A/N: Welcome back, everybody. This will be quite a long chapter, as a lot will happen in it. More on Bella and Becky. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: tell you what, let's play a game. It's called, Spot the Things in This Story That I Don't Own. It's really quite easy. There are several things from BBC Sherlock, and something from The Simpsons and from Doctor Who. It's not a crossover; just little quotes, sayings, here and there.

Two days after Bella went to the graveyard to see Becky's grave, she got a call from the police officer who had been investigating Becky's death. He told her to meet him at the school. When she got there, he met her at the bottom of the tower, and they walked up together.

Bella found it hard to ascend the steps. She could not help thinking that what she was seeing at that moment, would have been one of the last things Becky ever saw. They went past the teacher's office, the balcony of which Becky landed on. Bella could not look at that door; it was a part of her nightmares now. As they started up the narrow steps to the top, Bella felt an overwhelming sense of nausea, and had to sit down. The dark walls were making her feel claustrophobic, and when she got up to the top she took a big breath of fresh air. Looking around, she marvelled at the amazing views from the vantage point. At least she had some nice scenery to end on, Bella thought sadly.

The police officer – Detective Inspector G. Proops – cleared his throat, and pointed her towards a mannequin lying there, with some police tape around it. As if anyone ever comes up here, thought Bella scornfully as she stepped closer to the tape; then she stopped dead when she saw it more clearly. The dummy was dressed in a plain black jacket and pants, with a white shirt and dark tie. Its hand was pulled up towards its mouth, as if placing something inside the mouth; and in that hand was a gun, a small pistol. The dummy was evidently supposed to be Moriarty, left there by Becky as a last joke. But why? Proops handed her a piece of paper. "We found this in the dummy's top pocket," he said, watching carefully for her reaction. The note was addressed to her, and she unfolded it slowly, her heart in her mouth. On the note was a single line, in Becky's small, careful handwriting.

'It's a trick, it's all a magic trick.'

A single tear coursed down Bella's face as she read her friend's last note, her last legacy to the world.

o0o0o

Days turned into weeks, weeks turned into months, months turned back into days. Bella was slowly falling into a pit of despair, bit by bit by bit. After she had found the note, she felt as if her friend had ripped a hole in her, taking her heart away. She had been so hopeful when she opened the note. It might have said…well, anything, anything else that would have made her feel better. What did it mean? Becky had taken a single line from BBC Sherlock, and had written it down as a lasting legacy. But why? What did it mean? Nothing, obviously; it was Becky having a last laugh at them all. A gimmick, as was the dummy. Becky had even taken her suicide from the show. Months ago, Bella had been sad; but now she was just angry. The person she had thought was her friend had left her, taken herself out of her life, and left Bella with a gaping hole and nothing to fill it with. Bella had been so depressed, she had wasted so many tears over Becky; and now she realised that it was all a waste, all of it. Bella's marks had started to decline, much like Becky's had; and now it was Grace waiting for Bella outside Ms Barker's office.

Becky had gone, and she wasn't ever coming back. The sooner Bella accepted this, and moved on with her life, the better for everyone. But she could not. Becky had harmed her irreparably, and there was no fixing her now. Lately, Bella had been thinking about ending it all, like Becky had. But not the same way Becky had; that was too showy, too extravagant. Too harmful. Bella wasn't going to harm anyone, now she knew how it felt.

o0o0o

It was a Friday that it happened. Bella was meditating in the park, something she had been doing recently, to help relieve the pain some. She had been sitting there, thinking about life. There was no one else in the park; it was deserted, there was never anyone there on a Friday night. Bella liked it that way. It was peaceful.

She stood up to go, fully calm, and felt a prickle on the back of her neck, like someone was watching her. She started to turn around, but before she could she found herself suddenly in a headlock, a hand clamped over her mouth. She tried to struggle, but the person holding her was surprisingly strong. She gave up and went limp, putting all her weight on the person; but that didn't work either. A croaky voice whispered into her ear.

"Hello, Bella."

She froze. How did the person know her name?

"I hope you don't mind me dropping in on you like this. I just wanted to have a chat about a mutual friend of ours. Rebecca Lucas."

Bella's mind was turning over as fast as it could. Who was this person? How did they know about her? How did they know about Becky? Before she could move, the voice spoke again.

"I'll be catching up with you sometime soon, I expect. Do me a favour – try and stay alive before then, would you?" There was a rustling behind her, and the person behind her disappeared. She fell over, and got up and turned around as quickly as she could – but there was no one there. She stood still for a minute, then shook her head and headed home, thinking about the bizarre experience she had just had.

o0o0o

There was a knock on the door of the office. "Come in," called a kindly voice, and Sherlock stepped into the room. "Have a seat, would you, dear" Mrs Hudson said, not taking her eyes off the computer screen. She clicked on something, then closed the laptop and turned around, giving Sherlock her full attention. "Well, what can I do you for?"

