"You know the Christmas party is tomorrow Holmes," I said to him one afternoon as was I used his computer, trying to find a dress to wear for the event. Tell you the truth, I was looking forward to it, even if I could only go if Sherlock came. I hadn't had practice in a party setting in a long time. People always were so fake at these things and it gave me a chance to be fake as well without people caring.

"I'm not going," he said as he dug in the fridge to get something to eat.

"And why not?" No Sherlock meant no party.

"I don't like parties. People are just there to impress others. You have to dress up and that's something that I rather not do. Why do you want to go anyhow, do you pick pocket the guests?"

I shot a look at him. "No! Why do you always assume I'm up to no good?" I shouted at him as I resisted the urge to slap him.

"Because I can see it in your eyes, you miss it."

"Why can't you just shut it? I like the Christmas season and I thought I would give this party a chance," I said something truthfully to him for the first time ever.

He looked at me confused for a minute, not expecting my response, then asked, "Why?"

I shut my mouth. I wasn't expecting him to ask me why. He never asked me why I did things. "I like the snow and the music and the people," I lied so easily that I almost would believe it myself if I didn't know me better.

"That's not all though."

I frowned. He always saw through me. "Why can't it be?" I didn't want to dive into my terrible relationship with my mum to anyone, let alone him. I didn't want to tell him that this was the only positive time I remembered my mum because he wouldn't understand and I don't think he would ever understand me. Why would I let him in when clearly he put me behind bars unjustly?

"Because I know you and that just can't be it. You're Rori Anderson, the infamous girl that no one knows anything about."

I frowned at him. "Your right, that's not the only reason I love Christmas but I will not tell you. You, out of everyone, should know that." I said and got up from my seat. "I picked out my dress, I'm going to pick it up at the mall. I suggest you get something in order as well." In reality I didn't find a dress, but I wanted away from him.

"Can you pick up some more nicotine patches?"

<>

"Pick them up yourself!" I called out to him and walked down the stairs to see Miss Hudson putting up last minute Christmas decorations. "They look lovely, Miss Hudson."

"You think so?"

"I really do."

"Do you want to help?"

I was tired of fighting the Christmas spirit. It was almost Christmas, and I wanted to feel the true season of Christmas. "I would love to help." I walked over to an old cardboard box and got a glass ornament out to hang on the Christmas tree. "I love Christmas."

"For whatever reason, Sherlock doesn't like this season," she sighed as she put up some garland on the pine tree.

I didn't reply. Sherlock and I never talked about family or life before us. He didn't understand me, but then again I didn't understand him. I was just as at fault as he was.

I picked up an old doll ornament and looked at it. It was porcelain girl with black hair and dark green eyes with red rosy cheeks. She was beautiful.

"Ah I see you found Irene," Miss Hudson said as she walked up to me.

"Irene who?"

"My goodness child, Irene Adler, the one person Sherlock ever seemed to love."

"Where is she now?" I felt like I was finally understanding the man I was living with and he wasn't even in the room.

"Don't know really, he never talks about it."

"Oh." I didn't even know that Sherlock could even love. If she was still around, did he ever visit her? Did they break up? Did it end badly? Were they still together, but in secret? Was that where he went when he 'went out'? I held back a smile as I thought about him trying to date. That would have been a sight.

"She gave this to him one year as a Christmas present."

"Can I hang it up?"

"Sure, I haven't seen that beauty in a long time."

I hung it up on the tree, then I heard Sherlock running down the stairs quickly. "Murder! A Christmas Murder!" He cheered. "Rori, let's go, we're leaving."

I looked at the tree with a frown, not wanting to leave anymore. "Fine, thank you Miss Hudson, it's been fun."

"No problem, dear, watch out for this one," she said and looked at Sherlock.

"Sherlock, don't expect me to ride with you." I pulled my coat closer to my body and slipped on a pair of boots. Saying nothing more, I left out the front door and down the street to the Tube.

Before long, I was riding on the tube in peace, listening to the hum of the train was relaxing. I enjoyed riding the train by myself. It gave me time to think.

