Kate left her flat the next morning for a nine o'clock start, to find Sherlock sitting on her doorstep, two takeaway cups of coffee on the step next to him.

'Coffee?' he asked, looking up at her without getting up.

Kate sat down on the step next to him, and took the proffered cup. 'How did you know what time I was starting?' she asked, conversationally, not quite ready to forgive him yet.

'I didn't,' he replied. 'I've been here since a quarter past seven. This is the second lot of coffee. The first lot went cold.'

Kate laughed at this rare admission of uncertainty, and kissed him, despite her best intentions. 'You're mad, did you know that?' she said affectionately.

'So am I forgiven?' Sherlock asked, hopefully.

'You're definitely getting there,' Kate told him, standing up, and reaching out a hand to pull him to his feet. 'Now come on or you'll make me late for work,' she said.

'So did you solve the case?' she asked as they walked down the road.

'Yes. You were right about the doorman, well not entirely right, but he was involved. I had Lestrade raid his flat. They found a large amount in used notes hidden under his mattress, not exactly the most original hiding place. He'd been given a back-hander to wipe the cctv footage and to keep his mouth shut.'

'So he knew who was responsible?'

'He did, and he cracked fairly quickly once Lestrade told him the length of the custodial sentence that he was looking at.

'So you got your man?'

'Not yet, Lestrade's still trying to track him down, but we know who he is, so now its only a matter of time.'

'And the victim?'

'That's where it gets interesting. Case of mistaken identity, it turns out.'

'But the drugs -'

'Planted on him by the assassin to send a warning to a rival drug dealer once he realised his mistake. Lestrade has got the intended victim in protective custody.'

'So - I'm not an an idiot after all?' Kate asked.

'Kate,' Sherlock span her round with his arm so that she was facing him, 'I don't think that you're an idiot, it's just that other people's brains don't work like mine and sometimes I find it frustrating. I think that you're more intelligent than the vast majority of people that I meet, certainly more intelligent than John.'

'Is this meant to be making me feel better?' Kate asked.

'Yes. Is it working?'

'No,' Kate told him, trying to hide her exasperation.

They walked in silence for a while, then Kate said calmly, 'Do you think that you could try to find another way to express your frustration other than shouting at people?'

'At people or just at you?'

'At anybody if you can. It would certainly make working with you more pleasant.'

'I can try,' Sherlock said mildly, but his expression said it all.

'I mean it Sherlock,' Kate said seriously. 'I can't stay around to be shouted at, so it's up to you. If you want me to keep working with you, then you're going to have to find a way to stop shouting and snapping at people.'

'You're asking me to change my personality, Kate.'

Defensive now, walls coming up. 'I'm asking you to think for a moment before you speak,' Kate said gently. 'That's all.'

Sherlock narrowed his eyes slightly and considered. 'Perhaps,' he said non-comiitaly, then at Kate's sideways look and half smile. 'I can try Kate, that's all that I can do.' He hesitated slightly before asking, 'Is that enough?'

Checking that they were alone in the deserted grounds, she reached up and kissed him swiftly. 'That will do me,' she told him quietly.