Hello Detective

The Sign of Three Part 2

"Now now Mrs. Hudson, you'll give Adelaide a heart attack." Sherlock spoke.

"I think I've missed something here." I said, placing my cup back in my saucer.

"Mrs. Hudson I'm sure you have a lot to do to prepare for the wedding." Sherlock urged, and she got the message, said goodbye and headed off downstairs.

Sherlock was now standing in front of me, his hand outstretched to take my cup.

"I need your help." He spoke.

"With?" I asked.

"The waltz. For John and Mary. It has to be perfect, and I need a partner." He took my hand and lead me to the middle of the room.

"You might regret that once you see that I'm the worst dancer on the planet." I confessed.

"You were trained in ballet, your mother showed me pictures." He argued, a smirk on his lips.

"I was five Sherlock." I laughed. He pulled me closer, and started the music.

I took his lead, and slowly got the hang of it. Finally I was able to proceed without staring at my feet.

"What did Mrs. Hudson mean earlier?" I asked, looking up at him as we danced.

"I'm not sure what you're referring to." Sherlock said, looking off behind me.

"Sherlock..." I scolded slightly.

"Do you ever think about it?" He asked quietly.

"About getting married?" I asked in confusion.

"Yes." He confirmed, still not looking at me.

"Do you?" I asked in shock, surely this isn't the same Sherlock that once said that sentiment was a chemical defect found on the losing side.

"Everytime I'm with you," His eyes finally met mine, "For once in my life I feel normal. And I think maybe I could have a normal life, and do normal things, because of you. When I'm with you, I'm not a freak or a machine, I'm just me. And you're you. Is it so crazy for me to think that people like us are capable of something like that."

I hadn't realized the two of us had stopped dancing because my head was still spinning.

"You look scared, oh God I messed up didn't I, I-" Sherlock began to panic and ramble.

"No, Sherlock, no you didn't, I just. I guess I'm just surprised. I mean before it was something I thought about sometimes, but I didn't think that was something you wanted. Then when you... I thought you were dead, and all of that was off the table for me. I wasn't going to find anyone else, because there's only one of you. So I never thought I'd ever get married and do all of that. But now you're back." I spoke, a twinge of guilt coursed through Sherlock when I spoke about his absence.

"I am back, and I'm not going anywhere. I don't mean to scare you, I'm not saying we have to get married tomorrow, I just mean, one day, it would be something that would bring me great joy." Sherlock smiled down at me.

"You're not proposing to me on John's wedding day. This is their day Sherlock, we can have our own later." I scolded with a laugh.

"Ugh fine." Sherlock smiled at me, turning off the music finally.

"Something still doesn't add up here." I said.

"And what's that?" Sherlock looked over to me from his music sheet.

"How did Mrs.Hudson know you felt this way?" I asked, a smirk on my lips and a hand on my hip.

"Woman's intuition? You know she must be much more perceptive than I give her credit for-" Sherlock lied and I laughed.

"Sherlock, I'm not John I know when you're lying." I laughed.

"Fine. It was John's stag night, we came home drunk and I might have said a bit more than I intended to." He confessed.

"Like?" I asked, picturing a drunk, emotional, and sensitive Sherlock and being unable to suppress a smile.

"Like how much I love you, how you'd make a beautiful bride and how I couldn't picture a day where I didn't have you by my side." Sherlock said, almost shamefully.

I placed my hands on either side of his cheeks and pressed a gentle kiss to his lips.

"Are you high?" I asked, half joking, half serious.

"No." He answered, and seemed to be telling the truth.

"Good. Let's keep it that way, this is John's wedding and I won't be there to babysit you." I told him, finally revealing my reason for returning.

"You won't be there?" Sherlock spoke, and his demeanor changed, a slight pout present on his lips.

"That's what I came back to tell you. With everything that happened this morning at the office I'm afraid there's too much pressing work to be done. I promise to come as soon as we're done, I should be able to make it by the reception, I would hate to miss your speech." I told him.

"Oh yes, the speech." Sherlock rolled his eyes.

"You'll do great. Read the telegrams, say something nice about John, give them a detective story, people love detective stories, give a little toast and you'll be done. I promise you'll do great." I placed a kiss onto his forehead as I gathered my things.

"How can you be so sure?" He asked.

"You're Sherlock Holmes, you've faced demons and the devil himself, a little speech isn't going to kill you." I smirked, wishing him luck, and exiting the flat.

"Oh and Sherlock... for future reference, a proposal usually includes a ring." I yelled from the stairs.

"A ring. Ring! How could I forget a ring! Of all the mundane-" I laughed as I heard Sherlock frantically rushing about and throwing things.