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Mycroft Holmes, by all accounts, is a strange man. He could destroy an entire country with a single word, he could take whatever he wanted from whoever, but most of all, he was peculiar because he cared so much about his family. That’s why when he stopped checking up on his little brother, Sherlock, Sherlock started to get suspicious. Now by no means does Sherlock mind that he isn’t getting physical checkups anymore, he’s just… weird-ed out that it’s not happening anymore. ‘Strange.’ He thought. Instead of calls from Mycroft’s personal cell, he got texts from disposable phones. Instead of invitations to his mansion, he got an access denial at the front door security.  At a crime scene is when Sherlock finally snapped. He was usually mildly annoyed at most at inconveniences, but this? Sherlock got into major traffic, he was denied access by another policeman before Lestrade welcomed him in, and he had to be physically restrained from kicking a lamp that fell on his foot. “This is his fault!” Sherlock hissed, looking directly at a security camera and glaring “Do you hear me?! It’s your fault! Why don’t you come talk to me like a real person instead of stalking with your silly little cameras?!” He yelled angrily. “Sherlock, is everything okay over there buddy?” Lestrade calmly asked, walking slowly towards the furious detective. “Why don’t we just… sit down? Do you want to take a walk?” he suggested“No! My stupid, coward of a brother refuses to answer me!” Sherlock growled, looking absolutely murderous.“Whoa there Sherlock, we are already at a crime scene, we don’ need to add another body to the count.” Lestrade tried again, now a bit closer. Lestrade reached his hand onto Sherlock’s shoulder blade and pat him gently. “John? How long has this been going on for?” Lestrade asked, turning his head to John, who was standing a good ten feet away from Sherlock. He wore a wary expression on his face.“A few weeks now, he’s obsessed with finding out what Mycroft is doing that’s so important.” John explained, making his way to the exit of the room. “I’m going to get some food, Sherlock?” Sherlock snapped his head in John’s direction. “Do you want anything to eat?” John asked carefully, pulling out his phone to pull up Google.“No. I’m not. Hungry.” Sherlock forced out, his tone sounding as the very definition of restraint.“Alright, thank you. I’ll go get something for me and I’ll be back in a few minutes, okay?” John reassured, which he only got a slow nod from his friend. “Okay.” John finished, closing the door behind him. As Lestrade observed Sherlock, he noticed that his shoulders were tense and his face in a permanent scowl. Even when Sherlock moved away and started walking around again, he kept that angry posture about him. Lestrade even had to save a life! He saw Anderson pop his head through the door and open his mouth to speak, but thankfully, Lestrade gave him a look that plainly said that if he spoke, it would be really bad. Sherlock slammed his hand on the wall and whisper-shouted “Father.”“I’m sorry, the father?” Lestrade repeated, seeing now why John was acting so weird around Sherlock. “Is he the killer?”“Obviously,” Sherlock turned to another camera that was on a corner outside of the building. Sherlock opened the window and waited for the camera to turn to him. “I figured it out! Is that what you wanted?!” He shouted, shutting the window forcefully when he finished speaking. Lestrade felt so bad for Sherlock at this point. Yes, he didn’t have any reason to be nosing into something clearly not about him, but he felt like he needed to help somehow. Sherlock was hostile, his brother apparently has been ignoring him, and it hurt him. Lestrade pulled out his phone and scrolled through his contacts until he saw the contact name “Mycroft” and pressed call. He knew he shouldn’t call that number unless it was an emergency, but he really didn’t like seeing Sherlock like this.“Hello?” A woman responded, Lestrade semi-recognized the voice on the other end. Mycroft’s personal assistant?“Hey, um… May I talk to Mister Holmes please?” Lestrade politely asked her.“Who?” She replied in a monotone manner. He knew that she knew Mycroft. And Lestrade bet that she knew that he knew. “There is no Mister Holmes on any record.” She added“Really?” Lestrade rhetorically inquired. “No, hypothetically speaking, Mycroft Holmes?”“No sir, I believe you have the wrong number.”“Hm, I suppose I do… I’m sorry, Miss Anthea.” Lestrade apologized“Apology accepted, goodbye.” The woman quickly said, and she promptly hung up. This started up the red warning sirens throughout Lestrade’s mind. “What’s going on, Sherlock? I’m worried about you. I know it’s not my place, but I don’t like seeing you like this.” Lestrade asks softly, his words like a caring whisper.Sherlock didn’t answer at first, but after a few moments, took a deep breath, and let it out loudly. “Lestrade, Mycroft’s being evasive and he’s never evasive. He always visits me once every month. The day depends, but once every month. He never misses a check in. Also, he doesn’t use his personal cell phone anymore! All I get is voicemail! He never voicemails me twice in a row! I tried texting him, but he doesn’t respond!” Sherlock ranted, getting more and more audibly upset as he kept speaking.“That is not very nice.” Lestrade commented, moving his hand on Sherlock’s shoulder up and down his arm slightly. “Have you tried to talk to him face-to-face?”“Yes! And when I went to his house, his password changed to lock me out! He even left me a note saying that he wouldn’t be home for a while!”“I’m sorry. That sounds very strange, especially for him. Every single time I talked to him, he was obsessed with seeing you safe.” Gregory consoled.“Don’t talk like that. That’s stupid.” Sherlock demanded “You make it sound like he’s dead. Not that I would mind if he died…” He added that last part on quickly“Do you want to go check at his house again? Maybe he went on a trip across the world and you called when he was asleep, and maybe the texts didn’t reach through because your data plan doesn’t work that well with international communications?” Sherlock nodded solemnly as he let Lestrade squeeze his body into his with his arm. Suddenly, Sherlock wiggled out of Lestrade’s grip, quickly grabbed Lestrade’s now free hand, and promptly dragged him out of the house and into the street. Lestrade got a few concerned looks from his fellow policemen assigned to the case. He quickly told Sally Donovan, who was following Lestrade being dragged, to arrest the father of the victim. She nodded and stopped tailgating after receiving her order.“Taxi!” Sherlock yelled, shooting his free hand up in the air. Thanks to his enviable height, a taxi stopped almost immediately. He handed his phone to the driver and said to him to drive exactly there and he’d pay him double than owed.“Sherlock, what’s going-““Shh!” Sherlock interrupted him, the scowl Lestrade was able to remove earlier returning. So, Lestrade shut his mouth for the rest of the ride. But he had enough sense to text John that he and Sherlock had left, and to just go home.   When Lestrade and Sherlock arrived at their destination, it was dark. Lestrade checked his phone’s clock… 9:24?! How could it be that late already? But besides that he was able to marvel at the sheer size of the house-no, castle he saw. The mansion was a beautiful light brown coloration, for it looked to be made from solid stone. The shrubbery looked well maintained around the borders along the perimeter, and there were beautiful trees by the entrance, on both sides of the staircase that accented how brilliantly carved the handrails were. As Lestrade and Sherlock walked up to the front door, Lestrade ran his hand up the railing, expecting to feel rugged stone, but it was the exact opposite! The grey stone felt smooth to the touch, like a seashell, and framed right in between was the most brilliantly polished wooden door Lestrade had ever seen in his life. As he admired the beauty of the exterior, he noticed Sherlock open a notch in the stone by the door on the right side.  When Sherlock pulled the notch, the stone hinged on itself and opened up to reveal a keypad. The pad looked more or less like a big calculator, all of the numbers on metallic punch buttons below a blue LED light screen. Sherlock pulled Lestrade close and showed him his hand as me punched in the pass-code 3-8-4-9-7-8. INCORRECT PASSCODE. The panel read.“See? If he won’t let me inside the front door, I guess I’ll have to go in through the window.” Sherlock decided out loud. “Wait Sherlock no-“Lestrade started in panic, not wanting to break a window, but Sherlock guided him off of the porch and by the left hand side tree. As Sherlock again, showed Lestrade the wall and the windows next to it, then the tree. He moved some branches to reveal another keypad. This one didn’t look like the first however. This one was a more bronze color with a deeper yellow colored LED screen.“If he locked this one, he is, without a shadow of a doubt, dead.” Sherlock explained seriously, taking in a sharp breath.“And why is that? How would you know?” Lestrade asked, watching as Sherlock stared at the keypad“Mycroft swore on his life that this code would always be the same until he died. This is my secret way in that he installed if I ever needed him and I was under surveillance from someone besides him.” Sherlock summarized, pressing in the numbers 3-8, then 5-6, then 5. He hesitated for a fraction of a second before pressing the number 2. As soon as Sherlock tapped that final 2, Lestrade heard a click-Thunk! sound come from the window in front of him. Sherlock smirked in victory, moving to the window and pushing the glass upward to open it. As Sherlock pushed the window open, he slid inside and signaled Lestrade to do the same. At first, Lestrade was hesitant to possibly break and enter into the most powerful man in Britain’s house, but Sherlock looked so sure about his decision, that he followed through as well.