Many thanks to 'a wolf is a perfect paradox' - this would not happen without you.

On a side note - I'm floored by the fact someone guessed the right movie. Wilhelm and Amelia were quoting 'Another Thin Man'; the 'Thin Man' movie series is a fun detective series made in the 1930s to 40s. Check them out!

"And don't forget," Mary said as she opened the door for John. He found that he was splitting his time between Mary's place and his own. Something for him to muse over. But now was not the time for that; there was somewhere he needed to be.

"You're only a phone call away if I need you." John finished the oft said phrase with a smile. He was glad that Mary was very understanding of the situation and did not pause to offer any help that she could to either him or Sherlock. John also enjoyed the fact that he did not have warn about Sherlock when Mary came for a visit at Baker Street, and she took every strange, rude, and bizarre thing Sherlock did with stride.

She even laughed at possibility of a black car following her around. As if it was something of a novelty from a spy moive.

"Dinner, tonight?"

She nodded before giving him a kiss on the cheek. "Give Sherlock my best."

-MHSHEH-

Mycroft was not surprise to learn that his sister was an early riser from Amelia when she came to drop off some of Enola's things. So in the morning her empty room did not cause him concern, it was finding her asleep, curled up in a corner of the kitchen with a large kitchen knife posed ready for attack that concerned him. Questions flashed through his mind of what could have possibly motivate Enola to vacate her room and arm herself. All the possibilities were unsettling.

He knew she had little sleep and of what she had were doubtlessly restless. It lined her face and made her look far older. He himself felt far older due to the whole ordeal. Now came the problem of how to wake her without causing harm to either herself or him.

"Enola." Mycroft spoke softly. The sound was enough to stir her as she jumped to a sitting position with the knife pointed in front of her towards him. The focused look in her eye was offset by the slight tremor in her hands. The morning light reflected off of the moving blade causing movement on the wall. "You're safe."

The tremor increased as she took in his words and her eyes squeezed shut holding back tears, nodding as she took in her surroundings. But she could not hold them back and the tears spilled out. The knife fell from her hands and clattered on the floor as she grabbed hold of her head, racking with silent sobs. He carefully approached her and made quick work of getting the knife out of her reach. Giving comfort was never his strong suit and the situation only highlighted that fact. Knowing full well that he could not leave Enola like this, he knelt down on one knee in front of her.

But when he found himself eye level with her, Mycroft realized that he truly did not know what to do to relieve Enola of her distress. He could only watch as she failed to hold back her tears. A resolution was made that if he found the person who hurt his sister that person would wish to be placed on death row. His wrath, which are reached far in the wake of Sherlock's 'demise', would be far greater than any could imagine.

-MHSHEH-

Isabelle's main objective was to read the reports that were lying on her desk but her eyes wandered to her empty cup and her mind contemplated the possibility of a refill. She knew that she should not – her stomach would not thank her for it later.

And to be far, her mind was wandering because she was more concern with what Lestrade was discussing with Lucas. Before the detective went to talk with the superintendent, Isabelle had already expressed her concern over Sherlock's involvement in the case since his sister was now one of the victims.

She had nothing against Sherlock or his method, but she understood the effects of personal tragedy. Despite being so young Isabelle remembered that her mother was never quite the same after her father's death, none of her family was ever the same. She did not even want to contemplate what the Holmes brothers were going through. And their sister was still alive, living with the scars of what had happen to her.

Maybe she would get a refill on coffee. However movement out of the corner of her eye grabbed her attention, and she released a sigh of concern and determination.

She honestly was not surprised to see Sherlock and John there at the Yard, making a beeline to Lucas' office. Remembering how exhausted Lestrade looked that morning and how worried he was about the investigation and his talk with Lucas, an interruption curtsey Sherlock would not help matters much. No time was wasted on her part to intersect the pair. Hoping she gave off the air of confidence she got in front of Sherlock and looked him in the eye. "You can't go in."

Sherlock did not spare a glance towards the Sergeant and brushed abruptly past her. She was not deterred as she quickened her pace.

"You can't go in." Isabelle stated again as she got in front of Sherlock to prevent him from going any further.

"They're discussing the case." Sherlock spoke flatly not even bothering to look at Isabelle. "I'm a consultant on the case, I should be present."

"Your sister is also a victim in said case." Isabelle cautiously pointed out. Both she and John tensed waiting for Sherlock's reaction to her words.

Piercing would be one word to describe Sherlock's glare at Isabelle; the word would also do the action an injustice.

"Your point?" He demanded with a slight undertone of threatening. Daring her to say the words that hung in the air around them.

"My point?" She was just dumbfounded, but she was undeterred. "My point is that you're too personally connected to this case. I thought Lestrade talked to you about this."

"He mentioned it briefly, but the fact that my sister is a victim won't interfere with my deductions." He shot at her.

