"This is marvellous," Ash stated as he began chomping on the breakfast that had been placed in front of him.

"Here, here" Sean agreed.

"Thank you for all this, Mrs Hudson," Albert added flashing a smile at the housekeeper that made her blush like a school-girl.

"Oh it was no bother. You need to eat. Speaking of which, where is Sherlock?"

John shook his head, "No idea but no doubt he'll have me rushing around later so this is very much appreciated." He stuck a rather large forkful of bacon into his mouth and hummed contentedly.

"Sorry to bring this up again," Emma said exasperated; she had been trying to get the whole story for half an hour but the five men sat round the table seemed to have focused their attention on food, "But Eddie was nearly blown up?"

Mickey put down his fork and nodded, "Yes, it appears that our contacts tipped off Moriarty."

"Who sent a message to Sherlock," John continued, "Sherlock put two and two together and well..."

"He saved Eddie's life," Emma finished.

"Where is Ed?" Sean asked.

"Asleep in Sherlock's room" John told him, "He was in a bit of shock but he'll be alright."

Emma sighed, "Thank goodness. I guess that means we're in with the plan then?"

"We're going to get the money, yes," Mickey confirmed. He turned to look at John, "I should apologise for-"

"Stop," John interrupted, all earlier anger had disappeared, "You don't need to apologise for not co-operating with Sherlock, putting Sherlock's life at risk or anything else you were thinking of saying. He doesn't exactly help his own case sometimes."

Mickey smiled; after the events of last night, he and his crew were beginning to warm to John and although Sherlock was still annoyingly enigmatic, they did owe him some trust after he came to their friend's aid.

"So," Ash said, "Are we still thinking of Justin Barrow?"

"Unfortunately he's unavailable at the moment" Albert explained, "Cyclops tracked him down. He's in prison."

"Ah," Ash groaned, "Any other options?"

Mickey nodded, "Frank Thumble."

"Who's that?" Sean asked.

Before Mickey could answer someone else cut in, "Frank Thumble is a barrister, in his mid-to-late 60's. He loves collecting antiques more than anything else in his life, including his children, of which he has three, all from separate wives, none of them he is currently with, the latest split was because he had an affair with his secretary- not very original- and he can be frequently found walking his frankly pitifully small dog, who he also loves more than his children, across Regents Park."

While Mickey and his crew stared at Sherlock in various degrees of surprise, John rolled his eyes and Mrs Hudson smiled, "Oh good, Sherlock, you're just in time for some breakfast."

"No, thank you, Mrs Hudson"

The landlady shook her head and sighed, "You ought to look after yourself. No sleep. No food. Honestly."

"Where have you been?" John asked as his friend shrugged off his coat and sat down.

"Thinking," Sherlock replied curtly.

"Right," Emma started shaking off the strangeness of the last few minutes, "I take it we are going for the antiques angle then?"

"Precisely," Mickey said, "Emma- you can do background information. Sean- likes/dislikes etc. Ash- antiques. What's hot and what's not? What can we 'sell' to him? And Albert...we need to get you a dog."

"I'll borrow Betty's," Albert stated.

Mrs Hudson bristled, "Betty?"

"Just a friend," Albert clarified and Mrs Hudson blushed again. John looked between the pair and smiled at the obvious attraction.

"This all needs to be done quickly," Mickey reminded them all.

"Emma and Sean can meet with Mycroft in an hour," Sherlock stated.

"Excuse me?" Emma turned to face the consulting detective.

"You were put in charge of details concerning Frank Thumble, were you not?" Sherlock drawled, "Mycroft has his file ready. He texted me the basics but there is much more information available."

"What exactly does your brother do?" Sean asked.

"Mycroft is the British Government."

"No, I'm pretty sure that's David Cameron," Sean responded.

John snorted rather loudly into his cup of tea causing everyone to turn to look at him, "Sorry, it's just..."

"David Cameron is Prime Minister. My brother is the Government."

"Or the CIA," John added, "When his feels like it."

"The most dangerous man you will ever meet," Sherlock finished, his bored tone contrasting with his words.

Ash sniffed, "Funny, I was beginning to think that was you."

Sherlock eyes flashed but he was interrupted from responding by Lestrade, who entered the room with numerous files under his arms, "It's my experience that you have to keep your wits about you when you are with either Holmes brother but this one," Lestrade gestured towards Sherlock, "Well, he is more a danger to himself than anything."

"Are these the Gareth Harrogate files?" Sherlock said reaching for the papers, the mere sight of which had completely distracted him from what Lestrade said.

"Yeah, I gathered everything I could when I could finally get in the building," Lestrade sat down heavily in a chair, rested his head back and closed his eyes. He had had next to no sleep since he'd heard about the Scotland Yard shut-down.

"It seems our victim had got himself into some trouble after you conned him," Sherlock mused flicking his eyes over the files, "I think we should interview the sister first, John."

"Alright," John said getting up and placing his plate on the sink.

Ash got up and did the same, "I better get researching, I'll be back as soon as. You coming with Albert? We can go past Betty's?"

"Yup. I'll keep you posted, Michael," Albert said clasping a hand on the younger man's shoulder as he and Ash said their goodbyes and left.

"Where is Mycroft's?" Emma asked.

"He'll send a car when he's ready for you," John answered as he went to sit by Sherlock at the desk.

Sean glanced around the room at the remaining men- Sherlock, John and Mickey had begun a conversation and Lestrade appeared to now be fully asleep. He looked back towards his sister, "What do we do until then?"

"Well," Mrs Hudson put her hand on the young man's shoulder and directed his attention to the sink, "those dishes won't wash themselves and I have some washing that could do with hanging out."

Emma smiled, "Ok, we'll help."

"We will?" Sean shot her an unimpressed look.

"It's the least we can do, Sean," Emma said pointedly, "Now come on, you wash and I'll dry."

...