I'm so so so sooooo sorry! I had a terrible case of writer's block and I really hope that I can update regularly :) Thanks to all who were patient with me and also to those who reviewed, favourited and followed this story :) This chapter was betad as always by the lovely daisherz365 :)

Now on to the chapter

10.

For the next days Sherlock and Izzie decided to give each other a wide berth. Against John's medical advice Isabel often ran through the house; on the one hand to stretch her legs and on the other hand because she wanted to know where Sherlock kept certain things. Secretly she hoped to find the flashdrive and to be able to steal it back, but up to now no opportunity had risen. The mood between the two of them was still charged and both glared angrily at each other or Sherlock tried to put her off with sarcastic comments.

She got on better with John and Mrs Hudson. Thanks to John's good care the wound healed well.

The only thing that gave Isabel a headache was that she did not know how Eric was. Unfortunately, John and Sherlock watched over her with eagle eyes and up to now each of her attempts to slip out of the house had thwarted. Her mobile phone had already died a few days ago and its loading cable was still at Eric's flat. Isabel knew that Sherlock owned the same model, however, she had sworn herself rather to bite her hand off than to ask him for his permission to use it.

She sat in Mrs. Hudson's kitchen and stared in a cup of tea. Only a few minutes ago John and Sherlock had received a call from Sherlock's brother and now they talked about what they should do next. Apparently Mycroft Holmes had asked both men to a Gentlemen's club and now both had to decide what to do.

„Hello, dear, don't you want to drink your tea?", asked Mrs. Hudson as they came in the kitchen.

„I was considering if it is possible to drown myself in that cup...", Isabel returned drily.

„Honestly! You can be so intolerable like Sherlock.", Mrs Hudson laughed.

„What is happening upstairs?", the young woman asked the landlady.

„Oh the boys are considering whether to drive over to Mycroft or not. John wants to go, Sherlock is against it and normally it is John who wins."

„Then my peaceful hours are counted .", murmured Isabel.

„Oh hush,, Sherlock hands over nobody that easily, unless he has good reasons for it.", Mrs Hudson started to rinse dishes in the wash basin.

„Oh I guess he has a lot of reasons to dump me...", Isabel chewed on her lower lip.

„Nonsense. Who knows what is going on in that funny old head.", laughed the old lady.

„Presumably he considers just how he will get rid of me best ...", the young woman washed down her comment with a gulp of tea.

„You did not have the best start with him, he does not make it easy for people to get to know him. Maybe you should tell him that you are afraid of the thought that he might pass you over to the police.", the landlady suggested.

Isabel wanted to reply that the idea of having a conversation with Holmes wasn't what she prefered, but she realised that she couldn't avoid the talk and what else could happen then another quarrel and possibly some violence?

Without hesitating she got up: „Thanks Mrs Hudson.", Izzie smiled.

„Isabel where are you going?"

„To have a conversation and hope that this someone understands me.", she answered and started to walk up the stairs.

In the hall she could hear John and Sherlock's heated voices.

„Why should I talk toMycroft?", growled Sherlock.

„To hell Sherlock, he is still your brother!", answered John unnerved.

„My brother works with criminals. If he wants something he can also come over and we'll talk about it. I am not determined to drive over to the Diogenes club again. "

„You will not give him the data, will you? At least, you got them off Isabel.", asked John further.

„John, where would be the fun when Mycroft always gets what he wants after he uses some pressure.", the detective seemed to grin.

„Did you have a look at what she had taken with her?", asked John further.

„Yes and I am pretty sure that this is not everything she stole, but maybe Miss Williams would love to clear us up about the question why the data presumably is incomplete instead of listening in?"

Isabel blushed bright red. Carefully she pushed the door open and stepped into the room.

„How did you know I was standing in the hall?"

„The stair creaks when someone is walking up them and you were in a rush to come here.", Sherlock leant back.

„What do you want?"

„The question is where is the rest of it hidden? You have pinched not only information about the arrests and the installations in the education programme.", Sherlock stated.

„As if I would tell you..", Isabel rolled her eyes.

„This was a clear 'Yes'. I should have supposed that you were not so silly as you appear on first sight.", he continued.