"Stage one, contact, has been completed." Sherlock said in a toneless voice, her eyes downcast.

"Did she recognise you?"

"I don't think so."

Mrs Hudson had been with the government for longer than she would like to admit, and she knew when there was something wrong with someone. "What else?"

"It's just…" Sherlock looked up at her, her eyes filled with pain. "Bella. She's…she's not good. Depressed actually. Serious, I'd say. She never really got over the loss of her friend, and she has been contemplating suicide for a couple of weeks."

"Oh, dear."

"I can't believe I didn't realise this would happen. I can't believe she would feel the loss so badly. She thinks her friend abandoned her…she thinks I abandoned her. And I did. I abandoned my friend. Have you ever done this, Mrs Hudson? Have you ever left someone for the sake of your own safety?" Sherlock stood up and started pacing. "Do you know what it feels like, to have someone with so much faith in you, and then to let them down? No, you don't, do you? You've never had anything close to this. I know you're always saying, caring is not an advantage, and that we should detach ourselves from our environments, emotionally. But I can't! And neither could you, if you had real friends like this! You don't know what it's like! You're nothing but a heartless witch!" Sherlock flopped back down into the chair and started weeping. Her throat was sore; she hadn't realised she had been shouting.

Mrs Hudson looked at Sherlock for a long time. "I understand some of what you're feeling. I am prepared to ignore the fact that you insulted me, when you know as well as I that such an action should be punished. However, I will tell you one thing." She paused a moment, looking over the tops of her glasses at Sherlock as if she could see right inside her. "I have a heart. But I do not let it rule my brain. There was a time, before you were even born, that I did let my heart rule me, and it cost the life of my two boys." Sherlock gasped, but Mrs Hudson continued, "That day, I made myself a promise. Once and for all, I would detach myself from my emotions, so that nothing could hurt me again. But I have never truly got over that loss. I do have a heart, but I am not my heart."

Sherlock sat there, truly humbled. Much quieter, she said, "I'm sorry." She practically ran out of the room, covering her face. Mrs Hudson sighed and turned back to the screen.

Mycroft, who had heard the noise from his office over the hallway, popped his head in. "Is everything all right? I thought I heard…"

"It was Sherlock. She's…she's taking her friend's predicament badly. I thought…I thought she might be good enough to be able to do this, but she's not. I think we should cancel the meeting."

"We can't do that! It's important that Bella knows what happened."

"And what did happen? A mysterious person says boo, we all jump."

"There was a reason, you know that as well as anybody."

"Beside the point. Sherlock isn't hard enough to do this. We are cancelling it."

"Oh no, we're not." Mycroft stood over Mrs Hudson's desk now, tall and imposing. "We are not giving up on this operation, which our agents have worked on for so long, because you think an agent 'isn't hard enough' to do it. Can't you see, she wants to be able to see her friend again? And not just from a distance, being the stranger in the street, the passenger on the bus, the person in the queue. She wants to have friends again! You know as well as I that the only people here for her to make friend with are you, myself, and Watson. She's a kid, she needs friends. Even Watson still has friends. You and I have friends. The poor kid is missing out. And we are going through with the operation, Mrs Hudson, whether you like it or not."

Mrs Hudson huffed for a while. It was clear she did not like the idea. However, after a minute or so, she looked up at Mycroft, and gave a small, resigned smile. "Okay then," she said.

o0o0o

Two weeks after the strange park experience, Bella went for a walk down the bustling city street. She pushed her way through the crowds of people, her breath mingling in the air with that of a hundred or so strangers on the road. The buses, taxis and cars roared past, the exhaust fumes making Bella's nose screw up in distaste. There was a rumble of thunder, then a few spots of rain; then the heavens opened and there was a downpour, making the people on the footpath hurry all the more. Bella turned a corner and found herself on a less crowded street. She walked a little way, then found she was the only person left on the street. A cab pulled up next to her.

"Would you like a ride, dear?"

"No, I don't have any money sorry." She kept walking, but the cab moved with her.

"For you, no charge." Bella recognised the croaky voice suddenly, and whirled around to face the cab driver. She saw a brunette with a large nose, who looked about her age, in the driver's seat, calmly holding a gun on her. "Get in," the girl snarled, all polite pretences dropped. Bella glanced up and down the street, and silently got into the back of the car. The pistol followed her.

"Who are you?"

