Elizabeth stirred the milk into the tea as John sat at the breakfast bar. Her father was sat in the living room as Janine finished getting ready for work. She had offered him a cup of tea but he had declined, telling her that he was fine. John had taken her up on the offer and she had made herself a cup too. Holding onto the mugs, she passed John his before both of them moved back into the living room.

Looking to her father, Elizabeth jutted her hip as both of her hands clasped the cup. "Are you going to tell us the truth?"

"I am telling you the truth," Sherlock responded, tugging at his blazer as Elizabeth rolled his eyes. "I have been seeing Janine."

"No, you have not," Elizabeth spoke. "Dad, you do not date. Just tell me the truth."

"You'll find out, just as I told you."

"It is weird though," John declared. "I mean…Janine? She's not anything like Irene Adler, is she? You did fancy her because she was…well…as manic as you."

Elizabeth pursed her lips and nodded her head. "He has a point," she said.

Sherlock looked up at the pair of them as they stood in front of him, both holding their cups of tea as their eyes remained set on him. Looking between the pair of them, Sherlock rolled his eyes and flapped his arms against the side of the chair he perched in.

"Stop looking at me like that," Sherlock said. "Both of you are as bad as each other."

"We're just confused," Elizabeth said. "And you're not-"

"-Right!" Janine called into the living room and Elizabeth rolled her eyes before settling down on the sofa and John joined her, perching on the edge of it as she moved towards Sherlock. "I'm heading into work."

"Right," John said as Janine perched herself on Sherlock's lap and Elizabeth almost spluttered her tea out of her mouth. She shook her head with haste as Janine kept her eyes fixed on Sherlock and he smiled at her, almost looking genuine as he watched her.

"I'm going to go," Janine said. "I need to head into work."

"Of course," Sherlock said to her.

"But, me and Sherlock were thinking that we should all have dinner one night," Janine said, looking between John and Elizabeth. "You could bring Mary along and you could bring Ben. That would be nice, wouldn't it?"

"Yeah," John said with a nod of his head.

"Maybe," Elizabeth responded. "Ben's pretty busy at the moment so it might not be for a while."

"Life just gets in the way," Janine said with a nod of her head as she looked to Sherlock. "Anyway, Sherl, I need to know where you were last night. I'm the only one who understands you, right?"

Looking to John, Elizabeth caught his eye and she didn't know whether to balk or laugh loudly. John shook his head as Janine stood up and Sherlock stood with her, walking her towards the door and pulling it open as Janine whispered into his ear. Elizabeth had seen enough when she saw Janine press her lips against her dad's and ask him to solve her a crime.

Only when Sherlock had shut the door did he drop the smile from his face and move into the room, his hands behind his back.

"Magnussen has created a base where he hides all of his secrets," Sherlock said. "It would be too easy for him to keep everything he knows in London in his offices. No, he has a secret base. It is somewhere called Appledore and I think that is where he has all of the things he blackmails people with."

Elizabeth and John weren't listening. Instead their minds were still fixed on Janine.

"Dinner," John whispered. "All of us sitting around together eating dinner."

"What?" Sherlock asked.

"You want us all to have dinner?" John repeated.

"That is never going to happen," Elizabeth said and stood up, placing her mug down on the coffee table before letting her hands drop to her hips as she wandered around the living room. "And I am not having her as a step-mum."

"So I just tell you both about the threat that Magnussen poses and you are focused on your stomachs?"

"Kind of a big thing to take in," John informed him. "Janine…not Magnussen."

Elizabeth chuckled before she heard the door open and Mrs Hudson poked her head around the door, looking between the three of them. She rolled her eyes, but there was a worried expression on her face. She looked as though she had seen a ghost.

"Did you not hear the doorbell?"

"I removed it. It kept ringing," Sherlock said to her.

"What is it?" Elizabeth wondered. "Mrs Hudson, you look like you've seen a ghost."

"No," she said with a shake of her head. "Just…there's someone here to see you."

She scurried off and Sherlock moved to the fireplace, standing tall with his hands behind his back. Elizabeth looked to him as he glanced in her direction.

"Go to your room," he instructed.

"It's him, isn't it?" she said to her father.

