Chapter 15
Notes: I just want to take the time here to say thanks to a few folks: , Silkenslay, Time Reviewer, IamSherlocked, Glitterlove, SammyKatz, Librasmile, Reina434, Freeway girl, Renaissance booklover, halfbloodpride, KrazyPyrozhavemorefun, kaytianna, Rocking the Redhead and everyone else who has been SO freakin supportive of this little fic!
P. S. I have no idea what the lovely brits call their EMT's…so being an American, I stuck with EMT's
PSS...Imagine Sebastain Moran as Michael Fassbender...but a bit bulkier, more muscle...that's how I imagine him. :) orToby Stephens as Sebastian...whichever you prefer.
Molly sat in Barnaby's office, her hands twisting nervously in her lap. The door to his office opened and the Chief Inspector entered with an unreadable expression. She knew he was keeping his features schooled so as not to alarm her.
"It would seem Dr. Hooper that Mrs. Cumberbatch has been missing since yesterday according to her sister."
Molly's heart sank. That could only mean one thing. Obviously Simon had made good his threat to attack everyone that Molly loved. She could only hope that Barnaby and Sherlock could find Meryl before it was too late.
"This is my fault." She whispered. "I shouldn't have stayed so close. I should have left England, but I was selfish. I was willing to run, but not far enough."
"Dr. Hooper please look at me." Barnaby said gently. "Molly, look at me."
Molly's gaze rose to meet his. "None of this is your fault. We are dealing with an obvious psychopath and he is going to do what he's going to do regardless of what you do. These are his choices to murder and terrorize. You have nothing to do with them. If it wasn't you Molly, he would just choose someone else."
The door to Barnaby's office opened and Gavin walked in. Molly looked up at him with hopeful eyes, but he shook his head. She bowed her head, wiping her eyes quickly.
"Troy will you drive Dr. Hooper back to the hotel? DI Lestrade is already there." Barnaby said.
Gavin nodded, taking Molly's arm. "Come on Molly."
Molly allowed Gavin to pull her from her seat and lead her out of the office. Once in his car, Molly felt comfortable to let her pent up emotions free and she cried softly.
"Molly we'll find her alright? We'll get her back." Gavin said.
"Yes, but will she be alive when you find her? Such a dear lady…she was the first person to befriend me when I moved here...and now because of me, her life is in danger."
Gavin said nothing, allowing her to cry her fears and frustrations as she needed. He could promise her that they would find Mrs. Cumberbatch, but he couldn't promise she would be alive, so he couldn't bring himself to anything more.
Once reaching the hotel, Gavin got out of his car and got to the other side before Molly could open her door. He opened it for her and helped her out. She got out, still crying softly. Though Gavin wanted to hold her, to comfort her anyway he could, he simply squeezed her shoulder and allowed Greg to walk her into the hotel. Gavin figured she needed the comfort of a close friend more than she needed his.
Greg walked Molly to her room. Before she walked in, he pulled her into a bear of a hug, smashing her arms against his chest. Molly laid her head against him. She felt safe and warm in the arms of her friend. Greg held her there for several moments, trying to provide her with his strength in the seemingly never ending desperate situation that they were all currently lost in.
"Thank you Greg." She said softly, pulling away from him.
"We'll be right out here if you need us Molls."
She smiled, squeezed his hand, and unlocked her door. She dropped her purse, keys, and jacket onto the floor, too exhausted to care.
She walked into the bedroom and then into the bedroom. She didn't bother with the lights, allowing her steps to be guided by the moon light that spilled into the room from the window. She splashed cold water on her face, forgoing the shower due to her tiredness. Once she had dried her face, she came back into the bedroom.
"Toby…come see mummy." She said plopping down on her bed and removing her shoes. She rubbed her aching feet. "Toby, where are you boy? Come see mummy."
Molly jumped up and whirled around when she heard a rustling sound from the corner of the room.
"Toby?" She called in a whisper. "Is that you boy?"
She was met with stifling silence. She could feel the air around her begin to thicken with the feeling of something ominous and heavy.
Molly's voice trembled. "Who's there?"
"It's only me Molly." A male voice responded from behind her.
Molly jumped up from the bed and whirled around, her eyes widened in shock and terror. Her hand flew to her throat as she tried to gasp her breath. Out from the shadows stepped a ghost from her past. Jim Moriarty smiled at Molly, the sickeningly sweet smile that he wore frequently on his face. The smile did not reach his eyes which made him seem even more dangerous to her.
