so this chapter has two songs. The unofficial one is 'When nothing is sacred, there's nothing to lose' (switchfoot) and the one that I'm using is 'Human' (mana fest). I think it does fit for the rooftop scene.
Get the tissues ready!
After Zoe and Maddy successfully got back to 221 B, they go into their room in the basement. Relaxing into the living room, Maddy asks "What do you think Sherlock is up to?"
Zoe sits her phone down on the coffee table as she thinks about the deal with Moran. "I don't know."
"What's the matter; you have that look on your face." Maddy points out.
Lying down on the couch, Zoe asks "Do you ever get the feeling like something bad is going to happen?" Feeling the dread come over her.
"Are you serious? That's been my whole life since I met you." Maddy answers her.
Zoe smirks at that.
Maddy walks to one of the chairs in the living room and sits down. "So what doom and gloom do we have to look forward to?"
Looking up at the ceiling, Zoe replies "That's what I don't know."
A few minutes later, Zoe's phone alerts her that she has a new text.
Bad news little sister. – Unknown
Moriarty's dating life? – Zoe
More so about yours…. – Unknown
What?... – Zoe
Seems as though Jim has made up his mind about who will fall in the end. – Unknown
Reading the newest text, Zoe bites her cheek. Her phone alerts her again with a new text.
Take the taxi, don't ask questions. – Unknown
"What's the news?" Maddy asks, seeing on how Zoe kept getting new texts.
"They want me to go to work." Zoe lies. Though, it won't be too much of a stretch since she does work at a hospital and does have an extra set of scrubs in her locker there for cases like these.
"Now?" Maddy questions her. "It's nearly one in the morning."
"Hospital," Zoe reminds her.
"Good luck getting the fuzz to let you go."
"Won't be a problem," Zoe tells her. More than likely they're on Moriarty's pay roll.
Maddy accepts it and nods at her, telling her to be safe and goes to her room to sleep.
Waiting 5 minutes after Maddy goes to her room, Zoe walks through the front door. Seeing no cops around; even undercover cops, she walks to the taxi that is waiting for her.
She gets in and the taxi drives off. Halfway there, the vent comes on. Zoe starts to cough from the smell; its knock out gas.
Sherlock sits alone on the floor in one of the labs of St. Bart's. With his back against the bench, he is bouncing a small rubber ball off the floor and cupboard in front of him and catching it before repeating the movement constantly.
John comes in, "Got your message."
Sherlock catches the ball and holds on to it.
"The computer cod is key to this. If we find it, we can use it- beat Moriarty at his own game."
"What d'you mean, 'use it'?" John asks.
"He used it to create a false identity, so we can use it to break into the records and destroy Richard Brook."
"And bring back Jim Moriarty again."
Standing up, Sherlock says "Somewhere in 221B, somewhere- on the day of the verdict- he left it hidden."
Turning to the bench, Sherlock puts both hands on the surface. John walks to stand beside him, unconsciously mimicking his stance.
"Uh-huh." John agrees.
Both of them start to think. John purses his lips, then looks at Sherlock.
"What did he touch?"
"An apple. Nothing else." Sherlock answers.
He then drums his fingers on the bench.
"Did he write anything down?"
"No."
John racks his brains and again unconsciously mimics Sherlock again by drumming his own fingers on the bench. After a moment, he turns and walks across the lab. Sherlock lifts the fingers of his right hand, hesitates for a moment; then begins to drum them again but now he's beating out a specific rhythm as, in his mind, binary code begins to stream out from his fingers.
He lifts his head as John sighs heavily, unaware of Sherlock's sharpened expression. Straightening up, Sherlock turns his back to John; takes his phone out of his pocket and begins to type a text.
Come and play.
Bart's Hospital rooftop.
SH
He pauses a moment, and then adds:
PS. Got something of yours you might want back.
Sending the message, he tucks his phone away into his jacket and then turns back towards the bench; his eyes thoughtful.
Some hours later, dawn is breaking. Sherlock is still in the same place; but he's now sitting down with his feet up on the bench. He is rapidly rolling the rubber ball from side to side; across the bench while his fingers flickering rapidly over the top of the ball. John is sitting on a stool nearby the bench and has his head down on his arms, asleep.
John's phone rings. Lifting his head tiredly, he groans and answers the phone.
"Yeah, speaking." John answers.
He listening for a moment.
"Er, what?" He asks in shock.
John quickly gets to his feet.
