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John knows Sherlock has solved the crime already, and he knows he's not calling it in because he's using the time to try to figure out John's reasoning. John thinks this is the one case Sherlock won't be able to solve in time. John knows Sherlock's reasoning, but he doesn't like how close Sherlock is cutting it. The timeline is up in less than 10 minutes.

5 minutes.

John's text alert goes off and he smiles as he sees the new message. Sherlock has saved another. He presses a few buttons before raising the phone to his head.

"Sherlock has solved the puzzle." He begins before smiling wistfully. "Have her call him to-"

"Uh, Doctor Watson…" the man interrupts and John's face tilts before he lets out a small breath.

"Yes?" he prompts.

"She's dead." He blurts and John closes his eyes and lifts his head.

"Dead?"

"She fell down the stairs!" he exclaims as John counts down from 100. "It's all Kevin's fault, he," there was a pause as the other changes his message. "He let her fall." John shook his head, no, Kevin mush have done something to her. His feels the anger building inside of him and continues counting.

"Stay there." He instructs. "I will call you back." He turns to see Jim leaning against the door.

"They killed her?" He asks and John nods.

"Detonate the bomb Johnny boy, and tell your detective he was too late." Jim instructs as he stands and walks over to him. Jim tilts his head and smiles. "He won't care, but I know you do." John's thumb traces the outside of the phone as he fights to keep his face neutral. Jim's smile widens, he knows everything going on in John's funny little brain. "Make the call Dr. Watson." He instructs as his smile fades into a serious demeanor.

"Yes?" Kevin is on the phone now.

"Detonate the bomb."

"Yes, sir." He hears Kevin tell the other and the sound of running. He hears the explosion in the background and hangs his head.

"John." Jim's tone is clipped and John sets his face into neutral as he raises it. Jim nods like he would for a dog doing tricks and John wants to sock him. He would be okay.

A little too late -JW

John reaches 0 in his count before turning to look back at Jim, who is already walking out the door. John lets the door close before he let his thoughts wander to the woman. He sighs before realizing which one it was.

They killed the woman expecting a child.

He roars.

…

Sherlock's expects the phone to ring and has preemptively handed it to Lestrade. He runs his hands through his hair and curses his transport for acting up. It's slowing him down.

"Oh, my God." Lestrade whispers as his text alert goes off. Sherlock looks up as Lestrade drops the phone in his lap.

A little too late -JW

Does John not care anymore? Isn't that way past a 'bit not good'? Sherlock has done this to him. Driven him out. Moriarty.

It suddenly hard to breathe.

He yanks his scarf off as he stands. No, no, no! John is the moral compass. Was. was. John was the moral compass.

What have I done to him?

He is silent as he turns to walk away but Lestrade won't let him leave. Sherlock doesn't seem to notice that Lestrade is holding him back by his arm.

"Sherlock, Sherlock. Sherlock!"

Lestrade hugs him fiercely and after a pause Sherlock wraps his arms like ropes around Lestrade. Lestrade doesn't move and Sherlock shudders. The last time they hugged Sherlock was in a relapse and took an old dosage and was vulnerable. Sherlock's shaking and Lestrade doesn't look up to see if he's crying, he doesn't think he could handle that.

"I was alone; alone protected me."

Lestrade wants to say that's what friends were for, but John had been a friend. Sherlock knows he needs to go back to how it was, to turn everything off. Lestrade tightens his arms and takes deep breaths. He is going to kill Watson and maybe Mycroft too.

…

Kevin and Angel walk into the briefing room after getting back and glance at each other before Angel shrugs and turns on the light. John is sitting at the table, watching them both intently. Angel swallows and looks away and Kevin straightens his shoulders before opening his mouth.

"Don't." John warns with a shake of his head and Kevin nods as the two of them walk forward to join him at the table. He shakes his head and motions for them to stand in the middle of the room.

"Stand up straight." He commands in a voice he reserved for men under his command. They both straightened considerably. John stands with his arms crossed behind his back and a neutral expression on his face.

"You were told to be careful with her." He begins, and he can see Angel shifting. Kevin looks straight ahead. "Extra careful even." John walks in front of them. "Care to explain how that ended up with a pregnant woman falling down the stairs?" Angel may have spoken but Kevin cleared his throat and Angel stayed silent. "No?"

Silence. John grabs at Kevin's collar and pulls him forward as Jim walks in the door. Jim lifts an eyebrow but John doesn't look away from Kevin. Still, in his peripherals, he can see that Jim is carrying around a handgun. John is furious, Sherlock is hurting and he's got lots of clients. Today is a good day, a very good day, and oddly enough it's not for any of those reasons. Today is an important day. It will be the first time John Watson kills for him.

"Release him." John obeys and Jim continues to walk towards them. Jim hands him the gun as if he can't wait to be rid of it. John takes it and it sobers up slightly, he's still furious, but hurting the man wouldn't solve anything. Jim tilts his head by a fraction of an inch and John knows that Jim is instructing him to kill Kevin and John looks back at him with the tiniest shake of his head.

No.

"Kill the guilty party" he orders "or I can kill the failing team" he adds conversationally. John lifts the gun without changing his expression. He looks at it. He feels the weight and knows it's loaded, this isn't a trick. Angel has turned pale, even his tanned skin seems to have faded.

"No need for that, I think the one is enough." His voice is even, despite the anger brewing beneath the surface towards the others.

This was all Kevin's fault. John gave very specific instructions about this woman; the woman and her baby. He let her fall down the stairs. It was likely he pushed her. John feels the hot anger burn in his veins as he uses his thumb to take the safety off the gun. Sherlock would feel guilt like he had with the elderly woman in the great game. Jim was winning. The woman and babe were gone; innocents taken. This was all Kevin's fault.

"Now, Dr. Watson." It's not an order, it's said calmly, as if Jim was just expressing a preference. Now, the briefest flash of panic enters Kevin's eyes, but it's much too late for any of that.

"Should have done your damn job." John spits locking eyes with the other before he pulls the trigger. He watches the body fall. It starts to stain the tile. He'd seen much worse happen to much better. He had lost hours and hours of sleep to those images. Fortunately, or unfortunately, John was sure he would get sleep tonight. He's furious as he turns to the other.

"Get out." He does. John turns to Jim and holds out the gun. Jim looks at it as if disgusted before shaking his head.

"Oh no, I don't want that. Why don't you hold on to it?"

Later, as John is cleaning it, he notices that there are two bullets missing from the magazine and briefly wonders who the first one was for.

When Sherlock watches the news that night, he sees the destruction that killed 20 people and sweeps everything off his table. He turns his head when he hears a thud and sees his skull has fallen of the mantle. He stares at it for a moment before turning away and closing his eyes.

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