Hey all! Well I finally finished! I am so sorry I didn't get it out the time I said I would, but I am happy to post this last chapter, I hope you liked reading it as much as I did writing it. As always enjoy, and please leave a comment on your thoughts of what you think. Thank you again and now that I love you guys!

Chapter 10

"Alright, i guess ill start at the very beginning.

"Irene and Jim met 22 years ago. Mother was 18 or so, Dad was 16 when they had me. They aren't what one would consider caring of the rules, and by then the had already started their...business. Anyways they wanted to see if the could breed a person better than themselves. An experiment to see if they could create a genious. In a way they succeeded. I was almost exactly what they wanted."

"almost?" Sherlock interrupted.

"Ill get to that. Please don't interrupted, unless you don't want to hear my story."

That shut him up.

"Anyways, I was brought up in a very...interesting home if you could even call it that. I was raised mostly in America and England, but wherever dad went, I was sure to go with him for the first ten years of my life.

"Mother actually was the one who was almost never home. She didn't want to bring me anywhere with her. I found out later why. They had a sense of decency about how and when I was introduced to those kinds of things...though father was less so. I learned about his type of work instead, which is almost as bad as Irene's was if you look at it in the right angle."

Alice cleared her throat then stood up. "Sorry, i need something to drink if I am going to tell you my life story. Would you like some tea?"

Sherlock nodded and stood to follow Alice as she went into the kitchen. she turned on the kettle, while he got the tea bags and put them in cups

"continue"

She sighed

"okay fine…." Alice looked at the kettle as she continued her story.

"Because I was bored so easily and if I was left alone even for a split second, I would get into trouble, I was always with him. He wasn't a bad parent...well as a terrorist for hire. He taught me a lot about science, it's how I started. He taught me the way things and people work. He taught me how to manipulate how to find out and hack into people's lives to use them. He kept me busy, always challenging my mind. I had a natural talent for puzzles or problems that people deem hard.

As i grew, my mind matured at an alarming rate. Father actually started to ask my opinion on some of his ideas. For a while I worked for him, almost a partnership. And boy did we do amazing things. He was always careful, though, to keep my identity a secret. He took all the credit, to protect me. That is why you have no records of me.

The kettle started to scream, Alice took it off the heat and poured the water into the cups.

"Mother, on the other hand, she wasn't always there in my early years. She would come and visit. take me out and keep me in the girl world of things. She also taught me how to bend people to my will, read them. She wasn't as good a teacher as Jim. She taught me more discipline than anything. But i never connected well with her. we tended to fight whenever we were exposed to one another for more than an hour. So I kept my distance."

Sherlock lead them back to the sitting room and sat in his leather chair. His eye glistened with interest as he watched Alice sit across the way.

"As I grew older and I started to blend into the world going to all of the more challenging schools; learning everything I could. I read any book i could get my hands on (which with my fathers connections was a lot!) and if I couldn't i would hack into the internet to find what i wanted. I soaked it all up like a sponge, but i never burst; my thirst of knowledge was endless. I tried and studied everything. I passed every single subject with flying colors. You name it, art to monocular science, calculos to geography. My father was quite proud of me. However, it wasn't long till I wasn't proud of him."

Alice looked off to the side. Her eyes became distant and guarded. She bit her lip as if trying to hold back tears.

"you know, as a child, you tend to want all of your parents attention. and around age 12, i had lost all of Jim's attention…..to you." she looked back at Sherlock with a sad gaze. "you know very little on how much he was obsessed with you. When you started to make your big break in life, he became fixated on you. He spent years in the making on how to ruin you."

she smiled brokenly with hints of self loathing in her eyes.

"I like to think of it as he didn't want anyone to be smarter than me, but I knew that wasn't what it was."

"I am sorry" Sherlock murmured "I had no idea.

Alice shook her head "How could you have? Besides, in a way, i guess you became my older brother, the way he doted on you. I was jealous. Did you know that almost all of his plans and schemes were first tested on me? I was his daughter, sure, but lab rat was more like it. I had lost my father and my sense of pride in him. it was a very crushing moment in my young life. So by age 16 that is when i decided to become the best i could be.

