a weird look, but still goes do what he says. She comes out in 8 minutes later with the dress on. It fits her like a glove, completing the look with the necklace from Mycroft and black flats. Tugging on the dress to make it go lower, she says, "I feel like an idiot. Tell me why I'm here again?"

"You look fine if you'd stop tugging on the dress." Sherlock tells her.

Giving him a glare, "Didn't answer me. Why am I here?"

"Told you, I needed help."

Zoe sighs, knowing that's all she's going to get. "Okay, fine. What's the plan?"

"We act like a couple." Telling her the plan.

Zoe groans internally. "Okay, so we act as a 'couple', then what?"

"Then I get the info I need and we go. Luckily for you this has to deal with Moran and his 'boss'."

Zoe is interested really fast. "How?"

"Heard through the homeless network the 'boss' might be here, want to catch a glimpse of him."

"Okay, how do you want to play this out exactly?" Still unsure about playing a 'couple'. "You know, with this whole 'couple' thing?"

Sherlock takes Zoe's hand. "Follow me."

She follows him inside. He takes the backpack that has her clothes in it and put it in a 'safe place' near the entrance. They walk up to the desk where there is a receptionist.

"Name?" The woman behind the desk asks.

Zoe is about to reply, but Sherlock beats her to it.

"Mr. and Mrs. Jameson."

Zoe fakes a polite smile and the receptionist buys the lie.

"Go in."

He leads her into a wide reception room, they take notice of everyone dress formally.

Seeing this as an opportunity, Zoe hisses at him in a low voice, "Mr. and Mrs. Jameson? Why couldn't I use a different fake name?"

"Dull. Besides, this way no one will question the bickering."

Zoe ignores his explanation and looks at the couples that are near them. Still having the fake smile on whenever someone passes by them, she tells him; "Oh look, he's cheating on his business partner and sleeping with said partner's wife." She comments to him subtly when she sees a business man walk by them, talking on his cell.

" No, no. Not the partner's wife. He's sleeping with the partner." He corrects her.

"Oh yeah, missed the button on his jacket. But still-", She sees a couple walking to them across the room.

Then she hisses at him again, "If we're 'married'" She says with distaste, "I have no ring."

He reaches into his inner jacket pocket and pulls one out, and then he discreetly slips it on her hand in time. He retakes her hand into his. The couple finally reaches them.

" 'ello." The woman says to them.

"Hello, I'm Kate Jameson." Zoe lies and says politely and puts her free hand on Sherlock's arm.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Ada Stark." The woman tells them.

"And her husband Owen." The man besides Ada says.

Zoe nudges Sherlock secretly to mention his name, since he hasn't yet.

"Lovely to meet you." He says, putting on an act. "I'm Josh Jameson and my wife. Wonderful party; no?"

"It's wonderful, yes. Is this your first time here?" Ada asks them. "I've never seen you here before."

"Yes it just so happens." 'Josh' answers her. "But we do like it, don't we Katie dear?"

'Katie dear'? Please don't say that he's going to use pet names for me. Zoe begs inside her head. She says sweetly like a new bride and smiles even more, "Oh, I'm really falling in love with this place. It was a very good idea to come here sweetie."

" Well wonderful! Just brilliant. So is there anyone you might know? Can we introduce you to some people?" Owen offers.

Zoe looks to Sherlock, to see if this is a way he wants to do it.

"Well, there was one I knew of….blast it all I can't remember his name though. Can you Katie?" Sherlock asks her.

Zoe pretends to think, " No- wait. It started with an 'M'."

"Well, let me see. 'M'…. well we have Mr. McKormick, Matherson, March, Moriarty, Madison, and McNeal." Ada provides. "Do any of those ring a bell?"

Zoe feels Sherlock tightening his grip on her hand that he is holding when Ada mentions Moriarty.

Continuing to act, Sherlock says "Hmm, no not….wait a tick. Did you say Moriarty? Yes, why by jove I think that's the one. Wasn't it pumpkin?"

Zoe internally cringes at the pet name and gag at the same time. "Yes, I think it is Moriarty. Can you point him out to us?"

"Of course, he is right over there." Owen points him out. "James Moriarty, fine bloke."

Sherlock and Zoe turn and see him over on the other side of the room. Zoe feels her stomach drop.

"Ah yes, Jimmy boy." Owen says to them.

Zoe can't speak at all; she feels her mouth going dry. How could she not see it the first time? She looks away from Moriarty.

"You alright Kate?" Owen asks Zoe, seeing her distress.

Zoe slips back into character and says, "Yes, I'm fine."

"Did you want to meet him?" Ada asks them.

Saying at the same time, "No." "Yes."

Sherlock and Zoe look at each other.

