2 DAYS LATER
221B BAKER STREET
5:02 PM

Sherlock lay on the couch, thinking.
Emma walked in, quietly, but loud enough so that he would hear.

"You know, I'm really stumped. I need your help now and again."

Her eyes widened. "Sherlock Holmes being stumped? And come on, you know I'm busy."

He sat up. "You weren't two days ago. I saw your schedule."

She went and sat beside him on the couch. "Well then you missed the sticky note saying how my boss wanted me to make some bouquets to show to incoming couples and how I had to clean the whole store."

Sherlock closed his eyes and thought about what happened two days ago. Sure enough, after remembering what he had seen, he saw a blue sticky note with all that Emma had said written upon it. He opened his eyes and stared at the floor.

"Then yesterday I had to make deliveries", she continued. "And today a bunch of couples were scheduled with an appointment."

Sherlock looked at the floor until Emma lifted his chin up with her finger. "Hey you alright? I thought you and Molly were getting somewhere."

"We were... I just, I just want you to help me. You're better at this then me."

Emma's eyes widened and she put her hands so that they were mainly on her lap, but somewhat slipping into Sherlock's.

"Really? I know I got a few cases easy, but if it wasn't for you..."

He looked her in the eyes, staring right into her soul, making her stop talking.

'It's a construct of the human mind, John. How am I supposed to know?'

"You always got the cases easily. We need each other." He paused, wondering if he should say his next words. He decided to, and then immediately regretted it. "I need you."

Emma stared into his eyes, and then stared at his lips, until they were abruptly stopped by the sound of a door opening.

221B BAKER STREET
5:02 PM

Sherlock lay on the couch, thinking.
Emma walked in, quietly, but loud enough so that he would hear. Emma put her stuff down on the kitchen table, and stood in front of Sherlock.

"How's the case going?"

"Extremely well", he said while sitting up. Ah, dreams will be the death of me. "There's been another murder. I was waiting till you got home so that we could go over and see it."

Emma smiled and sat down beside him on the couch. "What, was Molly not interested?"

"She thought that you should come and check it out. We already did."

Her smile changed from one of joy and bliss to one of sadness and fear. Her eyes became heavy with the news she had just heard, and her eyebrows ever so slightly furrowed. She tried to speak, but only whispers came out.

"How bad is it?"

"I don't want to say 'see for yourself', but 'see for yourself.' "

------------

Emma walked into the crime scene, led into the small room by the trail of blood. Sherlock told her everything that he had told Molly, and a bit more.

Emma looked at him with a sticky note in her hand. "You're telling me you waited two days to show me this?"

"Well, it was important. We found out so much about the murderer from this one crime scene."

"And that is...?" Emma put the sticky note into a bag and looked back at Sherlock.

"The person knows everyone. They knew what Molly would say. They planned what would happen, the trail of blood, everything. This person is neat. They're also very short."

As soon as Sherlock was done speaking, something caught Emma's eye. It wasn't a yellow sticky note that had somehow fallen off the wall, or the intricate shadows that came from the big window on the far wall. No, it was something that anyone would have noticed, just not think much about it. It was crimson red, thin in some places, thick in others. And it just. Wasn't. Correct.

"That trail of blood. If the person was killed in here," she pointed inside the sticky note bedroom. "It would make sense, but since they weren't, it doesn't make any sense at all." She walked down the hall and into the living room, and stood beside the outline from where the body used to be. The white tape looked new. "The person was killed there", she pointed a few feet away from the middle of the room, nearer to the kitchen. "Then they were dragged over there." She pointed to the room with all the sticky notes. "Then back here." She pointed down at he feet. "That's what you told me, yes?"

Sherlock realized what she was getting onto and mentally slapped himself. He strode over to the big puddle of dried blood near the kitchen and noticed that something was off. "The lady was stabbed in the room, brought here, and then somehow cleanly dragged to the middle of the room?"

"I'm guessing that's not where the body was when you came", Emma said. She gestured with her head down at her feet.

Sherlock quickly shook his head. "The murderer is neater than we thought. It's been two days. Sure, police tape is covering this area, but anyone who can sneak in and out without anyone noticing is an extraordinary feat."

Emma looked at the door and thought of something. She quickly shifted her gaze onto Sherlock. "When was the body removed?"

Lestrade walked into the crime scene and looked at the room. He walked close to Sherlock, with other men following behind him, but abruptly stopped when he noticed the white tape on the ground. He put his left hand in the air, gesturing for the men behind him to stop.

Emma, Sherlock, and Lestrade all exchanged glances until Sherlock finally spoke.

"Today."