“Whoa… Mycroft lives here all alone?” Lestrade said when Sherlock flicked on a light switch to reveal the beautiful interior decoration! While the walls were as white as snow, the carpeting below them was a deep and very elegant red. As Lestrade’s eyes wandered to the walls, he noticed the same level of cleanliness and elegance in the wood. Inside of the wooden outline was a delicate fireplace with a strange symmetrical arrangement of vases on top. “Yes he does, and believe me, I know from experience that he doesn’t like people standing on his pillows.” Sherlock answered honestly, watching in enjoyment as Lestrade jumped down from the platform he was on and landed onto the carpet with a loud thump. “Don’t tell?” Lestrade joked, Sherlock breathed out a laugh of agreement. “Yeah, I don’t wanna get deported quite yet.” Lestrade added, looking at Sherlock, who was unlocking the doors from the inside. “Where does Mycroft hide his stuff?” Lestrade pondered to himself, “Safe? USB? What about-““Bedroom.” Sherlock interjected, suddenly dashing up the stairs and stopping at a doorframe to harshly kick it. Lestrade panicked and bolted to where Sherlock was. “He left a spare master key up here for me.” He explained as Lestrade looked at the wooden frame above him to see a dull gold item, probably the key Sherlock was talking about, peaking above.“Whoa, maybe instead of minor property damage, we just find something to push it off?” Lestrade offered insightfully, at this point just wanting to lessen the charges that he absolutely piling up against him. Sherlock groaned “Fine. Just be quick about it then.” He peeked into the hallway, and oh! A suit of armor just a bit up the hall! Thank heavens for Mycroft’s strange taste in décor! When Lestrade reached the suit, he noticed how pristine it looked. ‘Probably polished often…’ Lestrade noted ‘I guess all this is sort of like him; elegant and old-fashioned… Now that I think about it, he fits right in here!’ Lestrade smiled softly at the mental image of Mycroft gracefully moving throughout the hallways.“LESTRADE, IF YOU DON’T COME BACK HERE IN THE NEXT FOURTEEN SECONDS I’M GOING BACK TO ORIGINAL PLAN!” Sherlock shouted, and that got Lestrade moving now, yanking the sword from its sheath with little to no sense of carefulness, and ran back to Sherlock as if his life depended on it.“I got a sword, will this work?” Lestrade asked, but Sherlock gave him no response. Only a doubtful expression that screamed as loud as Sherlock just had ‘Quit daydreaming.’ So, Lestrade got to thinking up a plan. Well, he could see a bit of the key from the side… “Maybe…?” Lestrade thought out loud, carefully placing the sword up against the frame and pushing the key with the tip of the sword. Up and up the gold key raised, then, it revealed a hole that the tip of the sword penetrated with ease. “Gotcha!” Lestrade announced pulling the sword away from the frame, along with the key, sliding down the blade of the sword as gravity now had its way with the little thing.“Hmm…” Sherlock sighed, taking the offered key from the sword.“Do you think he actually uses these things?” Gregory asked, inspecting the sword now. He asked because the blade was actually really sharp.“When he’s feeling theatrical about an execution, yes.” Sherlock explained, intentionally leaving his answer absurd enough to be a blatant lie, but Lestrade didn’t know how right Sherlock was. Sherlock snickered to himself as he deducted that Lestrade was genuinely thinking about whether or not Mycroft actually straight up elegantly shanks people to kill them. When Sherlock fitted the beautiful antique key into the equally elegant lock on the door, and with a dainty *click!*, the door was opened. As Sherlock walked through the door, Lestrade peeked through after him, just to make sure… It was just another hallway. Lestrade didn’t know what he actually expected to be behind that door.“Sherlock, is there anything to avoid?” Lestrade asked, keeping his hand on his gun.“Nothing too big, security cameras, touch IDs, and maybe some housekeepers, but I doubt they’ll be here at this time of night.”“Ah. Okay.”  Sherlock led Lestrade down the extravagant corridor and guided him about the twists and turns. If Lestrade didn’t know any better, he thought he might have been in a labyrinth! All of the paintings the two men passed gave a sense of unnerving, which Lestrade countered by keeping a firm hand on his gun. Until he reached a door at the end, Sherlock said nothing. Sherlock stuck the key in and turned. *click!* the magnificent door opened. Lestrade was absolutely amazed by what was apparently Mycroft’s bedroom. Everything was so… big. The sheer size of the bedroom was at least twice the size of his entire flat! And the colors! The room was only illuminated by the moonlight shining through the giant glass windows that surely could find their place in St. Peter’s Cathedral! The crisp and fine shadows the deep golden curtains caused made the room, if it was even possible, more elegant. The walls were a deep royal red color, accented by golden lace-like patterns on the edges and borders that shone extravagantly in the places where the moon graced its light. Lestrade turned his head to the left to see something straight out of a fairy tale for a bed. The king sized (maybe even bigger) bed was also draped in red, but a more vibrant shade than the walls, which were a more muted color. The sheets and duvet was tucked in tightly, and the pillows were all uniformly stacked. The deep black reminded Lestrade of a black hole, accenting the blood red covers beautifully. Lestrade turned his head to see a white marble cut of the carpet in place for a fireplace, which had almost brand new wood in it, and at the foot of the fireplace was a comfortable looking leather chair and a beautiful little table, which was bare. The whole room had a subtle feeling of loneliness and solidarity. To the sides of the fireplace were two doors, identical to each other by the looks of them. Lestrade let a sigh of wonder escape his mouth. He could never live here alone; it was just too big…“This is it. I’ll search the main room, you take the closet.” Sherlock ordered, walking around with what Lestrade knew was impatience… or more likely, anxiousness. If he lost contact with his sibling, he’d get antsy too.“Alright.” Lestrade responded, heading to the nearest door inside the giant room.“That’s the bathroom.” Sherlock corrected from the other side of the room, without even looking at Lestrade.“Give me a break; I’ve never been here before!” Lestrade smiled, walking to the other side of the fireplace to the other door. When he opened it, he knew for a matter of fact that he’d get lost. The closet was humungous! But, being the determined man he Lestrade is, he stared on the suit jackets first.First jacket. It was pitch black and in pristine condition, but nothing.Second jacket. Deep navy blue, also impeccably well taken care of, but nothing.Third jacket. Another navy one. Nothing. Fourth jacket. Nothing. Fifth jacket. Nope. Sixth jacket. Still nothing. Seventh. Really, how many jackets does a guy need?! Eighth. God have mercy. Ninth. Oh come ON. Tenth. Guess what! Nothing. Eleventh. Noth-wait. There’s something in the inner breast pocket!Lestrade took the thing out of the pocket to reveal that it was a notebook.“Sherlock! I found something!” Lestrade loudly announced, running out of the closet while waving the journal in the air. Sherlock ran over to Lestrade and snatched the book out of his hand and opened it, skimming the pages over. Lestrade watched as Sherlock kept flipping pages, than closing the book, and doing it all again. Out of the corner of his eye though, he saw a figure, a silhouette of a person.“SHERLOCK GET BACK!” Lestrade shouted, shoving Sherlock behind him protectively and pulling his gun out. “WHO ARE YOU?” He yelled at the figure in the shadows. The figure moved out of the shadows which their hands up and a smile. “Anthea?” Lestrade asked, dumbfounded.“Yes, that would be my name.” She confirmed as she her hands by her sides slowly when Lestrade put his gun away.“I thought you didn’t know a ‘Mycroft Holmes’.” Lestrade said with a bit of spite in his voice. She averted her eyes.“Detective Inspector, I know you’re upset, but I had to say that. I was surrounded by the people that banished him in the first place.” She explained“Sorry, what?! Why and who would banish Mycroft?!” Lestrade asked angrily, and Sherlock had quite the annoyed expression gracing his face too.“Mycroft has been banished due to a scandal he was at the centre of. It wasn’t his fault, but the other person he was involved with twisted everything against him and now he’s been gone for a month while I have been handling his work.”“No! That’s impossible!” Lestrade denied, his rage fueled by astonishment and surprise.“I’m afraid it’s true.” Anthea confirmed, “If Mister Holmes” she motioned to Sherlock “hadn’t told me what you two were doing, I wouldn’t have been able to come.” Suddenly, Sherlock piped up, and in a serious tone, said “Lestrade, Anthea, pack your bags, we’re going to France.” Needless to say, the two gave Sherlock a confused look. “Look, right here!” He exclaimed, showing them a page in the notebook that read  Eurus, France (BDX), 15/2 “Quick question, what’s your-us?” Lestrade asked after inspecting the paper.“Eurus.” Anthea corrected “she is the one that threw everything onto Mycroft. Also, due to all of the work I have to do, I cannot go with you to France. To be entirely honest, I do not know how Mister Holmes did everything he did every day. I’m kept up until midnight almost every night.”“Then Lestrade, let’s go.” Sherlock ordered, which sounded commanding to an untrained ear, but the sheer desperation hidden in Sherlock’s voice was almost heart shattering.“I’ll go home and arrange the stuff.” Lestrade assured, patting on Sherlock’s shoulder and making his way toward the door. “Could you two figure out something?” Lestrade motioned to both Sherlock and Anthea.“Right.” Sherlock responded“Yes sir.” Anthea nodded, 100% ready and willing to get Mycroft back on the job.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“Sherlock, could you be any slower?!” Lestrade asked sarcastically, banging on Sherlock’s bedroom door. It was the next morning; Lestrade had packed his things into a backpack and headed over to 221B at around 7:45.“I’m getting packed!” Sherlock shot back in an annoyed tone.“Sherlock, you’ve been ‘getting packed’ for thirty minutes!” John piped in, walking from the kitchen to the hallway with two cups of coffee; one for him, and one for Sherlock’s handler travelling buddy. John nudged Lestrade with the mug softly to get his attention.“Hm? Oh, thanks John.” Gregory smiled, taking the cup and sipping the hot coffee inside. “Mm, that’s good… What is this?” He asked, taking another drink.