"So his brother arranged for all this to happen? Because of some petty feud between them? But that's ridiculous!" exclaimed Martin. They had just landed and Carolyn had briefed Arthur and Martin about their situation.
"And anyways," continued Martin "How can his brother even do such things?"
"They mentioned something about him holding a very high position in the government." answered Douglas.
"High enough to do something like this?" he said incredulously.
"Apparently" responded Carolyn.
Martin shook his head, he was having a hard time believing what they were telling him. He turned towards Arthur.
"Arthur, have you ever heard anything about this? About Sherlock Holmes' brother? You're the expert here."
" Well there's something I never thought I'd hear someone call Arthur." muttered Carolyn under her breath.
Arthur however, in his eagerness to answer the question, didn't hear her.
"Well, no, not really," he said "I've never heard anything about a brother. They never talk about his friends or family or anyone close to him, actually. Except for John Watson, of course. That must be who he's with. I wonder why that is though..."

" Well maybe he hasn't got any family or friends." suggested Martin.
"No," said Arthur "that's impossible! Everyone's got family and friends!"
"Well then maybe it's because he doesn't want their identity revealed." Douglas replied "You know-if he goes after high profile criminals, he probably has some pretty dangerous enemies. Maybe he just wants to protect the people close to him."
"Ahhhh of course of course" said Arthur, nodding his head knowledgeably.
"But then why talk about John?" questioned Martin.
"Oh that's because he helps Sherlock solve crimes. And they live together too." stated Arthur simply.
Douglas and a both arched their eyebrows in surprise.
"They do? Well," said Martin, "he didn't seem like the type"
"Well at least now you have a chance with him, Martin. Or at least, you would have, had it not been for old Johnny boy. It seems like your luck in love doesn't change even if you switch genders!" said Douglas, sighing melodramatically at the end of recounting Martin's unfortunate tryst with love.
"Enough Douglas!" said Martin, his temper rising. "Really, stop this ridiculous joke! I am not in love with Sherlock Holmes!"
"Well, your swooning episode says otherwise" said Douglas, unfazed by Martin's anger.
"Oh for god's sake Douglas, I did not swoon!" responded Martin hotly.
" Err actually,you kind of did, skip" added Arthur helpfully
"Please Martin-" began Douglas, no doubt with the intention of assuring Martin that it was perfectly all right to be a sensitive homosexual soul, when he was cut short by Carolyn.

" Oh shut up both of you!" she said, the annoyance clear in her voice.
" We have bigger fish to fry than Martin's terrible love life!"
" She's quite right!" said Martin indignantly. "And it's not terrible...I mean, I did go to the Taj Mahal with the princess of Lichtenstein" he added under his breath "But yes, Carolyn's quite correct, Douglas .We do have a quite a difficult situation on our hands."
"Precisely." Said Carolyn. "So, what's the plan, Douglas?"
" I have no plan."
" Yeah,right!" said Arthur, attempting to make it sound sarcastic and cool like Douglas did, but having it come out enthusiastic and oddly happy instead.
"Of course you have a plan, Douglas! You always do!"
"I appreciate your unwavering faith in me, Arthur, but I'm afraid the only course of action I can suggest is to talk to talk into apologising to his brother."
" Well then, that is what we shall do" said Carolyn, walking towards the exit.

Martin cleared his throat loudly, causing Carolyn to roll her eyes in a 'what-on-earth-now' fashion and turn around to look at him.
"I think that I should come with you instead of Douglas." He said.
" Oh do you now?"
"Yes I do. I am the captain of this plane, and-"
Carolyn groaned loudly-she had heard this speech enough times to know where this was going.
" -and I think," Martin pressed on, talking louder than before so as to be heard over Carolyn's frustration " I think that he might respect me more. I'm sorry, Douglas-you're usually the right man for this sort of thing with your burliness and your deep voice and wit and everything, but I think this time might be better suited to the job. After all, he did identify me correctly as the captain, He must see that I am firm, determined, and in command." He finished, standing up and straightening his cap.
Before Douglas could retort, Carolyn spoke. "Martin, I am going to give you a simple one word answer," she said, her voice somewhere between sweet old lady and the grim reaper. "No."
" But Carolyn-"
"No means no Martin. Under less grave circumstances, I would have allowed it, if only to give myself a good laugh. But today cannot afford to do shut up and sit down while Douglas and I go have a word with our dear passengers." she said, exiting the flight deck with Douglas, and leaving behind a very sulky Martin.


