Sherlock doesn't discard the shock blanket over him, even though he's stopped shaking.

His mind was racing the entire time, and he couldn't figure out what to do. Then Lily said "trust" and he knew she had an idea.

Everything she said should've hurt him, he knew, but he couldn't believe she was being truthful. Something in her eyes told him so. And then when he got up there, they had their plan. Mycroft was sending someone — Sherlock's phone had buzzed in his pocket, though he never looked at it. Who else would it be? They could stall.

When Moran put the gun in her hands, everything happened in a matter of seconds. Shots were firing, and Sherlock saw Liam out of the corner of his eye run towards the scaffolding. He looked back to Lily for a few moments, wanting to run towards them, to save her, and then he was falling, smacked his face, and a bullet was whizzing above his head. Liam had pulled his feet out from under him.

He got to his knees as Lily nearly shoved Moran out of the window, and then someone outside took the shot. He disappeared before anyone could find him, but they all knew it was one of Mycroft's contacts. Mycroft himself was there before the ambulance arrived.

Sherlock held Lily until they had bagged Moran's body. He knew she couldn't see that, that it would haunt her. Once they descended the ladder, both of them were sat in the back of the ambulance and given shock blankets. Lily's wrists were raw from the rope, but otherwise she looked unharmed. A bruise, however, is forming on Sherlock's forehead.

"It's quite becoming, brother mine," Mycroft says. "And who's to say whether it will swell to the size of a golf ball."

"He'll be alright. We'll ice it," John says.

Liam walks back over; he was on the phone with their parents. "They're on their way."

"They really don't have to-" Lily weakly protests.

"But they are." He takes her hand.

"Mrs. Hudson's racing over as we speak," John adds.

She looks over at Sherlock, though she doesn't say anything. She's still shaken up, understandably so. His mind has been so out of sorts he hasn't said much to her at all. There was commotion and officers everywhere.

He looks at her now, allows him to fully believe that she's okay. "I'm sorry."

"It's alright."

He takes a deep breath, closes his eyes. The relief that she's okay mixes with the devastation that he's ruined this. The one woman he really believes he's fallen in love with and he's ruined it. "I understand if you would rather not... go out with me anymore because-"

Her arms wrap around him. "You saved my life."

Sherlock opens his eyes. "But he was coming after me. I put you in danger-"

"You saved my life. If you hadn't come, he would've-"

"You're not hearing me."

"You're not hearing me."

"But Lily-"

Liam steps forward. "Listen to her, mate. You saved her life. And I don't think she wants to break up with you."

Lestrade, having been talking with another officer, turns around. "So this is official, then? No one tells me anything."

"I was not aware, either," Mycroft says. "Although I suspected."

Sherlock shakes his head, fights his growing hope. There's just no way. "But I-"

Lily takes his hand. "It would be pretty stupid to break up with you, especially over you saving my life. Oh, and thank you, Mycroft, John, and Lestrade. You also helped saved my life."

"So did I!" Liam protests.

"Thanks for giving up your chance to be an only child, Liam."

Sherlock looks up at him, still holding Lily's hand. "You saved my life."

"Well..." Liam shrugs, looks at the ground.

"You did. He would've shot me. Why?"

"Why would he have shot you or why did I save your life?"

"Why did you save my life?"

He gestures to Lily. "Because she needs you. She would be devastated if you were gone. And you were the one there who could save her. You were the one she could communicate with without making a sound, and you could get to Moran."

"But Mycroft-"

"I know, I know. But it was you."

Mycroft smiles. "Were you really about to give me credit, Sherlock?"

Sherlock rolls his eyes. "I suppose."

"Well, don't. As far as anyone is concerned, I was never here." He walks off, a car stops in front of him, and he gets in.

Liam chuckles. "Older siblings, am I right?"

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John left to get Rosie from Aunt Harriet's yesterday. Lily suggested making her another chocolate cake, and she recruited Sherlock to help. She hasn't liked being alone for very long ever since Moran. She was told he's dead — and they made sure — but her anxiety has been high nevertheless. She and Sherlock have been hanging out at 221B and in the garden, mostly.

She turns on some music and gets out the ingredients for the cake. Sherlock is washing his hands in the sink. The bruise on his forehead is yellowing — it's huge, and it looks painful.

"Does it hurt?" Lily asks.

