Disclaimer: I do not own Sherlock (the show, the original works or anything affiliated with Sherlock Holmes) or any of the characters. I only own my OCs Ana and Blake.

20. The King of Stoicism

Before Ana could enter the New Scotland Yard building, she was stopped by a familiar face. Blake had caught her by the arm, his face conflicted and worried at the same time. Sherlock paused with his gloved hand on the door handle, staring at Blake, whom he had expected to have shown up earlier that day to check up on Ana, but he hadn't.

"May I speak with you for a moment?" Blake asked Ana, eyes flicking over to the two men behind her.

"We were just heading in to speak to Lestrade, actually-"

"Please?"

She stared at him for a moment, spotting what was almost a desperateness in his eyes. Swollowing thickly, she nodded, waving a hand to Sherlock and John.

"Um, go ahead, I'll catch up in a moment," she told them. Sherlock immediately stepped inside, leaving a more hesitant John to follow. Blake removed his cap and ruffled his hair before setting it back atop his head; he then pulled Ana into a hug, let out a sigh of relief.

"Thank God you're alright," he whispered, "I'm sorry I couldn't make it 'round this morning, I was on the other side of the city when we got the call and knew I wouldn't be able to make it over in time." Pulling back, Ana shook her head in dismissal.

"It's understandable; I'm not injured too badly, so-"

"Too badly? So, you are hurt?"

"Just a couple of cuts, it really isn't that bad." Blake ran a hand over his face, stepping out of the way of a business man who appeared to be in a rush. He looked her over a few times, an unidentifiable look on his face as he finally met her eyes again; one thing was clear from that look though. He was trying to start talking about something uncomfortable, unwanted… something tough to get out. Ana crossed her arms, suddenly feeling rather uncomfortable. "Blake, what's wrong?"

"This happens to you a lot, doesn't it? The, uh, getting caught in dangerous situations? First it was getting kidnapped by the smuggling ring-I suppose I should give them some thanks that's how I met you." A tiny smile pulled on his lips. "After that it was, uh, you and John getting shot at when Sherlock busted that drug dealer… and, as of last night, nearly getting blown up."

"It's, uh… an occupational hazard I suppose…"

"It isn't even your actually job-you're actually a waitress. What that danger is, is just a hazard of knowing Sherlock Holmes, a hazard you seem to willingly accept, and it is worrysome… especially to me," Blake said, sighing, "You would follow that man through a fire… even if he didn't ask you to."

Ana watched him as he awkwardly shoved his hands into his pockets, looking as though he were choking on what he wanted to say next. A prickling feeling on the back of her neck made her think something unpleasant would be the outcome of the conversation.

"I can't help but feel there's something between you two…" Blake admitted, rocking forwards on his feet. He could never stay still when he was nervous; he would always mve or fidget, unable to keep from physicalizing the feeling. Ana, on the other hand, stood frozen, eyes wide, lips parted in shock. She couldn't have heard him right, could she?
"Between me… and Sherlock? No! No, no, we aren't-" she began to say but he cut her off, smiling sadly but knowingly.

"Even if you two don't realize it, there's something. The way he watches you and the constant third-degree he gives me is enough evidence on his part, but there's also the fact you make him, the King of Stocism, smile or smirk… you two always look at each other when either one enters a room… And then you always answer his texts no matter what, you always check in with him before we leave for something, and like I said, you wouldn't just stand there and watch him run through a fire… you'd be right there beside him," he told her, gently placing a hand on her elbow. She stared at him wide-eyed and slack-jawed, unable to move or speak.

Every example he used began to flicker through her head, trying to find actual instances of when said things supposedly happened… She was about to deny what he said, but the words wouldn't come… something was stopping her from speaking. Blake, eyes glassy, shook his head and let out a sad laugh.

"I, uh, think you may know where this is going…" Blake muttered. She stiffly nodded, directing her eyes to the ground

"Yeah… yeah, I think I knew the moment you pulled me aside…" Ana agreed. The two stood in silence for a moment, neither person meeting the other's gaze, each taking time to stare at a not-so-interesting advert on a passing bus or toeing a piece of dried gum on the pavement.

"I really like you, Ana, I do… but… I don't want to get in the middle of something I'm fairly sure existed before I met you… I really had noticed it from the start, when he dragged you away from the ambulance… I do hope to keep in touch, stay friends…" he told her, drawing her in for a hug. As he dropped his chin to rest atop her head, Ana numbly and distractly brought her hands up to rest on his sides. If he said anything else to her in that moment, she didn't hear; her mind was all the way back in Baker Street, thinking back to each moment she and Sherlock shared a smile.