“I honestly don’t know, it said ‘coffee’ at the store, so I got it.” John laughed“Honestly, I do that too.” Gregory comforted “It doesn’t even have to say ‘coffee’ on it, I’ll just say to myself ‘oh, this looks like coffee!’ and just go get it-“ Lestrade cut himself off “Sherlock, hurry up!” He yelled, banging on the door.“I’m just finishing up!” He defended through the door. Lestrade wasn’t having any of this and burst through the door to reveal Sherlock holding two blue button-up shirts, one a deep cerulean and the other was a more sapphire. Sherlock gave Lestrade a quick once over, and went back to staring at his shirts in his hands. “It’s rude to just burst into someone’s room without permission, you know.” Sherlock calmly stated.‘This little mother-‘“Greg.” John cut off his thought. “Your coffee.” Gregory looked at his hand with the mug in it and the liquid was shaking violently inside the cup due to the tremors in his hand. John took the mug and nudged him towards Sherlock.“You’ve been in here for thirty minutes over shirts?!” He roared, stomping over to Sherlock and moving out of the way and peering into his suitcase. He only had his trousers packed.His trousers.No other shirts, no underwear, no nothing.JustHis trousers. Lestrade groaned and took off his backpack that he had easily packed his clothes in compared to Sherlock’s extra large duffel bag. He unzipped he bag to reveal the majority of the backpack still empty with all of Lestrade’s clothes still packed in. Lestrade shoves Sherlock aside and threw his packed trousers in the backpack, snatched the shirts from the other man and threw those in haphazardly, much to Sherlock’s visible dismay and annoyance. Lestrade then made his way to Sherlock’s dresser and yanks the drawers open and slammed them shut when he didn’t find the thing he was looking for. “If I find drugs in here while I’m at it Sherlock, ooh you are gonna get it!” Lestrade promised, pulling from the poor dresser three pairs of underwear, a roll of socks, and picked up some extra shoes that were lying beside the dresser and throwing them in the backpack. Now the backpack was teetering of maybe 93% full. “There. You’re packed. Now let’s go!”Sherlock sighed in irritation, but he followed Lestrade out of his room.“I’ve got the plane tickets in the side pocket-oh hey Anthea.” Lestrade explained“Hello Detective.” She greeted as she texted on her blackberry quickly.“John, could you help Anthea with our little rescue mission?” Sherlock asked, with a bit of a softer voice. “Sorry, what?” John asked in confusion. He looked at Anthea, then Sherlock and Lestrade, then back to Anthea. “Isn’t she a bit… higher caliber than me? What would I do?” He added“You… can help with the usual workload I get? It’s mostly non-verbal negotiations, but there are a lot of them.” Anthea suggested, grimacing at the end of her statement. She almost backed herself up with work yesterday by not being in Mycro- her office all day.“Isn’t that illegal?” John questioned, taking a sip of his coffee.“A bit, yeah, but who are they going to tell? My boss? I don’t have one.” Anthea confirmed, sarcastically adding on the last bit to make John more lenient to work with her.Lestrade took his coffee cup from John, getting his attention, and then Lestrade stared at him with a look that screamed ‘please help us. We can’t do this alone.’ “C’mon, it’ll be like you’re not even there.” Lestrade borderline begged. He never begged, but if he lost one of his best friends and his… What was Mycroft to him? Lestrade liked the way he held himself, the way he talked, the way he acted, and-… crush. He didn’t want to lose his friend and his friend’s brother. John sighed and looked down. “You got me!” He announced, then he looked at Anthea. “Where and when do we start?” The entire room lit up.“Hell yeah mate, next pub trip is on me!” Lestrade gleefully said. That lit John’s face up.“Yes sir!” John replied, clapping Lestrade on the shoulder. Sherlock rolled his eyes. “What some people will do for free things.” He muttered.“Okay, I’ll text you when we get to the airport, when we’ve landed, and whenever, alright?” Lestrade asked for confirmation, gesturing to himself and Sherlock before outstretching his hand for Anthea to take.“I’ll be sure to update you when we come across anything.” She assured, shaking Lestrade’s offered hand before letting the two men pass. The two made their way to the door, turning to John and Anthea, John walked towards them while Anthea texted. John made his way over to Gregory and gave him a quick hug goodbye, while Sherlock’s hug was maybe only a second or two longer, but Lestrade inwardly ‘aww-ed’ when he caught Sherlock’s pale cheeks turn a rose petal pink. “Alright you two; don’t have too much fun without me!” John teased, opening the door and closing it behind them as well.Lestrade led the way to his car that was parked outside 221B, letting Sherlock get in the passenger side first before walking around to the driver’s side and getting in.“Right, the airport is a good 30 minute drive from here and our flight is in an hour and a half.” Lestrade informed Sherlock, who stared out the windshield blankly.“Obviously.” He murmured, not really paying attention to Lestrade.So, without further delay, Lestrade started his car, and off they were on their adventure!  Lestrade and Sherlock stayed silent for the most part, letting only their breathing fill the gaps where conversation could start. That is, until traffic piled up. What, it was around 8:00 and people needed to get to work! Lestrade groaned in annoyance as he pumped the breaks. Then, he looked at Sherlock, who was still staring out the windshield, still silent, still blank faced. ‘It must be tough,’ Lestrade thought to himself. ‘The person closest to him suddenly was yanked from his life… I bet he’s thinking about it.’  Indeed Sherlock was. He was in a contemplative state, thinking about how Mycroft must have been in big trouble if he lost his job while working with this ‘Eurus’ girl… He didn’t remember a woman named Eurus that he came in contact with… Did he do all this? Was it all his fault that Mycroft left him? Thankfully, Lestrade’s discomfort with the situation led to him speaking up.“So Sherlock… What’s your favorite color? I’m guessing blue, am I right?” Lestrade suddenly asked, jolting Sherlock from his mind.“Why would you care about such an insignificant detail about me?” He responded sharply, still a bit hurt at his own words.“Because even though we’ve known each other for so long, I don’t know essentially anything about you! What’s your favorite music type? Do you like animals? What kind of alcohol do you like? I don’t know any of that!” Lestrade complained playfully, nudging Sherlock’s arm with his free hand, which wasn’t on the wheel. Not that it mattered that Lestrade’s hand was on the steering wheel though, since they were in bumper-to-bumper traffic.Sherlock sighed and rolled his eyes. “Again, it doesn’t really matter what color I like or anything of the sort, so why would you want to know?”“Because I want to.” Lestrade stated simply, turning his head directly and looking Sherlock deep in his eyes. “Listen here Spock, I like to know what my friends like, alright? And I’ve known you for over six years now! I just… want to know what makes you smile. And don’t give me that I-don’t-smile crap, I’ve seen you when you think nobody else is looking!” The younger man finally relented, shaking his head at why Lestrade would concern himself with this useless trivia. “My favorite color, is indeed, blue, I like classical music, dogs are m favorite animal, and I enjoy whiskey on occasion.” Sherlock answered honestly, albeit, with a bit of an attitude.“You’re a dog person?” Lestrade laughed sincerely “I thought you’d be more of a cat person, like me.”“Yes well, dogs are significantly more trainable and useful than cats.” Sherlock countered.“I guess so, but have you ever seen a cat get scared by its reflection before? It’s the funniest thing ever... I’m actually thinking about getting a little kitten myself.” Lestrade mischievously argues.“Why would you get a cat?” Sherlock inquired, acting bored on the outside, but a little interested on Lestrade’s motives.“’Cause, cats are cute, entertaining, they are low-maintenance, you know, all of that good stuff.” Lestrade admitted.“I see.” Sherlock mused, thinking up what cat Lestrade would most likely get. Lestrade turned his head back to the road, immensely pleased with himself that he got Sherlock’s mind off of the horrible things that are happening to him.A few minutes later, when they’re out of the annoying busy traffic, Lestrade moves his hand slowly to the radio buttons on his dash. “Mind if I play some music?” He asked softly, as not to disturb the now, ever so slightly, nodding off Sherlock.“It’s your car…” Sherlock said. Lestrade took that as a yes, but before he turned on the radio, he turned his volume all the way down before turning the radio on. Lestrade flicked through the channels with the volume on next to nothing until he found a station that was playing classical music, and he turned the volume up slightly, watching happily as the corners of Sherlock’s mouth twitched upward. Lestrade drove quietly the rest of the, what was supposed to be 30 minute drive, was actually an hour drive. He texted John saying that he was at the airport and nudged Sherlock awake. “Sherlock, it’s time to go.” Lestrade whispered, nudging Sherlock’s arm softly. “Mmm, what?” Sherlock groaned, a little groggy from being ripped from sleep’s clutches.“It’s time to go and board the plane. C’mon buddy.” Lestrade coaxed, unbuckling Sherlock’s seatbelt as if he were a sleepy two-year-old.“Okay…” Sherlock sighed, getting out of the car and standing next to Lestrade. Lestrade walked with Sherlock into the airport and sat the sleepy detective in the waiting chairs while the policeman walked into the on-site store. When Lestrade entered the store, he scanned the food aisles quickly and eventually picked up two six-cookie packs of Oreos, and a bag of sour cream and onion chips. Once Lestrade paid for his food, he thanked the cashier and returned to the grumpy Sherlock Holmes, his knees in his chair. “Hey Sherlock, do you want something to eat before the flight gets called?” Lestrade asked, fishing out a pack of Oreos for Sherlock and his chips.
“I’m not hungry.” Sherlock declined, “Besides, food and flights shouldn’t mix in the first place…”
