AN: One word in my book to describe Moriarty... yummy.

Sherlock POV- All new

Sherlock POV

"My, my, my. Death looks good on you!"

I knew that voice anywhere. Bouncing up and down, scratching at the insides of my mind. Far to pleased sounding for any good purpose.

Moriarty.

The sound of his soft sole shoes against the hard linoleum floor echoed in the room as he walked into my peripheral vision on the other side of the bed. I kept my eyes on John but tilted my head -if only slightly- to make sure I could see if Moriarty was planning to do anything. At first glance I noticed he looked remarkably similar to how he looked on the day he "died".

Expensive black suit. Complete with tie pin.

Hands in pockets. No weapons.

No tan. Indoors often.

Head still intact.

"Then again I could say the same for me." He continued. "I guess great minds really do think alike. And what a great mind we have."

"How did you get in here?"

Mycroft had the building closed down. This was not meant to happen.

He made a sound of disapproval. "A magician never reveals their secrets."

I peeked at the camera in the corner of the room and decided to buy my time until someone caught on. Nothing good would come from me causing a fight so close to John while he was injured. He could be injured even more. Or worse.

"And you're not a magician. You didn't pay them off. Not these guards. Didn't kill them or there would be a lot more yelling. No distraction would bring them away from this door. You had to trick them. How?"

"You'd be surprised what a bit of flirting and a background in forgery can get you. Doctor Karl Hellfern at your service." He gave a slight bow and continued to stare me down. I refused to look at him but he did not let up.

Impersonating a doctor would be easy enough but how did he get in without Mycroft noticing?

"You snuck in even before we arrived." I shook my head at the obvious answer. He knew this was going to happen.

He would have known I'd take John to a different hospital and be unable to reach any other. That or he could have had the chance to pay the taxi driver subtly. Either way we still ended up in this situation. Moriarty was probably waiting around and actually saw us all come into the building. He could have even been in the room John was brought into when I was unconscious. He could have been in the room with me when I was unconscious too.

"Isn't it just like a surprise party?"

I believe it was because I was so unamused that he chuckled.

I thought about asking how he had managed to change into a suit without anyone seeing or questioning him and about how he had gotten under the nose of the door guard but I was not underestimating him. He would be able to do it.

"What do you want?" I cut to the chase and gripped John's hand a little harder, willing him to stay under for just a bit longer.

"I just wanted to see for myself." He walked around the end of the bed, behind my chair and rounded to the other side of it all while continuing his explanation. "The great Sherlock Holmes! Dead man walking! Love sick like a little puppy." He leaned down next to my face and started barking like a dog in my ear as he rounded to the front of my chair, forcing himself in front of me. I continued to look at John and as I did Moriarty started to reach out with his hand towards him.

"Don't touch him." I warned, fairly deadly. I would have no one touching John if I could help it. No one needed to touch him but me anymore.

"Ohho possessive aren't we?!" He skipped away from the bed and walked back around to the other side, running his hands along the outside of the bed, just out of reach of John. Just to annoy me. "You should have kept your pet on a tighter leash." He reached the top of the bed and leaned down directly over John's face, glancing between the medical ventilator and John's chest more times than necessary. "Isn't he supposed to be breathing?"

"Get away from him." I growled again, giving in and finally looking up at him. He bit his lip and smiled wide, showing all his teeth. It was what he wanted.

"Oh there's no need to worry about me Sherly." He stood back up and away from John but didn't move far enough for me to be comfortable. "Quite nasty what she did to him. Isn't it? Can he still hear me? John?!" He leaned down right next to his face again. "Johnny boy?!"

"He can't hear you."

"That's no fun." Moriarty pouted before turning and sliding another chair from the room up to the other side of the bed, symmetrical to mine. I made sure he didn't touch anything else and glanced at the camera again. There was still no one coming. "Don't worry, I'll take care of Ms. Brine for you." Moriarty pulled my attention back as he crossed his legs over each other and started thrumming his fingers on the arms of the chair. The rhythm meant nothing.

"Promotion coming her way?" I asked bitterly. It still didn't make sense to me. How I could have missed it or how Moriarty was a part of it.

