For John Watson

[howdull]

[Sherlock is still finding pieces of the melted laptop in the carpet.

It had actually been quite an ingenious booby trap to be devised by a fourteen year old boy with only household chemicals to work with but, as Sherlock surmised, rather overkill to keep his mother from finding his extensive porn collection. Not one of their more illustrious cases, but it had been quite entertaining to watch both the boy and mother's faces as he revealed that he did know the how and why. He lost interest after the mother started shouting and John started shouting and the whole thing turned tedious.

He rather thinks John won't actually be doing a full write-up of this one on his blog.

It's been two days since their last case and he's beginning to get more than a little antsy. Lestrade has sent him nothing, just a boring hit and run that he refused to even leave the flat for, and nobody interesting has appeared through the blog. Said blog he is currently scrolling through on John's laptop, having borrowed it again.

He did ask, it's not his fault John hadn't been in the room at the time.]

Bored, John.

[He doesn't even know if his flatmate is even in, but that's hardly a necessity for him to actually speak to John. Frustrated, he throws the laptop across the room to hit the wall, where it summarily breaks. Which is where he can be found whenever John appears, sulking amidst pieces of laptop, both from the melted one of their last case and John's poor broken one.]

Comments

[gallowshumour]

[Sherlock remains dead asleep throughout this whole time.

Molly's phone rings four times before it's answered, though the voice on the other end is a different kind of familiar and probably not at all as comforting.]

Morning, Johnny boy. Up bright and early, aren't we? I usually like a lie in, bit of breakfast in bed, that sort of thing.

[jumpthegun]

[When he hears that voice, his blood turns to ice in his veins for a moment. But if it's Jim and not Caroline, Molly might still be alive. He's here to taunt. John moves back over to Sherlock and gives his shoulder a sharp nudge with one foot while he puts the phone on speaker. His tone is cool. Someone is in immediate danger. Losing his temper right now is not an option. If he can help it.]

Morning, Jim. See you have Molly's phone. How's she doing. I was gonna meet up with her this morning.

[howdull]

[Sherlock is awake pretty quickly, and his gaze turns from sleepy to intensely focused in the space of a heartbeat when he realises what's going on. He sits up to look at the phone, brow furrowed in concern, but he doesn't speak. Better to keep his presence a secret for now, no need to reveal all their cards.

Jim laughs, as if John's said something amusing.]

We are dating, you know? Isn't a girl allowed to spend the night with her fella these days? But I think she will be a little late to meet you, hope you can forgive her. Maybe reschedule.

[jumpthegun]

[The hand not holding his phone curls into a fist.]

Well, I expect her to turn up to work later today, fully intact and unharmed, young man. [He puts on his best mock-fathering tone. There's still a very hard egde to it. God, he loathes this man.] Can't have pathologists going missing. What'll Barts do without her?

[gallowshumour]

Don't you worry, if you go down to the morgue later, I'm sure you'll find her there.

[There's a lot of suppressed laughter in Jim's voice. Sherlock's expression, meanwhile, is darkening by the moment.]

Looking forward to our appointment, Johnny, it should be a real blast.

[jumpthegun]

[His heart jumps to his throat. No. No. God, no!]

Where is she, Jim. I have time before our meeting. Your house? I can drop by.

[gallowshumour]

[Sherlock is already on his feet and grabbing for a new shirt and trousers, utterly unashamed about stripping naked in front of John in order to get in fresh things to go out.]

Let me see, let me see.

[Jim muses to himself as if he has all the time in the world, humming and occasionally tapping his fingers loud enough to be heard in the background.]

Sorry, but I do have a life outside of you boys and I'm busy this morning. You'll just have to wait.

[jumpthegun]

Maybe I'll just stop by Caroline's, then.

[It's snapped in cold fury, John's efforts at putting on a show of being impassive crumbling. But he does have a thought, something tickling at the back of his mind. Jim being so blasé is good. Why is it good? It's infuriating. It's something to do with the phone. Records? No. Jim could say they talked about anything.

Talking. He's talking. On speaker phone... in a bugged flat. It clicks and John's eyes go wide. He holds his silence, but his mind is ticking back to the texts with Mycroft when he seemed to know what John and Sherlock were saying and doing in the flat. This is it! If he can just get Moriarty to tie himself to Caroline...]

[gallowshumour]

You can stop by wherever you want to, you're still a free man for now.

[He gives a bark of laughter, which is cut off with a muffled voice in the background saying something too inaudible to be made out. He sighs, demeanour fully changing.]

I'm a little busy right now, or didn't anyone ever tell you that it's rude to interrupt people on the phone? Do it again, and I'll flay you.

[jumpthegun]

[John's mind immediately jumps to Molly, held in this psychopath's clutches and being threatened with a flaying.]

Don't lay a hand on her. I swear to god, if you hurt her, Jim...

[gallowshumour]

[Attention back on John, Moriarty's voice again takes on a slightly sing-song tone, with no pause between the shifts in his demeanour.]

Or what, Johnny? You know I like it when you take charge.