When I was almost to where Sherlock said to get off, a young man walked up and sat right next to me. I thought it was odd that he sat so close to me because there were a lot of other empty seats, but I said nothing. Instead, I kept my head straight ahead and made sure to not look at him. The next stop came, and he got up and left. I looked at his seat and noticed that he left a brief note in his place.

"Excuse me! But you..." I said to him before the doors closed before he even heard me. "Oh, well." I shrugged and picked up the piece of paper to get a better look at it. It was just a plan old piece of scrap paper folded in half. Unable to hold my nosy self, I unfolded it to see a note inside.

Rori,

I thought you were rotting in prison. Well, it's nice to see you out in about and with Mr. Holmes? I didn't imagine that from you. I look forward to playing again soon.

Z

As soon as I read the note, I quickly stuffed it in my pocket and looked around me. I was expecting something else to happen, this note was a little too simple for his taste. Z or Zane was not to be messed with. He was out of control. He had no boundaries and he didn't care who got hurt as long as he had fun. I met him so long ago in Dublin. I remembered one time he almost sent a bullet through my head just for a fun puzzle.

To tell you the truth, I was terrified he found me. This trip on the Tube was not planned but he found me, so that meant he could find me anywhere. I lost the cool, confident look I just had a minute ago, and I just wanted to run, far from here, to be safe. I knew that if I didn't run, I would get hurt. But I couldn't run. I had to stay.

With shaking legs, I stood up from my seat and left the train, knowing this was my stop. I couldn't help but look over my shoulder with every step I told. I felt like someone was following me, but I couldn't see anyone. I turned down roads until I got to the small house there, an old grandmother looking lady laid dead on the floor. I didn't pay attention to her thought, every small move made me jump and look over my shoulder. Zane would take me away and force him to play a deadly game.

"Are you ok?" the Inspector asked me as Sherlock stared at a spot on the wall that I was sure he thought was important. He probably would solve the entire case with that spot.

"She's not feeling good, can't you see?" Sherlock said before I could even respond. Once again he was covering me without knowing what was wrong.

"I think I'm coming down with something. Can I get back home?" I lied.

"Sure, I'll get Donavan to give you a ride," he said and called over the lady with the brown curly hair.

<><>

The next day I made sure not to talk to Sherlock, and I barely left my room. I couldn't face the world outside if I didn't have a plan. Zane was going to make his move, and I had to be ready for him even if I hadn't seen Zane in over a year and felt out of practice.

"Are you coming Rori?" Sherlock asked me through the door. His voice made me jump since I wasn't expecting him to say anything. I sat on the floor on the other side of the door with a frown, wanting him to leave without me. I had convinced myself that I would be safer here on the floor than to go to the ball.

"I don't have anything to wear." I lied through my door. The truth was I was all dressed up, but I didn't want to leave. I didn't feel safe out there. I was afraid for my life. But was it really going to be safer here by myself?

"I'm giving it a chance, like you said. I will not leave you here. Rori, tell me the truth, what happened on the Tube last night?" his voice rang out.

"Nothing, I just don't feel well."

"Please Rori, come with us," John said through the door this time.

"You got John to convince me? Wow, really mature."

"No what's not mature is you telling me what's going on with you," Sherlock snapped at me.

I sighed, knowing that he would not stop until I came out. "You know what? fine, I'll go if you just shut up." I opened the door to see both of them dressed in button-down shirts and dress pants.

"Good, because I just called the cab," Sherlock said.

I looked at both of them beside me as we stood on the street and felt confident. Even though I was scared, I felt safer with them. If I had both of them with me, they would protect me. I hadn't felt this way in a while.

We rode in the cab in silence. The black car stopped in front of a large building with high arches. Scotland Yard really rolled out all the steps for this, didn't they? We got out of the cab and into the building. As soon as we walked into the ballroom, the inspector made eye contact with us and walked over. He smiled widely at me and then looked at Sherlock. He was surprised that I could get him to go, but in reality was the one that got me to go. "I'm glad to see that you are feeling better, Miss Anderson," the inspector greeted me.

"Thank you I am," I said and gave him a small smile.

I looked round the decorated room full of people young and old. The room was beautiful and tastefully decorated with garland and other Christmas things. I hadn't seen so many nicely dress people in one place in a long time. It brought a smile to my face. After a few minutes of silence, I looked at John and said, "I was expecting more."