“Alright, suit yourself.” Lestrade said, putting the Oreos in his backpack and opened up his chip bag.As Lestrade ate, he watched in amusement as Sherlock looked at his food. He snickered and took a chip out and handed it to Sherlock, borderline ordering him to eat at least one. Sherlock huffed and refused, but Lestrade was determined to get Sherlock to get something in his stomach. Lestrade kept bugging him to eat, but Sherlock kept denying. Then Lestrade heard Sherlock’s stomach growl quietly, making both men freeze.“How long has it been since you last ate?” Lestrade asked, Sherlock shrugged dismissively. “Sherlock, eat. The. Chip.” Lestrade ordered, now a lot more serious about his intentions. Sherlock shut his lips tightly and turned his head defiantly. ‘what a child.’ Lestrade commented to himself.“Lestrade, honestly this is stupi-” Sherlock was cut off by a chip forced in between his lips. “Eat it.” He ordered. “I’m not going to drag a malnourished five year old around France.” So Sherlock, knowing he was beat, disdainfully ate the food that was placed at his mouth. Once Sherlock swallowed, Lestrade pat him on the back softly. “I’m not letting my friend starve because he doesn’t want to eat. I care about you Sherlock… even if you can be a petulant child sometimes.” Lestrade explained, giving Sherlock a weak smile. The younger man pouted and kept his head down.“You’re not my father…” He mumbled, crossing his arms in an act of independence, much to the similarity of a rebellious teenager who was mad at his parent for embarrassing him.
“I’m about to be.” Lestrade threatened nonsensically, elbowing Sherlock in the arm gently.
“What does that even mean?” Sherlock said, now actually looking at Lestrade.“No idea. But if you keep this up, we’re both going to find out.” He replied, reaching into the chip bag again and eating a few more before holding the bag next to Sherlock and shaking it to get Sherlock’s attention on it. “It’s either eat or be fed Sherlock. You’re twenty-nine, I hope you know how to feed yourself be now.” Sherlock groaned, taking a couple of chips from the bag, not wanting to go through that ridiculous power fight. This pattern of Lestrade eating a bit then tipping the bag for Sherlock repeated until the bag was empty.“I can see why Mycroft likes you so much. You’re like a second him.” Sherlock whispered to himself quietly.“Sorry, I didn’t catch that, what?” Lestrade inquired, now immensely curious about what Sherlock murmured. He only heard the words “Mycroft” and “second”. “Do you know where Mycroft is?” He reiterated. “No.” Sherlock stiffly replied.  Before Lestrade could even respond, their flight got called. The two went over to the security line after throwing the trash away. Lestrade set his backpack on the conveyer belt and stood behind Sherlock as they waited for the security check to get to them. They got through security fairly easily, albeit minus the tug on Sherlock’s back that Lestrade had to do when the guard ‘challenged’ him. (The guard just asked him to step away from another person, who was carrying a knife. And oh boy was that a fun experience...) and made it onto the waiting area with all of the other passengers. Sherlock looked absolutely murderous because of all the people standing too close to him. Once they were called onto the plane, the attitude Sherlock had only got worse. Sherlock and Lestrade sat next to each other, Sherlock taking the window seat and Lestrade taking the aisle one per Sherlock’s request.“Lestrade, I’m bored.” Sherlock whined, already a bit miffed that he had only a little bit of leg room. The policeman sighed and pointed out the window. “You got the window seat; go find some pictures in the clouds.” And went back to thinking about what kinds of risks were going to be involved. ‘If Mycroft was fine, and we just burst in without notice, we’d probably get chewed out at the most… What if he actually is in trouble? Terrorists? No, he’s dealt with those before… What about that Eurus woman? What if she has him bound up and she’s doing horrible things to him! What if she killed him?! What if he’s in major trou- no, that’s jumping to conclusions. Mycroft is missing, I know that much. Sherlock seems to know that he’s alive, so he’s probably alive… right?’“Lestrade, since you haven’t already pre-booked a hotel room, where are we going to stay?” Sherlock inquired with an abundance of attitude in his voice.“I don’t know. Do you have any family over in France?” “My mother has a small summer house in Grenoble. I can already tell you have a sister in Bordeaux.” “Yeah, she’s really sweet. She’s a few years younger than me, brown hair and eyes, works at a small bakery near her apartment and she is amazingly good at baking and cooking.”Sherlock hummed in acknowledgement and settled into a semi-curled up state before slipping into his ‘mind palace’ or as Lestrade affectionately refers to it as, ‘Sherlock’s thinking cap’. As soon as they both got comfortable, and Lestrade pulled out his phone, he felt a tap on his shoulder. So of course, Lestrade looked up at the person, a middle-aged woman to be specific, was standing in the aisle by him.“Yes ma’am, can I help you?” Lestrade asked politely, giving her a genuine smile.“Can you switch seats with me and my son? He’s bored and wants to look out the windows.” She responded in a sickly sweet voice. Lestrade looked at her side to see a boy around 9 or 10 standing next to her.“Oh, I’m sorry ma’am, my friend,” he motioned to Sherlock, who looked wholly uncomfortable with the little space, “is already squished in the seat he is in and we paid for these seats. I’m sorry.” Lestrade explained.The woman’s face turned sour and she stuck her hands to her sides. “Please switch seats with us, I’m a single mother who is trying to give my baby a good vacation!” She insisted.“I understand that ma’am, but I really can’t do that.” Lestrade tried to reason, suddenly realizing that he was dealing with another crazy person. Fortunately, he’s had a few overprotective parents come to his office and complain that their child could ‘ never commit a crime! They’re a perfect angel!’ “Please leave us alone, we’re a bit tired…”“That is so rude! You should have some more respect for others and their needs!” She complained, her son interjecting with an annoying whine “Mommy! I want to sit!” Sherlock finally snapped back to reality and stared at the lady for a few moments, Lestrade noted that he usually stood still coming out of his thinking place to reintegrate into reality. He opened his mouth to speak, but Lestrade held up his hand to stop him.“Look what you did, you made my son cry! You monster!” The woman yelled, motioning to her child, who was in fact, not crying, but in fact playing on his mother’s phone that he had snuck from her pocket. “Ma’am your son isn’t-”“Don’t tell me how my son is feeling you psychopath! My brother is a police officer and he will have you arrested!” She cut Lestrade off. Lestrade rolled his eyes at her police comment. Fortunately, a lovely flight attendant walked up to the commotion. He asked if there was a problem and the mother jumped at the occasion to talk.“Oh thank goodness! These men took our seats and refuse to move!” She cried, looking absolutely pathetic. The flight attendant looked at the woman, her child, then Lestrade and Sherlock.“We were here first and paid for these seats, I still have the ticket on my phone.” Lestrade explained, calmly taking his phone from his lap. But of course the woman had something to say about that!“That’s my phone! How dare you! He stole my phone!”Sherlock started bouncing his leg out of anxiousness. He leaned into Lestrade and murmured “Lestrade get this woman away from me or I’ll do it.”The flight attendant sighed and gave Lestrade a look that plainly said ‘I’ve dealt with idiots like this before’ and turned to the lady. “Oh! That’s your phone? Sir, could you hand the phone back to her?” Lestrade complied uneasily, but gave the woman his phone. “Now, may I see your ticket?” The attendant asked which made the woman freeze.“He said he would switch with us!” The woman lied quickly.“No I didn’t sir; I explicitly said that I couldn’t switch with her because of the lack of leg room.” Lestrade explained.“May I see the phone ma’am and does it have a passcode?” the attendant asked, easily receiving the phone from the lady and pressing the home button and showing the lock screen to reveal a picture that Lestrade took of John and Sherlock in 221B with Sherlock in his chair with the funny hat on and pouting and John mid-laugh while sitting in his chair. “Oh, do you know the man in the window seat?” the attendant asked, referring to Sherlock after showing her the lock screen photo. The lady shook her head “He changed the wallpaper!” She insisted, but the attendant gave Lestrade’s phone back to its rightful owner. The attendant gave the woman a stern look and pointed to her empty seats and said in a no-nonsense voice; “If you don’t stop harassing these men, I will have to ask you to please follow me where I will have my manager repeat the rules of this flight that I explained before we took off.” The woman finally huffed and backed off and Lestrade thanked the attendant profusely. “It’s no big deal sir; we have many guests like that unfortunately.” “I get a lot of them in my line of work too, I know the feeling.” Lestrade sympathized and bid his quick goodbye to the nice hero of a flight attendant. Sherlock kept bouncing his leg though and he added on a new curious action to the sequence: gripping his inner-arms tightly. He looked too tense to let Lestrade feel comfortable.“Sherlock, you okay?” He asked quietly so that nobody would overhear. Sherlock nodded quickly and turned his head to the window to stare at the clouds. Lestrade didn’t like that answer, but after meeting that r/entitledparent, he was a bit uneasy too. So, Lestrade unlocked his phone and started reading work e-mails and scrolling with his left hand. He moved his right hand, that was closest to Sherlock, onto the detective’s shoulder and pat it comfortingly. Sherlock said nothing, but minutely leaned into the touch, unbeknownst to Lestrade. ‘He’s unnaturally parental and protective of me… How stupid…’ Sherlock mused to himself as he slipped into his mind palace to relieve the stress that horrible woman had caused. As he shut his eyes, he imagined John sitting in his chair in 221B and smiling at him.
‘Hello Sherlock, tough day?’ “John” asked sincerely, getting out of his chair to greet Sherlock.
‘There was a horrible woman on the plane. She started yelling and accusing Lestrade of stealing our seats.’ He responded, meeting John in the middle of their flat.

