"You have a visitor, sir," said the housekeeper. "A young woman."

John startled and sat up in his worn leather armchair. He must have dozed off. The bundle of letters he had been reading lay scattered at his feet.

"We weren't expecting anyone today were we?" he asked, straightening his spectacles and smoothing the few wisps of white hair that graced his old head.

"No, sir," replied the housekeeper. "May I show her in?"

"Yes, yes," replied John, reaching to tidy his desk and then pausing as he realized it was hopeless. In his old age he had fallen into the messy habits of his late partner.

The housekeeper showed in a beautiful young woman, primly dressed, who looked around the doctor's large study in wonder.

"Please," said John, "sit down. How may I help you?" Something about her looked familiar.

"I'm sorry to bother you, doctor." The young woman had an American accent. "But I was hoping to retrieve a photograph of my late mother I know to be in your possession, or rather that was in possession of your late partner."

"My partner kept extensive records on his clients. Who was your mother?"

The young woman smiled mischievously at this question, quite a departure from her demure presentation.

"How much do you enjoy mysteries, doctor?"

John leaned forward peering at her closely, trying to determine who she could be. "I'm certain you know who I am and given my life's work, I assume the answer to that is rhetorical." he replied.

The woman grinned at this and continued. "Well, then I need only tell you that my mother was his greatest love."

John chuckled. "I'm afraid my dear late partner never loved, nor took a lover. He was too dedicated to his work to be distracted by the female sex."

"Are you sure?" asked the woman. The way she said it made John doubt what he had just said. "What would you say if I told you my mother was THE woman."

John stiffened, memories from long ago replayed in his mind. He was never one for recalling details like his partner had been, but even he could never forget THE woman. Had his partner really taken a lover and never confided in him?

"How can you know with certainty that my partner has a photograph of this woman you refer to as THE woman."

"Because my mother told me he did."

John thought back to the case: A Scandal in Bohemia. THE woman had left a picture for her past lover, their client, who was deeply pleased by their work and offered an immense reward. Oddly, his partner requested only the photograph.

"She's right," said the doctor. "But your mother couldn't have known that."

"She was really smart," replied the woman.

John nodded. He had to admit that was true. Few people had ever outsmarted his partner, and only one woman.

"But they were never lovers. He never saw her again. She married and moved back to America." The doctor stood and walked over to a large filing cabinet. He scrolled through it until he came to the file of Irene Adler. He took out a photograph of a young woman who looked remarkably like the one sitting in his office. "Is this your mother?" He handed the woman the photograph.

She took it and looked it over for a good minute. "Indeed," she said, her voice sounding tearful. "The fact that this photograph was in Mr. Holmes' possession rather than in Wilhelm von Ornstein's confirms the first part of the riddle my mother left for me, Dr. Watson. I don't know if my mother and Mr. Sherlock Holmes were physical lovers, but I do think they carried on an intellectual affair and were, in their own way, very much in love. I believe they stayed in contact, in bizarre and unconventional ways. They may have seen one another again, possibly in disguise."

Watson sat for a moment and pondered the possibility that his late partner and best friend carried on a secret affair. It would fit his personality and certainly if he were to ever have found romantic love with a woman, THE woman would be a fitting candidate.

"Well, Miss..."

"Norton."

"Of, course. Ms. Norton, I would be happy to assist you in unraveling this mystery." 

_____________

Author's note:

That was a fun opening to a book I'll probably never write.

For the back story on this fanfiction, read the early Sherlock Holmes short story A Scandal In Bohemia by  Conan Doyle which you can easily google and find a copy of.