He looks up at her, taking a moment to realize what she's talking about. He smiles a bit. "Feels better than dying."

"And how many times have you been able to feel that?" She tries to swallow around the lump in her throat.

Sherlock wraps his arms around her — he's doing that a lot now — and she buries her face in his chest. "A few. But we don't need to talk about it now. We're alright."

Lily stands there for a while, calming down, reminding herself that she's safe.

After a few minutes, though, she says, "What time will John and Rosie be back?"

Sherlock lifts his arm to check his watch. "In a few hours."

"Then we really need to make this cake."

They start measuring ingredients, Lily instructing Sherlock, who's measuring so precisely she's afraid to say anything and break his concentration. They hum to the music as they bake, Lily sometimes singing under her breath.

Once the cake was in the oven, they made the frosting. Lily divided it and put a drop of red food coloring in some, so they could write "Welcome back Rosie" in pink on the top. In the meantime, they watched some crap telly on Lily's couch.

"Have we missed a few episodes?" Sherlock asks. "I thought Jessica was with Brad, but Colton was cheating on Hayley with her. And where's Olivia?"

"Let me look it up." Lily goes on the internet for a moment, then finds an update. Her mouth falls open. "Olivia got kicked off the show because she lied on her application. And then Brad left to go after her."

"Can he do that?"

"Apparently. Jessica 'lost it', but then went right to Colton for 'comfort'. And he literally left Hayley sitting by herself at the dinner table to go be with Jessica."

"You can't be serious. What about Jeremy?"

"He's crushed. He hasn't talked to anybody."

"Not even Hayley?"

"Not even."

Caught up, they continue watching the show, gasping at the drama. There were a few other people on the show they weren't invested in, so Lily got the cake out of the oven during one of their segments.

After three episodes, the cake was cool, but they could hardly bring themselves to stop watching TV. Jessica had started rumors about Hayley that everyone was believing, except Jermey has finally got out of his room and is about to hear them, too. But he's been friends with Hayley this whole time, and Lily and Sherlock desperately want him to date her. Colton, of course, is fully invested in Jessica and hasn't even spoken to Hayley, who also hasn't spoken to him.

"Rosie will be here soon," Lily says, her head on Sherlock's shoulder.

"I know."

"We really need to finish this cake."

"I know."

"I'll turn the volume up and we should be able to hear it in the kitchen."

"Okay."

That done, they start icing the cake. Lily puts the pink frosting in a piping bag and starts write "Welcome home Rosie," but just as she does, Jermey declares his love for Hayley. Lily looks up, gasping. "Shut up."

"Why is Colton mad?!" Sherlock shouts. "He can't be serious!"

"If he punches Jeremy, I will lose my mind."

The fight on TV is slowly broken up. "Of course Tom felt the need to step in."

"Everything is about him."

"Lily," Sherlock says.

She looks over at him. "What?"

He points to the cake. A large glob of pink icing is sitting on top, right where Lily was going to write. "Uh oh."

Sherlock grabs a butter knife and starts spreading it out into a heart.

"Perfect."

Once the cake is iced, they continue watching TV for about half an hour when there's a knock on the door. A familiar, excited voice, shouts, "I'm back!" on the other side.

Lily swings the door open, and Rosie's face lights up. She practically dives out of John's arms into Sherlock's and hugs him tightly. When she pulls back, she frowns. "You have a boo boo."

Sherlock boops her nose. "Long story. Lily and I made you something."

Rosie looks at Lily. "Is it cake?"

Lily smiles. "We have to go see."

Sherlock carries her down the stairs, and she practically bounces up and down in his arms when she sees the cake. Lily cuts her a piece while Sherlock sets her on a stool at the island. John runs up to get Mrs. Hudson.

"How was Aunt Harriet's?" Lily asks.

"It was so fun! But I missed you," Rosie replies.

"I missed you, too," Lily says, passing her cake.

John and Mrs. Hudson come back down the stairs. "I heard there was cake," Mrs. Hudson says. Rosie throws her arms out excitedly for a hug, then turns back to her cake.

"Well, what all did you do at Aunt Harriet's?"

"I played with the puppy," Rosie replies.

Sherlock looks pointedly at John, who shakes his head. "Maybe later."

"Later today?"

Rosie, Mrs. Hudson, and Lily look at them. "What?" Lily asks.

Sherlock nudges her shoulder, then picks up the knife. "I'll tell you later. How big of a piece do you want?"

