A/N:
Hope you all enjoy! And don't forget to share with any other Sherlock fans you may know ^-^
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"I'm not going." Came the defiant voice of Sherlock who was sprawled across the little sofa in his pyjamas and gown that he rarely slept in.
"Sherlock, this is childish."
"We're busy."
"No, we are not - " John directed his answer to both Sherlock and the phone he was holding in his hand.
"Why would you admit that?"
"Yes, Mycroft, I'm trying - Sherlock?"
"If he wants to talk to me about a case, he can come here."
"Mycroft said that he needed to tell you at his place."
"'His 'place'? You make his mansion sound like a flat." He scoffed, curling up on the sofa and facing away from John.
"Sherlock - "
"No."
"Alright, I'll tell him - Mycroft says that it's a matter of national urgency."
"Tell him Sherlock says that 'it's a government problem then'."
"Alright, yes, yes, I'll tell him - Sher - "
"No."
"He's willing to pay us."
There was a moment of silence between the two men and then Sherlock sat up, crossed-legged on the sofa, facing John once again.
"How much?"
"The next six months worth of rent - I mean, that's pretty decent considering business has been slow."
The curly haired detective almost appeared to scowl at his friend but he wasn't scowling at John, more so the phone he held in his hand. Business was being unfortunately slow. Why did all the interesting criminals suddenly take a holiday? He let out an exasperated sigh.
"Fine." Came his defeated reply as he dramatically lay across the sofa again.
"Mycroft appreciates it and says he'll see us at seven p.m."
"Mycroft appreciates it." Sherlock mimicked, earning a certain look from John, "What?"
"Nevermind." John shook his head with a sigh, walking away.
"You're still wondering why we can't get along?"
"I said nevermind." He called from the kitchen, just wishing the two brothers would one day be more civil with each other.
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It was a little before seven when the two men arrived. The dark blue sky wasn't totally vacant as the bright moon was present. John, who wore a turtleneck sweater, and Sherlock, who wore his black blazer and trousers, along with a white shirt, stood outside the door to Mycroft's mansion. John waited for Sherlock to knock but the detective just stood there staring at the door. With a sigh, John stepped forward to knock on the door when Sherlock grabbed his arm suddenly.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you."
John frowned as he moved his arm from Sherlock's grip, "What? Knock on the door?"
As Sherlock retracted his arm, he swayed on his feet, looking around innocently, "Shush, do you hear that?"
John paused for a moment but heard nothing, "What?"
"That."
"What's 'that'?" He paused, "Are you alright?" John questioned, bewildered with his friend's behaviour.
Sherlock looked to John with a clueless look, "Yeah, fine. Why?" He offered him a small, sane-seeming smile.
John tried to hold back a smile as he noticed a certain look on his friend's face, "Because you have that look."
"What look?"
"That look."
"John, you point out my many 'looks' a lot and yet always fail to remember that I cannot see my own face."
"The look of 'if we don't alert Mycroft, he will forget about us'."
Sherlock couldn't argue with that. In fact, he didn't even have time to as the door unexpectedly opened without their doing so to reveal Mycroft. He gave a forced smile to the two men.
"Good evening, John, Sherlock." He greeted them, opening the door wider for them to come in.
"Good evening, Mycroft." John greeted him politely as he walked past.
Sherlock walked past Mycroft without a word.
"I'm so glad you could come, brother mine." Mycroft took the intiative to speak first to his brother as he shut the door.
"Glad?" Sherlock scoffed, "I thought you were incapable of the emotion."
Mycroft rolled his eyes, "I don't have time for an argument. Go through to the living room."
John silently walked into the room as the brothers continued to mumble incoherently to each other. One day, John prayed quietly, one day they would get along. He took a seat in one of the chairs by the fire as the brothers walked into the room. The fire crackled, casting an orange glow across the entire room.
"Would you like a drink?"
"Please, Mycroft." John nodded with a curious look on his face.
"You're being oddly hospitable, Mycroft." Sherlock noted as he sat in the other chair facing the fire, "Must be really serious if you're being this nice."
"Indeed it is."
Mycroft set down a glass of water on the small oak table besides John's chair before he pulled up a chair from the dining table. It made a rough, uncomfortable sound as the legs of the chair were dragged across the polished floor. John shuffled a bit in his seat as the older brother took his seat.
"Well?" Sherlock prompted.
"A certain acquaintance of mine is requesting your help. He - "
"How about no?" Sherlock frowned.
Mycroft sighed, already understanding why, "Seamus Kelly is requesting your assisstance."
