I've only had the chance to read through this once, so please forgive me for any spelling/punctuation mistakes I have made and failed to correct.

I seriously hope there isn't many, but I can't be sure.

I don't own. Only Emily.

Please review?

The three had only been walking for a matter of minutes. None of them talking.

Emily was surprised at the amount of people that were wandering around at this time of night. Perhaps they were on their way home from work after a busy day. Maybe they were going to have a steaming mug of hot chocolate and snuggle up under a blanket with a decent book, or watch a film. Just the thought made her green with envy. In those matter of minutes, she had turned cold again. Though the hand that was still in the crook of Sherlock's arm was rather warm. She couldn't understand why he wouldn't let it go. She had tried a couple more times to free the hand, but each time he had squeezed it closer to himself. After that she had just given up. At least one part of her would be warm.

"Where are we going?" John asked, breaking into Sherlock's thoughts as they stepped up onto the pavement.

"Northumberland Street's a five-minute walk from here."

"You think he's stupid enough to go there?" That question entered Emily's mind too.

"No - I think he's brilliant enough. I love the brilliant ones. They're always so desperate to get caught."

"Why?"

"Appreciation! Applause! At long last the spotlight. That's the frailty of genius, John: It needs an audience."

"Of course it does." Emily mumbled to herself. Again, neither of the men heard her.

"Yeah." John said, looking pointedly over the top of Emily's head at the Consulting Detective.

"This is his hunting ground," Sherlock slowly spun round, to indicate the entire area, still walking, taking an unsuspecting Emily with him. "Right here in the heart of the city. Now that we know his victims were abducted, that changes everything. Because all of his victims disappeared from busy streets, crowded places, but nobody saw them go."

Emily glared at the man to her right. She had almost tumbled again when he had spun them.

"Think!" Sherlock continued, ignoring her, holding his hands up on either side of his head. "Who do we trust, even though we don't know them? Who passes unnoticed wherever they go? Who hunts in the middle of a crowd?"

Emily looked at John, hoping he would have an answer. But he merely looked back at her and shrugged. "Dunno. Who?" He asked.

"Haven't the faintest." Sherlock answered after a pause. "Hungry?" He asked and lead them towards a small restaurant.

Sherlock finally released his hold on Emily's hand so he could walk through the door. "Thank you, Billy." He spoke to the waiter who had indicated a reserved table by the front window. Apparently, Sherlock came here often.

He stripped himself of his coat and sat down at the bench while John allowed Emily to sit down first. She sent John a smile in thanks and relieved herself of her coat, letting it pool around her waist.

"Twenty-two Northumberland Street. Keep your eyes on it." He nodded over towards the building over the road taking his scarf off, facing the window to keep an eye on it himself.

"He isn't gonna ring the doorbell, though is he? He'd need to be mad." John said as he too, took his jacket off. Emily crossed one leg over the other, careful to avoid hitting Sherlock's leg as she did so. Her cold hand, along with her warm one, was placed in between her thighs in the hope of making and keeping them warm.

"He has killed four people." Sherlock spoke in his deep voice. Emily shivered next to him. She was just cold, she told herself.

"...Okay." Emily looked behind her out of the window to the building she was supposed to be keeping an eye on. Although how she was supposed to do that with her back towards it she would never know.

As she turned back round to face the front, she caught Sherlock looking curiously at the necklace around her throat. At some point during their short walk, the little silver Elephant had come out from underneath her t shirt. She tucked it back in as if she hadn't noticed Sherlock's gaze and looked around the cosy restaurant. Apart from themselves, there were only two or three couples. It was in all likelihood that this place was perfect for dates.

"Sherlock." Emily focused on the man now standing next to their table. He was a little on the portly side with a shoulder length ponytail and little to no hair on the top of his head, currently shaking hands with the man next to her, clearly pleased to see him.

"Anything on the menu, whatever you want, free." He started as he placed three menus on the table. "On the house, for you and your date." He said looking straight at Emily.

"Do you want to eat?" Sherlock asked them, not hearing or completely ignoring the word date.

"Oh, I'm not his date." She told the man offhandedly. Sherlock spared her a glance that she didn't catch.