‘That’s terrible, did she hurt you?’

‘No, she just yelled at Lestrade and tried to steal his phone.’
‘Must have been stressful. You need some comfort?’

‘Yes. Please. ’

“John” made his way into Sherlock’s personal space and gave him a hug. It felt so… warm… If Sherlock didn’t know any better, he’d think that he was actually being hugged. So, Sherlock hugged back tightly and let out all of his insecurity onto “John”, so much so that he started shaking uncontrollably in “John’s” arms.
‘John, she could have gotten violent what would I have done? What if she hit me? What if she hit Lestrade? John, I was so scared…’ Sherlock admitted, clawing at “John’s” clothes in a desperate attempt to hold “John” closer.
On the outside, Lestrade was still messing around on his phone when Sherlock started to minutely shake against Lestrade’s hand. The policeman looked over at Sherlock, who was curled into himself, knees on his chest, arms bound around his shins, and his shaking getting more and more extreme. Lestrade put his phone away in his pocket and moved his hand from Sherlock’s arm to over his shoulders and tugging the younger man into his personal space.Sherlock jumped immediately from “John” to reality and gave Lestrade a look of what-in-the-world-are-you-doing and tried to move away while he was still shaking from his internal breakdown. Instead of letting him go, Lestrade pulled Sherlock into his chest and murmured quietly “I’m here, you don’t need to keep it all to yourself if you don’t want to.”The embarrassed detective let Lestrade talk to him and hug him with his arm, but was internally scolding himself for letting his shaking get out of control. “I’m fine.” Sherlock spat out, telling a little bit of the truth. He was secretly happy that Lestrade outwardly cared for him so much, but he’d never let anyone, especially him know that. Once he felt some slack in Lestrade’s arm, he wriggled out of his protective constraints and stared out the window. Lestrade put his arm on the armrest and went into his own mind, keeping on the topic of their mission.‘Mycroft, why are you missing? Why did you make Sherlock so worried? You’re going to be found, and I’m not going to take anything when we find you!... I’m sorry Mycroft, I’ll-we’ll find you. We’ll burst down anything or anyone that’s constricting you. I’m personally going to get you back where you belong, right back on your seat of power… Besides, I think I miss your sarcastic quips when we meet.’-“Lestrade, the plane is close to landing.”“Right.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Fortunately, the landing and exiting of the plane was uneventful. Sherlock trailed behind Lestrade like a sulking teenager that secretly didn’t want to get lost. ‘At least he’s following me instead of wandering off..’ Lestrade thought, looking behind him every so often to assure that Sherlock was still behind him.The two men wandered their way over to the tube station while Lestrade shot a text to Sybille.
Hey, can me and a friend crash at your place for a little bit? Promise it won’t be more than 3 days at most.
No response. Alright, she was busy.“Sherlock, we’re going to wander around a bit, since there’s nothing we can do for now, okay? Maybe we can solve a petty crime or two if you behave.” Lestrade explained, much to Sherlock’s dismay.“Since there’s nothing better to do, I guess I have to.” 
Back in England, more specifically, Mycroft’s old office:
 Anthea had just finished setting up everything and introducing John to the security team. “These people are the best in the world that you can get.” She explained“Have they started working on this yet?” John inquired“No, and they will not.”“Right then, what do I do?”Anthea stayed quiet until they made their way into Mycroft’s personal office.“Go through these files,” she handed John a laptop, “and tell me if you see something wrong. I might have been his PA, but I knew next to nothing about his inner workings.” John let out a small laugh“You’re not missing much, believe me.” He said as he sat down in the chair opposite of the desk as he started going through the top secret files on the missing Holmes in question. Holmes, Mycroft Alexander-CharlesAge: 39, Height: 187.32 cm, Weight: 81.19 kgDate of Birth: April 29th, 1976Eye Color: Bl, Hair Color: GingerSecurity Level: TopMarital Status: No MaterialContact Information: No Material “Anthea, what does ‘Security Level’ mean?” John asked, showing her the information. Anthea sighed and adjusted herself in the soft velvet seat behind her former boss’ desk.“It means that he’s vital to the inner workings of the country. The higher up you are the more power you have.” She answered, not looking up from her phone as she worked.“Thanks.” John murmured out quietly as he read the rest of the file.A few minutes later…“Hey, Anthea?”“Yes?”“Mycroft’s sword-gun-umbrella thing is legal, right?”“Absolutely not.”“And he does have a swimming pool in his house right?”“Cleaned every Tuesday and Thursday.”“Really?” John said, giving her an exasperated smile.“The water is really nice.” She comments casually“Are you two…?” John trailed on awkwardly.Anthea gave him a confused look, before exclaiming a soft ‘oh!’ before laughing a bit. “Me and him, you’re joking, right?” John gave her a blank look before finally processing that information. “You two aren’t together?”“No, we’re not involved.”“Ah, okay.”
Back in France
 Lestrade and Sherlock had just gotten off of the tube and walking about, taking the notebook Mycroft left behind in the policeman’s right hand. The two men walked around, wondering what on Earth they should do now that they’re in the place they wanted to be. “Sherlock, where should we start? Do you want to sit down and think about all of the details?” Lestrade offered, keeping now at Sherlock’s side, instead of letting Sherlock trail behind him. Sherlock kept a stoic expression and only nodded minutely. So, Lestrade decided to rest at a small bench at the park he and his sister walk through when he visits. Sherlock sits down next to him and starts to focus only on thinking. “May I see the notebook?” Sherlock asked quietly “Yeah, one second, okay?” Lestrade calmly answered, noting how Sherlock crossed his feet and let them fidget almost maniacally. The policeman took a breath, then handed the notebook to Sherlock. “Don’t go too far, okay?” “Fine.” Sherlock murmured defensively. How dare Lestrade underestimate his strength! He flipped through the notebook entries quickly, barely reading the pages as they breezed past. He stopped on the page about John Watson, when they first met. He analyzed the handwriting carefully.Watson, John HamishAge:32Height: 170 cmWeight: 69.87 Kg-Trust issues-Left hand tremor due to PTSD- Ex-military doctor- Undergoing psychological therapy- Extremely loyalSherlock sighed, giving the notebook a little scowl. Mycroft always jumped the gun when it came to people he talked to. For instance, the one for Lestrade Mycroft made when they first met;Lestrade, Gregory TobiasAge:29Height: 177 cmWeight: 70 Kg-Professional-Sensible-Heavy user of sarcasm-Married to unfaithful wife-Premature grey‘Seriously, could this idiot be more obvious? And he says that I’m head over heels for John.’ Sherlock thought himself as he started to theorize how he would locate his brother. What if it’s a classic hostage situation? If it was an inside job, Anthea wouldn’t have disclosed the information she did, much less actually help them. So, not an inside job, but a big operation. Bigger than the government’s control. ‘If it was too much for Mycroft, why didn’t he just ask me? I can do anything he can!’Suddenly, Sherlock felt a tap on his shoulder.“Sherlock, it’s getting late, maybe we should go to my sister’s place?”Lestrade ordered. Sherlock knew he phrased it as a question, but Lestrade wouldn’t take no for an answer. So, Sherlock nodded and followed Lestrade throughout the streets. The detective noted how the lights gleamed along the stone roads and made the trees look like they were burning gently. The dim light of the moon highlighted what the streetlights were too scared to touch. Everything felt strangely serene, the exact opposite of London. Perhaps the pure idea of serenity was too much to handle? No! Sherlock was perfectly capable of being relaxed! Besides, what could possibly beat the great Sherlock Holmes? That’s right, nothing.From Lestrade’s point of view, he had a slow, yet constant drip of worry flow into his stomach. He kept his head out of the feelings to try and stay sane. He was going through so much, but he needed to keep up his logic, After all, Sherlock was suffering so much. Oh hey, they’re here.
Ding Dong!
The policeman rang the doorbell on the quaint little double story house. Only a few moments passed before the door unlocked from the inside and opened to reveal Sybille Lestrade. She was around 5’ 4” with soft oak brown hair that went down to her shoulder blades. She had deep brown eyes, just like her older brother. The inside of her house almost overwhelmed the men with welcoming and serenity. Her presence seemed to radiate a sense of calmness and understanding; like she knew you're darkest and most shameful secret and she still loved you despite it.“Gregory! Salut! Est-ce l'ami dont vous parliez? Enchante!” Sybille greeted happily, giving her brother a hug and a kiss on the cheeks.“Salut Sybille! This is Sherlock, he and I are here on important matters.” Lestrade explained, motioning to Sherlock, who in turn, gave a half wave in acknowledgement. He couldn’t even stare at Sybille; she looked too nice, too… girly? Sweet? …It was the light, yeah! The light behind her! ...Totally.No, in fact, Sherlock felt a tad guilty looking at Sybille. She looked so kind and caring, so compassionate and tender with her affections, as he deducted. The sheer amount of welcoming she showed scared Sherlock, he didn’t deserve the ‘nice’ and the ‘good’. John was bad enough, but Sybille was so open to showing hospitality that Sherlock was torn on wanting to run away into a dark alleyway and curling up into a ball and screaming. Fortunately, his self control kept him firmly at her doorstep.“Oh hello, Sherlock! My name is Sybille, come in you two!” She greeted, shaking Sherlock’s hand, knowing how overreacting Lestrade’s ex-wife was when she kissed her.“Good evening Ms. Sybille, sorry to intrude on you.” Sherlock greeted back, shuffling through the door after Lestrade. The reason he wasn’t speaking French was because Sherlock actually didn’t bother to learn it. He knew German, Russian, Japanese, Chinese, and British and American Sign Language, but not French. He made a note to learn it on the trip. Her house was a cream color with the yellow lighting from her tableside lamp illuminating the house primarily. For the first time today, Sherlock felt oddly calm.As Sherlock stepped inside, he noted how simple the house looked. It wasn’t a bad kind of simple no, in fact, the whole Downstairs reminded Sherlock of John! The house was fairly small, all colored cream and the carpeting was based through the living room and stairs with the other flooring a spotless oak wood all of the curtains are a deeper tan to compliment the flooring and walls.“Your house is nice.” Sherlock forced out politely, realizing that he needed to keep the charm up to be able to stay here. Lestrade patted Sherlock’s shoulder blade and kept it there as to guide the brun haired detective through the house. He smiled when he caught Sherlock staring fondly at the kitchen… Okay, maybe it was the slight wonder of finally looking at a clean kitchen.Sybille and Lestrade sat down in the living room as Sherlock stayed close to Lestrade as he fiddled on his phone. Sherlock sent out a text to Wiggins that ordered him to look out around England just in case for Mycroft. Sybille kept looking at Sherlock with curiosity.“So Sherlock, why are you visiting Bordeaux with Gregory?” She asked cheerfully, much to Sherlock’s dismay.“I’m… looking for someone. He’s really important to me, so I need to find him.” Sherlock confessed, trying for sympathy in the woman. Sybille looked at him with understanding and sadness in her eyes.“Oh dear, if he ran all the way here from London, maybe he thinks the relationship is over?” She said, making Gregory burst out in laughter.“Sybille!” He gasped out between laughs. “We’re looking for his brother!” Besides, Mycroft would never date anyone! Imagine, Mycroft with someone! That’s a laugh… Yeah… totally unimaginable. ‘He’s so formal and uptight; he’d never go for a guy like me. Besides, a man like Mycroft probably has millions of high class ladies at his feet that he could have.’ Gregory thought somberly.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Anthea and John worked tirelessly through the entire night, only fueled by copious amounts of coffee and the hindering anxiety that yet another governor from across the world would call. John made sure that his phone was on silent as he looked through papertrail after papertrail. All he could find in the deepest of files were notes on certain high ranking officials and what tactics appeased them… That is all he found, until he accidentally clicked on the wrong file. 
 
