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Here's the next chapter!

Kylie ran a hand through her hair before taking a long sip of her now lukewarm coffee she had switched to after her second mug of tea. She had no idea what time it was, but a usually lively London was quieter, telling her it was the wee hours of the morning. She curled her legs underneath her and allowed her eyes to wander over the desk, littered with pieces of paper, notes, crime scene photos and a pair of laptops.

She looked up at Sherlock sitting across the table from her, completely engrossed in what he was reading. Shirtless, engrossed in a case… he couldn't get more sexy than that.

"Are you working on that case or does your brain turn into a pumpkin at this hour?" Sherlock asked her without even looking up.

Kylie glared at him before picking up her glasses and replacing them.

"You just got less sexy," Kylie muttered, causing Sherlock to freeze in confusion and look up at her.

"What?"

"Nothing," Kylie disregarded with a wave of her hand, "We've been at this for a while, what do you have?"

When Sherlock didn't respond, Kylie looked up at him, finding him still staring at her with a bewildered expression.

"Case?" Kylie asked, "or did your brain turn into a pumpkin?"

Sherlock gave her one last look before looking back down at his computer.

"The hotel was originally built in the Victorian era by a Dr. Eldon Barrow, whom he and his wife ran a drug store until his death in 1859."

"Which is where my half of the websites came in," Kylie continued, "it was suspected that Dr. Barrow died of cancer, but even more suspicious, the wife just 'ran off to Spain' , which apparently no one questioned, leaving the drug store in the hands of the assistant, Herman Mudgett with zero suspicion whatsoever."

"The wife just ran off to Spain?" Sherlock asked in disgust, "Just ran off and no one even questioned it? I didn't think it was possible for the Yard to be stupider than they are now."

"If no one reported it, how would they have known to look into it?" Kylie asked.

"I would have."

Kylie just raised an eyebrow at him, silently calling his bullshit before she sighed, knowing an argument was futile before moving on.

"Anyways, Mudgett took over the shop after Mrs. Borrow disappeared/left for Spain, he added an additional two stories and converted it to a hotel."

"Mudgett was the one to create the plans in the first place," Sherlock said looking up at her, remembering this part of the legend of the hotel, "He kept the blueprints a secret and used three different builders to build it in stages. The World's Fair was in London in 1862. He told others that he wanted the hotel to be a part of the fair and an experience like none before."

"Exactly," Kylie stated, "The conspiracy site I originally found stated that the missing people began right after the opening of the hotel in 1861."

"And there has been over 200 disappearances since."

"50 in the last ten years… how has no one seen this?" Kylie muttered to herself.

Sherlock looked up at her.

"What?" he asked as he quickly got up to read over Kylie's shoulder.

Kylie looked at him in slight alarm as his face changed, reading the fifty names of the disappearances over the last decade.

"What?"

Sherlock didn't respond, he just blinked a few times before he silently walked back to his chair, sitting and staring at his own computer, trying to act as if he was reading.

Kylie looked at him suspiciously, trying to connect the dots and read his body language.

She softened as one reason jumped out to her.

"You can't beat yourself up for not seeing this," she told Sherlock.

He didn't respond. He just began typing a little too forcefully, telling Kylie she was right on target.

She ran a hand through her hair and stared at him. She was at a loss as of what to do. He was beating himself up- most others would think this was because he ego was hurt or he was mad that he missed a puzzle right under his nose, but Kylie knew that wasn't the reason. Sherlock Holmes was a great man. Others belittled him to be a manic sociopath with a perpetual need to stroke his ego. Sure, they were arguably right sometimes, but once you got close to the man, it was easy to see that he hated injustices. He was fully aware that he had the power to stop these terrible, horrible crimes, and he would never admit it, but guilt was wracking him that he hadn't seen the pattern and put an end to this terror.

How to fix this however? That was another story. Sherlock wasn't one to "talk things out" or feel better because someone told him not to "worry about it". In fact, part of her worried if she pushed this any farther, he would push her away and whatever they were starting… would no longer be starting.

She couldn't however, just sit idol and watch him torture himself with guilt.

Making up her mind, she got up, yanking the purple shirt she was still wearing down slightly as she wandered around the table, sitting on the arm of his chair watching him brood over his laptop.

She couldn't help but to run a hand through his hair and down his bare back as she kissed his temple.

"No one could have made that connection," she told him quietly as she traced the muscles of his back with her fingers, "this began over 100 years ago. Plus, the only ones who have found the trend wear tin foil hats and thing aliens are being kept secret by the government. Who the hell believes those yahoo's anyhow?"

"Kylie, its obvious," Sherlock said in disgust before he could stop himself, "it was right there… and I missed it."

"We all did. You, me, Lestrade, John, the Yard…"

"With your inferior minds, it doesn't surprise me," Sherlock added.

