4/1/20 Thanks to my wonderful artistic friend, Elizabeth Robello, who unexpectedly made this cover image for me!

Eurus Holmes sat in her cell, not seeing the bleakness of her surroundings. Inside her was music, gently flowing around her, a classical piece she had composed herself and had played on her Stradivarius.

Today was the day. She was looking forward to it. Mycroft had visited her earlier in the week. He came every week to see her. He was a good big brother. This last time he had brought with him some welcome news.

Her other brother, Sherlock, was going to visit her again, and he was bringing someone with him.

Eurus knew who it would be, who it had to be. It would be Molly, whom Sherlock loved. Molly, whom he had always loved but had needed a push to realise it.

Eurus still felt proud that she had made that happen. Yes, she had done many bad things, things that had hurt other people, but everything she had done had been for Sherlock. When they had been children, she had hurt him, killed his best friend, even though it had not been intentional, and after that her brother had changed. She had seen the change, and it had confused her that he closed himself off from expressing his feelings about it afterwards.

Eurus had never really understood emotion, but it had fascinated her to provoke it in her brother, gauging his reactions to things, until Victor died. After that he'd become like her, but not quite. He still felt emotions, but simply began to repress them.

When his friend had disappeared, instead of solving her riddle and finding Victor as she had been sure he would succeed in doing, he refused to play her game, and Victor died as a result. Within weeks of his friend's disappearance, Sherlock had shut himself off completely from emotion. Eurus's cry for attention by setting fire to their home had been unsuccessful. Instead of getting Sherlock to play with her, it had cost her her freedom.

Eurus had had many years to observe the behaviour of the various guards and the psychiatrists brought in to evaluate her. They were all so easily manipulated, she found, if you knew how to use the right words. She enjoyed playing games with them; it was her only relief from the boredom. Apart from those people, she was kept isolated from others, her only regular visitors being her Uncle Rudy to begin with and later, her brother Mycroft. Mycroft liked to use her genius to help him with his job. That relieved the boredom somewhat. Eurus loved a good puzzle. It was through Mycroft she had heard about Moriarty and his obsession with Sherlock.

But that was long past, and Eurus did not really want to dwell on that. She wanted to be a better person now, for Sherlock's sake. The medication that she was now taking daily had made her feel more relaxed. The voices in her head had eased, and she was much calmer.

She heard the soft whooshing sound of the sliding door opening to admit visitors, and her lips spread in a welcoming smile. Sherlock was here, and she was about to meet the woman she had used in her greatest experiment, the one designed to make Sherlock finally admit to himself what he had told her when he was high and she had been posing as Faith Smith. He was in love with Molly Hooper.

"Hello, Eurus," said Sherlock. "I'm sorry I have not been to see you in awhile. I've been rather...busy."

He was holding Molly's left hand in his right, the duffel bag with hus violin in his left. Immediately she saw what she had been expecting to see, given the length of his extended absence. There was a ring on the third finger of his left hand. She had been certain that last time he visited, when he had asked Mycroft to record Eurus and himself playing for a special occasion, that it must be for their wedding.

"It's nice to meet you at last, Eurus," said Molly in a musical voice. Eurus didn't speak for a few moments, observing them closely. Yes, they looked happy, very much so. Sherlock looked relaxed in a way he had not been before. He's had sex at last, she thought with an inward smile. She still remembered asking that question and the way he had not answered it. She had known he hadn't. She had already determined that when they had spoken during the time she had been impersonating Faith Smith. He'd been deducing that she had not been intimate with anyone in some time and had made a comment that disassociated himself with people who had intimate relationships. Yet soon after that he had confessed that he had a friend named Molly who was alone, like she was, and that he loved her but was not good enough for her.

Sherlock had been high throughout their conversation, and she knew he would never have revealed something so personal otherwise. This little revelation though had led to Eurus setting up the coffin test with the aid of Sebastian Moran who had been Moriarty's lieutenant, if you will, and someone prepared to take over from the consulting criminal in the event of his death.

