Sherlock slowly walked up behind the pathologist, his feet making only the slightest sound on the hard floor.
Out of all days for her to be here! Sherlock thought.
She just has to be here when I want to be alone!
In his distraction Sherlock stumbled slightly, making a little more noise than he had meant to. Molly turned in his direction.
"Oh, Sherlock." She said. "Didn't expect to see you here today. You usually call ahead."
Molly went back to the autopsy she was doing.
"Here for more fingers?" she asked. "Maybe eye balls this time?"
Sherlock shook his head.
"What then?" Molly asked. "A brain?"
Sherlock didn't answer, just walked closer, observing the body on the table.
"Here just to think then, hm?" She asked. "Awfully quiet today, aren't you?"
Sherlock nodded in confirmation.
Molly looked around the room.
"Where's John?" she asked, a tad of worry coming to her face. "Has something happened?"
Sherlock still didn't answer.
I need to answer her.
I don't know what to say.
Can I just ignore her?
"Sherlock?"
Apparently not.
Lie?
No, I couldn't do that to Molly?
Avoid question?
No, she's too smart, she'll persist.
"Sherlock, what's wrong?"
Sherlock looked up at Molly, who was now standing in front of him.
"John's missing." Sherlock said. "He's been kidnapped."
"Oh my... What are-"
Sherlock raised a hand, halting her speech.
"B-Before you say anything else, can we just treat this like a normal case?" Sherlock asked.
Molly hesitated in answering.
"Please, Molly." Sherlock said. "I-I need normal."
"Alright then." Molly nodded. "So long as it helps you."
"It will." Sherlock paused, then added, "Thank you."
"Just a warning though Sherlock, " Molly said. "If you do this, it will come crashing down on you eventually."
"What will?" Sherlock asked.
I know the answer, why am I asking? Sherlock thought. Confirming it, maybe?
"This is John, Sherlock. He's your best friend." Molly said. "I'll do what you ask, but just know that there will be consequences to bottling it up. You are human, Sherlock."
Molly walked closer to him.
"The stress, the fear," She said, "it will make it's way out eventually."
"I know." Sherlock's eyes averted towards the floor.
"You were in the lab upstairs, weren't you?" Molly said. "Something happened, you came down here to calm down, didn't you?"
Sherlock didn't answer, and Molly wrapped her arms around him in a hug. To her surprise, he didn't pull away.
"Oh Sherlock..." she said.
He's scared, and making himself go crazy with worry. Molly thought. He's desperate for reassurance, for comfort, but can't find it in himself to ask...
"It's going to be alright." Molly said. "You'll catch him."
"I won't Molly..." Sherlock said. "Something changed. I-I can't think like this."
It never ceased to amaze Molly how Sherlock could say something without the slightest bit of emotion in his voice, no matter how upset he was. Molly found herself both fascinated, and horrified.
Sherlock's ability to hide what he was feeling made her doubt herself.
How many times had Sherlock been upset, and people not even know it?
Another thing, why did Sherlock put forth so much effort to hide it?
Molly broke the hug, then looked back up at him.
"You'll get it figured out, you always do." She said. "I believe in you, Sherlock."
Sherlock looked up, meeting her eyes.
"And nothing will ever change that." Molly gently smiled.
She means it. Sherlock thought.
She's not lying.
I'm not alone.
I have... I have Molly, Lestrade, Jayden, Mrs. Hudson, and ugh- Anderson.
Actually... he's not been that bad lately. And Scotland yard is being helpful...
Everyone wants to find John.
Not just me.
Everyone is helping.
The entirety of Scotland yard is at my back, waiting for orders from me.
Why?
John is good...
John is my best friend, John is my flat mate.
I know him best of everyone, they expect me to take lead.
Everyone is helping...
I can do this.
I can keep everything together, I can keep everything in order.
At least until we find him.
After that...
Molly's right.
There are going to be consequences.
There are going to be problems in my mind palace.
No one can come inside my mind palace.
