AU of previous chapter
"Holmes?"
"There you are, Watson. I was beginning to wonder how long you were going to sleep this morning. You are just in time to watch an interesting part of this experiment."
I leaned on the door frame as he jumped straight into telling me about the experiment he had started for his most recent case. The clinking of glass told me that he was still working with the chemistry set as he talked, and I waited, listening.
"…What do you make of that, Watson?" he finished, apparently having just made something change color. "You usually enjoy the more obvious reactions."
"Holmes, look at me."
"Or do you only enjoy the ones that explode? You never did clarify that last week."
The clinking of glass continued, and I thought about turning and going back to my room. If he was not going to help, I would do better thinking alone, but I remained in the doorway, waiting for him to bring his attention out of the chemistry set. I knew how he would react if he figured it out on his own later, and while I would have preferred not telling him at all, now that I had started, I had to finish. I would not purposely cause the worry that would arise if I went back to my room now.
"Why are you lingering in the doorway? Hand me that notebook on your way by, would you?"
I sighed, accepting that he was not going to look up, and pushed myself off the door frame. I walked as steadily as I could, but as soon as he looked at me, he would know immediately what I had been trying to tell him.
I was confident the notebook he wanted was the one I had seen on the side table the night before, and I carefully shuffled towards it, one hand in front of me to make sure I did not run into anything. Five steps later, I noted, my grasping fingers found the notebook, and I changed direction, walking towards the heat radiating from the sun through the window.
"This one?" I asked as the clinking of glassware grew louder.
Silence answered me. He had either ignored the question or pointed to where he wanted it.
"Holmes?" I said, standing a few paces behind him, unwilling to risk knocking something over by coming closer.
"What is it? Just set it there. I will need it in a moment."
"In answer to your question, I prefer experiments I can see."
The glassware silenced as he froze, the full meaning behind my words washing over him, then something landed with a crash as he spun around.
"Is this the notebook you wanted?" I asked, holding it out in front of me.
He said nothing for a long moment, and I waited, unable to guess what he was thinking as I stared with sightless eyes.