Chapter 35: Calls from a Broken Heart

"Hey Sherlock, it's me, Emmaline. I just wanted to call and say that I made it to Cambridge all right and I finished moving in – a few minutes ago actually. Umm…I guess I just called to tell you that. I start classes in two days so I am pretty excited for that…oh shit, my roommate came back. Bye. It's Emmaline, again, just in case you forgot."

"Sherlock, hey, it's me again. I just wanted to let you know classes are doing really well. I made a new friend – Julianne. We are going to the fall play next week. Call me?"

"Hey, just wondering what you were doing for Halloween, if you were going to go out without me there? I hope you are doing well. I haven't heard from you."

"It's Emmaline again…I don't know if you got the Christmas present I sent you or not but it should be there by now. You don't have to get me anything it's fine I just…I don't know. I do not know why I keep calling you. You never call me back. Classes are doing well, not that you care. I hope you are keeping sane Sherlock…keeping off the drugs and whatnot. Call me or not, I don't care anymore."

"Happy Birthday Sherlock. How old are you now, 27? One year older, do you feel any wiser? Or are you a fish trying to climb a tree. I – I think I am done Sherlock. I am done calling someone who does not want to hear from me anymore. If you want to call me then fine, if not that is fine too. I just want to be friends. I miss you. Call me."

Sherlock sighed as he listened to the latest message. There were much more that he had forgotten: her calling him to beg for him back, angry rants, drunken calls, and then the well wishes. It had been five months since he had said goodbye to her in that hospital room and Sherlock had felt awful every moment since.

It was always a struggle not to call her, text her or drive the hell up there and apologize on his knees for what he had done. However, he knew he was doing the right thing and was keeping her safe. He was dangerous to be around, as proved by the fact that she had been attacked. But he missed her…no. I have to stay away, he reminded himself.

Therefore, Sherlock threw himself into his work repeatedly trying to avoid the memory of her and her smile; the way it lit up in her eyes and made him feel happy by extension. He tried not to remember the fact that she had sat there with him for hours on end, just sitting because he did not feel like talking but wanted to spend time with her. She had put up with his violin playing, had been there for him through rehab, had forced him to get on an eating routine; he especially tried not to think about after June when they had become…intimate.

After five months of non-stop work, Lestrade had urged Sherlock to take a break and now here he was on his twenty-seventh birthday listening to Emmaline's latest message. He heaved a sigh as he collapsed in bed. I should call her…

Before he could convince himself that it was a bad idea, Sherlock had picked up his phone and was dialing her number. He waited patiently as it rang, his breath catching as she answered.

"Hello?" Emma answered her phone breathless. The caller I.D. had said 'Sweetheart'. Could it be someone else using his phone?

"Hello, Emmaline?" He asked nervously.

All the words Emma had lined up vanished. She sat speechless, listening to the other person on the line continuing to speak, but all she could think was that it was really Sherlock.

"Sherlock?" She asked, just to make sure.

"Yes."

"Oh my God. How are you, how have you been?" She asked hurriedly, praying he would not hang up. It had been five months since she had heard his voice; she did not want him to stop talking so soon.

"I'm good…I'm fine. I – I got your messages." He said awkwardly.

Emma blushed; she had left plenty of scathing messages, and plenty of drunk ones in between the messages that actually made sense.

"I – I'm sorry about those."

"No – no it's – it's fine." He cleared his throat, trying to find any excuse to keep her on the line. "Do you want to – hang out sometime?" He winced at how pathetic his voice sounded.

Emma's heart soared. He was calling to see about getting back together.

"I would love to."

"As friends of course." Sherlock added last minute. After he did, he felt stupid and slapped his hand to his forehead.

"Yeah – that's fine. Did you have somewhere in mind?" She asked a bit tersely. She was not sure if she could be 'just friends' with Sherlock, but after five months apart from him, she was willing to try if it meant she could be near him.

"There's a pub about halfway between here and Cambridge if I remember correctly called…" Sherlock racked his brain trying to remember. "Shit I think it's 'The Golden Rose Pub'."

