Look out for the <>!

I was free. No Sherlock, no Scotland Yard, no John to tell me what to do and how to act. I was completely and utterly free so why wasn't I happy? I didn't feel liberated. I was disappointed more than anything, at who, I really didn't know. Me, Sherlock, it didn't matter. Maybe I needed time. I knew what used to make me feel better, and I will get to that again.

I could hear a man behind me yelling into his phone saying it wasn't his fault he messed up some failed relationship. He had to be talking to his wife and from the words he was using, I'm guessing he was talking about an affair that he had.

The way he was talking, I could tell he hit her. His words were harsh as I heard venom in his voice. He was abusive. This made me sick, people made me sick. They were so flawed and I was so over humans. They were always there to let you down, hurt you, stab you in the back, so why even let them in? I shouldn't be around people. People were always out for themself's, they didn't care about others. The fragile got hurt, and the strong prevailed.

I wanted to teach this man a lesson and because I had no one watching over my shoulder, I could do whatever I wanted.

This was going to be easy. I needed this to register on an emotional level with him. I needed to look weak and helpless in front of him to get his attention and maybe he would follow me. There was a 50-50 chance this would work. I glanced at him with tears in my eyes, then walked down an alley and sat down with my head in my arms. Now all I had to do was wait.

"Miss can I help you?" a voice gently in front of me.

I looked up at him and smiled as I wiped fake tears from my face. "In fact, you can." I got up from the ground and punched him in the stomach, then took his wallet. "Think about what you say to your wife next time," I said and elbowed him in the back, causing him to topple over.

A smirk came to my face as I walked away. I was back on top and Rori Anderson was back. I took the main road again and dug into the wallet I just got. 200 quid that would last me a couple of days. Oh, and what was this? I pulled out a debit card with a smile. I was going shopping. Before I did anything more, I had to change my looks because, after all, I was on the run.

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"It's 100 quid miss." The women said who was selling the boat tickets to get to Ireland.

"I only have 80 and I really need to see my grandmother, she's sick, and I traveled all the way from London..." I pouted and made the saddest face I could. I had 100, but I knew by the photos with her kids hanging up in the back wall of her office she was a softy for family. I could get it down to 80, I knew it.

"Ok kid, here you go," she said as she handed me a ticket without even paying.

"What about the 80?"

"You can keep it for the ride back. The man on the other side isn't as soft as me."

"Thank you so much," I said and gave her a small smile, then walked over to the boat and got on. That went better than I thought. I still had that charm.

I sat down on a seat on the boat and looked around. It wasn't that full and the people that were here were business people. I would pinch a couple wallets to get some extra money but I was a bit worn out from all the traveling. I hadn't slept in about 23 hours and I was beyond tired.

I blew my still running nose, then closed my eyes as I listened to the surrounding people talk. A couple close to me was talking about what they were going to do in Dublin and another person was talking to her husband, saying that she got on the boat late and put the kids to bed without her.

I hadn't heard this kind of normal conversation in such a long time. For so long I had been use to Sherlock and his antics. It was going to take some time to get use to life without him. He kept me on my toes, he kept me from being bored. He was my new normal and without him, who was going to help me adjust? I didn't linger on this thought for long and soon I fell into a deep sleep.

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I looked around at the bustling town that I grew up in. It hadn't changed a bit and it brought a smile to my face as I walked down one of the cobblestone roads thinking about the memories I had here.

I had my first kiss on the street corner next to the water fountain when I was 14 and I stole my first wallet in front of that store when I was 13. When I got home to Nan's house and told her what I did, oh she was mad. She said a proper lady would never do that. She always saw the best in me. To her, I was always a princess, but then again, she never really knew the real me because I was none of that.

I shook my head to clear it, telling myself I wouldn't come back to think about old memories. I had more terrible memories here than good ones and soon those memories would creep up on me.

My Grandmother's house was just down the road from here. I could walk there if I wanted to, so I could be alone for a little longer. I frowned,knowing this couldn't happen. Amelia and Walter were waiting for a call from me. They wanted me to tell them I was here. But the thing was, I tossed my phone though when I left London, so I needed to pick up another one somewhere.

I spotted a supermarket and walked into it. I picked the cheapest phone and handed it to the cashier.

"You new?" he asked me as he rang up the phone.

"Something like that," I said and paid him.

"Well, you picked a terrible time to come. It's going to rain for the next two weeks."

Nothings changed. "Thanks for the heads up," I said and left the store as I ripped into the packaging of the phone, then I took out a piece of paper I had in my pocket with numbers on it. I dialed one number and hit enter. "Hello?" a man's voice said on the other end.

I recognized this voice instantly. Walter's voice hadn't changed. "Hello Walter. It's Ro- I mean Maire."

"Oh Maire! Wow! Are you here!? In Dublin?" he asked with excitement.

"Yeah."

"Where are you, I'll pick you up."

I looked around and spotted a sign that said main street. "Main Street by the supermarket."

"I know where you're at. Don't move. I'll be there in ten," he said and hung up the phone.