I'll have to take care of them alone.
It won't be pretty.
But I can deal with that.
John is worth it.
Normal case. Normal case. Normal case.
Sherlock mentally repeated that in his mind over, over, and over.
I can do this.
Sherlock withdrew from his mind, forcing himself back into the real world.
"Ready to focus now, Sherlock?" Molly asked. "Are you ready to get back to work?"
Sherlock nodded.
"I've got things fixed, for now."
"Good." she smiled.
"Solve me a crime, Sherlock Holmes."
What was originally a disagreement between Anderson and Jayden had quickly escalated to an argument.
Both were red faced with anger, and the volume of the fight was going up by the second.
Apparently the dislike of Anderson was a Holmes family trait.
"Just do it how I tell you, and we'll both be done!" Jayden said.
"I'm a forensic scientist! I've been to university for this!" Anderson returned. "Why should I listen to a kid who just started high school?"
"Because you're not doing it right!" Jayden said. "You're getting the evidence all mixed up!"
"No, I'm not! You are!"
Lestrade groaned.
Ugh. I hope Sherlock doesn't just join in when he comes back. We won't get anything done.
Lestrade glanced up from his stack of evidence when he heard the door to the lab open and shut.
Sherlock stood there, looking much more calm and relaxed than he had before.
"Have you gotten it organized yet?" He asked.
"I would if this idiot would just listen to me!" Jayden said, pointing to Anderson.
Anderson rolled his eyes then fired back an answer.
A screaming match began, and insults were flying.
Sherlock walked over next to Lestrade.
"Has this been going on the entire time I've been gone?" He asked.
"Yeah, but it's not been quite this intense." Lestrade said, watching the fight. "I tried, but I couldn't get them to stop. Any ideas?"
"One." Sherlock muttered.
As Sherlock walked closer to them, Jayden got up in Anderson's face, still yelling at him, and pointing. Sherlock saw Anderson's fist tighten, and then start to move.
Having no time to think, Sherlock stepped in front of Jayden, shielding him from the punch.
The punch had been aimed for Jayden's jaw, but Jayden was significantly shorter than Sherlock.
Anderson had a surprisingly strong punch when he was angry, and it managed to knock the breath from Sherlock's lungs and send him stumbling back into a table. However, Anderson had not formed a proper fist, thus bruising his fingers.
"Sherlock!" Jayden said, rushing towards his brother, and helping him up.
Anderson's eyes widened as he realized what he had just done.
Sherlock coughed, then took several deep breaths.
"Are you done fighting now?" Sherlock asked. "Actually never mind, forget I asked. You are both done."
Jayden and Anderson both stared at their feet.
Deep breaths, deep breaths, don't cough again. Sherlock thought.
Finish talking.
You need to- DON'T COUGH- resolve this issue.
Preferably before they start trying to kill each other again.
"So the problem is, you disagree on how to sort the evidence?"
Both Jayden and Anderson nodded.
Sherlock looked down at the stacks of evidence, moving them in his mind, arranging them, trying to figure out the best way to organize them.
He kept shifting them in his mind until it made sense.
Sherlock's eyes flicked between the bags of evidence in front of him.
After a moment they stopped, and Sherlock went about arranging them. He went about it a very different way than Anderson and Jayden had, as spreaded them out across the floor, none of the piles bigger than about 3 bags.
He finished surprisingly quickly, and Anderson and Jayden stared at the bags, trying to figure out what the similarities were between piles. They could find nothing.
Lestrade sensed their confusion, and voiced what they were all wondering.
"So... how did you sort it?"
"Chronological order." Sherlock muttered.
"Chronological- How can you tell what order things happened in?" Anderson asked.
"Just trust me on this one." Sherlock said, "I can't explain it."
A/N: Hope you liked this chapter! I hid a little quote from the actual show in this chapter, so good job to everyone who recognized it. If you didn't see it however, I'll give you a hint. Molly said it in this chapter, but a different character said it on the show! Anyway, reviews!