Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“One more wall then we need to get a move on.” Jodie called out from where she was belaying for a child. Holly nodded from her own wall where she was doing the same for another child. Kids’ parties were often horrible to work, parents getting all up in her face when she tells a child to stop messing around, but lecturing both adult and child had a certain calming effect on her.

Jodie had been the one who had handed her the job application a week after Nine Eyes failed to start, followed by a severe environmental failure in the server room… and a bug that wiped any backups. It was a bad launch day for Nine Eyes.

Holly didn’t actually remember much of what happened after the shot was fired that night. There were snapshots; the world sideways, staggering out of the building like her life depended on it, stumbling into 221, John handing her a mug of Earl Grey up in 221B. The next morning she woke up on the sofa, a text waiting for her from an unknown number saying ‘Thanks’. The job application was instead of an intervention according to Jodie, apparently she had the banner ready just in case.

The climbing session turned into a pub session, darkness already falling in the early evening during the February reading week, Matt was meeting them there with James who’d looked a bit off since around Nine Eyes night. Holly wondered if he’d been told, he was the only exclusion from the ‘Piss off’ she’d given to the SIS, and only because it would look far too suspicious at this point. It had crossed her mind that it would probably be easier for them to just make her disappear if she was no longer going to be useful to them. When she couldn’t sleep, sometimes Holly wondered if someone was the reason she was still free and alive.

----

Darkness had well and truly settled in by the time she started walking home, slightly too warm from the alcohol and being bundled up, but still sober enough to keep the layers on. She’d waved off offers to walk with her home, and by now they didn’t push too hard, she was certain they’d noticed the decrease in alcohol she’d been drinking recently.

It was easier to ignore the feeling of being watched or followed by now as she walked. The first time she’d left 221C after that night, she’d spent most of it on edge, ducking through shortcuts any time she thought anything looked too suspicious. It had been hard to explain to Jodie who had mercifully told the others to back off.

As had become a trend after her pub nights, there was a bottle of water waiting right outside her door. Holly hadn’t been able to figure out if it was Martha or John leaving them, but it was nice.

Her bag hit the futon with an 'oof' then a 'thump'. It took Holly longer than it should have to realise that wasn’t what was supposed to happen. Instead of just stumbling into bed in the dark like she normally would have, she flicked on the light. Blinking away the spots in her vision she squinted at the dishevelled pile of quartermaster sprawled across her futon.

"You know that folds out right? Also, get out. I told M to leave me alone, that includes you." It was good to be drunk because then her brain wouldn't over think this until morning. Q sat up slowly and a bit sheepishly, rubbing at his eyes behind his glasses.

"Unfortunately Mycroft doesn't feel it applies to him." Of course it was the bane of her existence interrupting her finally getting back to a normal life.

"Do you see why I don't want to work for the government?" Twisting off the bottle lid, Holly drained half, knowing she would need at least some of her wits to not end up doing Mycroft a favour. "Give me the pass." She held out a hand and waited for Q to get the pass she should never have let out of her possession. Thinking about it, she was due an update for her rooms’ security.

Eventually, after Q rifling through his bag, the plastic card was in her hand, then deposited in a drawer for later disposal. It occurred to her it could be a fake but after Q had been in her room unsupervised again, she wasn't booting up her computer until she checked it. Again.

"I didn't touch it." Her pondering look at her system hadn't gone unnoticed then. She dropped onto her computer chair, refusing to feel like the intruder in her own room.

"Yet you knew I wouldn't believe you. Did you want another look inside? Unfortunately I don't need your help this time." Alcohol had really killed her mouth filter, or maybe it was normal, she hadn’t had to do this in a while, it was hard to remember what her scathing sarcasm sounded like.

"I'm not interested in seeing your computer. Well, maybe a little, but I only did this for Mycroft so I had an excuse to see you." Holly distinctly remember burning as many bridges with the man in front of her, culminating in the building and subsequent destruction of Nine Eyes. What he was saying wasn’t making sense with regard to that.

"Why does Mycroft think that I would help him? And that you were the best option for delivery?" Q looked a bit hurt by her last question. “Come on, I haven’t willingly contacted you in months.”

“That’s not quite true, the text counts.” Of course he counted it. She’d only sent it on a gut instinct that he would be the one they brought in to try to take down her work. She could debate the willingness of it all night, and maybe before Nine Eyes she would have.

“Just tell me what Mycroft wants so I can say no and you can leave.”

“I already told Mycroft you said no.” With his grin Holly could feel her chest tighten, she’d missed the ragging on Mycroft they both enjoyed. “He tried to counter offer, I think there was a pony in it for you.” The tightness burst into a blossom of tingly warmth.

“Where would I keep it?” Holly allowed amusement to bleed out, loosening the control she’d built up on her emotions. Q cracked a genuine smile, his eyes lighting up.

Nine Eyes was over, it may come back to bite her in a horrific way, and it would probably affect people she was close to regardless of how she pushed them away. Maybe it would be better to start building a support system, rather than shouldering it alone.

----

Holly woke to the sight of the two blankets she’d lent Q, both folded neatly on the futon which he had relegated himself too for the night, with her spare pillow placed on top of the pile. A quick glance around showed all the signs he’d left. If she was honest, she was a little disappointed, he’d practically forced her back out of her mental fortress of solitude, managing to reignite her interest in him in the process. She’d offered to share her bed with him, she’d seen the hitched breath, the aborted move to reach out to her, but he’d declined with a few half excuses, but not enough to actually leave.

Looking at her phone reassured her she had time to wallow in the warmth of her bed. It also showed she had a few messages. She almost immediately deleted the one from Mycroft, but decided to save it for later, at least for a giggle.

‘Your phone called me a wanker and told me to piss off. What the hell Holly?’ Q hadn’t resisted that temptation then, and she wasn’t even mad, her program had worked. Now she needed to integrate some facial identification software so she could personalise the insults next time. All it knew now was that if it wasn’t her it was to insult them.

‘I had to work, want to grab lunch? I’ll make sure you have access to Q-Branch if you want to meet up? :P’ She wasn’t sure if it was the lack of subtlety of what screamed of an excuse to bring her back to Q-Branch or the emoticon at the end that made her actually laugh. In fact there was a chance it hadn’t even been Q who wrote the text.

‘So, there was I going to drag you out for breakfast like a good friend, when who do I see leaving? Why, it’s your friend who you want to sleep with and I still don’t know the name of. Tell Me What Happened Holly.’ Crap, Holly had been enjoying the avoidance of her sex and/or love life due to her general misery. Jodie was not going to let this go for months.

‘Jodie’s being weird, what happened this time? There’s nothing in the news?’ If it wasn’t for the previous adventures, Holly would have objected to something she was involved in making the news.

Just as she opened the text from Mycroft the screen switched to the caramelldansen video, alerting her to a call from Mycroft. She allowed herself a minute to enjoy the video before answering it.

“There’s a car outside 221 Baker street waiting for you, get dressed and get in.” He didn’t sound pissed off, but the way he said it implied there was no room for an objection. Followed by the call ending before she did have a chance to tell him where to shove the car.

The problem right now, was Holly was warm, comfortable and had been given no time frame for getting into that car. She spared a thought for which ever poor soul would be waiting there until she could be bothered to at least get out of bed.

----

After four hours Holly finally emerged, getting John to check if there were any cars waiting outside before venturing out towards the tube station. She’d barely passed the sandwich bar when a car pulled up beside her. She broke into a sprint, hoping to reach the station and lose herself to the crowd, but this had been well planned. She was tackled by someone who had been casually leaning against a lamppost, seemingly on his phone. With the tugging towards the open car door, Holly could feel the panic building as she struggled, losing one grip only for someone else to grab on.

Inevitably she ended up in the back of the car, trying vainly to open the doors, or even the heavily tinted windows. The front was partitioned off, and the seats didn’t fold down to get to the boot. None of this helped with the coil of panic seizing Holly’s torso with an iron grip. The space seemed to close in on her, no matter the small rational voice in her head telling her to calm down and take a moment to think.

When the car stopped one of the doors was opened, but no one was there to either block her from running off, or drag her out. From what she could see, it was an empty warehouse, very cliché. Taking a few deep breaths and trying not to let her hands shake too much she slide over to the open door for a better look.

Off to one side Mycroft stood, leaning on his umbrella, Anthea by his side, and multiple secret agenty looking people around the room at all visible exits.

“This is not how you get someone’s cooperation.” Holly complained, sounding more confident than she was, bringing her back to her secondary school years when it was the only way to survive. She climbed out of the car, standing tall as if she hadn’t been going crazy in the back of the car. She leaned back against its polished surface, giving her some stability.

“I wouldn’t need your cooperation if you hadn’t been so thorough in destroying Nine Eyes.”

“Ah, yes, that eats me up every day.” She could do this, it was still for survival.