"Since when do you swear?" She asked, waving frantically at Julianne for a pen and writing the pub name down on her arm.

"A lot has changed; it has been five months." Sherlock replied. "See you there this Saturday?"

"Yeah, Saturday is fine." Emma replied, feigning indifference.

Sherlock chuckled into the receiver. "It was good hearing your voice again Emmaline."

"Yours too Sherlock." She got out, right before he hung up.

Sherlock closed his eyes and sank back against the pillows. What have I done? There is no way I will be able to be friends with her.

Emmaline's friend Julianne sat down on her bed and put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "What happened sweetie?" Emmaline stared down at her phone and the pub name scrawled on her arm.

"I'm not quite sure." She replied.

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That Saturday, Sherlock had booked a cab to take him up to the pub and sit outside for two hours while he talked to Emmaline, and to bring him back to Westminster. He dressed up in his usual suit and button-down before grabbing his scarf and coat and heading out. His body tingled with the nervous anticipation that came with seeing her again; he wondered what would happen.

Emmaline emerged from the bathroom, dressed and showing her friend Julianne, what she had picked out to wear.

"This is alright is it not? Fun but casual?" She asked, worried.

"It's fine sweetheart, don't worry. Today will go great."

"Thanks Julianne." Emmaline leaned in and kissed her friend's cheek.

Julianne was Emma's dorm mate and best friend; the red-headed Texan transfer student knew everything about Emma and Sherlock. The two girls had become fast friends and she knew what was waiting for her best friend in that pub. Heart-break or Happiness.

Emma looked over herself one more time. She had gone with simple blue jeans, brown boots and the penguin sweater Sherlock had gotten her last year.

"Good luck sweetie." Julianne hugged her friend goodbye.

Emmaline got in her car, she had held her permit while her grandparents were still alive and gotten her license after moving to Cambridge, and pulled out of the parking lot. She drummed her fingers against the wheel as she thought about what today would hold for her.

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When Emmaline found a parking space and walked into the Golden Rose Pub, Sherlock was already seated at a table in the back. He is really here, she thought to herself. She began the long walk to his table and drank in his appearance.

His hair was a bit longer; the dark curls now reaching the top of his coat collar; his skin just as pale as ever. His long slender fingers gripped his cup of tea firmly as he brought it to his pale pink lips. God, he has not changed at all. I wonder if he will think I have.

She walked cautiously over to him and stood.

"Hello Sherlock." She said nervously, her stomach filled with dancing butterflies.

He quickly stood from his chair, his knees hitting the table forcefully, causing him to swear and his chair to fly backwards. Emma smiled at how much he had changed, and how much he had not. The swearing was somewhat new and she could only assume that he had picked it up from bad television or the police force.

The clumsiness, she was sure, was because he had been surprised. It was hard to surprise Sherlock Holmes but for some reason, he had not been sure she would be here. Seeing her standing before him now, she seemed almost a dream. A dream that he had had every night since her forced departure from his life.

Little had changed about her. She was slightly taller than when she had left, and a bit curvier. Her brown hair now boasted a few honey blonde highlights and it had been cut to her shoulders, her bangs sweeping across her forehead. Emmaline still wore the penguin sweater he had gotten her; he wondered if it was a long forgotten relic that she had only put on today, or if it was worn often. He could not tell.

"Emmaline." As the word left his mouth, he knew he was done for. This meeting had been a mistake, he could see that now. However, she looked so hopeful, so happy to see him. Him, the one who had hurt her more than he had any right too.

"Sherlock." She said again, feeling the word once more on her tongue.

"Sit down, please." He offered, walking around the table and pulling out the other chair.

"Thank you." Emmaline sat down as Sherlock pushed her chair in for her, and sat in his own.

He wet his now dry lips, as he looked across at her, unsure of what to say. They had been apart for so long, and his calling had been impulse. He should have left her alone, she was better without him. Cleary she was – she looked healthy now; no matter how those phone calls had sounded, she was clearly beginning to move on with her life. He knew that he looked nowhere near as well adjusted as she did.

