When Adele awoke, the room was familiar. Painfully familiar. Turning to see Sherlock at her side, she grimaced at him.

'I told you never to put me in here again.' She said grumpily.

Sherlock looked amused, if anything.

'It's a different hospital.' He said.

Adele didn't reply, instead sat up in the hospital bed and blinked. The room stank of cleanliness, medicines. Adele decided she hated that smell. It was white too.

'Why does every single hospital room look exactly the same?' She asked.

'Because it's a hospital, they just do. I'm more interested in what happened to-'

As he spoke, a small woman in pink scrubs came through the door, John following behind her. Adele raised her eyebrows. She seemed young to be a doctor. A nurse, then. The nurse ginned brightly as Adele made eye contact.

'Looks like someone's up!' She said cheerfully, glancing at Sherlock briefly. Adele sighed, losing all faith in the woman at that point.

'Americans.' She sighed. John gave her a warning look, but the woman had either not heard her or pretended not to.

'So, how're you feeling, Adele?' She asked, coming over to the bed.

Adele looked at Sherlock. He had allowed his woman know her name? Sherlock wasn't looking at her. Adele sighed and turned back to the nurse.

'I'm fine.' Adele said definitely. Since Sherlock seemed to have gone to his mind palace without warning, Adele turned her glare to John 'Why exactly am I here?'

The woman opened her mouth, but John spoke before she could.

'You pulled a couple of stiches, so they took care of that, but it's mainly bruising and…' He trailed off as the Nurse looked around at him. 'I'm, really encroaching on your territory, aren't I?'

'Little bit.'

'Yep. Sorry.' John looked down and Adele seized the moment to roll her eyes while no one was looking her way.

'We've just had to patch you up a little.' The Nurse said with a smile. 'Oh, my name's Kaylee, by the way. John's been telling me all about you.'

Adele looked at John in alarm. So did Sherlock. Apparently the woman wasn't a complete idiot, as she seemed to cotton on to something being wrong.

'Not anything bad, I mean, just that you all live here in London, not… bad… stuff.' Kaylee glanced at John, then back at the other two. As quickly as it had gone, her cheerful demeanour reappeared.

'Well, unfortunately, them doctors still wanna run a couple of tests.' She said, speaking to Adele. It was kind of nice that she was talking to Adele rather than Sherlock or John, but that fact was completely overshadowed by her almost unbearable optimism.

'If it were up to me, you'd have been discharged already.' She went on. 'But, well. Those docs do like their tests! I'll check in with you all soon, but you better sit tight until then, kay?'

Adele could only nod as Kaylee left, John sending a smile her way as she went.

'It won't last.' Sherlock said plainly, as soon as she shut the door.

John looked at him.

'What?'

'The relationship you're trying to forge with this woman.' He clarified.

John shook his head.

'Shut up.' He said. He sat down near Adele's bed. 'Adele, what happened to-?'

'She's far too cheerful for you.' Sherlock interrupted.

'Sherlock, this really isn't the time to be-'

'Don't you agree, Adele?'

Adele gave John her most evil grin. 'Oh yes, Sherlock. Far too cheerful.'

'Adele!'

'Besides, thinking of relationships at a time like this?' Sherlock continued.

'Selfish, John!' Adele finished.

'Frankly, I'm disappointed in you.'

'I hate you. Both of you.' John huffed, standing up and leaving the room.

'Following her? Really, John, she'll only think you're clingy.' Adele quipped.

Both of them laughed a little as he shut the door hard.

There was a pause, and then Sherlock spoke.

'What did happen?' He asked.

Adele clamped shut like an oyster.

'Fell over. Hit my head.' She said.

'Adele.'

Adele glared at him. 'So you don't believe me?'

'I don't think you're being completely truthful. Because no one pulls stiches from hitting their head. And actually, there's not much bruising on your head compared with your arms.' Sherlock had lowered his voice considerably now.

She could fool him. Adele had fooled Sherlock plenty of times. 'I fell.'

'Worst excuse you've used in years.'

'It's not an excuse.'

'It is. I'll find out.'

'You do that.'

Adele and Sherlock glared at each other, daring the other to break the silence. Adele could see the corners of his mouth edging into a grin.

'Besides, I think you should keep an eye on John for the time being.'

'Good point. It won't last.'

'It never does.' He paused for a moment. 'Do I get in the way?'

Adele had to seriously consider her reply. It was incredibly tempting to say yes, but it would probably hurt his feelings. 'I think you're a bit too observant. Or ever present. You sort of drag him away when he's actually got someone.'

'Oh.'

'That's why people think you two are together.'

Sherlock frowned. 'But we're not.'

'No, but you act like it.'

'But we're-'

'Sherlock, people assume things. You and John… Well, there's chemistry.' Sherlock opened his mouth to interrupt. 'Not the science type. You know, the type in those teenage romance novels. And actually, you two work quite well together. Well, you would if John wasn't the straightest of straights the world has ever seen.'

'Oh. Really?'

Adele sighed. 'I thought you noticed everything? Honestly.'

Sherlock didn't answer, instead going off into his thoughts again. Adele was becoming increasingly restless, and was back to twisting her bracelet. How she still had it was a complete mystery. Of course, it was only of sentimental value, which was something Adele usually found stupid, but still. Hammet knew she had it, surely? And if he knew she had it, he would have told them to take it. Send her into a panic. Add to the list of problems she already had.

