Tim

In the middle of the night, John was still wide awake. The shower did nothing to make her feel clean. Her clothes were soaking wet, hanging up to dry after she tried to scrub the blood out by hand.

There was a bay window in her room with a view of the pool in the backyard. Stevie was walking around the perimeter, hands behind his back, bluetooth in his ear. That meant the ever-silent Glenn was back at her side, just outside her door, making sure she would not try anything.

The thing about Glenn though, he was a man. Men all had one weakness.

John Watson in nothing but a sheet.

"Hi," John called from the door.

Glenn was standing at attention along the adjacent war. He barely looked her way, but she did not miss the way his eyebrows rose a fraction.

John smirked and slipped into the hall, letting the golden sheet slide delicately over her unmarred shoulder, head high, shoulders back. It was all about confidence, after all. Despite Sherlock's games, John was quite good at the art of seduction. "Do you think you could get me a cuppa? Tap water just isn't doing it for me right now."

Glenn ignored her.

John grit her teeth and dropped more of the sheet, exposing both of her shoulders on either side. "I could go with you." She slid forward and tucked a hand between the edges, pulling the fabric from her thighs, revealing her naked legs. "No one will really mind-" She rested that hand delicately on Glenn's chest and slowly pulled it down to his waist, feeling out every piece of weaponry he had stowed away, "-what we get up to when it's just the two of us." She sucked in a breath and pushed the sheet off completely, gripping it in her free hand. "Will they?"

Glenn looked down once and quickly grunted, "I'm gay."

"Oh," John said shortly.

Then, she gripped the stun gun she felt, ripped it out of his pocket and shoved it into his neck. He tried to push at her arm but she blocked him with the sheet, shoving it over his face. This unfortunately dislodged the stun gun, so she pushed him into the wall and kicked him in the gut.

While he tackled her across the hall, she pulled the sheet tight around his neck and yanked. They both fell, her body stuck underneath. With one meaty hand he held her head down. With the other he reached for the bluetooth in his ear.

John lunged with her lower half, nailed him with a fist in the side, and slammed the end of the stun gun into his upper thigh. Fabric burned when she pulled the trigger but electricity traveled through to flesh and Glenn slumped off of her. She lunged to her side and kneed him in the face, twice for good measure.

Glenn was out cold.

"That's fine," John said and pulled the sheet back up. "All fine."

There was no time to grab her wet clothes so she quickly threw on underwear, pinched the sides of the sheet together and threw them around her body, tucking the edges into her bra. It was not the best looking toga but it would do for an escape attempt. She searched Glenn's body and pulled out his phone and gun. She did not have anywhere great to store it, so she tucked the phone into her bra as well. It would do.

John opened her ears to the rest of the mansion but no one seemed to have noticed the scuffle. She inched her way down the hall and thrust her stolen gun into the air. It felt really good to have something solid and heavy between her hands again.

There were only really two hallways that John had mapped out. One led to the dining room from her bedroom and the other led to the office Moriarty had greeted her in. As far as she could remember while blindfolded, they had taken her up a flight of stairs to get to the office. From her bedroom she could see the pool and the backyard but no street. Therefore she needed to cross the house and go down a few flight of stairs. Easy. She hoped.

Finding the stairs was simple enough and only her footsteps echoed back at her. She could see a brand new hall leading toward the front of the house and she cautiously stepped onto the carpet rug, keeping her footsteps light. There were plenty of doors lining the way but there was only a light on in one. She cautiously approached, keeping the gun level.

In the moment she turned to check her six, she heard a scream.

"You bastard! You utter, fucking bastard!"

John bolted towards the door and thrust it open, gun leading the way, ready to shoot whoever was making an innocent screech.

She froze.

A young teenage boy slowly turned to her, his headphones dropping off his ears, his game controller slowly sliding to the floor.

Video game. He was yelling at someone on the video game.

It was some kind of shooting game, first person. John could see the character on the telly die and the image fade to red.

The boy looked back at the game and groaned, "Shit."

John looked for anyone else in the room but they seemed to be the only two. "Are you alright?"

The boy went back to the video game but at least had the decency to remove his headphones. "I'll be fine-" he yelled into the microphone, "-ONCE I GET THAT TOSSER TITSSCRILL!"

"Um. Right." John slowly entered the room, checking the door behind her every few seconds, putting herself within the line of sight of the boy and the hallway. "Who are you then?"

"Tim," the boy answered shortly. He looked to be in his early teens with a dark skin tone and short dark hair to match. He was wearing some sort of pyjamas, sweats and a tank top, socks on his feet. "You?"

"Joan." There was a half-empty bag of crisps next to him on the couch, a can of soda on the table in front of him. John's stomach grumbled. "Doctor Joan Watson."

Tim's face fell into an 'o' shape. "So the cuntbag has a doc now, does she?"

John's eyebrow rose. "I'm not her doctor."

"Then what are-" He looked up from his game and his face crumpled. "What the hell are you wearing?"

John looked down at herself and pulled the sheet further across her body, pulling her trainers out from under the folds. "It's- um- look- that's -that's not important right now. Do you know the way out of here?"

"No way out," Tim said, returning to his game, clacking away at the buttons on his controller.

"What do you mean, no way out?"

"Bitch has cameras all over. If I step out of this room, she'll know it and send Tom or Jerry to pick me up."

Cameras. John thought she had dodged them all but she had been too busy checking out the scream to properly scan this room. There was one in the corner. Damn. Glenn was down and Stevie occupied, but they were on even more borrowed time than she thought.