“I need you to remake it.” Even for Mycroft that was wrong. She knew the older Holmes loved knowing everything about everyone and their business but Nine Eyes was not allowed to exist while she did.

“No.” Holly could have sworn Anthea looked triumphant ever so briefly. It could have been related to what was on the on the phone in front of her instead of what was going on though.

“I will have to insist you reconsider.”

“You can insist all you like. I’m not doing it.”

“I see, that is a little disappointing.” From the horrifying grin on his face, he wasn't at all disappointed and that scared her more.

Chapter Text

Holly had missed her imaginary ball, her friend during unintentional solitude. She’d already mapped out the small room, had her mini panic, and now was just lying back against the mattress that was attached to the ledge sticking out of the wall, throwing the ball into the air and catching it.

If this had been a movie, she’d probably have started some training montage using the room to exercise. She’d considered it, and then written it off as too much effort. There was no doubt in her mind she was being watched. Well they weren’t going to see anything interesting, all the hard work was going on inside her head.

After the warehouse with Mycroft where he’d acted a bit more power crazy that usual. Holly had then been bundled back into the car, smelt something funny in the air, then her next memory was lying on the mattress she was on now. Her gut twisting with the feeling this wasn’t right. There was a big picture she wasn’t getting to see.

Without knowing how far back this went, and knowing Mycroft it could be a long game, Holly started from the warehouse meeting and worked backwards. She regretted fully withdrawing from the intelligence network, the last few months were a huge blank for her. She allowed the room to fade a little, focusing on what she remembered of the Nine Eyes launch. That night had been weird and she was certain there was more to it than she ever knew, something had to lead M, Q and others to the building that night.

Q pinged in her brain, he had some closer link to Mycroft than just through MI6, the small interactions showed a different relationship than one simply through work, but not the same antagonistic one Mycroft and Sherlock shared. It hadn’t escaped Holly Q’s similarities to Sherlock, but she had explored that to death, having to focus on Sherlock’s side as Q’s files were buried deep, looking into Mycroft had revealed nothing either.

She hadn’t looked much into their parents though, an oversight she would rectify if she ever got out. It was possible there was a family link somewhere, maybe a cousin or something but neither of the Homes men mentioned family, even when hinted at.

Then there was Q showing up in her room with a request from Mycroft, the timing couldn’t be a coincidence. Whatever Q had been there for was almost certainly related to her being here. Without having even heard the request, Holly wondered if it had just been an excuse to explain why he was in her room. But then why would he have waited for her to get back, and stay over.

Multiple thoughts suddenly competed for attention. She had been far too careless with his visit. He’d managed to get her phones attention enough to trigger its insults. Had he tried anything else with it? Not that she could look now, it, along with pretty much anything she could use, was gone. She should have just left it in her room. That also brought up the question of whether Q had managed anything with the pass, had he managed to replicate it, or just give her a fake.

At least her thoughts all agreed that she was an idiot around him. She was fairly certain it was no secret she had a soft spot for Q, and she was equally certain that fact had been taken advantage of. Anger burned in her stomach as she threw the imaginary ball across the small room, eyes still tracking its journey as she released her mental corkboard. She pushed her screaming thoughts away for a minute, calming herself and quelling the anger, it would do her no good here.

With that fresh and slightly raw realisation, every interaction she’d had with people in the intelligence industry came under scrutiny. It all started with Alex, and looking back with a critical eye, it screamed setup. Not the getting caught, but the first look in the café all the way basically being on the same mission. Mycroft had gotten her involved, hooking her in and pulling strings to keep her there. Alex had noticed she was being used, probably more than she had even realised, but it was too late by that point.

Every piece of revenge she had ever enacted on him now seemed pale in comparison to what he deserved.

----

Without meals to keep track of time, and the lights constantly on, Holly had no way of knowing how long she was in the room tempering her anger. Occasionally she felt the pangs of hunger, distracting her for a bit until they faded. Water helped sometimes, but sometimes it just highlighted the hunger more. Even with making sense of the past, she couldn’t figure out what Mycroft was up to now. She wasn’t sure what he thought he would get out of having her locked up like this. It was hard not to dwell on, but she had other things to plan.

It was very subtle when she first smelt it, her stomach complaining forcefully about the lack of food. It wasn’t hard to tell what it was, frying bacon was a delicious smell. While her stomach was cramping up in protest Holly could barely look up when the door opened and Mycroft, followed by a guy, Holly assumed body guard, both walked in.

“You’re a dick.” Holly groaned out, trying to massage her stomach, just about managing to sit up despite the pain.

“It worked as needed.”

“Tell me what you want so I can say no.”

“If you say no then I will keep you here.”

“At least I wouldn’t have to help you.”

“Is that what you object to? Helping me?” Something clicked in Holly’s mind, it was a tenuous link but maybe Mycroft didn’t know that her creating Nine Eyes was only to destroy it, that it was a mission. If he thought she had done it with no ulterior motive then maybe he thought she was deeper into the organisation Holly figured had been driving Nine Eyes.

So was this all testing her loyalty? The link wasn’t the strongest and made a big assumption. But she did know that Mycroft wasn’t all knowing.

“Nine Eyes was never going to exist, and will never as long as I can do something about it. You can give it a different name if you want, I’m still not letting it live.”

“That’s what I thought you would say, yet you made it.” He sounded so casual about it, betraying the fact he hadn’t know it was a mission. Holly let out a laugh.

“And I was the one to destroy it. It would have taken Q months to get into the system without authorised access.” She could almost see the ticking in his brain, followed by the miniscule sign of the dots connecting. She grinned. “Is that what you were expecting? Did you really think I would create something that could get pulled down in five minutes? They would have noticed and had me shot.” And they almost had, Holly still had no clue what had happened about that. But she pushed that train of thought away to focus on the sour look Mycroft had.

Before he could fully compose himself the door burst open, admitting a slightly windswept quartermaster who was glaring at Mycroft. Interesting. Holly started to apply her theory to how the two interacted. Mycroft immediately schooled himself into his ‘I am better than everyone in this room’ persona, but not without a glare back.

“Am I intruding on a family meeting?” Holly asked casually from the mattress, both of them stiffened ever so briefly, but it was enough, she was on to something. There was something adorable about the way Q looked pissed off that made her stomach twist for a reason other than lack of food. She needed to have words with her libido again. Or just get laid.

Eventually whatever non-verbal conversation they had led to the two men leaving the room, bodyguard left to keep her company.

“Come here often?” No response, the guy wasn’t even looking at her. She was left in silence for a while. “Could you at least pass me my ball?” Not even a twitch. Holly guessed she was just going to have to wait. At least the hunger pangs were subsiding.

Or at least they had been until the door opened again and a strong waft of bacon smell rushed in, Holly curled back in on herself, facing the door where Mycroft ad Q had just come back in. “Why did you have to pick bacon?” She protested, she watched as Q rushed over, only stopped by her kicking out a leg, connecting slightly with his stomach. It did as intended as he didn’t approach any closer, even as she pulled her leg back.

“Do I dare ask what you did?” Even though he was facing her, Holly knew he was asking Mycroft.

“I went easy on her.” Q half turned presumable to glare at Mycroft again. “You know I have leave to do as I please with to find out where loyalties lie. I waited a month, as you requested, to see what other motives she might have had for working on the project.” It had been exactly a month when Q had been in her room, she hadn’t realised that.

“And you found nothing?” Q questioned doubtfully. “You asked me to ask her about it. I thought that meant she was cleared.”

“Well you thought wrong, you were taught better than to assume. There was no trace of her being officially or unofficially sanctioned to infiltrate Nine Eyes”

“It was never written down, only two other people knew about it.” Holly admitted from her half curled up position. “It didn’t even have an end goal, I was just there in case an angle was needed.” She was being vague on purpose, but it seemed to do its job, at a nod from Mycroft the bodyguard left. Even if she had wanted to Holly couldn’t have tackled the bane of her life just to choke him for a while. Without food she just felt heavy and hollow, not moving probably hadn’t helped, but exercising would have just used her energy faster.

Q moved to sit at the end of the mattress by her feet. From a pocket he produced her phone and placed it in front of her. “R was given this yesterday and told not to bother me with it, but get access to it. Apparently he forgot about it until I saw it on his desk.” From the glares Q was shooting at Mycroft it didn’t take a genius to figure out who sent it to R.

“R has a desk?” Holly couldn’t remember seeing the man ever at one specific desk, normally yogaing everywhere. She pulled the phone into her ball, running her fingers over it for any signs of tampering.

“Yes, that’s how he forgot about it.” Holly managed a small smile despite herself. She held her phone up to her face and woke the screen, tapping in the passcode when the number pad appeared after a few seconds. She could see both Q and Mycroft watching, presumable seeing how she unlocked the device, she’d add to it as soon as she got a chance.

“This was in MI6 for at least twenty four hours?” Holly questioned, trying to keep her face neutral as she scrolled through her messages.

