Mr Holmes and Miss Hooper - a Sherlolly Story

Chapter 34

(Once again, a little bit of a trigger warning for this chapter and the next few upcoming - this part of the story involves violence against a woman so if that's not something you're comfortable with please just do what's best for yourself, your health and happiness is most important to me! Look after yourselves<3)
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"As in-"

"Yes, Mary." John didn't look at his wife as he answered, his eyes were on his friend.

"It has to be."

"But why?"

"Emotional context." Sherlock looked and sounded crestfallen. This was all his fault.

"Yes, but-"

"Would someone mind filling me in?" Loo's voice piped up in between all the older ones. The room fell silent for a moment, the only noise was Rosie's babbling. It seemed like they'd forgotten Loo was there.

"A long time ago now, we knew a woman named Irene Adler. I was forced to meet her in Battersea Power Station, she wanted me to cross Sherlock for her. Everyone thought she was dead."

Mary shot him a look and shook her head slightly to tell him not to continue on that track, no one needed to be putting thoughts of death in Loo's mind right now. She then chimed in, almost equally confused, "But why there? What has Irene Adler got to do with all of this?"

"I'll burn the heart out of you," Sherlock's low voice vibrated through the chair and up through Loo's chest, "John thought that heart belonged to Irene Adler."

"So this really is just some messed up game to him?" Loo didn't mean to sob, but the thought of such a man holding her sister was too much. Sherlock let himself drop into the seat and hugged her to him. He cared about Loo as if she were his own flesh and blood, as if she were more than that, and he hated to see her this upset over something of his causing.

'It's okay, Loo." He mumbled into her hair as he rubbed her back, "I'm going to get her and bring her back to us."

***

Molly winced as Moriarty's hand connected with her face again. He was bored, he'd said. Bored, bored, bored because Sherly was taking too long to solve his puzzle. His guard dog henchman had tied her up, zip ties were holding her ankles and her wrists to a steel chair far too tightly. She could vaguely smell petrol in the air. The door had been left open, and she could now see straight outside. There was nothing discernible though. Endless scaffolding and endless storeys of somewhere derelict and downtrodden.

She was starting to lose hope. Sherlock might not even be back from who knows where yet and Loo might still think she's with him. They might not even know she's missing. Moriarty seemed to have a lot of faith in Sherlock knowing it was him that took her, but how was he so sure? Her stomached growled at her having not eaten proper food in 3 days. She'd eaten a salad in a sealed plastic container he'd given her, it looked like it had been bought from a petrol station or somewhere. She had had her doubts about it but she was so hungry. Her throat felt scratchy as she tried to speak to him.

"Why me? What do you want?"

"Oh, I would have thought that obvious." She cocked an eyebrow at him, holding back the wince at the pain in her face. "You're Sherlock's heart. You matter most to him and so you matter most to me. I promised him a long time ago that I would hurt him, and you give me the perfect means by which to do it."

As she spoke, he twisted her engagement ring around her finger. She tensed at his touch. She wished she could push him off, punch him with that hand so her ring left an indent in his face but the zip ties were a constricting reminder of her inability to move. She felt warm blood trickle down her left wrist where she was unconsciously pulling her hand from him, cutting herself on the sharp black plastic. He trailed his finger across her pulse point before wiping the blood up her arm. He raised his finger to his lips and licked it. Molly felt utterly repulsed.