"What happened? Is she okay?" John listens again to the other line. "Oh my God. Right, yes, I'm coming."
He closes the line.
"What is it?" Sherlock asks.
"Paramedics. Mrs. Hudson- she's been shot." John tells him, relieved that Maddy is at work right now.
"What? How?"
"Well, probably one of the killers you managed to attract….Jesus. Jesus." John says frantically. "She's dying, Sherlock. Let's go."
He turns towards the door.
"You go. I'm busy." Sherlock tells him disinterestedly.
John turns back to him, appalled by what he said.
"Busy?"
"Thinking. I need to think."
"You need to….? Doesn't she mean anything to you? You once half killed a man because he laid a finger on her." John counters.
Sherlock shrugs. "She's my landlady."
"She's dying…." John says furiously. He flails a hand in front of himself in utter disbelief at Sherlock's attitude.
"You machine."
Looking down, John shakes his head. "Sod this. Sod this."
Heading to the door, John says over his shoulder "You stay here if you want, on your own."
"Alone is what I have. Alone protects me."
Opening the door, John looks back at him angrily. "No. Friends protect people." And storms out of the room.
Sherlock lifts his gaze to the door, a moment later his phone alerts him of a text. Reaching into his pocket; and looks at the message.
I'm waiting…..
JM
Taking his feet off the bench and standing up, Sherlock walks across the lab; buttoning his jacket. He then picks up coat; and then opens the door to leave the room.
'Gravel, hard surface, sunlight'.
Is what goes through Zoe's mind when she wakes up. Opening her eyes, she sees that her right hand is handcuffed to the rail on the rooftop. Moriarty is sitting some distance away from here on the ledge.
"She wakes!" He comments as he fiddles with his phone.
Zoe groans and sits up slowly from the ground she was lying on. Trying to move around with the limited movement her body is allowed to get comfortable.
"Careful now," Moriarty tells her in mock concern.
"Why am I here?" Zoe asks as she finds a position that she can be comfortable with. Sitting with her back against the wall and seeing something shining in the sunlight, Zoe looks down at a couple of inches in front of her. It's a key to the cuffs, but they're out of reach for her to get them.
"You'll find out very soon," Was all he said as he looks down at his phone.
Zoe gives him an odd look as 'Stayin alive' starts to play on his phone.
"He'll be here soon." Moriarty comments as he closes his eyes for a moment.
The door opens to the roof and Sherlock walks out. Hearing the door open, Moriarty opens his eyes.
"Well come further in dear boy!" He calls out to him.
Bringing her knees closer to her, Zoe mouths to Sherlock 'I'm okay' when Sherlock spots her at her spot.
Sherlock moves closer to them.
"Ah. Here we are at last- you and me, Sherlock. And our problem- the final problem." Jim tells him and holds up the phone higher.
"Stayin' alive! It's so boring, isn't it?" He then angrily switches the phone off.
"It's just…." Moriarty then holds his hand out like a flat line. "….staying."
"That is your final problem isn't it?" Sherlock asks.
"Sadly yes, I don't have you anymore. All my life I've been searching for distractions. " Moriarty tells him. He then looks at Zoe before looking back at Sherlock. "You were the best distraction and now I don't even have you. Because I've beaten you."
He pulls his hand back and briefly sinks his head into it as Sherlock paces around the roof.
"Have you?" Sherlock questions as his head turns sharply towards him continues to pace along the roof.
"And you know what? In the end it was easy." Moriarty answers.
Sherlock stops and folds his hands behind his back and watches Moriarty very closely.
In a quiet and almost disappointed tone, Moriarty says "It was easy. Now I've got to go back to playing with the ordinary people. And it turns out you're ordinary just like all of them."
He lowers his head again and rubs his face before looking up at Sherlock. "Ah well." Standing up, Moriarty walks closer and then starts to pace slowly around the detective.
"Did you almost start to wonder if I was real? Did I nearly get you?"
"Richard Brook." Sherlock tells him.
"The painting," Zoe comments as well. She connects the dots fast, that was really good move by Moriarty.
"Sorry dear, what was that?" Moriarty asks Zoe and stops his pacing to look at her.
"Rich Brook in German is Reichen Bach- the case that made my name." Sherlock interrupts Moriarty's interest in Zoe.
Smiling devilishly before saying in a fake American accent, "Just tryin' to have some fun."
As Moriarty continues to pace around him, he looks down to Sherlock's hands and sees that he is beating out a rhythm with his fingers.
