When we found the kids the boy had to be taken to the hospital, he was unconscious. The girl came with us for questioning. Donovan and Lestrade talked to her first. I was just a lab tech so I didn't get to talk to her. When Sherlock went to talk to her, she just screamed. This wasn't right. I knew he hadn't done anything to her. Sherlock could be an asshole sometimes but he would never hurt a kid.
Lestrade dragged him from the room, yelling at him to get out. This had to be Moriarty. This was part of the plan, destroy Sherlock. I came to stand beside Sherlock in Lestrade's office and took his hand as Lestrade and John talked. I completely tuned them out. I could care less about what they were saying. I just hung onto Sherlock. Soon Sherlock was leading me from the room and Donovan was saying something to him and I wanted to punch her in the face.
Sherlock pulled me away from her and kept walking out the door. I knew I needed to be alert, but right now I was stuck in a daze, the day I could lose my best friend was racing towards me and I had to try to act normally. Ah, fuck me, who was I kidding? I wasn't going to be able to act normal with everything that was going to happen with the next day or so.
Sherlock's POV
I pulled Bella with me out of Scotland Yard and to the street with John trailing behind. John was asking questions about what Moriarty could do and I hailed a cab. "This one is mine, you get the next one."
"Why?" he asked as I pulled Bella in with me.
"You might talk," I replied. I knew if I tried to leave Bella behind she would flip out and start screaming and chase the cab. I sat silently in the cab as it went down the road. Suddenly the tv came on and I asked the driver to turn it off. He ignored me. "Would you turn it off please?" I asked again. Suddenly Moriarty was on the screen and I felt Bella stiffen against me. I pulled her closer as I watched the screen.
Moriarty was talking about me as 'Sir Boast-a-lot' and the other knights didn't believe me. He carried on with this story, about how everyone started to doubt me. Bella was muttering all sorts of things under her breath at the tv as she clung to me.
"Stop the cab!" I shouted. The driver pulled over on some random street. I ran around to the window to see who was driving, "What was that?" The driver turned to look at me and I was shocked.
Moriarty sat in the driver's seat, "No charge," he said driving away. I tried to chase after him but he got away.
"Sherlock get out of the road!" I heard Bella shout and suddenly someone pulled me out of the road as a car horn sounded. I turned to attack the guy that was holding me but stopped when I realized he saved my life.
"Thank you," I said giving him my hand. He took it and was shot dead. I jumped back startled and Bella took me to the ground. At that moment John came around the corner in his taxi and came running to us. I was slightly shaken up, this man had died because he shook my hand, he couldn't touch me, why? He needed to keep me alive for some reason but couldn't touch me.
John was talking about him and how Mycroft showed him his file, that he was an assassin. The police came to collect his body. We went back to the flat and Bella stayed close.
Bella's POV
We were now back in the flat and Sherlock was on about Moriarty hiding something when he was here. "That's what he want's everyone to think. He's toying with us," I said pacing the room. "He probably has cameras on us right now." Sherlock went to his computer and checked for Wi-Fi signals close by.
"She's right," Sherlock said. "We need to ask about the dusting. Bella?" Sherlock asked.
"Don't look at me, I haven't cleaned in a week, that's why we have nothing to eat. With all this BS going on I haven't had time to clean, I'm too worried about you lot."
"Mrs. Hudson!" Sherlock called. I shook my head.
"She's not our housekeeper," I said. She came up the stairs in her night clothes and dressing gown.
"In the last week what's been cleaned?" Sherlock asked. She started listing things off and Sherlock interrupted her. "No, in this room, what's been cleaned? You can put anything back but dust. Dust is elegant." Sherlock was climbing over the furniture looking for the camera.
"Check the bookshelf hun," I said.
Mrs. Hudson was confused to what was going on, "Cameras, we're being watched."
"Cameras here, I'm in my nightie," Mrs. Hudson said leaving the room. Sherlock did find the camera behind a book on the shelf just as Lestrade came into the flat.
"Warrant," I demanded. I blocked his path to Sherlock, not letting him through.
"No," Sherlock said pulling the camera from its hiding spot.
"What?" Lestrade asked. Sherlock moved to his laptop and I stayed in front of him, blocking him from Lestrade.
"No, I won't come into the station."
"I just want to ask you some questions," Lestrade said.
"Who was it? I bet it was Donovan. She planted that suspicion, you'll have to be strong to resist. You can't kill an idea can you? Not once it's made a home here," Sherlock said pointing to Lestrade's forehead.
"Will you come?" Lestrade asked. I knew it would be Donovan and Anderson. I would tear them apart the next time I saw them.
"That's his next move, getting a picture of me being brought in for questioning. It is a game Lestrade and one I'm not willing to play. Give my regards to Sergeant Donovan." With that Lestrade left. I was fuming, this was insane. Sherlock could be insensitive to people, but to do this, kidnap children? Hell no, he would never. Moriarty was framing him. I grabbed a piece of paper and a pen before sitting in Sherlock's lap and I began writing.
