"Good morning Percy. Did you sleep well?"

"Hmm…Morning Mycroft. Yes thanks. Did you?"

"Yes, now are you awake enough for proper conversation, I need to discuss some matters with you." This comment sobered me quickly.

"Yes, of course, let me just make some tea, do you want anything?"

"No thank you."

I walked further into the kitchen and pulled out my favourite mug. I filled the kettle up with water and flicked the switch to make it boil. I pulled out a teaspoon and some sugar and a tea bag. The concise and simple routine of making tea made feel calmer. The kettle switched off and I poured the hot water over the teabag and added the sugar. I stirred, picked up the mug and went to sit down next to Mycroft.

Apprehension was creeping down my spine. I wonder what he had to tell me. I hope it wasn't anything too big, I'd been processing so much news recently; I don't think I could take much more. I took a deep breath and looked up at Mycroft.

"I took the liberty of getting your documents changed, you know are officially Persephone Elizabeth Holmes."

"Oh, really? Thank you, I hadn't even thought about that."

"I thought you'd possibly like some help."

"You've always looked after me so well Mycroft, I'm sure I don't thank you enough."

"No thanks necessary, as long as you are safe and happy. There are various documents in this folder, take your time to read them, but everything has been taken care of. You've also come into some money, now that you've turned twenty-five; you have access to your trust fund. All the details are in the folder."

"Trust fund? Who set up a trust fund?"

"Mother set it up and I took over management of both yours and Sherlock's trust. I obviously didn't know what the third fund was, it held no name, and I was just to watch it keep it safe until the appropriate time."

"Oh right. Ok thank you. I'm going to go an read through al of this." The apprehension I'd felt had been warranted, it was all good news, at least I think it was, but there was so much floating around my head.

I walked upstairs with my now tepid tea in one hand and the folder containing my life in the other. I nudged my bedroom door open with my hip and put the tea on bedside table and let myself flop onto my bed. Being handed the envelope that held my real identity was so surreal. Actually living the idea of knowing who'd given me up and that there was a family unaware of my existence was almost too much to take in. My emotions were running amok. With shaking hands I open the envelope and began to read.

My dear Persephone,

If you are reading this, then you have pieced together the clues I have left for you.

Obviously, you already know that you are adopted, and I just want you to know that I am very sorry that I had to give you up. Your real father is not exactly a family man, and he is a traditionalist, and was not happy about the thought of having a third child, especially a girl. I did everything I could to keep you, but I failed you.

I managed to convince him to let me have you, although I agreed that I would give you up. However, I did not want you going through life never knowing who your true parents are. Therefore, I left with your adopted parents, who are very kind, thoughtful people, although not even they know who your true parents are, the silver locket and the moonstone ring, both of which are very old family heirlooms.

I have also included in this envelope your birth certificate and a picture of our family before you were born. Your brothers are wonderful boys, so intelligent and mischievous, but what more is to be expected from boys. I wish they could know you, they would love you, I hope that one day you find them.

I hope you can forgive me, my dear daughter, and know that I have always loved you, although I have not had the pleasure of watching you grow up into a young lady. I hope I am still alive by the time you find this, and hope we will be able to meet some day.

Your loving mother,

Lady Adelaide Holmes

I couldn't stop the involuntary tears from falling. Raw emotion started to flow and didn't stop, I cried for myself, for my parents, and for my birth mother, for her loss and sacrifice. In that moment I wanted to curl up and disappear, I needed the strength to go on. I wanted James, I wanted his arms around me telling me I'd be okay, and that we'd face the turmoil together. As I eventually calmed I looked through my new documents, my bankcards, my driving license, and my life all now in the name of Persephone Holmes, not Richter. I looked at the figures for my new trust fund and almost passed out at the sight of number, five million pounds. After another hour of staring in shock at my new life and the all the money that I now had, I did succumb to darkness and fell asleep. I slept the day and night and not waking until late morning the next day.

After my self-imposed night of solitude, and the envelope of doom that had been left with me early this morning, I was so pleased when I heard a knock on the door and saw it was Angie. I smiled and gestured for her to come in.

"Hey! Mycroft got one of his minions to sort out my Facebook page, so I'm on there with my real name now."

Angie smiled as she sat down on the sofa. "Finally!"

"I know! It took forever! Hopefully, this time it won't get hacked into."

"Well, a good way to prevent that is to change your password every once in a while. I developed that habit after Sherlock kept hacking into John's laptop."

I laughed, thinking of both Mycroft and Sherlock, they seemed like the type to try and spy on me. "Very good idea. If Sherlock tries that with me, he won't know what hit him."

Angie smiled. "Literally."

"Well. I already made Mycroft swear not to try anything. Although, I had to debug my computer after his minion left. I do not want to be spied on. Mycroft can just Facebook stalk me like any other normal human being."

Angie laughed. "Well, he's not exactly normal."

Percy laughed. "True."

"Honestly, I'm surprised Mycroft even has a Facebook."