"Like Hell, it shouldn't!" She practically yelled at him causing a few people to stop and stare. Isabelle turned to them, almost as though she could sense their stares. "Move along mon amiee! There's nothing to see." There was a frustrated annoyance to her words that caused everyone to wisely move along quickly.

John thought he heard one of them mutter something about the fate of a copier machine. If he was not so worried about the argument in front of him he felt that he would have asked Isabelle about it. It was not the first time he heard something about a copier in relation to her.

Isabelle turned back to Sherlock; their disgust at each other was on equal levels if for different reasons.

"The very fact that you said that just proves you're not thinking clearly." Isabelle stressed trying her best not to explode at him. "Nobody would be unfazed after seeing a family member like that."

"I'm not like other people." Sherlock said simply.

"You honestly believe that?" She was confounded. "Didn't I say move along?" She added over her shoulder when more people were lingering a bit too long in the hallway. She hated the nosiness of some of the people within the department, always in search of some drama it would appear. They must of gotten a kick out of the Holmes-Donovan saga and were hoping for a new episode between the consultant and the latest sergeant. Maybe there was even a betting pool on them.

Had the situation not been so dire John would have laughed at the way everyone did what Isabelle said without a second thought.

"As it stands right now you can't investigate this case." Isabelle continued on bluntly. "You're too personally connected to this case."

Not good was the first thought that crossed John's mind. The second thought was wondering if Isabelle should take a few steps back away from Sherlock.

"I'm able to separate my feelings from the case." He reworked his angle not raising his voice, but it still had the weight of a yell. In fact, the quiet controlled manner in which he said it suggested that of a tiger posed to strike.

Isabelle was disturbed by Sherlock's remark and it was displayed on her face along with disbelief. "Your sister is a victim and you're saying you can be completely objectionable with this case?"

"Caring isn't an advantage." Sherlock stated sternly.

Isabelle mirthlessly laughed. "Bullsh-"

"Where's Lestrade?"

Sherlock and Isabelle turned to see both of the Lehrers looking at them. John found himself looking back and forth between the two groups of people wondering what would happen next.

"Talking with the Superintendent." Isabelle answered automatically. She stepped back towards the middle of the hallway in some unconscious attempt to barricade the way.

"Right." Wilhelm looked back and forth between the two before nodding and turning to his wife. "Make sure that they don't kill each other."

"I'm the wrong person to ask for miracles." Amelia quipped as she leaned against the wall with arms crossed.

They were an odd sight amidst the tension of the past few days. They were the epitome of calm and collectiveness. Both their expression was a cross of bored, interested, and slightly bemused as they took in the scene before them. If anything they looked liked they were low on sleep, for which they were properly armed with coffee. Wilhelm finished off his cup before throwing it in a nearby trash bin and doing the same with Amelia's already empty cup.

"You'll do fine." Wilhelm assured her in a bored manner. He patted her shoulder in reassurance. "Excuse me." He added before leaving for Lucas' office.

"How are you doing John?" She asked as she approached the doctor wearing a warm smile.

"Alright." He answered with some uncertainty; he was still unsure how he felt towards the Lehrers. He did see dark circles under Ameila's eyes revealing that she wasn't really as unaffected as she was putting on.

"That's good." Turning to Sherlock and Isabelle, Amelia shook her head. "I should have brought popcorn."

John unintentionally sputtered a laugh which only let Amelia smirk even wider.

-MHSHEH-

"Let's for a moment pretend that I'm rather stupid and need things repeated multiple times for me to, at least, get the gist of what you're saying." Lucas requested as he laced his fingers together placing them on his desk. He did not like what Wilhelm was suggesting. "You're saying that I should ignore protocol and allow Holmes to remain on the case."

"Well, putting aside the fact that Sherlock would not leave this case alone for any reason, the person behind the killings would not allow it." The American shrugged. The office still had boxes of old reports piled around still waiting to be read. Wilhelm looked at a few just next to the desk imagining how many boxes were there when Lucas initially began. Both he and Lestrade sat opposite Lucas with his desk separating them.

"He wants Holmes involved." Lucas deadpanned not liking what he was hearing.

"And Lestrade, as well." Wilhelm pointed out. "They are his worthy opponents. The ones that will satisfy his goal of balance. To remove them is to annoy them and that will cause an escalation. We do not want more blood on our hands."

"But how would he even know I would get assigned the case?" Lestrade asked.

"That's one thing I've never been able to figure out." Wilhelm confessed. "I have theories, but rather flimsy ones that don't explain everything. But that is beside the point; the point is that Lestrade and Sherlock need to remain on this case or something much worse will happen."

"How bad are we talking?" Lucas eased himself back. He felt his shoulders tense almost in anticpation of whatever came from Wilhelm's mouth.

