Sherlock was none too pleased when John woke him every two hours that night. Nearly every time John had entered his room something had been thrown in his general direction, alarm clock, shoe, pillow. He had become used to ducking, Sherlock only finally stopped throwing things and let John help after he became nauseous from sitting up to quickly and vomited; luckily John was prepared and had a bucket ready. John wasn't too happy about having to set his alarm to wake him every two hours either, eventually Sherlock realized this and at around three in the morning there was no longer any need to duck when he entered his room. The whole night passed with no sleep and frustration, he started to wonder how they were going to solve this mess when neither of their minds functioned properly.

John wanted to swear at the sun when it rose two hours later, he wanted to tell it to sink lower and give him a few more hours, even just five more minutes. Sherlock had risen at five in the morning, John could hear him crashing around below as he made breakfast. He rolled onto his back and rubbed his eyes, the alarm buzzed obnoxiously and he felt like sinking to Sherlock's childish game and throwing something at it, he resisted the urge and after four attempts turned it off. After everything that had happened going to work seemed like the stupidest thing to do but it was a necessary evil. He climbed out of bed his head felt filled with wet cotton wool and his body protested to every movement. He seriously considered calling in sick. He was sick after all, sick of this stupid mess. After an internal debate John stumbled into the bathroom and ran a hot shower. He thought it would wake him up, he was wrong, it made him relaxed and even groggier, he switched the water to cold and shivered throughout the shower to keep him awake.

"I made coffee" Sherlock muttered as John walked into the severely damaged kitchen, the oven door had been shattered and there was glass everywhere, Sherlock had obviously not bothered to clean anything up, plaster dust and wood chippings covered the bench from the damaged cupboards and ceiling, Sherlock worked around it as usual. He muttered a 'thanks' in his direction. John wanted to say something about the case but he wasn't sure it would be appreciated.

"How are you feeling?" he asked, he wasn't expecting much of an answer but for lack of conversation it was the first question he thought of.

"Peachy" Sherlock replied, he finished his coffee and grabbed his phone from the bench.

"I'm going out" he said rushing from the kitchen. John stood and followed

"Sherlock it's seven in the morning" he stated

"We need to work on your deductions, they are rather weak" Sherlock said and in a flip of his coat he was gone.

"Damn it!" John yelled at the door, he had hoped Sherlock would stay home, he didn't want him out in the open, he didn't want to be sitting at work dreading a phone call from the police or Lestrade, he didn't realize why he had yelled at the door in anger. He felt as if he should be adding these outbursts of anger to a journal so he could show it to the therapist he obviously needed right now. He sighed and decided against breakfast that morning.

"How's Mary feeling?" Sarah asked, John walked past her not hearing anything she said. Sarah followed and repeated the question. The question confused John until he realized Mary must have rung in saying she was sick under Mycroft's orders.

"It's just the flu" he said with a fake smile.

"He's moving down St James avenue sir"

"Thank you that will do" with a wave of a hand Sharp was dismissed.

John had spent his night after work at the local pub sighing into a pint. Sherlock was God knows where doing God knows what. He hadn't had any call from the police or Lestrade saying something dreadful had happened to Sherlock, as he had dreaded the whole day. He hadn't even heard from Sherlock. John felt like he was experiencing Sherlock's friendship and lifestyle like a newbie again. Three and a half years had made John feel too comfortable; three and a half years had made Sherlock forget John was willing to help in his cases. Everything had gone back to square one. An uncomfortable friendship. John hated to think it but it had, and though John knew it was wrong to think it was Sherlock's fault, it was, and he freely thought that. It made him want to fix the friendship more; he was just helping Sherlock, making things right as always, so as much as John wanted to hate Sherlock for letting him grieve for three years he couldn't because natural instinct made him want to help him and fixing an awkward friendship after a three year gap wasn't an exception to that rule.

"Walker on the rocks please" a man next to him said in a gruff voice taking a seat next to him despite the empty bar stools to the left. John couldn't help but stare at the long puckered scar behind his left ear. The man cleared his throat and John looked deep into his glass, the man knew he was looking.

"Impressive isn't it" John looked up from his pint at the man. He looked older than John expected when he turned around to face him. The man's piercing blue eyes stared John dead in the eye waiting for an answer. What was he to say, yes?

"It's something" he muttered. The man chuckled, this was not the answer he expected apparently and it amused him. The bartender set the whiskey on the bar and the man finished it in one gulp.

"Another" he waved his hand at the bartender "Do you ever get the feeling you're being watched?" he said turning his blue eyes back to John. John tensed as the man slapped him on the back, John balled his hand into a fist and the man backed off.

"Violence will get you nowhere mate" the man's smile dropped off his face and John went back to staring at his half empty pint "especially when you get what's coming for you" the whole bar seemed to fill with tension, confusion and a tickle of fear crept through John, he turned to look at the man slowly but the tension snapped and the bars atmosphere returned to normal, the man laughed with the bartender as if he had never said a word to John. He felt claustrophobic all of sudden, as though the empty seats were filled with people pushing closer and closer to him. His grip tightened on the glass, he looked at the man and it made his skin crawl, he bolted from the bar the glass smashing on the tiles as he clumsily grabbed his coat and rushed for fresh air.

