Lily walks back in from the garden, dirt on her clothes and probably in her hair, finding Sherlock standing in front of her door. "Did you solve it?" she asks.

"I believe so," he says. "The box of ears wasn't meant for Susan. It was meant for her sister."  He explains everything to Lily — Sarah, the divorce, Italy. He also affirms that Michael must be the guilty party. "We're waiting now, for the Italian police to find Sarah."

"Do you think Michael will go after her? Or do you just want to question her?" Lily asks, fidgeting with the hem of her shirt.

"Possibly. She posted her location on Facebook. I assume Michael would be able to see that." He shrugs. "Social Media isn't... something I'm involved in."

Lily remembers her account that hasn't been posted on in nearly five months. "Me either." Pinterest is about all she uses, for recipes and decoration ideas.

"In any case, yes, I do want to talk to her. Perhaps she would know where Michael is if he isn't going after her."

Lily shakes her head. Two people are dead and... for what? Revenge? Clearly he did it because Sarah ruined his marriage. A thought occurs to Lily. "What about Susan's ex boyfriend? Would he know anything, you think?"

Sherlock shrugs. "Maybe. Maybe not. Lestrade couldn't find him, anyway. If anything I would've wanted to talk to him to find Sarah, but with her post I don't see how that's necessary. He doesn't seem like someone Michael would disclose his location to."

"So he just... destroyed a marriage and disappeared?"

"Well, Susan certainly wants nothing to do with him."

"That's true," Lily says. She sighs. "Well, on a happier note I think I'm going to bake something today. Any requests?"

Sherlock's eyes alight and he begins shifting in excitement as he thinks. "I do believe Rosie would enjoy having brownies again."

Lily laughs. "Just Rosie?"

"John, too, probably."

"Ah, okay. That makes sense. I'll get right on that."

"They will definitely appreciate it."

She unlocks her door, smiling as he backs towards the stairs. "See you later, Sherlock."

He nods, a bit awkwardly. "See you later... Lily."

A warmth grows in her chest at the little song, the two syllables that no one else says quite like that. She ducks into her flat, hoping he hasn't discerned just how much she loves it.

,,,O,,,          ,,,O,,,        ,,,O,,,
{_;_;_;_}  {_;_;_;_}  {_;_;_;_}
\_|_|_/     \_|_|_/     \_|_|_/

By the time Lily arrives at 221B with brownies, Lestrade is calling Sherlock, who grabs a brownie to eat while Lestrade talks. "They found Sarah and Michael. Apparently he had managed to find her not long before the police did. They're sending them both back, should be here and ready for questioning by tomorrow afternoon."

"I'll be there," Sherlock replies, through a mouthful of brownie.

"Are you actually eating in the middle of a case?" Lestrade asks.

"Brownie," Sherlock explains.

"I'm assuming Lily made them?"

"Of course."

"Who else?" Lestrade chuckles. "You better not run her off, you know."

"Why would I-?"

"I'll call you when they get here." He hangs up, leaving Sherlock looking confused at his phone. Deciding to file that mystery away for later, he tosses the phone on the couch and turns back to the chatter in the kitchen.

"Lestrade?" John asks.

Sherlock nods, telling them all what he said.

Lily frowns, wiping chocolate from Rosie's mouth with her thumb. "Do you think... she knew? Or was he there to... you know-" she gestures to Rosie, clearly not wanting to say anything she shouldn't in front of her, despite what that child has likely overheard "— or both?"

"I don't think she knew. As for what he was there for, probably. Whether or not he would have is hard to say. I've haven't met the man yet," Sherlock replies.

Lily nods, wiping up crumbs, mumbling, "Those poor people," and Sherlock isn't altogether sure who 'people' encompasses. Many people have been hurt in this case, in one way or another.

"You don't have to clean our kitchen, Lil," John says, trying to stop her. "It'll never be clean anyway."

"It's my mess," Lily argues.

"More like Rosie's and Sherlock's."

