Danielle came back to her flats with a surprisingly light heart. She knew she should feel heavily insulted, hell anyone else in her position would have slapped Sherlock silly.

Yet he wasn't insulting her out of malice of distaste, the young landlady saw them as statements of fact. Mrs Hudson was a kind person, with an kinder heart. She wouldn't let just anyone live in her flats, just like Danielle wouldn't just anyone live in her's.

Sherlock was a curious one. Danielle wondered how he did it, how he looked at her and saw her past. What gave her secrets away? What was obvious, what was difficult?

Danielle had the entire afternoon to ponder on it.

==NKMHLY==

She walked back into her flat, staring at it in its entirety as if for the first time.

It was a small ground level flat. There were dark purple walls, hardwood floors, and dark wood furniture. She had some photos on the wall. Some weird artsy things, like favorite book quotes or black and white pictures of lakes.

Danielle Nolan had fought for this flat. She'd worked for years, saving up enough to buy the house. She didn't accept much help from her father and siblings, mostly because they hadn't known she was house searching.

It'd been nothing short of a miracle getting a flat in central London. Her family barely believed it when she came out to them. There had been a big party (Danielle still thinks there was a dent in her ceiling from a wine cork) that her whole family came to.

A year and a half later, their father died.

Her pets demanded her attention, knocking her out of the stupor of her father's passing. Her puppy ran up to Danielle, happy that she returned after a short time. She reached down to brush her puppy's fur.

Little Erika was labrador mutt, the little white patches of fur probably meant it was part a beagle. Danielle never checked in the fourteen months. Erika was certainly an energetic puppy (though she was getting rather big these days).

Nightwing was hiding around her couch. He was a bit of a drama queen. Danielle had found him on the streets in one of those boxes you see, with little abandoned kittens inside. Danielle had liked the black kitten, and the cat felt similar (hopefully).

Erika had been a present from Lilly, her baby sister at nine years her junior. Lilly was, in Danielle's words, the daughter their mother always wanted. Lilly had a twin brother, Felix, who was closer to Danielle. This made a bit of a rift between the siblings. Her puppy was a gift after they came to an odd sort of truce.

The reformed bond between the sisters made Danielle smile fondly. It turned curious when she remembered that Sherlock knew that.

Danielle went over to her small kitchen. She hadn't properly cleaned up from baking the biscuits. She got to cleaning the dishes, while making Erika and Nightwing lunch.

As she poured their lunches into their feeding bowls, Danielle paused. The bowl we're both plastic, both white, both with blue painted on names for each pet. She knew they both had matching blue collars. She loved her pets, like Sherlock had said, which was why Danielle had scratched both of them before running over to 221.

She had hugged her dog, which probably got fur all over her pants. Nightwing had been more of a cuddle on her shirt. Probably hard to notice against the dark purple.

Danielle felt a bit proud she had figured that out. Less so when the two animals ran into her legs for their lunches.

She didn't feel very hungry. To be honest, all Danielle felt she could eat was a bag of crisps. There was something interesting going on next door, separated from her only by walls and the Speedy's cafe.

The man who had no flatmate. The man that stared at her and didn't judge her on her job. The man who kept a skull on his mantle. The man who was annoyed with her, yet Danielle had the oddest feeling he was pleased.

She wandered into her bedroom. Danielle stared at the brightest bit of her room; a queen sized bed with soft blue sheets and a bright pink blanket (her mother's suggestion). Danielle added her own flair, as if to defy her mother, by moving a stuffed dragon to it. It was juvenile, and she should have given it to charity, but it was from her father. Besides, the dragon was to her what that skull was to Sherlock.

There was a writer's desk, decorated with her work files, some of her favorite Pop Vinyls, and a green laptop. There was also a wardrobe from her grandmother.

Danielle huffed. She partially wondered what Sherlock would say if he saw her place. Would he see how deep the hatred between her and her mother was? Just how far did his observations go?

How did he see all of that? What was so obvious about her life?

"Am I really that easy to read?" Danielle asked the dragon.

It stared back blankly.

Danielle nodded, as if it had responded. Her lips turned into a thoughtful line, eyebrows "I am, yeah." She paused, glancing around her room again. "What am I even doing? He's just a bloke. Lots of blokes have stared at me. It's not going to change anything."

