Disclaimer: Not mine obviously.
This was written the morning after the last episode of series 2 aired. As much as the whole episode upset me, I simply could not get Mycroft's apparent betrayal out of my mind. So I wrote this to clear my head and somehow reconcile myself with a character I came to love.
Betrayal of a Brother
After the first shock, after the funeral, after all the little things which go along with such a tragedy and all the people who wanted to comfort him had finally left him alone, John started to think. Sherlock always made fun of how slow his brain was, how he could never see all those connections the way only a Holmes can (god how he missed the exasperating idiot!) but John knew he was not stupid. He had the straight A A-levels and medical degree (top of his class) to prove it. So he said down in his chair, closed his eyes and started to think. And the more he thought about it the more it became clear to him that something was completely, utterly wrong about all of this – this whole situation and not just Sherlock being gone screamed at him: 'Hey mate wake up cause something smells fishy!'
And now that John thought about all that had happened, slowly and systematically taking it apart, studying it from all angles and putting it back together with medical precision, it became clear to him that he was not seeing the whole body but just parts of it. Some pieces did not want to fit the picture they were supposed to create. And everything pointed to Mycroft Holmes being at the heart of things so to speak.
With a clear mind and after the first rage had burned itself out, John realised that Mycroft betraying his brother like that simply did not fit. He had always thought of the elder Holmes as an overbearing, overprotective man who would do anything in his power and then some to keep his brother safe and happy. There had been no consequences for Sherlock after the debacle that had been Irene Adler or even after their break-in into Baskerville with the help of Mycroft's security card. Surely Mycroft must have been in trouble with his superiors (does he have superiors?) for both incidents. But if he had he did not send the security service to deal with Sherlock. Sometimes John had wondered whether Sherlock was aware of these facts or whether they simply did not occur to him at all.
However, the thought remained that Mycroft would not sell out his brother. Not forgetting that he is basically the British Government among other things according to Sherlock (and he even had the private study in an exclusive club to prove it) and surely this must mean that he is as intelligent as Sherlock if not smarter and he had vast resources at his disposal. Now that John thought about it he could not understand how someone as clever as Mycroft could make a monumental mistake such as this and then let Moriaty walk! When he considered all these facts John came to the conclusion that something else must have been going on – something huge. And he was pretty sure that Sherlock and Mycroft had played their own strange game with the consulting criminal.
John sighed deeply now convinced that Mycroft had in fact not betrayed his brother. Maybe it was just wishful thinking on his part influenced by his own feelings. After all, no matter how bad things got between him and Harry he could never sell her out to anyone, not like this.
Maybe he should just contact Mycroft and confront him face to face or maybe not. John has never considered himself a coward but right now the hope that the other Holmes was not the villain in this play was all that he could cling to and he was not prepared to have his newly restored peace of mind shattered just yet.