"I thought you would be more pleased to see me." Jim said approaching her slowly, dangerously. "I know that I am pleased to see you. It's been too long, my sweet."
Jim stopped in front of her, staring down at her. "I do apologize Molly dear for the trouble my brother caused you. When I told Simon to keep an eye on you, I thought it was rather clever of him to come up with the idea of dating you. I knew you would of course, you do have dreadful taste in men and I could not have foreseen that he would become obsessed with you to the point of making your life a misery and for that I am truly sorry. But you no longer have to be frightened of Simon lurking in the shadows. I shot him the other day. He was such a tiresome person even though he was my younger brother."
Molly eyes widened in shock at Jim's words.
"Oh my, did Sherlock not tell you? How very rude of him. Though I suppose he felt it was some misguided way of protecting you."
Molly struggled to speak. "You mean he knew…he knew Simon was dead?"
"Of course he knew my dear girl. He also knew Simon was my brother, although I am sure that one he has kept to himself, not even telling John I should imagine. I don't blame him for that one though. I'm sure he felt he was keeping all of you safe. I know you were terrified of my brother…and of me…I'm sure knowing about our relationship would have made it even more frightening for you."
Jim reached out to stroke her cheek, but she scrambled away from him, the back of her knees hitting the bed and knocking her backward.
"Really Molly, I mean you no harm. I've come to bring you home." He said smiling
"Wh…what? Home?" She asked confusion etched on her face.
"Yes home, my sweet, home with me where you belong. Where you have always belonged."
Molly's eyes darted around the room frantically, but settled on Jim when she heard him sigh.
"Please Molly, do not attempt to run from me. It is a pointless endeavour. You will not make it to the door and if by some small miracle that you do, you certainly will not make it past Seb. But of course, should it make you feel better, please, by all means, try." Jim said.
Molly shook her head. "No I won't be so foolish."
Jim smiled and reached his hand out to her to help her stand. She took his hand and he pulled her up. With a quickness that stunned Jim, Molly jerked him towards her, raising her knee and smashing it into his groin. He howled in pain and hit the floor. Molly frantically looked for something to smash over Sebastian's head when he came into to investigate because she knew he had to have heard Jim's cry of agony.
Molly heard Sebastian's heavy footsteps as he came running into the bedroom. She was hiding in the corner behind the door.
"Look out…" Jim managed to gasp out through his pain, but Molly was faster.
When Sebastian turned around, Molly brought the heel of her hand up under his nose as hard as she could. There was a sickening crack and he doubled over, crying out in pain. Molly took this opportunity to ram her knee into his chest and shoved him as hard as he could onto the floor. Unfortunately Jim had recovered enough to grab her ankle before she could get out of the room.
He jerked her down on to the floor and began to pull her towards him, even as he cupped his groin with his other hand. Molly instinctually kicked out, catching Jim under the chin and he released her momentarily dazed by the kick.
Molly scrambled up and began screaming as if the devil himself was chasing her. Greg and Gavin both looked up the coffee that they were nursing and took off towards the entrance to the hotel. Molly ran outside before they reached the entrance and threw herself into Gavin's arms. She looked over his shoulder at Greg.
"It's Moriarty! He's not dead…he's alive…he tried to take me…Sherlock! Where's Sherlock?"
Greg didn't answer her as he looked at Gavin. "You stay here with her."
Greg ran inside with Molly calling after him. "No Greg! He's not alone!" She pulled away from Gavin. "You have to help him."
Gavin was torn about leaving her alone and going to help Greg. The decision was made for him when another police car pulled into the parking lot to relieve Gavin and Greg. When the first officer stepped out, Gavin yelled at him. "Oi! You two watch her now!"
Gavin turned and disappeared into the hotel. Gun shots were heard seconds later. The officer ran towards Molly, grabbed her arm, and pulled her back to the safety of the car.
"Call for back up!" The officer shouted at his partner and disappeared into the hotel. Another shot rang out and a few moments later Greg came running out of the hotel, holding his arm and looking around frantically.
"Fuck!" He yelled in frustration.
A few moments later, Gavin came out looking seriously dishevelled and covered in blood. The other officer followed behind him.
"Did you see the big one come out?" Gavin asked Greg.
"No, I lost him." Greg snapped. "Fuck!"
Molly wrestled herself away from the other officer who was trying to hold her back from the scene while speaking rapidly into his mobile. She ran to Greg and Gavin.
"Oh my God…you're hurt…you're both hurt." She said frantically.
"Just a flesh wound, Molly. I'm fine." Greg huffed still annoyed that he had lost Sebastian.