"Sherlock this is ridiculous,"
"I agree wholeheartedly, my brother is behaving like an incompetent fool."
"And so are you!" said John exasperatedly. They had landed ten minutes ago, and, as expected, had been warned not to leave the plane till instructed otherwise. Carolyn and Douglas had returned to the flight deck to have a word with the rest of the ,Sherlock and John remained in their seats, with John trying (in vain) to talk some sense into Sherlock.
" You're acting like a bloody idiot, you know that?"
" You can say what you want, John, but I am not going to apologise to the pompous oaf that is my brother."

John sighed deeply, trying to keep his anger in check. He calmed himself down and was about to make one more attempt, when Douglas and Carolyn marched into the cabin.
John rubbed his face-they were undoubtedly here to do the same thing he had been trying to do. However, knowing Sherlock, John was certain that their intervention would only strengthen Sherlock's resolve to do the exact opposite of what everyone was telling him to do-he didn't take kindly to being asked to do things.
" ," began Carolyn "I understand that you and your brother have strained relations. However, what you must understand is , that I do not care."
" Oh no," said John "Okay, -Shappey, I know you're angry, but please-"
But Carolyn paid no heed to John and continued. "I don't care if he was mummy's favourite, or if you dropped his toys in the toilet, or if he stole your girlfriend," she went on "I couldn't care less about this childish feud between you and your brother. All that matters to me is my plane, and my crew, both of which are in quite a sticky situation thanks to your unbelievable antics .So I kindly request you to pick up your phone, call your brother, and tell him to end this immediately." She finished firmly.

John anxiously looked towards Sherlock, afraid that Carolyn had angered him and aggravated the situation further. However, to his utter shock, Sherlock wordlessly pulled out his phone and dialled Mycroft's number.
Mycroft answered, and said "Ahh Sherlock, how lovely to hear from you.I didn't think you'd have the time to call your dear old brother once you began traipsing around the glamorous city of Paris."
"Let us go, Mycroft." He said flatly.
"I cannot without getting anything in return, brother of mine."
"I'll solve your case."
"How wonderful. Unfortunately, it will take a bit more than that to convince me, Sherlock."
" If you are the under the impression that I am about to apologise like some sincere little school boy, I'm afraid you're going to be severely disappointed."
"Well, if you cannot meet my terms, then kindly do not waste my time."
"I can set some new terms. I will solve the case you asked me to, and I'll solve the Latvian assassination as well."
Mycroft scoffed at the idea "What makes you think that I require your help with that? You refused the case weeks ago, I have found other people willing to do the job."
" Yes, and tell me, brother mine, have these men succeeded? Has the criminal been captured and put behind bars?" asked Sherlock testily.
"Not yet. But he soon will be."

"Not soon need answers before the Prime Minister's visit to Riga next week. I can solve the case in a matter of days."
The line was silent as Mycroft considered the proposal.
"You will have one day." He said finally
"One day is all I need." Said Sherlock smugly.
"And you have to take mummy to the opera." He added.
Sherlock's face, which had been on the verge of breaking out into a triumphant smile, hardened immediately.
"Absolutely not." He said firmly.
"That is my final offer, brother dear."
Sherlock grimaced. He knew that his brother would not change the terms this time. Now it was his silence that filled the line as he pondered over the proposition. He could not possibly stay on this plane any longer than was necessary, but neither could he take his mother to some nonsensical opera.
"Very well." He said after a few seconds. He would find a way to delegate the task to someone else, probably John.
"Splendid" said Mycroft, not particularly emotively, but Sherlock could hear him smirking.
"Now hand the phone to John will you" his said. Sherlock, without saying anything, thrust the phone to John, who quickly put it to his ear.

