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Chapter 33

"It's an ear hat John!" Lucy heard Sherlock practically yelling as he threw the hat around like a child's Frisbee. From inside her bedroom, the teenager giggled. John hadn't been too happy of late with the amount of attention they were getting from the press, mainly for Lucy's sake, but also for the fact that Sherlock's 'private detective' status was getting closer to being an 'international public detective' status. But surprisingly, they hadn't had much to do recently. There had been no new cases interesting enough to warrant Sherlock's skills and so he had taken to moping about the flat being an insufferable pain in the arse much to the dismay of everyone else.

Lucy was studying. She laughed at herself for it but she was determined to get some decent grades for school. They'd decided together that she would go back to school next academic year and start in year 11. Considering most subjects had gotten rid of coursework, she could use whatever she had achieved when she had been in school to contribute to her final grades in Chemistry, biology, physics, history, French, drama, English, maths, RE and ICT. There were a lot of subjects to revise for, but she no longer had to worry about any coursework anyway. All she had to do was sit the final exams- thanks to Mycroft's help. She didn't really want to cheat, but she had given Sherlock one of her last reports with her predicted grades- all of which were straight A's; Sherlock had obviously not wanted her to be too stressed and get worse if she had too much to do, so he went off to Mycroft without first telling Lucy and told his brother to make it so she had A's in all of the coursework needed. So now she didn't even have to do drama. She was just going to sit the final exams. Yes, she was happy about this, but couldn't help but feel a little guilty.

When she came out of her room- several hours later, she giggled slightly at the sight of John- freshly showered, in his dressing gown and hair still wet as he sat reading a newspaper. He rolled his eyes at her but gave her a smile. She looked towards Sherlock Holmes- who was doing some kind of experiment in the kitchen and flinched at the sight of a mannequin hanging from the ceiling.

"Oh." She said in surprise, not sure whether to laugh or be worried.

"Mm, Henry Fishguard." Sherlock said as though that was a perfectly helpful explanation. Lucy knew better than to inquire further, and instead, grabbed a biscuit and sat down in the living room. John glanced up at her over the top of his newspaper with a small smile at the sight of her eating a biscuit, and the teenager almost rolled her eyes if it wasn't for the fact that she knew her flatmate was genuinely pleased. The sound of Sherlock's mobile text alert made Lucy jump slightly. The consulting detective made no indication that he had heard anything so John- with a groan- said:

"I'll get it shall I?" Making sure his dressing gown was thoroughly done up, the good doctor stood up and made a face at Lucy as he retrieved the mobile.

John Watson felt his blood run cold and felt the colour drain from his face as he unlocked the phone and opened the message. There was an agonising silence. As the seconds ticked by, John could feel Lucy's eyes on him but he wasn't sure if he would be able to actually say anything. He took a deep breath. It was only a matter of time, he reminded himself, and he knew it was bound to happen but... it was so soon. Sherlock was still focused on his experiment, and John was currently unable to say the words directly to Lucy so he walked over to the consulting detective. He held the phone out and took in a slightly shaky breath.

"Here." John murmured quietly.

"Not now I'm busy," Sherlock muttered as he adjusted the lens on his microscope.

"Sherlock..."

"Not now."

"He's back." John held out the phone firmly as the detective finally looked up with an unreadable expression. Lucy, unable to hear the conversation very well, sat munching on the biscuit feeling a little left out. Sherlock took his phone and looked at it:

Come and play.

Tower Hill.

Jim Moriarty x

Sherlock leaned back in his seat slightly, feeling disbelief course through him. Of course he had expected this to happen. But it had barely been two and a half months. He shook his head and put his phone in his pocket, shooting a glance at the troubled teenager who was staring at him with a slightly miffed expression. Giving up with the silent treatment, Lucy stood up with a slight huff of annoyance and joined the party in the kitchen. Opening her arms she said a bit too loudly:

"Is anyone going to tell me what's going on?" Sherlock and John looked at each other at the same time. Both of them didn't really want to say. The girl before them was actually beginning to recover, her self harm was improving, her eating habits were improving and there were little to no traces of any more suicidal thoughts. So they were scared that this may make things worse again. But they knew they couldn't keep it a secret. She- of all people- deserved to know. Sherlock seemed to sigh as he opened up the text message again.

"I didn't expect it to be so soon quite frankly." He commented as he handed it to her. Lucy's eyes scanned the text. They widened, and then narrowed, her whole body went tense as she glanced at her friends.

"Well shit." She muttered, not really knowing what to say.

"Are you alright?" John asked softly.

"Of course I am, it's just... it is soon. And... Does he even know I'm alive?"

"I reckon he knows by now," Sherlock muttered, "You're name and picture has appeared in recent articles on the front page of national newspapers, he's bound to know." But he paused, "It's doubtful he'll be after you again. He's had his fun with you for now; you were just an extra game before the main event." Lucy nodded, relieved at his words but concerned nonetheless.

"What now?" Lucy queried.

"Well, he wants to play, let's go to Tower Hill." Sherlock said, standing up and putting his coat and blue scarf on while John hurried off to get changed.

All three of them met Lestrade once the taxi had meandered its way through the seemingly endless crowds of traffic. The DI greeted them once they got past the police tape, but Greg didn't seem to know whether to look concerned for them, or to smile in greeting.