"A beautiful girl like you. Not Sherlock's date?" He asked sounding genuinely shocked. Emily shook her head as she blushed slightly. He turned to look at John suggestively.

John got the message straight away. "I'm not his date either."

"This man got me off a murder charge." He ignored John.

"This is Angelo." Angelo offered his hand to John who shook it. "Three years ago I successfully proved to Lestrade at the time of a particularly vicious triple murder that Angelo was in a completely different part of town, house-breaking." Sherlock informed them as Angelo now kissed the back of Emily's knuckles.

"He cleared my name." He told them, not letting go of Emily's hand. She wasn't particularly bothered by this, his hand was warm.

"I cleared it a bit." Sherlock corrected him. "Anything happening opposite?"

"Nothing." He looked back at Emily and John. "But for this man, I'd have gone to prison."

"You did go to prison." He corrected again, noting that Angelo still hadn't let go of Emily's hand.
"I'll get a candle for the table. It's more romantic." He told John. He winked at Emily as he gave her hand a gentle tap with his free one before releasing it and walked away.

"I'm not his date!" John started indignantly as Emily tried and failed to contain her smile.

"You may as well eat. We might have a long wait." Sherlock said after he had pushed his menu away.

The two started to inspect the menu as Angelo arrived back with a small glass bowl containing a tiny candle. Once it was safely placed between the three he sent John a thumbs-up, Emily another wink and walked away to do whatever it was he was he had been doing before he stopped to chat.

"Thanks." John spoke a little tetchily. Emily had to hide her face behind her menu to stop John from seeing her smile. "Thanks for the help Emily." He muttered to her. She could no longer contain it, she let her laughter out, still hidden behind the menu.

Silence had descended on the table. The only time they had spoken up was to order their food.

John was pointedly ignoring Emily after she had failed to help him with the date situation. Sherlock was keeping his focus on the building opposite, letting his gaze trail to the girl next to him every now and then in an attempt to find out more about her and Emily had all but forgotten about them as she was too busy daydreaming while she waited for her food. She had felt a little foolish ordering ice cream when she hadn't had a main course, she wasn't very hungry and had always had a sweet tooth for ice cream. But Angelo never even blinked as he informed her that they served the best chocolate ice cream Sundaes.

Her treat had arrived before John's meal had. Hers after all hadn't needed to be cooked.

She was now almost finished with her food, and John had barely started as he started talking again.

"People don't have arch-enemies." Emily rolled her eyes as she ate another mouthful of pudding. He really wasn't going to let the matter drop. Sherlock had been drumming his fingers against the table top, seemingly immersed in the building opposite. It took a moment for him to realise that John was talking.

"I'm sorry?" He asked.

"In real life. There are no arch-enemies in real life. Doesn't happen."

"Doesn't it? Sounds a bit dull." He told him disinterestedly as he looked out the window again. "You have chocolate sauce in the corner of your mouth." He told Emily, pointing to where the offending condiment was, not looking at her.

"So who did we meet?" John asked as Emily wiped her mouth on her shirt sleeve.

"What do real people have, then, in their 'real lives'?" Sherlock questioned.

"Friends; people they know; people they like; people they don't like ... Girlfriends, boyfriends ..."

"Yes, well, as I was saying – dull." Emily rattled her spoon around in the glass that was now empty in an attempt to eat as much of the remains as possible

"You don't have a girlfriend, then?"

"Girlfriend? No, not really my area."

"Mm."

"Oh, right. D'you have a boyfriend?" Emily chocked a little on the sip of water she had been taking. She knew exactly how it sounded to the Detective. The taller man looked at the pair beside him sharply.
"Which is fine, by the way."

"I know it's fine."

Emily sincerely wished she still had some ice cream left to eat. It would have been something to take her away from the awkward conversation going on around her.

"So you've got a boyfriend then?"

"No."

"Right. Okay. You're unattached. Like me. Fine." He cleared his throat awkwardly. "Good." He picked up some of his food on his fork and continued eating, ignoring the suspicious look that Sherlock was sending him. Emily too ignored him when she felt his gaze burn the side of her head before he turned back to look out the window again.