"I know it surprised me, too! He said it was something to do with keeping up appearances and handling scandals, but then he got all evasive and secret. It's really very annoying when he does that. Oh, I forgot to mention, Mycroft gave me this massive envelope earlier. All my documents have been redone. I'm officially a Holmes." I smiled for a second, and then frowned. "How do I tell my parents?"

Angie frowned. "Uh...hmm. Well...I guess the only way to do it is to just tell them. I mean it's not like you don't think of them as your parents anymore. You still love them." She sighed. "I don't think there is any easy way to do this."

"Yeah, you're right. It's weird, though. I now have two sets of parents, one set that I've known all my life and feel like my parents, but another who biologically can claim me." I sighed, feeling resigned, there was no easy way to do this. "I'll tell my parents when they get back. Got a couple of weeks before hand to build up the courage." I thought for a minute. "But I do want to meet my real parents eventually. I'm a little scared, though."

"Well, I have met Sherlock's mother. Surprisingly, the Holmes women are completely different from the men. They actually show emotion. I met his cousin, too. I've never heard anything about the father, not one word, so I have no idea about him. I don't even know if he's still alive."

I smiled, it was odd, I'd always loved being an only child, now that I knew there was the possibility of a big family, couldn't wait to meet them. "Oh, well, that's interesting. Cousins, that's new. So his mother is still alive, that's good. Mycroft has never mentioned his family except Sherlock, so I assumed he didn't have any family left. I'd better get digging!"

Angie smiled.

It had been nearly a month since Jim and I had broken up when the gifts started arriving. They started as letters and became parcels, slowly getting bigger. Today's parcel was the only one I couldn't resist using. I had a box under my bed full of things that Jim had given me over the last 7 years, now including the ever-growing pile of trinkets. Today I received the a brilliant t-shirt with one of my favourite Doctor Who quotes on "Don't Blink. Blink and you're dead. Don't turn your back. Don't look away. And don't blink. Good luck." Jim had really put thought into this gift, I'd made him watch Doctor Who with me and from then on we would pretend that any statue in London could be an Angel. Putting on the t-shirt I ran over to Angie's.

"Look what I got!"

Angie smiled. "That's amazing! Where'd you get it?"

I went over to the couch, sat down and avoided Angie's eyes. "Uh, it was a present… From Jim."

Angie frowned.

"Actually, he's been sending me a lot of presents lately. Trying to say he's sorry."

"Sorry for what? The fact that you broke up, or the fact that he's a murderous criminal, or that he tried to kill your brother and your best friend."

I frowned. Why was she being so hostile?

Angie sighed and sat down next to her. "You're not actually thinking about getting back together with him, are you?"

Yes, I was, obviously I was hurt, but I loved him. I sighed. "I don't know. We've been together since I was 18. Well, on and off. Still, seven years! And I have so many wonderful memories with him, but...the fighting was awful. Imagine fighting with Sherlock and add female hormones and then add a criminal mastermind. That's how our fights panned out."

Angie winced. It was true our fights were horrible. I won't back down and will argue till the cows come home and Jim hate's being proved wrong. It can be a recipe for disaster, but when we're good, its like a dream come true.

"But when our relationship was happy, it was glorious. I've never been as happy and content or felt so loved. That's why I'm so confused. Not to mention, you and Jim dated, not sure how I feel about that. When was that exactly?" I think I was jealous, or angry that he may have cheated on me., with my best friend, oh the cliché.

Angie sighed. "Well, we started dating the week before I moved in with John and Sherlock, and I've been there for about a year and a half, almost two years, actually. Wow. Uh, anyway, we broke up a couple weeks later, cause I was so busy with the move and dealing with Sherlock, and shortly after that, he kidnapped me, almost blew up John, and then tried to kill all of us."

I stared at her, thinking back. Jim and I had a particularly nasty fight involving a plate of lasagna being thrown by me at Jim, it missing and staining our wallpaper permanently, which caused another argument. I moved out for a bit, refusing to speak to Jim. We patched up our relationship, and everything had been great until recently. "Was that when the swimming pool almost exploded?!"

Angie looked at her. "Yeah, how did you know? Was it on the news?"

"No, I was right outside! He told me to wait outside with the car! If I'd known what he was up to, I would have stopped him! He said he wanted to go and visit the place where one of his school friends died. Obviously, he's lied to me about a lot more than I thought."

"But John and I were in the limo. You weren't there."

I stared back at her. So much of this made some sense and so much didn't. I knew what Jim did and I intercepted when I could, trying to steer him away from actual killings. Sometimes, I just didn't see or my own life got in the way. "He had a limo?! And he never told me?!"

Angie frowned. "Uh, yeah."

I sighed. "I have so many conflicted feelings right now. I was on the edge of so much chaos, but completely protected from it. How could he do this to you?! Or Sherlock?! Or me?!" He kept me safe, let me in just enough that I knew what was happening and knew where he was, but protected enough that I'd never get caught in the cross fire, always out of harm's way.