"Medium-sized."

"What does that mean?"

"Whatever your heart desires."

Sherlock does his best guess while Lily gets Rosie some juice, and then he cuts a slice for Mrs. Hudson, himself, and John. In the background, the TV still plays. Jeremy and Hayley are getting married, which means they get to leave the show.

"Yes!" Lily shouts.

Sherlock shakes his head. "Look at Colton fuming. You lost her! What an idiot."

John glances back at the TV. "I see you both have had a productive day."

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The next day, Lily gets up and goes to the garden, then takes a shower, planning to go up and play with Rosie today. As she's getting ready to go, she decides to check her email before she leaves.

And there it is.

They've accepted her book. They want to publish it. And they're letting Gabby illustrate it, too. Lily quickly types a reply and calls Gabby, who's excited as well. Next, she calls Liam.

"They love it!" she says as soon as he picks up.

"The book?"

"Yes!"

"That's awesome, Lil. I knew they would."

"Gabby gets to illustrate, too."

There's a muffled voice on the other end, and Liam sighs. "My boss is-"

"I figured. Go back to work, lazy bones."

"Yeah, yeah. Love you. Call you later."

"Love you, too."

Lily grabs her laptop, then runs upstairs, forgetting to knock on the door and bursting into the sitting room of 221B. "They're going to publish my book!"

Rosie cheers while John comes in from the kitchen, and Sherlock stands from his chair. In the midst of being congratulated, Lily passes Sherlock the laptop.

"You never got to read the ending," Lily says. The story is pulled up for him, so he sits down while Lily texts Raven, her parents, and Uriah. She keeps glancing up at Sherlock, looking at his face for a reaction, but he's reading the whole thing again, not just the end. Lily remembers every single word, having edited it a thousand times.

The fairy castle was big and grand. It was covered in flowers, grown by the flower fairies. There was a moat around it, but the drawbridge was always down.

Queen Arabella was always inside, working away for her people. Her people worked around her, doing what they were made to do.

Rose was a flower fairy. They were preparing for a feast for Queen Arabella's birthday. She had asked for a big bunch of roses.

She had also asked for cookies. The baker making her cookies, Raven, flew into the great hall of the castle in a rush. "All my baking tools are gone!" she shouted. "I can't make cookies in time for tonight if I don't get them back!"

The fairies decorating went to comfort Raven, offering help. But the flowers still had to be placed before the feast. Rose had already gathered her flowers for the Queen, so she said, "I'll help, Raven! Where was the last place you left them?"

"In the kitchen, of course," Raven replied.

Rose and Raven flew to the kitchen. It was incredibly loud, but it was very neat. Raven and Rose asked each fairy if they had seen the baking tools, but they were no where to be found.

"I know! Let's ask some more fairies," Rose said.

They flew outside, where the carpenter fairies were building a large table for the feast. Rose asked many of them if they had seen the baking tools, but she was also looking for the carpenter fairy Uriah. They were good friends. He would be willing to help search.

"He's working on the chairs," a fairy named Emmet said, so Rose and Raven went to find Uriah. They flew all around the castle, in every room. The building fairies and the sewing fairies helped search, too. Finally, they found him.

He was in the basement, looking very glum. Rose sat down next to him. "What's the matter, Uriah?"

"My chairs." He pointed, and they saw chairs in pieces. "I did something wrong, and they got messed up."

"We can help you," Rose said.

"Of course we can," Raven added.

Uriah began to cry. "But what about you?"

"What do you mean?" said Raven.

"I took your baking tools, so you couldn't make cookies. If my chairs were bad, I wanted somebody else to mess up, too."

"Uriah!" Rose exclaimed.

"I'm sorry."

"It's alright. But where are they?" Raven asked.

Uriah went and got them out of a chest and gave them back to Raven. "Here. I'm sure you don't want to help me anymore."

"Don't be silly. We all have to help each other."

"We just need to ask for help," Rose reminded him. She grabbed some of Uriah's chairs, and Raven grabbed the rest. "Come on. Let's take these upstairs so we can fix them together."

The fairies worked on Uriah's chairs and Raven's cookies, and soon everything was ready, just in time for the feast. The queen was delighted with everything, especially her cookies and the beautiful chairs.

"Thanks, guys," Uriah said. "Next time, I'll ask for help first."

"And we'll be there," Rose replied.