An hour later, Danielle's fate changed.

==NKMHLY==

She had a tenant in 223c. She hadn't found anyone for 223b, but she was hopeful.

The tenant was a lovely woman, honest. She just got into fights with her flavors of the week. Danielle knew it spooked Erika, so she opted to take Erika out on walks when the fights started.

Danielle was only just coming back from that walk when Sherlock stormed out of 221.

She was barely acknowledging this fact before he was walking up beside her, taking the leash out of her hand.

"Oi!" She yelped. "I was using that-"

The man didn't care. He noticed, and he didn't care. "Take it inside. It's going to get in the way." Sherlock ordered.

Danielle stared at him in confusion. "Erika? What would she get in the way of?"

"The medical equipment." Sherlock explained. Erika apparently did not like the strange man holding her leash. She started jerking away from him, trying to get back to her owner. "Molly is very typical about me ruining her lab again. Doubt she'd like a dog running."

"Molly? Lab?" Danielle was more worried about why Sherlock was still holding Erika's leash. "What the hell are you talking about? And let go of her leash, Sherlock! You're hurting her!"

Sherlock rolled his eyes. He tossed the leash aside. Danielle quickly picked it back up, reaching down to reassure her puppy. "There. I was only getting your attention." He eyed the dog like it was a giant rat. "Either way, you still need to put her away. We'll miss the cab."

"Why should I?" Danielle asked, placing her hand over Erika's head. She scratched the labrador's head to calm her down. The dog loved the attention. "You just grabbed my dog in broad daylight. Tell me why I should listen to you!"

Sherlock stared at her, brows creased in confusion and lips turned down. A signature look of 'can't you keep up with my excellent mind?' "I knew all the details of your life that you thought private. You came to my flat first, you knew you did. No one else in the street could've told, least of all Mrs Hudson. You were relieved, because I wasn't accusing you yes? You want to know how I did it."

"It was just a magic trick." Even as Danielle said that, she knew it was a lie. He knew that. "No it wasn't." She sighed, still rubbing Erika's head.

Just as he was still grinning smugly. "Danielle Nolan. Take the dog inside, then get in the cab." He offered in a way that also sounded like an order. "And I'll tell you how I did it."

She hesitated. Of course she did, a virtual stranger wanted to drag her across town in a cab. What sane person got into a cab with a stranger? There was just this curiosity, of how he did it, of how he picked her life apart.

"Why are you offering?" She felt she had to ask.

"Because you noticed my skull." He admitted.

Now, passers by would think that was the oddest string of words. That they didn't explain at all what the strawberry blonde had asked. Danielle had always been good at reading between the lines, though.

She smiled happily at him. "That's a deal then, Sherlock."

Five minutes later, when Erika was safely inside 223 and under the assurance they would be back before any real amount of time passed, Danielle was climbing in the backseat of a cab.

"What's the lab we're going to? You never said." She commented. She brushed back some of her hair, leaning back to enjoy the ride.

"Mortuary. Molly had a fresh corpse for testing." The consulting detective was staring down at his phone. It was as if Danielle wasn't really in the cab. "And Stamford thinks he's found me flatmate. I doubt it, I'm a rubbish flatmate."

"I saw what you did to the last one." Danielle teased. "God help him."

Sherlock quirked a smile.

...and so the East Wind began...

==NKMHLY==

AN: Again, I am blown away by all the support! Also. Concerning The Lying Detective, I shouted WTF at my TV for five minutes straight. Beautiful work. I rewatched it all day.

My best friend is still giving amazing support. I'll never be able to fully say what you've done. So, I guess I'll just say...oh...FIVE POINTS TO ME!

Thanks to Rayna17, Bebebriddon, thetroublewithexes, SeleneAlice, TwoHeartedMarauder, Clover1231, DreamsDark, bella cullen the original, for favoriting

Thanks to marcelineandbonnie, SPNlove101, Rayna17, Bebebriddon, xxJustBeingMexx, SeleneAlice, TwoHeartedMarauder, castleOUATgreyvampblue, StressedPenny, Team-lets-free-will, Clover1231, luupitaoropeza, BookStopsHere, fmxc17, alayara, for following