"Good to see you Lucy," he said to her as he wrapped one arm around her shoulder, pulling her to his side.

"You too Greg," she laughed. Sherlock rolled his eyes.

"Let's see it then." Sherlock muttered, rushing them, obviously more than keen to get on with the case.

With a keen eye they watched the security footage on one of the computers. Lucy bit back a laugh. It wasn't particularly funny but the sight of him wearing clothes like a king was rather amusing.

"That glass is tougher than anything," Lestrade murmured as they finished watching the tape.

"Not tougher than crystallised carbon." Sherlock shook his head, "He used a diamond." His voice was low. Lestrade started to rewind the footage; Sherlock narrowed his eyes at the screen once Greg had paused it at a particular moment. John ran his hand through his hair with a sigh; Lucy stared at the screen at the sight before them.

Get Sherlock.

Sherlock took a deep breath before turning round to smile at Lucy reassuringly.

"He let himself get caught." Greg muttered, "He hasn't taken anything as far as we know. But he somehow managed to break into the Bank of England, Pentonville Prison and the Tower of London and we have no clue how he did it." The DI looked confused, "I have no idea how or why."

"Hmm." Sherlock hummed in response as he thought.

"You know you'll be called on as star witness." Lestrade told him.

"I had guessed."

"Lucy won't be."

"Why not?" Sherlock frowned.

"Because Mycroft didn't let the story get out did he? There's no proof in the media that she was involved. Besides, I personally don't think it's a good idea for her to testify in court in front of him."

"Fair enough." Sherlock nodded. Lucy narrowed her eyes, but she was glad of this. Sherlock knew that if Moriarty wanted to walk free, then he could quite easily, to get Lucy involved even more would be pointless and possibly damaging to her health. "In that case, John can go to court with me to watch, and Lucy, I'd prefer if you were to not come."

"Okay..." she knew better than to bother arguing although she was a bit miffed.

"She can stay with me, I won't be at the Old Bailey, and I'll be in my office writing reports and things. She's welcome to stay in my office with me." Greg offered.

"That will be great." Sherlock muttered, still thinking about what James Moriarty had done.

"Thanks Greg," John smiled appreciatively. Lucy smiled at the DI.

Sherlock knew that this was only the beginning. He'd always known that all their encounters before now had just been little distractions, just the beginning of something much bigger. And now there was an even bigger game on his hands. He just had to play it right now. He knew that Lucy had cut when she went to bed that night, but he couldn't blame her. She wasn't stupid. She would know that this would lead on to something if their last encounter was anything to go by. But Sherlock was scared as to how far it would go this time. He saw John's worried expression and sat down opposite.

"You look concerned." Sherlock observed.

"No shit Sherlock." John muttered. Sherlock continued to look at him so John Watson sighed, "I know you're trying to keep Lucy out of this as much as possible but it's going to hurt her either way. I appreciate that Greg wants to keep her safe but I don't want a repeat of last time." He sighed, "She's just starting to get better Sherlock. How will this impact her? Will she become suicidal again?"

"I doubt it." Sherlock muttered. "She isn't involved like she was last time. Moriarty isn't interested in her as much. He's after me John. Me. Lucy has no reason to be affected if I can help it."

"You can't know that she won't be affected."

"Well she will just have to be able to cope."

"Oh brilliant, Mr Empathy, thanks for being so caring." John muttered sarcastically. Sherlock hesitated and steepled his hands, putting them in front of his mouth in his 'thinking position.'

"I don't understand what you want me to do." Sherlock said confused. "It's hardly going to be down to me if she gets hurt by this. I'll do whatever I can to stop her being hurt, but I refuse to keep her out of this case, look what happened last time we did, it made her worse than better."

"I guess you're right but Sherlock," John frowned, "You need to just think about how this will affect her and perhaps try and be a little sympathetic."

"She's fine, she said she was fine about it all- stop worrying." Sherlock jumped up and walked into the kitchen.

"That's not the point." John sighed, "You obviously aren't going to understand but you don't know how she is really feeling inside, or how she will feel if this whole thing with Moriarty turns nasty again. Jesus Sherlock, please try, for me."

"I do try John," Sherlock came back, looking a little hurt. "I've been trying my best for the past few months haven't I?"

"Yes, you have."

"And what makes you think that I'll suddenly start acting even more cold and uncaring- especially towards Lucy?" The consulting detective queried.

"I don't know." John admitted, "I can just feel that you were becoming a little bit emotionally unattached to us both today." John's voice was soft. "And I don't want this case to take over you and make you forget that she is a human being with feelings. I don't want you to distance yourself."

"I won't and I'm not." Sherlock rolled his eyes. "The only time I'll ever distance myself is if I think it would be better if I did, and right now I need to focus on the point of Moriarty's actions today and I really do not need distractions."

"There you go again." John sighed.

"Don't bother John. I need to focus. The trial is tomorrow and I need to think." Sherlock looked at his flatmate pointedly before laying on the couch, in his thinking pose as he thought through everything.

Sherlock had to distance himself slightly. He couldn't be distracted. Moriarty did this for a reason, he got himself caught for a reason, and it wasn't the time to be weighed down by feelings. He felt bad for John and Lucy but didn't let this show. If he was to help them in any way, he would have to solve this case and work it out quickly. And if it meant having to be distant from his friends and their feelings for a while then he was willing to do that if it meant he could help them in the long run.