Walking through the lobby of New Scotland Yard, she thought about what Blake had said; had she really been harboring feelings for Sherlock and not realized it? Because, looking back on it, maybe that was why she always made him tea even though he would never drink it… maybe that was why her heart leapt to her throat whenever he smirked towards her or when he grabbed her shoulders, his fingers pressing into her skin through her thin shirts? Was that why she lost her breath whenever someone threatened Sherlock's life? But it could be her irrational mind making her think it was all true… emotionally compromised, right? But… no. Blake said he'd noticed it from the start—from the moment Sherlock took her arm and pulled her away from the ambulance. So that was why she did all those things. That was why she was always felt a bit conflicted about leaving on a date when Sherlock was sitting in his chair, hands steepled under his chin and ice blue eyes directed at the fireplace.

OOOO

"Hey, we waited for-are you alright?" John asked with worry as Ana stepped out of the lift, her eyes pink and her cheeks flushed. He reached a hand out to place on her shoulder, but she waved it off, shaking her head and forcing a smile up on her lips.

"I'm alright, really," she said with a sniff. Sherlock cocked an eyebrow, knowing she was lying. He took in her flushed skin, her pink eyes, the dampness on the bottom of her sweater sleeve… pairing that with the knowledge Blake had pulled her aside less than ten minutes ago, he came up with the conclusion in the snap of his fingers.

"Blake ended your relationship," Sherlock immediately said, watching as jaw clenched, "It honestly isn't that hard to tell-"

"Sherlock," John hissed, cutting off his deductions. He gave John a questing look, recieving one that clearly said 'timing'-it was something Ana and John had been working on with him; when to flaunt his deductions and when they were just too horribly innapropriate. Directing his gaze back towards Ana, he saw her eyes narrowed at him, a completely undiscernable look on her face. He took a moment taking in her furrowed brow, her narrowed, glassy blue eyes and the tightness of her lips, attempting to figure out why she was giving him such a look… but his deductions came up blank. Sucking in a breath, Ana pushed past Sherlock, her arm bumping into his rather roughly.

"Yes, he did, and I think Lestrade has been waiting far too long for our arrival, don't you?" she asked, marching away from the lift. Sherlock stared after her curiously, not noticing the look John gave him or the muttered 'good God...' he got as the doctor followed her.

"Ana! Pleasure to see you," Lestrade said as he stepped out of a conference room, smiling at the woman. She offered as convincing a smile she could and nodded at him.

"Likewise. Sorry we've kept you waiting, we hit a bit few speedbumps," she replied, allowing the D.I. to lead them towards his office. She sniffed again and tucked some hair behind her ear, pushing her erratic emotions down again.

"That's alright, I've had a few things to do around here." He fished into his jacket pocket and extracted something, which he held out to her. "Tissue?"

"Oh, thank you." She accepted the tissue and held it to her nose, nodding to him thankfully.

"Got a cold?"

"Something like that…"

"So, you like the funny cases, don't you?" he asked, the question directed at Sherlock. "The surprising ones."

"Obviously," Sherlock deadpanned.

"You'll love this. That explosion…"

"Gas leak, yes?" Sherlock shared a brief glare as they passed by Sally Donovan, who sat at her desk, unpleased to see the 'Wonder Trio' as a few of her fellow workers were beginning to call them. She didn't like it-and why 'trio,' that Ana woman had only just joined them anyways.

"No," replied Lestrade, making Sherlock drag his eyes back to the D.I. in interest.

"No?"

"No, it was made to look like one."

"What?" John interjected quickly. They stepped inside Lestrade's office, where an envelope sat on his desk.

"Hardly anything left of the place except a strong box. A very strong box and inside it was this." He pointed to the envelope that Sherlock had taken to staring at.

"You haven't opened it?" asked Sherlock.

"It's addressed to you, isn't it?" The consulting detective began to reach for it. "We've x-rayed it, it's not booby-trapped." Sherlock carefully picked it up and Ana watched him hesitate, something he didn't normally do. Could he have actually been shaken up by the explosion more than he let on?

"How reassuring," he said flatly, turning around with the bulky envelope in hand. He walked towards a table on the opposite side of the room, holding up the envelope to the light. Sherlock stared at the blue ink that scrawled his name across the front, examining the paper. "Nice stationary-bohemian."

"What?" asked the D.I.

"From the Czech Republic. No finger prints?"

"No."

"She used a fountain pen. A Parker Duofold-iridium nib."

"'She'?" John asked.

"Obviously…" John muttered, trying not to sigh at his friend's blunt statement. Ana crossed her arms and arched an eyebrow.

"Let me gues, it's the way the letters curl," she stated. Sherlock glanced over his shoulder at her, noting her face was rather emotionless.

"Yes, actually." He then picked up a letter opener and slid it into the top of the envelope, edging the blade across the closed top, eventually opening it completely. He peered inside and paused, his brows unfurrowing, his lips parting. He recognized what was inside. He removed a phone in a pale pink case, something everyone in the room, except Ana, seemed to recognize.