The file was password protected with the name of the file as “Shfd”.

“Uh, Anthea?”

“Yeah?” she shot back as she continued to type.

“There’s a password protected file here, what should I put?”

“Hyx3986, and if that does not work, 6585inufko.”

John tried both, but was denied both times. He typed in ‘Holmes’, denied. “Sherlock”, denied.
 
John hesitated before he tried ‘Eurus’.
Access Granted
. He let out an impressed ‘huh.’ before he explored the file contents. ‘Psych Eval’, ‘Gen Notes’, all the notes looked formal and professional except one. ‘Words I Wished To Say.doc’. John immediately clicked on it.

Dear Eurus,

I know you’re caged unfairly. I know what I did was wrong, and the fact that I keep you here is wrong. You’re amazingly intelligent and profoundly resilient to your situation. You deserve better, you don’t deserve this in the slightest.

I still love you, despite what anyone reasonable would think. You are very dear to my heart, and if you ever escape and harm me, I would completely understand. What I put you through is horrible, but I want to make it better.

Eurus, no matter what, you are still the little girl I saw smiling all those years ago, and I love you just as much as I did before all of the things you did.

I am sincerely sorry,

Mycroft Holmes

Oh. 
 
“Anthea?”

“Yeah?”

“You… you might want to read this.”
 
Anthea stopped typing instantly and rushed over, her eyes scanned the document quickly. After a few moments, she nodded with a quiet hum. “Makes sense, Eurus is very dear to him.”

“Why? Is Eurus his uh… babymommy?” John asked.

“Well considering Eurus is his

sister

, I would hope not.” Anthea chuckled and shook her head. 
 
“

Sister?!

” John nearly choked on the word. “There’s another one!?”

“Yep, Eurus Holmes, youngest Holmes sibling. She’s been locked up in Sherrinford forever though. Most likely got out and is now trying to take it out on brother dearest.” Anthea explained.

“I have to text Sherlock.” John muttered as he picked up his phone.

Eurus’ Cell, Sherrinford
 
Mycroft’s head throbbed dully as he opened his bleary eyes. His vision was hazy and his mind refused to process anything but basic feelings and sensations. He felt tight restraints on his wrists, legs, and a gag in his mouth. He felt an extreme headache in the back of his head and a strain in his neck, most likely from his position… Oh, he was tied to a chair. 
 
The white tile looked eerily familiar to Mycroft. Was he?... No, it couldn’t be…
 
“Good evening, Mycroft.” A voice said, with no emotion behind the tone at all. It sounded deadpan, as if the person who owned it felt nothing at all. The voice sounded as if it’s mind had been broken long ago. Mycroft looked up.
 
He tried to speak, but the overwhelming amount of cloth in his mouth that was stuffed and kept in place by ripped fabric roughly tied around his head.

“What? Are you surprised your cute little sister escaped your playroom?” She laughed deadly, her smile sadistically solemn. Eurus stepped towards Mycroft and yanked his head up as she roughly pulled his hair. “Guess what big brother? I’m too smart for you, and since you hurt me for years, I think what goes around comes around.”
 
A sharp slap hit Mycroft’s cheek. Eurus laughed and repeated the action to the opposite cheek. Finally, a spark of emotion was alive in her eyes, and that emotion was sadistic glee. She scurried over to her big suited statue of a man with an excited air about her, as if she was a child who spotted a carnival prize. She whispered something into his ear with a smile. The man said “Yes Miss.” before he stormed over to Mycroft and punched him in the face.
 
Mycroft groaned into the fabric shoved in his mouth as his jaw immediately turned red and his face stung from the slap and the rough pain from the punch. “Oh? Did that hurt Mycroft?” Eurus asked with a wide eyed grin. “Imagine how awful you must be, for this to be happening to you!”
 
Mycroft was jabbed in his gut. He let out a pained whine. Eurus giggled ecstatically. She pushed her hair behind her ear and bent down tauntingly into Mycroft’s face.  “Besides, only the worst of the worst get tied up and beaten, right? Aren’t you the awful man who locked up his little sister in a cage? Weren’t you the man who left a girl all alone in a cell for 13 years, all alone, even when she cried herself to sleep for the slightest bit of love?” Eurus looked as if she couldn’t control herself when she laughed. Mycroft knew he fucked up right then and there.
 
Another punch drew a sharp inhale through Mycroft’s nose. Eurus’ face fell into a glare. She clawed at his gag so that she could yank a few pieces of torn fabric out of his mouth and quickly retied the gag, with less fabric in Mycroft’s mouth, but enough to muffle him. The buff man punched Mycroft in the left of his nose, which let out a reverberating crunch throughout the room. Mycroft choked back a whimper in pain as he realized his nose broke, and almost as quickly, blood dripped down onto the ginger Holmes’ pale skin and wrinkled suit.
 
“Ouchie! Did big brother get a boo-boo? Does he need a plaster?” Eurus laughed before she got into his face, her light grey eyes stared into Mycroft’s dark twilight blue ones. “You deserve this. You deserve this pain, and I’m not going to stop until you feel how you made me feel.”

Mycroft glanced at the man in less than half a second and realized he was going to hurt badly when he noticed he had a crowbar. As soon as he saw the man raise his weapon, he shut his eyes harshly. The last thing he felt before he lost consciousness was immediate pain.

Mycroft’s Study, Mycroft’s Mansion
 
“Wait, since Eurus was… locked up? I assume she was locked up, but wouldn’t she be monitored?” John asked.

