Hi so Chapter 3, I spent a lot of time thinking about this chapter but not so much time to write it so I do apologise, please forgive me. Don't kill me!

Trial Of The Consulting Criminal

The weekend had past eventlessly, Beth had spent most of her time looking over the video of the criminal committing his crime. She observed the way he danced around the room before smashing the glass into hundreds of shards and thinking just how ingenious his plan was. He was very precise and well equipped, seeming as he had a diamond with him to smash the glass. But what intrigued her more was the little message he left. Get Sherlock. And who was the message to? Many more questions ran through Beth's mind. Also she was a little concerned for what this might mean, concerned for Sherlock's safety. However, she did not know if Sherlock had encountered this man before and if this was his first offence or not. So eventually she closed her macbooks screen down and got up from her sofa.

It was coming on late in the afternoon when she had received a text on her phone.

Hello, this is Lestrade. Could you come in a little earlier tomorrow? I need to have a word with you in my office.

-GL

Beth froze a little. She always got nervous when messages like that were sent to her. She never knew if she was in trouble or not.

Sure. I'll be there at 7:30.

-BM

By morning, Beth was up and ready, dressed in a green floaty top and black trousers. She was nervous and unsure of what to expect from Lestrade. She hoped she had not lost her job over what she had done on that Friday. In fact she was positive that it wasn't something that would cost her her job.

She had caught a cab to New Scotland Yard and immediately headed over to Lestrade's office. Lightly she knocked on the door and entered, seeing that Lestrade had a smile on his face and nothing looked job threatening.

"Ah Beth, please sit," he gestured to the chair in front of his desk. Calmly, and feeling slightly relieved that things were looking more promising and Lestrade himself seemed quite cheerful, Beth sat on the chair and smiled at the detective inspector.

"I would like to ask you if you would like to accompany me and some others to the court session of Jim Moriarty? All I would want you to do is to see if he gives any hints of how he got past security of the 3 locations," Beth, without any hesitation, nodded at his request. She was already intrigued by the man she saw in the video. To see him in real life was extremely tempting for her. Also to actually investigate the way he behaves and the things he says to get hints was something she was looking forward to.

"Oh and before you go, let me just tell you that Jim Moriarty is very intimidating and slightly..."

The door swung open behind her, her head snapped around to see that Sherlock and his partner had walked into Lestrade's office. Sherlock had on a Belstaff coat and a blue scarf, underneath he had a suit on. Then she looked over to his partner who seemed to stand in a very militarily way, wearing jeans and a black jacket.

"You texted me?" Sherlock's baritone voice questioned.

"Yes, the lawyer wants you to speak during the court case, you know, answer a few questions about how you met him and stuff?" Sherlock gave a slight grunt, then shortly after gave Lestrade a slight nod. He was about to walk out the room until his eyes met Beth's.

2 days before

His fingers were pressed against his lips as he laid on the sofa, wondering the corridors of his mindpalace. Every corner he took, his eyes would meet with the girl black fringed hair and blue eyes, from the Tower Of London. Sure, he recognised her, but she wasn't relevant, so he brushed her away.

Half an hour had passed and still the girl was following him, appearing in every corridor he turned into. So finally he had given up and stopped in front of her. She walked into a room that led to more corridors, and Sherlock followed her. She began to run, and so he chased after her bursting into a room that was blinding with light. Sherlock covered his eyes, but as the doors closed behind him, the room darkened and revealed the room from his childhood. Little Sherlock walked around the room, looking for something. He looked behind one sofa, the curtains, then smirked and began to creep up to the other sofa across to the other side of the room. Sherlock followed his little self and as his head slowly looked down the back of the sofa, a girlish scream appeared. A girl with bright blonde hair jumped out from the back of the sofa and ran around the room.

"Beth calm down now," said a low pitched toned voice that came from a man in the other room.

Sherlock's eyes widened. He suddenly came out of his mind palace and he now entered 221B with John sat in his chair reading the newspaper.

"Beth," Sherlock whispered as he stared up at the ceiling. All memories came flooding back. Memories that he had classed as junk a long while ago. However he could never fully delete them from his memory. Eventhough he would not admit it, those memories were precious to him.

