A/N: Once again, thank you for all the support for this :) Hope you like the updates! :D
John had expected that Sherlock would attempt to interfere with Mycroft's case, especially since Mycroft had told him not to and Molly was involved. Instead, much to his surprise, Sherlock took up permanent residence on the couch in his sheet.
After almost a week of watching him sulk, John decided to broach the subject.
"I thought you would make more of an effort to 'assist' with Mycroft's case," he commented, trying to appear casual as he turned the page in his newspaper.
Sherlock grunted, "It was barely an eight," he replied, still with his back to John, "I solved it days ago."
John looked up, "Why don't you tell him then?"
Sherlock looked at him over his shoulder, eyebrows raised.
"Right, silly question," John conceded, turning back to his paper. "I would have thought it would get Molly back sooner though," he added after a moment.
Sherlock grumbled something that sounded suspiciously like "It's not that simple," and John chuckled to himself, shaking his head at the battle of wills between the brothers. He wondered absently who would hold out longest.
He was interrupted in his musings by the sound of Sherlock's phone receiving a message, he was about to ask what it was about when Sherlock suddenly dove off the couch and made a beeline for his bedroom.
"Problem?" John asked, putting his newspaper aside and standing up as Sherlock re-emerged, fully clothed and adjusting his scarf.
Sherlock paused briefly and John caught sight of something akin to fear in his hooded eyes, "Something's happened to Molly."
John barely had time to react before Sherlock had spun on his heel and disappeared out the door; grabbing his coat, John only just made it to the street in time to join Sherlock in the taxi before it sped off to the Yard.
Sherlock barely said a word unrelated to the case after that and remained entirely focused on locating Molly; except for a brief interlude when he disappeared for a few minutes with his brother. He didn't say anything about what had happened, but John had caught sight of Mycroft leaving the police station shortly after with what looked suspiciously like a bloody nose.
He doubted that he'd see Mycroft again for a while: placing Sherlock in danger was one thing, but clearly risking Molly's life was a whole other ballgame.
...
A/N: As this is a prequel/sequel to "Thunderball" - please 'insert it here.' For the purposes of this story, it doesn't really matter if you haven't read it, but you may feel a little...cheated. For those of you who have read it, nice going on Mycroft's part wasn't it? :P