John shook sighing his head.

„Today you are so charming Mister Holmes! If I didn't know better I would be afraid you would try to strip off my clothes.", replied Isabel snippy.

„Stop being so resentful..."

„Excuse me?!", Isabel growled and she wished to punch him again.

„I have hardly touched you!", Sherlock answered with a shrug.

Just as Isabel to a deep breath to bark something in his direction she was interrupted by John:

„It's a real pleasure to see you are both fine and squabbling but I think we should return to business. So Isabel, is Sherlock in possession of all data or is there something missing?", John looked at her and gave her a warm smile.

The young woman inhaled and turned herself away from both men who sat near the fireplace. She directed her look at the patterned wallpaper where she could see a yellow smiley which was littered with gunshots.

"Interesting wall decoration...", she murmured and looked at the wall for a moment while John and Sherlock impatiently considered.

„So?", John wanted to know.

„Could it be that it was not everything I carried with me.", Isabel made a bored face and shrugged.

John sighed and threw a questioning look to Sherlock.

„Would like they to tell us what you withheld from us?", Sherlock continued growling.

„Oh do not think about it Mr Holmes! It is quite dangerous that I have stolen that stuff and I don't need any confidants"

Maybe it would be the best to talk with both men and to tell them the truth, but for what? It would hardly improve her situation.

„You already have confidants and please believe me, it won't take any longer and my brother invites himself over for tea just to have a conversation with you. I asure you, this is something you want to renounce.", explained Sherlock to her and the look in his blue-green eyes seemed to to pierce her.

„It, could be thrilling to talk to the man, who arrested my parents because of not observance of the the opposition laws but because of compromising the internal security, who also allows to arrest and kidnap innocent people!", Isabel snapped furiously .

„Excuse me, I'm not the one to blame because Mycroft's present interpretation of law and order is a bit special at the moment.", grinned Sherlock and got up.

„Then ask him what I've borrowed, so you don't need me.", she hissed back.

„Guess what, Miss Williams? This sounds like a splendid idea! The best idea since you came here!", Sherlock jumped up and stood right in front of her.

„Yes, they could buff up your sibling love, have a cup of tea and then reflect a little on right and wrong. Sounds to me like a fantastic afternoon!", Isabel growled.

John sighed, because he noticed that both were rowing again.

„Spare me your sarcasm, Isabel!", rumbled Sherlock.

„For you it's still Miss Williams!", Isabel yelled.

Furiously they both stared at each other.

„Sherlock, let us drive over to Mycroft's. I guess he will appreciate it.", John got up and pushed Sherlock with soft nudges out of the room.

„This conversation is far from over!", Sherlock hissed to Isabel.

„You are right, it isn't!", she said self-confidently.

„We will be back soon, come on now Sherlock!", John sent a reminder.

„Enjoy the silence, Isabel! You won't find the flashdrive anyway!", grinned the Detective smugly.

„This remains to be seen Mr Holmes!", she yelled after him.

It did not last long and soon both men had exited the house, while Isabel still stood in Sherlock's sitting room and considered what it should do.

Certainly he had hidden the flash device here.

She estimated him to be haughtily enough not to carry the damn thing around with himself but to think it would be safe somewhere in the mayhem that ruled the living room.

„Mrs Hudson?", Isabel called down the stairs.

„What is it, dear?", the old lady answered in a happy tone.

„What do you think about the living room of Mr. Holmes and John?", Isabel grinned and if Eric had stood beside her, he would have presumably asked her what she was plotting.

„Oh dear, it really needs to be cleared up , but Sherlock is against it. He says if I clear up I would destroy his experiments and, therefore, he does not let me do it.", continued Mrs Hudson sighing while she stood at the bottom of the stairs.

„What a pity, I think a little cleaning could only improve the look of the room.", said Isabel innocently.

„Oh love, I would help you, but I do not want to be the one to endure his bad mood. God knows there are already enough gunshot holes in the wall...", Mrs Hudson went back to her kitchen.

