Within the envelope is an acceptance letter, an acceptance letter stating that Mycroft would be leaving for boarding school. Tears fall from Sherlock's eyes and stain the page. The ink from the elaborate signature on the bottom began to run creating streams of blue across the creamy paper. This is how Mycroft finds Sherlock, sitting in his room clutching the paper and sobbing silent tears. Mycroft puts his arms around his brother's small frame in a rare show of compassion. He strokes Sherlock's curls and whispers, "I'm still here for another year," into his brother's ear. It is not much time, but in life is there ever truly enough time? So the savoring of those sweet few months began. John, Sherlock and Mycroft became nearly inseprable. Mycroft continues to mentor his brother in the ways of deduction and soon young Sherlock is nearly as masterful as Mycroft himself. Normally this would annoy Mycroft to no end but instead he feels pride in his brother's abilities. John too began noticing a change in Sherlock, he was happier and less afraid of the opinions of others, but he also became quieter and more intense. John would often sit and watch Sherlock for hours working on his next experiment, engrossed in the delicate precision of Sherlock's movements. All too soon their time was running out. Mycroft's bedroom became more barren as all his possessions were piled into boxes. Sherlock tries not to watch the clock and stops marking the days in his calendar. The time was slipping through his fingers like grains of sand. Soon there was only one sweet month left and then Sherlock's mentor would be gone and Sherlock would be left with me and John as his companions.
