- c h a p t e r   e i g h t e e n -

"Sherlock is going to be famous some day soon," Emma sighed, looking over to John. The two were sitting in 221B across from one another, having a conversation in the morning over a cup of tea. "He's going to be famous, and it's just going to make him even worse."

"Going to be?" John replied with a laugh. "I think he already is."

"I know," Emma said, pursing her lips. "Do you think that's going to mean you're going to get more cases? I hate it when you have cases because then I can never see you. Sherlock never lets me tag along."

Her mind wandered back to the first time she had went along with them and ended up nearly getting them caught. Perhaps he did have a good reason for leaving her behind-but that didn't make her any happier about it.

"Well, anyways, thank you for dealing with Leon for me," Emma said, bending her lips upwards into a smile. "I don't think I could have ever gotten him off my tail without you."

"You are my girlfriend, Emma," John responded, leaning over to put a hand on top of hers. "It's the very least I could have done. I mean, all I really did was call him and talk to him."

"But the thing is, it worked," Emma laughed. "I haven't gotten so much as a single text from him since you did."

"I'm glad, then."

"I also heard that his fiancée heard about what he was trying to do," Emma continued, crossing her arms across her chest victoriously. "Needless to say, she's no longer his fiancée. Maybe that tought him a lesson."

"Now, how would she have found out about what Leon was doing?" John asked, raising his eyebrows. "He was working pretty hard to keep that away from her, wasn't he?"

"Yeah," Emma said, shrugging and refusing to meet his eyes. "I don't see what you're trying to say here."

"Really, Emma?" John responded, letting out a laugh.

"Maybe I made a few phone calls of my own," she admitted, unable to keep a smile off of her face. "I did what I was trying to do. She probably would have found out if I had gone through with it anyways. She deserves better than him. And so do I, for that matter."

"Which is why you have me," John replied, hoping that she would react positively to this. For a moment, she just tilted her head and stared over at him from her seat. He closed his eyes, feeling as if he had done the wrong sort of thing. But then at that moment, she leaned over and pecked him on the cheek.

"I couldn't have possibly thought of anyone better! And now I have you, yes," she squealed. "Maybe we can escape Sherlock's spotlight, be alone for a little while. I'd like that."

As she continued thinking on this subject, her eyes strayed over to see Sherlock himself fumbling around in the kitchen. Already he had set up loads of science equipment, including his ever useful microscope. But at the moment, he carried around a length of rope, preparing to cut it.

Emma turned back around to John with a smirk on her face and whispered over to him, saying, "What is he doing? It's only eight in the morning!" Then she suddenly dropped her jaw open, realising what she had just said. "It's only eight in the morning. I'm going to be late for work!"

"Oh, sorry," John said, putting a hand on his face. "I kept you here, I should have remembered..."

"No, no," Emma replied. "I just kept on talking, the important thing is that I get to New Scotland Yard now."

"Do want me to get a cab for you?" John suggested.

"No, I'm fine," Emma said, shooting a smile over towards him.

"Ah, well. I needed to shower anyways," John said. "I'm not exactly sure I want to get involved in Sherlock's experiment, whatever he's up to."

"Don't. You'll probably end up getting sick or something, and no one wants that. Least of all, me."

She stood up, scurrying over towards the door in order to leave. Her gaze strayed back over to John, who was poised to say his goodbyes. There was a small smile on his lips as he waited for her to make the first move.

As Emma found herself hesitating to leave, she felt as if there was something more she was supposed to say. Her stomach was twisting itself into knots, but she couldn't figure out why. With a deep breath she placed her hand on the handle and looked back over to John.

"Goodbye," she said.

"Bye, Emma," he replied, giving a slight nod. But she continued standing there for several more awkward seconds as they heard Sherlock rustling along in the kitchen area. She bit her lip, wondering what exactly she should do.

Finally she just gave in to her impulses, strutting over to John and planting a kiss on his lips. They broke away from the embrace both wearing smiles on their faces. Now there was no need for a goodbye to be said.