“At least that.” Q admitted. Holly had to clench her teeth to stop from revealing too much.

“Well Mycroft forgot to feed me. Can I assumed I am allowed to leave now you have satisfied your need to know everything? I’m hungry.” Holly half asked Mycroft hurriedly as she uncurled, the pain dulled to an ache. She swung her legs over the side and tested how well she could stand, looking up just in time to see Q very close to Mycroft who looked pained. “I’ll let myself out.” She pushed off towards the door, it felt no different to slightly drunk staggering, but before she’d reached the door Q was there supporting her. Warmth spread through where he touched, Holly hadn’t realised how cold she was.

“What did you want to eat?” He asked hesitantly, reaching for the door.

“I don’t care, I just don’t want to be here.” There was a crash in the corridor outside followed by gunfire. “Balls.” Holly weakly pulled Q back from the door just in time to stop him from being hit as it burst open. “Hi Frank. How’s Sarah?” Frank had naturally decided on Mycroft to point his gun at, making the split second decision upon seeing Q supporting Holly.

“Going well, fixing up the house a little at the moment. She can’t decide on magnolia or mocha for the guest room.”

“Tell her beige is boring and that I will personally have to redecorate if it is any shade of brown. How are the others?”

“Your grandmother is on her way.” Holly wasn’t sure if Mycroft could pale any more than he was.

“Balls. Dare I ask how you got here first?” Last she knew Frank and Sarah still lived in America. Victoria normally dropped a message if she left the country.

“No.”

Chapter Text

“Why are you eating dry cereal, on our sofa, at 3am?” Jodie was surprisingly calm when she saw Holly, though that early in the morning it could have been she just wasn’t awake enough to do more than just whisper questions.

“I didn’t want to wake you guys up by having a shower.” Holly whispered back, following it up with some loud munching.

“Are you drunk?”

“I wish.” Drinking on a completely empty stomach was a horrible idea. Eating was hurting enough for her, even after trying to force something down earlier.

“Why are you here?”

“Crazy things happened, more crazy things are waiting for me back home.” Having managed to leave the building where she had been held, while Mycroft and Frank were trying to out intimidate each other, Holly had decided there would be all too much drama at Baker Street. She didn’t want to bring Victoria down on Q. Even though he had offered up his place, Holly would rather not go there out of need. Her Uni friends knew how to just roll with it, and that was what she needed.

“Are you planning on sleeping on the sofa?” It wasn’t the best place but options were limited.

“That was the intention.”

“There’s space in my bed.” Even in her still weaken state Holly still managed a lewd grin behind the bowl. “Is that my cereal? Dammit, I need my chocolatey morning goodness. Get into bed before I change my mind because you ate my cereal.”

“I may smell a bit, haven’t been home in like four days.”

“So spray some deodorant, I don’t care. I’m not letting you sleep on the sofa.”

----

The morning was a bit of a disaster. Holly had been nice and warm, all cuddled up to Jodie. Then there was rapid knocking followed by the door opening and closing quickly.

“Jodie, I need to borrow a tampon or something- Oh shit I didn’t realise you had company.” At the unfamiliar voice Holly freaked, rolling off the side of the bed away from the door. Unfortunately for Jodie, Holly didn’t let go, so she got taken along for the ride to the floor.

“Holly, this is Lauren, James’s sister, I forgot to mention she was staying. Can you take your hand off my boob now, I need to show Lauren my stash” Jodie’s voice was slightly muffle under the duvet they were tangled in following the tumble off the bed. “Lauren, this is our friend Holly, weird shit happens to her.” Jodie finished the introduction after Holly had stopped groping her and helped escape the duvet.

“I need tea.” Holly muttered to herself as the two other women left the room. She tried to make herself look less worn out and pathetic but gave up and headed to the kitchen really hoping they still had milk.

“What happened this time?” Matt didn’t even look away from the screen, playing some game with James. “Still no small scale destruction in the news so I’m a bit in the dark.”

“Usual crap.”

“Would it hurt to make it ‘unusual crap’?”

“Probably, I tried it, just made it worse” At that point Jodie entered, pulled the box of teabags from Holly’s hand and made her sit on one of the bar stools.

Lauren, who had been following Jodie, turned bright red at the sight of Holly, the first impression she had made was clearly still fresh. She looked conflicted, the two boys were sprawled across the sofa and single arm chair, and the only other seat was the bar stool next to Holly.

“I don’t bite, though for the record I don’t mind if you bite a little.” Jodie managed to briefly join Lauren in being bright red. With no phone to buzz in her pocket, Holly wondered if Q was back to casually running surveillance on her. It wouldn’t surprise her if they were expecting retribution for her short stay. Maybe she would occasionally make some noise to that effect, but leave them on edge waiting. At least until she figured out how to properly get revenge, with an exit strategy ready.

----

Jodie didn’t hide her surprise at seeing Holly in the 9am lecture the next morning, even if Holly was dual wielding a take away cup of tea and a can of energy drink. Holly had left early afternoon the day before, mostly to do her round of ‘I’m ok’s to people who would care and to take care of some things.

“I think we should get you one of those counters ‘1 day since last time things went horribly wrong’.” She commented as Holly actually took out a pad of paper to take notes. “Are you feeling ok?”

“Nope, please stop me if I start doodling random crap.” At Jodie’s pointed look at the paper Holly sighed. “I’m going cold turkey, at least for a bit. Need to replace everything anyway.” With Q having been in her room again unsupervised it was about time for a full deep clean and renovation, her phone had also been out of her possession and at MI6 for far too long. At least everything had an off-site back up, all she needed was the new hardware, but there was no reason to rush. She wanted to at least appear like she was trying to play nicely, see what happened.

She didn’t even have to wait long, Holly was 90% certain she was not being paranoid when she started seeing suspicious people around campus. To their credit they almost looked like they belonged, they looked the part, but there was a missing air of stress that accompanied people who belonged to the Uni in some way. So when she saw the dark car on the road outside, she couldn’t bring herself to be surprised. In the corner of her eye she could see Jodie raising an eyebrow at the car.

“Is this how it starts?”

“If I’m lucky. But as I said, cold turkey. Speaking of which, lunchtime.” She didn’t break stride as she turned towards the café near the climbing wall, Jodie easily keeping up.

The café was almost packed with the lunch time rush, Holly suggested finding somewhere else, but Jodie had suggested they at least look for a table. That should have been a massive give away for when Holly noticed two unoccupied seats at a table where Alex was trying to look casual. Holly glared at Jodie, almost forgetting Jodie didn’t know he was actually an agent and how this was more frequently how things started.

“He said it would be a nice surprise for you, he hasn’t been able to meet up because work keeps him busy, but when he found out you’d been having a bad time he asked me to help surprise you.” Jodie explained as she directed Holly to the table before heading to get their lunches. Holly stood for a while weighing up her options. She could probably get far enough away from the café before they realised she was gone, but she had no idea who would be waiting outside considering the smattering of people that had been around. She suspected Jodie was her protection from them as she had no idea about Holly’s connection to the SIS and they liked to keep it that way.

Begrudgingly she sat at Alex’s table. “Lesser of two evils?” He asked with a grin.

“I’m fairly certain there are other people in this world you should be using this kind of manpower on instead of me.”

“Orders from above.”

“Tell those orders to go fuck themselves, I am so done with this shit.”

“I’m not here for them. I bumped into Jodie quite innocently and she roped me into this. I’m off the clock for this.” Holly doubted bumping into Jodie was accidental, especially with direct contact off the table.

“And those outside?”

“You’re making certain people nervous again.” Holly held her hands up in a gesture of surrender.

“I have no electronic devices on me, if they check with Martha they will know my system has been completely dismantled and is awaiting collection for safe disposal. Q can attest to the content being all of it, he saw it recently.” It pained her that should couldn’t even use her blackout protocol, usually relying on her phone constantly being in her possession.

“That’s actually making them more nervous.” That had occurred to Holly as a possibility but by this point she was screwed no matter what she tried, at least now they were uncertain of her approach.

“I can’t win. I’m stuck here for another year and a half with this following me around until I graduate. I don’t know how much longer I can do this. I don’t know what they even think I can or will do at this point.” And in all fairness Holly wasn’t sure of her direction other than try to graduate in one piece. Revenge could wait.

“Whatever you need, just ask. I’m serious about helping you, I know your situation all too well.”

“Maybe one day you should tell me about it?” Holly offered, she regretted not digging a little before, into a lot of other things too, but there was too much heat and only so much she could do on a library computer.

“Sure.” Both of their attention was drawn to the person who had just entered the café, Holly easily recognised them from campus as one of the people who hadn’t felt like they belong. The man easily navigated through the crowded room to the pair of them. A quick glance to the line showed Jodie had made it maybe two or three spaces closer to the counter, not going to get to the table any time soon. A phone was held out, call open but no identifying name or even number on the screen. Holly shook her head and folded her arms, refusing to touch it.

