John decided he needed to think things over, so instead of getting a cab and then sitting at home chugging down more tea, he decided that he was long over due for a nice quiet walk in the park. As he walked he looked around and noticed everything. Even though Sherlock was gone the sky was still blue, the sun still shone, the earth still went around the sun and the moon around the Earth. The wind still blew and the plants still grew, the children still played at the local playground and the older folk still sat on benches by the pond and feed the ducks that lived there.

Even though Sherlock was gone, life still went on.

It almost wasn't fair, why did the rest of the world get to continue on why he had to stay put and suffer? Because the world isn't fair, it was as simply as that. John had been in wars and if it was one thing he knew, it's that the world isn't fair. There were kids starving on the streets, youth people in abusive relationships and people dying from illnesses everywhere.

No, the world was not fair.

And now, everything that he had been trying to get past, everything he had been trying oh so hard to forget (ok maybe not forget) and move on from was being brought back up to the surface. And maybe not now, but he could almost feel the old wounds opening up and bleeding all over again.

The very next day, Lestrade called again saying that they found a body that they believe to be 'The White Flames' first victim. John threw his coat on and was out the door in records time.

John looked back at his phone to see that Lestrade had texted him an address. He nearly yelled the address at the cab driver and was off to the crime scene.

"Afternoon Lestrade," John said upon arriving at the scene.

"Afternoon John!" Lestrade said back. To John's luck, Anderson didn't appear to be at the scene today, nope just Lestrade, Donavon, John and a couple other officers. John noticed that at a usual crime scene there were a lot more people, John figured that this whole affair was being kept in secret.

John looked down at the body, "Do you have any information about her?"

"Miss. Lydia Thomson , 19 years old, blonde hair, blue eyes, 5'6, single, no other siblings, lives with father and visits mother on the weekends."

John looked up at Lestrade, "I'm guessing you didn't get all that just by looking at her?"

Lestrade handed John a two file, "You should probably look over these. One is a Missing Person's file about Miss. ,Thomson the second is a file on 'The White Flame'. We're not the first to deal with him, we have a pretty good idea on who he is, but we have no evidence to proof it."

John looked over the files then back at the body. According the files, 'The White Flame' all of his past victims were left with their hands bound and written in red was the single letter 'F' on the backs of their hands. This victim in particular, had a slit throat, stab wounds near chest and stomach and signs of struggle on her body.

LydiaThomson was the daughter of a unknown wrestler's manager. She was supposed to be leaving for college in about a week, and her father had listed her as a missing person 5 days ago.

"Did she having anything on her when they found her?" John asked still looking over the body.

"Only a wallet and her car keys."

"Mind if i-"

And before he could finish his sentence Lestrade handed him a bang with the items in it. Without taking the items out of the see-through bag, John looked over them.

"Once you're done here inspector I'd suggest you question her brother."

"But I thought she was an only child?" Said Donavon with a confused look on her face.

"Well, going by the picture in her wallet I'd say brother or very close friend of the family. The picture is of Lydia, her father and a boy at some dinner. Her father is a manager so I;d say his client just had a win and he invited his manager and his family to a treat. Which means it was a rather large win. And since it's work it would have to be a family member. I'm guessing the records say only child? So maybe his adopted?"

"Or?" Lestrade knew that face, John was making the same face Sherlock would when he was making a deduction.

"Well, you said the daughter visited her mother on the weekends right? So her parents are split up. So perhaps her mother remarried and the man she remarried too already had a son. Lydia here became very close with her step brother, but something happened. Something must have happened to the step father, either he died or did something that his son didn't approve of. So when he left he stayed with his step mom, but I'm guessing either she didn't want him because he reminded her of his father or he didn't like her. Well either way, because Lydia was so close to him Lydia's real father opened his house to him."

Everyone (except for Lestrade who saw how much john and Sherlock rubbed off on each other) stared wide eyed and jaw dropped at John.

"Good Work John," Lestrade said taking the bag back. "Now would you like to investigate Lydia's brother or would like one of my men?"

"Exactly inspector, could one of your men do it? There is something else I wanna look into."

Lestrade nodded, "Donavon, look into this brother of hers."

"Yes sir," Donavon said with a nod and got right on it.

Back at the Yard, John and Lestrade were standing in Lestrade's office once again.

"Earlier you said you had an idea of who 'The White Flame' might be, may I ask who?" John said taking a seat.

"Yeah, Alexander Flames" Lestrade said throwing a file towards John. "He's the creator of a computer software system called 'The River', ever hear of it?"

