Chapter 9

24 Hours Earlier

Erika regained consciousness on the floor of the hall in excruciating pain. She let out a gasp and saw Moriarty's foot leave the wound on her shoulder. She looked up at him, to exhausted and pained to show any emotion. He looked bored. "You have saved me time, deary."

She looked at him blankly through her pain and he continued. "Your genetics mean that your son will be dead within the hour. Congratulations."

"N-no. William," she whispered, breaking into sobs. Jim let out a bored sigh before starting to walk away when he felt a hand grab his ankle. He turned to see the woman looking at him pleadingly. "Let me see him."

"No." And with that he walked back into William's room, leaving her lying in the hall. She sobbed into the ground for a moment before looking up, staring at the door. Her every joint ached and her stabbed shoulder rendered her left arm useless, but she dragged herself along the floor, leaving a trail of droplets of blood behind her. Using all the strength she had, she pulled herself to the door of William's room. Then, leaning on the door handle, she pulled herself up, hissing in pain as she did so.

Standing hesitantly, she opened the door, knowing he wouldn't lock it, and walked in. Moriarty sat beside the boy, staring into the corner idly. Then he saw her, and his pupils all but disappeared as his eyes narrowed. He smirked a little, surprised at her strength, and stood. Erika stood frozen as he sauntered towards her. Then he put an arm across her shoulder and gripped the wound there. She shrieked and her legs gave way beneath her. He held her up and put a hand over her mouth.

"Shhh," he hissed in her ear, far to close. "You'll wake the baby."

His mocking voice chilled her and he dragged her, by the shoulder, to the chair where he was sitting. He threw her down in it and crouched down in front of her. "You're stronger than I thought, but you're not strong enough to survive this."

"I've had worse paper-cuts," she said with as much strength as she had. He laughed at her, openly and wholly, before turning back to her with a grin on his face.

"Nice try sweetheart but you don't get it." He opened his mouth in a grin and licked his teeth. "Your wounds will heal. But Billy-boy there," he motioned to the child, "will destroy you."

She was about to speak when they both hear a sound that would haunt Erika forever; the sound of her son exhaling all the air in his lungs. It was the end. She let out a scream before breaking into strangled sobs. Moriarty stood and brushed his suit. "Looks like he just did."

He walked out of the room calmly and Erika heard him speak to a man on the other side of the door. "Get rid of them."

She looked up in horror to see a man enter with a rope in his hand. She tried to get up but all her strength failed her. He couldn't fight when he wrapped the noose around her neck, pulling it tight. And then she was choking; hanging with her feet on the ground. For a moment she considered letting him kill her. Then it would be over and she'd be free. But then she thought of Sherlock. Of him sitting alone with two more bodies to bury and she knew she had to fight.

Thinking quickly, she realised he wouldn't be expecting any fighting from her left arm. Therefore, she elbowed the man in the chest with her left arm, screaming in pain. He recoiled and let go of the noose. She pulled it off herself and turned to kick him in the stomach, winding him. Running on pure adrenaline, she grabbed William and jumped from the window. This time she headed for the garden, knowing he wouldn't be expecting her there. She ran as fast as she could, holding William tightly to her breast.

On reaching the garden, she ran to the fence at the back, seeing the top protected with barbed wire. Looking behind her anxiously, she took and deep breathe and climbed, almost making it over unscathed when she heard it. A gunshot that narrowly missed her and she fell over the fence, cutting her thigh. She found herself on the other side of the wire, the safer side, and she bolted; running as far as she could to anywhere.

About an hour after she had been running, the rain and wind started to pick up and she wrapped William in the leather jacket she found by the roadside to keep him warm. It was then that Erika realised that she had nowhere to go. She had no friends, no family alive, no one who would care enough to take her in. Then her thoughts turned to Sherlock. She knew he cared about her but the last thing she wanted to do was hurt him again. She hated the idea of presenting him with more sorrow, a dead son and a broken…lover? No, perhaps too strong. Friend then.

She began to turn her head to other options when pain shot through her shoulder and she fell to the ground, muffling a scream by biting on the edge of the fabric of the leather. It was at that moment she realised she had no choice and she began the long walk to London.

Although she had left in the early morning, it was well past midnight by the time she arrived at Baker Street. Slowly she walked down the road, her feet dragging along the pavement, stinging with every movement. She was soaked to the skin and her hair hung in clumps around her face. She was shivering violently and her teeth chattered incessantly. She looked down at the baby in her arms and hugged him closer to her, hoping her warmth would bring him back to life however his temperature told her it wasn't to be.

Finally, she arrived at the door of 221B. She contemplated spending the night on the step, horrified she might disturb them, but then the pain shot through her again and she clung to the door to stop herself falling. It was then she began pounding on the door. She would have yelled but her voice had lost all its strength in the screaming she had done in pain and despair.

After a minute or so she began to wonder if anyone could hear her knocking over the thunder above her head, and she stopped, looking down at the boy she held and she let a tear slide down her face. It was then she heard the door creak open and a baritone voice start to tell her to go. She looked up and was met with the man she had most wanted to see for such a long time. She could see in his eyes that he recognised her.

"Erika!" She tried to smile but another wave of pain shot through her and she collapsed, unable to hold herself up anymore. She shivered violently, still holding her child to her breast. Sherlock knelt beside her and she heard him yell at his flatmate to come before turning his attention back to her. "Erika, what happened to you?"

She wanted to scream and cry but she found enough strength in her voice and through her strangled sobs to beg him. "I couldn't leave him there. I couldn't. I had nowhere else to go. P-please help me."

Sherlock looked her up and down, concern written all over his features. John appeared and she heard him whisper something, but she wasn't sure what. He crouched down beside her and tried to sit her up, gripping her shoulder to do so. Erika felt like she was being stabbed all over again and she let out a blood-curling scream, unable to stop herself. John stepped back, shocked and Sherlock's eyes widened with fear and pain.

The army doctor looked down at his hand and she knew from his reaction that it was stained with her blood. Sherlock also saw and his face twisted into a mask of horror. John looked back at Erika and spoke as she tried her best to listen. However the only words she heard were, "sit up."

Struggling to support herself and not letting go of her child, she did so. It was now that John's eyes drifted to the jacket. He leant forward and took William from her, she put up a minimal fight. He looked down and gasped. She watched as the two men came to the same conclusion, that her son was dead, and she lay there, hating herself for doing this to them.

But her self-loathing was cut short by the pain. Another stab at her shoulder and she let out another shriek, pressing her arm to the open wound. The men's attention instantly snapped back to her. Erika's vision was starting to blur and voices started to drift as the pain intensified. She knew one of them had said something and was then aware of two strong arms lifting her up. Feeling safe for the first time in almost a year, she let herself fade away into the black.