"This isn't my blood." Gavin said. "The big one bled all over me from a busted nose. I didn't even touch him, don't know how that happened."
"And Jim? Where's Jim?" Molly asked with fear in her eyes.
Gavin frowned. "I only saw the big one Molly. He was alone. There was no one else in the room with him."
"Oh nice! Now we've lost Moriarty too!" Greg snapped. "Where in the hell is Sherlock?"
It took less than 10 minutes for an ambulance to arrive. The Chief Inspector pulled in behind them and got out of his car. The passenger side door opened and John Watson got out followed by Sherlock from the back passenger side door.
Barnaby approached Gavin quickly. "You say there were two of them Troy?"
"Yes sir…well no sir…I only saw the one. But Molly said there were two of them. She called one Moriarty."
Sherlock spoke before Barnaby could. "Well this is unexpected. I didn't think he would make such a bold attempt as this."
Barnaby, John, and Gavin all looked at Sherlock with different expressions, Gavin with confusion, Barnaby with irritation, and John with seething anger.
"You bloody knew Moriarty was alive and you didn't tell me?" John roared.
Sherlock looked unperturbed. "I had my suspicions John. If I could fake my own death, I should think it would relatively simple for him to do so also."
"So you've known or suspected this entire time that Simon was working with James Moriarty and that Moriarty was responsible for all of this?" Barnaby asked, struggling to hide his annoyance.
"As I said Chief Inspector, I wasn't sure. In doing my research on Moriarty when he first became a thorn in my side, I never discovered with the up most certainty that he in deed did have a brother. But now with such a move as this, so bold and unexpected, I am convinced that Simon was in deed Moriarty's brother and he has been behind this whole fiasco from the beginning."
"I can't believe this! Why didn't you tell me it was Moriarty?" John fumed.
"Because John I dislike having a theory to be common knowledge if I have no data to back it up. I did not have the data until Moriarty murdered his own brother and this most recent attempt at abducting Molly."
"I should think you would know you could trust me." John said, hurt in his eyes.
"John, I do trust you, with my life. I just had to be sure. There are too many players in this game and too many lives at stake. I needed to make sure that I did not overplay my hand."
"So there were two of them in the room with Molly?" Gavin asked.
Sherlock sighed. "Obviously Sergeant, do try and keep up."
The four men turned to look at Molly who was busying herself with Greg. Her hands were flinting over him, checking his injuries while he was gently trying to bat her hands away so he could talk into his mobile.
"Molly, I am fine." He huffed annoyed. "Sherlock, a little help please!"
Sherlock quickly approached Molly and Greg. He took Molly's arm gently. "Molly, the EMT's are perfectly capable of helping Lestrade."
"But he was shot." She said, her voice quivering slightly.
Sherlock looked into her eyes. "Molly, are you alright?"
Her bottom lip trembled slightly. "Yes…I…it was just a shock…and…he said he came for me Sherlock." She swallowed hard, struggling not to allow her tears to fall. "He said he was going to bring me home…with him…"
A few tears slid down her cheeks. Sherlock noticed Molly had begun to tremble.
"He…he took Toby. He had to have taken him" She said barely above a whisper. Her trembling became violent. "He took Toby away…" Her voice cracked with emotion and the tears began to fall heavier.
Sherlock wrapped his arms around her. "John!" He called out.
John came to them quickly. "I think she's going into shock." Sherlock said.
John pulled her from Sherlock gently and wrapped his arm around her shoulder. He walked her to the back of the ambulance where Greg was wrestling with the driver over a blanket the man insisted on putting over his shoulders.
Greg snatched the blanket from the man and handed it to John as John helped the trembling Molly to sit onto the back of the ambulance. John wrapped the blanket around her, checking her pulse and looking into her eyes.
"Molly…" John said gently.
Molly had begun to hyperventilate, struggling to suck in air into her collapsing lungs.
"Molly…look at me…I need you to try to calm your breathing, slow, deep breaths."
Molly continued to struggle to breath, now wheezing loudly. "Shit!" John said and climbed into the back of the ambulance, grabbing an oxygen mask and jumping down beside her again.
She began to struggle when he placed the mask on her face, but he was able to soothe her quickly, speaking quietly to her and stroking her hair while he held the mask over her face.
"Who is the hell is this Moriarty, sir?" Gavin asked Barnaby as both men walked behind Sherlock and Lestrade into the hotel.
"A dangerous man Troy, a very dangerous man." Barnaby said grimly.
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