Emma's stomach was still rather fluttery, but she still managed to scamper out the door happily. With this energy filling her, she had an oddly positive feeling that she was going to have a good day at work.

Of course, this was nothing more than wishful thinking, she soon found out.

Emma's eyes focused on the second hand as it ticked around the clock. The day had been just as tedious as always, but she had been trying to work on avoiding the computer and distracting herself. There had to be some work that needed to be done, but she just didn't feel like it. It would only make her more bored than she always was at her job.

But just a matter of moments after the hour crossed to eleven, the entire station seemed to erupt into action. People shot up from their desks, running across the floor. Emma could hear doors slamming against walls as people threw them open. There were yells and yelps echoing in her ears, but she couldn't make out anything.

"What is it? What's going on?" Emma said, looking around at the frenzy. "Will no one ever tell me what's going on?" She started to pout, crossing her arms around herself. It was as if everyone had gone deaf, which made her extremely frustrated. She couldn't stand it when people didn't listen to her.

Everyone continued rushing past her, blurring in a mix of colour and light. If she hadn't been so preoccupied with trying to get their attention, she would have found it very beautiful. It might have even been worthy of being made into a painting.

She continued trying to grab someone's attention, at one point even reaching out and grasping at someone's wrist to get them to stop. But it was vividly clear that it would be impossible for her to get anyone to stop and listen. Everyone was far too preoccupied by whatever was going on to listen to the station enquiry officer.

Knowing nothing better to do, Emma plopped herself down in her chair and brought up the chat with Madison. She was going to tell her friend everything, because at least she'd be someone who would always listen to her and respond.

The moment her gaze set upon the green dot, she knew that Madison was going to be the one to pay attention to her. At the moment, that was precisely what she needed. She moved the mouse over to click on her friend's name, biting her lip in anticipation.

Madison didn't even wait a moment to start talking to her. She wouldn't take her time to even type a proper greeting in. No, she had far more important things to talk about to her friend.

Get this! From what I've been seeing, three of the most secure areas in London have just been compromised. For a moment, Emma could do nothing but stare at the message that Madison had just sent her.

"All at once? But it's only the morning, eleven!" Emma said out loud, feeling exasperated over this. "People need to wait until at least lunch time to start committing massive crimes, it just makes everything worse when they're doing it in the morning."

But as the words escaped from her lips, she began to realise that there was something else rather strange concerning the situation. Completely unable to help herself, she quickly typed out her mind's contents and sent them to Madison.

Um, Maddie, how do you know that??? I work at New Scotland Yard and I didn't even know that!!!

She watched as Madison typed in her response, beating her feet against the floor impatiently. Doesn't matter. Trust me. But apparently the White Tower, the Bank of England, and Pentonville Prison have all been broken into. All at once.

That's insane!!! Don't people have anything better to do at eleven in the morning?!?!

Apparently not. I just wonder who did it!

Ugh, someone who's completely mad, obviously.

Obviously.

Emma leaned back in her chair, heaving an enormous sigh. It was sort of sad that she had to get her information about crimes from a friend she hardly knew a thing about, but this just was the way it had to be. It wasn't the most convuluted way she had learned things in her life so far.

Now that it was several minutes past eleven and she had a vauge idea of what was going on, Emma desperately wanted to text John about all of this, but she had a feeling that somehow he already knew. Being flatmates with Sherlock Holmes would likely have him recieve the information before she did. They'd want the consulting detective to know about this sort of thing right away.

Instead, she decided to focus back on Madison. No one would notice what she was doing, after all. They were all far too busy panicking over the break-ins to care. She still cast a glance around to make sure of this, but as soon as she was confident everything was okay she began typing again.

What do you think they're going to do about all this???

I think they need to figure out who did all of it first.

It sounds almost like something out of a film, it's so mad!!!

