As Sherlock's phone screen went dark, and the audio finally faded, Sherlock's anger began to overtake him. His hands began to shake, the phone falling to the table with a bang. His fingers fisted in his hair, pulling it in frustration. Standing up suddenly, Sherlock grabbed everything on the table and shoved it over the edge, yelling at the walls and wondering why they didn't answer him. The smile on the wall mocked him in silence.
Sherlock began to pace, his hands folded under his chin. Calming his anger for the moment, Sherlock began to think.
John needed him- soon. His wounds may not be life threatening yet, but Moriarty was as unpredictable as a wild animal. And John's scream…
The sound of it echoed in his mind and made his entire body tense in pain. Sherlock had to block it out in order to think clearly. His task was impossible. A bomb... Sherlock couldn't do this, he couldn't kill innocent life. He may claim to be a sociopath, but this was insane.
Moriarty had taken something as close to Sherlock 's life as he could- his only friend and the only person to ever fully accept Sherlock as he was. Sherlock was beginning to understand more and more about his once non-existent heart. As John was fond of telling him about his "bit not good" moments, Sherlock had begun to learn, very slowly, that people were more than logic and motive. People had emotions and meaning in their lives, and it was sometimes more important than logic. Perhaps Sherlock had just never had that meaning in his life before to be able to recognize it. All that had ever mattered to Sherlock was the work- the game and the chase and the satisfaction of seeing things no one else could. Things were changing now…the work was important, yes, but something was becoming much more important to him.
Sherlock looked over and imagined John sitting in his chair, looking at him over his paper in disapproval at one of Sherlock's many dangerous experiments. Sherlock half smiled, imagining all of the times John has looked at him that way. He missed that look. He missed the way John would begrudgingly go to the market for milk and the way he exclaimed how brilliant Sherlock was for his deductions…
He missed John. John was more important than the work would ever be.
Sherlock shook himself out of that thought stream and into a new one. He had to focus; he was running out of time.
Sherlock didn't need to think about the bomb, he knew he could never place it to detonate. Even if he did; if he did what Moriarty wanted, John would resent Sherlock for the rest of his life. John would sacrifice his life for anyone in need, and if Sherlock cost hundreds, maybe thousands their lives because of him, John would never forgive himself or Sherlock.
Sherlock had to find a way to make Moriarty think that he had planted the bomb just the way he wanted. Moriarty would have his people watching Sherlock, of course, and that would be his only chance.
Sherlock knew that Moriarty wouldn't kill John, not yet. Sherlock had to keep playing the game, and the only way he would play would be to fight for John. Moriarty would have to think Sherlock was on the end of his strings; a puppet to his bidding.
John was a strong man, but Sherlock didn't know how long he could last under the circumstances Moriarty left him in. He had to move quickly.
It was growing dark, and Sherlock knew his time was swiftly disappearing before the package would be delivered in the morning. He would only have so much time to put his plan in place before he would have to leave to the tube station. Sherlock knew he would be watched from the moment he left the flat. He couldn't contact Mycroft; he was probably consumed with doing damage control on the files Sherlock had stolen.
And what of this clue Moriarty sent to him? This old house seemed familiar, but why? Where was it? To locate one house in all of England was almost impossible with nothing else to go on. Sherlock would have to hope his plan came through tomorrow.
Sherlock spent the night in preparation. Tomorrow was going to be a tedious day indeed.
A/N- Thank you so much for reading my next chapter! I know this one was a little short, but I'm getting excited as I get further along! I hope you are still enjoying my first time in Sherlock fanfiction- in any fanfiction actually! Please, please, please leave reviews! I really would love to know your feedback. Thank you again so much! I will update again as soon as I can