"Oh clever boy, clever. You got that too."
"Beats like digits," Sherlock explains. Remembering Jim sitting at 221 B and his fingers on his knee, "Every beat is a one; every rest is a zero. Binary code. That's why all those assassins tried to save my life. It was hidden on me; hidden inside my head- a few simple lines of computer code that can break into any system."
"What?!" Zoe shouts out. When did this happen!
Both men look to her. Sherlock then says "The code."
"Ooooo…..trouble already with the missus?" Moriarty asks innocently. Finding this highly amusing, "I didn't think that you would ever lie to Zoe."
If there was one thing that everyone thought, was that those two would never keep anything from each other. They were both smart enough that they can tell when someone was lying.
Sherlock looks back at Zoe.
In a no non sense voice, Zoe asks Sherlock "What assassins?"
"Moriarty has planted snipers who have targeted Lestrade, Mrs. Hudson, John, and Maddy."
Zoe sighs out. What was the point of making that deal with Moran if Moriarty pulled this off?
"I didn't think to tell you because I believed I could remedy the issue on my own." Sherlock tries to explain to her.
For the first time in their relationship, Zoe doesn't know what to say. She just stares at him speechless.
Sherlock looks at her with anxious eyes.
"Oh dear both of you speechless…..I am good." Moriarty says smugly.
Zoe averts her eyes to the ground. What else could he have lied about to her, their relationship? Was she just a pawn to get close to Moran and Moriarty?
Turning back to the Consulting Criminal, Sherlock orders him "Let her go Moriarty. It's me you want it's me you have. Leave her and the rest of them out of this, this is our game."
"Where's the fun in that?" Moriarty asks. "Besides, I told all my clients: last one to Sherlock is a sissy."
"Whatever you want from me take it. Burn me as you planned. Just-"
"My God," Moriarty says in almost in shock. He then looks to the American and asks "What have you done to him, Zoe? He's…feeling."
"I don't know," She answers him with her eyes still looked away.
Groaning, Moriarty complains "No, no, no, NO! You two! All emotional and bleh. Not very fun to play with, guess I'll have to end this little game early."
Zoe glances over to Moriarty and then to the key. Now that she's thinking about it, why did he put it there? There has to be a reason as to why.
Sighing a little, Moriarty talks "It will be a shame not to have Maddy's sassy attitude around anymore. And I was so rooting for her and you little doctor to….well, doesn't matter now. Hope you two said your goodbyes to the officer, the landlady, and your mates."
That snaps Zoe out of her sadness and rushes at him. But the cuff bites into her sink and jerks her arm and shoulder back painfully to the rail again. "No!"
"Wait! Just….wait." Sherlock says as well. Gesturing to his own head, "But now that it's up here; I can use it to alter the records. I can kill Rich Brook and bring back Jim Moriarty." He tells him.
Leaving them at a stalemate.
Gazing at him for a moment, Moriarty then turns away with a disappointed look on his face.
"No, no, no, no, no, this is too easy." He buries his head in his hands. "This is too easy."
Lowering his hands, he turns back to Sherlock. "There is no key, DOOFUS!" Moriarty screams the last word into Sherlock's face.
"Those digits are meaningless. They're utterly meaningless."
Sherlock can't hide the confusion on his face, but that doesn't mean Zoe doesn't get it. Her face falls as her mind 'translates' the code.
If everyone one is a beat and every rest is a zero, there is a message hidden in it. 'There is no code.' Is what is playing when you plug in the numbers.
What are they're going to do now?
She barely hears the men talk; her mind trying to come up with a backup plan, but Zoe hears "I knew you'd fall for it. That's your weakness- you always want everything to be clever. Now, shall we finish the game? One final act. Glad you chose a tall building- nice way to do it."
Zoe's green-blue eyes focus on Sherlock, who has been staring blankly into the distance.
"Do it? Do-do what?" He asks, sounding bewildered.
Blinking, it becomes clear to him and Zoe watches as he turns towards Jim.
"Yes, of course. My suicide."
'Concentrate.' Zoe berets herself. Trying to think of a new plan, now that this is added.
"'Genius detective proved to be a fraud.' I read it in the paper, so it must be true. I love newspapers. Fairytales."
Sherlock walks to the edge of the roof and leans forward, looking over the side to the ground below. Jim walks to stand beside him and looks over the side as well.
"And pretty Grimm ones too." Moriarty turns his head and looks at Sherlock ominously.
The two men have turned towards each other at the edge of the roof.