Kylie sighed heavily and rolled her eyes.

Well at least his ego was still there…

"All of these people- mainly young women disappeared after staying or working at the hotel. The reason they were missing was poorly formed and obvious. 'Oh, she just went to California to visit relatives. She liked it so much, she decide to stay.' 'She didn't tell me what she was doing, but she said something about going to Yorkshire to see her boyfriend.' I mean who is supposed to believe that and not have it looked into?"

"It wasn't reported to you," Kylie told him as she rubbed circles on his back, "How were you supposed to even know about it?"

He didn't respond, he just kept staring at the screen.

Talking about it didn't work…

A distraction? Would that work?

"Tell me," she asked as she began to play with the hair at the nape of his neck, "if everyone thinks that the Castle Hotel is haunted, why do people stay there? How does it stay open?"

"Thrill seekers, ghost hunters, and skeptics. Not may people stay there and foot traffic is low," Sherlock stiffened and looked up at her curiously, "So how does it stay open?"

"Paying staff, bills, property taxes, it's a hole in the logic."

"We need to find the employees," Sherlock told her, the spark of a case back in his eyes, "We need to question them."

Kylie smiled at him before wagging her eyebrows as he snatched his phone off the table, texting, whom she assumed was Lestrade.

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP

Sherlock looked up in confusion as Kylie snatched her phone, quickly turning off the alarm.

"Damn," Kylie muttered as she leapt up and looked at Sherlock, "I cant believe its already seven."

Sherlock gave her a strange look as he watched her look wildly around for her suitcase through all the boxes.

"What's at seven?" Sherlock asked.

"I have a meeting with the Dean of the University in an hour at Bart's to talk about my position and to sign paperwork and such."

Sherlock kept staring at her in confusion as she flipped open a suitcase extracting a dress and a pair of heels before rushing off into the bathroom.

Sherlock stared in bewilderment at the bathroom door. He didn't even have a moment to digest the thought before Mary and John waltzed into the flat. Both of them stopped in their tracks at the sight of boxes and furniture covering the living room.

"What in the hell?" John asked as his eyes surveyed the flat, before falling on Sherlock. His eyebrows shot up in slight shock, "Why aren't you wearing a shirt?"

Sherlock didn't even look at him, he just glowered at his laptop, slamming his phone down as his face turned bright red.

"I think Kylie got a little love this morning," Mary grinned as she walked through the flat, looking at the boxes.

"Oh for Gods sake," Sherlock muttered as he stood up and stormed out of the room and into the bedroom.

Mary laughed as John turned to her.

"As amusing and fun as this is to torment him, will you leave him alone about it for a bit?"

Mary frowned at her fiancé.

"I don't follow. You couldn't wait for him to get back together with Kylie."

"It just happened," John told her, "I'm afraid if we harass him about it too much, he'll shove Kylie away before they can establish anything and the whole cycle we just went through will repeat itself."

Mary smiled and walked up to John, running a hand up his chest before kissing him, "You're a damn good friend John Watson," she muttered before she kissed him once more.

"Oh, GOD!" Sherlock said in disgust as he walked back into the room with a fresh shirt on, "Cant you go make out in your old flat? You did move out for that reason, didn't you?"

"No, its because I missed all of these conversations," John stated sarcastically as Mary pulled away from him.

Sherlock just huffed and began sorting the photos on the table.

"So," Mary said as she sat in the chair across from Sherlock that Kylie had previously occupied, "I'm assuming Mycroft dropped off all of Kylie's old stuff?"

Sherlock's head snapped up towards her with disbelief, "You knew?" he asked.

Mary smiled as she picked up a scrap of paper, "We all knew the two of you would get back together. You're too perfect for each other."

Sherlock looked at her without any idea of how to respond.

Mary just smiled in response before Kylie came back out into the room.

"Oh, hey guys," she said as she was trying to put on a pair of earrings, tucking her mother's ring she wore on a chain into a business like dress that fit her perfectly. Her hair was pinned back as her glasses adorned her face.

"Hey," Mary greeted, "Since when do you wear glasses?"

"Since I was hospitalized for a skull fracture from our favorite Ripper impersonator," Kylie told her as she balanced to put on her heels, "its probably temporary, but unless I can blow it up on a computer, I cant see it."

"Interview?" John asked as she began trying to find files around the mess of the flat.

"No, meeting with the Dean," Kylie told him as she looked around her wildly, "I'm about to head over to Bart's…"

Kylie kept looking around the flat for her workbag, trailing off mid-sentence. John stole a glance at Sherlock, who was trying his damnedest not to stare at her. Mary stole a fleeting glance at John, trying to hide her smile, which told John that she had noticed the same thing.

"Here it is," Kylie said as she threw the file into the bag and grabbed her coat, "Alright, I'm off."