"But I brought up the brownies, so it's basically mine."

John shakes his head as she's already finished her self-assigned task. Sherlock grabs another brownie. She made more than the last time, likely a double batch. She's beginning to know them all too well.

,,,O,,,         ,,,O,,,          ,,,O,,,
{_;_;_;_}  {_;_;_;_}  {_;_;_;_}
\_|_|_/     \_|_|_/     \_|_|_/

When Sherlock and John walk in Scotland Yard the next afternoon, Michael is already crying in an interrogation room, having confessed the moment he arrived. Sherlock sighs softly. They missed it.

They pass Sarah, sitting in a chair with an officer, also crying. As Sherlock suspected, she didn't know anything. Lestrade said that Susan was on her way, to see Sarah presumably. They'd had a phone call, he said.

"What'd he say?" John asks.

"He did it," Leatrade replies. "Sarah and Susan's ex-boyfriend, that med student fellow we were never able to find, broke up his marriage. I guess Michael couldn't find that guy either, but he said he was so mad at all of them for ruining his marriage, and he kept hearing this voice telling him to kill them. Probably a psychiatric issue; they're evaluating him at some point this week. Anyway, he killed Diane and Jared to send a message to Sarah. Figured knowing what she'd done would be worse than actually killing her. And when he found out she didn't even live with Susan anymore, he went to find her. Police caught up with him right as he found her."

"And she didn't know anything," John says.

"Not a thing. Susan never called her."

"And the bodies?" Sherlock asks.

"Buried 'em in a cemetery near his house. They're being searched for now, so Susan and Jared's brother can give them a proper burial."

Sherlock hums. What would be the point in talking to Sarah now? Everything is out in the open, everything figured out. What are they even there for?

Susan enters the police station, Miriam behind her. She sees Sherlock and John, doesn't look at Sarah. "Thank you," she says, in a small voice. They nod, and then, finally, she turns to Sarah.

"I'm sorry," Sarah says.

"You said that," Susan replies. "I suppose I brought Ray into our lives. Not that I thought he would've done something like that — or you."

"I didn't mean for any of this to happen."

"Clearly." Susan sighs. "Come on. Let's go have some tea and hash this out."

Susan smiles a bit, then gets up. They leave the police station together, all three of them. John shrugs. "Well, I guess that's gonna solve itself. Nothing more for us to do."

"I suppose not," Sherlock replies. They also head out, returning to 221B to eat more brownies. Sherlock notices that they have a couple of Lily's dishes piled in the sink. While John isn't looking, playing with Rosie, he washes them. Might as well bring them back down to her.

,,,O,,,         ,,,O,,,          ,,,O,,,
{_;_;_;_}  {_;_;_;_}  {_;_;_;_}
\_|_|_/     \_|_|_/     \_|_|_/

Sitting in front of her laptop, eyebrows furrowed so long without her noticing that she's starting to get a headache, Lily tries to come up with an idea for her book. What's the moral of it all? The first one was about being kind by using your gifts to help others, a concept her father taught her and Liam well. She can't do the same thing again. What's important? What's more important than kindness? Or at least just as important.

Friendship? What would she know about that? It's her first thought, and she chides herself as soon as she has it, reminding herself she does have friends. As much as she didn't think she would, or that they would stick around this long.

Mercifully, a knock on her door pulls her away from her laptop, and she shuts it before going up the stairs. Sherlock is on the other side, with dishes in his arms.

"Oh, hello," she says.

"We've been hoarding these." He passes her the dishes.

"I hoard them, too," she replies, holding them in both arms. "How did the case turn out?"

"Michael confessed before we even arrived. He told the police where Diane and Jared were buried, and Susan and Sarah are starting to make up. Sarah didn't have anything to do with it."

"And still no word from Susan's ex-boyfriend?"

"No. Michael never said he was involved, so I imagine Lestrade isn't concerned with tracking him down."

"Are you?"