Immediately Isabel hurried down the stairs and went after her, „I know, I also did not want to put you up to something, but I think some order would not affect Mr. Consulting Detective. If you like I can do this, you would only have to give me what I need for it."

„I'm not sure if this is a good idea...", Mrs. Hudson had an uncertain look in her eyes, as if the gates of hell would open if she helped Isabel with her idea.

„Oh come on, I hate the chaos up there and you do to. How should I recover if I constantly stumble over books and test tubes and presumably break some of my ribs next time I fall.", continued the young woman.

„Fine, I give you a bucket and a cleaning cloth, as well as a vacuum cleaner but the rest is up to you.", Mrs Hudson suggested.

„I can handle this don't worry...", Isabel grinned.

Ten minutes later she dragged the cleaning products along with the vacuum cleaner up the stairs and could not keep back a thieving grin.

Maybe she exaggerated it just extremely, but it didn't make any difference to her. What fueled her was the hope that she found what she needed and so she would be out of here the next evening.

First she moved some of the pieces of furniture out of the way before she vacuumed the ground. Afterwards she dusted the shelves and cupboards. Then she was up to tidy up Sherlock's books. Nearly pedantically she ordered the books after author and title, hoping she would find the flashdrive but she could not find it.

Next she cleaned up the desk, quite knowingly that he would be furious when his precious order system was ruined. Isabel went through his papers but still she wasn't succesful.

Instead she found her own file. The papers were messy and seemed to have been read often. Holmes seemed to have caught inquiries about her. Certainly his minister brother had helped him with it. In a hurry she read them, but she found out nothing that she didn't already know.

Frustrated she browsed the drawers of the desk, however, she came up with nothing. Furiously, she ransacked the rest of the room but could not find what she was looking for

Livid Izzie braced her hands on her sides and discovered, finally, something on the mantelpiece that caught her attention: there were two framed photos.

Isabel stepped closer to have a look: she recognised Holmes and Watson together with some other people. Isabel could associate Mrs. Hudson, moreover, Greg Lestrade who worked for New Scotland Yard. She knew him because they often had clashed together on the street and he had always let her run away. Moreover, there was a young woman who also smiled in the camera. She stood next to Holmes.

There was another picture with Holmes and the young woman. Both had been taped in the profile and stared at each other mutually. Isabel meant to see shame in the face of the woman , as if someone had stepped to her too closely oozing regret.

Still it seemed as if the two persons who faced eachother shared a deep connection.

Surprised Isabel took the picture into her hands: she could feel the tension between the couple in the picture nearly physically!

The photos had to have been shot on the same evening: on pictures both the woman wore a wonderful black evening dress and in her hair was a silver ribbon.

Isabel knew these ribbons from old times when she had been a child. Her mother had stuck these ribbons to Christmas presents. The pictures had to be taken on a Christmas party.

But there was even more: Isabel knew the young woman in the picture. If she had learnt something on the street, then this was that most people only thought of themselves and that everything came with a price.

However, there had also been exceptions to this rule: the woman in the picture, for example.

Molly Hooper was her name, Isabel remembered. She had been a friendly person, always with a smile on her lips. Molly had been concerned for the girls who lived on the street.

Isabel had liked and far more important trusted her . Without Molly she would not have survived the first weeks on the street and she was incredibly grateful to her.

Unfortunately, Molly had disappeared without a trace and Isabel feared that she had become a victim of Moriarty.

With the photo in her hands she sat down in Sherlock's armchair when her revenge (cleaning up Sherlock's living room) was finished.

She was surprised that Sherlock and Molly had known each other.

In the hall she heard footsteps coming closer.

„Really Sherlock, was it really necessary to argue with him?", she heard John's irritated voice.

„Our mother has taught him to behave that way and I refuse to play along his stupid rules!", Sherlock replied and sounded like a stubborn boy.

„I will never understand why you two are not able to behave like normal...", John stopped when he stepped into the room and looked around.

„How normal? John it would be more helpful if you end your sentences...", also Sherlock stopped when he entered and saw how Isabel sat in his armchair and had made herself at home. It was obvious to him what Isabel had done when he had been away for two hours.

„Do you like it?", she asked him cheerful.