“Yes, she had 24/7 cameras on her until she escaped and when My-Mister Holmes disappeared.” Anthea answered.

“What’s the-erm, the last known footage?” John inquired, so Anthea pulled up the footage file. “Wait, if it died, why does it say ‘live’?”

“Where?”

“There.” John said as he pointed to the little red word in the bottom left corner. Anthea’s eyebrows shot up and her cherry red lips opened slightly as she quickly clicked on the live footage. 
 
Anthea almost threw up when she saw the messed up body of Mycroft Holmes. John stared at the bloodied body when he could see it, that is, when the Samara-looking woman wasn’t blocking him from frame when she skipped around him. He saw an obvious broken nose, arm, and swollen jaw. “Fucking hell.” He murmured as he picked up his phone.

Guest Bedroom, Sybille’s House
 
Sherlock’s sleepless night was interrupted by his phone buzz at the call from John Watson. “John, wha-”

“Sherlock, I know where he is. Get your ass home right now- wait a second…” Sherlock stayed as silent as the dead people he experimented on as he waited. “Okay Anthea said to call the number I’m about to send you. Say you’re- well,

you

- and tell the guy on the line you need to go to ‘Sherrinford’.”

“Do you see Mycroft?” Sherlock asked as his voice quietly quivered.

“I… yeah, I see him. Just call the guy, okay?” John hesitated solemnly.

“Is he

alive?

”

“Yeah, Sherlo-”

Sherlock hung up without another word and set his phone down and violently shook the asleep Lestrade. 
 
“Lestrade, Lestrade! John found Mycroft, wake up!” Sherlock growled impatiently before he heard his phone ping. He abandoned the groggy Lestrade in favor to see the number he was to call.

“They found Mycroft?”

“Yes! That’s what I told you!” Sherlock snapped as he just about clicked on the number to call, but Lestrade took his phone away. Sherlock almost killed the inspector, but still desperately tried to get his phone back.
 
“If someone is doing the talking to someone, it’s going to be me. You’re a mess Sherlock, take deep breaths as I call, okay?” Lestrade explained, which only made Sherlock more frantic.

“No you don’t understand! I need to verify myse-”

“

Sherlock.

” Lestrade said seriously as he pushed away the thin man’s hands. “You’re panicking, I’m taking the call.”

“Me? Panicking? I’m Sherlock

fucking

Holmes! I don't panic!” Sherlock denied as his movements became frantic. Lestrade pulled Sherlock into a hug before he spoke in his tired and gravelly voice.
 
“Yes you do, and that’s okay. Now, who am I calling?”

Sherlock pushed himself out of the hug and flopped onto the bed.

“...Basically the French Mycroft, or as good as the rest of the world could ever get.”

“Thank you Sherlock, now in through your nose, out through your mouth.”
 
Lestrade pushed the ‘Call Number’ as he took a deep breath in. Mycroft was coming home today, no matter what.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Lestrade bounced his leg as he and Sherlock were stuffed into the back of the helicopter. Sherlock had woken up a long time ago, but he had refused to eat anything as the helicopter was on it's way. His body tremors almost made him stumble and trip several times, which Sherlock fervently denied. As Sherlock touched his hands rapidly and with unfocused inent, Lestrade hooked his arm around Sherlock's shoulders. “Hey, buddy-”“Mycroft is going to die.” Sherlock panicked. Lestrade hushed him and pulled him closer.“No he's not, John said he's alive.”Sherlock looked around the passenger room quickly and erratically before he spoke again. “No you don't understand- Mycroft is going to die before we get there, and we're going to be too late. Right before we open the door to save him, their going to shoot him square in the head and I know he's dead- I'm Sherlock Holmes, I'm always right, so if I think h's dead, Mycroft is going to be dead.” He gasped. The tears fell down his cheeks, but Sherlock felt nothing. His mind felt blank and full all at once. He wanted to stab something- stab himself? Nononono, Lestrade would kill him. Sherlock couldn't breathe- oh fuck he couldn't BREATHE! Lestrade shook his head and moved Sherlock into a full hug into his chest. “It's okay Sherlock. You're panicking. Shhhh Sherlock, you're going to be okay.” “I can't- I can't breathe. Heart hurts. Head can't think. Lestrade-” He looked up at Gregory with his whimpering voice and tearstained eyes- “Help me.” Gregory rubbed Sherlock's back as he refused to let go of the trembling man. “Sherlock, are you listening to me? We're going to play a game together, alright?” He murmured calmly. Gregory recognized that Sherlock was in the middle of a panic attack. Thank God for the mandatory de-escalation course. “Game? Why are we- why are we go-going to play a game?” Sherlock stammered as his jaw clacked his teeth together. “Just trust me Sherlock, I've got you. Now, can you name 5 things you can see?”Sherlock took a shaky breath before he responded. “Y-you, hands, meta-al, my- my hair, my shirt.”“That's it, that's good. You did great Sherlock. Now, 4 things you can feel right now, with your body or your hands.”“Feel? Yes, of course, feel. I can- I can feel your clothes, my clothes, f-floor, and... and and the seat with my hand.”“That's right, good job mate. You're almost done. Now, 3 things you can hear.”“Heart, helicopter, you.”“Two things you can smell?”“O-oil and sweat.”“Now, one thing you can taste.”“Tongue.” Gregory sighed and hugged Sherlock closer as he felt the tremors and breathing in the other man slow down. “That's it, now, where are you?”Sherlock took another breath in and out before he answered. “I'm in a helicopter.”“That's right. You are jumping to conclusion island, isn't it a bad thing to jump to a final result without- fuck, what was it? Inconclusive data?”“O-obviously.” “That's what you were doing. You assumed so much data that your brain assumed that your anxiety was fact. We're going to save Mycroft, and as far as we idiots know, he's still alive. So, by logical reasoning, he should be alive still if he's stayed alive this long.”“Yes, but-”“But nothing. That's all we know. We're going to be okay Sherlock, and I'm right here for you. I don't care if you're crying or yelling because you're going through an intense trauma. But you're going to live. Keep breathing in and out, and that will keep you alive.” Sherlock hesitated before he pulled Gregory cinto a tighter embrace. With that, Sherlock broke down into Gregory's arms. He sobbed, whimpered, and sniffled pathetically. He didn't care though, because Lestr-no, Gregory cared about him and didn't care if he showed emotion. “Do you- do you really think he's going to be okay?” Sherlock whimpered in-between waterfalls of tears. Gregory cradled Sherlock's neck and hummed softly.“100%.” 
Sherrinford
 Gregory helped Sherlock off of the helicopter and gave him one final pat on the shoulder before he ordered Sherlock to stay behind him. Sherlock nodded and kept his surveillance at Gregory's back. John recognized Gregory and Sherlock on the surveillance feed and locked in through the entrance's speaker system. “Hey so uh- Eurus isn't exactly safe and she apparently let some of the high end espionage people Mycroft put away out as her bodyguards, so keep an eye out, yeah? We'll be watching from the cameras when er can. Stay safe mates.” Gregory put out a thumbs-up in response, and continued on his way. Every hall was a quick check, clear, then proceed with high vigilance.“Gregory, the hallway up ahead has a man, most likely armed. I don't know much about here, but since Mycroft is trapped here, I assume he had weapons stored somewhere. If you hand me a firearm I-” “No Sherlock. You point my target and I shoot. No ifs, ands, or buts. “ Gregory hissed. “Right up ahead, yeah?” Sherlock sighed, but nodded. Gregory hummed softly and turned the corner before he fired. Only a quick yelp was heard before a crumpled thud. Sherlock turned the corner and kept his watch out for anybody at their rear.  
Sherrinford, Main Control Center
 Eurus looked at the an that had bled out from the camera and smiled gleefully. Her mouth smiled, but her eyes looked as soulless as the oldest cemetery. She pressed the button for the intercom to her cell, where Mycroft sat, unconscious. “Oh big brother, you seem to have visitors! I'll make sure to drive them away since you're not feeling good!” With the press of a single button, the entirety of Sherrinford's alarms blared as red light flashed. “Sherlock always was like this.” She hummed to nobody in particular. “I'd always have to fuss to get mummy to make Sherlock play with me.” Sherlock jumped when the first alarm blared and held tightly to Gregory's coat. Gregory stopped and placed his free hand on Sherlock's shoulder in comfort. “They won't kill us that easily. If we haven't died so far, there's probably a reason why.” With a quiet look they shared, they pushed on. John and Anthea watched from the cameras and used the intercom to shout directions. To their surprise, Eurus had not disabled the speaker systems. Sherlock begged for Gregory's spare pistol, but Gregory refused.“You're jumpy as all hell. I'm keeping my fucking guns.” Gregory responded. The men scrambled through the halls, and shooting when necessary. Sherlock would pull Gregory's shirt to silently warn him of upcoming armed guards. Though, Gregory accidentally missed a man's head and only shot his shoulder. He sighed and apologized to the man for missing and pursed his lips as he put the man out of his misery. “Damn, poor fellow.” Gregory murmured as he ran down the labyrinth's halls. Anthea directed the men to the main security room, where the door was opened in a welcoming way. The emotionless white walls made Sherlock sick to his stomach. It reminded him of the padded cell he saw Moriar- no, don't think about that! The room reminded him of a blank slate, where no matter how much he screamed, Sherlock was sure nobody would ever hear him. It was so different from Sybille's open door. Yes, that was a productive thought to keep heartrate low! Sybille was a nice lady. She was kind, caring, funny, she was patient and understanding. She was a good woman. Gregory swallowed as he took a step forward. He might be killed, but that was a risk he was willing to take! For Mycroft and for Sherlock, Gregory would do almost anything. His heart stuttered as his grip on his pistol tightened. As soon as the men entered the room, Eurus greeted them from the chair with a maniacal smile. “Sherlock! Good to see you! How have you been, big brother?” She giggled. “Do you remember me? You're cute little sister?” Gregory furrowed his eyebrows. “Do you... do you know her, Sherlock? What's she talking about?” “Absolutely no idea. I'm assuming she's the Eurus person.” Sherlock casually responded. “I've never met her a day in my life.” Eurus' face turned to a betrayed scowl of pure anger. “You don't remember me?” She gritted out. Sherlock sighed apathetically and shook his head. “I would remember if I have.” He responded coldly. “Were you the one who took Mycroft?” Eurus burst out in laughter at the question. Of course she was. Gregory had his pistol trained on Eurus. “Stay back!” He warned. She put her arms up with a sly smile, as if to toy with the detective. “Oh? If you intend to kill me, might I have my final words?” Eurus asked. Gregory did nothing.“You can do whatever you want, as long as it doesn't hurt anybody.” Gregory shot back. Eurus nodded in agreement. “Of course, of course.” Eurus dismissed. “But it was oh so awful being trapped in here for so long! Brother dearest locked me up in here as soon as he could, isn't that terrible?” She asked with a dramatic sob. “You know Sherlock, you and Mycroft never paid me mind when we were little. The only way for you to actually talk to me was if I did what you wanted! All we did was 'oooh Eurus! Be the princess and Redbeard and I will be the pirates!' 'oh Eurus, be our pirate rival!'” She mocked as she waved in a teasing way, as if a nine-year-old was speaking.“I'd ask you every day if you wanted to color with me, or if you wanted to dance with me, and you'd always ignore me. You'd push me aide for the neighbor kids to play pirates or to play hide and seek!” She ranted, as if she was genuinely upset by young Sherlock's actions. “All of this pain and suffering, I endured all of it, just for asking for love!” She took a step towards Sherlock, but Gregory cleared his throat and motioned for her to move back. She did. “...All of that, you did to me. You ruined me!” “I do not know who you are.” Sherlock shrugged. “You took everything from me!” She yelled. “I've done that to a lot of people, perhaps be more specific?” Sherlock mused. Eurus grimaced as her body trembled. “If you seem so happy when you take from me, big brother, what if I take from you?!” Eurus screeched as she rushed Gregory. Gregory tried to pull the trigger, but the damn gun wouldn't fire! Right before he tried to pull the trigger again, he heard a close by gunshot and saw Eurus fall to the ground. A bullet entrance wound stained her dress sleeve at her shoulder, along with a copious amount of blood. Gregory turned his head to where the shot came from... of course. Sherlock let out a breath even he didn't know he was holding. Damn Sherlock's ability to pickpocket him! “Sherlock!” Gregory exclaimed as Eurus convulsed and curled into herself with horribly misplaced laughter. “She... She tried to kill you.” Sherlock explained.“She's your sister!”“And you're my family!” Gregory took a step back with widened eyes. Sherlock sighed and composed himself again. “You care about me and protect me, even when you shouldn't. You act as if I am a child of yours, and you are, clearly, a great amount of importance to me. I've never even see this woman before now, and as a logical deduction of the greater good, I protected you.” “So, long story short; she's not your family, I am?” Gregory asked, Sherlock nodded. “Now, if you will excuse me, I need to finish off what I started.” Sherlock said as he approached the laughing Eurus, who grew ever-louder with every second. It was almost as annoying to Sherlock as the alarm that blared. He gave Eurus a disgusted look before he cocked the gun and shot a bullet into her temple. As soon as the shaking body stopped, Sherlock rushed to the computers that showed the cameras. Camera 001..002..037...058....Camera 084! Room 473! With a quick press of a button, the alarm shut off. “Gregory, Mycroft is in room 473.” Sherlock declared as he sprinted back through the hallway. Gregory followed quickly behind. 
Mycroft's Office
 
