John had just returned from the medical conference (and stealing the original copy of Divine Comedy) 3 weeks prior and was posting their latest case regarding the Jaria Diamond after turning in the assailant that turned up in the flat as Sherlock (who was ordered by John) cleaned the sword that would be the new decoration on 221 B placed atop the horns.

"Must I really clean this John?" Sherlock asked as he continues to wipe the sword with a white cloth at the same time watching John post the case that has just ended a while ago. John who was wearing his reading glasses looked up, fingers still moving spoke "Of course, besides I'm the one who'll be explaining to Mrs. Hudson about that" he motions to the slice on the desk "fair trade, mate"

Sherlock pouts clearly not satisfied at the same time attempting to cover up the fact that his stomach was on butterflies with John wearing eye glasses and the ruffled hair that simply gives him the feels.

"Have you studied yet?" John asks still typing with his face on the screen, which slightly upsets Sherlock and relieves him "for what?"

"exams, Sherlock. Unlike me, who has graduated earlier than my peers and colleagues, you are still in Uni and preparing for your Licensure exam" John answers and looks at Sherlock who feels indignated "I don't need a license!" he shouts at John and throws the sword away and John smiles his smile that infuriates Sherlock, never mind the fact that the smile is fond.

"Genius you maybe, Sherlock, but people still need credentials, I know it's tough,love,I've been there" John says to Sherlock to placate his friend but Sherlock's mind had already stop processing everything the moment 'love' came out and his cheeks turned to red and he stuttered trying to form a comeback as John merely chuckled and said "Just teasing, Sherlock"

He pouts and picks up the sword and places it on top of the horns and admires his work as John chuckles once more before taking a sip of his blended tea (a personal gift from Blanca)

" I've just finish posting why don't you check your emails, might have a worth while case" John says as he closes his laptop and turns on Sherlock's and places it on his best friend's lap and perches on the arms of Sherlock's chair who tries not to pay too much attention to John's positioning as he searches his mail box for anything that is worth his (and also John's) time.

"boring"

"boring"

"boring"

"cheating spouse"

"boring"

"boring"

"scam"

"boring"

"medical scam"

"BORING!"

John sighs and proceeds to run over his hand through Sherlock's hair making the younger man purr and calm down as John continued his ministrations " In that case, shall we go and buy some milk?"

"pedestrian, Jawn" Sherlock mutters and leans to John's side like a cat while John merely smiles " We can play a game while at it" he encourages as he twirls one of Sherlock's curly hair in hand completely ignoring the camera Mycroft had placed inside the right socket of Skully.

"what game?"

"Blanca and I used to play this when she was younger, Sociology is what we called it" John answers and Sherlock is vaguely interested as he sat straighter and looks at John "sociology?"

and John nods " like the name suggests it's a game in which we predict what the target would do base on what information we have gathered"

"Will we play this while you shop?"

"yes"

And soon enough Sherlock Holmes and John Watson was out of 221 B and into the nearest store to buy milk among other things at the same time playing a little game as the two went through their grocery list.

'Living in Q-branch is fun' she thought as she took her rest on Q's mini kitchen made for him and the other Q-branch workers as she took a sip of her own special blend tea. The automatic doors opened and Q himself went it and greeted her politely.

" How is it going?" Q asked her as he prepared his own tea. She looks at him in contemplation before deciding on her answer " proceeding with caution" frowning afterwards after hearing how robotic it sounded. Q laughed and said " It's fine, you've been my student for 2 years I'm already use to your quirks"

And she smiles briefly before schooling her expression to an appropriate one as she asked "Has there been any news regarding Tiago?"

"No,none as of now" Q answered with a frown and puzzlement as he took a sip from his mug just as Blanca placed her mug on the counter she was leaning on. Her posture made Q aware of how grim or complicated the situation maybe.

"Shall we take this to my office?"

Blanca nodded and the two of them went to Q's office that was devoid of any bugs or cameras. As soon as Q sat Blanca began, beginning first on Moriarty and his empire, slowly she told Q of her findings and of her recent information that caused her to return to England and render her services to MI6 or to be precise, to Q himself.