His hair had gotten longer, unruly, his cheeks were sunken, and there were bags under his eyes. He wondered if she could see it, or if she was looking past it. Sherlock drummed his fingers nervously against his thigh hoping she would say something first, he had no idea what to tell her.

"I'm sorry, for all of those calls. It was inappropriate." Emma blurted out, hating the silence. She was here to talk to Sherlock, not stare at him wondering if either of them would ever speak. The sooner they got past the awkwardness, the faster they could get back to being friends; she hoped.

Sherlock looked taken aback; he had never found her messages 'inappropriate'; in fact, he quite often could not wait for the next one, just to hear her voice again.

"It's not a problem, Emmaline. Really." He assured her.

She smiled softly and his heart stopped; he could picture her face, her smile a thousand times, and had in fact done so, but he could never get it quite right. The real thing was breathtaking.

Their waiter walked over to the table and placed a menu down before the both of them.

"I am Jean; I will be waiting on you today." He introduced himself. "Would the lady like tea?" He asked, turning his attention to Emma.

"No, she will have coffee, black with two sugars and milk." Sherlock told Jean automatically, just as he always had when ordering their drinks at their little café.

Emma looked up from her menu and smiled. She nodded at the waiter and Jean scribbled it down as he walked away.

"You remembered." Emmaline said, her tone of voice causing a small smile to grace Sherlock's lips.

"Of course I did; I remember everything." He rolled his shoulders and picked his menu up, trying to brush it off.

Emmaline smiled; knowing Sherlock for so long came with its perks. She knew him, and his body language. Of course he had remembered the way she took her coffee – he probably remembered everything. Just like she did.

"Do you still only eat fish and chips?" Sherlock asked as he perused his menu.

"No, I've expanded my eating out choices." She told him.

"Oh?" Sherlock cocked a brow and lowered his menu.

"I will have you know that I tried bangers and mash last month, and that I have tried haggis."

Sherlock frowned. "That's not English, that's Scottish."

Emma laughed, just as easily as the old days. "It's still in the U.K. Sherlock so I think it counts."

He smiled shyly and looked over at her. "I suppose it does." He picked his menu back up. "So what are you getting then?"

"Fish and chips." She replied, setting her own menu down.

Sherlock let out a burst of laughter that he quickly stifled with a hand over his mouth. "You haven't changed at all." He said wistfully.

Emmaline smiled, accepting her coffee from the newly returned Jean.

"Do you know what you would like to eat?"

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"This was fun Sherlock, I had a good time." Emma stood up, checking her watch.

Sherlock had told her about his cab, and the cabbie would be becoming impatient; it had been two-and-a-half hours instead of the promised two.

"I should be going, but…let's do this again." Sherlock requested carefully, wondering how Emmaline would take it.

"Yeah, let's." She agreed. "There's a bowling alley across the street; we could meet there?"

"Sounds wonderful." Sherlock said.

They walked to the entrance of the pub and Sherlock held out his hand while Emmaline held out her arms for a hug. She blushed and looked down, holding out her hand as well.

"Sorry." She said before shaking his hand.

"I just…I don't quite know if we're there yet." Sherlock responded sadly.

"It's OK, I get it." She said looking up at him, her eyes squinting in the sunlight.

"I'll see you on Saturday then Emmaline?" Sherlock asked, taking a step closer to his cab.

"Yeah, Saturday." She pulled her keys out of her bag and waved goodbye, getting into her car.

As they both drove away, they were unsure of what was beginning again, but they knew it was something special. Sherlock leaned his head against the cool glass window and closed his eyes. She looked just as beautiful as ever, his Emmaline. And he had shaken her hand; what a fool thing to do. He was so disappointed in himself, but unsure of how to fix it.

He just had to make sure that she would want to see him again, after bowling. Every Saturday, that was how they would do it then. He smiled to himself and looked down at his lap; he had missed her. But know there was nothing to miss because she was back in his life.

The phone call may have been an impulse decision, but Sherlock was sure it was the smartest thing he had ever done.

A/N: Sorry that it has been so long since I updated! Got a job, started college, lost my internet, so now I can only update at school! Not to mention that writing their reunion was hard and I am still not satisfied with it, but I think you guys deserve something.