"John, um ... I think you should know that I consider myself married to my work, and while I'm flattered by your interest, I'm really not looking for any ..."

"No." John interrupted. He cleared his throat and shook his head animatedly. "No, I'm not asking. No." Emily was trying not to laugh at his predicament.
"I'm just saying, it's all fine." He looked right at Sherlock to covey the sincerity in his words.

"Good. Thank you." Sherlock nodded after a moment.

John cleared his throat again. "What about you Emily? Any boys on the scene?" He sounded like a father. Or how she imagined a father would sound. She never had any first hand experience of what having one was like.

"Oh. So you're actually talking to me now?" She responded with a hint of anger. Was she really only good enough to talk to after an awkward situation?

"I never stopped talking to you." John said.

"Yes you did." She looked at him from the corner of her eyes and saw the look he was giving her. It was filled with hope that she would make the atmosphere go back to the way it was before John had bought that up. Her shoulders slumped. She never was any good at staying mad at people for long.

"I've only ever had two boyfriends before." Sherlock was listening with a keen interest now, but kept his gaze out of the window. "The first one cheated. A lot. And... the second one... cheated." She finished with a nod.

"Any particular reason?" John asked interestedly. She really looked at him now and studied his face. He wasn't trying to clear the atmosphere of awkward conversation anymore. He was genuinely interested and concerned. Emily blushed.

"Well. I- I mean- I think- that um..."

"I think what Miss Cooper is trying to convey, is that she wouldn't sleep with them." Sherlock interrupted her rambling with his deep voice.

Emily nodded and felt, for some reason, ashamed of herself. It wasn't that she was a virgin. A party that she had once attended had made sure of that. She only knew what had happened because she had woken up with an awful hangover, naked and sore next to a boy she had only met twice. She had felt filthy and slutty. It had taken about five showers to rid her of the feeling.

After that, she had promised herself that she would only do that sort of thing with a boy she loved, and that she would never drink again.

So far she had kept that promise as she hadn't felt the slightest inkling of love towards either of her ex's. But by doing so, it meant that she had lost two of the men she had started to trust. She had let no one into her life like that ever since.

"Look across the street. Taxi." At that moment, Emily was rather thankful for Sherlock being a Consulting Detective as John dropped the subject to twist in his seat and look out the window.

"Stopped. Nobody getting in, and nobody getting out." Emily hadn't bothered to turn. She was trying to cool her flaming cheeks down. "Why a taxi? Oh, that's clever. Is it clever? Why is it clever?" Sherlock asked himself as if having a conversation with himself.

"That's him?"

"Don't stare."

"You're staring." John declared.

"We can't both stare." Sherlock reasoned. He grabbed his coat and scarf and vanished out the door. He was swiftly followed by John and with a little reluctance Emily. But she was the only one to notice the walking aid leaning against the seats, lonely and forgotten. But she kept her mouth shut. If John could victoriously stand without it, surely he wouldn't need it to walk.

She had only just made it out of the restaurant when she watched as Sherlock, not bothering to check the road, headed out into the street. Almost immediately being hit by a car. He rolled over the bonnet, landed on his feet and ran after what Emily could only presume was the taxi from seconds before.

John quickly grabbed a hold of Emily's hand and started to head after the Detective, apologising to the driver.

"I got the cab number." John enlightened Sherlock as they came to a stop beside him in the middle of the road.

"Good for you." He bought his hands up to either side of his head again and concentrated.

Emily released Johns hand to put her coat on.

"Right turn, one way, roadworks, traffic lights, bus lane, pedestrian crossing, left turn only, traffic lights." Sherlock spoke in quick fire. He stopped and looked up to a short distance away. Without warning he grabbed Emily's wrist and started to run.

"Oy!" A man shouted to them as he was roughly shoved out of the way.

"Sorry." She heard John say. Somehow, despite the difference in leg length, the managed to keep up with Sherlock as he raced up some stairs and out onto a metal fire escape spiral staircase that could only lead to the roof.

"Come on, John." Sherlock shouted down to the other man who was lagging a few paces behind.

