Chapter 7:
It had been a couple of weeks since Lestrade's visit and Sherlock felt he was on the verge of losing his mind. There had not been a single case for him in at least two weeks, not even a dull or incredibly obvious one! And to make matters worse he and John had spent most of their time helping to fix up 221C for Mercy to live in. They had already hired men to re-drywall the walls and rip up the old damaged floor and had an electrician look over all the wires. Yesterday a plumber came in and fixed all the pipes for the kitchen and bathroom and installed a new sink for both as well as a nice new walk in shower.
Everyone was assigned a room to paint and to Sherlock's dismay he was stuck with painting the living room red, burgundy. After applying the first layer Sherlock realized in horror that it created a hot pink, which he tried to convince Mercy it was a perfect girly colour in an attempt to get out of doing the rest of the job. Mercy shook her head and insisted on dark burgundy. In the end, it took five layers to get the desired colour. After he was finished, Sherlock never wanted to see the room ever again but then Mercy told him her plan to convert half of the room into his own lab space and he quickly changed his mind.
When she told him this his eyes widened with excitement and to Mercy's utter surprise (and John's who was standing in the doorway) he lunged quickly forward and tightly wrapped his long arms around her, squeezing her for about two and a half seconds, then he let go suddenly. He then speed walked out the door and up the stairs to get out of the situation, but he wasn't quick enough because John caught a glimpse of his bright pink, blush.
"Aww…" John said smirking while leaning in the doorway, he cocked his head and shared a chuckle with Mercy.
"Well…" Mercy breathed as if she was out of breath, she grinned and blushed,
"That was incredibly unexpected…"
After a couple more days after the hardwood and tiling was done and Lestrade helped arrange for her things and furniture was transported the flat was done and it felt like home. Mercy wasn't even done unpacking her belongings before Sherlock had already brought all his lab equipment down and set up his laboratory space in the left side of the room right as you walk in the door. He arranged his toys on the old table from Mercy's basement that her mother had cooked drugs on, overtop of the black and white checkered tiling. The first half of the room was tile as well as the kitchen and bathroom because of water, baking and chemicals. The rest was all deep brown oak hardwood.
The kitchen was stocked with all her dishes from home as well as many of the appliances and her living room furniture was moved into the living room. She didn't have room for the big leather couch but she did have room for her black leather loveseat and chair with bronze metal studs that matched. These were placed facing the fireplace with the wood coffee table in front of them. Her bedroom was painted in a deep purple that faded slowly to lighter shades towards the bottom of the wall. All her books were arranged on her bookshelves and her desk was set up in the corner. Seeing all her things again and especially the furniture from her home was extremely painful for Mercy and she forced back her tears when anyone came down to check on her. She hated that her first impressions of herself to the group were emotional ones because she knew that neither of the men were very emotional and she didn't want them looking down on her. But the truth was, Mercy was extremely emotional which was the biggest difference between her father and herself.
She didn't like being emotional but she had decided a long time ago that it was better to let emotions out than let them build up inside and make her a ticking time bomb. Although Mercy admits she's emotional, people don't always see it because she would often hide her real feelings until others are out of the room. When she was angry she could be very aggressive so whenever someone presses her buttons she would usually think of strangling them and she would clench her hands and grit her teeth and let herself shake with rage for a moment but then was a way of venting her aggressiveness she would then end up crying. She knew many people would view this reaction as weak but in reality it was really showing how strong Mercy was and how she could control herself. This technique has saved many mirrors from breaking, many tables from flipping, plates from smashing and teeth from going missing… But right now Mercy wasn't angry, she was just sad and she felt lonely but she kept smiling because she reminded herself that now she had a family so she wasn't alone.
Her thoughts were interrupted when Mrs. Hudson perkily popped her into the doorway.
"Whoo, Whoo!" she said happily as she tapped on the doorway, "We are all upstairs in the 'boy's' flat if you want to join us for dinner…" Mercy smiled and nodded thankfully to the sweet landlady (Mercy had no groceries yet). She followed Mrs. Hudson upstairs and she was greeted by a surprise. A group of people stared at her through the doorway of 221B. John and Sherlock were there of course but so was the detective inspector Lestrade and even Molly from the morgue! Molly looked shyly at Mercy and she tried to smile, she had no idea why John had invited her but she came anyway, she wanted to support Sherlock but even more, she wanted to get to know his daughter.