"Uh, because he's a complete maniac."

I sighed. "Then why do I still feel like I love him? Even though I know it's wrong."

Angie sighed. "Well, I don't think we really have control over the heart, and there's nothing we can do about it. Look at me. I'm in love with an emotionless stiff who gets his kicks off of crime and cadavers."

That comment really made me laugh. "That has got to be one of the funniest things you've ever said. If Sherlock knew you'd said that, he'd be all pouty like a naughty puppy. I'll bet he's gooey on the inside, though. He can't be that cold. Like Mycroft, he's much softer than he appears to strangers."

"Yeah, they're like Vulcans. All the emotions are on the inside. Deep inside."

The laughing was growing more raucous and Angie was having a problem controlling it too.. "Well, what can I say? The men in my family are 'special'. Oh, and tell Sherlock I expect hugs. Even Mycroft hugs me."

"Yeah, well, good luck with that."

"I will get Sherlock to hug me! I might have to cry or something." I laughed. "Poor Sherlock, his little sister making his life hellish already. Duty done! I think this will be ridiculously fun. Oh, prank wars! I learnt a few good tricks in my time."

Angie laughed, looking slightly worried. "Yeah, you practiced on John!"

"Yeah, poor John. How is he?"

"He's fine. He's helping an old Army buddy redo his flat."

I nodded. After a minute, she frowned. "Is Sherlock allergic to anything?"

"Uh, no, I don't think so. Why?"

"A couple of nights ago, I had a really bad time of it. Must have had a bad reaction to something I ate. Or there's a stomach virus going around."

"That must be it. My parents had the same thing."

I stared straight ahead, thinking and internally grimacing at how sick I had been. I also remembered a friend I had coming, I knew he was coming to make Jim and I get back together. "Oh, and could Mycroft stay here for a couple of nights? I've got someone coming down to stay with me. Oh, and keep Sherlock away from my house and out of sight, and keep Mycroft busy."

Angie looked at her. "I don't like the sound of this."

I quickly amended. "It's not Jim. It's a friend of mine from Uni, although he does know Jim. In fact, Seb introduced us."

"I'd better not meet him, then. I'll kill him for getting you two together." I looked at her, completely stunned, that was a violent reaction from Angie.

"Sorry, impulse reaction." She apologised with a sheepish grin.

"That's alright. Anyway, it's just that I know he won't get along with Sherlock and Mycroft. It'd be a battle of the egos. It'll be fine, we've been friends for years. I used to stay with him when Jim and I fought."

"Alright. Oh, blimey, both Holmes in the same house for two nights? Wait, why is Mycroft still in town? I would have thought he'd be back in London by now."

"Oh, he's driving me insane giving me life and relationship advice and trying to convince me to move back to London so he can 'look after me'. He's concerned that I'll get lonely and he mentioned something about being concerned for Sherlock."

"Yes, apparently he does worry about Sherlock. He tried to hire John to spy on Sherlock so he could keep an eye on him."

That was extreme even for Mycroft, I laughed. "Really?"

"Yeah. And I told Mycroft to leave it, that I'd take care of it."

"Well, men. But apparently, it's also doubling as a holiday for him."

"A holiday? That sounds very unlike him."

"Maybe the government was taking its toll? Anyway, you'll be fine with the both of them. At least both of them like you."

"Sherlock likes me, obviously, but Mycroft...he's always kind of looked down on me and John like we were...peasants. Except one time when Mycroft made a huge mistake and we were both boiling mad at him and he knew he deserved it."

"Well, Mycroft really does admire you and John for sticking by Sherlock and being there for him. Mycroft's just putting up a front. He really does care, a lot. Although, it would be nice if Sherlock even wanted to have a conversation with me, but then again, I'm just an inconvenience to him."

Angie looked at me. "Don't think like that. Conversation isn't exactly Sherlock's strong point. We've been dating for months, and we don't have conversations. Besides, this whole thing is hard for him, too, finding out that he has a little sister. Who happens to be his girlfriend's best friend and who was dating his arch nemesis. But it takes a while to break through to Sherlock. It took me almost a year for him to show any emotion towards me. It's still hard to get him to."

I let out a long sigh. "I'll take your word for it. It still hurts. Maybe we need to...bond? Oh, that sounds dreadful and dull."

Angie laughed. The idea of some family bonding ritual was terrifying. We'd all make the therapist need therapy.

I looked at Angie and smiled. "It's nice to be able to have a proper chat."

"Yeah, we haven't done this in years."

Looking at my watch I stood up. "Well, I'd better go get ready for my company. Mycroft will be here later."

"Yeah, thanks for that."

I laughed on my way out and called back. "You'll be fine! Oh, and I finally had my dad install a landline."

"Yeah, I saw that, thanks. Now we're not completely cut off from the world!"

This statement making me laugh harder. "Whatever. I'll see you later."