Irene Adler Speculation

Before we begin, this scene takes on a new meaning if you read the Sir Arther Conan Doyle story "A Scandal in Bohemia." It could be nothing but my job is not to write about nothing, it is to find the smallest things possible and expand upon them because you know what the classic Sherlock Holmes quote says:

"Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth." 

In this article I will not speculate whether or not Irene Adler is alive but rather speculate on what happened in London with her and Sherlock Holmes. I will mention this; however, regarding if Adler is alive: she was the first woman ever to fool Holmes in the Doyle canon (chronological mistakes aside).
I noticed two very interesting instances regarding if Holmes and Adler were actually a couple in episode 12 "M." The first is when Sherlock is getting his supplies ready to go out and torture M. Holmes talks about how before Adler came into his life he found woman boring. When Joan Watson says that Holmes was in love with Adler, he blankly stares at her almost saying "no" or "I don't feel love." The second instance is when Holmes is questioning M. about Adler and M. responds asking if the two were a couple. Again, Holmes does not respond.

As we know, Adler was the first woman ever to fool Holmes in Doyle's canon. Could the love Sherlock have for Adler be a different type of love? Could the letters Adler sent Holmes be full of boasts on how she beat Holmes similar to the letter she sent Holmes at the end of Doyle's short story "A Scandal in Bohemia." Holmes could very well be "in love" with Adler, not because of her femininity, but instead with the fact she fooled him and proved to be on an equal scale in terms of intellect. In Doyle's short story, it is shown that Holmes, despite what people may say, loved her in the sense of the way I speculated above. (Doyle) Holmes kept a picture of Adler and also denied ever feeling the emotion of love similar to that of the Elementary Holmes.