John had yet to return with the stupid Kaylee woman. Adele normally liked John. But every time he was around a woman, he became incredibly self-conscious and impossible to hold an intelligent conversation with. Adele couldn't decide which she found more annoying; John with a girl, or Sherlock and his stupid mind palace. John with a girl was actually probably less annnoying, because you could drag him away quite quickly. With Sherlock, you couldn't get his attention once he was oblivious.

After what seemed like hours of complaining of extreme boredom, Adele was finally allowed to go. Sherlock was still quizzing her about what had happened, but Adele wouldn't tell him anything. No need to get stopped from leaving the flat on her own. John was waiting at the flat when they got back, apparently having gotten over the teasing. As soon as Adele got in, he took something from his pocket.

'I think this is yours.' John handed it over. Adele noted that no one had yet tried to guess the password. To her, the password to her phone was probably one of the most obvious words in the world. She had a suspicion that Sherlock had tried to guess it several times, but he hadn't managed. The gloating would be endless. There were also several texts registered. This was a new occurrence. There was normally a week long gap between any texts Adele received, and now she had five. Then again, the lack of texts might have been due to the fact that Adele either didn't reply, or texted back something sarcastic.

'Thanks.' Adele frowned at him. Why was everyone giving her weird looks? Trying to find out the real reason for her disappearance? Probably. Back to the texts though. One would probably be Eliza, another two might be Sherlock or John, there was a possibility of another from Lestrade, and the last one… Hammet.

More of those tricks tomorrow.

And ignoring him wouldn't work. Adele wanted to know where he'd got those two kids from, and how he'd persuaded them.

Hansel and Gretl.

It was fairly late, so Adele decided it was best to go to bed rather than sit around and talk to John and Sherlock. Or more like only talk to John, seeing as it would probably be impossible to communicate with Sherlock for the next couple of hours.

Going to bed however didn't look to be easy. As soon as Adele went into her room and tried to switch on the light, she was met with only the clicking noise of the switch being hit with her hand. Dammit.

'John?'

'What?'

'Light's broken.'

Adele could probably fix the light herself. The only thing stopping her was the fact that the room was incredibly dark. The dark was awful. Adele could happily survive in a room full of angry scorpions or black widow spiders, but no way could she stay in the dark. Never going to happen.

'Where does he keep spare light bulbs?'

Adele decided that it would probably be a good idea to go and help him. John was still looking in the kitchen, but Adele had a better idea. Sherlock likely kept anything he deemed not useful, such as light bulbs, in his room. Which John wouldn't go anywhere near.

'He'll-'

'He won't mind, he can't even hear us. It's a light bulb, I'm hardly blowing up his cigarettes.' True, Sherlock hadn't even looked up. John opened his mouth to protest, but Adele had already found one.

'If he's doing an experiment or in his mind palace, you can do whatever you want. That includes go into his room.' Adele handed him the light bulb. 'Tell me when you've fixed it.'

As John left, Sherlock looked up, grinning. 'If you ever blow up my cigarettes, I'll cut off the flat's electricity supply.'

'Mrs Hudson would go mental.'

'Then don't blow up the cigarettes. It's a perfectly good compromise.'

John eventually fixed the light. Aside from now having light in her room, it was a lot brighter. Much better. Adele should have noticed the light flickering in the past few days, but so much had happened that it had been pushed to the back of her mind.

Adele decided that independence wasn't worth being constantly tired. Sleeping tablets actually worked, apparently, so why not use them?

When Adele got up that morning, Sherlock was already setting up an experiment in the kitchen. John had gone to the newspaper, so the flat was quiet. Adele sighed. Might as well get these texts looked at. True, one was from Eliza;

Next time I see you, I want a real answer.

Great. Another lie to spin. Two were, of course, Sherlock;

Where are you?

SH

And

If you're not back at the flat within the next ten minutes I'm calling Lestrade.

SH

Of course. And there was one from Lestrade. Sherlock had actually carried out the threat.

Where are you? He keeps calling and asking me to have a look. How can I remind him that I don't own the bloody police force? Seriously, answer your phone.

Like Sherlock would ever listen. Whether Lestrade had actually done as Sherlock had asked, or more like demanded, was another question. And that just left the last message;

I was wrong, you really are easy to hurt. This should be much more fun.

Hammet. Just as Adele was about to lock the phone, another message came through;

And I'm back! Your friend Molly? She's much quieter, much more fun. Terrified! Now, riddle me this:

Four men were in a boat on the lake. The boat turns over, and all four men sink to the bottom of the lake, yet not a single man got wet! Why?

You have until midnight tonight.

'Sherlock?'

Sherlock glanced up, frowning. 'Yes?'

'You won't like this.'

Now he looked worried. 'Why?'

Adele showed him the text, while trying to work her way through the cluttered kitchen. Sherlock's eyes widened in shock. John had now gotten up, and was looking over Adele's shoulder.

'Right. Scotland Yard. Now.'

Adele and John looked at each other as Sherlock grabbed his coat and ran down the stairs. John shrugged as he and Adele followed. Why would he go for Molly, of all people? It was Molly. She wasn't exactly much use to anyone, in the nicest possible way. Sherlock was standing outside, running his hands through his hair.

'Scotland Yard can't help.' For once, Adele was having to be the voice of reason. A while since that had ever happened.

'You would rather sit in Barts when she's not there?'

Adele had never thought of that. 'Good point.'