Chapter 14

"Mrs Hudson, I'm home!" Sherlock's voice rang out through the hall way "Put the kettle on, would you?" Sherlock shrugged off his usual heavy winter coat and hung it on the coat rack that was now riddled with an assortment of jackets of a range of sizes. He leapt up the stairs in long strides, finally reaching the top and slamming the door open. Sherlock coughed and then drew himself up to his full height.

His normally beautiful flat had been stripped of all the things he held dear to his heart and replaced with a stranger's possessions. There were enough toys littered on the floors, chairs and pretty much most of the stable surfaces in the flat to fill Hamley's easily enough. Mrs Hudson appeared behind Sherlock, evidently anxious from the fact that she was playing with her shirt sleeve. "Oh, Sherlock dear. I didn't know you were coming back. I-" He cut her off abruptly. "Obviously not, otherwise you would have put my flat back to normal." A small brown-haired man who had previously been watching TV on the sofa, had now stood up but was still significantly shorter than Sherlock. "Excuse me," He started politely "But is there a problem?" He looked straight at Sherlock. "Oh do shut up and go back to watching your mediocre talent show," Sherlock rolled his eyes. "Seeing as your intellect is so dangerously low, why don't you let the adults finish then maybe if Mrs Hudson is bothered, she can break it down into bite-size pieces for you alright?" Sherlock turned back to his landlady, ready to continue when the man said "Would you mind not-" Sherlock didn't let him ramble on. "Yes, I would mind." He returned to Mrs Hudson again. "Where have you put all of my things?" Sherlock asked slowly "No wait. Silly question. It's in 221a. But where is John and his stuff?" Sherlock muttered mostly to himself. "John moved out about 3 weeks ago. But he said he would be back but he doesn't know when, in fact he suggested that I rent the place out himself." Sherlock cocked his head to the side. "And Esme? Do have any clue where she is?" Sherlock was starting to become slightly confused. "No idea, love. I haven't seen her since around the time when John left." Sherlock arched his right eyebrow in thought."

"Well, I'm going out for a bit." Sherlock turned to look at the man. "I do hope you've sorted out where these people are going to be sleeping tonight. It's still dreadfully cold on the streets." Then Sherlock exited with a overly dramatic swish of his coat.

...

Sherlock lifted up the plant pot where Esme kept a spare key for emergency purposes. "Well, this is sort of an emergency." Sherlock thought to himself. He used it to discreetly open her front door, knowing that picking it would have been too obvious. Sherlock's eyes scanned Esme's front room critically, noting down the subtle differences in it's appearance from the last time he had visited months ago. Men's jumpers were now hung casually over the sides of her sofa, masculine shoes many sizes too large for Esme now sat proudly next to her's, an extra empty mug of unsweetened tea sat abandoned on the coffee table, there were more dirty plates in the sink than one woman only could use and the list just went on and on. But there was one thing that was bothering Sherlock profusely. None of these items belonged to him, but to his best friend John Watson. He didn't need to go upstairs to see what he could find, because he knew it.

And it chilled him to the core.

"How long do you think we're gonna be there for?" John's voice rang out from absolutely nowhere. Sherlock quickly spun around, eyes darting around the room before he realized that they was nobody there. This was a recording and apparently from the fuzziness of the sound, one taken in secret. However, the voices were still audible enough to be easily heard. "I don't know? 2 years?" Esme's calm voice sang out as clear as day. "I just need to..." She hesitated. "Get away from Sherlock." Sherlock held his breath as he listened to his girlfriend's words. "I know." John said, and then the recording beeped indicating the end. Another beep sounded as the recording started again from the beginning. "Shut up." Sherlock said quietly. The voices continued in the background, mocking him cruelly. "I said, SHUT UP!" Sherlock looked frantic, running his hands through his already messy hair. "STOP IT. TURN IT OFF NOW!" He bellowed, his words echoing ghostly throughout the rooms. The sounds stopped abruptly and the house fell deathly silent. "I don't believe this fairy-tale Moriarty." Sherlock muttered softly, shaking his head from side to side doubt. "Really?" Sherlock sounded like he was on the verge on manic laughter. "The girl runs away with her boyfriend's best friend? You could have at least been original." He continued talking, at no-one in particular. "I do hope you haven't harmed her because all actions will have repercussions." He raised his eyebrows quickly "Wherever they are and wherever you are," His voice lowered into a eerie whisper "I'm coming there." Sherlock cocked his head to the side.

"Then I will make you regret the day you started playing games with my friends."

...

Sherlock took deep breaths as he sat in the rear of the cab, on his way back to Baker Street. He pondered quietly over the surge of information that he had received in the last hour. Esme and John? Never. He had only been gone for a month! He hadn't noticed anything between them before but now that he thought about it, John had always been friendly towards her. Too friendly perhaps? But Esme wasn't the type to cheat. Was she? He himself had only been dating her six months. Sherlock coughed and then recollected his thoughts.

"I mustn't allow myself to doubt. Esme and John are in trouble and I mustn't allow Moriarty's stories to cloud my judgement."

"They would not betray me."

"They know better than that."

Sherlock took out his phone and logged into his website. He scrolled through to the forum and click post.

I'm getting lonely. Stop playing games with others and come and play with me. Tonight. At the warehouse in Addington, you know the one.

Don't be late - SH.

...

Again Thanks to EVERYBODY WHO REVIEWED:

Hannah Friends
Thank you Hannah ;) Your review was very kind and I'm sure the people at the BBC are reading it too LOOOL Hope you enjoyed Chapter 14 :)

Trulzxoxo
I know what you mean, sometimes I feel like I'm putting Esme through too much but... ah well. This is Sherlock, we're talking about here! He going to put any girlfriend of his through a lot of hardship :P

Bookworm4000
I know! Irene is amazing but I'm trying not to spoil anything for any american readers (I know you're out there :) or other foreign readers... but the Reichenbach falls was E.P.I.C !

Gwilwillith
*Taps side of nose* Mycroft is a sneaky little bugger, isn't he?

sashaxh
Awww, don't get too mad at Sherly, He doesn't do it intentionally! In fact, I think he's mainly trying to protect Esme but his plan has backfired... horribly. Don't worry, Esme will get her own back soon enough :)

Vilentiel

I'm updating as fast as I humanly can! :)

Can I just make a quick request that all of my British readers or anyone who has watched Series 2, NOT to post any spoilers in their reviews? It's not very fair on everyone else ;)

Thanks for readers and remember reviews are even better than milk and cookies ;)