"You never know when it might come in handy," Elena said, starting to walk. His turn to follow her, for once.

"Botany," he commented to himself, still looking slightly scandalized. But he did follow her.

Elena managed to find them a nice park she'd been to before, taking him around to the easy plants first. "Alright, what's that one?" She pointed at the belladonna at her feet.

Sherlock gave her the look that said he Wasn't Really Amused, but looked at the plant for a few moments.

"Nightshade," he replied easily. That was one he knew, deadly nightshade was the preferred poison in one of his more recent cases.

"Good." Elena moved on to find a few more poisonous plants growing in a small bundle back away from the path. "And these?"

"Lily of the valley," Sherlock said. "Autumn crocus. Oleander. Aconite." He watched her as he listed them off.

"Good. You know your poisonous plants, at least." Elena paused for a few moments before she moved a few steps and nudged a lavender bush with her toe. "If you don't know this one I may have to smack you."

For a second, Sherlock looked bewildered. He recognized the plant, of course, but he had no idea of its name. It wasn't something he particularly cared about, not like the poisonous plants.

"How is this one relevant?" he asked finally. "It isn't toxic like the rest."

"It has other uses," Elena said with a snort. Yup, just as she'd expected. "The problem with you is that you know so much, but it's all related to one subject. In that subject, yes, you surpass everyone else by far, but in everything else..." She trailed off meaningfully.

"I have no need for irrelevant knowledge," Sherlock replied stiffly. "Useless information is deleted in favor of the useful."

"There are other kinds of useful information. Like what John's birthday is." Elena quirked an eyebrow at him.

"I know John's birthday," Sherlock protested. He paused for a moment, searching his memory. "I did."

"Uh huh." Elena shook her head. "You don't know it anymore, which is my point. Not all non-work-related information is useless."

"It's programmed into my mobile," Sherlock grumbled. "I have the information on hand if I need it."

Elena decided to have a bit of pity and patted his shoulder.

"I know. But maybe you could open a small folder for non-work related information."

"And what would I need this information for?" Sherlock asked. "I will delete it if I don't use it, it's more efficient that way."

"You never know. Knowing a few small details will go a long way to showing appreciation to John, and I know you know you'd be worse off without him." Elena shrugged. "He deserves it, at this point."

Sherlock made a bit of a face, but didn't actually argue with her. She had a point, even if he didn't want to admit it.

Elena recognized her small victory for what it was and nodded. "Alright. Come on, we'll go for a bit of a walk on our way back and you can work on your new folder."

Sherlock nodded tightly and headed back towards the street to flag down a cab. He just wanted to be back in the flat, now, even if John wasn't there.

Elena didn't push anymore, giving him some quiet time on the trip back. And then she snagged him before he could just rush back up to the flat.

"Come on, I found a new tea place, I'll buy you a cup."

Sherlock almost refused, but thought better of it and followed her. Tea sounded good.

Elena paid for a pot for the two of them. She figured that was the least she could do, since she knew she kept pushing his buttons and half the time she didn't even mean to.

As annoyed as Sherlock was at the moment, the tea was good enough that it smoothed over some of the edges of his temper. He sighed slight as he sipped at it.

Elena could see him relaxing a bit, just little tiny movements, but it was enough that she relaxed as well. Good.