Fight for Me

Chapter 75

Sherlock's parents arrived soon after Lydia and Sherlock had taken their seats and Mycroft was not far behind. When she first caught glimpse of him, Lydia was genuinely surprised he had actually shown up. She didn't know what Mr. and Mrs. Holmes had said to him to get him to dine with them, but Lydia was impressed.

As soon as he took his seat at the head of the table, Mycroft's eyes met Lydia's and his gaze hardened into a steely glare. Sherlock immediately took note of this and tightened his jaw, sending his own glower back at his brother. Lydia reached for Sherlock's hand beneath the table, gently squeezing in hopes of getting him to stand down, the thick tension that had fallen over the table not going unobserved by the parents.

"Apologies for my tardiness," Mycroft spoke, finally breaking contact with Lydia. "I was trying to clean up one of my brother's mistakes. Unfortunately, I doubt I was actually able to do much to soften the blow."

Siger frowned, "what do you mean, Mycroft?"

"Father, I am sure that Mycroft is being overdramatic, he has a tendency to do that. I suppose it was from his years in drama."

"I'm afraid this is no over-exaggeration, brother mine. Have you not seen what the tabloids have been saying about you?"

Sherlock rolled his eyes, "I really could not care less of what people think of me, Mycroft. I do not exist to meticulously preserve an image of myself for society to glorify."

"Oh, but this is more than an image of yourself, my dear brother," Mycroft corrected, picking up his briefcase from beside him. He sat it on the table so that he could rifle through its contents before pulling out a copy of a tabloid magazine, which had been sitting right on top but he had pretended to search for it so that Sherlock would be forced to sit in suspense. Once removing it from his briefcase, he handed it across the table to his brother.

On the front page was a picture of Sherlock and Lydia from earlier that day, when they had gone out for lunch. They were stopped on the pavement, Sherlock's arm wrapped around her waist as he looked down at her with a glowing smile. Lydia looked just as head-over-heels as she grinned back up at him, her hair a bit ruffled from the wind. If it weren't for the slightly grainy quality of the photo, it may have been confused with a planned photoshoot. Below the photo was the text in capital letters: REICHENBACH HERO'S SECRET GIRLFRIEND: IS THIS THE ELUSIVE LYDIA?

Sherlock's blood was boiling as he caught glimpse of his weakness out for all the world to see. This photo put Lydia in danger and Mycroft had already said that he was limited in what he could do to stop the circulation of this highly valuable information. Sherlock blamed himself, he had gotten too caught up with Lydia that he had ignored his surroundings. If there was any proof that Lydia distracted him and made him vulnerable, this photo was it. It should've never been able to have been taken.

"There are a few more photos inside," Mycroft added, quite pleased by the expression on his brother's face. He had warned Sherlock that sentiment was dangerous, his brother had what was coming for him. "It was a nice little cafe you two went to, very quaint."

Violet was the first to speak up, "well, I am sure this isn't all that bad. The truth was going to come out eventually, wasn't it?"

"Not if I could have prevented it," Sherlock growled as he glared at the tabloid as though wishing that it would spontaneously combust. "This puts Lydia in danger, she's just became a target."

Lydia rolled her eyes at her partner and placed a comforting hand on his arm, "don't be so dramatic, Sherlock. I already was a target, I became a target when I moved in with you and John. I thought we promised each other that it didn't matter if we were putting each other in danger by being with each other. We will get through this together, Sherlock."