"Kate, why don't we get a drink? The boys can go see Jim." Ada tells her.

"Remember to play nice with the other kids Josh." Zoe fake teases Sherlock.

He smirks at her. Zoe lets go of him and follows Ada to the bar, while Owen and Sherlock head for Jim.

Ada and Zoe leads her across the room, through the crowds. There are glass windows along the walls to see the lawn that stretches out. It would look beautiful during the spring.

"Right this way Josh." Owen tells him.

Sherlock doesn't say anything and follows Owen to meet Jim. They finally get to Moriarty. Jim rolls his eyes, but smiles at them.

"Owen," Jim greets him. "Good to see you. Is Ada here?"

"Yes, she is. She's with Kate Jameson. Josh's," He motions to Sherlock. "Wife."

"Ah, hello there. Josh…. "Jim hides a laugh at the name. "didn't think you'd be here. Good of you to come around."

Sherlock fakes a smile and shakes Jim's hand.

"What no hello Josh? No, 'how's it going mate?'" Jim smiles at him.

Sherlock smiles back, but continues to act. "Oh, I'm sorry. That was very rude of me. What do you do for a living?"

Jim gives him a wicked smile, "I think you remember Josh…don't you?"

Owen feels confused and lost at the conversation the two men are having. "I'm going to make sure that the girls are okay."

After he leaves, Sherlock turns to 'Jim'. "Oh, I remember what you do- Moriarty."

He chuckles, "Oh good. Thought you were getting a little mental there. Good to see you Sherlock, but seeing as this is a party...you're ruining it."

"Really?", Sherlock drops the act and questions him. "Didn't think you were one for social event like this. Isn't it a bit dull for you?"

"Oh yeah, extremely so. But the fun of it comes once they realize what I put in the drinks." Moriarty winks at Sherlock. "Not long now till the panic and fun begins."

Sherlock clenches his jaw. Meanwhile, Zoe is idling chatting with Ada. She keeps an eye on things, making sure that Moriarty doesn't see her face, but can still be able to see them. Ada then asks Zoe what she wants to drink.

"Oh, nothing for me thanks. Got to work later on." Zoe declines.

"Oh c'mon now. They've got lovely drinks here. How about a little champagne or a martini?" Ada tires to convince her.

"Really sorry Ada, but Josh is going to take me out tonight somewhere romantic. Wouldn't do me any good if I'm drunk." Zoe tells her.

"Aww, isn't that wonderful?" Ada sighs. "So romantic, your husband is. Owen hardly takes me out to, the lazy lump."

Zoe looks over her to do a quick 'read'. She's been seeing someone at the club. She feels sorry for her, even if she is lying through her teeth to help the Consulting Detective.

"Yeah…..I'm one lucky girl." Zoe tells her.

She smiles at her. "Sure are. So, how did you and Josh meet? You're American right?"

Zoe remembers what her dad told her about when people lie- alwaysbe specific when you lie. "I meet him on a business trip in New York."

"Sounds romantic."

Zoe fakes a laugh, "Yeah, it was."

Sherlock comes up besides her. Zoe turns to him and ask, "What is it Josh?"

He leans down to her ear and whispers "Don't drink anything. Moriarty did something to the drinks."

Zoe glances around the room. The affects are already starting, Ada starts to cough.

"Ada, you okay?" Zoe asks, making sure that she keeps her voice calm.

She continues to cough and shakes her head.

Going on a hunch, Zoe takes the glass from Ada and runs her finger around the rim. It's coated.

"Oh God….Ada how much did you have of this?"

"Couple of sips." She says through her coughing.

She puts the glass down on the bar counter. All around them, they hear other people start coughing. Zoe feels her medic side kicking in, from being in the hospital and the talks she had with her mom; kick in. She jumps over the counter, not caring about her being undercover.

She goes to the bartender and asks, "How many people did you serve?"

"At least half a dozen." He replies.

Zoe runs back to Ada, still behind the counter, "What did you have?"

She coughs, but still answers. "Gin and tonic."

"I need you to breath for me Ada, deep breaths." Zoe encourages her.

She ducks behind the counter and find the drinks. Zoe pours them into a mini bottle. She feels Sherlock watching her. But she's wondering why hasn't he done anything to help them.

Zoe pops back up with the bottle and looks at him, "Please tell me that you called for help."

"John and Maddy are on their way." He tells her.

"What? No, they shouldn't be here." Zoe tells him.

"Too late." He points to where John and Maddy come in.

Zoe sighs.

"Oh this is not good. Maddy, call Lastrade. We need to get this place quarantine." John says after looking around them. She nods and makes the call. He covers his face with his jacket. He walks over to Sherlock and Zoe by the bar.

