p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;""Richard Brook is missing." Victoria was back at the hospital, informing her brother of what was now going on. There was an ultimatum that Sherlock had to decide./p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;""Against my better judgment, I must inform you of what Moriarty is doing. It seems he has kidnapped not only John Watson but Richard Brook as well. This makes sense when you add in what he told me last night. It seems you have a choice, Sherlock. He has already maimed them in such a way that unless you pick one for him to save, he will kill both or rather, I guess, let them die from their wounds. This is a horrible situation to put you in, and I wish there were another way. Oh, Sherlock, I'm so sorry." Victoria, for what she was worth, tried to keep from breaking under the pressure she was in, but could no longer hold up./p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"Her brother was lying in a hospital bed with an impossible choice in front of him. Her other brother could now only be reached by phone, and she had lost the location of her parents. On top of all of that, Victoria had already been told that unless she finished this fiasco by the end of the week, not only would the resources she was using be redacted, but she would lose her job and any benefits she would have typically had. The one thing Victoria could not figure out was, emwhy /em. Why focus on her and her family? Before she could figure it out, she was interrupted by the dumb-founding statement of her little brother./p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;""I won't choose, I can't. Either they both die, or it's a trick or something, but I can't make a choice like that. I gave everything to Richard, and he threw it in my face, but that doesn't mean I don't still care. And John. I want to give him everything, but it's hard after what happened with Richard, and I haven't known him for as long. I refuse to choose between the man I once loved and the one I am growing too. It is impossible, and if John Watson is as strong as I think he is, he will make sure that I don't have to choose." Sherlock's voice was quiet but firm and sure in his decision./p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;""Alright, I'll..I'll tell Moriarty if you are sure." Sherlock's only response was a glare until she left the room./p
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p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;""Neither! Your fool of a brother is prepared to let them both die, and make sure that no one other than his family, if that, will ever love him. I thought you Holmes's were smarter than that. Fine then, I choose."/p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;""That was not part of the deal!"/p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;""I'm so changeable, my dear, it seems it is the wrong day to die for one of the two men I have in my captivity. Lucky for you, for them both to live, I have another proposition; but you, dear Vicky, must make the choice. To have both men live, Sherlock must marry Richard Brook, or else John Watson dies, and I just see what happens to Richard." What was she supposed to do? How could Victoria choose something like this for her brother, especially after finding out what happened between Richard and Sherlock? She knew that John had to live for Sherlock to keep his sanity./p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;""Tick, tock, Vicky, the time to choose is running out..." Moriarty sang in a sing-song voice./p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;""The marriage. I choose the marriage" Victoria said quickly to stop the insufferable clicking sound Moriarty was making over the phone./p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;""Excellent choice, Vicky. Pleasure doing business with you. Richard will be delivered to you shortly, and John Watson in his coffin a day later."/p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;""But you said-"br /"I did say how changeable I was, my dear." With those final words, Moriarty hung up the phone, leaving Victoria to stare at the glass of whiskey in front of her. She had been sober for five years, but since the business with Moriarty, she had slipped up. Life was so stress-filled now; her parents were still nowhere to be found, Mycroft and Greg were in hiding, and now what she was about to put her brother through hell. Victoria turned away from the glass in front of her and grabbed the bottle instead./p
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p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;""I did say how changeable I was, my dear." Moriarty hung up the phone and turned back to John Watson, whom he had left on an operating table. "I do hope you have realized now that you are the only one here. There is no Richard Brook, or rather, I am Richard Brook, and there is no Moriarty. However, you want to look at it. We are one and the same, and we will be in full control of our property once more, able to cleanse it of all the impurities you have put upon it." With each breath, Moriarty/Richard drove a lit cigarette into John Watson's body. John would have passed out long ago from pain if not for the different drugs Moriarty was pumping him with to keep him awake and able to feel every single thing./p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"The only thing keeping John from crying out was because his voice was already gone from the all crying out he did earlier. In retrospect, what Moriarty was doing then was nothing in comparison to what was happening now. There were many new scars on John Watson's body now. The one injury that would stand out the most would be the one where his left arm used to be - where it was now a stump at the shoulder./p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"John had no thoughts of being able to leave; thoughts all left him shortly after the torture had begun, but upon hearing that Sherlock would be marrying the man who had been torturing him, new light sparked into John's being. He was determined now to last long enough to prevent Sherlock from being locked into such a horrible marriage that would most certainly lead to his death. A new resolve came through John's body, and after spending so much time with it, Moriarty knew instantly, and his malicious grin was wiped from his face./p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;""Do you think you can get out of this Doctor Watson? Do you think you can save Sherl from his fate? That's quite stupid of you. Moran will make sure you can't leave. You are to die here and be sent in a coffin tomorrow, to arrive on Sherl's front step for him to mourn over. Once he does, he will close up completely, and I will be free to do with him what I please. I do thank you for all of your help, John, never could have done it without you." Moriarty feigned looking at a watch, "I better be off. I have