" In other words, Tiago would avail Moriarty's services in the future?" Q asked after learning the great intellect of Moriarty who was a mathematical genius and the knowledge that Tiago himself was almost a genius made him fear but Blanca's grim expression confirmed it her vocal answer just made it more real for him.

And Q asked the only question left " What do we do now?" on that moment Q saw the flame in his former student's eyes burn strongly as she answered "We make our plan"

'She will burn everyone in her path'

John was writing in his medical journal as Sherlock who was using John's laptop went through his mails. "Anything that caught your attention yet?" John asked as he wrote from the table glancing now and then to Sherlock.

"How about your experiment?" Sherlock asked eyes now making contact with John "successful" John answers as he glances back to his notes and with a contented smile closes it and places it back to the shelf, not once did Sherlock's eyes not leave John which John took in stride knowing that Sherlock was most probably deducing him once more and so he walks to Sherlock and perches himself on the arms of the chair.

Sherlock who was secretly enjoying the warmth of John's body pressed to his side went back to his mails and scanned through them answering a few that was not boring enough but not interesting enough to warrant his presence when John had pointed to one email that came from a bank but to be more specific to an intern of a bank "Shall we go to the bank then?"

and John smiles at and answers "We shall" and Sherlock closes the laptop as John gathers his keys and wallet while Sherlock slips on his coat and wears his scarf which John fixes and the two heads off to their destination Tower 42, Old Broad Street. Sherlock leads John through revolving glass doors that leads to their bank.

'Shad Sanderson Bank' John thought as they walked through and went inside an elevator. Sherlock leads him to the receptionist and tells her his name. A while later they are led to an office which was empty.

"Who are we waiting for?" he asked noticing the office devoid of any name plaque. Sherlock deigns him an answer " Sebastian Wilkes"

John nods and tries to gauge the man which Sherlock notices and gives John an accurate deduction to pass both of their time. John smiles and showers him with praises once more which lightens Sherlock's mood he was not particularly fond of Sebastian Wilkes. After a few minutes of talking the two of them spent their time in comfortable silence, Sebastian Wilkes enters the office after making them wait for 20 minutes.

"Sherlock Holmes" he greets with a wry grin while Sherlock whose disdain is not hidden with any effort merely says " Sebastian" as if the name itself was offending. Sherlock then introduces John after ignoring Sebastian's attempt at pleasantries.

"My friend, John Watson" he introduces and Sebastian latches on the emphasis

"Best Friend and assistant" John corrects and he shakes hand with Sebastian, the latter looking at him curiously. Despite John's smile he did not like Sebastian Wilkes at all and the conversation that followed just strengthened his dislike for the man. After turning down an offer of beverage John silently wished the man would just get straight to the point.

"So what is the genius of the medical field doing here with Sherlock Holmes?" He asked a little bit curious and patronising, to whom John does not know nor does he care.

"like I said best friend and assistant" John repeats and Sherlock smirks for bit enjoying John's deliberate goading of Sebastian, John is aware of Sherlock's reaction but ignores it outwardly "and I'm just talented not a genius" he ends it with a smile clearly fake.

"You've been doing well" Sebastian says turning his attention to Sherlock who answers "so are you, flying abroad a lot"

"well some" Sebastian answers with shrug

"Flying all the way around the world twice in a month?"

John could see the implications of Sherlock and he frowned a bit one that said 'bit not good'

"Right. You're doing that thing" Sebastian says clearly uncomfortable of the implications "This guy here had a trick he used to do" he says turning once more to John. Sherlock quietly says " It's not a trick". Sebastian takes no heed and continues " He could look at you and tell your whole life story"

John who was a master in acting answered politely "Yes, I see him do it"

If Sebastian noticed the implication he ignored it and John had inched a bit to Sherlock their hands touching for a moment Sherlock felt warm but that disappeared as soon as the next words left Sebastian's mouth

"Put the wind up everybody. We hated him"

And John held Sherlock's hand an assurance of sorts because John knew the next words would even be more cutting "You'd come down to breakfast in the Formal Hall and this freak would know you'd been shagging the previous night" Sebastian said and the words freak was clearly said with contempt and malice.

John merely remained silent letting Sherlock talk for himself

"I merely observed" he said quietly and John squeezed his hand and Sebastian knowing he has found his ammunition said in patronising tone "Go on, enlighten me. Two trips a month, flying all the way around the world – you're quite right. How could you tell?"