Eurus had been fascinated to discover that test had gone even more successfully than she had ever hoped. She had seen the emotions flooding through Sherlock as he pleaded for Molly to say those three words to him. She had heard the anguish in both of their voices as they confessed their love. But the most telling part that there were huge cracks forming in the walls of the dam he had built to surround his heart for so many years, was when he had smashed that faux coffin to smithereens. Sherlock's emotions had overcome him at that moment, but he had pulled himself together later for the remaining tests. It was the beginning of the end, though.

Finally those deep waters, the dam of Sherlock's emotions had burst when he had discovered what had happened to his friend Victor. Eurus expected him to be angry with her, but he wasn't. He had shown her love and compassion.

Afterwards, when he had visited her at Sherrinford, she had seen a change in him. On his last visit he had even told her he had become a Christian and forgiven her. She still didn't know exactly what that meant, but he had promised her a Bible.

All these things floated through Eurus's mind in mere seconds, and she saw Molly was holding something in the hand that was not being held by Sherlock. Was that the promised Bible?

She stepped closer to the glass. "Hello, Sherlock." She looked at Molly. "You're my sister now."

"Molly smiled at her. There was no fear in her eyes, nor anger for what she had been put through months earlier. "Yes, I am. We've brought you something."

Molly held up the front cover of the book towards the glass. It had a green cover, and the title read: Seek Find-CEV: The Bible for All People. "We wanted to get you something that will introduce you to what Christianity is about. It starts with how God created the world and continues with stories about many things that have happened since that creation. Once you finish it, we will be glad to get you one that is more comprehensive and has deeper meaning," she explained.

Eurus put her hand against the glass. "It will teach me how to be good?"

Sherlock smiled at her. "It will show you what we believe and why, and how we can live our lives to serve others, rather than ourselves. The Bible is a huge love story from God to mankind. But you have to make the choice whether to open your heart to what it says and to believe it for yourself."

"If you have questions about what you read, perhaps you can write them down and next time we come, we can try and help you understand," put in Molly. With that, she walked to the special receptacle and placed the Bible inside.

Eurus retrieved the Bible and looked at it. It would be interesting to have something new to do besides play her violin. Perhaps here she would find some answers to the changes she saw in her brother and the peace she felt coming from him. She glanced over at Molly and noticed something. Molly had returned to stand beside her husband and clasp his hand once again, while her other hand unconsciously rested on her belly for a few seconds before dropping it to her side.

Sherlock and Molly were going to have a baby, Eurus was sure of it. She set the Bible carefully down upon the bench on which she had been quietly sitting to await their arrival.

"Thank you. I will read it, and I will ask you questions." Then she said, "You're having a baby." There was no question in her tone, she knew it was true.

Sherlock and Molly's eyes shifted towards one another, then back at her before Sherlock spoke. "How did you know?"

Eurus gave a mysterious smile. No need to tell her brother all her secrets. "I just do. Mummy and Daddy will be happy."

Sherlock released Molly's hand to place his arm around her shoulders. "Indeed they are. I hope you will be happy for us as well. We may not have been at this point without you. I believe Molly and I were destined for one another, but without your assistance it may have been months, years even, before I understood for myself the depth of my love for her."

"I helped," Eurus said proudly, once again recalling his confession to her about loving Molly. "I helped you remember what you already knew when we talked."

"That's right," agreed Sherlock.

"Eurus, would you play something on your violin for me?" asked Molly. "Mycroft made a recording of you and Sherlock playing together for our wedding, but I would love to see you play together."

"Yes," responded Eurus, moving towards her bed on which her violin lay. "Did you know I taught Sherlock to play?"

She walked back towards the glass as Molly responded. "He told me. You did a wonderful job in teaching him. I think he is a very gifted violinist, but he tells me you are far better."

"I am much better," responded Eurus with no hint of self importance. It was just a fact.

As she tuned her violin, Sherlock took out his own and did the same.

Molly moved back to sit on a chair to watch the pair play. Music always calmed Eurus. It soothed her in a way nothing else could, and she could relax and go with the flow of the music.

As the piece finished, Molly clapped and said, "That was simply wonderful. Thank you for sharing it with me." She looked at Sherlock then. "Why don't you tell your sister what else we have for her?"

