-ooo-

'Sherlock?'

Greg again. This time he wouldn't even wait for Sherlock to drop at Scotland Yard. This time he came directly to Baker Street.

'In the kitchen, making coffee, slept fine, no new leads of yet, I heard John is doing okay, no news on yesterday's shooter - how about you?'

Greg paused for two seconds, that was as annoying as it got. He still stepped forward, towards the detective.

'Look, Sherlock, I didn't come here to mess with... whatever you do in your mornings, okay? John called me. He's up already and he was worried about you. Made me promise I'd come and see you...'

'You can tell him I haven't been shot overnight, that should be of comfort to him...'

Greg frowned, and pointing at him accusingly said: 'You two are more alike than you know, you and John...'

Sherlock dismissed at once. 'No, I'm quite sure we couldn't be more different. His thought process is all... scattered. Mine has been trained to be clean, neat, efficient.'

'Yeah, thought process, that's how I usually compare people, right?' his sarcasm was lost on the other man. 'Look, what happened yesterday with Molly...'

'She's okay too', Sherlock dismissed at once, abrasive.

'I know she's okay, I've been to see her. What I was going to say is that it's escalating, Sherlock, this man is losing control.'

'That's actually a good thing the way I see it.' His eyes were shining. It was all about the case again. His focus was back.

'Fine, whatever, but I'm not so concerned on the case, right now. I'm concerned about you. If you could do us all a favour and just stay here, stay back, until we catch that guy. Running around trying to keep you protected isn't going to help me catch the person behind this...'

Sherlock frowned. 'It's not your job to catch him. It's mine.'

'I'm the police, Sherlock. Not you.'

'He shot John in cold blood. Believe me, nothing will stop me from getting to him first.'

'Do I need to detain you for questioning in regard to yesterday's shooting?'

'What? I was the victim!'

'Well, I must have misunderstood it and I must think the victim intended was John and that you acted suspiciously so I'll have to question you the whole day long. And Molly will back me up as long as I tell her it's to keep you safe.'

'Molly? Well, John would never go in for that sort of thing!' he was childishly stubborn.

'Too bad I won't be able to question him at the Yard and hear his side till the Yard's doctor clears his health bill...'

'And they let you wear a badge?!'

'Perhaps I should wear a medal.'

Sherlock took a deep breath. Greg took the opportunity to hammer it in. 'I'll let you do your own thing as long as you don't go around taking useless risks, Sherlock. There's no glory in solving the case if it gets you or John killed... I'm off, I need to get to work. Stop sulking and hear me out this time, will you? And take some care of John, he's on his way back here, with Mary.' He nodded off a goodbye and left, crossing paths with Mrs Hudson on the stairs.

She'd come up next, much to Sherlock's dismay.

'Oh, did I hear it right? Is John coming back, so soon? That must mean it wasn't serious at all this time, right?... Oh, you look tired, dear, I'll get your coffee going, that'll make you feel all better.'

Sherlock remained motionless as she started preparing coffee, not surprised at all he'd just stand there, in all the wrong places for her to get the coffee done. 'Mrs Hudson, why did they shoot John Watson?' he asked in a whisper. More than a question to her, he was thinking out loud. Something wasn't right. He needed to go back to the basics.

She stopped at once when she heard the question, her face let go of the polite mother act and just looked pained. 'It's so sad, isn't it? Someone wanting to hurt our John. He must be an evil man. And he doesn't know our John, or he'd never do that, would he? John is a tad uptight but he has a great heart, everyone knows that.' She shook her head in sadness. 'First in the war, so far away from his family. It must have been so terrible, I can only imagine. John never talks about it, that's how hard it was for him. And now this time, and in here!, of all places. At least now he has Mary with him, he's not so alone. If it were up to that sister he has... He'd still be as alone as he was in the war. Family should stick together, she should know better...'

Sherlock sighed. No, Mrs Hudson wouldn't do. She was leaving him the more confused with her ramblings about John's sweetness. (That just went to show that she had never shared an apartment with a neat freak, he had ruined a lot of his human body parts experiments with his sole preoccupation with health hazards.)

'John's coming here, with Mary', he deviated the conversation. Mrs Hudson smiled, she liked Mary, the Mary that Mary was to everyone else at least.

'Oh, it must be so scary for Mary, poor girl. I'll make her a nice cup of tea when she gets here. My mother always said that a nice cup always fixes away the troubles. Well, not all, but some anyway. My mother wasn't always right. She drank too much, and I don't mean tea...' she let out in a confidence whisper.

Sherlock stammered, trying to collect his thoughts: 'I'd hold that story. Mary doesn't have a mother, I think. She's an orphan', at least that was the official version. Who knew the whole truth?

'Oh, that's sad. Well, John can relate to that.'

'What do you mean?' he was sincerely confused. Something, there was something evident, hiding in Sherlock's mind.

'Honestly, Sherlock, it's not even 9 o'clock yet. I don't know what you were up to, dear, but it must have melted your brain. You weren't drinking, were you? You better not even tell me, just drink your coffee, that'll help.'

He faced her with surprise. 'Mrs Hudson, you might be a genius too. I thought there'd be two shootings, I was wrong. There are three planned. It's been the plan all along.'

'But who else, dear?'

He wouldn't answer for they were interrupted by the sound of keys on the front door, downstairs. 'John and Mary, they're here.'

Mrs Hudson went to the landing at once to great the newcomers. 'Mary... And John! How are you two feeling today?'

'We're okay, we really are', Mary told her.

Sherlock came to the kitchen door, he needed to get Mary's sole attention.