"Oh no! No, no, no, no, no. Ms. Brine is a loose cannon. Much like her brother. I DON'T LIKE LOOSE CANNONS!" He suddenly exploded -much like a loose cannon himself- and his voice echoed in the small room. John didn't wake and no guard came inside. "Much too messy." His gentle tone returned from his minor, unnecessary explosion. "Though they are fun to watch." He didn't continue and I could feel his eyes on me again. I stayed looking at John a few more moments before giving in and regarding his existence again. He smiled as soon as we locked eyes. "Do you like the presents I've been leaving you?"

Presents?

No packages. Not literal.

Cases? Probably.

Or the deal. He would consider that a gift.

"I don't know what-"

"What about the best one? Called out to work on a case with pirates." I glanced over at him again as he squinted at me. I had assumed that he had something to do with that case. The circumstances for me getting it didn't really make sense. It didn't explain why he made me aware of that fact or let me have it in the first place. "Your dear brother did tell me how you always wanted to be one. Isn't that right? Dressing up and running around the house." His Cheshire cat's grin returned as he leaned up against the side of the bed. There was still no move against John but my eyes were locked on him just in case. "You'd look rather dashing as one. Maybe I'll have you wear something next time you come round." The smile he had quickly fell from his face when I didn't reply. "Where's the fighting back? It's no fun unless you fight back."

Keep him entertained or John will be in danger.

"Why did you do this to him? I've done nothing wrong."

I hadn't broken the deal in any way. I had only enforced it. John was still unknowing so there was no way he did anything against it. There was no reason for him to do this. Tammy was the one who actually did it, had the motives, planted the relaxant, but Moriarty had control over everything. He said Tammy was a loose cannon but even he had control over the loose ones.

"This? I didn't do this." He mocked innocence in his voice and expression. "Doesn't mean I couldn't have stopped it. Either one of us could have. Oohhooo," The octaves of his voice jumped around as he twisted fully in his chair to face me, excited. "You haven't met him have you? He's right outside the door. I know you've been dying to meet him." He grinned at the word dying raising his eyebrows to make sure I understood.

That only led me to have more questions as to how both Moriarty and Moran were able to stay in the building and how stupid Mycroft's men were for not catching on by now.

"See, I keep him on a tight leash. All I have to do is call." He tilted his head to the side a moment seeming to decide on something. "Or whistle." He tossed out and I took the opportunity to look at the camera again. It was beeping red, recording. I didn't understand why no one had come yet. There must have been a problem. "You can stop worrying about the cameras. I took care of them before you got here."

Mycroft's men couldn't be bought off so they would actually have to be fooled. It had to have been every camera in the system.

"Running on a loop?" I asked with fake interest.

"Sort of." He ran a hand over his face and slid his palm against his cheek, resting his elbow on the bed, gaping at me with his mouth open. He seemed to be looking at me for something but I didn't know what.

"I wasn't worried."

"No you're worried about other things." He pulled his eyes away from me and raked them over John's unconscious body in a way that had my fingers curling.

Suddenly, he got up and put his hands back in his pockets and paced over to the window in the room, staring down at the street below. It would have caused alarm or some sort of flashback to the last encounter we had if it wasn't for the fact that the windows were showing his reflection.

"I was right about you." He said out of the blue, not looking at me, continuing his gaze down. "You're not ordinary. Not like the rest of these mongrels walking around in ignorance." He tilted his head back and forth bouncing along with his words before popping out his lips and sighing with and exaggerated whine. "You're worse. You have the potential to be so much more." His hands came out of his pockets and turned to fists in the air. "To be above it all."

"To be like you?" I asked, recalling what he said in our last in-person conversation. He had said I was just like him. Truthfully we did have the similarities. The genius, the lack of morals, the lack of conscience. But we were nothing alike.

He twisted back around with another smile on his face as he walked back to the side of my chair. "Oh but you are me. You could be. But you let it all go for one simple, broken, delusional man." He over articulated ever adjective nearly spitting as he leaned into my personal space. "Do you even realize how delusional? I have the tapes if you want to watch. They make for a good laugh." He sing-songed his voice before breaking out into a great open smile. I glared at him and gripped John's hand tighter, trying not to lose the control I had. "What's that then? Getting mad at me?" He pulled away just a bit if only to get a better look at me. "Tisk tisk darling. Letting your emotions get the better of you?" He questioned with an unhappy growl and waited for me to answer him, but I refused.

