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

[jumpthegun]

Unlisted. It's not either of the numbers from Jim's business card. Might just be a burner.

[He's probably watched too many crime scene procedurals with his mind going there, but when your life becomes one...]

I can try calling it back?

[howdull]

No.

[That's immediate and firm.]

The mobile might be in some way linked to the detonation device, or might even trigger the bomb itself. We can't possibly risk that... here. [He thrusts his phone at John and holds his hand out for John's phone in return.] You keep researching the diffusing of bombs, I need to call Mycroft.

[Much as it galls him to have to ask for big brother's help after things went so sour before, he's not going to risk Molly for the sake of pride. He's actually a little curious where his brother is, he's surprised no calls have been made regarding his fit on camera last night. Mycroft never goes anywhere, where could he be?]

Agh! I ask you about this and then I lose the tag. /o\

[jumpthegun]

[John hands over the phone Molly bought and takes Sherlock's to begin searching the web. He tries to think of anyone he can remember from the bombs squad over in Afghanistan that they could call, but he's been terrible about keeping in touch with people. He'd just kept an eye on the lists for wounded and checked in with Bill now and again to see who might have gone missing. If he'd just known about Matthews, maybe some of this could have been avoided.

When Sherlock calls Mycroft, he'll actually find it rings through to voicemail on the first attempt.]

<3

[howdull]

[Irritating.

Where is Mycroft? His brother never goes anywhere except work, home, and the Diogenes club. Even if he's in this stupid silent room, he would never have his phone off or out of his sight in case an important notification came in. If it were anyone else, he might actually be worried.

As it is, he's more concerned for whatever country Mycroft is probably currently invading.

He hangs up and tries again, if he gets no answer this time then he'll leave a voicemail.]

[brotheryours]

Am I allowed to speak to you once more? I thought I was banished, brother mine. What is it? I'm in the middle of something.

[howdull]

Then stop whatever poor country you're bullying, this is more important.

[Urgh, he's irritated already, how does Mycroft manage to rile him up so easily?]

I need a trace on a phone, and a bomb disposal expert discretely available for an imminent video conference call.

[brotheryours]

[Mycroft glances over at the Governor of Sherrinford and smiles at him, holding the phone away for a moment.]

I'll be a moment. Thank you.

[It's a dismissal if ever there was one. The man gets up to leave and Mycroft returns the phone to his ear.]

And were you imagining these requests would come free of charge?

[howdull]

I'm not stupid, Mycroft.

[Of course he knew they wouldn't be free, but this is Molly. He can't let her be hurt or killed, even if it means making a deal with the devil.]

I'm willing to negotiate, but this is time sensitive so do try to think faster than you can walk.

[brotheryours]

You and the good doctor will wear tracking devices for the inevitable moment that you're captured once more and I'm forced to rescue you. A sub-dermal tracking device might work best. [You think you like dogs, right, Sherlock?] You will also stay at the accommodations of my choosing.

[howdull]

No.

[He scoffs, surely Mycroft knew that would never be an acceptable term.]

We might stay in accommodations provided to us, but neither of us will be having tracking devices planted in our skin. I offer not obscuring or removing your "hidden" cameras for a month.

I need to track this properly with my Watson account because I keep missing this... /facepalm

[brotheryours]

You will stay at the accommodations. The remaining terms are acceptable.

[He hadn't thought it would work, certainly, but negotiation is the art of asking for things beyond the goal and working back to it.]

[howdull]

Done.

[He could argue more, but it's not worth the risk. Now that Mycroft is back within range of contact again, it means he'll likely be reviewing his spy footage and discover Sherlock's seizure, something that might change any price mid-negotiation. Better to get this done quickly.

He hangs up and texts Mycroft the phone number he has for Molly, that's the one he wants a trace on, and glances back over at John.]

Mycroft is tracing Molly's phone and will provide us with a bomb disposal expert to conference call with if we do find an explosive we need to diffuse. [He frowns, small lines of worry pinching at the corners of his eyes.] ...perhaps, John, you were right. I should have disclosed Caroline's location to the police last night, if I had then perhaps Molly wouldn't be in this position today.

[jumpthegun]

[John's not in the mood for 'I told you so.' He's still reading through websites, trying to commit everything to memory.] We can still do that. Might not be a bad idea to have Lestrade waiting in the wings.

[He glances over.]

Not the same as stopping it before it happens, but we do have more resources than just your brother who hates me.

[howdull]

No.

[Sherlock's mouth turns down, he would have liked to have Lestrade in on this but it's simply not possible.]

Any police presence is likely to prove fatal to Molly, she'll be being watched even if it's from a distance. You should tell me a little about the estrangement from your parents, it might help in determining where exactly this path leads.