to get ready for my wedding!" And he strutted out of the room, removing the blood-soaked clothing as he went./p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;""Against my better judgment, I must inform you of what Moriarty is doing. It seems he has kidnapped not only John Watson but Richard Brook as well. This makes sense when you add in what he told me last night. It seems you have a choice, Sherlock. He has already maimed them in such a way that unless you pick one for him to save, he will kill both or rather, I guess, let them die from their wounds. This is a horrible situation to put you in, and I wish there were another way. Oh, Sherlock, I'm so sorry." Victoria, for what she was worth, tried to keep from breaking under the pressure she was in, but could no longer hold up./p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"Her brother was lying in a hospital bed with an impossible choice in front of him. Her other brother could now only be reached by phone, and she had lost the location of her parents. On top of all of that, Victoria had already been told that unless she finished this fiasco by the end of the week, not only would the resources she was using be redacted, but she would lose her job and any benefits she would have typically had. The one thing Victoria could not figure out was, emwhy /em. Why focus on her and her family? Before she could figure it out, she was interrupted by the dumb-founding statement of her little brother./p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;""I won't choose, I can't. Either they both die, or it's a trick or something, but I can't make a choice like that. I gave everything to Richard, and he threw it in my face, but that doesn't mean I don't still care. And John. I want to give him everything, but it's hard after what happened with Richard, and I haven't known him for as long. I refuse to choose between the man I once loved and the one I am growing too. It is impossible, and if John Watson is as strong as I think he is, he will make sure that I don't have to choose." Sherlock's voice was quiet but firm and sure in his decision./p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;""Alright, I'll..I'll tell Moriarty if you are sure." Sherlock's only response was a glare until she left the room./p
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p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;""Neither! Your fool of a brother is prepared to let them both die, and make sure that no one other than his family, if that, will ever love him. I thought you Holmes's were smarter than that. Fine then, I choose."/p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;""That was not part of the deal!"/p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;""I'm so changeable, my dear, it seems it is the wrong day to die for one of the two men I have in my captivity. Lucky for you, for them both to live, I have another proposition; but you, dear Vicky, must make the choice. To have both men live, Sherlock must marry Richard Brook, or else John Watson dies, and I just see what happens to Richard." What was she supposed to do? How could Victoria choose something like this for her brother, especially after finding out what happened between Richard and Sherlock? She knew that John had to live for Sherlock to keep his sanity./p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;""Tick, tock, Vicky, the time to choose is running out..." Moriarty sang in a sing-song voice./p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;""The marriage. I choose the marriage" Victoria said quickly to stop the insufferable clicking sound Moriarty was making over the phone./p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;""Excellent choice, Vicky. Pleasure doing business with you. Richard will be delivered to you shortly, and John Watson in his coffin a day later."/p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;""But you said-"br /"I did say how changeable I was, my dear." With those final words, Moriarty hung up the phone, leaving Victoria to stare at the glass of whiskey in front of her. She had been sober for five years, but since the business with Moriarty, she had slipped up. Life was so stress-filled now; her parents were still nowhere to be found, Mycroft and Greg were in hiding, and now what she was about to put her brother through hell. Victoria turned away from the glass in front of her and grabbed the bottle instead./p
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p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;""I did say how changeable I was, my dear." Moriarty hung up the phone and turned back to John Watson, whom he had left on an operating table. "I do hope you have realized now that you are the only one here. There is no Richard Brook, or rather, I am Richard Brook, and there is no Moriarty. However, you want to look at it. We are one and the same, and we will be in full control of our property once more, able to cleanse it of all the impurities you have put upon it." With each breath, Moriarty/Richard drove a lit cigarette into John Watson's body. John would have passed out long ago from pain if not for the different drugs Moriarty was pumping him with to keep him awake and able to feel every single thing./p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"The only thing keeping John from crying out was because his voice was already gone from the all crying out he did earlier. In retrospect, what Moriarty was doing then was nothing in comparison to what was happening now. There were many new scars on John Watson's body now. The one injury that would stand out the most would be the one where his left arm used to be - where it was now a stump at the shoulder./p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"John had no thoughts of being able to leave; thoughts all left him shortly after the torture had begun, but upon hearing that Sherlock would be marrying the man who had been torturing him, new light sparked into John's being. He was determined now to last long enough to prevent Sherlock from being locked into such a horrible marriage that would most certainly lead to his death. A new resolve came through John's body, and after spending so much time with it, Moriarty knew instantly, and his malicious grin was wiped from his face./p
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;""Do you think you can get out of this Doctor Watson? Do you think you can save Sherl from his fate? That's quite stupid of you. Moran will make sure you can't leave. You are to die here and be sent in a coffin tomorrow, to arrive on Sherl's front step for him to mourn over. Once he does, he will close up completely, and I will be free to do with him what I please. I do thank you for all of your help, John, never could have done it without you." Moriarty feigned looking at a watch, "I better be off. I have to get ready for my wedding!" And he strutted out of the room, removing the blood-soaked clothing as he went./p