I knew we only had a few hours at most left in this flat and I would be going undercover in a few days. I would need to be able to give this note to John, it was his clue to what was going on and who I was undercover with. Hopefully this time he could observe and not just see. I couldn't say anything because of prying ears. I knew Sherlock wouldn't, he would be cruel and just try to walk back into his life, giving him a heart attack.
John and Sherlock were talking about this whole thing as I wrote, suddenly Sherlock moved and jolted me as he slammed the table, "Moriarty is messing with your mind, DON'T YOU SEE WHAT'S GOING ON!"
"Take it easy Lock," I said leaning back into him and kissing his cheek. "We believe you."
"A hundred percent?" he asked.
"You offend me," I said going back to my letter.
"No one could fake being such an annoying dick all the time," John said. Sherlock seemed satisfied with our answers and I finished my letter. I put it in my jeans pocket and charged my phone, grabbed my pocket knife, and put on my good tennis shoes. I knew I would need to run. To get arrested I was going to punch Donovan, she wouldn't be able to resist gloating. She was such a bitch.
"Put on your running shoes John," I said knowing he would probably end up coming.
"What? Why?" he asked.
"Trust me," I said. Just then his phone rang. He answered and talked to someone on the other end.
"Well you still have some friends on the force, that was Lestrade. The whole yard is queuing up to slap on the cuffs. Every officer you made feel like a tit, which is a lot of people." I grabbed my coat from my room and put it on, knowing what was coming.
Just then Mrs. Hudson knocked on the door and said someone had delivered a package for Sherlock, the person had a German name. It was a gingerbread man that was burned. "Burned to a crisp." At that moment Lestrade and Donovan were pounding on the door yelling at Sherlock to let them in. Sherlock put on his coat and scarf while John went to the door.
Lestrade came up and arrested Sherlock despite John and I protesting. I was hanging on to Sherlock and Lestrade was trying to get me to let go without touching me. "Bella, you have to let go," Sherlock said.
"No I don't, they'll have to arrest me for hindering an arrest." Just then Donovan pulled me off and I swung around and punched her.
"Alright you're coming too," Lestrade said.
"Well, I said it didn't I?" Donovan said as she put me in cuffs.
"Said what?" John asked.
"That one day catching them wouldn't be enough, one day he'd kill someone."
"Hold your tongue," I said taking another swing at her, making contact with her jaw. I was escorted downstairs and cuffed to Sherlock who was leaning on a police car.
"Joining me?"
"Yeah, didn't think you got to run off without me did ya?" I asked.
"How many times did you hit her?"
"Twice," I replied. At that moment John was slammed into the car beside me and cuffed to me. Great.
"Joining us?" Sherlock asked.
"Yeah, apparently chinning the chief superintendent is illegal," John said. Sherlock smirked.
"So how are we getting out of this one Lock?" I asked.
"Follow my lead," he said reaching into the window and grabbing the radio, he caused everyone's radio to give feedback. He then pulled a gun off a patrol cop and ordered everyone to the ground, firing a shot into the air. Lestrade told everyone to do as he said. Sherlock claimed John and I as his hostages before running off. We had no choice but to follow him as we were cuffed together.
Sherlock threw the gun aside as we ran. "The gun," John called.
"Leave it," Sherlock said. "Take my hand Bella and take your father's." I growled slightly but did as he said. I didn't like people touching my hands, they could feel the scar tissue on my hands from what I had done.
"John, give me your hand," I said after a moment of trying to take it. The purpose of holding hands was to keep the cuffs from cutting into our skin.
There was a fence ahead of us and I saw it, there was a trash can next to it. "Bella," Sherlock said.
"I see it, John get ready to jump." I knew John would need warning and would probably still not get it.
"What do you mean jump?" he asked as Sherlock and I cleared the seven-foot fence between the buildings. "Sherlock," John said grabbing a hold of his coat. "We're going to need to coordinate." Sherlock and I got him over the fence and continued on our way. We met another one of our new neighbors who was soon shot down and we made our way to a reporter's house who had released a story about Sherlock who claimed to have a secret source.
We got there before she did so we sat on her love seat by the door. I had a hairpin in my hair and Sherlock pulled it out and started picking the cuffs we wore. I was in the middle of freeing John when the reporter walked through the door. "Too late to go on the record?" Sherlock asked. Once we were all free of the cuffs I put the hairpin back in my hair and tossed the cuffs off to the side.
Sherlock and John talked to the reporter, Kitty I think her name was. In the middle of showing us her article that was to appear in tomorrow's paper, Moriarty walked through the door. "You!" I growled. I moved closer to Sherlock, Sherlock and John both stared at him in shock and horror. Moriarty pretended to be scared of us, god what was he doing. I lunged towards him only to be pulled back by Sherlock.
Kitty was showing us papers that Moriarty had made showing he was an actor that Sherlock hired. I knew that was a lie, I had been hurt pretty badly that night and Sherlock would never put me through that. Moriarty ran out of the apartment and we tried to follow but he was nowhere to be seen. I could feel my heart pounding as I gripped Sherlock's hand tightly.
