The next afternoon, Alice came downstairs, looking around the room through bleary eyes. Mrs. Holmes was up drinking tea and doing some research on the legal process with Mycroft. Mr. Holmes was busy adding logs to the fireplace, while John, Bill, and Lestrade were holding some kind of meeting in a corner of the living room. Mary had been up in the morning and had gone to take a nap, so they were all trying to keep fairly quiet. Alice went to sit with Mycroft and Mrs. Holmes, who were huddled around the computer that had nearly brought a nation to its knees. "Any word yet?"

"He's been taken down to Pentonville," Mycroft reported, grimacing at how red her eyes were. "I think I've found a way out of a public trial, but you're definitely not going to like it. Come outside with me. Mummy, why don't you have something to eat? All you've had is a bit of toast for breakfast, and that was hours ago."

"Yes, yes, right you are, Mikey," Mrs. Holmes nodded, going off to the kitchen. She was still partially in shock and just beginning to process what had happened and what it would mean for her family. She just stood at the counter for a moment before shaking her head and opening a cabinet, taking out a coffee mug.

Alice grabbed her coat from a hook by the door, following Mycroft into the chilly air outside. They hadn't walked very far when Mycroft lit a cigarette, offering her one before saying, "I've found a way to get him out of a trial. You know he would be sentenced and would go mad in a prison - or escape, which would lead to even more trouble for me. There would be no way around that. There is a mission I can send him on to Eastern Europe, one that would require all of his detective skills. But I'm sure you know what that means."

"He won't come back," Alice had already deduced, speaking up immediately. "You'll send him on this mission with a signed death warrant in his coat pocket."

Mycroft nodded. "He would, in all likelihood, never make it back to England."

"You said it's a choice, right? I assume it's one you're going to make, to sway him one way or the other," Alice said, daring to ask, "Then what are you going to do with him?"

"I've already called him at Pentonville. He's taking the mission to Eastern Europe," Mycroft informed her. "I've told the others that it will be dangerous, but it will be a service to his country that he would be able to use this mission in place of a life sentence, to drop the charges. They don't know what will, in all likelihood, happen."

She nodded, looking over to the garden that had long since frozen over. It took her a few seconds, but Alice got up the nerve to ask him, "When?"

"He leaves on January first." Mycroft dropped his cigarette butt, grinding it into the frozen soil with his heel. "I've pulled a few strings, and they're going to release him on New Year's Eve, to spend his last few hours with you. But it's only on the condition that he remains in your custody the entire time. It's a risk, knowing that you're as close to him as you are. But I've assured the prison that you're able to be trusted. If anything happens to him in that time, you're going to be held accountable, which could mean life in prison."

"Thank you." She didn't have much else to say. She didn't know what else to say, after all. Sherlock was going to be sent to his death in a matter of days. He was locked up, but he'd be with her for a little while longer, at least. "Can we visit him?"

Pentonville Prison in north London wasn't new territory for Alice. She'd been there plenty of times before on cases, either searching for suspects or bringing people to the prison. But that day, the high walls and razor wire fences seemed foreign. The normal receptionist, Merle, said hello to her, but she only managed to wave back. She felt empty, dead inside, like everything up to that point had been a dream. Surely it must have been even worse for Sherlock. But that didn't matter. She would (hopefully) be able to see him soon, after they went through security.

Mycroft waved them through, the receptionist allowing them back into a tunnel that branched into a larger network of tunnels that led underneath the prison towards each area. Mycroft led her down the tunnels, knowing exactly where he was going. They met up with a security guard, who allowed them into an elevator, bringing them up to the maximum security area Another guard asked them for their ID's, but upon seeing Mycroft, he nodded a reverent, "Mr. Holmes." They passed into the cell block, other prisoners jeering at them and calling out for their attention.

Alice paid them no mind, rushing to the last cell on the block where Sherlock was sitting on his bunk, meditating. "Sherlock!" He didn't respond, lost in thought. "Uh, Sherlock? How are you doing?" She sat down outside the bars, knowing that he was lost in his mind palace and would probably not be paying attention for a while. While Mycroft leaned against the wall in boredom, Alice kept talking. "John and Mary are doing well. Your parents are worried, but there's always hope. Lestrade passed along his regards too. Mrs. Hudson says hi, and she tells me that Chester misses you. Ah, what else? Oh, I don't know if Mycroft told you, but they're going to let you come home for a bit before you're sent off to Eastern Europe. I'm not sure about the details, but they're-" Sherlock jumped off of the bed, suddenly coming out of his meditative state.

