Sorry this chapter is shorter but I ran out of ideas and wanted to get to work on the next chapter. Hope you enjoy it. Sherlock = Not mine. Please review, I'm on my knees begging you all to please, just review. Lol I love going over the top. Once again hope you like it. By the way, to all you Sherlock/Benedict lovers he has a smooch in this, don't hate my story because of it please. Thanks. :D

A Matter of Life and Death: 22/02/10

Jim stared at her in disbelief, would she really sacrifice Sherlock's life and her own just to kill him?

"I'm touched." He came out with, which took Suzi by surprise.

"I will do it. Don't think I'm joking, because I'm NOT!" Her voice was completely straight, she didn't stray off into fear, she stood her ground which made Moriarty realise that she wasn't joking.

"So... you would kill me. But in order for you to do that you would kill yourself and this man." He said indicating Sherlock; he then moved around him and rested his hands on Sherlock's shoulders. "The man you have spent all of your life protecting and now it turns out his protector is also his murderer."

"But what you fail to see is this is not murder because I'm not aiming it at him-" Suzi was cut off by the Irish madman.

"-No you're right, it's manslaughter."

"If you would let me finish! This is still protection, because I'm protecting him... from you." She raised the grenade to her mouth ready to pull the pin out. "You've got five seconds. Five, four, three, two-"

"Fine! Take your stupid girlfriend then! But... it won't be the last you see of me." Moriarty stepped away from Sherlock and approached Suzi with caution and whispered in her ear. "I promise you."

"And I promise you I will set this grenade off if you don't get out of my house!"

"What happened, Suzi? We used to be such good friends. Where did all that go? Most importantly, who caused it?" Moriarty was standing next to her.

"You did!"

"NO!" Moriarty was infuriated with her answer and Sherlock well... for just being him, the one that always got in his way Moriarty thought of him as. "HE DID! It was always him! You can't blame me, when it wasn't even my fault."

"Get out of my house, NOW!" Suzi raised the rifle to Jim's head but all he did was laugh, she had had enough. Suzi lowered the rifle and shot his foot. Moriarty swore viciously at her, she then raised the gun to his head again. "I'm not joking! GET OUT!"

"This isn't the end! YOU WILL PAY!"

"I know but get out before I shoot you in the head!"

"He'll never return you the love! I on the other hand, will! I don't know why you waste your time with that scrawny piece of nothing! He thinks of you as a friend, nothing more, and nothing less. Even you heard him say that from his own mouth."

"GET OUT!"

"Think it through!" Moriarty limped out of the room, Suzi didn't move until she heard the car doors slamming shut and the vehicle driving off. She ran to Sherlock's side.

"Are you alright? Did they hurt you?" She took a look at the handcuffs behind Sherlock's back. "Do you have the key?"

"No, sorry."

"Great. I'll be right back. Don't you go anywhere!"

"Oh, no! I think I'll just go for a walk around the park again!"

"Don't use that tone with me!" Suzi ran off away from Sherlock but returned within a few seconds holding a paperclip.

"And how will that help me escape?"

"Shut your mouth and leave it to the professional or I'll leave you here... on your own... stuck." Suzi smiled at him then began to work her way around the cuffs that held Sherlock, they clicked loose and Sherlock brought his arms around and rubbed his wrist.

"Did you love him?" Sherlock asked not even looking at her.

"What?"

"Before you met me, did you love him?"

"No! I liked him, I was starting to get used to him, and we were friends. I knew he was special like us, but when you came along I- I felt something, something strange, something stronger. You were different, and I liked that difference. I could tell you were more important and..."

"And..?" Sherlock looked up at her with a confused look on his face.

"And we would last as friends... forever." Suzi was desperate for him drop the subject. She held a hand out to him. "I'm tired; you can sleep on the couch if you want to."

"And I'm still drunk, even though It didn't look like it just then. But what if I don't want to sleep on the couch?" Sherlock smiled at her and took her hand to help him to his feet.

"Then you will have to sleep on the floor. I'm sure you wouldn't-" But before she could finish Sherlock pulled her close to him and kissed her with as much passion as possible when you are drunk. She didn't pull away, she never wanted to pull away but she did find herself in a bit of shock; Suzi never imagined her first kiss with Sherlock like this. The kiss lasted for a few seconds, Sherlock was the first to pull away; he looked at her with adoration in his eyes.

"Anything like you imagined?"

"Nope, it was better." She moved in closer to him again and pressed her lips upon his. He pulled away quickly this time. "Why did you stop? What's wrong?"

"Everything, we're friends. And I don't want to-" Sherlock was cut off by Suzi who put her finger up to shush him.

"No more talking." And with that she moved the chair out of the way from behind him and pushed him against the wall, forgetting about the consequences that could happen through the night.

XxXxXxXx

Mycroft was working late in his office that night when Anthea walked in, surprisingly not on her phone.

"Sir, there have been new updates on your brother."

"Oh... what has he done now?"

"Well... he appears to have... he's-"

"Spit it out!" Mycroft was feeling frustrated due to his long day at the office and he didn't want his younger brother to finish him off in an incredibly foul mood.