"I can still prove that you created an entirely false identity." Sherlock tells Moriarty.
That made Moriarty laugh, "Like to see you try. Everyone thinks you're more of a nutter now." Then he wearily exasperatedly adds "Oh, just kill yourself. It's a lot less effort."
Sherlock turns away and starts to pace distractedly.
"Go on. For me." Moriarty then makes his voice into a high pitched squeal for the next word "Pleeeeease?"
Suddenly, Sherlock grabs him by the collar of his coat with both hands and spins him around so that Moriarty's back is to the drop. He stares into face and then shoves him back one step nearer the edge. Jim looks at him with interest as Sherlock's breathing becomes shorter.
"SHERLOCK!" Zoe yells out and stands up with her free hand outstretch to him, like that can stop him. Learning her lesson the last time to not run at them while being handcuff.
"You're insane." Sherlock hisses at him.
Jim blinks. "You're just getting that now?"
Sherlock shoves him further back, now holding him over the edge. Jim whoops almost triumphantly and gazes back at Sherlock with no fear in his eyes, holding his hands out wide and committing himself to Sherlock's grasp. Zoe looks on with shock and horror at the scene. It was completely out of control and she can't do anything to stop it.
"Ok, let me give you a little extra incentive."
Sherlock frowns as Jim's voice becomes more savage.
"Your friends will die if you don't."
"Hence the men with guns pointed at my friends' heads."
"Not just your friends," Moriarty says and looks behind Sherlock's shoulder.
A red dot is on the ground and travels up Zoe's body. It stops on her heart.
"Son of a-" Zoe almost swears out as she sees the sniper's dot on her.
Sherlock looks over his shoulder and sees the dot and hears the fear in Zoe's voice too. Panic comes into Sherlock's eyes and he quickly looks back at Moriarty.
"YOU SAID YOU WOULDN'T HURT HER!"
"You know how it is with new people; they're just want to please so badly." He says like it's something he can't control.
Zoe swallows hard and closes her eyes for a moment, trying to control her fear.
"John." Sherlock says out loud.
"Not just John," Then Moriarty says in a whisper. "Everyone."
"Mrs. Hudson."
In a whisper and with a delighted smile, Moriarty says "Everyone."
"Lestrade and Maddy."
"Four bullets; four gunmen; four victims. There's no stopping them now."
But Moriarty wouldn't actually kill Zoe, the next player for Moran when he takes over; no- this was just added leverage against Sherlock.
Furiously, Sherlock pulls Jim back upwards to safety. Zoe sighs out, she and been holding her breathe since Sherlock had him over the edge. Jim stares into his face.
"Unless my people see you jump."
Sherlock gazes past him, breathing heavily and appearing lost in horror. Jim shakes himself free of his grasp and smiles triumphantly.
"You can have me arrested; you can torture me; you can do anything you like with me; but nothing's gonna prevent them from pulling the trigger. Your only four friends in the world will die….unless…."
"…Unless I kill myself- complete your story." Sherlock finishes the sentence.
Jim nods and smiles ecstatically. "You've gotta admit that's sexier."
Sherlock's gaze is distant and lost. "And I die in disgrace."
"Of course. That's the point of this."
Moriarty looks over the side and sees that someone has stopped at the benches near the bus stop below them.
"Oh, you've got an audience now. Off you pop." Moriarty tells him and rolls his head from side to side on his neck. "Go on."
Sherlock slowly steps past him and up onto the ledge.
"I told you how this ends." He comments.
Sherlock's breathing becomes shakier as he looks down.
Not even looking at him, Moriarty continues to talk "Your death is the only thing that's gonna call off the killers. I'm certainly not gonna do it."
Finally turning his head to look up at Sherlock expectantly, Sherlock blinks anxiously.
"Would you give me…one moment, please; one moment of privacy?"
Sherlock glance down at Moriarty, "Please?"
Moriarty looks disappointed that Sherlock would be acting so 'ordinary'. But he says, "Of course."
He moves away across the roof. Zoe eyes darts from him to Sherlock before back again. Was he really going to walk away and call off the sniper on her?
Sherlock takes several shallow anxious breaths, and then he stops breathing for a moment as his brain kicks into gear again. He lifts his gaze as his expression becomes home like himself and his eyes become thoughtful. Slowly a smile spreads across his face and he starts to chuckle.
Behind him, Moriarty is slowly walking across the roof but he stops. His expression is livid as Sherlock continues to laugh.