Eurus observed the way they looked at one another. It was fascinating to see such clear evidence of the emotion called love. It was as if they had a secret they shared between themselves that nobody else could quite understand. This was the emotion she found most difficult to understand, why she had orchestrated those tests for Sherlock. Negative emotions were easy to understand, the desire for self-preservation and justice. Love went beyond oneself, extending towards others.

"Oh, that's right," responded Sherlock as he put his violin away. "I had forgotten." He reached into the pocket of his coat and Eurus saw he held a DVD in its case extended towards the glass. On the cover were the words - Sherlock and Molly. August 5, 2017.

"It's a copy of your wedding day," she said, and Sherlock nodded.

"We will leave it with the security guard, and he can put it into a laptop to play, so you can see it for yourself through the glass, or Mycroft might do it next time he is here." He glanced at Molly, then back at her. "You should have seen Molly on our wedding day. She looked like an angel."

Molly ducked her head in embarrassment and pleasure.

A surge of unfamiliar emotion welled within Eurus suddenly, and she realised it was pleasure, just as Molly felt at her husband's compliment. She liked seeing her brother happy. It pleased her that he had changed in a positive way, back to the way he had been as a free-spirited little boy who played among gravestones and wanted to be a pirate.

"You are good for my brother," she stated, and was treated to a dimpled smile by the other woman.

"Sherlock is a wonderful man," Molly responded, glancing up at Sherlock, and once again Eurus was aware of how clear their feelings were for one another. She found herself suddenly anxious to read that Bible, to discover for herself what this love story from God was about.

It wasn't long before Sherlock and Molly made their goodbyes and left, saying they would give the wedding DVD to the guard on duty.

For a while, Eurus sat on her bed and thought about the visit. Sherlock had promised that he and Molly would visit again soon, and she knew she would look forward to that. It would be interesting to observe as Molly's abdomen grew larger with the child she carried. When Eurus had been escaping from the prison and roaming around London, she had had the opportunity to see women in various stages of pregnancy and had wondered what it would be like to have a new life growing inside her. She knew it wasn't a possibility, but it was still a rather intriguing thing to think about.

After some time, Eurus walked over to the bench and picked up the Bible. She opened it to the first page and found a hand-written note inside the cover.

Dear Eurus, we hope this book will give you some insight into what we believe life is all about and its value.

The first book of the Bible is Genesis, and it tells the story of how God created the earth and everything that is in it. But the true story of God's love for mankind is shown when he sent His son Jesus to earth to atone for our sin. You will probably want to read the New Testament to understand the context of that love. We all do things that are wrong and make mistakes. None of us is perfect, but we can all receive forgiveness as well.

All our love,

Sherlock and Molly

Eurus was quite certain it had been Molly who had written the note, but she knew it would have been done with Sherlock's approval.

Following the note, Molly had added a verse.

John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

A life beyond this one? The thought was intriguing.

She decided to read Genesis first, then do as Molly suggested and read the New Testament. Having made this decision, Eurus walked over to her bed and turned the pages until she reached the first chapter of the Bible in Genesis and began to read:

(1)In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. (2) The earth was barren, with no form of life; it was under a roaring ocean covered with darkness. But the Spirit of God was moving over the water.

Eurus crossed her legs, placed the Bible comfortably in her lap and continued to read. She had a feeling it might occupy her for some time. She also had a feeling she would have many questions to ask when she next saw her brother and sister-in-law.

Author's note: Eurus's change and growth as a person here is consistent with her progress from when she was last seen in my story, A Journey to Love, Faith and Marriage. Although a one-shot, it builds upon the storyline I set up for her during that story. Readers familiar with my initial story will undoubtedly get more out of this than the casual reader.

I know many people consider Eurus to be truly evil. I do not. She is disturbed, certainly, but every person is worthy of redemption should they seek it. I welcome all opinions, even if they differ from mine, so please, if you disagree, feel free to share it. If you agree, share with me as well.

And may you find wisdom and truth in the words of the Bible as well, even as Eurus is searching for it. There is freedom in truth. As the Bible says in John 8:32 - "Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." Don't take my word for it. Pick up a Bible or download the app and read it for free.