"But that's-that's the phone. The pink phone," John said, and somthing clicked in Ana's head, her brows furrowing.

"The pink phone?" she questioned.

"What, fromt The Study In Pink?" Lestrade questioned. Sherlock was turning the phone in different directions, making observations about the buttons, the case.

"Well, obviously it's not the same phone, but it's supposed to look like…" Sherlock quickly turned to face Lestrade, looking a bit exasperated. "'A Study In Pink'? You read his blog?"

"Of course we read his blog, we all do! Do you really not know that the Earth goes 'round the sun?"

Donovan, who'd come in to drop off some files, snickered loudly, smirking at the Consulting Detective. John pursed his lips, clearly emberrassed, his eyes flickering to Ana, who was rubbing her forehead. Donovan left the room, probably willing to go tell the rest of the office about her new found revelation; Sherlock turned back to the phone, ignoring what had just transpired.

"It isn't the same phone. This one is brand-new. Someone's gone through an awful lot of trouble to make it look like the same phone. Which means your blog has a far wider readership." The comment, while seemingly innocent, had an edge to it, thanks to the bite that had been in Sherlock's voice. He unlocked the phone, where a message began to play.

You have one new message.

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Bee-eep.

There was silence in the office as they waited for more… but nothing came. Just the sound of the Greenwich Pips-but with only four shorter pips and one longer one.

"Is that it?" John asked.

"No, that's not it." The sound of an incoming message came from the phone, and Sherlock tilted it sideways as he opened it, everyone else crowding around him to stare at the photograph. It was a dilapidated sitting room with a fireplace, peeling wallpaper and a lone mirror propped up in the corner.

"Well, what the hell are we supposed to make of that?" Lestrade inquired quietly, "An estate agent's photo and the bloody Greenwich Pips!"

"It's a warning," Sherlock suddenly announced, confusing everyone in the room.

"A-a warning? How so?" Ana questioned curiously.

"Secret societies used to send dried melon seeds, orange pips, things like that. Five pips. They're warning us it's gonna happen again… I've seen this place before." Sherlock began to leave the office, leaving dumbstruck friends behind.

"H-hang on, what's gonna happen again?" John asked as they began to follow him. He held up his hands and merely said,

"Boom!"

OOOO

Back at Baker Street, Lestrade, John and Ana followed Sherlock inside and down the first floor hall, stopping at the door of 221C, an empty flat in which no one lived. Sherlock had requested Mrs. Hudson get the keys for the locked flat.

"You had a look, didn't you, Sherlock, when you first came to see about your flat," she mentioned, a bit confused as to why he wanted to see it again.

"The door's been opened recently," he remarked after examining the keyhole.

"No, can't be. That's the only key." Sherlock opened the padlock and moved on to the actual lock. "I can't get anyone interested in this flat. It's the damp, I expect. That's the curse of basements…" Mrs. Hudson continued to speak as the four filed down the steps, Lestrade shutting the door behind them.

Ana could tell why no one wanted to live in 221C; it was definitely cool, and it did, in fact, smell like mold, which probably confirmed Mrs. Hudson's suspicions of damp. Aside from that, is was cramped and it had an isolated feeling to it, which wasn't very comfortable. Pushing a door open, Sherlock revealed a familiar room; the sitting room looked exactly like the photograph, except for one specific object. A pair of trainers sat in the middle of the carpeted floor. They all stared for a moment.

"Shoes…" John murmured. Sherlock took a step towards them and John shook his head. "He's a bomber, remember?" The Consulting Detective didn't seem like he was going to listen; he skirted towards the edge of the room before getting down to lay flat on the floor, staring at the shoes.

"Sherlock, John's right-we nearly got blown up this morning at least attempt to be careful," Ana interjected, trying to ignore the way her heart began to pound faster at the possible danger only inches from Sherlock's nose. Everything went dead silent for a good long moment, the noiselessness of their surroundings settling like dust.

Ring! Ring!

Everyone, especially Sherlock, jumped at the sound of a ringing phone. He stood up and extracted the pink phone and looked at the screen.

Number Blocked

Hitting the answer button and then the speaker button, Sherlock said,

"Hello?"

They all listened as shaky breathing came through the speaker, soon followed by a voice.

"H-h-h-hello… Sexy." It was a woman, a woman who was clearly frightened. That was one of the reasons her greeting had seemed so… off. Sobbing could be heard in the pause that followed.

"Who is this?"

"I… sent you… a little puzzle. Just to say 'hi.'"

"Who'se talking? Why are you crying?"

"I-I'm not… crying… I'm… typing. And this… s-stupid… bitch… is reading it out." The woman continued to cry as Sherlock gazed off in to the distance whilst muttering,

"The curtain rises…"

"What?" John questioned.