He walked to the front of my chair and sat down on the edge of John's bed, just out of his reach but very much so pushing it for me to be alright. Moriarty grinned again, content with my discomfort. "You're probably thinking about killing me right now. Seb is right outside, get us both out of the way." He nodded towards the door before returning his scowl to me. "I'm sure your brother and his drones will help you out." He leaned forward, putting a hand on either side of my chair, trapping me in. "I can see how badly you want it." Before I could pull away he had physically grabbed my free hand in his own.

"What-" I cut myself off when his hands brought mine over his neck, reminiscent of the position I had Tammy in that evening. Only this time it wasn't the smooth, small neck of the woman who tried to kill my John. It was the rough, stubble ridden neck of one Mr. James Moriarty. The man who ruined everything.

A wicked grin crossed over his face as he held my hand there, keeping me locked down with both of his own. His eyes widened in mad glee and his crooked smile continued to stay. "Wring my neck until no air is left. Looking me in the eyes and watching my life leave me." He squeezed my hand against his own throat making me feel the windpipe beneath and the warm blood that flowed around it. Each word vibrated his throat against my palm. "Just to be sure I'm actually dead this time."

I had to admit it was incredibly tempting, having him so close, literally directly under my fingertips. My fingers started to squeeze on their own and another smile broke out from him. He ran one hand down my arm, locking it around my elbow to push me even further.

"Don't worry. I'm sure John will understand." Hearing his name made me lose my sight on the man above me and jump to the one on the bed. He still was unmoving and I felt his hand limp and warm underneath my harsh grip. It wasn't untrue. John, of all people to kill, would understand Moriarty deserved to die. "Just like he will understand all the other deaths you've caused." Moriarty pulled me away from John and back to his attention.

That was his plan then. Guilt trip. I wouldn't be able to stop him, to kill him, because of guilt?

I wasn't going to let that happen.

As if he sensed that he chuckled a bit, his Adam's apple bumping into my palm. "Then again, if Seb and I disappear, someone is bound to carry out the order. And there will be nothing I can do to stop them from pulling the plug." He twisted his neck in my hand to look over at John beside him.

It was true. Just like on the roof, Moriarty had the power. He had John.

There was nothing I could do.

I loosened my grip and he let my hand slide through his and back down to the arm of the chair. "Oh look at how dejected you are. Poor puppy kicked while he's down." He bounced down off of the hospital bed and rounded back to his seat on the other side. "You'll just have to go back to chipping away from the outside. Or have you given up on that? Have I given enough to satiate your insatiable needs?" I did not miss his hand sliding from his knee to rest on his inner thigh making the double entendre very clear. "The offer still stands." His voice dropped, leaving any kidding tone behind. "You've fallen Sherlock. You don't belong with the angels anymore."

"The answer is still no." I spat back, looking away from him and back to the hand in mine. John's bruising would not be helped by this conversation.

"You are fun aren't you? You're going to be fun to break. And that's just it. You will break. You're already starting to. I can feel it. My little fallen angel." He twisted his chair to face me completely and leaned forwards, as much over John as he could without touching. "You're stuck. You can't do a thing. But I got you. And you'll do everything I want. All you can do is dance for me. I finally got you dancing." He gave a gleeful chuckle before his face fell completely again. "Dance you will. Fight me you will. Because the day you stop fighting is the day I cut your strings. And what a string you have." He pointedly looked at John again and glared back at me. "No need to get tense darling." He lifted a hand and ran it along the bedding next to John's leg, still careful not to touch him. "I won't touch a hair on John's head. No," He curled his tongue in his mouth and shot it out to lick his lips. "I need John alive. Unless I get bored. You know what happened the last time I was bored. Don't make me bored Sherlock." With that he pushed off the chair and sauntered out of the room clearly humming the start of the chorus for Stayin' Alive.