Spinning around, he says furiously "What?"
Sherlock only continues to laugh. Zoe looks at him oddly, mildly concern that he lost his mind.
Moriarty looks at Zoe, like she would know what's going on in his head. "What is it?" He asks angrily.
Sherlock half turns on the ledge, smiling at them as Moriarty glares back at him. He then looks at Zoe.
Only to have Zoe shrug one shoulder (with her free one that isn't handcuffed) and looks at him with 'I don't know' look.
"What did I miss?" He asks again in anger.
Sherlock then hops down off the ledge and walks closer to him.
"'You're not going to do it.' So the killers can be called off, then- there's a recall code or a word or a number."
Now Sherlock is the one that's walking around Moriarty.
"I don't have to die…." And then his voice becomes a sing song, "….if I've got you."
"Oh!" Jim says and laughs in relieved delight. "You think you can make me stop the order? You think you can make me do that?"
Sherlock still circles him and says "Yes. So do you."
"Sherlock, your big brother and all the King's horses couldn't make me do a think I didn't want to."
Stopping, Sherlock gets into Moriarty's face. "Yes, but I'm not my brother, remember? I am you- prepared to do anything; prepared to burn; prepared to do what ordinary people won't do. You want me to shake hands with you in? I shall not disappoint you."
Moriarty only shakes his head slowly. "Nah. You talk big. Nah. You're ordinary. You're ordinary- you're on the side of the angels."
Sherlock's voice become ominous, making Zoe shiver in slight fear of him as she hears "Oh, I may be on the side of the angels, but don't think for one second that I am one of them."
The two of them lock eyes for a long moment as Jim tries to deduce how far Sherlock will go.
"No, you're not." Moriarty says.
He blinks, and then closes his eyes briefly. Sherlock does the same thing unintentionally. Zoe rubs her free hand over her face, the stress starting to get to her. Moriarty smiles and opens his eyes again.
Almost softly and insanely, he says "I see. You're not ordinary. No. You're me." He hisses out a delighted laugh and his voice becomes higher pitched. "You're me! Thank you!"
Almost like he was going to embrace Sherlock with his hand, but then lowers it and offers to him to shake instead.
"Sherlock Holmes."
They both look down at the offered hand, and then Sherlock slowly raises his own and takes it.
Zoe can't tell what's going on since Sherlock's back is to her, but she's getting the same sick feeling in her stomach again like she did early that morning.
Nodding almost frenetically, but his voice stays soft "Thank you. Bless you."
Moriarty blinks and lowers his gaze as if blinking back tears. "As long as I'm alive, you can save your friends; you've got a way out."
He continues to blink with his gaze lowered.
"Well, good luck with that."
In rapid succession he raises his eyes to Sherlock's, grins manically, opens his mouth wide and pulls Sherlock closer as he reaches into his waistband with his other hand and pulls a pistol out and raises it towards his mouth.
Sherlock pulls back instinctively, crying out in alarm. Zoe sees Moriarty with a gun, now that Sherlock wasn't blocking him much from her view and on instinct; she lowers herself to the ground and cries out too. Moriarty sticks the muzzle into his own mouth and pulls the trigger, dropping dead onto the roof.
As blood puddles around his head, Moriarty's eyes are fixed and open with a smile of victory on his face. Sherlock spins around away from him, his breathing noisy and frantic as he raises his hands to his head in horror.
"No…..no, no, no." He says to himself in horror.
Zoe's face and eyes are in horror. Seeing someone taking their own life in front of her- it was too much.
But hearing the fear in Sherlock's voice snaps her out of her daze and she doubles her efforts to reaching the key a couple of inches away from her.
Sherlock stumbles away from the body as Zoe continues to struggle to get the key.
"C'mon!" She cries out as her finger barely touches the key.
Hearing Zoe's voice, Sherlock snaps out of it too and gets the key.
"You have to leave before the snipers….before John and Maddy….." He stutters his words as he gets the key in the lock.
There was a warning shot that landed a few feet from them. Sherlock stops working on the lock and covers Zoe with his body, protecting her from the shots.
When it was over, he tells her "Go! Get inside!"
"No, no. Stop!" Zoe tries to tell him but he unlocks the cuff on her wrist. It's red and swollen from being too tight and when she had been moving around. "I have to stay here." She says to him. There was no way she can make it to the door safely. They were out in the open, easy targets.
But Sherlock tries to push her to the door. "Get out Zoe! Go now!"