Sherlock opens his mouth but Sebastian clearly has no plans to make the genius speak says "You're gonna tell me there was...um... a stain on my tie from some special kind of ketchup you can only buy in Manhattan."

And John smiles knowing how wrong the man was, once more Sherlock attempts to speak but is cutted off again 'this is starting to annoy me' John thought as he listened to Sebastian and once the man was done he spoke up intent on correcting the man

"It's your watch actually" he says and Sherlock looks at him amused while Sebastian was flabbergasted, he then directs the man to tell them about the case not wanting to spend another minute with the infuriating man.

When Q had called him for a talk he felt nervous though his outward appearance showed nothing. He had started working here 6 months ago as Q's protegé he had just returned from his trip in Paris for a mission and he could not help but wonder (and hope that it was nothing bad) why he was being called to Q's entering he saw the rumoured intern and Q's own elusive former student.

The very same person he had bumped into one of the alleys in Paris.

'does she remember me?' he wondered as he closed the door and walked and stopped in front of Q

"Good afternoon, Adrian"

"Afternoon,Q" he greets and the woman nods at him, he observes her and forms his own deduction '19, single, working freelance, computer genius, lived in paris for 3 years, returned to London 1 month ago'

"Blanca Valmont" she introduces and then shows him a painting " What do you see?"

"Temeraire"

"what else?"

"the inevitability of time" and for a moment he wonders if he passed some sort of test because her smile just seemed so "What do you think of a digital fortress?" she asks and at that moment he saw something in her eyes that reminded him of his elder brother.

"interesting"

"how would you like to make one?" she offers with a coy smile and somehow it clicked in his mind and he grinned slowly "God, YES!" Q and Blanca both laughed good naturedly and he joined in.

He was going to be part of a secret project.

Sherlock and John were at Van Coon's apartment along with the forensics who were taking pictures of Van Coon's body as one dusts for fingerprints on the nearby mirror. John was standing beside Sherlock who was wearing latex gloves in the bedroom,his coat already discarded.

"What do you think?" John asks Sherlock who was crouched beside the suitcase on the floor but Sherlock merely continues his searching and John smiles a bit fondly and decides to try deducing as well, applying what he learned from Jim and what he saw Sherlock do as he did this Sherlock was already at the foot of the bed and ask John a question regarding the symbols on the bank.

"Why did they put it there?"

And John stops for a while thinking for an answer "Less conspicuous"

Sherlock gives him a look of consideration but John has not notice he was already thinking of everything they've gathered for a while, he left the room where Sherlock was and searched every room for a clue to confirm his answer.

'It won't do if I act out of turn' he thought taking into account that the ball was still in Jim's court. Sherlock who was left in the room did not notice John's departure and asked the man "Why not use email?"

John's loud voice from the other side of the apartment surprised him "safer that way" John answered seriously, his face in a frown as he looked over to the window. Sherlock had come to him and ask

"why?"

"hackers" were the simple answer John gave and Sherlock filed the look on John's face for future reference

"What kind of message would everyone avoid?"

John finally looks at him, with confusion, and Sherlock adds "This morning, those letters you were looking at" and John thinks back to the letters which caused him to frown and answered "Family Reunion"

Sherlock raises a brow to him and heads back to Van Coon's body and gently opens the dead man's mouth open, the air hisses out from the dead man's lungs as Sherlock retrieves the small black origami. John keeps his facial expression but inside he felt trepidation, he already knew who had done the murder.

'The only question left is what the item was' he thought just as a sergeant,he was never aware of, showed up.

"Ah, Sergeant. We haven't met" Sherlock says and offers his hand for a shake but the older man only places his hand on the hips privately Sherlock thought that John would still be pleased for his social gesture.

"Yeah, I know who you are; and I'd prefer it if you didn't tamper with any of the evidence" the sergeant says and John merely raises his brow in question, Sherlock gives the man his best stroppy look and asks " Is Lestrade on the way?"

the man answers "He's busy. I'm in charge. And it's not Sergeant; it's Detective Inspector. Dimmock."

Sherlock is surprised and shares his look with John and Dimmock walks out of the room, they both follow him into the leaving room as Dimmock hands the bag to one of the forensics.

