Hey guys, Steps here,

Sorry for the lack of recent updates I've been really sick lately, but now I'm a little better I'm hoping to continue updating this fairly regularly :)

Cheers, Steps


Chapter 13; Remember

Sherlock rose the next morning to the sound of someone tapping out in the kitchen, with their music up just a notch too loud. Then Maria's voice carried down to him, singing along with the song. He smiled slightly. Maria had never had any real talent with singing, but it was nice just to listen.

"I can read you like a book, sad stories everywhere I look. Faded pictures remind you when what could have been, did not come true for you," She sang, missing half the notes but not seeming to be fazed by it as she continued to type up about the final of the case and the aftermath of yesterday's events. It was nice, being able to type it all out. She paused to take a bite of her toast before she continued typing, unaware of Holmes walking up to stand behind her to see what she was writing.

"Are you writing up the painting case?" He asked suddenly, causing Maria to jump and almost spill her coffee all over her laptop.

"Jesus..." She muttered putting her coffee down and turning her head to look at Sherlock. "Yes. What do you think?" Sherlock leaned over and scanned through what she had written.

"The Blood Painters? Really?" He asked before standing back up. Maria sighed.

"It's a working title," She said before closing her laptop with a snap. "Also, we have a new case, Lestrade texted it through just before." She said picking up his phone and offering it to him. Sherlock looked at her.

"Why do you have my phone?"

"You left it out here silly, it buzzed and so I checked who the message was from, that was all." She promised as he took the phone and opened the message.

'New case, coming by to fill you in. LS'

"He should be here soon," Sherlock said before ducking off to get dressed. When he came back Maria forced a piece of toast onto him.

"You can't run off herbal tea," She told him sternly and grudgingly he ate it. She sighed and left him be as she went and grabbed a long-sleeved shirt and a pair of jeans to change into. When she returned to the living room, Lestrade and Sherlock were waiting for her, sitting down in the armchairs.

"So what's going on?" Maria asked, sitting down on the arm of Sherlock's chair.

"We've had a series of kidnappings, they haven't made the paper yet of course because the people missing, well, no-one's really kicked up a big fuss about them, until now." He started looking between them. "The latest one the husband came to us the other day said his wife was missing, went out to get some shopping, and never came back. After we did some digging we found out that there have been more very similar cases that never even caught our attention, kids that we thought were just run a ways, adults that only one person seemed to know. The list goes on." He explained looking at them. "He asked for you personally to take the case." Lestrade added as he stood up and offered Sherlock the case file which Maria took in his stead.

"Oh really?" Sherlock said, almost sarcastically as Maria sighed.

"Is this the missing woman's file?" Maria asked and Lestrade nodded. She opened the file slowly before her heart seemed to freeze. "We'll take the case Lestrade." She said looking up at the man, as Sherlock turned to her confused.

"I don't want to, seems boring to be honest."

"We're taking the case, Sherlock!" Maria cried furiously as she stood up. Lestrade and Sherlock seemed slightly stunned and Sherlock was the first to recover. He looked at her then sighed.

"Fine, we'll take the case." He said and Lestrade nodded slowly.

"Alright, I'll bring the husband here shall I?" He asked and Sherlock nodded and walked Lestrade out. He came back to find Maria in the same spot holding onto the folder.

"What was all that about?" Sherlock asked and Maria sighed.

"Sherlock..." Maria whispered, shaking her head. "It's...It's my mother Sherlock. My mother is missing." She said, her hand trembling. She hadn't seen her mother since she'd left for the war and had been too afraid to see her since she had returned. Sure, while she'd been away she'd sent a letter or two, but nothing really beyond that. She'd gotten on in her own life but now, her mother was in danger and that stoked the fire inside of her. She felt a hand on her shoulder.

"I promise you Maria, we'll find her." Sherlock said and Maria nodded at him. He took the folder off her and recommended she should just relax. She silently agreed and sat down in her armchair, Sherlock pacing around the living room as they waited. The sound of a car pulling up outside drew Sherlock's attention to the window. Then there came the sound of someone knocking and Sherlock went and got it. He returned a few moments later, followed by a familiar man. He was much shorter than Sherlock with dusty blonde hair that was starting to show signs of turning grey. His eyes were a deep set brown that went straight to Maria in the chair. Maria pushed herself to her feet and stood up to face the man. Sherlock looked at Maria, like as if there was something he wanted to know but didn't voice it just yet.

"Maria?" The man asked looking at her. "What are you doing here?"

"We can catch up later Steven," Maria said in a business like fashion. "You're only here now to help Sherlock and I find my mother."

"Oh…of course..." Steven said and Sherlock offered him a chair to sit. Sherlock glanced at Maria.

"Tell us what happened Steven." Maria said and Steven nodded.

"I realised something was wrong when she didn't come back the other night. The shops not far from our home. When she didn't come home that night, I thought maybe she'd been side-tracked and gone to a friend's you know how she is, easily distracted." Steven looked at Maria who nodded for him to continue.

"Well, the next day I called some of her friends and they all told me the same thing; No, why would she be here? So I decided to go to the police about it. And then they asked me
questions and told me they would put someone onto it. Then I remembered, she'd always loved going on about a man named Sherlock Holmes. Said she knew him personally, that she'd known him as a child." Steven said looking over at Sherlock. "Every time you were mentioned in solving a case, on the telly or in the paper, she'd tell all her friends she knew you. So I asked if you could be brought into this case, but I never thought you'd be here Maria."

"I was discharged, I just haven't been around to see mother yet, and now this happens." Maria said with a small sigh as she leaned against the wall. Sherlock frowned slightly.

"Is that all we have to go off?" Sherlock asked. "I know for a fact Ange has a habit of wandering off on her own for days on end, she used to do it all the time when we were children, you shouldn't be so worried about it. Unless there's something you're not telling us?" He said looking down at Steven who sighed quietly. He reached into his top pocket and pulled out a letter.

"I received this the s'morning, it's a ransom note. I haven't told the police yet because I only just got it after I went to them," Steven explained as he offered it to Sherlock, who took it and passed it to Maria who opened it and read it aloud.

"I have your wife. If you want to see her alive again come to the old abandoned orphanage with $10,000 at 8pm tonight or she dies." She looked up at Sherlock. "Its cut and paste from papers and magazines, no way to identify hand-writing."

Sherlock began pacing around the room.

"We should go meet him." Sherlock finally suggested looking at Steven. "You won't go alone though."

Steven nodded. "But what about the money?" He asked looking up at Sherlock. "I haven't got those kinds of funds."

"You leave that up to us Steven." Maria said as she glanced at Sherlock. A silent moment of understanding seemed to happen between them, leaving Steven baffled. "I think you should go home and relax, leave this to us." Maria suggested and Steven agreed, standing up and taking his leave. The moment he was gone, Sherlock turned to Maria.

"Step-father, mother and father parted when I entered college then remarried the next year." Maria answered before he could ask. She pulled out her phone and flicked through the numbers lazily. Sherlock looked at her.

"Where's your father now though?"

"Back out on the farm where I grew up, he liked it out there, mother however preferred the city." She said before snapping her phone shut again and pushing herself off the wall. "I don't wanna talk about it any further." She said plainly before heading down to her room, leaving Holmes standing there, his mind buzzing to the sound of a new case and the events of last night.