„What have you done?", Sherlock growled

„Oh I hated the mess here so I decided to clean up a little!", Isabel grinned proudly.

„You were in search for the data...", Sherlock stated further.

„You've got me!", she winked perky in his direction.

„Isabel, I can understand, that you are upset but I assure you it's for your best...", John wanted to interfere, when Sherlock's shouting interrupted him.

„You have mixed up my books and you have ruined the order system of my desk!", he hissed.

„No, I have removed the mayhem! It's all your fault! Give me back what's mine and I will leave you two be", she nagged back.

„This is ridiculous! Rearrange the books immediately!", Sherlock demanded.

„Dream on!", Isabel leant back further.

Furiously he stared at her and saw the picture that normally stood on his fireplace in her lap.

„Put the the photo back immediately!"

„This is exactly what I wanted to talk about with you next! What do you have to do with Molly Hooper and where the hell is she?!", asked Isabel back.

„You dig in my things and now you still expect information?!", Sherlock snapped.

„What goes around comes around!", she wheezed back furiously.

„Isabel, you are crossing the line!", said John while he stepped closer.

„Oh it goes like this?", Isabel slowly got up and held out the picture to both.

„My private life and my connection to Miss Hooper is none of your concern and I refuse to tolerate any interference!", Sherlock seemed to be really angry.

„Then tell me, why you have that picture! I've been looking for her for months!", the young woman justified herself.

„Stay out of my business!", even before Isabel could say something he grabbed his coat and disappeared into his bedroom, slamming the door behind him.

John and Isabel stayed behind.

When it was quiet John took the picture from her hands and looked at it. While he did this a sad smile wandered over his features: „I can still remember very well the evening when this photo was made. It was on the Christmas Eve six years ago."

Interested in what he would say next Isabel stepped closer: „How do you know?"

„It was the last Christmas we have spent together that way and believe me, I miss it very much.", John looked up sadly.

„The both look like they were perfectly acquainted...", Isabel took another look at the photo and saw the look that Molly and Sherlock shared.

„You have to know that on that night it wasn't a usual Christmas party among friends. Sherlock was in an extremely bad mood in this evening. You have got to know him, he does hate it if the things don't turn out the way he thinks they should. Moreover, on that time he worked on a case that concerned Irene Adler and she had tricked him severely. What you have to know about Molly is that she had fallen for Sherlock in the moment she saw him . We all knew it , only Sherlock was absolutely blind to see it.", John put the photo back on the fireplace.

„Alright, but how was this photo shot?", Isabel asked further curiously.

„Molly had dressed herself up this evening, you can see it on the photo. She wore a wonderful black dress, her hair was curled and she used some lipstick. She had brought presents for all of us with her and Sherlock had already spotted one that lay on top of the bag. All the guests and the situation annoyed him and so he showed his skills of deduction to find out for whom the present was for. We all knew about the fact that Molly had brought it for him and for no other. Sherlock was firmly persuaded of the fact that she had brought it for a new boyfriend. He humiliated her in the most dreadful way, while he spread out her whole emotional life in front us.", John inhaled deeply.

„I would punched him!", it slipped out of Isabel.

„Oh I also thought about it, but he harmed himself with his behaviour. When he realised that the gift was for him because his name was on the gift tag and that he was the person for whom Molly had dressed up. We were sorry for her, but it surprised us to hear Molly tell him that he always said horrible things.", explained John further.

„Now I am curious, because I do not expect, to tell the truth, that Holmes says sorry.", Isabel leaned back in the armchair.

„He really apologised. The photo was taken only moments before it happened. Greg Lestrade really has timing.", John smiled and looked at the photo.

„How did it go on?"

„Now, then everything went quite fast. The case around was Irene Adler solved and we believed that way it would be over. She indeed had stolen data and transmitted it as fast as she could to Moriarty and the rest is history.", continued John and sat down in the other armchair.

„Yes I understand, but what was with Holmes and Molly?", Isabel could not reign her curiosity any more.

„It was strange. After this Christmas and Adler's disappearance, Sherlock often stayed with Molly in the morgue. Mostly for the whole time of her shift and it seemed to me as if both grew closer.", he quietly sighed.