Alex graciously took the phone and held it up to his ear. He progressively looked like it was getting harder and harder to keep a straight face. Eventually he handed it back and the guy left with the subtle dismissal.

“How did you manage to get a horse smuggled into Mycroft Holmes’s office? He expressed his intense disapproval of the situation by the way.” Holly had made the time before cleaning out her room count. She wasn’t cruel enough to arrange for a horse’s head in his bed, no horse deserved to die for Mycroft.

“Problem when you work with secrets is people learn not to ask questions when it appears the order was given by someone with high enough authority.” Holly picked her words carefully to avoid actually admitting it. She assumed they were following her for a reason and there was no point if they couldn’t be listening in.

“Why a horse?”

“Maybe I was hoping Mycroft would confront me himself so I could ask ‘Why the long face?’” Maybe a bit too close to a confession, but she was already guilty in Mycroft’s eyes. She didn’t want to admit the horse was Q’s fault, she had no idea how much of what he had said that night was true, but the pony thing had stuck in her head anyway. He would probably get a laugh from it regardless. Holly wasn’t sure why that even mattered to her, but she was still just lying to herself in the end.

----

All her tech was gone when she got back. Sat innocently in its place outside her room was a nicely arranged vase of flowers, a small card sticking out.

“They left about an hour ago. That quartermaster of theirs left the flowers.” Martha mentioned from the doorway to her flat. Holly’s chest constricted, she had yet to figure out what to do about Q, until she had more of an idea about him it was supposed to be ‘avoid and suppress’. “Oh Holly, do you really think this is a good idea? You love your computers and gadgets.”

“The alternative seems to be getting me hurt every other month, one way or another. You can do what you want with the flowers. I’m not sure I trust Q to not have managed to somehow turn one of the flowers into a bio-microphone or something I wouldn’t know how to look for.”

“Well, are you at least going to read the note?”

“No. As I said, I only get hurt.” She was dying to know what it said, but knew it would probably hurt more than not knowing.

Chapter Text

It was hard to sleep without a few lights glowing in her room from her machines. No constant background whir either, though the noise of London helped, and now there was nothing but books to keep her occupied in her insomnia. Not that she didn’t like her books, but she’d spent ages building up her ebook collection, and most of her books in London were course related and thus a little dry.

It only took two nights of little sleep for Holly to add another jog to her day, late at night to tire her out. Sometimes it helped, sometimes she just ended up starting the morning even more shattered. Each time she could feel eyes on here, but she pushed them from her mind. She felt her life start to become routine with work and uni, and it ached, ached so much she considered giving in or giving up. Flying under the radar was her priority and that meant sticking with the mundane. She missed creating, watching the digital world dance to her tune. But she held strong, somehow.

It was about a month later, give or take, of technology isolation that Holly found a note pinned to her door as she was leaving. She was just about to read it when Martha called to her.

“I’m glad I caught you, your mother called, apparently Nick wants to know if you’ve made friends yet? Something to do with place names for the table I think.”

“Tell him I’ll be on the kiddie table.” No way was Holly going to take anyone. It was a mix of not wanted to expose her friends to her family, and not wanting her friends to slip and say anything of what had happened, ever.

“Oh Holly, you can’t turn up to a wedding without a date.”

“Watch me.” If it wasn’t Nick, with all that had happened, she would have been tempted to pull a sicky for the wedding. But she just couldn’t do it to him. It did remind her she had to go dress shopping, Jodie could help.

“Holly Jessica Summers, if you do not want me to call your mother and tell her exactly how your university experience has been, complete with being arrested and detained several times, you will ask one of your multiple friends who I know you have to attend your brother’s wedding with you.” For a few seconds Holly just gapped slightly. She’d seen Martha take a stern tone with people, enjoyed it on occasion, but had never been on the receiving end. It was a strange experience she didn’t feel like repeating ever again.

----

“I need a date for my brother’s wedding in June. The thirtieth I think, around then.” At least it was after exams.

“My parents are taking me and my sister to Majorca for two weeks after my exams.” Jodie looked apologetic, but Holly could see scheming in her eyes almost as soon as the sentence was finished.

“Mine want me to go camping before summer holidays hit and everywhere get busy.”

“James?”

“He’s going to be visiting his sister all summer.”

“You guys all suck.”

“Might I assume you don’t have a dress for it?” Jodie’s grin was almost disturbing.

“Nothing appropriate. I grew out of anything I wore to the last weddings years ago.”

----

So after they were done for the day the trio hit London for some shopping. It was almost painful walking past some of the electronics shops, but with Jodie dragging her around she didn’t have a huge amount of choice. Holly was certain Matt was following just for the entertainment, occasionally pointing out hideous dresses and holding them against himself, pretending to consider them, then after dismissing them, handing them to Holly.

Part way through browsing a rack of dresses she could never see herself wearing she was suddenly dragged away. “Time for a break.” Jodie declared, ignoring how Holly stumbled behind her. Holly couldn’t see any way being shoved into a bench next to Q was in anyway a coincidence. “Fancy seeing your friend here.” The bench was easily visible from the shop they had been in. Q had wanted to be seen by one of them

“Actually I was hoping to bump into you-” Q started when he realised Holly was being boxed in by Jodie and Matt who slowly seemed to realise what Jodie was planning and seemed content to help.

“So stalking me?”

“It’s not like I could just call you. I need a favour.” Holly contemplated it, wondering if she could somehow negotiate with to use tech again without constantly being accused of something. Though it would probably just drag her back into being asked to do stuff every week and getting hurt every other week.

“Holly will help you if you go to her brother’s wedding with her.” That actually left Holly speechless, mouth slightly open as if it was waiting for her brain to send a scathing reply. She was certain Jodie had been on the same page of ignoring Q.

“I can do that.” Q’s voice sounded miles away and uncertain. Still no words came to Holly’s lips. It was like her brain was trying to move through treacle.

“It’s settled then.” Jodie grinned triumphantly and Holly snapped back to the present.

“What? No! Did you consider I may not want to do this favour? And I do not need to trade favours to get a date for a fucking wedding!” That just made her sound pathetic. With her easier escapes blocked, Holly vaulted over the back of the bench and took off running, fairly aware she could have probably talked it out. The anger coursing through her body was telling her otherwise. As her feet pounded against the pavement she almost felt like she was flying, ruined only by the rhythmic thumping from her bag.

----

Light was slowly fading from the sky when she saw someone in the corner of her vision sit next to her, against the stone railings of the Serpentine Bridge. A take away cup was held in front of her face, forcing her to bring her focus back. She reached for it slowed, half expecting it to be taken from reach. It was a small relief when the heat from the cup seeped through her cold hands. She didn’t even need to sniff it for her to know it would be just how she liked it.

“I was adopted by Sherlock and Mycroft’s parents when I was a baby. Apparently my mother died having me at 16, and apparently they don’t know who the father was.” Q started talking, he didn’t look at her to see if she was paying attention, just talking to the air in front of them. “Sherlock was causing trouble at university, then the Met, and Mycroft was already on his way up in government when I was growing up. They had strange ways of showing affection, Mycroft brought me my first computer, in pieces to test me, and Sherlock stole things off Mycroft to give me. Apparently I used to giggle uncontrollably when Mycroft would come looking for it. One time when my parents were out, trusting Mycroft to keep an ear out for me, he locked me in my room and cooked all of the bacon in the house at 1am to get me to tell him where I’d hidden his umbrella. I think I was six at the time.”

“Did you ever get back at him?” Holly eventually asked as she mulled over the information he had volunteered. It explained the different relationship they had, the interest in Q’s safety. She wasn’t sure what had prompted the explanation but it helped fill in a few gaps.

“That war is still going. Unfortunately recently he’s had another angle to work.” Holly had a sinking suspicion of what that angle was.

“How recently?” She tried to sound casual but even to her own ears she failed miserably.

“Since the day Vauxhall Cross exploded, and an attractive Uni student in pyjamas with a souped up phone helped me and my department escape.” Holly couldn’t help but smile a little.

“I’m going to miss that phone.”

“I’m not the one who stabbed it with a soldering iron.” Before leaving her equipment for disposal, Holly had made sure none of it was even remotely usable, just in case. It had pained her to do so, but she wasn’t stupid enough to think it would stay inaccessible. “Mycroft was a little upset when I told him.”

“More or less than about the horse?” Q cracked a smile, leaning back against the pillar.

“When I first heard you were working on Nine Eyes I almost got an entire bakery delivered to his office. He keeps trying to diet, I don’t know why.”

“You thought he’d sent me in?”

“For a while, I knew he’d wanted to, probably for the same reason you got sent in anyway, and I’d traded some favours he owed me to keep him from doing so.” Things started to link up a bit, some of the weird encounters while she’d been working at Q-Branch.