[jumpthegun]

Or I stop playing. [There's ice in John's tone.] I contact Mycroft and get him to take Sherlock away and this ends. No more game, no more entertainment. I lose--a lot of people lose--but so do you.

[gallowshumour]

[Sherlock at least has enough sense to not interrupt the call and protest that John would have a large hurdle ahead of him if he even tried that course of action, though he does scowl in a particularly unimpressed manner over at the doctor. Which is in complete contrast to Moriarty, who sounds delighted.]

Oh, my, I can see why he keeps you around, that's some spirit you have there. I can't wait to see it broken, it's going to be fun. Anyway, I have to go, people to see and places to go, but I'll be seeing you later. Toodles!

[jumpthegun]

Jim, wait-! [But he's talking to a dead line. John turns his attention to Sherlock immediately, even as he carefully starts to peel off his shirt. It would be better to shower before heading out, but John suspects they have a morning of chasing around leads to look for Molly to look forward to.] How likely is it whatever recording devices Mycroft has in your flat caught that conversation?

[howdull]

[Sherlock is both drawn to and repulsed by Moriarty, his pulse is quick and adrenaline is coursing through him. He doesn't want anyone else to get hurt, but oh-- oh this game is fun.

But then John speaks and his eyes sharpen, grin spreading across his face.]

Every so often, you surprise me with a stroke of genius.

[Of course Mycroft will have been recording!]

[jumpthegun]

[Molly's in danger, possibly dead, Caroline is still at large, Jim's just been mucking about with them and their situation is still, objectively, awful. But John can't help grinning back for the praise.]

Every so often, I like to give you a run for it. I think you'd best be the one to contact him, though. [John expects relations with the elder Holmes brother will be rocky for the foreseeable future. He tosses his phone on the bed and sets about dressing in the clothes Molly bought for him. He goes as fast as his body will allow and finishes things off by downing one of the painkillers he'd gotten at the base.]

We have our appointment with Jim at 11:30. Think we can find Molly before then?

[howdull]

I'll have to call him later, he's obviously not at home or in the office at the moment.

[If he were, and he'd been either reviewing the day's footage or watching it live, then Sherlock knows he would have shown up by now after the fit he'd had the previous day.

Curious, though, where would Mycroft go for almost twelve hours? He's not usually someone who enjoys travel. Ah well, he sets it out of his mind for now, Mycroft's movements are far less interesting than this.]

We have to, I won't allow Molly to be hurt in this.

[It's said simply, but firmly. Every so often the part of him that cares, despite his better judgement, does shine through.]

[jumpthegun]

[John just nods and sits down carefully before pulling on his shoes.]

Start at Caroline's place? Should we let Lestrade know to-

Oh! He put that thing in her car that disrupts bugs or whatever. Think that could be tracked?

[howdull]

[He doesn't particularly want to admit that he hasn't really got an idea how to reverse track a piece of equipment like that, so he just shakes his head.]

Lestrade will only make this official and possibly spook Moriarty into prematurely killing Molly, better that we deal with this ourselves. We can certainly scope out Caroline's place, but I'm nearly certain she won't be there. I know where she'll be, I just need to think and it'll come to me.

[He does know it, it'll be buried in whatever Moriarty said, but he doesn't know what he knows yet.]

[jumpthegun]

[John frowns in confusion.]

You know where she'll... you mean the morgue?

[That's the only place John had heard.]

[howdull]

Yes. No. Sort of.

[It's frustrating, he knows the morgue seems right but there's something off about it.]

Just get in the car and be quiet, let me think as you drive.

[jumpthegun]

Sherlock, Molly didn't come back last night. We don't have a car. We can take a cab or I'll have to rent one for the day.

[Which is his way of tacitly asking for Sherlock's card. Again. He really needs to get a proper job when this is all over so that he can pay everyone back, but especially Molly and Sherlock. He'll use his pension money. That should be coming, as well. Eventually. God, no. That's going to have to go to Clara first for Harry's service.

He tries to stop thinking about money and how helpless he feels without it. Another panic attack is going to be extremely counterproductive.]

[howdull]

Oh.

[This is very annoying, especially since they're not in an area of London that gets high taxi use. Baker Street was ideal for it, right in the centre where taxis were in high supply, but he can't be waiting around.]

This is ridiculous, too much time and too many checks to rent a car. Order a taxi and we'll buy a car when we've found Molly. Probably best to put it in your name, you'll likely drive it more.

[jumpthegun]

What? But... [His name for a car that Sherlock is buying? Because honestly, at this point, everything is Sherlock buying and it still makes John burn with shame.

He realizes that Sherlock's just going to be dismissive, though, so he clamps down on the protest. They can have that conversation later, once Molly is safe.]

Yeah. Sorry. Just a minute.

[He has to snatch Sherlock's phone for the internet service to actually find a cab company to dial and orders them one over to Caroline's address.]

It'll be here in ten minutes. Are you gonna be okay today? [What with passing out over his candy last night.]

[howdull]

Why wouldn't I be?

[He looks genuinely confused, as if he's already forgotten the fit and then following spell of unconsciousness of the previous night. He hasn't, but it doesn't seem relevant right now.]

It's hardly as if this is the first time that I've chased a criminal.