CHAPTER 2.
It's dark and it's cold and the hour belongs to the night and John finds himself wishing he was in his warm, comfortable bed instead of where he is now, which is in the dark and cold alley God-knows-where. There is a dead body, man in his late twenties, covered in beautiful, colorful tattoos, being the third one found in the last couple of weeks, all of them died the same death, shot straight to the heart, instant death, and then dumped in the alley, covered in shallow cuts ruining the exsquisite designs covering their bodies.
Sherlock is being his usual brilliant self, spilling deduction with the speed of the light, crouching over the body with his magnyfing glass, seeing what no one else can see. And though it's really freezing, the night being one of the coldest in ending slowly November, and he is soaked wet, John can't stop himself from being mesmerized with his flatmate's brilliance, just like he always is.
Anyway, he is also concerned that he probably will again fall asleep tomorrow at surgery and that he – well, they, since it was Sherlock paying great role in all dragging out buisness - dragged out Mrs. Hudson out of bed so she sat with Hamish and took care of him again that week.
So when Sherlock says they need to find the studio where the tattoos were made – apparently that's what victims had in common – John is not that happy as his friend would want him to be. But, of course, he follows, like he always does.
And, in the end, it turns out it wasn't that bad idea, cause studio's owner really is georgeous, all tall, skinny, but not too much, and with amazing thick, curly dark hair falling on her slender arms. And though Sherlock is shamming her, being as wonderful as only he could be, all-brillinat-smiles-and-shiny-eyes, when she looks at John she smiles the most cute smile he has ever seen – and when eventually they leave, John has her phone number safely saved in his mobile, and he's going on date at Friday evening.
He wonders briefly if it's not too early for him to start dating again, remorse and guilt a light flicker, but then he remembers Mary's face and realizes she would want him to move on. After all, isn't it what she helped him to do after Sherlock's "death"?
So when they arrive at Baker Street on the beginning of the new day, and he has three hours till his shift starts and crying two year old to take care of, he is content, feeling like his life finally goes as it should.