“You didn’t trust him not to ask, that’s why you told me not to answer the call while being all cryptic. Just in case he did anyway.” Holly turned a little to face him, see his reaction. The slightly embarrassed guilt was expected, the shivering was a little unexpected. “Next time just tell me. Do you have time for a drink?” It was probably late enough for normal people to be going to the pub and it would be warmer than sitting on the ground in a park. Holly pushed herself up, wincing a little from the gravel digging into her palm, she brushed it off and offered her hand to Q.

“I have the rest of the day off, nothing is critical, and if it is they’ll call me. A drink sounds good.” He took her hand and pulled himself up with slightly too much force causing them both to stumble a bit.

“I still don’t actually know your real name.” Holly mused as she dusted herself down, stretching her legs a bit. “Though it’s fun to see Jodie get riled up when she tries to find out.”

“It’s Zephyr, apparently it’s what my birth mum wanted, I like Q though.”

“Well Zephyr, let’s go get a drink.” Again Holly held out a hand, really hoping she hadn’t misread the situation and made it awkward.

Q’s hand was like ice against hers but sent heat coursing through her when he squeezed gently.

“So what is the favour?” Holly asked once they were seating in her usual booth with their drinks. She’d tried to push it from her mind, but it had been sitting there like an anchor, refusing to be forgotten about.

“Mycroft ‘accidentally’ let slip to our parents that I had a friend outside of work. He always snitches on me to distract them when they ask him if he’s found someone yet. They want to meet you and have lunch this weekend when they’re in London.”

“I’ll check if I have a shift at the climbing wall, I can swap if I need to though. I guess this is the best time to ask about the wedding then. Do you know if Alex is doing anything?” Holly asked trying to keep a serious face, her lips betrayed her as a teasing smile formed.

“I believe he’s due to be in the middle of nowhere, far away from any weddings.” Holly was glad the teasing was returned.

“I guess I’ll have to ask you then. Would you care to be my date to my brother’s wedding in June?”

“I’ll have to check my calendar.” Holly gently kicked him under the table. “I checked, it’s clear, I would love to go with you.”

“I’ll get Martha to pass on the message when I get home.” It really sucked not having a phone sometimes.

“When are you replacing your equipment?”

“Yeah Holly, when are you getting a phone so we don’t have to just assume you’ll be at the pub eventually?” Jodie slid in next to Q, Matt boxing in Holly again, though she was certain she could push him out of the way if needed.

“When I can have one and not get into trouble.”

“I don’t think your phone is the only reason you get into trouble Holly.”

Chapter Text

Holly should have known Mycroft would be attending the lunch, it had been a foolish thought that maybe he wouldn’t. There were five places set in the otherwise empty room overlooking London from one of the top floors of the Shard. Four were now occupied in a slightly uncomfortable silence.

“It’s not like Zephyr to be late.” Wanda Holmes sat to Holly’s left, perusing the menu. Mycroft had been overly polite in offering to escort the hacker up instead of letting her wait outside for Q. At least she’d managed to send of a text to let him know, having obtained a fairly basic mobile phone purely for the purpose of keeping in contact with people. She’d since sent him messages to tell him to hurry up and how close she was to stabbing Mycroft.

“I’m sure he won’t be too much longer, Mycroft why don’t you call him.” Timothy Holmes was sat next to his wife, half admiring the view across the city, while also glancing at Mycroft. With a dramatic sigh Mycroft brought out his phone and made a deal about making the call, holding it out so his parents could see it ringing.

A few seconds later a familiar song was heard from just outside the door, which burst open to admit Q looking rather out of breath. Holly tried to casually hide her grin behind a hand as carameldansen played, presumable from Q’s phone.

“I don’t recognise that song? Is it new? Never mind that, sit, tell us how you met Holly.” The first of many questions Holly was dreading.

“I thought Mycroft would have told you.” From that point Holly realised this was not going to be easy and started to consider exit options. If any combination of the Holmes boys had felt like too much, this just added the people who had raised them.

“I’ve already had to hear you have a friend from him dear, I can hear the rest from you.” The windows probably didn’t open this high up, Holly figured as she tried to hide behind her menu. “What would you like to drink dear?” It took a few silent moments for Holly to realise the question was directed at her and lower the menu slightly. It drove her nuts when people used the same generic terms of endearment for everyone, it made her have to pay attention or risk looking rude.

“Tea?” One word answers were safe, maybe she could just pass off as being shy.

“Of course dear. Zephyr are we going to have to interrogate poor Holly about you two?” Holly wasn’t sure if Wanda was trying to make it sound like they were dating on purpose.

“Probably.” Holly grit her teeth as she delivered a swift kick to Q’s shin.

“Fine.” If he was going to leave her like this she would make it uncomfortable for him. “I think the first time we met you were part of the team stealing my stuff. Mycroft was there too and I think I was in handcuffs by that point, it wasn’t a particularly pleasant experience.” Both parents looked a little shocked, looking to the brothers to see if they would counter it, Q looked like he was going to but a hard glare from Holly dared him to try.

“I take it you’re mixed up in their work then.” Timothy sighed.

“Not always by choice. I try to avoid it but something always keeps dragging me back in.” Holly explained, ignoring Mycroft’s not so subtle coughing laced with a hushed ‘Zehpyr’. “But I’m done now, I’ve got exams coming up and next year is my dissertation so I’ll need to focus on those.” She silently begged for them to take the bait and ask about her studies.

“Have you had any thoughts on the topic?” Success, hopefully she could keep it up and maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. Those years of redirecting conversation with extended family had come in handy after all.

----

“So Holly, What do you do when you aren’t worrying about university?” Mycroft asked almost innocently as they waited for dessert to be served. There had been a lull in the conversation and by the looks of it Mycroft had been waiting to ask the loaded question. He’d been looking increasingly unhappy during the dinner and Holly assumed he wanted others to suffer too.

“I climb, when I can, I work at one of the climbing walls near my university.” Nice and innocent, it reminded her of Victoria’s advice of having something to fall back on.

“And what else?”

“Mycroft, leave her alone.”

“Fine. Zephyr, do you want to tell mummy how your friend is a slightly better than average hacker who’s been linked to several dangerous incidents and wanted people.” ‘Slightly better than average’? Holly couldn’t hide how insulted she was at that. She was one of the best.

“You know what? I think I should go, it’s been nice meeting you both.” Holly hurried out the pleasantries as she started to pull her coat off the back of the chair.

“I expected more from Danamite.” A million thoughts pulsed through Holly’s head and she grabbed her bag, she could put her coat on later. That explained the slightly better than average comment, but the antagonism didn’t feel warranted.

“Danamite?” Ah shit, Holly froze a few steps from the table. Q only knew her as Supernova, and while she was glad Mycroft didn’t, this was not going to be fun to explain. She silently begged Q not to mention Supernova as she debated if she should still leave or return to the table. “Holly dear, please sit back down.” Returning won then, that way she could do damage control and probably make Mycroft look more like the bad guy. She left her bag and coat so she could easily flee if she needed to.

“Holly’s hacker name.”

“It’s more of a signature left over from when I did software security bounties to supplement the cost of university.” It was the truth, just missing a bit. “I used it to point out some security problems with Mycroft’s emails. Normally I would charge for it but I felt it important for the nation’s security.” That was almost blatant lies.

“Mycroft annoyed you?” Of course Wanda saw through it. “Zephyr can tell you how well revenge goes with Mikey. I think they’re still going at it.”

“We are,” Q interjected, finally speaking up, “Mycroft wants to provoke Danamite so he can continue to track down Supernova.” Balls, Holly wasn’t sure what reaction was expected considering she was both of these people. She settled for a little disturbed, casting a suspicious look at Mycroft who was looking horrified at Q. “That’s why he’s been dragging Holly into helping out with work, hoping she’ll end up out of her depth and lead him to Supernova.” How did Q know all of this and why had he not warned her ages ago? Holly was suddenly feeling very unsafe and instead of her rolling plan to escape the building, it was now to escape the country and hide.

“Who’s Supernova? Another hacker?”

“One of the most talented and unpredictable ones known.” Fairly high praise from Mycroft compared to his impression of Danamite, though he looked pained to admit it. “Since Zephyr decided to work for MI6 he is not allowed to assist me with anything to keep from any potential accusations of nepotism or the like.”

“Which is why you want them? To be your little minion? I highly doubt Supernova is going to do anything for you, especially after you used me to try to get to them.” Holly was careful to keep it gender neutral, she didn’t know how much they knew, but she wasn’t going to help them. A stray thought popped into her head, wondering if they were going to see if she would reach out to Supernova to warn her, thus leading them to her. Was that something she could use?

“I simply want to offer them a job.” Holly let out a hollow laugh.

