EPILOGUE

Joan stirred slowly from sleep, cracking one eye open. "Babe, you're doing it again."

Sherlock stroked her arm. "Doing what? And you know I hate that nickname."

Joan yawned and shuffled up on her pillow slightly. She looked at her boyfriend – another name he hated – fondly. "And I don't like it when you stare at me while I'm sleeping, so we're even."

Sherlock's lips quirked up into a soft smile. "I can't help it, Watson. You've got the most fascinating constellation of freckles on your shoulder blade. Every time I get close to counting all of them, you wake up."

Joan chose to learn forward and kiss him softly instead of responding. The kisses turned more heated as she realised that Sherlock had chosen to stay naked after sex last night, as opposed to getting dressed and going downstairs to tinker with some experiment like he usually did.

"This is a nice surprise," she remarked, breathing heavily.

"Well, what better way to start a weekend than a rom-" Sherlock was interrupted by the buzzing of his phone.

"Aren't you going to answer that?" Joan asked, giggling as Sherlock kissed the side of her neck softly.

"Absolutely not." The phone started buzzing again, as Sherlock kissed his way down Joan's torso.

"Sherlock! Oh! Just, please answer the phone," Joan wanted nothing more than for her boyfriend to continue towards his original destination, but the insistent buzzing was not the kind she wanted in her bed right now.

Sherlock huffed in irritation and grabbed his phone. "Holmes!" he barked.

Joan could hear Gregson on the other side of the phone, rattling off the details of a new case. "Greg- Gregson, be quiet! I would love to come investigate a triple homicide, but I was actually planning on having Watson com-"

Joan gasped and yanked the phone out of his hand. "Hi! No, ignore what Sherlock was saying!"

She laughed awkwardly. "Yes, we'll be there. As long as it's urgent. This better not be a repeat of the ex-girlfriend case."

She ended the call and sighed. "Well, we should head over there." Sherlock pounced on her as she attempted to extricate herself from the covers.

"Sherlock!" she yelped in surprise. "What are you doing? There's a murder."

"Watson," Sherlock replied, looking intently into her eyes. "They will still be dead when we get there."

They arrived two hours later, dishevelled and satisfied. Joan watched her boyfriend leap into action, studying the scene before them intently.

Sherlock looked back at her and waved her over. "Come on, I need my partner here."