He lept over to the cell bars, dropping to his knees to embrace Alice, since she hadn't had time to stand. As he hugged her through the bars, he smiled for the first time in days. "You're here." She nodded, Sherlock continuing, "I thought they wouldn't let you back here. Mycroft's called, but he said they wouldn't let you talk and that only barristers-"

"I just lied and said I'm here to represent you," she joked, taking his hand. "Seriously, though, Sherlock, they're going to let you come home as long as you wear an ankle monitor and as long as I'm with you. And before you even ask, no, I'm not helping you trick the monitor. But you'll be able to come home, that's what matters."

"Hey, you there." Alice shuddered, both of them turning to see the man being held diagonally across from Sherlock's cell. Lord Moran was glowering at them from behind the bars, looking slightly older and growing a beard that was rather unbecoming of him, but Lord Moran all the same. "Hello there, Alice. This is where you got me. And now you're letting your idiot boyfriend out. Thanks." He spat towards them, ALice and Sherlock turning away as Mycroft told Moran to be quiet. "Oh, it's not like you can add more time to my sentence. I'll be here for the rest of my life no matter what you do."

When they finally had to leave, Moran started yelling at them again. Sherlock assured Alice that Moran had not shut up for more than twenty minutes since he had gotten there. "It's white noise by this point."

"I'll see you soon," Alice promised, hugging him goodbye through the bars. "I'll try to come back, but I think Mycroft was the one who really got us in here. I'll try to call, I'll try to do something. Even if I have to volunteer to transport someone from the Yard, I'll do everything I can to come back here."

She headed back to Baker Street, since Mycroft had insisted that they pack up their things and head home that day. His parents would be coming to stay with him and Lestrade. Mrs. Hudson met her at the door, Chester trotting close behind. Alice embraced her, saying, "He's coming home for a little while before they send him off. I… we're… we've only got him for a little while longer."

"It's okay, dear." Mrs. Hudson told her, shaking her head. She would have had something motherly to day, but she really had no idea what to tell the girl, whose fiance was destined to die. What was anyone supposed to say in a situation like that? At least they would be getting a little more time with him. It would have been even worse if he had been killed right away in the firefight that was threatening to break out at Magnussen's home. Especially since it would have been in front of her.

The days leading up to Sherlock's release seemed to drag on forever, but eventually, Lestrade drove Alice over to Pentonville, since Sherlock was supposed to be transported to and from the prison in an official police vehicle. However, they went out for lunch as soon as Sherlock was released, since he hadn't had real food in days. Mrs. Hudson nearly screamed when they walked in, Lestrade reminding Sherlock not to take the tracking device off. "They will know, Sherlock. So don't try to fool it." Sherlock nodded, but paid no attention to what Lestrade was saying. He was just glad to be home.

All throughout the evening, Sherlock tried to forget about what was going to happen the next day, how he was going to have to get on a plane and leave them all forever. The next day was going to be filled with meetings and goodbyes, but he already knew which one would be the worst. Just thinking about it made him draw Alice closer, not being able to bear the thought that he would have to leave her again. And this time, it was a lot less likely that he would be coming back. "Sherlock?" she finally asked, seeing that he was zoned out. She switched the television off - they'd been watching some sort of crime drama, predicting who the killer was and how it would be done way before it happened - and turned to look at him. "I'm so sorry. If there was any way I could convince them to let you stay here and work off your sentence, I would, in a heartbeat. I wish there was something I could do."

He shook his head, turning to her to say, "There would be no way. Intellectually, I'm too dangerous for this country. I tried selling government secrets, and I know a lot of them already. I'm too big of a risk to have around at this point. It's only logical that they would want to get rid of me, and use something I'm good at to bring me down. They can just say I died trying to run, or trying to work off my sentence on a government mission. The case file will get sealed up, and in a few years, no one will remember anything that happened."

Alice kissed him, apologizing for the second time. Sherlock pulled her closer, kissing her again. You have to leave her again. What did she do to deserve this? And yet she's still here. She's always been here, through all of that time. She waited two years for you, and this is what you've done to her. This is going to be your last night with her. You're going to have to leave in less than 24 hours. Forever, this time. She's going to hate you for it, even if she says she doesn't. She's going to hate you for leaving her again. "You know I love you."

"Obviously," she smiled, kissing her fiance. I'm going to lose him. I'm really going to lose him, and there's no coming back from this. They won't let him come back, even if he survives the mission. They'll kill him no matter what, Silently, Sherlock wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her onto his lap. "I love you too, Sherl-"

Sherlock made a noise that was something between a soft moan and a sigh as she moved onto his lap, closing his eyes for a moment as she moved to straddle his waist. "I… you, ah… do you want to… should we… er, ah... bed?" he asked, his voice suddenly heavier, something she hadn't heard before.

Alice nodded, allowing him to half-carry her. "Bed."

A.N.: I've stayed up almost all night writing... But oh well, now there's a scandal on Baker Street and I've got to write it. I'm going to get some sleep, but I'll probably be up writing tomorrow.