“Nothing is that simple with you. I learnt that the hard way.” A long silence followed that bitter accusation. Holly was getting a little restless in her seat, itching to either get away from Mycroft or punch him in the face and then get away. It faded a little when she felt Q’s hand gently squeeze her leg. She wasn’t sure if it was supposed to be supportive or just calming, but it helped a little, she wasn’t on her own. He had kept Supernova hidden from the man who was the British government.

“So how long have you two been dating?” Wanda asked eventually after a long pause, her eyes flicking between Holly and Zephyr.

“Excuse me.” Holly muttered, that was enough for her, her chair scrapped back as she practically ran to the ladies, fully intent on just hiding out until the cleaners kicked her out. Hind sight told her she should have grabbed her back and coat first. Her escape didn’t save her from everyone. After she’d made herself comfortable in a cubicle, sitting across the closed lid of the toilet, feet propped up against one wall, back against the other, she heard the door open, low heels tapping on the tiled floor.

“It’s not easy dealing with Mycroft at the best of times. I’m impressed you’ve managed to not let slip you are who he’s looking for.” Wanda’s voice echoed around the room. “Zephyr was less secretive when he was younger, and often forgot I would clear the dishes out of his room when I started to run out. I must have walked in on the result of a search he’d left running while he was out on an errand. I’ll admit I was a little concerned when I saw a picture of a teenage girl, you, on his computer. Zephyr didn't really socialise and had shown no interest in friends at the time, so I had a little look. He must have read one of my books recently as you two were talking in cyphers, but I got the gist of it pretty quickly and realised it was mostly harmless. Supernova and Scipo, they were the two words repeated the most, I assumed Zephyr was Scipo, after Scipio Africanus, Mycroft used to read him stories of great historical strategists. That left Supernova and I put the two and two together.”

“He knew all that time?” Holly was wondering whether it had just better to remain in the dark, go back to a few months ago when things were simpler. It felt like an information overload, her head reeling with all the information and what to do with it. It felt like she was trying to run with wolves. She wasn’t sure whether she was a wolf or their prey yet.

“I think between Mycroft and Sherlock being influences in his life, I don’t think he knew what to do with the information, but didn’t trust them, so he hid it.”

“And you? You could have told Mycroft?” It wasn’t an accusation, just an observation.

“It was Zephyr’s secret, I don’t get involved in my boys’ business. Pudding should be served soon. I can bring it in here if you would prefer?” A kind offer, and Holly was almost tempted to take her up on it, but she knew she had to walk out, head up and have dessert like nothing had happened. She climbed down off the toilet and unlocked the door, letting it swing open, trying to psych herself up. “So, are you two dating? I only asked to give you a reason to run off, but I am a bit curious.” The look on Wanda’s face reminded her a little too much of her grandmother’s triumphant look.

“No.”

----

“Wanda scares me.” Holly mumbled into her pillow. They’d ended up back at her place after lunch, it was closer and with no tech for Q to look at Holly didn’t mind his presence so much. Q was sat at her desk on his laptop, Holly was resisting the temptation to peek, but she was still going cold turkey and knew a peek would end up with a rebuilt mainframe within a week.

“She likes you. My father too. What did you and mummy talk about in the ladies? You two were in there a while.”

“She was promising to show me your baby photos and planning our wedding.” Ladies bathroom talk was sacred, what was said in there stayed in there.

“I know you are just kidding, but I wouldn’t put it past mummy to be looking at venues already.”

“I hate you, now I have an image of Wanda and Mycroft looking through wedding magazines together and it’s creeping me out.” She heard a pause in the typing and could almost feel him looking at her for a moment before the typing resumed, filling the quiet.

“So when were you going to tell me about being Danamite?” Holly hadn’t realised the typing had stopped again until Q had spoken. She felt a little guilty having not really planned to tell him, but in all fairness he hadn’t told her he was Scipo for ages, and even longer for her to find out his real name.

“I wasn’t going to. I liked being able to see you complaining about me without you knowing.”

Chapter Text

“As a former soldier, what would you put in a bug-out bag?” Holly grumbled as she threw herself onto the sofa in 221b.

“Did no one teach to you knock?”

“Knocking just gives you warning.”

“Well I’m busy.” Holly looked up from her face plant in a cushion. John had not been alone when she’d waltzed in. A blonde woman was stood looking bemused at her, while John just looked embarrassed and irritated with two cups of tea in his hands.

“So everyone gets to know about my trainwreck of a social life, but I don’t get to find out anything new about yours? I’m Holly by the way, I live in the basement.”

“Mary.”

“Hey, you are not staying.” John interrupted, ignoring the look from Mary.

“I know, hence bug-out bag. Doesn’t need to be today, but I can feel it in my gut.”

“I know what you’re doing, baiting me into a conversation.” John was adorable when he tried to be authoritive without going into soldier mode.

“But you’re still letting me do it. Mary, opinion on a bug-out bag?”

“Well-”

“No. Holly out.”

“Fine, I’ll let you two play doctors and nurses in peace.”

“How did you-?” Holly was already halfway down the stairs before he could finish the question. She’d just started down her stairs when her phone buzzed. She couldn’t wait until she finally got around to diving back into technology, but there was a time for that, and that was after Supernova had continued to be active for a while.

That had been a little interesting to set up, keeping the actions up to date without obviously directing it. As much as all her tech had been cleared out of her room, the rest of the building hadn’t been searched. Holly was a little surprised considering she’d used that trick before. It would have been easy to figure out what didn’t belong. She just had to find excuses to visit 221b every few days.

‘Pub?’ From Alex that was a little odd, normally she was one who lit the pub beacon. She shot back an acceptance, all that was waiting for her in her room were some text books she’d be trying, and failing, to study from.

----

In the fifteen minutes it took to get ready to go out, Alex had managed to get to the front door and be waiting just outside. That sent a few warning bells of in Holly’s brain. They always met at the pub.

“Change of plans.” He looked a little more dressed up that a pub warranted but not enough for anything posh. “You look fine, don’t worry.”

“What I’m wearing doesn’t worry me.” Holly assured him with an eyeroll. What was the change in plan, was her implied question.

“Good,” and with that he whisked her into a waiting cab. He was probably one of few people, Holly realised, she trusted enough not to worry horribly about where she would end up. Or at least trusted him to get her out of any trouble he led her into.

Even though they got a little close to the new SIS HQ, half lit up in the dim evening, Holly was glad when the cab stopped.

“I promise this is a work free environment.” Those words sounded a little too foreboding with the proximity, and when she was led into a bar, recognising a few faces at one of the tables in a corner she understood, and her suspicion was justified.

“Holly! Sit over here.” Even though most of the table’s occupants had some sort of view of the door, Moneypenny had spotted her first and shuffled around in the booth to make space. Holly hesitated, picking out some faces she recognised, including her cousin. Her gut was uncertain, the people unfortunately associated with the misfortune that came with who they worked for.

“Trust me, it will be fine.” Alex muttered pushing her towards the table.

“I don’t bite,” Moneypenny called out as Holly semi reluctantly went over. Mostly hidden next to her, someone choked on their drink, it just took a second to recognise Q, cheeks a little red.

“That’s a shame.” Holly responded with a smirk as she got to the table, purely to watch Q graduate to bright red. That seemed to be the icebreaker she needed as she settled into her space.

It was after a bathroom trip with Eve, a few drinks later, Holly realised she’d been pushed into the booth first. Actually pushed, leaving her sprawling slightly over Q as Eve slid in next to her looking a little mischievously.

“Comfortable?” Eve asked, straightening her dress innocently, giving Holly only a little space to right herself in.

“Yes actually.” Q was accommodating to her shuffling so she could lie against him, though it was her turn to go a little red when he curled his arm around her.

It was surprisingly nice hanging out, even though Holly remained a little on edge, still waiting for something to happen as it generally did when she started enjoying herself. It didn’t stop her from being a bit flirty, especially with Eve, following on from the initial comment on biting. But it was good when the table started thinning out with no disaster as she had expected with so many trouble magnets at the table.

----

“I feel like everyone else at that table was expecting us to make out like horny teenagers.” Holly commented when she emerged from the bar with Q. The others had started the heavier drinking Holly had no intention of keeping up with this time, having only drunk a little so she could keep her wits about her.

“Knowing them, they had bets on it.” Q didn’t sound bitter, just a little amused.

“Do they have nothing else to worry about?”

“It’s the little things that help them relax.”

“Well, now they aren’t watching, want to make out a little?” Even though she’d been half joking, Holly was certain she’d planned a much better way to say that. Though considering seconds later Q was filling her vision, pulling her close and kissing her, it couldn’t have been that bad.

A few stumbled steps back found her with her with back pressed up against a wall, her gasp at the sudden contact broke the kiss, both of them panting slightly. Being honest Holly hadn’t been sure what to expect, but seeing his pupils blown wide, mouth slightly parted, left her breathless. His hands were in almost disappointingly respectful places, even as he used them to keep the two of them close. She tugged a little on his hair hoping he would get the hint and was rewarded with another kiss.