"Now," Sherlock emphasised.

"No," Elizabeth challenged him. "I am going nowhere. I am staying here."

The door opened and two men swept in before Elizabeth could move. The two of them moved to search Sherlock and John. Sherlock looked to the one who had finished searching him as he stepped towards his daughter. But Sherlock was quicker, grabbing her wrist and pulling her behind him.

"Do not touch her," Sherlock demanded.

"Leave her."

A new, cold voice entered the room and Elizabeth picked her gaze up and moved it over to the doorway to see the man who had just entered. She had seen Magnussen on pictures online after searching for him, but he looked different in real life. He looked taller, his eyes more narrow and his face much more sinister. The glasses covering his eyes were thin framed and his hair receding. The grey suit he wore looked designer and well fitted.

"Mr Magnussen," Sherlock spoke up as Magnussen walked around the flat, not looking at the three of them as his bodyguards stood to the side. "I have been asked to do business with you on behalf of Lady Elizabeth Smallwood."

Looking to her father, Elizabeth wondered what business this was, but she kept silent as Magnussen sat on the sofa and then did something extraordinarily rude. He leant back and kicked the coffee table with his feet, his gaze on Sherlock as he listened to him explain what business he was conducting.

"Is something wrong?" Sherlock asked as Magnussen started to laugh.

"No," Magnussen said. "Apologies, do continue."

"Lady Smallwood wants those letters of her husbands returned to her-"

"-Redbeard," Magnussen suddenly said and Sherlock stopped, an immediate look of concern crossing his face as he watched Magnussen pull his glasses from his pockets and stand up.

"Yes," Sherlock said. "But what I want to discuss is how I can negotiate with you over this."

"Yes, Elizabeth Smallwood," Magnussen said, hands going into his pockets as he stepped forwards. "I like her. She is good. She is English with a spine. She is very different to the others I have met…you see, the English are herbivores. They are so very tame…so very willing to do what is right."

Magnussen moved closer then and Elizabeth felt her spine straighten and Sherlock dared to move his hand down to the small of her back. Magnussen picked up on the motion. His lips quirked upwards as he walked between Sherlock and John, his hand moving to towards Elizabeth until the back of his fingers ran down her cheek. She winced and tugged her head back from his grip.

"But I don't think it is Elizabeth Smallwood you want to protect," Magnussen declared. "I think it is a different Elizabeth…the only Elizabeth that really matters to you."

Sherlock let his harsh stare fall on Magnussen, his eyes narrow and his face scrunched up. Sherlock usually was never one to let his emotions show, but he was finding that impossible not to do. The way he was feeling right now was like nothing he had felt before. He wanted Magnussen away from his daughter. He wanted to push him back until he was away from her.

"What is it you want?" Elizabeth was the one to enquire, voice low and demanding.

"I want many things," Magnussen says. "And people always seem to give me what I want."

"I am going to assume that is because you blackmail them?" John wondered.

Magnussen chuckled. "It is because I know their secrets," Magnussen said. "People will do everything they can to hide their secrets. Think about it. How many secrets to you all have? Your biggest secret was being dead, wasn't it, Sherlock? But sometimes it isn't secrets that we want hidden…it's other things we could prefer to keep private."

"What the hell are you talking about?" John muttered.

"Things people want hidden," Magnussen, his eyes flashing over to Elizabeth. "Intimate moments…innermost thoughts…"

Elizabeth kept her eyes on Magnussen as a moment of fear took over her. What did that man know? Why did he look at her like he knew something? He looked at her as though he knew everything about her. It was as if he knew things she didn't want him knowing. It spooked her. Sherlock shook his head as Magnussen bit down on his cheek and nodded, wandering back towards the door.

"Little Elizabeth Holmes," he whistled in a low voice. "She's going to be the downfall of everyone…the downfall of everything…"

Elizabeth felt herself chill, her body shaking as Magnussen left. Immediately she moved her hands to her mouth as her eyes widened and she felt her cheeks redden and her legs begin to shake. Sherlock moved silent, wrapping his arms around his daughter and holding her to him. He said nothing as his hand cupped the back of her head and he promised himself silently that nothing would happen.