"Nothing."

"No, what did you mean?"

"I've been expecting this for some time."

"Twelve… hours to solve… My puzzle… Sherlock… or… I'm going to be… so… naughty." With a few more sobs, the call cut off, leaving the group to stare at the shoes in the middle of the room, which could only be the puzzle the woman had been speaking about.

"Dear God…" Ana muttered after a moment of quiet, "So, whoever is the bomber was forcing her to read off their messages? Probably threatened her too… that poor woman…"

"Twelve hours. I have twelve hours, that should be easy enough," Sherlock remarked, picking up the shoes, "Twelve hours till we have another problem on our hands."

"And what problem would that be?" John asked, feeling as though he may already have an answer. Ana sighed and met Sherlock's eyes for the first time since that morning in Scotland Yard.

"To put it simply and without any eloquence… boom," she said, quoting Sherlock from not too long ago. He nodded at her to agree she'd gotten it right.

"I'll need to examine these more thoroughly. I'm heading to Bart's. Ana, John, I'm assuming you're going to come along?"

"Yeah, of course," John agreed as they all began to head for the stairs.

"I'll be going back to the Yard now; call me with any updates, do you hear me, Sherlock?" When he didn't reply, Lestrade looked to John and Ana.

"We will," Ana promised him as they headed out the door again, locking 221C tightly behind them.

Sitting n the cab on the way to Bart's Ana gave herself a good, long moment to think about what Blake had said that morning. She realized that while she'd been upset about the break-up, when she'd begun to cry, she hadn't been crying because she was upset about the break-up. She had been crying because she was confused as Hell and because Blake had been right. Everything he'd given as evidence was true. All of the check-ins she did… Hell, she doubted Sherlock felt anything for her… but… How had she not ntoiced the apparently blatant attraction she had for Sherlock? Looking back on it, she should have realized it sooner, especially when she couldn't stop herself from going off on mental tangents about things like how good his smile was or how nice that pruple shirt looked on him. How had that slipped by her?

Ana glanced over at Sherlock, who sat on her left and stared at his profile as he watched the city of London speed by. She couldn't help but stop for a moment and stare at the way his icey blue eyes took in absolutely everything they passed, his mind no doubt making deductions about half the people he saw. His eyebrows creased a bit in the middle, and he turned to look over at her. Their gazes just locked before Ana directed her eyes forward again, once again feeling confused.

It was going to be a very long day.

Afterword: Well, guys, sorry for the wait! School got in the way along with a show I was in, which was very rehersal intensive; but, I sat down yesterday and got to writing this 'cause, for me, here in the U.S., Sherlock came back last night on PBS and I was getting really excited for it! And, just, that first episode… AHHHHH! But, anyway, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter!

REVEIW REPLIES!
Fuchsia Grasshopper: Yeah, Blake's time has come to an end :( But, we may or may not see him later on, I've been thinking on that… and I'm glad you're looking forward to seeing how she fits in, 'cause I've got plans! I hope you stick around to read more! Thanks again!

Skylar Winchester: Sherlock will definitely still have his chance to rant on Blake later, especially now that he knows that Ana and Blake are no longer involved with each other; he thinks it'll give him free reign to say what he wants about him XD I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Thanks again!

Gwilwillith: The Holmes brothers bickering is definitely fun to write! I'm glad you liked the last chapter and hope you enjoyed this one! Thanks again!

Morgan: Here's an update! :D I hope you enjoyed it! Thanks again!

crzchigurl343: I'm really glad you like the story so far! Ana being interested in criminology but not being too Sherlock-y was one of the things I really liked when I came up with this story and I'm glad you like it too! Blake's time has come to an end in this story, and he may pop back up later, but Boring Blake has ended his time with Ana, so he's out of the way for Analock to begin XD I hope you stick around to read more! Thanks again!

Marisol Akyri: Your review made me smile! I was so glad that you liked the fluidity and the atmosphere, two things that I often think I miss XD I hope you stick around to read more! And I'm really very glad you enjoyed the bag of hands scene! Thanks again, hope you enjoyed!

Breakingbadblue: Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Thanks again!

ShadowTeir: I'm glad you enjoyed all of the chapter so far and hope this one was up to par as well! Thanks again!

And thank you to those who have read and added this to their story alerts/favorites; it means a lot to me!

I really, really hope to ge the next chapter up soon! 'Cause once we officially meet Jim, things'll start to pick up, don't ya think? XD And once we get through the Great Game, I think all you Analock shippers will be very, VERY happy with what I have planned for Season 2! I've written up, like, twenty five pages of Season 2 ideas. Can't wait for you all to read 'em! I may even give out a little preview sometime if any of you would like ;)

Thanks again you guys! Hope you enjoyed! See you all in the next chapter!

~Mary