John gave a sarcastic laugh, "Who hasn't? Pretty much everyone has it now. someone at work said they had a 10 year old computer, and when they downloaded 'The River' it made their computer compatible with any other computer systems, high speed, they can download almost anything now, it has HD and everyone I know who got has said only positive things about. Said they can't find one flaw about it."

"Yeah well, the man who created it is our top suspect. We can't find any evidence, and he's very good about hiding his tracks."

John began to look over his file, there was quite a lot about Alexander, his connections, his computer systems.

"Look," began Lestrade, "Why don't you go home and look over all the files I gave you. We won't be doing anymore investigating until we hear back from Donavon."

John nodded, "Alright, call me if you hear ANYTHING." As he said this he stood up and made his way to the door. "Okay, Good Bye John."

"Good Bye John."

Those words echoed through his head as John walked down the street. Those three words, why was it that sentences with only three words could do so much to a person.

"I Love You,"

"I Hate You,"

"Good Bye John."

Three little words, that was all it took to change someone's life.

John shook his head, he was tired and stressed. All he wanted to do was get home and collapse either on the couch or his bed, he honestly didn't care which one. Why did people have to be so annoying? Why couldn't they just accept that Sherlock was gone? All this talk about Sherlock just stressed him all the more. Maybe after all this was over he would take a nice long vacation. Yes, maybe a cruise? Maybe the Bahamas or Bermuda? It honestly didn't matter to him, as long as he would get his nice warm beach, none of it mattered.

"Hey there Doc!" said a voice with a fake British accent from behind. John wiped around to see a slightly familiar face strolling up towards him. The voice belong to a young girl, about 15-16 years old, thick brown hair that was hanging in a ponytail, bluish-green eyes, and very thin but not unhealthy.

"Hello Dodgy." John said smiling at the girl, "And what do I own this pleasure to?"

Dodgy, as everyone knew her, was part of Sherlock's homeless network. John had seen Dodgy a couple times before, but he was properly introduced to her one day when she was brought to the clinic with a broken leg. From what John had learned about her she was an American, her parents were never married, her mom was a teenage mother and her father left her when she was 3 years old. She was an alcoholic and would take the money Dodgy's father gave them for child support and spent it getting drunk. One day when they could no longer afford to live in the apartment they currently lived at her mother said that she had gotten a job in another country with a cheaper apartment. What her mother didn't tell her was that she got the money by selling all her daughter's stuff.

Dodgy only realized this when her and her mother stopped for a week in London and her money gave her a small amount f money to spend at a mall. when she got back to the hotel they were staying at she found that her mother was gone. The only thing that Dodgy found left was a letter to her mother saying that Dodgy's father was found dead and all his money was to be given to Dodgy. Dodgy's mother had taken the money and left the country.

The police tried to find her but with no luck. The police were originally going to put Dodgy in a foster home, but she argued and stayed with an aunt. Final, when she was 13 years old, she ran away and lived on the streets. And within 2 weeks of living on the streets of London had she found herself working in Sherlock Holmes's homeless network. She had no money, and besides her aunt (who cared less what happened to the girl and was glad she was gone) no other relatives, the streets of London were a better home then any other place she had ever lived.

"So of my mates said they saw you down at a crime scene with Inspector Lestrade."

John sighed, ever since he learned about the Dodgy's history he has wanted to help her. But Dodgy had a bad habit of being almost as stubborn as a Holmes.

"And you wanted to know if you could help?" He said, now walking with her side-by-side.

"You know I hate just sitting around doing nothing."

John stopped for a moment, "Actually, there is something you can do."

Dodgy perked up, "Yeah! What?"

"Alexander Flames, ever heard of him?"

Dodgy thought for a moment, then nodded her head. "Owns a big computer company yeah?"

"Get some people together and find out all you can about him. And also, find out about a certain McGregor family. Mr. Thomson is a wrestler, ever heard of him?"

"You mean 'The Crasher'? Bernie Thomson?"

"Yeah him, find out all you can about him and get me information about his connections, family, friends, enemies, got it?"

"And?" Dodgy said making a face. John reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet, he got out five 10's, "Give one 10 to anyone else who helps you. If you have any extra, keep it."

And with a smile Dodgy nearly flew off on her mission. Before John turned away he saw her with two other people, one he recognized from the homeless network and the other one he didn't recognize, but assumed he was part of the network.

Once back at 221B John had just enough energy to make it to his bed.

"Right, nap first then tea,"

And with that he fell into a deep sleep which would be woken later by the sound of text message on his phone.