" Mycroft."
"John. Just a quick order-Sherlock will, in the days to come, attempt to somehow convince you to take our mother to the must refuse firmly."
"What?" said John, thoroughly confused but this strange request.
"Mycroft what are you on about? Did you and Sherlock resolve things? Can we leave this damned plane now?" he asked impatiently.
"Yes. Provided, of course, that you ensure that it is Sherlock, and no one else, who takes mother to the opera."
John sighed, relief flooding his face and smoothing out the frowns and creases that the ordeal had created.
"Yes, fine, I will .So, I expect we will be out of here in around 20 to 30 minutes?" he said
"20 minutes? I'm afraid that's quite impossible."

John clenched his jaw. He knew knew that it couldn't have been that easy. When was a fight between the Holmes children ever simple?
"Mycroft, I am sick and tired of this said you and Sherlock worked things out. Then what the bloody hell is the problem now?" he said angrily
"Oh I have no problem, the French are still conducting their background check. I cannot stop them from doing that."
John was at the end of his tether now. He abandoned all pretence of trying to reason logically and calmly and shouted into the phone.
"Yes-the background check that you ordered! You commanded it, so you can stop it!"
Mycroft laughed dryly "You overestimate my powers, John .I did not order them to do anything .I gave them a genuine tip off. They are conducting an actual check on all of you .My plan was to let them do their job, and occasionally…distract them, so that they would take a longer amount of time to finish that Sherlock has agreed to my conditions, I won't put any obstacles on their path. But they will still continue with their won't be able to leave till they're done. But you can put your mind at ease-without me hindering the process, it should take them only, oh I don't know, about 6 New Year's John." and with that,the line went silent.

"MYCROFT!" shouted John in a fit of anger. He sat down and buried his head in his hands, breathing heavily as he cursed both the Holmes boys furiously in his mind.
Sherlock, who had deduced the gist of their conversation asked "How much longer did he say?"
"Around 6 hours." Said John, lifting his head and glaring at Sherlock. This was all entirely his fault. His, and his infuriating bureaucrat of a brother.
Sherlock nodded slightly, unsurprised. He turned around to face Carolyn and Douglas, both of whom had been listening intently, trying to comprehend what was going on. Even though they had not understood everything,they had inferred the end result of the conversation with Mycroft.
"6 more hours?" asked nodded. She pursed her lips and walked away. Douglas looked like he wanted to make a remark, but thought better of it and followed Carolyn.


"And, hence, we won't be able to leave the plane for around another 6 hours" finished John. He had just explained their entire situation, and the reasons behind it, to Carolyn and her crew. After storming out of the cabin previously, she and Douglas had returned with Martin and Arthur, demanding an explanation. Sherlock had been about to offer them one, but John had felt that it would be better if he did it.
"6 more hours? What are we going to do for 6 hours in the plane?"
"Well you've spent longer in a plane Douglas-we go on so many international trips!" said Arthur
"Yes, but that's different. Then, I'm flying. I'm doing something have nothing to occupy me now."
"Is that really your biggest concern, Douglas? Shouldn't you be more worried about the background check? Your record can't exactly be squeaky clean." said Carolyn
"Oh no, It is." Replied Douglas earnestly.
Martin snorted in disbelief.
"Oh really?"
" Oh yes. May have done some minor rule-breaking here and there, but I take the caution of never getting caught .I'm quite positive that nothingmauvaise will show up in my check .So, yes, my biggest concern at the moment is how I'm going to spend 360 minutes with 2 strangers, one annoying nutter,one Carolyn, and one idiot, in virtually the most boring place on the planet." Retorted Douglas drily.
"Oh don't be like that, Douglas" said Arthur cheerily "We'll have loads of fun! We've got board games, and...Card games...and...We can make up our own games-it'll be brilliant!"

Carolyn, Douglas and Martin all groaned in unison, while Sherlock and John looked on-Sherlock's eyes narrowed in thought, and John's in puzzlement. Each one of the 6 had a different expression on their face, but each one (except Arthur of course) was thinking the same thought:
This was going to be a very long 320 minutes.