The first phone ringing was almost ignored, but when a second one joined in within seconds they reluctantly parted and fumbled for their phones.

“It is 3am Nick, what do you want?”

“You have a place in London right?” From the slightly slurred voice, Holly could easily see where this was going. Drunk and no more trains meant she was unlikely to enjoy the rest of her early morning. Q had moved away a bit for his conversation, from his body language it seemed her brother wasn’t the only one out to ruin their night.

“I do.”

“Can we crash for the night?”

“We?”

“Me, Chris, Andy, Shaun and Johnny.” Ah, it had been his stag do, Nick wasn’t one to really hang out in London with both their older and younger brothers this late.

“Why didn’t you just ask Martha? I live in her house.” Martha would also be asleep, but Holly was willing to make that sacrifice.

“I didn’t think she would be awake this late. Please Holly? You are my favourite sister.”

“Yeah, well Emma doesn’t exactly make that difficult. Where are you?” Holly sighed as Nick vaguely described the area, managing to at least name a few pubs she recognised. “Stop walking, unless you are in the middle of the road. You move and I will abandon you.” She ended the call and looked over to a sheepish looking Q, who had kept his distance though he appeared to have finished his call.

“I need to go into the office.” He grumbled once she’d joined him.

“It’s fine, I need to herd some drunk idiots to my place.”

There was a pause, the air of uncertainty between them.

“I should-” Holly cut him off with a kiss.

“Go. Text me?” Q smiled at her before hurrying off towards the tall glass and steel building that still gave Holly the chills. Once he was out of sight Holly started her trudge to where a group of drunk guys were hopefully staying out of trouble.

Other than Johnny being mostly passed out, they hadn’t caused any noticeable incidents. It was some effort keeping the group of five drunk men going in the right direction, Holly was certain it was only because she was a little drunk too that she managed it.

“You couldn’t have stopped your own brother from getting black out drunk?” Holly complained to Nick as they walked down the quiet streets. She was wondering if their missed train had been on purpose so their parents wouldn’t see their youngest brother completely smashed.

“I did the same with you, though you handled it much better.” Even though he was still wobbling a bit, Nick had gotten to the oddly peaceful level of drunk. Holly occasionally had to steer him back to the pavement.

“Ah yes, I fondly remember your way of getting us to learn our drinking limits. I also remember you abandoning me to meet up with Amber at least one of those times.” There was no anger, Holly had let it go ages ago. At least Johnny hadn’t been left alone in London.

“I distinctly remember you taking a computer to Uni.” Nick commented after they all were safely half passed out around her room. It had been a close call on her stairs, a couple of stumbles but nothing major.

“I felt it was too distracting this close to my exams.” Hopefully he was drunk enough to buy it. A thoughtful nod was her response before he decided to squeeze onto the futon with Shaun and Chris, Holly’s other brothers were both on the floor.

After finding a bucket for Johnny just in case, texting Amber where the group were, just in case, and making sure there was water around, Holly climbed into her own bed, having threatened pain on anyone who came near it.

----

“Hungry?” John caught her as she got back to 221 with a full bag of McDonalds breakfast sandwiches the next morning. She was glad she’d already chugged the energy drink she’d bought on her way, she didn’t need another caffeine lecture after no sleep.

“My brother’s stag party crashed in my room last night. How was your date? Mary seems nice.”

“It was good. How did you know she was a nurse?”

“I didn’t, I was just joking based off your profession.” She could have lied and made up some observations, just to see how outrageous she could make them, but having not slept that night she couldn’t bring herself to make stuff up.

“I thought you didn’t like guests in your room Holly.” Martha greeted them at the door.

“I don’t, but the’re mostly family and it would have been rude to inflict them on anyone else. Do you mind if we use your kitchen?” Holly asked holding up the bag of fast food. She didn’t fancy having her room smell like fried food for ages. “It was Nick’s stag night yesterday.” Martha gave a knowing look and nodded.

“I’ll go make some tea. It’ll be nice to see the boys again.”

Holly was grateful that all it took was pointing up her stairs and saying “Food” was all it took to empty out her room. She took the moment of being alone to check her phone, finding it devoid of new messages, same as when she’d checked before doing the breakfast run. She was sure she’d told Q to text her, but she allowed for whatever had called him into the office, to be sufficiently distracting. It didn’t stop her from being a bit disappointed though.

Her heart jumped when there was a knock at the door. Barely waiting for Holly to open it fully Jodie pushed her way in. “I cannot take any more revision for the next twelve hours, I’m taking you to brunch.” Considering her bacon sandwich that had been in with the rest of the breakfast was most likely already gone, Holly found no reason to stay. Her brothers would be interrogating her at the wedding anyway, so they could wait.

“Can we just call it breakfast like normal people?”

Chapter Text

The thirtieth of June was a beautiful day. Holly was woken early by Martha’s fretting and decided to keep her company while eating breakfast in her pyjamas, waiting until Martha noticed and shooed her away to get ready, redirecting the panic to an external problem.

Martha was just worrying over how they were all getting to the venue since her choice of car only comfortably seated two, and they were not sticking Q in the boot, no matter how much Holly insisted there was space. Martha simply said it would look bad if all his clothes were creased when they arrived. A knock on the door interrupted their heated discussion.

“Go answer it then” Martha pushed Holly towards the door. “It’s probably your date.” There was no room for argument in her tone and so Holly did as she was told, knowing she was going to have to pick her battles today.

“Were you two just discussing shoving me in the boot of a car?” Zephyr asked, looking a little bit disturbed. Apparently that discussion had been a little loud. At a second glance Holly realised this was the first time she’d seen him properly dressed up in a suit and tie. It was making it difficult for her to concentrate as she tried not to stare, but tried to discreetly commit the image to memory.

“Don’t worry, Martha rejected the idea.” Holly offered with a bright smile, hoping she hadn’t been too obvious in her gaze.

“I was going to offer to drive you both.” He stepped into the building next to her, revealing the car waiting on the curb behind him. “I’ve been working on it and it needs a test drive anyway.”

“Why do you guys even need an Aston Martin, surely it would be better to blend in?” The Aston Martin Rapide was at least a fairly discreet silver colour, and in central London wasn’t too out of the ordinary. Holly wasn’t one for cars really, too many wheels, but she could appreciate the sleek look.

“Some of my agents have preferences and enough sway to get it. I worked on the DB10 before this one.” There was some bitter pride in his voice. “I think it ended up crashed into a waterway in Rome.”

“If I promise not to crash it, could I drive?” Holly adopted her most innocent look, leaning slightly to brush up against him.

“No, and if I end up too hungover to drive then you still aren’t driving it.” That sounded like a plan she was never going to be able to use again. A few weeks prior she’d used it to drive her sister home from Amber’s hen night. In all fairness they shared the car, it just wasn’t practical to have it in London.

“You need a new hobby.” Holly teased, her stomach fluttering a little knowing he was back to watching her. She at least admitted to herself it was a little weird that she sort of liked it.

“Eve suggested it. Apparently hen nights can get pretty wild. She now thinks agents should be equipped with exploding axes now.” The axe throwing hadn’t included explosions unfortunately.

“Exploding axes are far too impractical. Victoria went through a phase.” Martha came through with a small suitcase. “Ooh, I did consider getting the Rapide, but I couldn’t get it in red at the time. Holly, go get your bag so we can get a move on.”

“Ah, Mrs Hudson, you look wonderful.” Zephyr greeted with a charming smile that had Holly completely distracted for a few seconds until his words caught up with her.

“What? I get an accusation and she gets a compliment?”

“Holly, your bag.” Martha reminded sternly.

“Fine, but I’m calling shotgun. Tell me it actually has a shotgun?”

----

It was only once they were out of London, passed the motorway roadworks that never seemed to be finished, Zephyr really showed off a little. He weaved through traffic with calculated precision, explaining that as long as he wasn’t endangering other drivers his number plate would flag up as a ‘do not stop’. Holly was fairly certain Martha was taking notes in the back seat. At least Zephyr was so focused on controlling the machine he hopefully wouldn’t notice her trying to discreetly watch him, captivated by the combination of a powerful car and the attractive person driving it.

“I think I’m starting to realise why my agents like these kinds of car.” Zephyr mused as he pulled onto the long gravel drive of the venue and parked up by the other cars. The Aston Martin had drawn some people out to admire while the occupants got out and Martha was quickly drawn into them, gushing about the ride and comparing it to her own. “There is something alluring about having a gorgeous woman in the passenger seat, unable to take her eyes off you.” Zephyr murmured as he stood next to her, waiting for her to lead them in. Holly could feel the flush creeping up her neck and face as she tried to pretend she hadn’t heard him.

