As the nose on your face.

Come to Shamrock at once, if convenient. -JR

If inconvenient, come anyway. -JR

Could be dangerous. -JR

I have coffee? -JR

The string of texts were becoming a common occurrence. Over the last week and a half, the texts would start, timed exactly forty five seconds apart. If he was bored, he'd end by offering her coffee, if he missed her, he'd simply say please...and if he wanted to take her to bed, he'd simply stop at could be dangerous.

When his texts didn't lead her to either his place or hers, John usually had Randy where he needed her most: in his arms, back tucked securely against his chest, now and again in his lap, or seated in a desk chair with his hands idly smoothing over her shoulders or hair or neck. Sometimes it was a case he was working, and sometimes he even needed her input. Whether it was the human deduction or a medical question, or simply his preference for an audience, it was becoming increasingly easy for Jock and Jane to let the leash slip a little on their brother, because at the end of the day he would rather have Randy keeping an eye on him anyway.

Jock was the first to start calling them 'Holmes and Watson.' John didn't correct him.

Today, the fourth telltale text was a little different from the norm.

Dangerous...and coffee. -JR

When she got to the gate, John was there to meet her with his usual dark scowl of boredom, and a cup of coffee.

Which he handed over, just as soon as he was finished pressing her back against the closed gate, kissing her like he wanted to consume her one breath at a time.

"The sexual nature of this relationship is getting increasingly distracting." he informed her with a huff as the kiss finally broke, giving her the cup of coffee, then stealing another, less frantic kiss. "If it wasn't socially unacceptable for the time frame, I'd make you move in with me for the convenience factor."

"Awwwww, should we be expecting a happy announcement?"

John looked up from Randy to see Jane and Jock walking towards them, coffees of their own in hand.

"That bloke better not be coming around here!" John called out in warning.

Jane narrowed her eyes at him as they drew near. "He's picking me up for lunch later, and if you're mean to him I'll gouge out your eyes."

"Can I have 'em when you're done?" Jock teased. "I want to dangle them from my car mirror."

John glared at them both, finally moving to open the gate and lead the way upstairs to the office.

"I want to call Robertson, they're working a break in at the Met!" John called over his shoulder. "There's a missing Amadeus violin, and it's going to be a dull case, but if I can solve it quickly I can nick it for a little while. I've always wanted to play a real life Amadeus--"

John stopped dead in his tracks when he opened the door to the locked office and found a client seated in one chair.

She was a striking brunette, all pale angles and sleek black hair piled carefully atop her head. She had her legs crossed and was reading a magazine, leg bobbing lightly to make the beadwork stitched into her black skirt catch the light. She looked up as the entered and smiled, eyes as cold and empty as his own.

"Door was locked." she explained in a clipped British accent, offering an innocuous smile. "Hope you don't mind me making myself at home."

John sniffed, narrowing his eyes with a scowl...and stilled, going suddenly white as a sheet.

"Randy?..." John asked uncertainly, his voice breaking with something very close to fear.

The woman smiled, laying her magazine aside. "I pay my house staff well, Mr. Riley...they even pick my clothes." She paused, cocking her head to the side as her smile grew.

"It's not easy to deduce someone when other people do them up...is it, Johnnycake?"

"I'm bored."

It was cruel for him to say the words, but he didn't care. He couldn't help it. Even if it made Jane's breath catch and her shoulders tense, even if it made Jock sigh and set his jaw, it had to be said because it was true. It was true, it was real...and it was just as scary for him as it was for his siblings.

"Did you finish the Robertson investigation?" Jane called out, trying to keep the trepidation out of her voice.

"On your desk."

"What about the Robertson homicide?" Jock threw in. He had enough mettle to actually lift his head, allowing John to look into the nearly colorless blue eyes that matched his own, the only difference between them being the sun streaks in that cap of dark brown, almost black hair that Jock at least attempted to keep trimmed while John, who rarely went out, let his own dark mop grow in a whorl of unruly curls atop his head.

"On your desk." John replied flatly as he started to pace the office. The action resulted in a spike of fear in both his siblings, Jane shifting in her seat while Jock leaned back in his, hands folded and elbows on the arms of his chair as he watched his brother stalk like a caged panther. Pacing didn't help, not really, but he could make a game of keeping pace with his own head, with the thoughts racing a mile a minute and the details streaming through his eyes too quickly to process, too much to endure...

"We have to have something." John growled, finally banishing himself to the baby grand piano that sat where his desk ought to have. The baby grand was heavily laden with all manner of artwork and graffiti, from engravings to spraypaint to marker and back again. Flopping down on the equally battered bench, he slammed open the lid and began to play a stirring aria. "We have to have something that's not boring or just plain stupid. Or something you made up to keep me clean."

"What?! In the hell." Jane scoffed, gaping first at John, then at Jock...who looked strangely guilty. Glaring at her brother, she waited for him to crack.

It didn't take long before he rolled his eyes and sighed. "It was just one time, and I didn't make it up, I just asked the guys in CSU to let John process the scene...buy us some time to find him a case."

"I'm bored, I'm bored, I'm bored, I'm bored..."

As John continued to pace, Jane and Jacob "Jock" Riley shared a look between passes of their brother's frenetic body. It was the same one they shared every time John got like this, manic and aggressive, bordering on violent.

Fear and worry, with a healthy dose of steel mixed in...because they both had to be ready for anything if John decided to do something stupid before something walked through the door of the exterior lobby to save them both from their brother's genius, slowly tearing him apart.