"We're obviously looking at a suicide"

And John agrees but only to one part of the Dimmock's sentence, Sherlock does not seem to notice as he corrects Dimmock, whether John is included is not known, and says "It's one possible explanation of some of the facts" as his back is turned to them and turns around to Dimmock "you're choosing to ignore anything you see that doesn't comply with it"

and Dimmock prompts him, Sherlock points out the wound on the right side of Van Coon's head and then says that Van Coon was left handed, showing Dimmock an elaborate mime to demonstrate his point, From behind Dimmock, John smiles and catches Sherlock's eyes as Dimmock repeats what Sherlock has just said.

Sarcastically Sherlock says " I'm amazed you didn't notice. All you have to do is look around this flat" he then proceeds to say his deduction "Coffee table on the left-hand side; coffee mug handle pointing to the left. Power sockets: habitually used the ones on the left,Pen and paper on the left-hand side of the phone because he picked it up with his right and took down messages with his left, want me to go on?"

and John says " You've got it covered" but Sherlock continues and John merely nods to hide his smile 'He's like Jim in a way' he thought as Sherlock continues his deduction and finishes off with his conclusion that Van Coon was is surprised and John offers him an explanation.

"But if his door was locked from the inside, how did the killer get in" Dimmock asks and Sherlock who already lost his patience with Dimmock but still hiding it marginally well says "You're finally asking the right questions." and with a dramatic flourish left the flat with John on his heels frowning a bit for Sherlock's behaviour towards Dimmock before they left.

Blanca was silently glad that Adrian does not asks questions about her personal life or her work ethics like the others as she typed in her computer with god speed as she started making calls to collect debts.

'debt collecting at such a young age, mother would be proud' she thought as she made sure who would be loyal and powerful enough to help her in her plans. This continued on for several hours until she received a message from John.

To: Blanca

From: [unknown number]

Message:

Meet you Daily Brew in 50 minutes

She closes her mobile and turns to Adrian "take a break for a while and just continue at your own pace, I'll be meeting someone"

she leaves and takes her things with her, stopping by her quarters to fix herself and make her presentable to John 'can't arouse his suspicions, if he did Moriarty would learn of my plans'

Taking a cab, Blanca had arrived 10 minutes early and saw John already there so she had made her way to him. " Hello, John" she greet as she seats down and John waves over the waiter to take their orders.

"One order of Smores, grande wintermelon milk tea and she'll have a tirami su and a grande of chocolate milk tea" John tells the waiter and soon as he was gone John spoke " What do you have regarding General Shan?"

Blanca is surprised and voices her curiosity " what for?" and John gives her one of his smiles one that she's all to familiar with and she frowns not liking it one bit, John sighs and she pouts like a petulant child.

"Blanca, you know my line of work"

and she can't help but frown in a crestfallen way because she knew that his line of work would also become the end of his most precious treasure, she has always been weak against him and like always she'll give in.

"fine, come with me later then..." she trails off "but for now lets eat and spend the next two hours like family"

John smiles and the two continue their family date.

'He's lucky...John loves him'

When John enters the flat he was surprised when Sherlock had spoken out of the blue "I said, 'Could you pass me a pen?' "

John looks around checking if there was anyone else in the room, once he was done voiced his confusion, which Sherlock answered and John did not know whether to feel exasperated or amused for Sherlock not noticing that he was gone for 5 hours. He tosses a pen towards Sherlock's direction without looking at him as he places his stuff at the table, Without looking away from the photographs, Sherlock catches John's pen.

"It was fun, she was smiling"

"who?"

John looks at Sherlock and answers " the coffee" and turns back to the photographs, Sherlock looks at his suspiciously for a moment, then points to his right "Here, have a look" he says to John and the doctor walks over to the table and looks at the web page on the open computer. The lead article on the 'Online News' page is headlined, "Ghostly killer leaves a mystery for police".

"Happened last night, journalist shot dead in his flat; doors locked, windows bolted from the inside – exactly the same as Van Coon"

And John straightens up, confirming that Moriarty has now made his move. For a moment he wonders if Sherlock could see his trepidation.

'For now I'll do my best to ensure both of our safety' he thought.