"What was that Sherlock?" John asked as he heard Sherlock mumble.

"Nothing,"

"John, Lestrade, please excuse me and Beth for a second," Sherlock said sharply as he grabbed Beth's arm tightly and pulled her from the chair, out of the room. Beth gasped at the sudden action and the force he used upon her. Also she was surprised that he recognised her finally. She couldn't look Sherlock in the eyes, so she kept her head down.

"So I see you're back,"

"Er, yeah, got a new job here," Shifting from one foot to the other, Beth responded with her quiet voice. Her hand began to rub her arm which Sherlock noticed and knew that she was nervous.

"Why are you back? Really?"

When Beth didn't respond back, Sherlock sighed and put his hands on her shoulders, shaking her slightly.

"Beth! Why are you back? After all this time and you choose to come now!" Beth was taken back by his reaction. She had never seen Sherlock show such emotion of anger towards her before, not even when he was young. She froze in thought of why exactly she was here. Not because she wanted this job, but the real reason. And it finally dawned on her.

"I... I missed you, I missed London, my old life. If I could turn back time I would. But my dad got a job in Cambridge and we just had to drop everything and go... I'm sorry Sherlock, I wish I could have said goodbye," her eyes finally lifted to his, and she saw the pain that were in his eyes. His arms fell to his side and he looked away.

"Yes well, you can't go back in time so, I guess your wish is pointless..."

"Sherlock, I've just apologi..."

"You don't realise what happened while you were gone. And I'm not wasting my breath explaining," Sherlock stormed into Lestrade's office, and then came back out with John following his tail.

"Sherlock. Wait," But Sherlock ignored Beth and was out of the room before she could say anymore.

Sherlock stopped as soon as he was out of the room and closed his eyes tight. His emotions were getting the better of him and he knew what he just said to Beth was going to play on his mind for a long time. He wasn't going to kid himself, he had missed Beth and when he realised that she was his childhood friend, he felt a spark light within him. But he was angry with her for leaving him, and he immediately chose that to express his feelings. To express the pain that he had experienced. His eyes shot open and met with John's confused face.

"Are you OK Sherlock?" Sherlock's immediate reaction was to put on a plain face and continue walking, but inside, he was not OK.

1 week later

Beth took her seat in the court room that held many people for the major crime that this man 'James Moriarty' had committed. She looked around in amazement at the room, feeling intimidated by it's size and it's purpose. By then she had only just noticed that the man in front of her was Sherlock's partner, so she felt inclined to introduce herself after the episode she had with Sherlock about a week ago. Softly, she tapped his shoulder to gain his attention. As soon as he turned around, he realised who it was and gave her a smile.

"Beth right?"

"Uh huh, Beth Mcneill, Sherlock's childhood friend," She reached out her hand towards his which he took almost immediately.

"Pleasure to meet you, I'm John Watson, Sherlock's flatmate,"

Beth and John sat talking as they waited for the trial to begin, they spoke about how Sherlock and John and how Sherlock and Beth met and basically, everything to do with either themselves or Sherlock. But as soon as someone began to ask for the court room to be silent, their attention focused on the arrival of the judge. She began to search the room for Sherlock himself, finding him near the front in the witness area.

Then thats when he arrived. A man with dark hair slick back from his face, and eyes that held the darkest abyss she had ever seen. He wore a light grey suit that fit his figure perfectly. He was purely captivating in her eyes. She couldn't take her eyes off of him. His eyes sucked her in and she saw every dark thought that ran through his mind.

She felt eyes burn through her skin as the feeling of being watched crept over her. She turned her gaze towards the criminal and her skin turned red when she saw that he was watching her. Watching her every move. His eyes manipulated her and eventually she began to stare back. Their gaze went on for the majority of the trial until finally Moriarty was found not guilty.

"Huh, not guilty... wait what? Not guilty?" Beth's mesmerizing wore off and finally she came down to reality.

"How the hell did he get not guilty without any witnesses?" John shrugged and Beth watched as the dark eyed man got took away from the court room.