"Can he do that? Just erase everything and replace it with a lie?" John asked as Sherlock paced up and down the street.
"Take a lie and wrap it up with the truth, that's what you do. People will believe it." I tuned out what they were saying, I knew we were close to Moriarty's final plan and it scared me. "There's something I need to take care of, alone," Sherlock said.
"What about Bella?" John asked.
"She won't leave me right now, go do what it is normal people do," Sherlock said. I could feel myself being pulled in the direction of the hospital. We needed Molly's help. She of course agreed, she would do anything for Sherlock, she loved him liked I did. She agreed to our plan and said she would help any way she could. We found Sherlock's body double and got him ready, got Sherlock's homeless network ready.
By dawn, the street would be closed down. I was sleeping in Sherlock's lap, crying silently as John had joined us about an hour ago. We figured out, well John and Sherlock did, what Moriarty left behind. I had tried to tell Sherlock earlier but he wasn't listening. I knew he was just screwing with Sherlock. I hoped Mycroft and Sherlock together were enough to outsmart him.
I don't know how long we sat in the lab but I never once let go of Sherlock. I knew exactly what was going to happen from here and I didn't want to leave Sherlock's side but when John's phone rang I would have to. "You had better survive this," I whispered.
"I will Bella," he replied quietly.
"Good, because if you don't I'll kill you myself," I replied tightening my grip on him. "I love you so much, I need you the same way one needs air. You have to survive."
"Sentiment?" he asked.
"Sentiment," I replied. Just then John's phone rang, waking him. John answered and started freaking out. He was going to tell us Mrs. Hudson had been shot, Mycroft was pulling us away from Sherlock for a few minutes. I gave Sherlock a kiss on his lips before following John out. Mrs. Hudson was a grandmother to me. The whole cab ride back to 221B I shook, it felt so wrong leaving Sherlock there. I also knew there was a gun on me, John, Mrs. Hudson, and probably Lestrade.
I had to trust Mycroft to take care of them, and Sherlock to figure out a way off that roof alive. Once back at the flat it didn't take John long to figure out Sherlock was up to something and we stole a cab from someone claiming to be police. We rushed back to the hospital, "You knew, didn't you?" John asked.
"Please don't ask John. I'm doing what I can to keep him alive," I said. I took a deep breath, how was I to explain what was about to happen. "John, what's going to happen next neither of us is going to like it. We need to believe it for the world, but you know Sherlock, he's a drama queen."
"What are you trying to tell me?" he asked.
"Not everything is as it seems," I replied as the cab stopped outside the hospital. I got out of the car as my phone rang and I answered. I put it on a conference call connecting John as Sherlock asked. Sherlock kept us in one spot. Sherlock talked to us and I could tell he was upset. Something happened that was outside of the plan.
"What happened babe?" I asked.
"Doesn't matter." He went on about how he was a fake and he wanted us to tell the world.
"That's a bunch of bull and you know it. You knew exactly what had been done to me when I landed on your doorstep."
"The first time we met, you knew all about my sister," John said. I growled at the mention of Harry.
"Bella told me all about you and your sister. I researched you," Sherlock replied. He rambled on for a few more minutes. "No one could be that clever."
"You could," John and I replied at the same time getting a chuckle out of him. I could tell he was crying, that this was upsetting him.
"I love you babe, I always will," I said.
"Sentiment?"
"Sentiment," I replied. That had become our code word for if the plan was still working. I stuck my hand in my pocket and felt his watch I had given him for Christmas. The tears finally started to fall at that.
"Goodbye," Sherlock said and I could see him throw his phone aside. With that, he fell from the roof and I screamed for him as he fell. It only took a moment before I was running towards him with John on my heels, suddenly we were both knocked to the ground. I landed on John so I didn't hit the ground very hard. I got up quicker than John did but took my time stumbling about and tripped over John's feet as I knew Sherlock needed time to switch places with the body on the pavement.
Once both John and I were on our feet, we ran back to Sherlock, John was a little slower as he was still in shock. I was screaming for Sherlock. I pushed my way through the homeless network and took Sherlock's hand and put my other hand to the side of his face. John checked his pulse, I knew he wouldn't find one because of the squash ball. We were pulled away as Sherlock was lifted onto a gurney and carted away.
John and I were left in the street. After a while, we just went home. We had a funeral to plan and go to. I ended up taking care of most of the funeral planning while Mycroft paid. I tried to act numb and grieved, all the while knowing the truth. When we went to the funeral, Mrs. Hudson, John, and I were the only ones there. John wanted to talk to Sherlock alone after I had said my bit. I gave him my letter and told him to read it.
I left to join the shadow under the tree. It was time to take down Moriarty's network. The letter I had left for John read:
john, i know you don't understand anything that's happened in the last few weeks and that's unfair to you. it's also unfair of me to leave you in this, but it's what i have to do. moriarty still has people like him out there. someone has to stop him. remember that i said nothing is as it seems? that the world needed to believe this? i said i was doing what i could to keep him alive. i've haven't failed a mission given to me. don't worry about me when i'm undercover. i'm in Safe Hands.
-bella