Chapter Text
Sherlock knew his flat had been invaded, but the force that greeted him in the living room was a little surprising.
"I want to know if I am like my father!"
"The breaking into my flat is rather consistent but..."
"I mean my real father....!!" Georgina railed at him.
Sherlock brushed past his niece to settle back into his armchair, "but... Moriarty never bothered to straighten my door knocker when he did so. What questions do you wish to have answers to?"
Georgina paused for a moment. "They phoned you!"
"No. But if you are here in such a temper talking about your father, in such a way I can only conclude you mean your biological father; whom Gregory will only talk about on certain levels; and Mycroft will not, considering the fact that he killed him and I suspect personally. You think I am the only one who will give you answers. I ask again; what questions do you want answers to?"
"What do you mean? I want to know about my father!"
"Tea would be nice," Sherlock said, inclining his head pointedly at the kitchen. "If you do not wish to return home the downstairs flat is neat and tidy, if lacking amenities."
"What am I, your maid?"
"No, but you broke in here. If you were invited, I would offer you refreshment; but as you broke it, I think it becomes your responsibility. And if you want to have this discussion, then you most definitely provide me with refreshment."
Georgina stomped off to the kitchen, turning to look at her uncle, who had steepled his fingers under his chin in a familiar gesture and whose eyes remained fixed most steadily on her. She went about the business of making tea, as she knew her uncle liked it, then brought the tray back to slam it down on the coffee table after a set of uncomfortable minutes.
"Thank you, so what are your questions? Be specific."
"I want to know about him."
"You want to know what I know about him?"
Georgina nodded.
"Succinctly, he was brilliant, an intelligence level equal to mine, perhaps almost to your father's," Sherlock raised his hand as she opened her mouth. "For the purposes of this discussion, Mycroft will be your father, because that is what he has been, always; he said that, no one else, not even your dad gave formal consent. Mycroft assumed, for a very good reason, which will come later. Shall I continue?"
Georgina closed her mouth.
"Your father had a high intelligence, but that is consistent in the Holmes and clearly, Moriarty, Full-Blood strains, although your dad should not be dismissed from this, Gregory has enough intelligence to speak for himself. However, Moriarty, also had cunning. The intelligence is not enough, it needs a purpose, your father put himself to work in the government, a flawed but capable machine in which he made himself indispensible. He has a need to feel important. Myself, I wanted to be a pirate when I was a child; I like looking at scenes, at people, and seeing what makes it work. That machine is the one I like to deconstruct, the person, the motivation.
"Moriarty, took a little of both, the criminal side; he liked things to be dark, sometimes dramatic. I know I do that," he said to Georgina's smirk. "And Sally Donovan once said that one day there would be a corpse, and I would be responsible for it. For once she had a good character analysis, if not for the fact I chose not to do that, I might have done it."
"My father could have chosen."
"And Moriarty chose, if that is who you mean?"
"Yes, I think. Dad, I mean Mycroft, killed him."
"I conclude a 93% chance of such an eventuality, all things considered."
Sherlock looked at her steadily. "Do not distance yourself from him, he is your father, never address him as anything other than that. I always call him my brother, do you think I do that to annoy him."
She shook her head. "To remind you."
"So I stay with it. He is my brother, I need to remember that. It's become easier."
"Because of us."
"Family," Sherlock agreed with her. "It works. Now, any questions?"
"Am I like him?"
"In what respect, as I said, I suspect his bloodline had a record of intelligence, but a level of cunning, not in a good way."
"Do I look like him?"
"In your eyes, quite often, and your jaw line to some extent. He had dark hair, but so did Gregory before you all sent him grey, so that could be an either/or situation. Looks aren't everything though, my brother knows that."
Georgina glowered at the insult then stopped.
"What about personality?"
"Moriarty was somewhat manipulative but in your case that could just be the fact that you are female."
Georgina slammed her cup down so hard she smashed the saucer underneath, lifting up the cup she threw it at the wall. Tea splashed everywhere. Sherlock surveyed the chaos calmly.
"That was humour. John says I am not very good at it."
"You're not."
"Not being good hints at an ability to improve, I am not displaying that."
"Basically, you are so bad, you are never going to be able to do it!"
"Ah, that sounds more logical, I will delete humour, except the best man speech I did for John. That did have good levels of ironic humour. I do it well when it refers to situation when John and I have been together; not so in generic areas."
"Your comedy styling's are not relevant."
"Moriarty thought he was funny, clearly you would find him un-humorous."
"Is that a word?"
"It suits the occasion," Sherlock said. "Ask me some direct questions, that might speed this up and clear up your uncertainty."
"Was my father, Moriarty, a bad man."
"If I take bad as I believe you are using it, then yes, he hurt, killed and manipulated people, and often took money for his services. He styled himself as a 'consulting criminal', in fact I think I ended up giving him that title. He was bad."
"Am I like him?"
"Not so far that I have seen."
"Could I be like him?"
"Everyone has that potential. Do you wish to use this issue as a way to justify such behaviour?"
"No."
"Well, then, you are likely to be nothing like him."
"How can I not be like him?"
"You can choose not to be. Everyone else has chosen for you, you might as well go with them. You love your parents, knowing that Mycroft is not biologically yours makes you love him less from this point onwards?"
"No, he's..."
"Has he treated you any differently than the others because of the fact of your parentage?"
"I thought I was supposed to be asking questions."
"I offered to answer any questions you had, you were not very interesting, so I thought I would help you answer the questions I calculate you need answers to. Has he treated you any differently than your siblings because of the fact of your parentage?"
"No."
"And why do you think that is?"
Georgina sat down, curling up in her chair, trying to look small, but none of the children ever seemed small to Sherlock. Dimensionally they were, years ago, small, but that didn't encompass the power of their powerful, forthright personalities. It now seemed to him that Georgina was shrinking back into herself. That seemed quite wrong.
"Don't do that. There is no reason to doubt yourself, or any of the family that loves you because of this."
Georgina unfurled slightly. Sherlock left it at that. He looked at his niece and waited for her.
"I'm Dad's," she said after a long moment, the intonation of her tone meant she referred to Gregory. "He loves him, and Dad can do no wrong."
"He can; Mycroft, however, pretends to be blind to it. He always says he doesn't care, but he does. He cared about himself, then he cared about me, then he cared about Gregory - who was convenient at the time and picked out to brood in a calculating fashion - and as a result, he cared about you, and your siblings."
"They're his blood."
"As you pointed out, you are Gregory's and in the grand scheme of Mycroft's world that is all that matters. He also raised you, and you often turned to him to talk to, rather than your Dad."
"He listened."
Sherlock shrugged, and reached for his tea. "He may have had concerns about inherent behaviour, but despite the eyes and possible hints of colouring you are not Moriarty, how can you be? You never knew him."
Then by the look in Sherlock's eyes he was clearly about to tune her out.
"Your father will be here soon, perhaps you should also talk to him."