Apologies in advance for any spacing mishaps.

Hello everyone, sorry for the wait for this chapter, I wanted it to be something special and I ran out of inspiration for a while, I didn't want to write for the sake of it. I also moved house in the space of time I've been away so as you can imagine I've been rather busy.

Anyway I hope you enjoy this chapter, and please tell me what you think in the comments? And follow/favourite if you think my Story and I deserve it.

Thank you for being so patient and lovely as usual.

Scarlett

xx

Chapter Eleven

John sat opposite Sherlock drinking a cup of tea and watching The Chase, the host Bradley Walsh asked trivial questions which John occasionally answered, usually incorrectly. He ignored Sherlock's mocking snorts and glared daggers at the T.V every time he was proved wrong.

Sherlock sat opposite John, scrolling aimlessly through his email inbox and occasionally answering the questions on the pointless game show John was watching. He always answered them correctly and snorted when John got them wrong.

"Finish the following famous quote from the Dalai Lama 'Always think…'

A-Positivity

B-Compassion

C-Love

John smiled smugly to himself and answered "Compassion" rewarding himself with another Chocolate Digestive when Bradley told him he was correct. John was secretly hoping a question about the Solar System would crop up at some point and he could laugh at Sherlock's horrified face as John proved him wrong. Something that rarely happened at all.

It was a Tuesday Afternoon, the rain was pelting against the window and the wind whistled through tiny cracks between the panes. It was a cold day, a dramatic change from the warm weather they had previously been having. John was wrapped in his duvet and still in his Pajamas, there was no case worth leaving the flat for, which was why Sherlock was looking through his email inbox. Even if a case did crop up John would not be joining the Detective anyway. The pair had not spoken to each other directly for four days and John was pretty certain that half the reason Sherlock tolerated him at the crime scenes anyway because John was the only one that ever complimented him. He was a little child deep down, he loved the attention and they both knew it.

"Boring, boring, dull, primary school stuff, boring. Ugh God I need to do something" Sherlock moaned throwing his laptop onto the seat next to him and leaning back over the sofa. John smiled fondly at the man opposite him and propped his feet up on the coffee table, taking another digestive from the packet.

John desperately wanted to talk to Sherlock, he missed it, however he was far too stubborn to initiate contact again. John knew Sherlock well enough to know that he missed it too, maybe not to John's extent but he did. Even Sherlock needed some form off social interaction now and again, he had an attention span of a Goldfish and there were only so many things the man could do stuck in the flat. John knew that he could leave, Sherlock was able to go out and he was pretty sure there were more than enough interesting cases in his inbox but he didn't want to go out without John.

Sure there were moans of "Boring" and "Simple" coming from the couch every two minutes, however John was sure that if he was to take Sherlock's laptop now then he would be able to find a suitable case in minutes. It would be interesting to see what Sherlock would do to try and get John to go with him.

With a smirk John threw off his Duvet and leaned over Sherlock's outstretched legs to grab his laptop. Sherlock's head snapped up from his position on the sofa and John could see him smirking out of the corner of his eye. Tracing his finger over the mouse pad he scowled at the screen.

"Goddamn passwords" he thought to himself.

Looking up from the screen John stared at Sherlock's smug face and raised an eyebrow. The younger man chuckled with a meagre "Good luck" and turned his attention back to the screen. Scowling at the man he focused on the laptop and tried to think like Sherlock. What were significant happenings during the time John had known him?

Scanning the room he grabbed a pen and an old bank statement off of the arm of the seat next to him and settled down to make a list of significant things. It was the same make of laptop as John's and so he knew he had five attempts until he was locked out. It couldn't be that hard, there weren't many things which Sherlock would class as important enough to use as a password. Chewing his pen lid he started to make a list.

1. The Woman

2. Red Beard

3. Moriarty

4. IOU

5. Baskerville

John realized he was writing down things which Sherlock associated with emotion, up until about a month ago Sherlock had not been a very emotional person at all. However in his brain everything he thought unimportant was deleted, he knew that these things were important to Sherlock. Be it due to fear or love and even cases.

Turning to Sherlock's laptop he decided to try the four most obvious ones;

The Woman - Declined, John felt no shame in feeling rather smug at this. If The Woman had been the password then John would be having some serious words with his Boyfriend.

