And then there was three; a Sherlock Fanfiction

Twenty-four

"Sherlock, don't you want to go out?" Mrs.Hudson asked, poking her head in Sherlock's door frame.

"No, I'm incredibly busy," Sherlock replied, throwing another dart at the picture he'd hung on the wall.

"Sherlock! What are you doing to my wall?! Oh, is that a picture of Mycroft you're ruining?!" Mrs. Hudson stormed over and ripped the photo from the wall, scowling at Sherlock, "You should call John, Sherlock; go solve a murder, or at least do something productive."

"I already told you, I'm busy," Sherlock reminded annoyedly.

"Sherlock you can't keep moping around here. You know what, you should give Lilly a call! We haven't seen her in months!"

Sherlock threw a book at Mrs.Hudson, who dodged it narrowly, "Sherlock! That's it, I'm calling your brother," With that, she threw the book back at Sherlock and stormed downstairs.

Sherlock caught the book and dropped it on the coffee table, springing up from his seat and rushing to follow her, "don't you dare!"

"Too late!" Mrs.Hudson called back to him, reaching the phone and dialing Mycroft's number as fast as she possibly could. By the time Sherlock reached her, she was demanding to speak to "Mycroft Holmes" about a "serious matter with his younger brother". Sherlock huffed and released a string of rude words, stomping back up the stairs grudgingly. Falling into his chair, Sherlock closed his eyes, feeling a headache coming on.

He had decided not to tell Mrs.Hudson the truth about Lilly Harper, instead fabricating a lie that she wanted to return to America for some personnel reason. He hadn't talked to Lilly or Mycroft since the incident and planned to never speak to either one of them for the rest of his life.

Downstairs he heard Mrs.Hudson hang up the phone and start rustling around, returning to her cleaning. Upstairs Sherlock released another sigh, aware that his brother was most likely on his way to Baker Street already. Sherlock contemplated leaving the flat just to avoid Mycroft, but knew that his brother would easily track down his whereabouts and confront him somewhere else. Silently, Sherlock sat in his chair, waiting for Mycroft to arrive.

•••

"Sherlock, you need to stop being so dramatic!" Mycroft scolded, obviously irritated, "this is childish, Sherlock, stop ignoring me!"

Sherlock didn't respond, carrying on his wordless protest. He sat with his eyes closed and mouth shut, acting as if he was asleep. Upon Mycroft's arrival, Sherlock had taken up the silent treatment towards his brother. As he suspected, Mycroft had begun yelling at him in less than 3 minutes.

"Sherlock, this behavior is unnecessary and you know it. Lilly and I were only looking out for you, it was for you own good-"

"Own good?" Sherlock finally snapped, opening his eyes to glare at Mycroft, "yes, of course, lying to me and sending Moriarty's ex-girlfriend to spy on me must have been for my own good," Sherlock said sarcastically.

Mycroft looked surprised for a moment, until his face took on more of an infuriated  expression, "Lilly Harper was not Moriarty's girlfriend Sherlock, and you have no place to be saying such things about her. She was doing her job. Just because you've grown soft-"

"Soft?" Sherlock interrupted again, "That woman is no better than Moriarty himself, Mycroft,"

"Oh don't act like this is because she was involved with Moriarty, we've all been involved with Moriarty at one point Sherlock."

"She lied to me, and John, about everything Mycroft. She lied to me just like she lied to you when she was with Moriarty. I can't trust someone who felt sentiment towards that man, even if he's dead."

"Sentiment? You think she was sentimental towards James Moriarty?" Mycroft asked incredulously.

Sherlock laughed bitterly, "of course she was, that's exactly how she so easily betrayed you for Moriarty, and why she would do anything for him."

"You don't even know what you're talking about Sherlock. You didn't see her after she worked for Moriarty, you didn't witness her recovery or here what he did to here. She may have felt sentiment towards him at one time, but by the end of it... I don't think she could feel anything,"

Sherlock scoffed, but was a bit less confident with his argument than before, "you admit she had feelings for him though. I can't trust her Mycroft!"

"What about the dominatrix, Irene Adler? She lied to you; she played you Sherlock, made a fool of you for Moriarty, yet you forgave her quite easily," Mycroft jabbed.

Sherlock struggled to find a response, "Lilly was not fond of lying to you Sherlock," Mycroft said, done yelling at his brother, "I was the one who forced her to. Now I don't care if you hate us for what we did, but we were both trying to look out for you and John."

"Why are you here Mycroft, I know you're not here for some warped form of an apology," Sherlock replied, closing his eyes and leaning back in his chair again.

Mycroft sighed, "she's back in town, back in England actually. She spent some time with her old group in America after you so kindly kicked her out and threatened her life. She's staying with me for the time being, but I assume she'll be looking for a new flat soon,"

Sherlock said nothing, trying to keep his emotions undetected.

Mycroft shook his head, "I have to get going, but Sherlock," he waited for Sherlock to open his eyes and look at him, "you should call her mobile sometime, she wants to talk to you, and John," with that, Mycroft left.

•••

That night, Sherlock was still seated in his chair, mulling over his encounter with Mycroft, when the doorbell rang twice. Sherlock looked at it: Lilly had been the one to reinstall it while she was here and Sherlock hadn't gotten to getting rid of it again yet. But now he watched it with interest, listening eagerly to Mrs.Hudson's movement towards the door. He could here people speaking when the door was answered, but he couldn't make out the words or the voices. Upstairs he couldn't help but wonder if it was her, Lilly. He was especially annoyed to find that a part of him hoped that Lilly was the person at the door.

Instead of Lilly though, it was an older woman, whom Sherlock recognized as Lady Elizabeth Smallwood.

"Sherlock Holmes," started Smallwood, "I need you to do something for me,"

"I'm listening," Sherlock said.

She looked at him seriously, "it has to do Charles Augustus Magnussen."

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I wrote a majority of this chapter while watching Hallmark Christmas movies... Don't judge me.

M