John went back to the door and checked the hall. Empty. Best to build a quick rapport and shove him out the door. "Tim, why does Moriarty have you locked up here?"

"Is that her name? Never said." Tim shrugged and continued playing, shifting side to side with the character on the screen. "And it's not so bad. At least I get clothes. What she kidnap you for?"

"Long story." John's eyes darted back to the camera. "I pissed her off."

"And lived?"

"Yeah."

"Holy shit."

"Yeah." John shot him a quick smile. "Did you piss her off, Tim?"

Tim scoffed. "Me, oh no."

"Someone you knew?"

"My mum." Tim shrugged, as if it were not big deal. "Don't know what mum did exactly."

"How long have you been here, Tim?"

"Oh, about a month, I think? Hard to tell. I only got the game station about a week ago. No internet except to chat with these FUCKERS!" He slammed his fingers onto the controller and shook it left and right.

John's jaw clenched and she lifted the gun back to the door. "Do you mind keeping your voice down?!"

"Oh don't worry about it. They don't pay me much mind. Just the meal visits from the housekeeper, you know? And a phone call every so often with her royal cuntface." Tim tossed his head to the side and mocked Moriarty's Irish lilt. "Tim-Tim is a fit as a fiddle Mrs. M."

Why did that sound familiar? Tim M. Should it? Tim did not sound like a name she should know. He was just some kid playing video games. The only boy they had been looking at recently was- oh! "Wait, is your mother Gabby? Gabby Miller?"

Tim stopped tapping buttons, though his gaze did not leave the screen. The sounds of his character dying shrieked through the speakers. "What's it to you?"

John pinched her eyes shut and tried to remember the name of the Miller family. Gabby Miller, single mother to a teenage boy. She only glanced at his name once and she did not have a Memory Palace to revisit but she swore his name ended with a 'y'.

"Timothy," John said aloud. "Timothy Miller."

Tim glanced at her but went back to tapping at his controller.

Gabby was still alive somewhere. Moriarty kidnapped Timothy for collateral, just as she had John. Even if the case was mostly already solved, Sherlock would want to know about this. John needed to get them out of the stupid mansion.

"Tim," John said urgently, returning to the door. "We need to get out of here. Now."

"I told you. No point. There are cameras and shit."

John growled. "Fuck the cameras. I am a war veteran." She pulled her toga up once again and spared the boy a quick glance. "If I can't beat a bit of technology, then my training was for nothing."

"But the guards-"

"I last left Glenn unconscious in my hallway. He'll be waking up soon so the faster you follow me, the better."

Tim's brow furrowed. "Glenn?"

"The really fat one. Looks like a bear."

"Shit."

"Quite. Let's go."

"But-" Tim stammered and dropped the controls. He nervously pat his hands against the tops of his thighs and stammered. "If- if she catches us- she'll be mad and- she'll-"

"Tim." John approached slowly. There was no telling what this kid had seen in his time with Moriarty. He really was just a kid. A kid who was going to grow up too fast and needed to do some of that growing up in the next five minutes if he wanted to live. "I know this is difficult. But I need you to soldier up right now. This isn't a game. I have a friend, a detective friend. They can help get your mother back. But we need to leave. Now."

Tim swallowed harshly.

"Alright, Tim?"

Tim nodded.

John led the way down the hall towards the front of the house. There were more cameras the closer they got to the front but they could easily evade their line of site.

They made it all the way down the carpeted hall. There was a balcony overlooking the foyer and it had an excellent view of the front door.

"Alright," John said and turned to Tim who was breathing harshly down her neck, never letting go of her sheet. "You stay here while I check the front. I want to check for any alternate routes and make sure Stevie is still in the back-"

John and Tim jumped as the phone in her bra started to blare. John jumped to rip the mobile out as she shoved Tim into the closest room, hoping for the best. It took a moment for her to lift it out but she was able to silence the blasted thing and turn off the alarm.

The alarm that read Camera 4.6 Motion Detection Activated.

"Fuck," John hissed. "Shit, shit, shit."

"What?" Tim whispered, panicked.

"You were right about those cameras. Okay, we don't have long. We need to get out of here. Look for an open window or another way out."

Tim nodded.

John did a sweep of the room as Tim shuffled to the closest window to see if it would open. In the middle of what appeared to be a library was a giant billiards table. On that table were a series of canvases, each of varied sizes, each faded but clearly showing similar patterns, brush strokes and lines. They were set up in a diamond shape but there was clearly one piece missing from right center. John did not have time to put together the reasons why, but she knew it was important. She snapped a picture with Glenn's crappy phone and quickly sent it off in a text without explanation. She looked up to check on Tim and shoved her ear to the door where she heard footsteps coming. Quickly, she deleted the text and shoved the phone back into her bra and lifted the gun towards the crack.

Stevie whipped past without glancing at the room they were hiding in. John waited three more breaths before she called, "Tim! We're leaving! Come on!"

Tim shuffled up behind her and she pushed them both through the door, throwing her gun up at the place Stevie ran off to.

"Go, go, go," John yelled as quietly as she could and shoved Tim towards the front door. "Run!"

Tim ran and John ran after him, passing him halfway down the stairs. They made it all the way to the front door and John threw it open, only to come face to face with a very unhappy looking bear of a man.

"Son of a bi-"

Silently, Glenn threw up his fist and cuffed John across the temple.