As soon as the black car pulled up, Mrs. Hudson prepared to go to war.
To her surprise, the pretty young girlfriend climbed out after Mycroft Holmes and they came through the front door. Mrs. Hudson pursed her lips. That young woman had been very disrespectful the last time they spoke. Ignoring her presence, the landlady rounded on the man with the umbrella.
"I don't care what issues you're having with your brother, Mycroft Holmes, but you have no right to treat him this way! Do you know how much he's dealing with now? Do you know how miserable he looks? And the other day he mentioned your name, and he nearly broke down in tears! What have you done to him?"
The girl was glaring at her fiercely. Mycroft opened his mouth, but nothing came out of it. She suddenly noticed his tan, and her fury grew. "Don't tell me you were on holiday now! Poor Sherlock is overwhelmed by all this family business, and you just upped and left him to deal with everything?!" she hissed incredulously.
The younger man finally found his tongue. "I'm afraid I'm a bit baffled by your complaints," he said smoothly, with barely a hint of anger in his voice. "You were quite adamant about my interference last time. Now you are insisting that I interfere more. Either way, I understand my presence isn't welcome. I shan't be here again to bother you, Mrs. Hudson."
Mycroft shot a look at his assistant, and then turned to head out. As he was opening the door, thunderous footsteps were heard from the direction of the stails, and a panting Sherlock appeared into view.
"Mycroft!" he exclaimed, still out of breath. "Where are you going? You said you'll be up in a moment."
"It's very kind of you to have set up a welcoming committee," his brother replied in measured tones. "You obviously know how much I enjoyed being relieved so graciously. Now, I do have some urgent matters to attend to. Keep well" he gestured with his umbrella and headed to the door once more.
"No, Mycroft, this wasn't me," Sherlock sounded frantic. "I promise you! Mrs. Hudson, what did you say to him?" he asked, bewildered. "Never-ending, I should have known this would happen. Come on, Mycroft, you can't just leave like that!" he pleaded.
Mrs. Hudson stared at her tenant in confusion. Sherlock barely tolerated his brother's presence in the best of times, and here he was pleading for him to stay in the tone of a small child afraid of being left alone.
Much more astonishing were the words that came out of his mouth next. "I'm sorry, Mycroft." The concept of apologies had long been deleted from the younger man's hard drive, if it had ever made it in at all. "I didn't realize she would intercept you. Please ignore her for now, and come up."
"Sherlock!" the landlady exclaimed, offended, as the older man nodded reluctantly and made his way up the stairs with a heavy tread. The younger man raced ahead, paying her no heed.
The landlady's ire grew as she watched the girlfriend- or was it assistant? - open the door to her apartment and head inside as if she owned the place, all while keeping her eyes glued to her mobile.
"I don't recall inviting you in," she said as she followed.
The younger woman merely smiles distractedly, as she began typing on her phone. After a minute, she spoke up, in a bland, disinterested tone. "You have no idea what you have done, do you?"
"Pardon?" the landlady replied, using her most dangerous tone.
The girl still wasn't running for the hills. "He used to look up to you, you know," she continued conversationally. "He admired the way you dealt with his brother, how you managed the nearly impossible job of getting his affection. He actually enjoyed coming here, once upon a time."
She looked up suddenly, her eyes grave. "Between you and me, the man who carries the world on his shoulders was in desparate need of some mothering. In some small measure, it's what he got over here."
"Of course," she smiled cynically, "he was only a far second to your number ones, but he would take what he could get. He is, after all, pretty much used to it. He was always content in lething his brother bask in the limelight, and was satisfied with whatever crumbs you threw his way.
"He never expected any sort of gratitude or even acknowledgement, you know, from his brother or anyone else, no matter how many times he was called to clean up his messes. You know exactly who's paying a large part of the rent, and for all the damage your tenant's haphazard living conditions cause.
"Likewise, you've never hesitated to call for his help, when Sherlock got himself into trouble. And Mycroft never hesitated to accede to your requests. He thought that there was mutual respect between you.
"There wasn't, was there? For some reason, you were always suspicious of his motives. I know that you accused him several times of sending his brother into danger, never listening to his side. Don't you think it preposterous for him to casually risk someone he puts so much effort into protecting?"
The older woman was shocked speechless, and struggled to find herstwhile voice. "I do what I need to do to protect my family," she bit our sharply.
"So does he. And so do I," the girl smiled pleasantly. "I don't care what exactly he did to get him upset, but you knew that it was only out of concern for his brother. He had thought you would understand at least that.
"You are just another person who uses him when convenient and then refuse to cut him slack when he got something wrong. He claims that caring is not an advantage, and I no longer wonder why. He gave you his trust and you betrayed it." The younger woman's eyes were flashing dangerously.
"I don't- I was only going by what Sherlock told me," Mrs. Hudson defended herself, but her words were unsure.
"Sherlock, well, of course. Again, between you and me, if you look up the definition of ungrateful brat in the dictionary, you know who's picture you'll find. You're supposed to be the mature adult, and you don't have to go along with his little games of mocking and humiliating his brother, especially when he didn't do a thing to deserve it.
"Oh, and I'll have you know that this little holiday was the first selfish thing he did in his life, and only under coercion. We worked so hard to get him to relax and think about himself for once without feeling guilty. Now we'll have to start over.
The girl gave her a final smile, and added, as a parting shot, "By the way, some reptiles have feelings too."