Author's Note: Don't worry! This isn't the climactic chapter or anything! It's just another snag in their travels.

Chapter Twenty Five

"Ouch. Watch it."

"Stop shoving."

"Get off my foot."

"Get off of mine."

"Ssshhh!"

"Quiet!"

"GOTCHA!"

Sherlock and Mycroft both screamed as the Doctor whisked the door open. They ducked past them. The Doctor swiped for them but purposely missed. Sherlock and Mycroft raced down the random corridors, becoming hopelessly lost.

"A LITTLE HELP, PLEASE?" Sherlock shouted.

The door to the left sprang open and they entered the console room. They touched the console and shouted, "SAFE!"

They were immediately drenched by water balloons. They laughed and ducked for cover, grabbing water balloons of their own and throwing them at the Doctor.

"We were safe!" Mycroft laughed.

"Well, I already filled them up," the Doctor exclaimed.

The brothers were bombarded by more balloons. They glanced at each other before simultaneously leaping on top of the Doctor, tackling him to the ground. The Doctor put them into a gentle headlock and bombarded them with the rest of the balloons.

"Mercy, mercy!"

The three fell back, laughing.

"I love playing hide-and-seek in the Tardis," Sherlock beamed, wringing out his curls.

"So do I," Mycroft agreed.

The phone rang and Sherlock cried, "Hey, it's Jack!"

The Doctor hit the speakerphone button and cheerfully said, "What's up, Jack?"

"Doctor, we have a problem!"

The Doctor frowned and asked, "What's going on?"

They were met by a series of static.

"Jack? Jack, are you there?"

The Doctor clicked his Sonic and they heard, "D…come…down…here."

"We're on our way," the Doctor promised, hanging up the phone and pressing several buttons to trace Jack's coordinates. The Tardis took off.

"What's going on?" Sherlock asked.

"I have no idea," the Doctor muttered.

"Hang on," Mycroft slowly said, as he glanced at the coordinates, "That's our street."

Sure enough, the Tardis landed outside their house. To their surprise, a large crowd was standing outside. Police barriers had been set up, forcing the crowd to stay on the sidewalk.

Suddenly, all hell broke loose.

"There!"

"There they are!"

"Somebody, grab them!"

"No, no," Jack cried, "I said don't come down here! Don't!"

He was trying to keep the crowd at bay, along with several policemen.

"Jack, what's happening?" Mycroft cried.

Sherlock nervously glanced around. Everyone seemed to be staring at them.

"Your father's been busy," Jack quietly explained.

"What?" Mycroft asked, confused.

Someone from the crowd shouted, "Kidnapper!"

"How could you do that to two innocent children?"

"Somebody seize him!"

"Arrest him!"

"Oh no," the Doctor mumbled, "Not good."

"Not good at all," Jack agreed, "Mr. Holmes has been going to the police for a month, complaining that you took his sons away. They didn't believe him so he turned to the public…"

"Maybe we should go back inside the Tardis…?" Mycroft anxiously asked.

"You two aren't going anywhere!"

Mr. Holmes stepped out of the crowd, in one of his best suits.

"Father, what are you playing at?" Mycroft cried, "You knew that we were going with the Doctor. And we went on our own accord."

"I forbade you to go!" Mr. Holmes pointed out.

"We didn't listen," Mycroft coolly said, "That doesn't mean that the Doctor kidnapped us! Besides, it's not as though he kept us from you. We even stopped by for your birthday!"

"And then he locked me in my study and took you back!" Mr. Holmes cried.

"We got you out," the Doctor spoke up, "Eventually."

"To be fair," Mycroft added, "We would have come back sooner, but we ended up getting sidetracked by an alien-parasite."

"You see!" Mr. Holmes shouted, "He's putting you in danger!"

"He didn't put me in danger," Mycroft argued, "I acted like an idiot and put myself in danger. The Doctor showed up to save me and pelt me with shrimp."

"And a lobster," the Doctor added, "But that's beside the point."

"Besides," Mycroft continued, though he grinned at the Doctor's statement, "We've been gone for four and a half months! Why are you just doing this now?"

"I thought that you would come to your senses," Mr. Holmes snapped, "I thought that this was just a phase and that it would thin out. When I realized that you two had been blinded and corrupted by this man, I decided to take action."

Meanwhile, Sherlock was silently observing the situation. He didn't completely understand what was going on. Everyone was angry at the Doctor. The Doctor and Mycroft were angry at his father. Jack was also shooting Mr. Holmes dirty looks, though he was more focused on keeping the crowd away from Sherlock and Mycroft. The tension was certainly thick and saying the wrong thing might lead to trouble. So for once in his life, Sherlock actually kept quiet.

"All I want is for my sons to be safe!" Mr. Holmes dramatically cried.

"Oh, come off it," Mycroft angrily snapped, "That's not the reason that you did all of this. This is nothing more than a publicity stunt. Albeit a very foolish one. Do you honestly think that people will buy more stocks if you tell them that an alien kidnapped your sons?"