Violence will get you nowhere…especially when you get what's coming for you

John had to tell Sherlock. He had to get back to 221B, back to safety. As he walked John felt like every pair of eyes was on him, like they were all witness to what the man had said at the bar, as if they agreed he deserved what was coming for him, as if they wanted to help that happen. His pace picked up, he realized he was being paranoid but he couldn't help it. The wind picked up and he drew his coat closer to him to shield himself from the cold. A few drops of rain splattered on his hands and arms. The storm was approaching London faster than John had expected. Finally he reached the safety of 221B, he let out a breath he didn't know he was holding and ran up stairs hoping to find Sherlock and he wasn't disappointed. He noticed the windows had been boarded up and the room was slightly warmer that they had been yesterday night. Relief washed through him when he noticed Sherlock's scarf and coat thrown lazily over the sofa, the man himself was in the kitchen, the television was switched on, a news reporter standing on London Tower Bridge said something about the upcoming election both Sherlock and John had been ignoring.

"Shush" Sherlock said as soon as he entered the kitchen, he was bent over a Petri dish holding blue liquid surrounded by a dark yellow liquid, pipette in hand. John didn't even bother explaining he hadn't said anything. He ignored Sherlock's command and talked anyway, much to Sherlock's frustration.

"I just ran into someone I didn't know at the bar" he blurted out

"Running into unknown people at a public bar, how strange" Sherlock drawled sarcastically raising his eyebrows.

"I mean, they knew me, they said I was going to get what was coming for me, Sherlock they knew me and I have no idea who they were" John said the tension rising through his voice.

"Look at this" Sherlock had been ignoring him; he gritted his teeth in anger.

"Look at what?" he asked through gritted teeth. Sherlock waved him over. John saw on closer inspection that what was sitting in the Petri dish was surrounded by universal indicator, something he had dealt with many times at university "What am I looking at?"

"I swabbed the two purple scarves, the one found on the dead man, and the one on the bedside table in the guest house…"

"How did you know about that?" John asked. Memories from that night flashed through his mind, he had forgotten to tell Sherlock about the scarf Mary had pointed out the night before they had been showered with bullets.

Mary

"I found it sitting on the bedside table when I placed the key there, does it matter?" he asked. John shook his head; no it just reminded him how rusty he had become in those two years to forget to inform Sherlock.

"I found that the scarf contained the same chemical on them, even through the other scarf had been submerged in water a good eight hours, the chemical was still present, so it was water resistant."

"So what was the chemical?" John shrugged and took a seat opposite him.

"It's residue of a chemical used to make boats waterproof and there was another chemical but I haven't tested it properly yet" Sherlock looked up at John. The rain had started to fall in heavy showers now. It pelted against the roof making its presence known, warning London of the oncoming storm. "This is perfect, this means we need to find a factory somewhere in London that makes boats and find out what the connection is" excitement danced in Sherlock's eyes as he explained this to John. The fire behind his eyes he had missed so much, the sparkle of excitement filled him with hope.

"You still have the information from Will's wife right?" Sherlock asked waving his hand. John nodded; they were upstairs on his bedside table waiting to be read. The sparkle of excitement grew,

"Get them and bring them down here, we have to read over Will's documents and information, see if we can find a connection somewhere, a scarlet thread we can follow" John didn't know what that meant but he didn't question it. That the night the two sat at the kitchen bench as the rain poured over London, the fire kept the them warm as well as the numerous cups of tea and coffee, they read over Will's document's John had collected from the man's wife. Sherlock babbled away and John listened and followed and the two made connections, they made a plan. John forgot about the man at the bar, he forgot about his thoughts at the bar. He slipped into contentment as Sherlock explained and pointed to various words in the file. For the first time in three and a half years John and Sherlock shared a case.

Somewhere in London a man stood bent over another man in a leaking shack, a gun held steady in his cold numb hand, tears ran down his cheeks, he had lost a friend only days ago, they had killed him because he had attempted to warn the enemy, now he was going to kill them. The man laughed at him, mocking him, "do it" he teased "do it", there was a crack of a bullet. The gun clattered to the floor and he followed, crumpling in a sorry heap. Blood poured from an open wound in his back, the man he had stood over darted out of the way as he fell before tutting and whispering close in his ear.

"No more men should have died tonight"

The man looked up, his eyes foggy with oncoming death but he still saw the scar that ran under his left ear, after weeks of being held hostage Peter was no longer needed, Peter had rebelled and Peter was killed just as William had been. His gold signature bracelet flashed in the light as the man stood up and left him to die. The two men dressed in classy suits and purple scarves now stained with blood slammed the door as lightening lit up the sky.

Thank you for reading, I hope you are enjoying it!

Still many more chapters and mysteries to be revealed so stay tuned.