Sherlock shrugs. "I don't know what more information he could provide. It seems like it's all been wrapped up. Michael has to get a psych eval; he claims he heard a voice telling him to do it. Perhaps he'll plead innocent by reason of insanity."

Lily sighs. "That's awful."

"They usually are," he replies. She raises a brow, and he explains. "The cases. They're usually like this."

"How do you do it?"

"I've been doing it for so long. It just... doesn't bother me." He frowns a bit.

"Somebody has to do it, right? You've got a gift — not just for being able to witness all this stuff, but to figure it out."

"I suppose."

"You suppose?" Lily says. "You're one of the smartest men I've ever met. Maybe the smartest."

He smiles. "Are you saying I'm smarter than Mycroft?"

"Well, I don't know how smart he is..."

"The answer should be yes."

"Then yes." Lily chuckles.

Sherlock practically beams. "I'll tell him you said that."

"Oh, don't," Lily replies, sure that Sherlock wouldn't say it in jest to Mycroft, that it might hurt the man's feelings.

"Alright," he concedes. "As long as you make brown sugar cookies again."

"Just let me know when you run out of brownies."

"Probably tomorrow."

She laughs. "I'll get right on that then." It'll be better than trying to figure out this book. Or, worse, the bakery.

,,,O,,,         ,,,O,,,          ,,,O,,,
{_;_;_;_}  {_;_;_;_}  {_;_;_;_}
\_|_|_/     \_|_|_/     \_|_|_/

Lily baked cookies the next afternoon and brought them up to both Mrs. Hudson and 221B, where they were much appreciated. The brownies weren't quite finished, but there were only a few left. After that visit, she returned to her own flat to do some cleaning, reading, and then sat on the couch to watch TV. All the while, her book and the bakery seemed to loom over her, but she pushed them away as much as she could. Hopefully another case would come soon so she had an excuse to not think about them.

The next day, as she waited for a call or knock on the door from the boys, she gardened and read some more. John posted the coronet case, though he had to be careful with the details so as not to upset Mycroft and national security. Naturally, about an hour later, Lily received a few calls. The first was from Liam.

"That one seemed much safer," he said about it. "Bothers me that they never found that Robert guy, though."

Lily frowned; she'd forgotten about that. "Still haven't."

"Well, anyway, I can see why they keep asking you on cases. You're definitely helpful - not that that surprises me."

"I didn't even do anything."

"You ask good questions. You make people feel comfortable enough to talk."

"I suppose," she replied, then conversation turned to other things — his job, their parents, other things Lily had been up to. She was as vague as possible about the book and bakery plans, though his call pushed her to at least think about the book again.

What do fairies do? Parties, though that idea was shot down. Unless she can spin the party idea somehow, make it more... complex. Or give it a moral. Thankfully, Raven called, also to talk about the case John posted, so Lily was able to put that away quickly.

"Seems like you're part of the crew now," Raven said.

Lily shrugged. "I suppose." I hope so. "It was only two cases."

"And many more to come, if John didn't embellish things. Have you read it?"

"I skimmed it." It felt weird to read about herself.

"He kept mentioning how much Sherlock seemed to look to you, you know? For the people stuff, the social stuff."

"I hadn't noticed." Although Sherlock himself told her he was learning about how to make friends from her, so it must be true somehow.

"Pay more attention."

Lily chuckled. "I'll get right on that."

Their conversation also drifted into other things, mostly what Raven was up to as Lily just wanted to catch up.

She watched more TV, made a simple dinner, and waited for another case. The next day, she once again had a relaxing day, ate leftovers for lunch (which was about the time she got up), made more dinner, and avoided her laptop. Four days after Sherlock told her about their last case, and she began to get bored. She meandered around her flat again, watered the plants, took a shower, and went to make lunch when she realized she really needed groceries, especially if she was going to bake later out of boredom. So, she made a snack, ate quickly, then got ready to go to the grocery. As she went to open her front door to go, she found Sherlock Holmes on the other side — and he did not look happy.