"Surprise!" they all cheered smiling, raising wine glasses containing raspberry punch. Mercy stood speechless in the doorway, her mouth hung open. She looked at Sherlock who was hiding in the far corner of the room, holding a newspaper, for an explanation. But Mrs. Hudson answered her unasked questions when she stepped forward; wrapped her arm into Mercy's and led her into the room.
"We wanted to give you a little party to officially welcome you into the family, the business and your new home!" she beamed, holding her hands on her heart with pride.
"Oh," Mercy muttered in shock, she smiled but on the inside she was totally freaking out.
"Ok everyone!" Mrs. Hudson called, getting everyone's attention, "Lunch is ready! Dive in!"
Everyone lined up and entered the kitchen where there was a verity of pot luck on the clean kitchen table. John sighed relieved as he looked at the table surface.
"It's so beautiful! I was beginning to believe I would never see this kitchen table cleared of Sherlock's junk!" he joked, pretending to be moved. He lovingly stroked the table surface.
He wiped a fake tear from his eye. Sherlock rolled his eyes in annoyance and everyone laughed. After filling their plates everyone found a spot to sit, socialize and eat. Mercy felt a little overwhelmed because everyone was trying to small talk to her, attempting to make her feel more relaxed but she knew that they were all trying to get to know her and she was worried about making the wrong impression of herself.
As Mercy was trying to find a spot to sit down and eat she accidentally bumped into Molly and nearly spilled some punch on her.
"Oh! Sorry…" Mercy stuttered and tried not to make eye contact with her. The last time she had seen Molly was at the morgue…where her mother's dead body was being stored. It was the last time she had seen her mother. Silvia Mooresworth was an orphan and did not have many real friends because she didn't want to reveal her 'operation' and so she did not have a funeral. After Mercy said goodbye her mother's body was then cremated, and her ashes were now in a jar, in a box, in Mercy's closet. Mercy did not want the jar to be visible to her everyday as a reminder of what she had lost.
Molly blushed and smiled shyly,
"Don't worry about it…" Her eyes fluttered and she kept looking her up and down and Mercy knew she was trying to read her emotion. From what Mercy has heard about her and seen, Mercy knew that Molly was a form of 'empath'. Not a physic but just someone who was very sensitive to emotions and could often sense the emotion of others. Mercy also had this ability usually and she was much more sensitive to other's feelings and emotions than Sherlock by far.
There was a long pause between the two as they tried to figure out how to approach the other. Molly fiddled with her wine glass then found the right conversation starter,
"So, are you excited about working with Sherlock? I suppose that means we may see a lot of each other, Sherlock loves to visit the morgue, working on all his cases or experiments. He actually asked me just a couple of seconds ago to text him every time I have another body in…"
Molly broke off, she was talking about bodies! She had wanted to talk about working on cases or anything not reminding Mercy of her mother. She cleared her throat and tried to recover the conversation.
"So, what is it like to have John and Sherlock upstairs? It must feel like a little family!" Molly asked, trying to sound excited for her. Mercy smiled and nodded,
"Yes, Mrs. Hudson and John have been very kind and welcoming to me. I haven't told John this, but he's kind of like a fun uncle to me. Mrs. Hudson is the grandmother or beloved aunt I never had…"
Molly blinked and nudged her on, trying to get her to talk about the one who mattered more to her,
"…And you and Sherlock? How are the both of you doing since learning he was, um… your father?"
Mercy sighed and looked over at Sherlock who took no notice of her and Molly's staring.
"Biologically related, but family? ... No, at least… not yet. I don't think he'll ever really accept the fact he's my father. He'd rather think of me as just a roommate/ companion. His technique to adjusting to it all seems to be to just believe that this is how his life has always been, I mean me, living here. Over time he may see me as family, he may accept that he is my father but I think our relationship may be more like brother and sister."
Molly nodded and they didn't speak anymore that evening. It made sense to her Sherlock's reaction to his daughter, it was just like him. Molly felt bad for Mercy however; she could tell she wanted him to be a father to her even though she knew he never would. Molly herself didn't have the best relationship with her own father, he was strict and cold and took little interest in her because he was a workaholic lawyer whose only two interests in life was drinking and his job, never his daughter or partner. Molly knew what it was like to have an emotionally unreachable father who was obsessed with something… Before Molly left later that night, she slipped a piece of paper under Mercy's doorway with her number and a note that if she ever wanted to chat, to text her.