"I was able to convince my father to let me travel the world more, Expand my understanding and wants for myself. After much arguing and surprisingly, help from my mother, Jim let me go to France. Of course they kept a close eye on me. That is when I got to really meet Sebastian. My father's right hand man. Up until then I had only heard Jim talk to him over the phone or in other rooms to do his dirty work. However when i left my fathers side, Seb was assigned to watch over me between jobs. from afar, but i knew he was always there. Any ways, to get back to my life."

Sherlock looked disappointed but didn't say anything.

Alice took a sip of her tea, cleared her throat and continued.

"I studied in France for a year, learned the language easily enough, considering i had taken classes and read books on translations. That opened so much more for me to read and learn. I studied the culture and inner workings of the country, and occasionally wrote reports and essays to my father for fun, and to let him know that I was alive and well."

" It was there that I started to fall in love with cooking. French people take such pride in their cooking. You ask them how something was prepared or seasoned, and they will go on and on about that one dish. I don't know why, but when I cook or bake, i can think better, and i also get to eat something delicious afterwards! I guess I love it so much because I love the taste of food."

"Sorry, I am getting a little off track again." Alice giggled

Sherlock waved his hand to dismiss it as he took another drink.

"Anyways, after my seventeenth birthday I wrote my father that I wanted to go study in Italy. He replied with a list of countries that he wanted me to visit, mostly to spy in. So i agreed and paid Seb to be quiet about my cooking career (from the little odd end jobs I did through the time in France). Over the next 3 years I had gone to Italy, Russia, Germany, Japan, China, and a few small countries in Africa. All in which I studied their culinary secrets, as well as their government.

"Sadly it was not to last. Two years ago, father called me back to him. He told me he needed my help with some minor details in his Master Plan to Ruin Sherlock Holmes. And really, with a guy like him being my dad, I couldn't really say no. So I packed up shop and headed back to my fathers headquarters." Alice smiled and shook her head, "No, I won't tell you where. I swore to never reveal it's location. I am sorry, but when it comes to promises I never break them."

Sherlock looked close to outrage but he quickly composed himself by asking if she wanted more tea. He got up and took her cup to refill them. "Please, continue, I will just have to find a way to keep Mycroft from hunting you down. When he wants something he can be rather extreme."

"I am well aware of that. Father was smart enough to avoid him, but goodness, from the moment I got back i was told immediately about the Holmes Brothers. I'd have to say, my little corrupt family loved playing with you two."

"You sound as if you were directly involved with the incidents the past year and a half." Sherlock said coming out of the kitchen and handing her a cup.

"Oh, but I was." she smiled mysteriously.

"Wait! you said you had never been to London!"

"Oh sweetie, I lied my dear. But i sorta told you the truth too, I have never been in London for sightseeing. I was here for spying on you and your lovely little friend John! Do you really think the spawn of the two greatest master minds in the world would have told the absolute truth to a person like you?" She laughed darkly. then seeming to catch herself she stopped abruptly. "I am sorry." She gazed off to the side with a look of inner conflict.

The detective gazed at the young woman in a new light. She wasn't the innocent she played as. She held dark secrets very close to her heart, and they affected her beyond her control. Sherlock felt pity well up inside him. It was clear that Alice despised her parents. what just happened was proof enough for him. Alice had an inner struggle that she was losing her individuality to. Her hate towards her father and traits that had been passed down to her rivaled the love and respect she had for the insane man, and it was tearing her up. She was blessed with many gifts, but cursed by the people whom gave her those gifts. 'She doesn't want to be anything like them.'

Alice slowly sipped at her tea, trying to gain control of herself. her mind raced as she saw the fog clear from Sherlock's eyes. He knew. she was identified. The moment her guard had dropped she had lost the fight; and now there was no point in trying to be defensive anymore. he had gotten past. she was too careless. Sherlock, her rival, the man she lost her parents love to, yet only person who could understand her, pitied her. she bit her lip as hate flared within her heart.

