This is a bit of unashamed fluff to offset the angst of Madness and Memory.

But it's also an exploration of how Kate would react to Sherlock's moods, and how they would deal with their first real argument. It's going to be short and sweet, so the plan is to publish a chapter a day over three days.

For anybody who hasn't read my other stories, Kate is Sherlock's girlfriend, and you can read the rest of their story in The Girl in the Scarf.

Hope you enjoy it.

'Do you love her?' John asked.

Sherlock looked scathing. 'Love, John? What is love. A chemical imbalance which results in irrational behaviour.'

'You didn't answer my question.'

Sherlock stared at him, waiting for John to look away. John failed to oblige.

'You're not saying no,' John said finally with a small smile. 'Am I to take that as a yes, or a maybe?'

Sherlock muttered something and walked over to the pinboard on the wall, contemplating the many scraps of paper that he had pinned to it.

'Because she loves you,' John said quietly, 'Even if she hasn't said it. She told me to keep you working and to stop you from going after her. She cares more about you, and about your work, than she does about herself, and if that isn't love, then I don't know what is.'

Sherlock turned slightly, looking over his shoulder at John and staring at him with a slight frown as if he had just said something particularly perplexing. 'Is that your definition of love?' he asked.

'Love is when you want the best for someone, irrespective of your own feelings,' John replied promptly.

'And when you feel a person's absence as an almost physical pain, is that love too?' Sherlock asked, turning back to the wall.

'Um- yes, I'd say so,' John replied, wondering where this conversation was going.

'And when you are aware that another person makes you into a better human being?'

'That too.'

'It is irrational, John,' Sherlock said after a moment's contemplation, pulling a photograph of the crime scene off the wall, and turning it to different angles, squinting at it and then turning it again, as if this would help him to find the answers concealed within it.

'Perhaps its meant to be. Do you want to keep her in your life, that is the question.'

'Yes,' came the clipped answer.

John picked up Sherlock's phone and threw it across the room at him. Sherlock caught it in one hand without turning round. 'Then text her,' John said. 'Apologise, admit that you were an idiot and start planning how you're going to make it up to her. And flowers and chocolates are a cliche by the way, you're going to have to be more inventive than that.'

Sherlock fired off a text without comment, then returned to his contemplation of the wall.

'When you can't stop thinking about someone, John. Is that love too?'

'Oh yes,' John said with a small smirk.

'It's distracting,' Sherlock said, as his phone bleeped and he pulled it out of his pocket to look at it.

'What does she say?' John asked.

Sherlock permitted himself a small smile. 'She agrees that I'm an idiot and tells me to get on with the case and let her get some sleep.'

'Good,' John said.

'Did you do that for Kate's sake or mine?' Sherlock asked, with an edge of curiosity to his voice.

'Both,' John said. 'Actually mainly Kate's. Now what do you want me to do next?'