Red Beard – Declined, John was shocked at this, he was very confident about that one. He had only found out about Red Beard about a year ago. He had heard Sherlock talking in his sleep, something he did fairly often. Usually though he muttered things like Periodic Elements or case facts. However it was about 10am one morning and John was about to leave for the Surgery and he heard Sherlock muttering inside his room. Standing outside his door he heard "Red Beard, Red Beard" over and over again, he decided to ask him about it when he got home. He was surprised when Sherlock told him instantly, he thought he was going to have to pry it out of him. He was also surprised at the fact it was Sherlock's childhood pet, Sherlock never spoke about his childhood or his parents. John never wanted to ask about it in case it was something private but he was always inquisitive about it. Maybe there was an explanation to why Sherlock was the way he was? So when he told him he was almost taken aback by the honesty, and flattered of course that he was trusted enough to be confided in.

Moriarty- Declined, This wasn't as much of a shock, Moriarty may have been Sherlock's greatest opponent but when he shot himself on top of Bart's rooftop Sherlock was almost underwhelmed. John remembered when he came down from the roof as he was on his way there, thinking Sherlock was in trouble. He got in the cab almost sadly and said "He shot himself" and then called Lestrade to recover the body. John still thought that Sherlock never really forgave Moriarty for ending it so suddenly, he had not had such a worthy opponent for quite some time. Certainly not when he had had John around.

IOU- Declined, "Damn" John muttered "not enough characters"

Scrunching his face up in thought John sat for quite some time in thought. He had ruled out Baskerville, he didn't think that Sherlock would want to be reminded of feeling scared for the so called first time. What was important to him? Lestrade? Unlikely, he wouldn't have wanted Lestrade finding out it was him, the humiliation would have been too great. Molly? No, not with how infatuated she was with him. Resisting the urge to groan in frustration, John placed his fingers over the keys and tried to think like Sherlock. And then with a sudden thought John screwed up his bit of paper and typed four letters.

J O H N

And then John was seeing his email inbox, he had got in. His heart beating so loud he could almost hear it John suddenly became self-conscious, he was Sherlock's password. His face started to heat up and he tried to hide it by shoving another Chocolate Digestive in his mouth. John looked over at Sherlock who was staring intently at the screen, but not watching it. He could tell that John had gotten in, he was trying to hide his embarrassment. Then without warning Sherlock got up and walked out of the lounge, avoiding eye contact with John completely. John stared at where Sherlock had been sat in shock, he could hear him walking downstairs and then out the front door.

"I have to follow him" John muttered, attempting to untangle himself from his duvet. Grabbing his stick from the arm of the chair and brushing the crumbs off of his pajamas he limped towards the door, his leg aching. He made his way down the stairs as fast as he could and made his way out the door. Scanning the road he spotted Sherlock's coat heading away from him in the direction away from the town center.

Limping faster than he ever had before he watched as the man got ever closer to the corner.

"Sherlock" he shouted, earning some strange looks from passersby. He wasn't surprised, it was raining, freezing cold and there he was in his pajamas. Yelling a man's name down the street.

"Sherlock you bastard I can't walk that fast" he shouted as he saw the man stop and turn around. Leaning on his stick even more he wrapped his right arm around his waist and tried to stop himself shivering. He was soaked through already and he thanked the heavens he hadn't worn white pajamas.

"Get here now" he gestured, squinting through the sheets of icy water. And thank God Sherlock began to walk back, his head hung low like a Puppy which had just been scolded for knocking over some precious ornament. After what seemed like an age Sherlock reached the shorter man, his curls hanging over his face and his cheeks flushed pink with the cold.

"Me?" he said, louder than he should have had to, the rain was torrential and he could barely hear himself think. "It was me?"

Sherlock merely looked down to the pavement in embarrassment. John brushed away a curl from his face and lifted his chin up to make him look at him. Smiling slightly John leaned in to kiss him, both of their faces numb. It was short and sweet and said everything that they were both thinking. Sherlock pulled away and leaned his forehead against John's.

"I missed you" he muttered.

"I missed you too, I'm sorry for leaving you that day"

"Don't be, you're right I was being too overprotective, you have rights and you're perfectly capable."

John smiled and grabbed Sherlock's hand, his other holding onto his cane. Ignoring the strange looks they were getting from the few people out in the rain John pulled on his hand.

"Will you come inside?"

Sherlock smirked and squeezed his hand "No I'm going to stay out here in this storm."

John laughed, breaking the ice which had settled over the past few days.

"You're an idiot" he laughed as he stood up on his tiptoes to kiss him, "Such an idiot"