Soon everyone was done eating their supper and the deserts were brought out.
"Ah! My favourite part of the meal!" Lestrade said chuckling as he filled his plate with sweets and cookies. "There's nothing I love more than a good cake or macaroon!"
Sherlock raised an eyebrow and joked with him, "You are a policeman Lestrade, I thought your natural favourite would be doughnuts…"
"Oh, Shut Up! That is such a stereotype!" Lestrade argued, although he knew it was true.
As they settled down to eat some of the cake Mrs. Hudson made, there came a knock at the door behind them. Everyone turned to see a tall, older gentleman leaning in the doorway smirking and squinting his eyes at the group of people in the room. He was well dressed in a brown striped suit with a white dress shirt and dark purple tie fixed with a little umbrella tiepin. In his hand he held an actual umbrella that was black with a carved wooden handle.
"What's the occasion?" He asked in a sarcastic sounding tone as he looked at the group surrounding the cake.
"Mycroft!" Sherlock yelled in panic, he had tried to cover his panic with a smile but his voice breaking as he spoke did not help. He quickly glanced at his daughter that he had not told his brother about yet and gulped.
"What are you doing here?" Sherlock had hoped to have Mycroft over tomorrow and tell him over a cup of tea and then have Mercy come into the room to meet him.
"Visiting… So, I'll ask again, what is the party for?" Mycroft asked casually as he gestured to the gawking crowd. Sherlock gulped and muttered,
"Ahhh…um…"
John noticed Sherlock's panic and he stepped up to cover for his friend.
"We are celebrating Miss Mercy here on officially moving into 221C, the flat below us, and we are also wishing her good luck on her beginning her apprenticeship with Sherlock." John stated hoping to distract Mycroft from Sherlock's terrified reaction. Sherlock breathed a sigh of relief and smiled at Mercy who was relieved for his sake. She could sense her father's tenseness. Mycroft raised a surprised eyebrow at his brother.
"YOU, taking in an apprentice? Why was I not informed…?" He asked.
Sherlock smirked at his older brother and mocked,
"Your staff must need replacing then, they are behind on the updates on me, maybe you need more attentive spy's."
Mycroft frowned at his brother unamused,
"I meant why didn't You, yourself let me know... Or why didn't you?" Mycroft asked, turning now to John who shrugged.
Mycroft sighed annoyed then he smiled and stepped into the room towards Mercy. He grinned and charismatically extended his hand to her. Mercy smiled awkwardly at the man and shook his hand.
"Nice to meet you Miss Mercy. I am your teacher's dear older brother Mycroft." He said courteously, Mercy noted that he had better manners than her father.
"Yes, I know. Nice to meet you too, Mycroft Holmes." She stated smiling.
Sherlock's jaw dropped in shock realizing that he had never mentioned having a brother to her. "You know? How on earth did you figure out he was my brother?!" He demanded.
Mycroft looked surprised and impressed, he muttered "oh', as he realized she had deduced this without knowing Sherlock had a brother. Mercy looked at the two of them as if they were stupid, she shrugged,
"It's so obvious. Only an idiot could not see you two are clearly brothers."
The brothers looked at each other disliking the idea of others thinking they were alike especially if she thought they looked like one another. John looked to the ground and muttered,
"Well, I must be an idiot because I never figured it out when I first met Mycroft..."
"Usually you are John, but the ability to deduce that he and I are related is extremely rare." Sherlock said lazily. John looked at his friend insulted and annoyed, he rolled his eyes.
"Yes..." Mycroft agreed grinning, standing beside his little brother,
"A skill that only a Holmes could possess." He hinted.
Sherlock dropped his head sighing, his shoulders slumped. His secret had reached his brothers ears, his worst fears have come upon him. Mycroft looked unamused at his brother,
"While my staff was unaware of you taking in an apprentice, they did however discover the contents of your DNA test. How could you honestly forget that the health system is connected to the government and.. That I AM the government…? How long did you think you could hide this little fact from me? Really Sherlock?…hiding the fact that I have a niece, what good would it do to either of you?" Mycroft scolded.
Sherlock silently fumed and didn't answer. Mycroft smiled in victory but changed the subject. "But that's not why I'm here." He stated, pulling a roll of papers from his suit's inner pocket and handed it to the irritated Sherlock.