The two continued on with their conversation until Emma noticed that the massive frenzy in the station had just about disappeared. This was most likely because the vast majority of officers had already left to go handle the situation, but this was not what came to her mind first.

The more Emma tried to think about how this sort of thing was possible, the more twisted up inside she felt. It was like she was sick to her stomach and getting a terrible headache at the same time. Somehow deep inside, she felt deathly afraid of it all. If someone could break into three of the highest secured areas in London in a matter of moments, what else were they capable of?

She had to pretend as if it didn't matter to her for the moment. Pretending to herself seemed to be working just as well as pretending to everyone else. Emma certainly had a fair bit of practice with both.

Still, it pestered her in the back of her mind whether she chose to focus on it or not. She needed something to get it off of her mind. Luckily, this ended up coming to her in a matter of time. Emma's mobile began to vibrate intensely, causing her to jump. Of course, she didn't exactly have many people to be paying attention to her antics so she didn't hold back in picking up the call.

"Emma?" John's voice soon came over the phone, straight into her ear.

"John? Why are you calling me?" she asked, wrinkling her nose. "I don't see why you need to call me."

"For the moment, it's actually easier than texting in my opinion," John said, letting out a sigh. "It's just the way the situation is going."

"It's because of the break ins, yeah?" Emma said, biting her lip as she hoped that she was correct. "Three of them at once."

"Yes, actually-we're on our way to the scene, and I just wanted to let you know-" John was about to say more, but Emma rushed in and cut him off.

"We, meaning you and Sherlock. He's actually letting you call me at the moment?"

"I'm calling you now before he takes the phone from me and turns it off, which we both know he'll do."

"I hated that first time," Emma groaned, remembering a previous experience with a gramace.

"Which is why I'm trying to make this quick. I just wanted to make sure that you know that nothing's happened at Baker Street as far as I'm aware, so everyone and everything should be safe there. I'll call you again after everything."

"Everything, that's very specific," Emma replied dryly.

"Sorry, I'm just not really sure what to expect here."

The noise of Sherlock's voice from the background was able to heard softly in Emma's side of the call.

"John, you know precisely what to expect here."

"Three break ins, then?" Emma asked, rolling her eyes as she tried to move on from Sherlock's comment.

"Yes, actually," John replied. "I don't understand how someone could pull all of that off, but...well, it's not important."

"If it has something to do with these break ins, I have a feeling it probably is important," Emma responded, putting a hand on her hips even though John couldn't see her actions.

"Just keep yourself safe at Scotland Yard, Emma," John responded. "Whoever we're dealing with is extremely dangerous, and I don't want you getting hurt."

"John, why are you pretending to be so oblivious over the situation?" Sherlock asked in the background. "You know precisely who is behind all of this!"

"Shut up, Sherlock, please," John responded, sighing. "Emma, just don't worry about all of that. It'll all be explained soon, I promise you that much. Besides, you work at the police station. You're bound to hear something about it by the end of the day."

"We'll see about that," Emma sighed. She was about to start explaining how no one had been willing to tell her about the break ins when John started saying goodbyes.

"We're approaching the crime scene right now, you can probably hear the sirens from everything. I have to go now, sorry. Maybe after you're done with work we can meet up. Maybe even go on a date, I don't know. But right now I have to go."

"Oh..." Emma said, starting to purse her lips in disappointment. "Well, bye then. Are you sure you can't talk any longer? It's terribly boring here at the station, especially with everyone out working on the break ins."

"Sorry again," John sighed. "But I have to go."

"Bye," she said sadly.

"Bye." The call ended and she slowly lowered her mobile down, placing it onto her desk in a clatter of noise.

Desperate for someone to talk to, she decided to start up her chat with Madison again.

Do you know who's behind all of this??? I have this funny feeling you do...

A/N And thus Reichenbach Fall begins in my own personal retelling. Which is through Emma's side of the story, of course. (Keep on saying "and thus" lately, hehe.) I'm quite excited about this, I think it'll be a good new angle to the amazing story. Just putting in my side, because I can!