[jumpthegun]

[John balks. He recognizes that what Sherlock's saying is true, but he's not sure where to start.]

What's there to say? I went off to uni, I didn't write to them or call. They didn't either. Next time I heard about them, it was a call from Harry telling me they'd died. Went to the funeral, said a few words. [He shrugs.] It wasn't a fight or anything. We just... didn't talk. I worked, kept up with classes. Wasn't really any need to talk to them.

[howdull]

Hardly surprising that you didn't talk to them. Children from an abusive household rarely feel an obligation to keep in contact once they've left, unless there's a younger sibling still in the family home.

[The cab driver's eyes flick towards the rear view mirror, but Sherlock doesn't seem to notice that their conversation has been gaining interest.]

Perhaps it has something to do with any final conversations had, the date of the last time you spoke to them?

[jumpthegun]

[John's hyperaware of the attention, and he lowers his voice, body stiffening. That just makes his ribs and shoulders hurt, and he winces for the pain.]

I wasn't abused.

[Abuse is verbal, it's physical. Not... nothing.]

I don't remember when I last spoke to them. Summer, probably. Summer of '93? [He'd have been 18 back then, heading off to uni. That sounds about right. 17 years ago is a long time to remember the details for.] We probably talked about them converting my room to a study or something. Does it matter? How would anyone even know about it?

[howdull]

Abuse takes many forms, it doesn't necessarily have to end in bruises. Neglect is a form of abuse when taken to the extreme it was in your case, otherwise you and your sister wouldn't have turned out this way.

[That's not an insult, just an observation.]

How would they have known about your sister and her issues? Obviously we've been under surveillance for some time, and extensive research has been done. Moriarty is clever, he's probably read the signs of your childhood as easily as I have -- well, perhaps not quite as easily.

[Summer of '93 is that relevant? Maybe? Maybe not?]

Try to think back and be specific, if you can.

[jumpthegun]

I wasn't abused. [It's a low snarl and clear warning to Sherlock to drop it. John isn't looking at him now, just glaring down at the phone still in his grip. He's not going to claim that, not when there are victims of real abuse out there. There's a part of him that also wants to believe he would have stood up to something like that more, at least where Harry was concerned. If he hadn't... no. It wasn't abuse. Sherlock's just being obtuse.] They were just busy people.

It was almost twenty years ago, how the hell should I know what we talked about? Nothing. We never talked about anything. [Nothing of importance. In spite of the waspish response, he is attempting dredge up anything he can.] The car. There was something about the car. I'd taken some things over to the dorms in it. They wanted me to fill up the tank.

[Not an argument, just... the usual.]

[howdull]

[The car might be useful, but it's so specific. They'd have to have been spying on the conversation at the time, which would be remarkably prescient considering even John hadn't known he would definitely be successful at applying to be a doctor in the army at the time.

He closes his eyes and tries to picture it. John, younger, docile but resentful, a familiar situation that had occurred too many times to count. It's not useful for this, is it?]

Do you know if Molly talks to her parents? I tune her out when she speaks.

[jumpthegun]

[John knows virtually nothing about Molly. That one question makes him realize that. She's been learning more about him, but it's been about him, mostly, not her.]

I dunno. I think... she has a blog?

[He brings up Sherlock's website and searches for Molly and her profile to find it.]

Thirty-one, lives alone... couple of friends. She's got a cat named Toby. Doesn't talk about her mum and dad at all.

[howdull]

How painfully stereotypical of her.

[Could she be any more the quintessential single and socially awkward woman?]

I doubt the cat will have any relevance to this, so-- another dead end. I suppose the hospital is our best bet, I will cause a distraction and you head down to the morgue, I'll follow as soon as I'm able.

[jumpthegun]

[John casts Sherlock an irritated look on Molly being 'stereotypical,' but doesn't say anything.]

You think Jim'll be there?

[howdull]

In person? No, but I have no doubt that he'll have people there that work for him.

[Jim seems like the sort of person to not be a one-man operation, not with the ease he's switched personas already. The cab finally pulls up outside the hospital and the driver turns around for the fare, but Sherlock has already got out and is striding away.]

[jumpthegun]

Um... I... [John checks his pockets, but it's not like he's going to find anything there.] Just a moment, please. [He flashes a smile at the cabby before he opens the door and calls after Sherlock.] Sherlock! I need your card. What d'you want me to do, give him your bloody phone?

[Is this meant to be the distraction. All it's going to do is get the cabby snarling at them. It's also making John's cheeks burn with embarrassment and shame. He really needs to do something about the money situation. Maybe they can stop by the bank. His pension check should be hitting at some point. And it's not like he has rent to pay. He'd settle for getting a starter bank account and card from some random place that would let him start with a £500 limit.]