Sherlock's phone gets a text.
Stay. – Unknown
They both read it, knowing it was from the sniper.
Sherlock pulls Zoe close to him and holds her, while looking around the other rooftops. Trying to find the sniper, Zoe clutches to him with her other hand that wasn't in pain. She holds her injured hand to her chest, to not get it more damaged.
"I'm sorry this happened," Sherlock tells her.
If he had figured that Moriarty would pull Zoe into this, he would've planned this lot better. And not to have her as leverage against him with a sniper trained on them at this moment.
"Don't you dare apologize," Zoe tells him as she buries her face into his chest.
If she had planned a better backup plan, then Sherlock wouldn't be in this position with her.
Sherlock kisses her head, knowing that he has to jump. The sound of a cab catches Sherlock's attention and Zoe's too.
"John." Sherlock breathes out.
"Oh God," Zoe says as well.
Before she can say anything else, Sherlock has his hands on her face and pulls her into a kiss. It was completely different than the ones that they've had (from playful to flirting, including when he was arrested at 221 B). This one was full of regret, loss, but love as well.
Zoe pulls him by his scarf to be closer to her as she angles her head to kiss him better till they're both out of air.
Suddenly he lets go of her, they're both breathing heavily. As Zoe tries to get her breathing back, her vision becomes blurry. Looking back at Sherlock; she feels her neck and touches the injection site and realizes that he had only done that to inject her to knock her out.
As she falls unconscious, Sherlock catches her. Gently lowering her to the ground, he gives her a look of regret and sadness. It's the last thing she sees before the darkness takes her.
Sherlock goes to the ledge and stands there again. He sees John and makes the call.
"Hello?" John answers.
"John."
"Hey, Sherlock, you okay?"
"Turn around and walk back the way you came now."
"No, I'm coming in."
"Just do as I ask. Please," Sherlock says frantically.
John turns back and looks around bewildered. "Where?"
Sherlock pauses for a moment as John walks along the road, and then speaks urgently. "Stop there."
John stops. "Sherlock?"
"Okay, look up. I'm on the rooftop."
He turns and looks up; John's face is filled with horror.
"Oh God."
"I….I….I can't come down, so we'll….we'll just have to do it like this."
"What's going on?" John asks anxiously.
"An apology. It's all true."
"Wh-what?"
"Everything they said about me. I invented Moriarty."
Sherlock looks briefly at his enemy's grinning body lying behind him. Then his eyes unconsciously move to Zoe's body. She is still asleep from the shot he had given her. A small mercy for what he's about to do.
Back on the ground, John stares at his friend in disbelief.
"Why are you saying this?"
Sherlock turns back to look down at him, his voice breaks. "I'm a fake."
"Sherlock…."
He continues to speak as his voice becomes tearful. "The newspapers were right all along. I want you to tell Lestrade; I want you to tell Mrs. Hudson, Molly, and Maddison….in fact, tell anyone who will listen to you that I created Moriarty for my own purposes."
"Okay, shut up, Sherlock, shut up. The first time we met….the first time we met, you knew all about my sister, right?"
"Nobody could be that clever."
"You could."
Sherlock laughs and gazes down at his best friend, a tear dripping from his chin.
"I researched you. Before we met I discovered everything that I could to impress you." He sniffs quietly. "It's a trick. Just a magic trick."
John closes his eyes and is shaking his head.
"No. All right, stop it now."
He starts to walk towards the hospital entrance.
"No, stay exactly where you are. Don't move." Sherlock tells him urgently.
John stops and backs up, holding his hand upwards to Sherlock. That he's doing exactly what he wants.
"All right."
Breathing rapidly, Sherlock unconsciously reaches out his own hand towards his friend.
"Keep your eyes fixed on me." Then he sounds even frantic. "Look after Zoe for me; she's up here as well. Please, will you do this for me?"
"Sherlock…you can look after her. Just please don't…."
His breath catches, "Please, just do this for me!"
"I will," John agrees. "You know I will. Sherlock…."
Sherlock sighs out a little in relief. "This phone call- it's, er….it's my note. It's what people do, don't they- leave a note?"
John shakes his head again. Taking the phone from his ear as the stress of what Sherlock is saying as he beings to understand what he's saying. Raising the phone again, his voice is shaky when he asks "Leave a note when?"
"Goodbye, John."
Shaking his head again, John says "No. Don't."
Sherlock gazes down at his friend for several seconds, and then he lowers his arm and drops the phone onto the roof, gazing ahead of himself.