"Isn't he that politician? The one who was accused for the murder of his wife?" John questioned.
"It is."
Sherlock stayed quiet for a moment, "His brother did it. Come on, Mycroft, surely you could have worked that out as well."
"Of course I know that his brother did it."
"Then why do you need our help?"
"His brother was murdered."
John's brow raised, "Well, that's a twist."
Sherlock rested his hands under his chin in the trademark steeple position that he always did, "And now people think he was responsible for both the murder of his wife and brother? And he wishes for me to prove him innocent of both murders?"
"Yes."
"Why couldn't you tell me this at my flat? This didn't seem like a matter of national urgency." Sherlock almost whined.
"Because."
"Because why?"
"Because we are trying to keep these extra details to ourselves and not the general public."
"We are the general public."
"Sherlock - "
"Oh, wait, you mean from Mrs. Hudson? You asked us here because you didn't want Mrs. Hudson to hear? I could have told her to go downstairs," Sherlock argued and then looked to John, "And you said I was the childish one?"
"Perhaps I should leave you and Mycroft to talk about this more." John forced a smile as he stood up from the chair.
"Hold on - "
"I think you need to find out more about the case, don't you?" John insisted.
"Yes, brother mine, I still haven't finished explaining."
"Well, why not?"
"Because you interrupted me." Mycroft stated blatantly, garnering Sherlock's silence once again.
"Right, well, I'll be outside the room." John nodded as he walked out, leaving the two brothers to discuss the case alone.
Quite franky, John always felt somewhat annoyed when the two of them fought over silly little matters. Yes, it was Sherlock's fault a majority of the time but even so, family was family. John hated the fact that he had fought with his sister, Harry, and sometimes couldn't understand how Sherlock could continually do it without feeling bad. Perhaps he was a machine? He waited in the foyer of Mycroft's mansion, looking around in awe of how grand it was.
Then he heard a sullen thud from upstairs.
His brow hooded over his eyes which burned with curiosity. To John's knowledge, there was no one else in the mansion. Presumably, Mycroft had a housekeeper but he didn't think that they stayed. There was another thud and then a crack. John walked back over to the door to the living room and popped his head in to see Sherlock stood up, while Mycroft was still seated.
"No one else is here, right, Mycroft?" John asked.
"No, of course not."
"Why?" Sherlock looked intrigued with his question.
"Nothing, probably just the wind in that case." John shook his head, closing the door again.
He didn't wish to disrupt the two and so thought that a little check wouldn't go amiss. John quietly headed up the stairs, looking to his right first and then to his left to which he saw the open window at the end of the hall. Creeping along, he anxiously listened out for anymore odd noises. Having made it to the window, he looked out into the grounds and still saw nothing alarming. Shrugging, John shut the window. The noises must have been a figment of his imagination he thought as he made his way back down the dark corridor.
That's when he heard some shuffling from the room to his right on the way back.
He hovered by the door, pressing his ear to the shiny wood just to make sure he had heard correctly.
"There it is." He heard a voice from inside mumble.
Without even thinking, John placed his hand on the handle calmly and slowly opened the door. A woman was stood with her back to the door on the far side of what John understood to be Mycroft's drawing room. She wore an entirely black catsuit, holding what appeared to be a small backpack of the same colour. Her gloved hands held a file; she looked as if she was about to put it in her backpack. John stood still for a moment, shocked at what he was seeing.
"Who are you?" He felt compelled to say.
This earned her attention, given the rapid turn of her head to see him stood in the way of the doorway. Elizabeth's mind raced; what was he doing in here? He was in the other room with Mycroft and his brother. It must have been when she opened the window, she thought, mentally slapping herself. She cursed under her breath, keeping her gaze on John as she slipped the file into her backpack.
"Who are you?" John asked again, now shutting the door behind him, "And what are you doing here?"
"Look, you can turn around and pretend you didn't see this." She muttered to him as she put her backpack on.
An increasing negative feeling grew in John's stomach as this woman gradually moved towards the other window in the room. John, already anticipating what she was going to do, hurriedly moved forwards. Elizabeth, in turn, sprinted to the window that was on the west side of the room. However, John was quicker and managed to snatch her arm. This earned an attempted slap from Elizabeth, who struggled to get out of his grip. John kept his hold on her and ended up dragging her back towards the door.
"What the hell are you doing?" She hissed at him, aiming another punch to his face of which he dodged.
"I - could ask you - the same thing." John replied, struggling to keep a hold on her, "Sherlock! SHER - AH!"
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A/N:
We love a cliffhanger hehe :)))