They had been travelling for what seemed to be forever in relative silence. As they travelled, John thought about Sherlock's experiment. He closed his eyes and pictured the mess that had been on the table. The image he conjured was blurry and incomplete at best. He wondered what it would look like from inside his friend's Mind Palace. He tried picturing something more familiar, the skull on the mantle. It appeared in full and bright detail. The doctor smiled and reached out, touching it. He touched it! John gasped and looked around the room. Everything seemed so clear and... orderly. He walked around 221B, taking everthing in. Finally, he turned and looked at the table. He saw Sherlock's experiment clearly, though he still didn't understand it. At least he could see it. That would surely be helpful. John moved closer to the table...

"John. John!" Mycroft called out his name.

The doctor blinked and came back to the real world. "That was... I was in it."

Sherlock looked up at his friend through blond lashes. "In what?"

"Brother mine, I realise you've never seen it from the outside and I understand that you are... compromised right now. But you should still be able to apply deductive reasoning to the situation."

The detective cocked his head and regarded John. His friend's eyes had been focused on something unseen and his hands had been moving oddly. Oh! "You found your way into my Mind Palace."

"A fact I believe should be kept between the three of us. Let's keep the researchers' motivations to keep you both to a minimum. Anything John can tell us, we'll say we gleaned from the journal and Sherlock's own memories of events." Mycroft's words were difficult to argue with as neither John nor Sherlock had any desire to become permanent residents of Baskerville.

Sherlock took John's larger hand in his own. "What do you remember?"

As John closed his eyes and resubmerged himself into the Mind Palace, he began to describe what he saw on the table in detail. Mycroft made notes on a clean page in his brother's lab book, catching every detail the doctor described.

"And that's it," John finished, squeezing Sherlock's hand. He rested his curly head against the back of the car seat and laughed a short, brittle laugh. "It was the skull that led me into your Mind Palace, of all things." He turned his head and smiled at his friend. "Of all things, it was the bloody skull." He started giggling and it wasn't long before the detective joined in.

Mycroft rolled his eyes, then cleared his throat. "Gentlemen, this is no laughing matter. We need to discuss how we shall comport ourselves once we arrive at the facility." Much to his annoyance, this only set the other two men to laughing all the harder at his stiff delivery. "Sherlock! John! Enough! Do I need to remind you of the gravity of the situation?"

"No, no," John managed to get himself under control first. "Sorry."

"Mm. Yes," the elder Holmes agreed. "When we arrive, they will do everything in their power to separate us. We will not allow that to happen. My men are under the same instructions and they answer only to me."

That sobered both men quickly enough.

"I'd like to see them try to separate me from John," Sherlock growled fiercely. "I'll break something if they do, or someone." He meant every word of it. His protective streak for his friend had done nothing if not grown and become more fierce since he had found himself in his friend's body. He didn't care. He meant what he had said.

John's grip on Sherlock's hand became vice-like. "It won't happen. We won't let it." He looked at his friend with determination. He felt less overwhelmed and better equipped to cope with things in this car. The traveller's compartment was incredibly quiet and he wasn't being bombarded by as much sensory input, but what would happen when they reached their destination?

The detective's seemed to know what he was thinking. He held up their clasped hands between them. "I won't let go, no matter what. I'll be there, whatever you need."

The car slowed as they pulled up outside the gates of Baskerville. The game was on whether they wanted it to be or not.