"Why did you call me here?" He hisses at the detective.

"Needed a doctor." Sherlock plainly tells him.

"But Maddy as well?"

He shrugs, "She was bound to tag along, your girlfriend."

John huffs and goes to Ada to assist her. He then turns his attention to his friends. "Go alert security to block this off. We need to contain this."

They do as he says. Then Maddy goes to Sherlock and Zoe.

"Who was it? Who did this?"

"Moriarty." Sherlock tells her.

They hear the sirens outside, signaling that the police are outside.

"Whose that?" Maddy asks. They stand aside as Lestrade and his team go in the room.

Zoe keeps silent, clenching the bottle still in her hand. Maddy then sees her friend in the dress that she got for her birthday.

"….okay well John and I….or just me….I am extremely confused. One- why are you wearing that? Two- who did this?"

The questions snap Zoe into focus. "His idea to get into this place, and secondly; Moriarty did. He's Moran's boss."

Maddy looks to Sherlock. "Right." Then she looks back to Zoe, "So this Moriarty bloke is Moran's boss. Do we arrest him or what?"

"Useless now. He's gone." He snaps at her.

She sighs, "Well, that was a bust. So, what was the plan here Holmes? Find Moran's boss and have a nice little chat and then let him swan off? Brilliant you are, really."

"Nice to know that you have your priorities in order. Find the cure for those being poison." He tells her.

She glares at him and goes to see if she can help John. Mumbling as she walks by him, "Idiot."

Zoe then sighs. "Just had to push her, didn't you?"

She hands him the bottle and slips the ring off her hand and puts it into her outer suite pocket secretly.

He shrugs. "Well I was right wasn't I? People have been poisoned and she thinks about arresting the man responsible first. What if people die, then what?"

Fighting the urge to head slap him, Zoe responds. "She's scared. Finding out there's another psycho out there, it unnerves her." Then she says quietly, but he still hears her. "I'm scared as well." Then says to him normally, "Better start on that antidote."

She leaves him and goes to find her bag and changes. They all go to the hospital where the people have been taken to. The girls follow the boys into the lab.

"Let's see what he put in the drinks." John says.

He takes the bottle and gives it to Sherlock. They make the antidote, and then they give it to the doctors. Finally, they head back to Baker Street.

After walking into the sitting room, John runs his hand over his face. "Well, this has been eventful."

Zoe smiles a little. We hear Mrs. Hudson letting Gladstone come in. Not even a minute later, the clouds pour down and it thunders and lightening.

"Brilliant, just what we need to on our way back to campus." Maddy says.

"Perfect. Even the weather agrees with us." Zoe says dryly, agreeing with her.

"If you don't like it, stay here." Sherlock tells them.

Zoe looks out the window. "Hate to agree with you, but we should stay. It's going to get bad; you should turn off the lights. It's going to go out in about….3 minutes."

John lights the fire and brings blankets into the sitting room. He then goes to the fuse box and turns it off. They all get settled in. Zoe puts her bag down by the doorway and lies on the ground with her feet on the desk chair. Gladstone come over and leis down next to her. Maddy and John sit by the fireplace on top of some of the blankets. Sherlock goes and lies down on the couch. 3 minutes later the lights go out.

John and Maddy start talking. Zoe smiles at them and scratches Gladstone's ear. After awhile, Gladstone gets up and goes to Sherlock. Zoe listens to the storm outside, it's going to last all night.

Maddy leans against John and they fall asleep later on.

Zoe then gets up and sits in John's seat, Sherlock goes and sits in his. It's still raining outside, but not as hard like earlier.

Sherlock brings up what he heard from earlier that day. "So, you're scared huh?"

Zoe glances over at him, and admits; "I'm really out of my depth here."

He raises a brow.

She explains. "Guns, my dad's deployment, camping, tests, exams, moving to a new place; those I can handle without a problem. But to have a killer come after your friend….it's just too much to think about."

Sherlock looks at John. "I know how it is…..but you get used to it."

"That's what I'm afraid of." She confesses. "That I would get used to it and forget what's like to be human." Zoe looks at Maddy and remembers their conversation. It seems like a life time ago when it happened. "Maddy asked me how I keep sane, I told her by hanging around with 'normal people'. I have few friends, fewer than those I can actually be myself. When I moved to a new school; it's hard to make new friends. But it's even harder to trust those without hiding what we do; seeing everything that everyone else misses."

"Well, lucky for you and me we found people like John and Maddy, people who care about us instead of what we can do."

Zoe nods in agreement.

"I think this was the best decision I made. I could've stayed in Houston and finished school over there."

"Why didn't you?" Sherlock asks.

