The Doctor smirked to himself as he heard footsteps in the alleyway, since he was already fully aware of Sherlock's presence nearby. As Holmes and Watson rounded another corner and faced him, the time lord gave a few echoing claps of recognition and beamed at the pair widely.

'Hello Sherly, good to see you. I've been following your work for years now.'

'I'd say the same for you.' Sherlock said flatly, 'Only it took about an hour or so to solve your riddle.'

'Yes, but you still got stuck didn't you, which makes me special, worth sticking around for.'

The consulting detective had to admit, the idea of meeting someone as intelligent as himself had been novel, and he clearly hadn't shown just how far his intelligence reached yet, perhaps palming this new figure wasn't the best idea yet.

'Firstly, I want to know your name.' Sherlock ordered.

'Is he always this blunt?' The Doctor asked John enquiringly, addressing the former army doctor for the first time.

'Near enough, yeah.' John replied, leaning heavily against his cane.

Ever since Sherlock's faked plunge from St Bartholomew's Hospital, John's psychosomatic limp had returned to plague him. Even following Sherlock's return to London, and subsequent reveal of his technique to his friend, John had been unable to shake the emotional baggage causing his ailment, and Sherlock was never any good with social issues.

'I'm The Doctor, just The Doctor.' Explained the Galifreyan. 'I'm a Time Lord, I'm a little over one thousand years old, and you know for a fact that I'm not lying.'

'Sherlock, he can't be serious.' John implored.

'Oh no, he is John, no perspiration whatsoever, and he looked me straight in the eye. The only time he looked away was when he remembered his age, which is plausible when you're as old as he is, but he looked down to his left when remembering, which when you're right handed generally indicates he could be telling the truth. Technically it all adds up.'

'Oh you are good.' The Doctor said, in very slight awe. 'But how did you know I'm right handed?'

'Finger prints on the crime scenes; you always opened doors with your right hand. You didn't need to open doors, but you wanted me to know which hand you prefer…'

'Oh very, very clever. And your second question?'

'The disappearing act, it's like nothing I've ever seen before. If anything I'd say it was out of this world but that's unlikely. How did you do it?'

'Now now Sherly, I wouldn't say unlikely, but it's definitely out of this world.'

The Doctor let out another slight smirk as he clicked his fingers, on his right hand of course, and the doors to the TARDIS swung open, bathing the consulting detective and his partner in light from the console room.

'I need your help on a subject that not even you could solve alone Sherlock. You need me as much as I need you, because you never did find the man that should have killed John Watson.'

Sherlock frowned slightly at the time lord's point. He was right.