"Oh?," John asked surprised, "A new case? Sherlock was beginning to worry he'd never have another again." He stated sarcastically. Mercy laughed and added,
"Yes, he was beginning to consider making a house painting business" she joked, Sherlock groaned loudly at the mention of painting.
Mycroft grinned but then became solemn, and lead Sherlock into the hallway to talk in private. John followed when Mycroft peered into the room, looking for him. Mercy watched them leave. Mycroft was about to begin speaking when Sherlock interrupted him,
"Sorry brother dear but I think we should have my new apprentice here with us to be informed on the case as well."
Mycroft frowned a little. As much as he wished to trust his new niece he didn't know her. Her background checks have been good other than the details of her mother's income, but despite this Mycroft hesitated to trust the girl with government information. He sighed and looked concerned towards his brother,
"Alright but I need not remind you that I'm sharing government information with her…Can you promise we can trust her?"
Sherlock hesitated a moment as he thought it over then he nodded, then he called to Mercy and he beckoned for her to join them in the hallway. Mercy skipped up to them, confused why they wanted her to join them.
"What? What is it?"
"We are about to find out." John explained and Mercy shut up.
Mycroft gave her a full sweep of his eyes, scanning her and deducing what he could of her. He felt she could keep government secrets but he wasn't sure if he trusted her because of this skill. The skill to keep secrets could make her trustworthy but who knows what dangerous secrets she keeps from them as well? He hesitated but continued and explained why he gathered them. He handed Sherlock a mug shot of a Chinese rough looking man and John and Mercy peered from his sides to see. The man looked about middle-aged, and appeared to be of pure Chinese heritage. He had long shiny straight black hair, tied back in a ponytail. He had a stern defined jaw and cruel cold eyes. His face was slightly tanned and his skin was dimpled and uneven from years of acne scars from his teenaged years. He was a tough, rough looking man and John had no doubt that he was a gang leader without being told.
"We have reason to believe that Boqin Chang an escaped convict from Qincheng Prison in Beijing China, is hiding here in London. He is a notorious mafia leader in China and he is associated with the Black Lotus but he also appears to be friends with the Snakeheads because they specialize in smuggling people out of China into other countries. He is extremely dangerous and is rumoured to be known as the, 'Skull King' or 'Master of death.'" Mycroft chuckled at the lame titles then continued,
"We believe he had gotten an old ID and passport of a man who is dead and used prosthetic makeup to fool customs. The only reason we noticed something was wrong was when another man who is unassociated with the black lotus coincidentally used the exact same fake ID and passport to try and get a flight to China from London two days after Chang came through. We then did some research and discovered that the real Jeremy Wu has been dead for two years. We caught the second man two weeks after Chang came but we don't know of Chang's current whereabouts. I'm just here to tell you that we have a dangerous wanted man on our streets and I need as many observant eyes as I can get to watch for him."
Sherlock looked insulted, "You came here just to ask me to keep an eye out?"
"Yes." Mycroft stated then he made his way down the stairs towards the door. In the front hall he stopped and turned around and looked at his umbrella.
"Sorry to have rained on your little party my dear niece. I promise I will come back and visit again and get to know you better very soon but right now I have to attend to my work so I must leave. I wish you all the luck on your future cases with my little brother and if he is still as hellish as he was when I grew up with him, just text your frustrations to me. They both have my number."
Mercy nodded and looked to John who reluctantly nodded in confirmation. Mycroft smiled and then spoke to Sherlock,
"Oh and brother mine, we will be talking more about all this very soon so expect my visit."
Sherlock groaned and turned away and walked back into the flat.
"Wonderful…" they heard him grumble sarcastically. Mycroft smiled then said goodbye to John and Mercy. As soon as he was gone, Mercy grabbed John's sleeve and whispered to him,
"They hate each other don't they...? Why?"
John chuckled and shook his head,
"It does look that way but it's more about stubbornness I think. When I first met Mycroft he explained that they have a childish feud or rivalry, although I cannot fathom what started it. They seem to resent each other's intelligence, they both are a bit theatrical and like to be the center of attention and that's why they can't stand to be in the same room at times but I really don't think they hate each other. Mycroft keeps a close eye on your father and anyone associated with him and I really do think he cares for him. They just have a really odd and complicated relationship." He explained.
Mercy nodded listening and believed some of what John said, but she couldn't help but feel that there was something deeper and darker about the root of their difficult relationship but she had yet to determine it. John shrugged and they both walked back into the room and joined the party once more.