"Well this is it." He shrugged and got a cup of champagne. He took a drink and made a face. I guessed it was of cheap quality and it tasted awful.

"Have you been to one of these before?" I asked as I looked around all the people in the room with a frown. I was wrong, I shouldn't have come. There was a room full of cops and their families and I was here, the black sheep of them all. The misfit who would never fit in, no matter how hard I tried.

"Yeah, last year, without Sherlock."

"Ah," I said and walked away from him, unwilling to hear the story behind why he didn't come.

For the next half an hour, I walked around and avoided talking to the people for long periods of time. I was on high alert, but knew that Zane wouldn't make his move in a public place like this. People came to talk to me, but they would ask why I was here and who I was with. Normally I could fake a story or be charming, but I couldn't think about that now. I still had to make a plan on how to avoid Zane.

I sighed and sat down, finally realizing that Zane would not make a move tonight. As it looked, I was safe for another day.

"Your dress is very pretty," a little girl no older than the age of six said to me in a yellow dress.

I smiled at the blonde girl. This was probably the only conversation that I would enjoy all night. It was simple, without judging looks. "Thank you. I think your dress is really pretty as well," I said and smiled down at her kindly.

She smiled back at me and then said, "Are you scared?"

I made a face at her, not really understanding what she was talking about. "What?" But as soon as that question came out, I already knew the answer. Zane, he found me, even with a room full of cops. He could get anywhere and everywhere.

"Are you scared of him? He watches you. He is just waiting for the right time to see you again."

I smiled at her, even though I felt my palms go cold and clammy. Zane was making her do this just to scare me, and it was working. Like always, he got under my skin, he made me feel in danger in the safest spots. He was the only person in the world that made me scared and as much as I tried to hide it, I knew he could see right past my fake bravery. This time, though, I was going to try extra hard to show that it didn't bother me. "Tell Zane that if he wants to see me, let's get a cuppa some time." And with that I walked across the room as far away from the little girl as possible.

I spotted John and Sherlock talking in the corner alone and I walked up to them. I wanted to leave now.

"Are you ready to go?" Sherlock asked me.

"No she's not, I'm not either. I haven't even danced," John fired off at Sherlock.

I smirked, he must have already asked John to leave. "Go dance then, there is a lovely lady over there." I pointed out Donavan, who looked unhappy as ever drinking some champagne alone across the room.

"Ha Ha," John said and gave me a look that said, 'I don't think so.' but yet he walked over to her.

"Weird, he is."

"I would use the word typical," Sherlock said and then looked at me from head to toe. "What's bothering you?"

I sighed, unwilling to tell him anything about what just happened. "Who's Irene Adler?" I asked him, meeting him with another hard question.

He looked at me for a second with a shocked look, then covered it up with an unreadable look. "She's no one."

"That's not what Miss Hudson said."

Sherlock got up from his seat and turned to look at me and opened his mouth like he was going to say something, but just as he did the inspector got on the small podium. I watched him say a few words, then say Sherlock's name. I wasn't paying attention to why he was called, but Sherlock made a face at me like this was my fault, then walked up to accept some kind of medal.

<><>

"This is why I don't like these things," Sherlock said as we took the cab home. He had been complaining since he got the award and I had about enough of it.

"You worked hard for that," John said as he looked at the medal.

"It's public humiliation," Sherlock stated.

"No, it's not."

"I wonder if the homeless shelter would have use for something like this," Sherlock asked as he waved the medal around in the air.

"You can't just do that! You should put it in a nice spot, get a case for it."

During this entire conversation, I said nothing, instead I watched them argue. It was kind of funny and it distracted me long enough to smirk. I found it amusing that Sherlock hated being recognized so much.

"Rori, tell him you can't do that," John said to me forcing me into the conversation.

"He can do whatever he wants with it," I said flatly, unwilling to get into the conversation and take sides.

"And I would like to give it away," Sherlock said.

"Fine, do that! see if I care," John said as the cab pulled to the curb and John got out to his flat.

"Goodnight to you as well Watson and Merry Christmas!" Sherlock shouted out the window as we drove away.