I watched the people around me walk from store to store. There weren't many people out for a Saturday night. It was a slow day, or maybe just a slow town. I hadn't been back in years and I forgot how depressing it was here. It was not nearly as exciting as London. I looked up at the gray sky as it rained. Perfect, just my luck. There is nothing here for me, so why did I even come back?

"Maire! Maire!" a young man, a little older than me, waved to me from a small junky yellow car.

"Walter!" I said and smiled as I grabbed my bag and ran up to the car to avoid getting too wet.

"So how are you?" he said with his thick Irish accent.

"I've been better."

"Oh, yeah, sorry about that, duh," he said and hit himself on the head.

"Yeah," I breathed out. I hopped into the passenger seat and buckled myself in.

"Where's your accent? Did you trade it for one of those fancy London ones?" Walter asked with a chuckle as we drove out of town.

"It gets fewer questions when I don't have an Irish accent. But I let it slide some times," I said, slipping back into my hometown accent.

"It's good to have you back. We missed you," he said and chuckled.

"So, what have you been doing?" I asked, changing the topic. As much as they said they missed me, I knew they didn't. I felt like I was failing as I tried to make small talk with one of my only friends from my childhood.

"Just hanging round here, I guess. It's been quiet since you left, that's for sure. I don't do white collar things anymore. I'm a bank manager now."

"That's amazing. Great for you," I said and forced a smile at him. One reason I stopped talking to my old friends was because I was holding them back from their true potential. I would never have a job like that. I was always going to jump around towns, going from job to job. They needed stability, something that I couldn't give them.

"So life has been good? Yeah?"

"Yeah it was good." I looked out the window of the car, finding it much greener here than it was in London. That was something that I missed, all the green.

He took a turn left and pulled up to a small two-story stone house with roses growing up the sides. "Well, this is it."

"This is your house?"

"Yeah, mine and Ameila's."

"Whoa, wait, you two got married?!" I said and smiled at him.

"Yeah, for two months now," he said and smiled as he showed me his ring on his finger. It surprised me I didn't notice it before now. I was getting too tired to pay much attention to what was around me.

"That is fantastic. Really it is." I always thought they would be good for each other.

"Maire, why did you change your name? I tried so hard to find you after you left. Maire, it would be a lie if I said that I wasn't hurt when you left without a word. We all were. No note or anything, just gone one day and no way to find you."

I knew he would bring this conversation up, but I wasn't thinking he would bring it up so quickly. There were many reasons I did that. I needed a change, I needed a larger ocean to swim in, so I took a job in London. I also thought that me leaving them was the best thing that I could have done for them. They needed stability, and I needed something bigger in life. I didn't realize that it bothered them because it didn't bother me as much. "I was holding you back. Look at how happy you are without me. I was no good for you, Walter."

"You were everything to me, Maire," Walter said and got out of the car.

I didn't know what to say. I got out of the car and walked into the house right behind him. Once I came into the house, the smell of baked goods hit me like a pile of bricks. Ameila always loved to cook.

"Oh Walter is that you? Did you get her?" a young woman asked as she rounded the corner. Her black hair was pulled into a messy bun and her blue eyes shined like they used to when we were kids. She stopped at looked at me and then a smile hit her face. "Maire."

"Hi Ameila," I said and smiled back at her.

"I told myself I would not hug you when I saw you. I can't help myself," she said and ran up to me and hugged me.

"It's ok." I wrapped my arms around her lightly for a second and pushed her back. I was still trying to work on the issue.

"Was that a hug?" she said and smiled at me.

"Kind of."

"What have you been up to? You were in London, yeah? How was that?" Ameila asked as she lead me to their family room.

I looked around the small family room, then I walked over to their couch and sat down. "It's a long story." I told them about my name, change and life with Kale and the heists we did together. How inspirable we were. I told them about how I got framed and got put into prison for something that I didn't do. And lastly, I told them about my life with Sherlock Holmes, Miss Hudson, and John Watson and the cases I worked on. I mentioned how Sherlock let me down, forcing me here.

After I was done talking, I looked at the time and it surprised me that a two hours had gone by and it was going on midnight. I didn't realize that I had talked for so long.

"You deserve a life of not running," Ameila said finally after everything I told them.

I sighed and shook my head. "No I don't." I would love that if I wasn't a wanted person. I don't think that would ever be an option. I sealed that deal as soon as I left London.

"And why do you say that Maire? Because I know you deserve everything life offers. You are a great person. I never got why you kept selling yourself sort, even when we were young."

I shift in my seat, feeling uncomfortable, hating complements like this. I wasn't amazing, I had so many flaws, so many I stopped counting them.

"Maire, you know the reason I fell in love with you? When you find something that you truly love doing, I can see it in your face, you're confident and radiant. You have the mindset that if you want something, nothing can stop you. That's what I admired about you. You're a good person with good morals, for the most part," Walter said and gave a chuckle.

I forced a smirk. "Thank you."

There was a good minute or two of silence and then Walter said, "well I have to wake up early tomorrow for work and you probably want to go to sleep, so I'll show you to your room." And with that, Walter stood up and walked up the stairs.