"With one of the early cases with Tomica where we did charge lead investigator, the new lead detective was shot in the back." Wilhelm leaned back in his chair. "Almost lost the use of his legs."

The remarked justified Lucas' tense shoulders. It seemed the case would not change hands after all.

-MHSHEH-

"Did you just con the Chief Superintendent into keeping Sherlock and the D.I. on the case?" Amelia confronted her husband in hushed urgent tone.

"You wouldn't be asking if you already didn't know the answer." Wilhelm stated. He sighed in frustration when he realized what she has done. "You slipped a comm on me."

"We both know how you get when it comes to Tomica." She defended her action as he patted his pockets looking for the offending object.

Wilhelm glared at his wife; it was not so much an actual glare as a stern look of annoyance with a little dash of resentment towards her for being right.

"You heard correctly – I conned Lucas into keeping Lestrade and Sherlock on the case." Wilhelm hissed to allow his exasperation to be cooled by the act of talking with dropping the comm for Amelia to catch. She almost missed. But she was not one to miss, and she was too angry to allow herself to miss.

"Why?" She demanded, pocketing the comm. "Based on what Tomica or this copy cat has done so far, we can confer that they are being targeted. They need to be far away from this! We could – "

"My dear." He cut her off. "I know you don't like working with law enforcement any more than we have to. With this case we must work with the police in a bit more intimate fashion than what we are accustom to. Even if I said nothing and Lucas reassigned this case to another officer, do you honestly think that either of those men would be any safer? And do you think that they would stop simply because they were ordered to? That the person behind this would simply take their attention elsewhere when they're so obviously fixated?"

As much as she did not want to, Amelia shook her head. "I hate it when you're right like this."

"No more than I already do myself." Wilhelm said walking away leaving Amelia to follow him.

Amelia wanted to cry, but she was not going to let herself. It would not be fair to anyone if she did, but that did not stop her eyes getting watery. As with before, many years ago, she had to be strong for Wilhelm. This did not, however, stop her from being very upset with her husband.

There was a strange suspicion that Wilhelm was allowing himself to be pulled back into the darkness that he had escaped from. Whether it be from wounded pride, a second chance to put nightmares to bed, or revenge for their daughter, Amelia was unsure.

-MHSHEH-

Hatch sat on the floor leaning against the couch thinking over everything that had happened over the past few days. He was able to book a few suites in some hard-to-book, upscale hotel with a few keystrokes. His suite had a very nice view of the city with the ceiling to floor windows, but he was content to sit on the floor against the couch and watch his son who had fallen asleep on the blanket Tekla had put down for him to play on the hardwood floors.

Having become a father himself, Hatch found that he could more empathize with Wilhelm and Amelia. He could not think how he would be or how he would act if something had happen to Killian. He shuddered at the thought.

"Learn anything?" Hatch asked when he heard the door open and close. He kept his eyes on Killian; lest his son disappear before his eyes.

"Called all my contacts in London and then some," Carleton walked over to Hatch and was not surprised to see him on the floor. Without a second thought he joined them and sat across them. "No contracts were put out for Elle or any of her aliases, at least the ones I know about. Whoever did it must be someone who doesn't know us."

"How'd you figure?" Hatch looked up to his friend.

"Do you think anyone who has even heard a whisper of Wilhelm and Amelia's reputation would even think to lay a hand on their daughter?" Carleton looked Hatch in the eye.

"One could call it suicide." Hatch spoke flatly.

"As it is, the mill is alive with rumors," Carleton continued with a sigh. "Everyone wants to know how the Professors with retaliate once they find the person."

"There's a non de plume I haven't heard in awhile." He looked out over the city and a thought occurred. "Maybe Elle's took a few jobs that she couldn't handle." At that remark, Carleton gave him a incredulous look. When Hatch caught sight of it he had to do a double take to make sure he saw it correctly. "You're right; Elle's too smart for that. But it is possible that one of her jobs brought the attentions of someone who didn't know her connection to Wilhelm or Amelia."

"As far as I can tell she hasn't taken a job in the past two months." Carleton sighed. "Given the state of some of her injuries she was captive for at least one month."

"But she was working on something." Hatch suddenly remembered. "She asked me to look over some coding she developed. It looked like a hack and delete code."

"Please explain using small non-geek words."

Hatch thought a moment figuring out his words. "Basically it looked like she was trying break into something in order to erase it or hide it, at least."

"What would she want to hide?" Carleton thought out loud. "If we find out what we could find out why she was targeted."

"Based on what she showed me her target was in London." Hatch grabbed his computer from the couch and opened it. "If I had her computer I could figure it out. Any idea where Elle was staying?"

"Well, I can sniff around -"

"Or you could call Cecily."

"Or I could call Cecily."

Please let me know what you think!