(Guys, who here ships Mollstrade? Just curious!)

A shot.

Sherlock Holmes saw himself bleed, blood spilling from the middle of his abdomen. His face went as white as sheet, his eyes blurring to Irene as he saw her hit Godfrey Norton with the end of John's gun.

Norton's forehead bled, but he was steady enough to hit Irene across the face, her lip filling with blood in the process.

"Is this the distraction you're talking about? How pathetic!" Godfrey spat, his sleeve turning red as he wiped the blood off his eyes.

Irene ran to Sherlock, her hand on the where he was bleeding, his eyes focused on her. She laid his head on her chest, Sherlock's breathing shallow. "I will end you." she hissed towards the enemy. At that Norton laughed.

Sherlock strained, directing his eyes on his fallen friend John Watson, his eyes glinting with madness as he slipped his hand on Irene's, taking the gun from her.

"So this is why you don't want me to touch you! The reason why you flinch at my every initiation of contact. You love him. How... disgusting." Godfrey laughed. "If you think you could outsmart me now, more than ever, you're wrong. You bought every piece I had wanted you to take in."

Irene started to stagger, her vision blurring as well as she held Sherlock, whose hand was trembling as he held the gun. The air was filled with the smell of blood, the room spinning. Godfrey saw how they were both weakened and took the chance to step in Sherlock's wrist, causing the gun to fall away. Grabbing Irene by her hair, Godfrey tilted her face to him, seeing how she was almost unconscious due to the blood trickling from her hairline and her lips. At that, Sherlock spoke, voice hoarse.

"You had the information all along. All of it. Those pieces of data you spread out were false and not even your clients knew about it."

At that, Norton clapped his hands and Irene's head fell over Sherlock's, her eyes tired. "Finally, you caught up!"

Sherlock held Irene, his eyes flickering to John's fallen form to Irene's bloody face. Studying the smug look on Norton's face, Sherlock figured he had the ace. "No copies, all yours. Clever. You know computers could be hacked, drives could be stolen. This is like Magnussen all over again."

Twiddling the gun on his hand, Godfrey smiled sardonically. "But unlike Magnussen, I won."

"No, you didn't." Sherlock muttered, the strain in his voice gone.

"Wha-" Godfrey exclaimed, surprise evident in his face as John jumped from behind him and tackled him to the ground. Sherlock grabbed Godfrey's gun and tossed John's gun back to the army doctor, who pointed it on Norton's head. Irene suddenly woke, her one hand on her bloodied head, the other phoning Lestrade who immediately entered the hall with backup behind him.

"What the hell is this?!" Godfrey shouted, a maniacal look in his eyes.

"While you were busy being all high and mighty, we had your house, you office and your other safehouses searched. The pattern you set out for us to find is not a pattern at all. It's a false trail-one we almost bought. But it was too obvious, attention seeking. Poorly made." Sherlock told him, pressing on every word. "I got your confession here as well." he continued, showing him a voice recorder. "I believe it'll be an easy conviction."

The Detective Inspector made the arrest, nodding to Sherlock as Donovan and a couple more police officers led Norton out the hall with cuffed hands. Mary also rushed in (and Sherlock saw a gun peeking out from the band of her pants) to meet her husband. John pulled out the vest hidden beneath his shirt, as well as an erupted blood bag which caused the effect of a fatal gunshot wound.

Sherlock did the same, the blood bag he pulled out almost dried out compared to his shirt, which was soaked.

"The blood bags are from Molly?" Greg asked, not hiding the amusement in his voice. Sherlock nodded.

"Since it was just a distraction, a production was needed to be set. Of course John could've acted better. I saw him move, once or twice." Sherlock said and John rolled his eyes at him.

"A thank you would be nice." John said and Mary laughed, shushing him.

Sherlock smiled at them, then at Irene. He signalled a medic to tend to her, his hand touching her face. "I'll check the others and come back for you."

"You don't have to treat me like a damsel in distress. I'm fine, Sherlock Holmes." she said playfully, kissing Sherlock's hand. He nodded at her, a soft smile in his eyes which she returned.

Lestrade cleared his throat and Sherlock's stern gaze returned as he followed the Detective Inspector out of the hall and into the grounds.

"The others?" Sherlock asked.

"As soon as they came running out the place, we rounded them all up, warrants all arranged and ready." Lestrade replied.

"I assume Mycroft is looking into this personally." Sherlock said and Lestrade nodded in confirmation.

"I... Erm..." Sherlock cleared his throat, almost mumbling. "Thank you."

Lestrade stood there, a look of confusion and surprise stretching on his face. "Are you sure you didn't get shot?"

Sherlock rolled his eyes. "Just accept it, Graeme."

"That's the Sherlock I know." Lestrade said, smiling and clapping the detective's back.

The exhaustion filled Sherlock's body, but the satisfaction was much more exhilarating. As he turned to go back to the hall, his eyes met Mary's and he saw the panic in them. She ran to him and he knew the words she would utter even before she spoke.

"Irene's bleeding. The baby..."

(Hello! Hope you've had a lovely Christmas. Just a heads up to everyone, there had been attacks towards fandom bloggers in Tumblr, starting with Supernatural fans and has been spreading every since. The targets are those with suicidal or self-harm tendencies. I have been helping out some efforts in Tumblr along with many others and because of this, had been a target as well and I hope you extend your prayers to those being attacked. Some have already been hospitalised, traumatised etc. Message me over at throughtheparadox in Tumblr if you wanna help out/inquire about the circumstances.)