Brilliant {A BBC Sherlock Fanfic}

Chapter Twenty Three: Be Alone Together

A/N: This chapter will contain the Christmas Party however, the scene between Molly and Sherlock will not be happening for obvious reasons. Much apologies Sherlolly shippers.

CHAPTER TWENTY THREE: BE ALONE TOGETHER

Amelia was slowly working her way through her third cup of coffee. A half empty bowl of cereal was pushed to the side with the spoon drowned in the milk and Amelia not wanting to fish it out. There were dark purple bruises under her bleary eyes, and she struggled to keep her head upright. She had gone many sleepless nights without any repercussions, but the constant threat of Jim Moriarty plagued every waking hour, and even her dreams had been tainted by his influence. Everywhere she looked, she found a potential threat. For a moment, while lying awake despite the fact that the rest of London was asleep, Amelia considered if she could even trust Mrs Hudson. Certainly she seemed like a sweet elderly lately, but Amelia was certain Mrs Martha Louise Hudson could hold her ground.

Sherlock had, thankfully, recovered from his drugged stupor and was now reading today's newspaper while John ate his breakfast, every clang of his fork against his plate deafening in the silence. In the corner, hovering as though he were Edgar Allan Poe's raven with his occasional indignant squawks when no one listened to what he was saying, was Mycroft. Amelia wasn't entirely sure how he had got into the living room-perhaps Mrs Hudson had let him in, in which case she was, most certainly, working for Moriarty. After all, no one would, of their own free will, put Sherlock and Mycroft in the same room together.

They were a ticking time bomb; counting down the moments to ignition. To force them to talk to each other was to beg for a third world war, and Amelia would not allow for that to happen. Not in her living room. She grabbed her coffee and the woollen blanket draped over the back of John's chair, and nestled herself down in her own chair from where she could intervene if Sherlock suddenly decided to lunge at Mycroft's throat.

"The photographs are perfectly safe." announced Sherlock, not looking up from his newspapers.

Mycroft, despite looking irritated, seemed relieved. He had been rambling, in Sherlock's words, about how Sherlock had failed. He believed that Irene Adler would exploit the photographs to any extent that she could, but refusing to take him seriously, Sherlock had ignored him. "In the hands of a fugitive sex worker." said Mycroft, giving his younger brother a dark look.

"She's not interest in blackmail." Sherlock jumped at the opportunity to best his brother. "She was...protection, for some reason. I take it you've stood down the police investigation into the shooting at her house?"

Amelia raised her hand, meek. "Yeah, sorry about that. It seemed logical. They won't bother us again, don't worry."

"How can we do anything while she has the photographs?" Mycroft continued. "Our hands are tied."

Amelia interrupted their bickering once more, aiming to redirect the tension. "Actually, theirs aren't. We've got to be concerned about our jobs, but I mean, it's not like John or Sherlock are working for the government. So long as they don't break the laws, we can't really stop them, can we? And even if they did break any laws, I'm sure we could find a way to work around it. They're in cheaply made handcuffs, and you and I both know that it would take John and Sherlock less than five seconds to break out of them. But you and I, we're bound and gagged, so why don't we let them do their jobs?"

"She'd applaud your choice of words." Sherlock smirked at Amelia. He turned back to Mycroft. "You see how this works. That camera phone is her 'get out of jail free' card. You have to leave her alone. Treat her like royalty, Mycroft." He paused. "Though not the way she treats royalty."

And in that brief moment of silence, Sherlock's phone went off; the same orgasmic sigh he had heard last night turned everyone's heads to face him, in shock and their eyes wide.