The top of the stairs quickly approached, but Sherlock had spotted another staircase that he ran towards. He wasted no time galloping down them, before climbing onto the railing and leaping across the gap to the next building. He turned so he could wait for Emily to do the same, having let go of her wrist seconds before jumping.

"Oh, that's high." She muttered as she looked down.

"Emily." She looked up at Sherlock. "Jump." She shook her head adamantly. "Jump. I'll catch you." He told her. Just by the tone of his voice, she could tell that he meant it. She took a deep breath before she jumped and only let it out when she felt her body crash against the Consulting Detectives.

"Told you." He sounded rather smug as his deep voice resonated in his chest, shooting through Emily, causing her cheeks to flame. Again.

"Thanks." She murmured as she moved away from him slightly.

"Let's go." Sherlock grabbed her hand and took off again. "Come on, John. We're losing him!" He shouted back to the Doctor. Emily wondered why he had waited for her, but not John, but the question quickly left her mind when Sherlock's grip on her hand tightened.

Another metal staircase, was followed by a ledge that once Sherlock had jumped off, he turned back and grabbed Emily by the waist, hoisting her down onto the ground beside him.

He hadn't bothered to grab her hand this time, he knew she was following.

"Ah, no!" She heard Sherlock mutter angrily ahead of her. Without breaking his stride, he raced out of the alley and turned right. "This way." But John turned left, the same way the taxi had gone. Upon noticing this, Emily turned round and ran back for him. "No, this way!"

"Sorry." John muttered to anyone who was listening as Emily took hold of his hand. The two followed after Sherlock.

She had only begun to wonder if they were actually running for a reason when she noticed Sherlock speed up and hurl himself into the path of the approaching taxi.

Sherlock scrabbled in his coat pocket, pulling out the item he was searching for.

"Police! Open her up!" He panted heavily and tugged the rear door open to stare at the passenger. "No." Sherlock said just as John and Emily joined him. "Teeth, tan: what - Californian? L.A., Santa Monica. Just arrived." Emily was leaning against the taxi, trying to regain her breath.

"How could you possibly know that?" John asked as the man in the taxi gave Emily an appreciative glance from his seat. She didn't notice.

"The luggage." And sure enough there, on the suitcase was a label: LAX to LHR. "It's probably your first trip to London, right, going by your final destination and the route the cabbie was taking you?"

"Sorry – are you guys the police?" The man asked.

"Yeah." He flashed the badge briefly at the man. "Everything all right?"

"It probably was until now." Emily muttered.

"Yeah." The man smiled at her.

"Welcome to London." Sherlock said with a false smile, immediately walking away not even bothering to close the door.

"Er, any problems, just let us know." John told him.

"Well maybe she could-"

"Have a nice stay." Emily politely interrupted him when she heard his tone: suggestive. She shut the door in his face.

The two made their way towards Sherlock who was standing a few yards away.

"Basically just a cab that happened to slow down."

"Basically."

"So, not the murderer?" Emily questioned.

"Not the murderer, no." An exasperated Sherlock replied.

"Wrong country, good alibi."

"As they go." Emily had turned back to look at the cab.

"Hey, where-where did you get this? Here." John reached for the card in Sherlock's hand. "Detective Inspector Lestrade?"

"Yeah. I pickpocket him when he's annoying. You can keep that one, I've got plenty at the flat. I've got a few of Sally's if you want one Emily." She nodded distractedly as John giggled.

"What?"

"Nothing, just: 'Welcome to London'." Sherlock chuckled.

"Um. Boys." Emily gained there attention and indicated with her head to the cab where the passenger was now talking to a police officer and pointing in their general direction.

"Got your breath back?" Sherlock asked John.

"Ready when you are." Together the two set off running again. Leaving Emily behind.

She shook her head a little and began to walk at a slow pace behind them. She was too busy looking at the ground in front of her to notice that Sherlock had come back for her.

"Keep up Emily." He told her.

"Eugh. Do I really have to?"

"Yes."

"Can't I just walk? Or better yet get a cab?" She couldn't help the hopeful tone she spoke with.

"Nope." Sherlock grabbed onto her wrist again, and she found herself racing through the streets of London.

Believe In Sherlock

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