John lowers his own phone and screams upwards "No. SHERLOCK!"
Sherlock spreads his arms to either side of him and falls forward, plummeting towards the ground.
John stares in utter horror. "Sher…."
A couple of seconds later the body impacts the ground. John's hearing is white noise as his entire body focuses on getting to Sherlock as soon as he can. Sherlock disappeared from view towards the end of his fall because a building is obstructing John's view of him. And John now runs to the corner of the building, then slows down and stops in the middle of the road as he gets his first glimpse of the still body lying on the wet pavement, the lower part of his body obscured by a parked vehicle.
Behind John, a young man on a bicycle slams into him and sends him crashing to the ground, his head hitting the asphalt hard. Groaning, he struggles to stay conscious as nearby people being to run toward the body on the pavement. The vehicle pulls away and a couple of medics from the hospital hurry out and start to prevent the onlookers from getting too close. Grimacing with pain, John rolls onto his side and with a lot of blood under his head.
Slowly, John hauls himself to his feet and stumbles towards him as more onlookers gather. Talking excitedly about what they had just witnessed. John forces himself onwards to the crowd.
"Sherlock, Sherlock…." John says in a whisper.
He gets to the crowd and tries to get to him. But some of the crowd pushes him back, but he reaches down and takes hold of his wrist; trying to find a pulse. After they had wheeled Sherlock's body away, John manages to stand to his feet again after he had fallen down.
In a nearby building, a rifle had been aiming at John's head; the same one that had fired at Zoe on the rooftop. The assassin lifts his gun back inside the window and disassembles the weapon. Packing it into his bag, he stands up and walks away.
Remembering his promise, John goes inside the hospital and runs up the stairs to get to Zoe. He opens the door and sees Zoe still knocked out, Moriarty's body is gone. He picks up his friend and walks back to the door and down the stairs.
As he is walking, Zoe stirs in his arms. Opening her eyes, she sees that it's John.
"John." She says groggily, still feeling a little drowsy.
"Are you alright?" John asks, trying to be brave right now.
They exit the stairwell and he gently puts her down. Zoe feels a little dizzy but gets her balance soon. John sees her wrist; they're swollen a little and red from her pulling at the cuffs. He ushers into one of the rooms and finds some bandages.
Once they're done (they've hardly said a word. Only when Zoe tells John on how her wrist is, he figures that it's not sprained but still wraps it up), they walk out into the hallway. Molly sees them and comes to them.
"I'm sorry-but…" She tells them. "I need you to ID the body."
Sherlock's body had come into the morgue when John was attending to Zoe. They need someone, a close relative or someone that knows the body; so they can start the paperwork.
"Not now…..I can't-", John says. He can't be able to see his best friend's body like that.
"It's ok, I got it." Zoe assures them both.
They follow Molly to the morgue, but John stays out in the hallway.
"Do you mind?" Zoe asks her.
She shakes her head. "Not at all," Letting Zoe say her goodbyes to the detective. Molly stays outside in the hallway with John to keep him company.
Taking a steady breath, Zoe enters the morgue.
It's brightly lit and the air is sterile of chemicals. Zoe never had a problem with bloody and dead things, but this time it's personal because it's someone she loves.
Walking to the slab table where Sherlock's body is at, she sees that his face is still covered in blood. The rest of his body is still clothed, saved for his feet which are bare and his coat, suit jacket, and scarf are folded onto another table. His shoes and socks are there as well.
Seeing a basin of water and a wash cloth on the table that's near his head, Zoe can deduce that they haven't prepared his body yet for autopsy; she picks it up. Wetting it, she starts to clean the blood off his face gently.
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." Zoe tells him with sadness in her voice. Her face is calm, but she can start to feel her eyes burning from the tears that are starting to form.
If only there was another way.
"How can you be so calm?" Molly asks. She had come into the room quietly, her eyes red from crying.
"I'm not." Zoe answers as she wipes blood away from Sherlock's forehead.
The room is silent till Zoe's phone starts to ring. Placing the towel next to the now pink water filled basin, as her phone continues to ring. Zoe then leans down and kisses his forehead and leaves Molly in the morgue.
When Zoe steps out in the hall, she answers.
"Yeah."
"Please tell me what is going on?" Maddy asks through the line. "John shoved me into the flat without so much as a danger warning or what."
"I'll tell you when we get back," Zoe says in a now flat voice.