„Well I would like to thank her. She helped me and other girls who lived on the street and honestly, I don't know if I had survived my first months out there without her help. She often supported us or tried to protect us from Moran's men which astonished me. She always seemed so calm and shy.", Isabel looked at the doctor.

„Isabel, I'm very sorry but Molly Hooper is dead. She died three years ago.", John witnessed how the young woman started to tremble.

„What?!", aghast she looked at the doctor.

„Yes, unfortunately. She was abused and murdered. Sherlock had to fish the corpse from the Thames. When we found the corpse Molly was dead for only short time.", explained John to her further.

Horrified Isabel stared at him. Tears started to gather in her eyes. She was shocked from what John had told her. Of course she knew about the cruelty that ruled the streets, but still she was shocked about it.

„Excuse me I didn't know...", she lay a hand on her mouth.

„It is alright...", the blond man nodded to her

„Was this the reason why Mr. Holmes was so furious?", Isabel bit her lower lip.

„I think so but I'm not sure.", John shrugged.

„The two of them... were they, well... you know what I mean...", she hemmed and hawed and saw how John started to smile.

„I can give you no response to it, Isabel. Sherlock has never said what has really connected him and Molly. I can only guess and this does not lie in my nature.", he answered.

„I understand... looks like he and I are even", Isabel briefly nodded.

„Looks like...", John was pending from the armchair, „I will go to see whether he still sulks or not."

„Could you wait a moment John, I have to ask you something else...", Isabel stopped him.

„Yes?"

„I have to go to Eric, I have forgotten something there...", she stammered.

„I am sorry Isabel, but provisionally it would be better it if you stay in the house.", John rejected it.

„Oh come on, I only need ten minutes!", Isabel wanted to persuade him.

„No you will stay. They are going to lock you up again if they catch you. Please, accept it", the conversation was quiet after that for John and he did not anticipate that he had woken up Isabel's fighting spirit.

It was shortly after midnight in 221B.

Isabel lay awake in the guest room. She had not changed for sleeping and waited for the moment that the inhabitants of the house went to bed. She knew that she could climb through the window in Mrs. Hudsons kitchen.

Slowly she got up. Quick to slip on her shoes and put on her jacket. Then Isabel opened the door, crept through the hall and then in Mrs. Hudson's kitchen. As quiet as Isabel could she climbed on the work surface and opened the window.

Right at the moment as she went to slip through, a sonorous voice started to speak:

„Miss Williams, is it not a little late for climbs in Mrs. Hudson's kitchen?"

Isabel briefly closed her mouth and eyes tight before she turned round. Sherlock Holmes stood in the door and looked at her with his sparkling blue eyes. He carried a blue bathrobe, a white shirt and pyjama trousers.

„I thought you were sulking or sleeping", she stated irritated.

„You are my case, Miss Williams. I never sleep if I am on a case and sulking does not lie in my nature", he answered drily.

„This is really great...", Isabel growled.

„I think so too. May I ask what you want on streets of London in the middle of the night?", Sherlock moved forward his interrogation.

„This is none of your concern."

„You live here, it concerns me. Particularly if you start to trouble us again.", Sherlock stared at her and he seemed to be annoyed.

Isabel sighed. By no means she would get out if she went on with this tactics. So she made a new decision within some seconds: „Fine, Mr Holmes. There are two ways we can handle this: either you pull me from the kitchen and drag me back to the guest-room which I won't prefer, or you accompany me."

„I beg your pardon?", immediately he wrinkled his forehead.

„You have heard me, come along or give it up.", Isabel shrugged.

For a moment Sherlock seemed like he had to process the information.

Finally, he said: „I will accompany you!"

„Okay, but please put some clothes on.", Isabel demanded and asked herself what she had gotten herself into.

Sherlock nodded, then he went from the kitchen.

A few minutes later he was back: he wore one of his suits, his black coat and the blue scarf.

„We take the front door, this way we can avoid that people think we are burglars", he nodded to her.

Isabel didn't object and followed him.

Both exited 221B and wandered onto the empty streets of London, asking themselves what this night would bring.

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