To all the people who waited for this chapter, Thank you and I'm sorry it took so long. I promise it won't happen again. Enjoy!

Chapter XXI

"You didn't have to pay, you know." Ariel said as they drove along in a cab. Sherlock turned to her and raised an eyebrow at her.

"Why not? I understand that social protocol requires that the man to pay for a shared meal." Sherlock said. Ariel felt her cheeks go a light shade of pink.
"That is a purely circumstantial protocol." Ariel said, turning to look out the window and hopefully not show Sherlock her blushing face.

Her mind raced through all the possible responses to that statement and just had time to dread one question, when Sherlock asked the very question she was scared he'd ask.

"And what would be the circumstances for such protocol?"
Ariel felt a lump in her throat and tried to swallow it. Why was he asking? Did he know what the answer would be? Did he want to embarrass her? She realized Sherlock was probably just asking an innocent question and honestly didn't know the answer. She took a deep breath before answering.

"The circumstances in which a man would pay for his and a woman's meal in normal social protocol is when there is a romantic link between the two of them." Ariel said plainly and then held her breath for his response.
"Oh." Was all Sherlock said. An awkward silence fell upon them in the back of the cab and Ariel wish for nothing more then to have it broken by something, anything.

"Your offended. You think that because I paid, I must have a romantic attachment to you." Sherlock said in a low voice. It sounded almost... sorry.
"No, I don't think that." Ariel said, whipping her head around to look at Sherlock. "I just don't want people getting the wrong impression."
"You honestly care about what other people think?" Sherlock ask, seeming surprised.

"Only because I don't want your life or mine to be any harder then it already is because of what they think." She said, just above a whisper. She stole a glance at Sherlock. He look genuinely distressed. Purely out of instinct, Ariel reach out and grabbed his hand, gently stroking it. His face turned from distressed to confusion.

"I'm sorry." Ariel said, with drawing her hand and going back to staring out the window. Sherlock looked over at her, studying her, trying to figure out what had just happened.
"Why are you sorry? You didn't do anything wrong. " Sherlock asked. Ariel was messing with his brain, making it impossible to think straight.

"I'm sorry because I didn't think about the consequences of my action, I just did it. And it bothered you." Ariel said, sheepishly turning towards Sherlock but keeping her eyes downcast.
"It didn't bother me." Sherlock said, cocking his head. He was throughly confused by Ariel now. Ariel just gaped at him. Finally, she realized her jaw was hanging open, so she shut it and turned back to the window.

"Alright then." She said, and they rode on in silence. Sherlock sat there trying to figure out what he should do. Clearly there was something wrong, but what and why were what he didn't understand. Why was Ariel acting so strange all of a sudden? Sherlock had several theories, but each one was more improbable then the last. Finally, he gave up and resigned himself with trying to figure out what might have caused the explosion earlier.

Ariel was staring out of the cab, trying to get as far away from Sherlock as possible. Why had she done that? Why was she so emotional over him? He made her brain hurt from the numerous feelings she had. She cursed him before deciding there was nothing she could do about it now, and she tried to regain her composure.

She looked at Sherlock out of the corner of her eye. He seemed to be deep in his mind palace, thinking. Good. At least he won't question me. Ariel thought as she waited for the cab to pull up to 221b.

XXXXXXXX

The hours of the afternoon ticked by slowly, torturously, as Sherlock went back to his experiments and Ariel was left with little to do. She had already cleaned the flat top to bottom over the last few days and she was caught up with every news piece, email and piece of paperwork that had come out in the last month.

She found herself doing the few dishes from breakfast in the kitchen while Sherlock had disappeared into his room, mumbling something about accelerating decomposition. Ariel really didn't want to know. As she scrubbed at the cutlery she had used that morning, Sherlock flung the door to his room open, barreling out and running past Ariel for the sitting room. She poked her head out cautiously to watch him as he flung himself all around the room, searching for something.

"What are you looking for?" Ariel asked, disappointed that Sherlock couldn't even keep the flat clean for twenty four hours.
"Where did you put it?" Sherlock called over his shoulder as he rummaged through one of the draws in the desk.

"Put what?" Ariel asked, stepping out into the living room. Sherlock had now moved on to pulling out every book from the library.
"It! You know, the thing!" He said as he yanked out the books. Ariel cringed as he let the stack he was holding on to fall to the ground.

"Sherlock! Stop it!" Ariel pleaded as she walked over to the madman and grabbed one of his wrists. She forced him to turn away from the bookshelf and look at her.
"Now tell me, what are you looking for?" She said quietly, a gentle tone to her voice that Sherlock hadn't heard before.

"I'm looking for my lighter. I always have a lighter around." Sherlock said, a wild look in his eye. Ariel's mind flashed back to a text she had gotten from John and a promise she had made.