"…..it's something big. What is it Zoe? What's happened?" Maddy continues to ask. Now worried about her friend even more.
"Talk to you later." Zoe responds back and hangs up the line. She leans against the wall for a minute.
John then comes over to her.
Zoe looks at him sadly.
"What happened up there?"
"I'll tell you both and Maddy at the same time. Don't want to repeat myself."
They leave the morgue together and get a cab.
When Zoe had left Molly with Sherlock's body, she checks his vitals. They're still in stable condition after he had jumped from the building and drugged himself with the sedative she had helped make in the labs.
After another 2 minutes, Sherlock gasps for breath. Molly helps him sit up after stabilizing him.
Sherlock changes into street clothes. All of his clothes are in a plastic bag, which will be looking after.
"Well….it's done." He says after shrugging his coat on.
"Are you-" Molly trails off as she watches him limping around the table where he had retrieved his coat. He may have survived a fall from a building, but he wasn't immune to the bruising. She bites her lip; it was a stupid question to even ask.
But that doesn't stop Sherlock from looking at her and patiently waits for her to finish talking.
Instead, Molly swallows and says. "I'll look after them."
Meaning that she'll keep an eye on her.
Sherlock nods and leaves.
The ride back to 221 B was quiet.
Maddy is pacing upstairs, waiting with Mrs. Hudson.
When Zoe and John arrive back, Zoe's face is detached from emotion. It's like she's on autopilot, almost like she isn't aware of her surroundings. Which makes John worried for her and puts a hand on her back.
They get upstairs and he helps Zoe into a chair that next to the table in the living room. Maddy waits till she is seated before she talks.
"Are you….what happened?" She asks. Maddy has never seen Zoe like this and it makes her even more worried than before.
Zoe looks at her and then at Mrs. Hudson, who is looking at her worriedly. Mrs. Hudson then goes to the American and hugs her. Maddy is standing by John while Mrs. Hudson is comforting Zoe. She can see that he's been crying and she places her hand on his cheek.
"John?"
"Bastard jumped." He tells her.
"He….h-he….Sherlock…." Maddy says in shock at hearing the news.
John nods and Zoe is the one hugging Mrs. Hudson who starts to cry at the news.
"And Moriarty?" Maddy inquires as tears fall from her eyes. She and Sherlock may not have gotten along that well, but he was John's best friend and Zoe's boyfriend.
"He's gone." Zoe responds from her hug with Mrs. Hudson.
John told her how he didn't see his body there when he had gotten her from there when they were riding back to 221 B. They think that Mycroft's men must have gotten it before John even entered the hospital. Or his own men did.
Maddy nods and then look back to John. "I'm so sorry," Then to all the other two occupants in the room. "I'm sorry."
Mrs. Hudson excuses herself and goes back to her own apartment to continue to cry.
Zoe exhales slowly.
John sinks into his chair and places a hand over his eyes. Everything is silent for a long moment.
"Someone should call Mycroft," Zoe mumbles from her place at the table.
"I….I can do it." Maddy offers.
Zoe and John are still in shock of what they've seen, so much so that they're unaware of Maddy making the call in the kitchen.
"This isn't real. He couldn't have….there has to be some kind of explanation." John says, finally breaking the silence.
"Trust me, I was there." Zoe reminds him.
Replaying everything that had happened.
"Did he say anything? Did he do anything to suggest…." He then takes a deep breath.
Zoe shakes her head no.
John puts his hand back to his eyes. "Stupid show off…."
Maddy comes back from the kitchen. "He's been told."
Zoe briefly glances at her and then gets up from her seat. She goes back to her room in 221 C.
Maddy follows her after a few minutes and knocks on Zoe's bedroom door.
"Zoe?"
She comes out of her room and stands in the hallway. Wearing her night clothes and had checked her wrist after changing the bandages. Zoe looks at her, waiting for her to ask something.
"It's a really stupid question, but…..are you alright? Did Moriarty hurt you?" Worried that he might have done something else to her.
Zoe swallows hard, but her eyes are tearing up again. But this time, it's hard to be strong when she is feeling tired.
"He already did."
Without another word, Maddy pulls her friend into a hug. Giving her a long hug as Zoe finally breaks down and cries.
Hey everyone, still with us?
I know it's a new year (hoped that your Christmas and New Year's went well and safely!), but life caught up again. From finals to work and s3 started! XD
Just one more chapter before this ends, and remember that we're doing a sequel! We'll let you know when the first chapter will be up for that. We're working on it right now!