John and Anthea looked at the camera in shock. John knew Sherlock would kill someone, but he shot his own sister! Well, on one hand, she was clearly a deranged human being. But on the other, wouldn't Sherlock feel guilt for his sister?
 “Did that-” John was cut off by Anthea's hand in his face. “She threatened him. If anyone asks, which they won't, it was an act of self-defense.” She ordered.“… Gotcha.” They watched as Sherlock and Gregory followed the halls until they reached the room.  
Eurus' Room, Sherrinford
  Sherlock burst through the door and weaved around the man in front of him to reach his brother. The man raised for his hand to punch Sherlock with brass knuckles, but Gregory slammed a nearby pipe onto his head. His breath heaved as the man fell to the ground. Sherlock cradled Mycroft's head in his arms as he called out for his brother to wake up. He refused keep his emotions in check. It was just him and his brother, so it didn't matter if he yelled or sobbed for Mycroft to wake up, to please, please wake up! A soft groan from the body in his arms was all Sherlock needed to break down. “Mycroft I-” He choked out. Gregory finished untying Mycroft's restraints. Oh right, he was there too. “Sh-Sherlock?” Mycroft croaked as his head ached and throbbed. “Wai-, wha're you- Sherlock? Ge'out, it's not... safe.” He warned hazily. Sherlock shook his head and embraced Mycroft tightly. “I'm not leaving you. Never again. Mycroft, I love you. Don't you ever leave me again.” Sherlock cried into Mycroft's bloody shirt. The older brother tried to move his arms to hug his little brother back. He looked just as little as when they were children and he came home from the children who bullied him. “Sherlock, I-I'm not, where's Euru-”“Dead.” Sherlock answered. He looked up to Gregory. “Can you carry him? I- I can't.” Sherlock asked quietly. “If... If that's you telling me- telling me to stop eating all those sweets,... I on't believe this to be the right time.” Mycroft huffed out a laugh. Sherlock's lip trembled as he hugged Mycroft and sniffled. “N-no it's not.” Sherlock mumbled. “It's not, I promise.” “Alright you two, I'm gonna carry you up to the helicopter, alright?” Gregory announced. Sherlock got off his brother and let Gregory lift his brother onto his back. “Sorry if it's not exactly limo-quality, but it's all we have for now.” He told Mycroft. “Anything is better than... than what I was in before.” He murmured as he fell asleep again. With a collective sigh from all four people: Sherlock, Gregory, John, and Anthea, they realized it was all over. It was time to go home again.  
Master Bedroom, Mycroft's Mansion
  “Alright Mycroft, you've gotten yourself pretty beat up,so you need to be watched for a bit. From my professional opinion, I prescribe a caretaker for two weeks and a therapist for at least three years.” John said as he finished the final wrapping. “Now now Doctor Watson, no therapist could ever help me-” Mycroft was cut off by the stern doctor's glare. “Maybe try being honest to them, and it might actually work.” John reprimanded. “Now, as for caretaking, I don't really know what to say. I'd usually assign a family member, but I doubt you want your parents in your house, and Sherlock needs some serious therapy before he takes on anything for a while.” “Yes, I agree.” Mycroft hummed as he took the water Gregory offered him and the painkillers that John put in his other hand. “Y'know, I've got a few vacation days saved up, I could take care of you? Well, that is, if you want.” Gregory offered abruptly. “I could tell you about the little adventure Sherlock and I went on to find you.” Mycroft thought for a moment before he gave Gregory a nod. “Yes, that seems... quite agreeable. Sherlock has never been so open with his emotions and affection, and I would like to know why that is.” “Trauma will do that to you, Mycroft.” Gregory explained. “Suddenly realizing that everyone you love could be lost really puts you in perspective.” “I suppose.” Mycroft mused before he turned his head to John. “Could you return to Sherlock now? I have no doubt that he is stabbing all those board games you have right now.” John pursed his lips and nodded before he left the room. As soon as the doctor left, Gregory and Mycroft let out a sigh. “Quite the busybody, isn't he?” Gregory joked. Mycroft hummed in agreement.“No wonder Sherlock is so fond of him.” Mycroft responded. “At least he's a... somewhat good influence.”“Bullshit, he's just as bad as Sherlock.”“Agreed.” “I'm going to get you another glass of water, anything you need while I'm gone?”Gregory asked as he took the empty glass.“Yes, actually.” Mycroft replied. “Could you bring me my laptop? After three months, I assume I am swamped with work.” “Nice try, Mister Holmes, but you're out of commission for two weeks.” Gregory laughed. “Besides, if I let you near a computer for work, John and Sherlock would shoot me.” “Well then, if that cannot be arranged, might you bring me a bite to eat? It's been far too long since I ate.” Gregory smiled softly as he opened the door to leave. “Yes sir.”  As soon as the door shut, Mycroft smiled and let his shields down to reveal a love-stricken expression. If he was to be stuck with someone for two weeks, at least it was the man he pined for ever since he first caught a glimpse of him.