"Don't let him get a hold of any cigarettes. -JW"

"Don't worry. No cigarettes for him. -AH"

Ariel wondered if now was one of those times when she would have to fight with Sherlock for his own good. She swallowed hard.
"I chucked it in the bin." Ariel lied, praying it would work. Sherlock stared blankly at her for a moment.

"You and I both know that's not true, but you obviously felt compelled to lie to me, so why did you..." Sherlock trailed off as he looked Ariel over again as she dropped her grip on his wrist. She felt absolutely naked in front of him, wondering just how far he'd delve. Sherlocks expression turned from one of curiosity to one of near rage.

"You can't honestly believe I'm going to use it for cigarettes?" He asked in a dangerously quiet voice. Ariel knew very well that the particular tone he was using was one used just before he blew up. Ariel cautiously opened her mouth.

"Only because I promised John I wouldn't let you smoke, and he'll kill me if I let you." Ariel said, sounding more confident then she felt. Sherlock looked her over one more time, then seemed to relax. He let out a deep sigh.

"While I..." Sherlock seemed to trip over the word he was trying to use. "...appreciate your concern, I need the lighter for an experiment which involves the rate a which different oils burn and how they burn human flesh." He said, standing straight and looking down on Ariel.

There wasn't such a big height difference between the two of them, but it was just enough to make Ariel feel small. With a nod, Ariel ducked over to the fireplace and pulled out the lighter from a little wooden box on the mantle.

"You know," Ariel said, walking back to Sherlock and placing it in his hand, "that I never touched it? It's been there the whole time." Ariel smirked at the flash of red that past over Sherlocks face as he stared with anger and embarrassment. Ariel had little time to enjoy it though, because at that moment her phone rang. She reached into her pocket and checked it as Sherlock made his way back to the kitchen. Her face paled at the number on the display.

"Sherlock." She called out as she headed to the stairs up to Johns room. "I've gotta take this. If you need me, I'll be upstairs." Ariel heard Sherlock mumble something as she hit the bottom step and tried her hardest not to run. She quickly dashed into Johns room and closed the door behind her as she answered the phone.

"Hello?" She said, a little out of breath into the phone.
"Hello, Mrs. Hunt. I hope you have good news for me." The now familiar male voice said on the other end of the phone.
"Yes sir." Ariel said. There was a moment of silence.
"Well?" The voice asked, obviously annoyed.

"Sorry sir. Everything's going according to plan." Ariel said into the phone.
"Excellent. Keep up the good work and there might be a substantial raise in your pay." The mans voice sounded pleased.
"Thank you sir." Ariel managed before the line went dead. Ariel slumped against the wall, tears threatening her eyes.

She didn't know how much longer she could keep this up. Sooner or later, Sherlock was going to find out and she had no idea what he would do to her when he did. The weight on her shoulders was getting heavier each day, and one day she knew she wouldn't be strong enough to carry it. Ariel dropped to the floor. What am I going to do? She asked herself. She couldn't just stop working for this man, surely he'd kill her or worse... But at the same time she couldn't tell Sherlock. Ariel let out a heavy sigh. Ariel looked up as the door flung open and Sherlock came barging in.

"Oi! Knock first next time." Ariel yelled, scrambling to her feet. Sherlock rolled his eyes.
"Right. There'll be time for manners later. Right now there's a case!" He said excitedly, spinning out of the room with Ariel in tow.

"What case?" She asked as they tumbled down the stairs. Sherlock didn't answer. He was already in his coat and headed down the stairs to Baker Street. Ariel hurriedly grabbed her coat and chased after him.
"Sherlock!" She yelled, out of breath as she caught up with him and grabbed his wrist. "What case?"

Sherlock raised an eyebrow at her, silently asking if she really could be such an idiot. Realization dawned on Ariel.
"The bomb?" She asked as Sherlock slipped out of her grip and hailed a taxi.
"Yes. But we're going to investigate something else." Sherlock said, sounding excited as he held the door to the cab open as Ariel climbed in. Sherlock climbed in after her and gave the driver the address to the restaurant they had been at earlier.

When they arrived, Sherlock hopped out and basically ran to the yellow police tape with a half dozen officers standing behind it. She sighed and paid off the cabbie. She then wandered over to Sherlock, who was already trying to get into the building but his path was being blocked by Sergeant Donovan. Ariel walked within earshot just in time to hear.

"Forget it freak, I'm not letting you in." Donovan said, disgust lancing trough each word.
"Sally, your boss wants me, wether you like it or not. Now let me in." Sherlock said in his dangerously calm voice. Ariel stepped up behind him.
"And who might you be?" Donovan said to Ariel. Lestrade appeared before Ariel could answer.

"Good, you're here. This way." He said curtly. Sherlock shoved past Donovan with a smirk.
"Where's the body?" Sherlock asked when they were inside.
"Well, that's the thing." Lestrade said. "It's a bit more then just a body."

Well, what did you think? Love it? Hate it? Mad it took me so long to write? (I know, but I had the worst case of writers block ever.) Leave a review! Please!