.before she could stop herself she stood up and yelled at the man she despised.

"I don't want your fucking pity! Nore do i need it! I hate you so fucking much! " what am I doing? "You Holmes make me sick! You only see people as means of entertainment! You don't see us as people." no,stop, this isn't what i wanted to say. "Just broken things that you can play with. You do nothing to help us! You only saw them as chess pieces so you could play your fucking shit game. You're as bad as HIM! I just want to be wanted. "DO you know how many people died!? How much damage it did to others? NO! you only wanted to have a reason to prove you were smart! Best your brother and tear down a man that was smarter than you! I wanted to be better than this.

Tears started to stream down Alice's face. Sherlock stood frozen in shock. calm down "Do you even know what he had me do!?" her voice dropped into a broken murmur as she looked down at the floor, her hands in fists by her sides. "I was the one who found the cabbie, I was the one who made the deal. I was the one who wrote on the letters and sent the phone to you. I was the one taking the pictures. I-I was the one who….kidnapped John. And I was the one who made your life a living hell afterwards."

Alice looked back up at the processing Sherlock. Her face wet from tears and eyes red and vibrant from crying. Before he could speak Alice started explaining. She had to get it out, she had to finish her story before anything else happened.

"If you are wondering why you never saw me, it is because I ran away right after I dropped John off at the pool. I was suppose to go back to my mother and wait there for my next assignment, but, I couldn't stand being like Jim. I didn't want to play anymore. True I bought you some time, but i just gave him more of a reason to try and destroy you." She paused. "And i didn't want to be the one to do it."

"What do you mean?" Sherlock said in a very controlled voice.

Alice took a deep breath. "Remember at the pool?" she whispered "You and John were held at sniper point, as was the plan, but then the phone started to ring. who did you think was on the other line? It was, Irene. He was so angry, do you know why?"

Sherlock shook his head, but said nothing.

"It's because I, the wonderful masterpiece, had run off, fallen off the map. I was to be your rival, I was suppose to be the bane of your existence." Alice started to sob as the horrible secret of her life spilled out of her mouth. "The final game, the entertainment for Moriarty and the world. I was the one who was suppose to tear you down. I-I-I was….made to kill you in the end." Alice crumpled to the floor sobbing uncontrollably in front of the man she was made to destroy.

Sherlock stood motionless unable to sort out his thoughts. He wanted to comfort her, but he didn't know how to. He wanted to run, but he couldn't empower his body to do so. He just stood, staring at the young woman who was the only person who had stood up to Moriarty. The strongest woman he had ever met, was now crying like a broken child right in front of him, and all he could do was watch. and for how long, he didn't know

Alice's sobbing started to subside, and she started to speak again in a calmer voice.

You know, I have always wanted to meet you or at least someone like you." she sat up and looked into Sherlock's sea blue eyes. "Someone so much like me. When I found out that i wasn't the only one with a mind that couldn't shut up, who wasn't loved or understood by anyone; I wanted more than anything to meet you. Prove that you weren't alone. I wanted to be your friend. But I was taught to treat you differently. And i was brought up to hate and ultimately kill you." Alice suddenly smiled "Do you think, if it had been different, we could have been friends? That i could be in your's and John's life too?" she looked down at the floor. "I know i would like to think that."

There was a long gap of silence, when suddenly Sherlock's hand was on Alice's shoulder. She looked up and was met with warm eyes. "So do I." Sherlock stood up and held out his hand to her. Alice took it and was raised up like the hope that rose in her heart.

"I think we will become good friends, besides I think i'll be needing a new partner soon enough. What do you say?" Sherlock asked

Alice smiled and hugged him "I think that would be awesome!" tears of joy filled the young woman's eyes, "Thank you, so much!" she whispered. To whom, Alice wasn't sure. And for a second, she felt like she had finally finished the puzzle that was her life.

THE END