"How dare you use that tone of voice with me?" Mr. Holmes barked.

"What are you going to do?" Sherlock challenged, before he could stop himself, "Send us to the nursery without dinner?"

The Doctor snorted and Mycroft gave his brother an impressed look.

Sherlock triumphantly grinned at the look on his father's face. Mr. Holmes started forward but Jack curtly escorted him back.

"This is preposterous," Mr. Holmes spluttered, "Arrest that man."

An officer suddenly grabbed the Doctor and handcuffed him, "You are under arrest for kidnapping and the endangering of children. You have the right to remain silent…"

"Hey, leave him alone," Jack cried, "He didn't do anything wrong. This is a mistake…"

"What's going on?" Sherlock roared.

"Doctor!" Mycroft shouted.

The brothers started forward but several policemen held them back, assuring them that everything was going to be alright.

"Don't touch them," the Doctor shouted, as he was pushed into a response car.

"Leave them alone!" Jack simultaneously cried, "Mycroft, Sherlock!"

He tried to get to them but was restrained by the other officers.

"It's alright, dears!"

A tall woman was strolling towards them, flashing her own police badge.

"We're going to keep you safe," the woman flashed him a smile, "Why don't you get into the car and we can take you away from this mess?"

"What?" Mycroft cried, "No! We're not going with you! DOCTOR, JACK!"

He and Sherlock watched, horrified, as the Doctor was whisked away. He banged against the back window, yelling for them.

"Jack, where is she taking us?" Sherlock bellowed.

"Don't worry!" Jack shouted, "Don't worry! Boys, everything's going to be alright!"

"JACK! JACK!"

Then they were gently but firmly pushed into the backseat of a car. It wasn't a response car; it looked as though it belonged to a grandmother. Crumbs were scattered on the seat and several stuffed animals were stowed into a small basket. The woman was driving, occasionally casting them kind smiles over her shoulder.

Mycroft and Sherlock frantically looked around, the latter screaming, "Help! We're being kidnapped!"

"No, no, sweetie," the woman gently said, "Not anymore."

The sheer idiocy of her sentence caused Sherlock to stop yelling and stare at the back of her head, as if hoping to see how small her brain really was.

"You're mad!" Mycroft cried, "The Doctor wasn't kidnapping us!"

"Where are you taking us?" Sherlock frantically asked.

She didn't answer.

"Who are you? What's going on?" Mycroft demanded, though his voice cracked.

"Ssh. My name is Melissa Jefferson. I'm here to help."

It seemed as though that was her actual intention. She was kind enough, even if she was dead-wrong. Mycroft closed his eyes and saw the Doctor's face peering at them from the response car and Jack fighting against the officers. He took a few calming breaths and Sherlock imitated him. Mycroft opened his eyes and glanced over, trying to remain calm. He pulled the seatbelt over his brother, latching it into place.

Sherlock glared daggers at him and hissed, "We're being taken away by a stranger and your biggest priority is a seatbelt?"

"Better that we arrive in one-piece," Mycroft remarked, putting his own on.

"Where are we going?" Sherlock whispered.

Mycroft hesitated before saying, "Do you remember when my class went on the field-trip to that home for children who didn't have anywhere else to go?"

"Yes," Sherlock said, his eyes still shining with confusion, "But why would they take us there? We have places where we can go. Preferably, the Tardis."

Mycroft put a hand on his brother's arm and said, "Right now, we can't go back to the Tardis. I want to, Sherlock. I really do. But we can't."

"Why not?"

"Because Father told those people that the Doctor kidnapped us," Mycroft softly said.

"But he didn't!" Sherlock argued.

"But that's what they believe," Mycroft pressed, "So until the Doctor is proven innocent, we need to go with this woman."

"But I don't want to go to a children's home!" Sherlock argued.

"Sherlock," Mycroft's voice had an edge now, "We don't have a choice."

"Are they going to split us up?" Sherlock asked, now wildly thinking of everything he had heard about children's homes.

"We're not being adopted, Sherlock," Mycroft scoffed, "They're just holding us there until everything is cleared up."

He said the last part hopefully, though his mind swarmed with doubt.

"Then why can't they hold us in our own house?" Sherlock pressed.

"I don't know."

"But Mycroft…"

"Sherlock, I don't want to go any more than you do," Mycroft snapped, "But right now, we don't really have a choice. And nothing you say is going to make this woman change her mind; so you might as well just keep quiet. Alright?"

Sherlock looked hurt at the outburst and Mycroft immediately regretted it. After all, it wasn't Sherlock's fault. He simply didn't understand what was going on. Mycroft really didn't understand either but he knew that he needed to keep calm.

"Listen," Mycroft finally said, "This is the Doctor we're talking about. The Doctor! He's going to get us out of this."

Sherlock nodded, seemingly content with that answer, and added, "He always does."