Sherlock stood up and grabbed his coat as well, "I'll go with you. I want to take another look at the evidence."

Kylie smiled as she put on her coat, heading towards the door.

"You two coming as well?"

"No, I need to head into work," Mary said as she got up.

"Come on, John," Sherlock said as he put on his coat, leaving his collar up, "I need my blogger."

*(&# (*&#*( & #

"So, why are we really here?" John asked Sherlock as he leaned up against the counter of the lab, "There is nothing new to look at on this case, Sherlock. Oh, and did I mention that Mycroft has called me four times asking about the Thames House? Four."

"I'll put my best man onto it," Sherlock told him as he looked through his microscope.

"Uh, no," John said shortly, "No, I am never doing that again. Not after the deal with the Bruce Partington plans."

"Why, you solved it," Sherlock said as he pulled away from the microscope to look at the screen beside it.

"No, you did, as you so often reminded me for the next three months."

"See."

"What?"

"What do you see?" Sherlock reiterated as he pointed to the screen beside him.

John walked over to get a better look at the screen. When he did, he raised an eyebrow at Sherlock.

"It's the same thing Kylie showed us from yesterday."

"This is from the first victim," Sherlock told him with a slight smile.

John looked back at the screen in bewilderment, "So he was defleshed and cremated as well?"

Sherlock nodded and opened his mouth to say something when the computer beeped.

1 MATCH FOUND

"Perfect," he muttered with a smile as he typed a few buttons before a photograph appeared on the screen.

"Victor Melbourne?" John read.

"It's the first victim," Sherlock told him, "I was able to extract DNA from one of the osteons."

"He was a cop," John read, "A member of Scotland Yard."

"He must have been onto something," Sherlock muttered more to himself than to John, "Otherwise, why would the killer kill him? He knew too much, that's the only reason to take the risk of killing a cop; someone who would have been missed."

"Hey," Kylie said as she walked into the lab, shoving a few files into her bag, "You guys find anything?"

"The first victim was a member of Scotland Yard," John informed her.

Kylie's head shot up in shock.

"What?" she asked as she walked over to look at the screen. Her breath caught in her throat as she instantly recognized the photo on the screen staring back at her.

"Victor? Victor was the first victim?" she said in disbelief.

Both Sherlock and John looked at her in slight shock.

"You knew him?" John asked.

"Yeah," Kylie said quietly, unable to take her eyes off of the photo, "He was partnered with Dimmock. We never worked together, but he asked for my expertise a couple of times. His wife had just gotten pregnant."

"What did he ask you?" Sherlock asked her immediately.

Kylie kept staring at the picture.

"Kylie."

Her eyes finally came off the photo, looking at Sherlock, "What did Melbourne ask for your expertise on?"

Kylie shook her head, "Just a couple sets of remains that had been sold to medical schools. Some of the higher end schools are able to afford real human skeletons for their students to practice on from people who have donated their bodies to science."

Sherlock looked back at the screen thinking while Kylie frowned.

"Why? Do you think he was connected to this?" Kylie asked.

Sherlock didn't answer. He just sat there for a moment before suddenly leaping up, grabbing his coat, walking out of the lab.

Kylie sighed and just looked at John, "You think that we would get used to his leaving without a word?"

John shook his head, "I don't think we ever will."

#$#*#&

"So you think that Victor was looking into something at the Castle Hotel that got him killed?" Kylie asked as they rode in the cab.

"Exactly, why else would the killer take the risk of killing at member of Scotland Yard?" Sherlock explained to her.

Kylie sighed and turned to look out the window. She liked Victor, he was a good man and a good detective. She had even been introduced to his wife. She had just found out that she was pregnant and she and Victor had been glowing with joy. Now, their child would have to grow up without a father.

Kylie felt Sherlock cover her hand with his and his thumb stroke her hand calmingly. Kylie looked down at her hand and smiled before looking up to see Sherlock staring out of the window as the cab drove on. John smirked at them as he tried to avoid looking at them.

His friend really cared about the woman next to him. It was rare to see Sherlock Holmes be comforting. His idea of comfort was to bombard you with facts, cold hard rational facts, not be….emotionally supportive. Kylie was the only person that John had seen him like that with, he really loved her. Now, if he ever admitted that to himself or Kylie was another story.

"So what are we doing next? Talking to the hotel staff?" Kylie asked.

"That, and look into cases that Victor Melbourne was working on," Sherlock said as the cab slowed and he shoved some bills at the driver before hopping out of the cab. Kylie climbed out after him, taking Sherlock's hand as he helped her out of the cab.

John shut the door as the three of them began to walk into Scotland Yard in hope that they would find some answers.

Yes, I do know that DNA testing would take much longer than an hour or so that, but for story plot reasons, I needed to move it along.

Anyhow, thoughts? Feelings?

Review?