His humming was a finish to his warning. On the roof Moriarty said that living was just so dull. That was why he killed himself and killed me. But a man like that, could never really kill himself. Not really. I couldn't. So if he got bored again, he would have to be more creative.

I didn't want to find out how.

Dinner in the microwave. You have to eat something. Have fun with the science and come home soon. - JW

I read the text off my phone as soon as Lestrade handed it to me. He had come to check on John and give me the cell. Molly had given it to him when he showed up at the hospital. Too late.

He was making some comments about John and asking if he was alright but I ignored him. I just kept re-reading. It was so simple and it could have been the last thing I'd ever gotten from him.

"Do you want to wait for your brother or should we just dive in now?" Lestrade sat down in the chair Moriarty had only just left, minutes ago. No one had brought any attention to the subject. I didn't see the point. He didn't do a thing to John and he was long gone. It was his own idiocy for not asking about the second chair's purpose.

"Now."

"Alright." Lestrade sighed, looking at John, but continued to speak. "Well the phone was a burner. Disconnected now. She left before we got to the hospital. Didn't leave anything behind. Myc's people are looking into the aliases now. The bomb was triggered when the ambulance drove over the manhole. Dual explosion. Two dead. We don't have evidence she put them there but I think we can safely say she did."

"Someone underneath her. She wouldn't want to get her hands dirty."

"She had people working underneath her?"

"The Brine family has a lot of assets. Explosive technician would be one."

Lestrade nodded and pouted his lips together. It was his tell that he was nervous or cautious to tell me something. He was deciding how to tell me. I already knew he had nothing to go on though. He was just deciding how to tell me.

"CCTVs show she disappeared shortly after the explosion. No trace of her anywhere."

She would either be too smart for the cameras or someone already got to her. Probably the latter.

"There won't be."

"How do you mean?" I didn't answer. He couldn't know of Moriarty's participation. "Sherlock?" He sighed again and decided to continue instead of pressing. Something he learned from his time with me. "All the pills tested positive for the drug. She had to have replaced his pills before he showed up at the hospital. It was probably easy for her to get his information. Working there."

Or her brother got it first.

Since I wasn't speaking he decided to continue talking. "I'm going to have one of my men stand outside with the other. Just in case she decides to try anything." It was pointless but I wouldn't tell him. "Or you."

"Me?"

"You can't work this one Sherlock. You're too close." I had expected this at some point. I wasn't actually going to work this case but it was still stupid of him to think one measly guard could have stopped me if I wanted to. Not that I would leave John. "It's you she wanted to get to. She'd expect you to try and find her. Don't play into her game. Just let us handle this one."

"Fine."

It wouldn't matter. If Moriarty said he would 'take care' of her she was already dead. There would be no trail to follow.

He gave me a confused look, probably because I was complying, then started to leave.

"Call me if you need anything. I'm going to see what I can help with." He paused by the door and added, "We'll find her Sherlock. We will." The door clicked shut and I was alone again.

No, you won't.

After an agonizingly long wait, John finally started to breath on his own. His ventilator was replaced with a NC but he was still kept under. I still had to wait for him to wake up.

I was waiting to tell him I was leaving.

He deserved to know this time. I couldn't fake my death. I couldn't do that to him again.

I thought about saying goodbye and leaving without him knowing exactly where I was going. I could say I was going out for a smoke or something. Then never come back. I didn't think that would be much better.

He had to know.

I couldn't stay.

He was in danger every moment he was with me. People knew how much he meant to me. I didn't even realize how much he meant until that day. I honestly said I loved him. I wasn't in any state to think about why I said it or if he heard me or how he would react. It was too much to wrap my head around.

It was all too much.

I couldn't let them use him against me.

I had to savor every moment I had with him left. I would have to leave straight off from the hospital. I would sneak away from the guards outside. It would be easy.

No point in delaying it.

I would send him off with Mycroft, get him a new apartment and give him an at-home nurse. He would hate it, being looked after like that, but just until he got better from this. I had to make sure he got better.

First I had to make sure he woke up. Then I would figure out what to say. How to apologize. Make him see reason.

I only had till he woke up.

I hoped it would be a while.

I didn't really want to go.

I had to.

To be the man he needed me to be.

No matter how much I didn't want to.