Zoe smiles wryly. "Dad talked about his deployment. Even if he was fighting; he said that the culture was amazing. He told me; if I wanted to, I could travel. But not through the military, I wanted to see other countries as well and I thought of the abroad program back home. Mom wasn't happy when I told her about it. But she eventually agreed with it."

Sherlock then nods, understanding her move to the UK.

Zoe asks the major question, since she met him. "Why text me all those times? I'm sure John was around so you can bounce ideas off of him, or at least Gladstone." She nods to the dog who was sitting next to his chair.

"John is so dull and thick at times. I say something and he give me this look as if I have two heads. I need someone to talk to who understands my brilliance." He tells her.

Zoe scoffs. "I'm far from that. Just keeping up with you is like keeping up with back to back tests from Brook."

He smirks, "But you mange it perfectly."

Lightning flashes brightly and thunders, the windows shake a little from it. Zoe winces from the sound. She looks up to the ceiling, "Guess this is going to last all night."

"Most likely, should get some sleep. They've already checked out." He nods to Maddy and John.

Zoe smirks, "Yup, but I don't sleep during storms. They keep me up.

"Why's that?" He asks curiously.

"You know, even my parents don't know. Little storms I can; but big ones like these- they just keep me up. And here's the weird part: I don't feel sleepy the next day."

"Well then, guess it will be me and you pulling an all nighter." He informs her.

Zoe groans, he smirks at her reaction. Looking around the area, she sees a violin sitting on the desk table. "Can you really play?"

He looks at it as well and nods when he turns his attention back at her.

Suddenly, he gets up and kneels in front of Zoe. He takes her wrist; she raises her brow at the action.

"What are you doing?" She does the same thing to him. Zoe really does know what he's doing, it's the same thing that her mom does when she works in pediatrics, when she has to take the patient's pulse when they don't want to.

"Heartbeat like a jackrabbit." He says out loud.

"You're in my personal space. Of course it's going to go up." She says the obvious. "Strange, yours is going up too. But at a slow rate."

He shrugs and watches her. She watches him in return. He still hasn't let go of her wrist.

"Going to let me go anytime soon?"

"Now why would I do that?"

"You already took my pulse. What else do you want?"

Zoe takes a minute to run that through her head, she realize what she just said. 'Aw, man! That sounded so wrong.'

He smirks at her.

"Shut up Holmes. But seriously, you can let go now."

He does, but doesn't move away. She lets him go as well and rubs her wrist. He sits back a bit on the floor.

Zoe leans back in the chair. "You're that bored you had to check my pulse?"

"Wanted to see the affect I have on you."

"And your conclusion?"

"I make you nervous like a high school girl around her crush."

Zoe blinks at him and starts to laugh, but have to keep it down. "Wow, you really are full of yourself! I never really had a boyfriend during school. Sure I went out a couple of times, but stop since I always moved. That and they always lied."

"But you're not in high school anymore and I'm not some teenager." He counters. "Do you think I would lie to you?"

"You lie to John and to the police force. Don't think I haven't noticed you using the pathologist at the hospital." Zoe shoots back at him.

"I don't lie to John." Sherlock corrects her.

"Okay, but you didn't deny about manipulating the hospital or the police force."

He shrugs.

"Uh-huh. Yeah, that's what I thought."

He smirks at her. Zoe shakes her head.

Wanting to move from this uncomfortable subject, she asks; "Why are you going to stay up all night? I've got a reason to. Why are you?"

"I don't sleep too often." He states.

She nods in understanding. "How did you get Gladstone?"

"Found him wandering the streets." He answers.

Zoe grins. "Picking up strays before John?"

"John isn't a stray. Honestly the way you talk about your mate's boyfriend." Sherlock chides her.

"It was a joke. But John- wait, did you just say Maddy's boyfriend?" Zoe replies.

"…..you heard me."

She smiles at him. But then decides to pay him back for the 'school girl' comment. Zoe slides down from the chair and gets close to his personal space.

"What are you doing?" Sherlock questions her.

She tilts her head at him. "Really bored right now." She takes his wrist like they did earlier. Zoe keeps count of his heart rate, it's going up.

"What do you suggest we do about that?" He asks.

Pretending to think, she say; "I don't know. I'm sure I can ask for help on that. Know anyone?"

"Well, there's me." He answers her.

He takes her wrist again. Zoe makes sure that her heartbeat is steady.

"And what does the Consulting Detective say?"

He leans forward. " Anything. Could be talking or not talking. I prefer to shoot at the wall, but that would wake the couple."

The rain slows down, Zoe leans forward as well. Seeing how far she can push him.

"Anything?" She asks.

"Anything."

Yes, I know I'm evil to leave it like that! But I will update again soon, don't worry. We haven't forgotten about this story! :)

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