"Your worst nightmare." The girl started driving, and the windows in the back, as well as the screen between driver and passenger, blacked out suddenly. Bella could see nothing, but there was a speaking-hole in the screen, so she could communicate with the girl. She decided to try a trick from The Doctor – talk inanely whilst thinking of a plan.

"Wow, how did you do that? Is it something to do with the power of the engine…"

The girl cut her off mid-sentence. "Less talky, more scaredy."

"Scaredy? That's not even…"

"You really don't want to piss off a girl with a gun, do you now?"

"But where are you taking me?"

"A place. A place in this country. Now please don't talk any more, I'm trying to concentrate."

They drove for a while in silence. Bella had tried every escape route she could think of, and nothing brilliant came to mind. The only further conversation had been when she tried to open the door, and the girl said, "Kiddie locks." Bella could see nothing, and could not work out where they were.

After what seemed like an eternity, the car stopped, and Bella could hear the driver's door open. She got ready to spring. However, her door opened suddenly, and a light shone in so bright that Bella was blinded for a few seconds. She opened her eyes to find the girl had the gun trained on her steadily. She had lost the element of surprise, and her only option was to leave the car, the pistol following her every move. She found herself in a large, abandoned warehouse, empty save the car and two chairs. She was pointed towards one of them, and sat down, keeping an eye on the pistol. The strange girl sat down facing Bella.

"Bella, I know you do not know who I am, but this is important, what I have to tell you. Possibly the most important thing you will ever have to hear in your whole life. Please listen, and believe me when I say that your friend, Becky Lucas, is very much alive."

Bella's eyes went wide, and she rocked backwards slightly. "Who are you? How do you know this? What makes you say that?" Her voice was shaking, incredulous.

"My identity is unimportant…for the moment. Becky Lucas is alive, and is in grave danger. Can you please help me save her?"

"What?" Bella couldn't believe what this strange girl was asking. Help a girl who abandoned her, with no warning, no proper goodbye? Who did this girl think she was, to burst in on Bella's life like this and start making demands?

"You heard what I said." The girl looked down, then back up at Bella. "I know what you're thinking. I can read it in your face. You don't think you should trust me; you don't know who I am, what my connection with Becky is, or even if I'm telling the truth or not. I can tell you this; I have known Becky since a very young age. We…grew up together. We confided in each other, and knew all of each other's secrets.

"The next thing I am about to say may be surprising, even a little hard to believe. Becky Lucas was part of a covert, governmentally-run espionage organisation - basically, a top-secret spy agency," she added, seeing the confused look on Bella's face. "Becky received some threatening notes several months ago, saying that her friends and family would be hurt if she did not disappear. You may remember several 'accidents' around the time?" Bella nodded. "Those were no accidents. They were deliberate. In the end, Becky had to jump off that tower, to save herself and her nearest and dearest – including you and me, I might add. Becky couldn't tell anyone the truth because if she did, they'd be sure to die next. She faked her death to save us, and now she needs our help to save her. Will you do that for her?"

Bella's face evidently echoed her confused thoughts, because the girl spoke again. "I know it's hard, but you have to trust me. Please?"

"How do I know I can, though? And don't just pull the gun out on me, that's getting old now."

"It's not a gun." The girl pointed it at Bella, pulled the trigger…and a flame leaped out the end of the gun.

"A cigarette lighter? Now that really is old."

"Well, maybe it is. But it had you fooled, didn't it?"

"So, I could leave right now, and you couldn't stop me."

"Well…yes. But I wouldn't advise it. This warehouse is surrounded by acres and acres of farmland and crops, and you would have to walk for at least a day before you would get anywhere, if you went in the right direction. I, however, have a car than can get you out in a fraction of the time, if you agree to help."

Bella slumped in her chair. This girl had her, all right. The only way to get out was to agree to help Becky. But was Becky even alive? How could Bella possibly know for certain? Bella had seen her friend, lying there, broken. Had tried to take her pulse, but there was none. Bella was certain that Becky was dead. Or was she?

Her head was full of questions for this strange girl, but in the end she spoke only one, the most important one.

"Prove it."

The girl sighed, and stood up. She lifted her hand to her head and ran her fingers through her hair – no, wait, under her hair. How was that possible? Before Bella could move, the girl yanked her hand away from her head – taking the hair with it. The short brown wig fell to the ground, and long, blonde locks fell down in their place. Bella gaped at the girl, but before she could say anything, the girl reached up to her nose, and pulled that off carefully, along with a pair of false eyebrows. Bella gasped, and stood up quickly, knocking her chair over as she did so.

Standing there, in front of her, was Becky Lucas.

A/N: Hope you liked that chapter. Sorry it was quite long, but I just kept writing. The next chapter should be up soon.

Today is International Review Day, by the way (and by today I mean whatever day you are reading this).