"The young woman he is friends with, they seem to be- I can't explain it, sir. You must see for yourself." She walked out of the room and disappeared.

"I really don't see why you just can't say, stupid woman." Mycroft muttered to himself, but because it was his brother he had more reason to see what he was up to. He got up from his seat and followed where Anthea left. He walked down numerous amounts of corridors to find the security corridor. He found the room he was after, on the door it had a metal plated label saying 'Sherlock Holmes' with the name 'John Watson' stuck on with tape underneath the original label on a piece of white paper. Mycroft entered the room to find Anthea and two men sat at the televisions. "What has he been up to?"

"Take a look at this sir, he may have found his feelings." One man said slightly smirking at his comment. Mycroft gave him a questionable look.

"What are you blabbering on about?"

"Look, sir." The other man got to work on the cameras. "Right here we have round about midnight; your brother is with a woman, roughly his age."

"That's his best friend, Suzi Colerast I think. Yes, do continue." Mycroft was feeling a bit more concerned with his brother than what he usually was. The man continued to talk.

"Now they both look a bit drunk as Sherlock- Uhh... Mr Holmes falls on the floor but they look to be laughing at it, and also the way they are walking is a big give away. And then the cameras go blank after that so something must have happened."

"WAIT! Rewind! I saw something then." Mycroft was taking every detail on the screen. The man in front of him did so and paused the clip when Mycroft told him to. "There, look, in the window, can you see it?"

"Is that..?"

"Mr Moriarty just cannot stay away from my baby brother. Send a group of men around to help Sherlock out."

"Sir, if we could finish, that's not the situation. The thing is about ten minutes later when the cameras came back on, there in the bottom corner there was a car which is now missing." The man finished what he was saying and turned to his companion by the side of him; his friend just smiled and took over the speech.

"And if we look on this camera, sir, you will see what they got up to after the whole 'danger' situation." All he could do was smile as Mycroft took a closer look at the screen and saw Suzi and Sherlock being rather close.

"Are they..?"

"Yeah, they are!" This was the second man who spoke, Mycroft was infuriated by his comment and just gave him an incredibly cold stare. The man's smile was quickly wiped off his face, he cleared his throat. "At least we think so."

"If you wish to comment on my brother's love life, Wilkinson, I suggest that you do it with more respect!"

"I'm very sorry, sir." Wilkinson lowered his head and tried not to make eye contact with Mycroft.

"Can she be trusted, sir?"

"I don't know, but they have known each other since they were teenagers, so I expect we can trust her. Collins, keep an eye on them, who knows where the relationship will lead."

"Yes, sir." The man called Collins got to work on his job and put the time up to date on the cameras. Mycroft turned around with a scowl but as he left the room a wide grin spread across his face.

"Love at last. I hope he will not turn this into a mistake." Mycroft muttered under his breath. Anthea caught up with him.

"Sir, do you need any assistance with your work?"

"No, no thank you. I think I'll call it a day. Please inform me if anything happens with my brother." Mycroft heard Wilkinson shout in encouragement. "And please keep Wilkinson away from my brother's surveillance room! I do not appreciate him chanting at my younger siblings actions! Goodnight, Anthea. Sleep well."And with that he walked into his office and came back out holding his coat on one arm and walking with his umbrella in the other. He began to reflect on Sherlock, "Don't ruin your chances brother." He strode out of the building to the outside and got into a black Mercedes which drove him off to his destination... home.

XxXxXxXx

John was sat at home because when he arrived at Suzi's house earlier that day he found no one there so he guessed they had gone out. It was now three o'clock and John was beginning to worry about Sherlock.

"Where are you..?" John looked at his phone for a call or even a text explaining why Sherlock was not here yet. John tried to call him thousands of times but all he got was his answering machine. "PICK UP YOUR DAMN PHONE!" John threw his phone onto the settee and it began to ring. He ran over to it and without hesitation of who it could be, he answered it. "Sherlock?"

"Nope, sorry, so I suppose you don't know where he is either?" It was Lestrade on the other end.

"Last time I saw him he was at Suzi's. But I went there today and they weren't there. So they must have gone somewhere or Moriarty is involved."

"Have you spoken to Mycroft?" Lestrade was sounding quite worried now.

"No. I'll call him now I promise I'll contact you as soon as I find out anything about him. Bye" John cancelled the call and began to ring up Mycroft. The thought, to his surprise, never crossed his mind. It took a few rings until Mycroft finally answered.

"What are you doing, calling me at this ungodly hour?"

"Mycroft, we think Sherlock is missing." John was panicked at the moment.

"What..? Ohh... Sherlock is... well... he's busy at the moment. And he's not missing he's with Suzi, now can I PLEASE get some sleep?"

"So... he's not in danger..? Not dying in the hands of Moriarty..?"

"No! Now goodnight John, don't do this again!" And with that the line went dead. John stared at his phone in disbelief but just shrugged. He slowly walked to his bedroom and placed the phone on his bedside table got dressed and into bed, slowly drifting off into a very rare noiseless sleep.