Molly woke from a nightmare to a cold room.
She opened her eyes. Sherlock stood above her, facing away. John had his arms around Mary.
Molly sat up, confused, and there was Mrs Hudson, in a heap on the ground nearby, Mycroft pacing the room, and even Greg in the corner, his face in his hands. Everyone of them was connected a Holter monitor, the kind of heart monitor with the electrodes attached to your chest.
Molly's first instinct was to rip hers off, but the fact that no one else had done so stilled her hand.
She didn't know where they were or how they got there. Panic grew inside her, beginning her chest and squeezing her at her lungs. She breathed in deeply, once, twice, three times.
A familiar voice spoke from an intercom in the top corner of the room as Molly was still regulating her breaths.
"See Sherlock the thing is, when I heard you were leaving on that unfortunate little trip, well I had to bring you back. So I got a few tapes of my brother, you know, home videos, and I made the little clip that's been floating around. Did you like it? It says 'Did You Miss Me?' and I gotta say Sherlock, I do miss him."
Molly knew that voice. It was Janine, Mary's bridesmaid, Sherlock's ex girlfriend. She looked at Sherlock, but he had walked closer to the intercom and stared at it intently as the voice continued.
"Your brother convinced the world you were dead, and I convinced the world that my brother was alive. See how alike our families are?
Jim, ah he was a great older brother. Bit of a raging psycho really, but you know, family is your family. He always liked having a sister with a lot of pull in the press - sure it was no accident that I was Magnussen's PA- and well I liked that Jim was up for the craic, so to speak."
Mycroft walked over to Sherlock and placed a hand on his shoulder silently. They stood beneath the intercom, the Holmes brother's facing the voice together, and that gesture of solidarity scared Molly more than anything Janine had said yet.
"I've been very good Sherlock, following in my big brother's footsteps. He pretended to be Molly's boyfriend, remember Jim from IT? But I did even better, it has to be said. I was your girlfriend Sherlock."
The room was silent. Molly wondered whether this was that all her fault, but chastened herself. She'd been through this many times in her own head. If Moriarty had fooled Sherlock, then how could anyone have expected her to see through the lie?
"Dya remember the good ole days when everything that used to happen was actually Jim behind it all? Or so you thought, but I'm afraid there was a little problem there. Because you used to call him by our surname, Moriarty, but I'm Moriarty too sure. So the thing is, we both had our own lovely networks, and we used the family name. If things went to shit then at least they'd only chase one guy, 'cause everyone thought that there was one Moriarty. Didn't do their research, did they?
And then you buggered off for two years and disabled my network. That wasn't very nice of you. I understand why you got rid of my brother's people, I really do. Ye had your differences, but there was no need to wipe away all my hard work as well. You couldn't tell the difference though, could you, who's was who's. 'Twas a little disappointing Sherlock, it has to be said."
Greg wordlessly came over to Molly's side, and they waited for Janine to say what was going to happen. Because they knew- everyone knew- that something was going to happen.
"Jim cuddled up to the lovely Kitty Riley to get in with the press. But I did better, as usual. I already had my pull in the press, admittedly at a price - thanks for offing old Charlie by the way, that cleaned quite a few slates for me. But unlike Jim, I didn't even have to sleep with anyone to make the press hate you. Well, I did sleep with you of course, but that was all an act wasn't it? I dunno, I mean we did have sex, plenty of times to be sure, but you're still a virgin. You're still The Virgin. Your body might have been into it, but the brain wasn't there.
Well I hope the brain is there today, because here's a tricky one for you."
Molly looked at her hands. They were trembling. She looked up to the intercom again, waiting for the sentence to drop.
"There's a gun in the room with ye there. Sherlock, John, Mary, Molly, Lestrade, Mycroft and Mrs Hudson. I'm not my brother, I didn't leave anyone out.
Well the Holmes boys and Mary have probably figured this out already, but I'll say it for the others who mightn't be as quick on the update. There's one bullet in that gun and one exit in that room, the steel door. That door opens when somebody dies, but only one. If anyone takes off their heart monitor, or if more than one person dies, that's instant disqualification lads!
I can hear every word you're saying. Every inch of the room is plastered in cameras. There is no way out other than the gun. Best of luck."
Janine's voice was gone again, and Molly wished she could dismiss it as another brutal nightmare, but it was not.
Now that she looked for it, she saw the gun, ugly in this white room.
Mycroft slowly turned away from the intercom and addressed the room at large.
"It is imperative that we all remain calm-"
John began to roar. "Calm! She's eight months pregnant-"
Sherlock cut across them, his eyes closed.
"Mary is the safest one of us here John," and he opened his eyes, "You're absolutely right, she is heavily pregnant. Thus, killing her would most likely kill the baby too. The rules state only one death. We would be disqualified," and he closed his eyes again, clearly finished with that line of thought.
John spluttered various curses and then managed, "That's the best reason you have for not murdering my wife? Well thank fuck for the rules or you'd have bloody well-"
"John." Mary said, lightly touching his hand. "He doesn't mean it like that, and you know that. This is just a logic thing for him."
The intercom cut through them all.
"Oh yeah, by the way, ye have thirty seconds to make up your minds. Sorry I didn't mention that earlier. Oops. Ten left now. Nine-"
"Sherlock-" several voices said at once, but they weren't volunteering him, they were just looking for reassurance, because Sherlock would know the way out, he would know the last minute answer that meant no one got hurt.
Sherlock exchanged a look with Mycroft who nodded. He then spoke to the group. "Stay absolutely silent, no matter how scared you are, you must remain silent-"
"Five-"
"Sherlock-" Mrs Hudson asked, terror palpable in those two syllables.
"Quiet!"
Molly found herself holding Greg's hand, and it was something to grip tight to as the seconds passed and the unknown bared down on them.
She shut her eyes, as if that would protect her.
"One" the voice finished.
The following pause made Molly want to scream but all she knew was to stay silent, not to make a sound, not to-
"Of course, that was too serious a question to answer in thirty seconds. I hadn't even said what would happen if ye didn't choose. Silence of course, was the right answer, or that time round at least. This game is fun, isn't it? Ye lot are so much fun to play with! So here's round two lads, and sorry but it's gonna get a tinny bit more deadly. Either someone dies within the next 20 minutes or I kill you all. It won't be a nice death either. The door will just stay shut 'til ye starve to death. Mycroft would be the first to go I'd say- you always did find the diets difficult, didn't you Mikey? But I digress. Someone needs to die guys. Bye bye."
Janine stopped momentarily then added,
"And don't try to pull that thing on me where someone pretends to be dead but really isn't. Remember, I'm better than my brother. After two hours, their Holter monitor will be retrieved and the results analysed. No one leaves the room until I get confirmation that dead guy is really dead. I also require the shot to be done through the head, just for safety's sake. John and Mary are both excellent shots, but anyone can feel free to use the gun; but if you do not kill someone, or yourself, then everyone dies.
I know what kind of man yeh are, Sherlock. I know what you'll do."
Molly opened her eyes again. It seemed the nightmare was only beginning.