beyond the gravestones (sherlock/johnlock fanfic)

Chapter 26

"You should go home for the night. Get some rest." Sherlock said.

"I'm not going to leave you alone." John said firmly.

Sherlock nodded his gratitude. It was only a perfunctory suggestion, anyway.

"Come on, we've been sitting here for hours." John said. "Let's get some fresh air."

Sherlock followed him out. The rain had stopped, but the evening sky was still gloomy and overcast. After a while, he dug around in his pocket for a cigarette, but obviously, there wasn't one. He wondered if he could give John the slip and sneak one from the old man across the street, but then gave up on the idea. He settled for dragging John back into the hospital. Wondering if there had been any developments in the last five minutes, he looked hopefully at Mycroft, who shook his head and continued pacing.

"I think we should get Eurus." Mr Holmes said.

Mycroft stopped pacing. "What? Why?"

"I promised your mother that if she ended up on the deathbed, I would get the family together one last time. She vowed to do the same for me. She would want to see her daughter, Mycroft."

"No. Absolutely not. It's too dangerous."

"Dad's right." Sherlock interrupted. "Come on, Mycroft, what could possibly go wrong? Sherrinford to the hospital, then back to Sherrinford. Just put maximum security on her."

"You aren't thinking straight." Mycroft said. "I can guarantee this won't end well."

"We are perfectly capable of thinking for ourselves, young man." Mr Holmes said sternly.

Mycroft sighed. "Doctor Watson? What do you think?"

All three of them turned to John. "Er." he said awkwardly, "I'm not sure I should intervene. It's a family matter."

"Don't be daft." Mr Holmes said. "You are family."

"Oh. Thanks. Uh...it's really not a good idea for her to leave Sherrinford."

He felt Sherlock slump in dismay beside him. For a moment, he tried to put himself in Sherlock's situation. Harry locked up, his mother in the hospital...no matter how dysfunctional his family was, he'd want to be together one last time.

"But...she does have the right to see her mother one last time in case...you know." he said.

Sherlock and Mr Holmes turned imploringly to Mycroft. He sighed and threw his hands up in defeat. "Fine. But the earliest I can get her here is by tomorrow morning."

***

It was well past midnight, and Sherlock was pacing up and down now. Mr Holmes and John were both asleep, and Mycroft sat at some distance from them, staring unwaveringly ahead. After a while, Sherlock sat down beside him and took a deep breath.

"Mycroft."

"Hm."

"Something fishy's been going on."

"This is hardly the time for tuna sandwich jokes, brother mine."

"I'm not going to crack one. Will you listen?"

Something in Sherlock's tone alarmed him, so Mycroft turned to face him and nodded. "I'm listening."

Sherlock began telling him about all the events which had taken place since Irene's visit to Sherrinford, leaving out the few details that seemed too personal. All five break-ins, what they'd discovered about Eurus and Irene, Mrs Hudson's connection with Sebastian Moran, the Golem's death, Noel's attempted suicide and the consequences (he omitted the details of his hilltop conversation with John, only briefly mentioning that the water had evoked some traumatic memories of his time in Afghanistan), Rosie's kidnapping and Molly signing the body away, the anagram formed by the names, the numbers and colours that he still hadn't figured out...