“Holly, come over here, bring your date.” Victoria’s voice cut through the chatter, effectively announcing her presence to the people who had so far been distracted by the car.

“Once more unto the breach.” Holly mumbled to herself as she tugged Zephr over to where Victoria stood holding court by the entrance. She felt eyes watching them, her hopes of staying in the shadows now completely out of the window. The people near Victoria scattered with a slight wave from the woman.

“You must be Zephyr. Mycroft never spoke of you, though he rarely spoke of Sherlock either, my condolences by the way.” Holly rolled her eyes.

“And you must be Victoria, Holly speaks very highly of you.” Eyes were rolled harder.

“Now you two have met, I can go introduce you to more people I have no intention of letting you meet again.”

“Holly, I think Nick wanted to see you before the ceremony.” The dismissal was clear.

“We should go find him. I think you’ll like Nick.” Holly linked arms with Zephyr, giving Victoria an innocent look.

“I was hoping to talk to Zephyr actually.”

“I know, that’s why he’s coming with me.”

“Holly.” There was a warning in Victoria’s tone. “Would you like me to tell your mother how you two met?” And that was going to be the sword hanging over her head for the day. At least she knew what it was now instead of wondering all day.

“It’s ok if she makes you cry, it happens to the best of us.” Holly offered before heading inside the building to search for her favourite brother. That search took her passed the bar, a drink helped her nerve settle a little as she explored the venue.

“Holly. Nick was hoping you’d be here early enough.” Holly recognised Chris’s voice, he looked a lot better now he wasn’t drunk or hungover. She followed the direction and was allowed into the room where her brother was all dressed up ready and looking a little emotional.

“Ah, the vision that haunts my nightmares, you looking respectable.” Holly joked, it brought a slightly distracted smile to her brother’s face.

“You look nice. I thought you had a date?”

“I did, but Victoria got to him so I’m assuming he’s half way back to London if he isn’t a crying wreck.” It was a shame really, she was really fond of Zephyr.

“She isn’t that bad.” Maybe with everyone else’s significant other, but there was a history. No one else in the family knew about Victoria’s time as an agent so she couldn’t even vent. “So who is he on your contact list? Tell me he’s not Agent Bootycall?”

“You have a contact named Agent Bootycall?” Victoria obviously hadn’t kept Zephyr too long, or she’d spent a little longer at the bar than she thought.

“I did, then I lost my phone.” That was her cover story and she was sticking to it. “Nick, this is my date Zephyr, Zephyr, my brother Nick.”

“I’m glad you survived our grandmother. I would have had to put Holly on the kids table and that would be a pain to rearrange. You two go have fun, Holly, don’t rile up your sister before the ceremony, Zephyr, don’t let Holly cause or get into trouble.” Holly could see the amusement in Zephyr’s eyes but thankfully he said nothing until they were out of earshot.

“Kids table?”

“I would have done it, Martha made a more convincing argument.” Incidentally similar to Victoria’s threat. All the more reason to keep family and her London life separate. It left less people to be able to use stuff against her.

“I’m glad.”

“Say that after everyone’s had a few drinks and then I may believe you.”

----

It still took another shot of vodka for Holly to slip into her family persona, adopting a bright smile and engaging in the dull small talk like a regular social butterfly. She’d briefed Zephyr on the drive, before she’d started drooling over him, explained the relationships, any talking points and anything to avoid. Now he stood at her side, mostly quiet and observing.

“That looks exhausting.” Zephyr commented as they waiting for their drinks at the bar, the ceremony not long to start. Everyone else was outside in the bright sunshine, soaking it up with their own glasses in their hands.

“It is, but the more I say the less they ask.” Holly explained, letting the persona drop to give her aching face a rest. “The less they ask the less I have to hide.” They’d already agreed to lie about his occupation, that had been a given, and they’d negotiated a new story of how they met with a little truth. Everything else was just to be glossed over, kept simple so there was less chance to be caught out.

Their drinks were placed in front of them. Rather than go outside to socialise some more, Holly just took hers and leant on the bar with no intention of moving until she had too.

“It can’t be that bad.” Zephyr raised an eyebrow at her. Holly snorted in response. Zephyr leant next to her raising his glass to his lips, Holly wanted to run her hands down the clean lines of his suit, rumple them up a little. With indecent thoughts in her head she didn’t notice his hand drifting to her back, tracing a line up her spine. Holly tried desperately not to quiver at the touch as it reached her shoulder blades, but failed miserably and ended up letting out a small gasp for her troubles. “I guess Alex has his uses, I wonder what other useful information he has.”

“You could just find out first-hand?” Holly offered, hiding her smirk behind her glass, pretending she hadn’t just made that embarrassing sound. “It’s always more exciting that way.”

“Holly, Holly’s date, get out here, ceremony is about to start.” Chris called into the bar, not even bothering to confirm they were in there, it had been a pretty safe bet though.

----

Holly was infinitely grateful that the seating plan had all of her siblings at different tables. She’d lucked out by just having some of Matt’s close friends, she hadn’t seen most of them in years, but they’d always been a nice bunch. Though she guess Matt would be asking them about her date later. She couldn’t win them all.

It was during the tea after the meal Holly was summoned to Victoria’s table on the way back from the bathroom. A lot of the tables had emptied out to the large patio bar, but Zephyr was waiting at the table with a few of Matt’s friends who were still having coffee.

In contrast Victoria was the only one left at her table.

“A Holmes Holly?”

“Yes.”

“You’ll end up hurt.”

“I have no doubt about that.” Holly didn’t mention how it wouldn’t be the first time either.

“He works for MI6.”

“That’s how we met.”

“Just be careful.”

“I will.” Like that had helped before. “How’s Ivan?”

----

It seemed like forever since Holly had been able to lose herself to the music. She’d tried to get Zephyr to join her, but let him stay in the corner they had claimed when he looked reluctant. Dancing with Nick and his friends brought her back to times before Uni when they used to go out to the rock club. Back before everything got complicated and her life got crazy. It took a while to notice Nick was no longer dancing, and instead had settled in the chair next to Zephyr. Even though it had been planned for Holly still worried a bit, relaxing a bit when she saw them both smiling. Then Zephyr was laughing and she got worried again, remembering the other reason she hadn’t wanted to take anyone.

The second Nick vacated the seat Holly disentangled herself from the crowd and took the seat before anyone else got any ideas.

“Whatever he said was blatant lies.” Holly started, covering her bases for whatever Nick might have said. Zephyr just grinned at her.

“Is this seat taken?” Holly frowned at the woman who had just broken away from the dancing, not seeing an empty seat. Before she could voice her confusion she was being straddled by the woman. “Oh Holly, you look delectable tonight.” Recognition finally hit, as Holly mentally replaced the shining red waves with black straight hair.

“Ellie?” the woman smiled, grinding against her lap slightly. “How have you been?” Holly didn’t dare look at Zephyr not really wanting to have her attention move to him as Ellie shifted closer. Holly tried to figure out what she was supposed to do in this situation which was being made difficult as Ellie’s hands distracted her, a familiar sensation.

“Pretty good, better seeing you again. I have missed you.” Ellie purred in her ear, her hand running from her neck up her scalp, tugging slightly at her hair, pulling her head back. Holly realised too late to stop her or suppress the moan from the pull on her hair. Lips grazed against her throat. “If you need some company, come find me? Like old times.” Ellie murmured in her ear before capturing her mouth in a short but searing kiss and departed gracefully from Holly’s lap.

“So…Ex-girlfriend?” Zephyr scooted his chair closer. His face was unreadable which worried Holly slightly, she’d finally been making progress with him.

“Oh god no, I would never date one of Nick’s friends. Sleep with, yes. Date, no.”

“You going to take her up on her offer?” Looks like Ellie hadn’t been subtle enough with that. Holly turned in her seat to look at Zephyr properly.

“I had other plans actually.” She said casually, leaning her arm against the back of her chair.

“Really? And what plans were they?” The exact same thing she had been offered but with Zephyr. Holly tilted her head with a smile and raised eyebrow before clearly checking him out.

“I have a double room booked in this place and can say my goodbyes in ten minutes.”

Chapter Text

“I did offer to cover for you at breakfast.” It had been a bit weird leaving their room the morning after the wedding only to run into Holly’s mother who had coerced them into going for breakfast. “You already attended the wedding with me, you didn’t need to come.” Breakfast was probably the wrong word for it anyway considering they hadn’t been able to escape until after lunchtime and because of it, had gotten stuck in a traffic jam. Holly had purposefully kept any interaction with her parents very brief during the wedding because if she hadn’t she’d never have time for other people.

“I didn’t come with you to the wedding because you came to lunch, I came because I wanted to spend time with you.” Holly almost felt bad, she’d only gone to the lunch because it had been Zephyr asking, not expecting Mycroft to be there. Zephyr had gone in mostly blind and so suffered through her mother’s finest history lectures and father’s mix of interrogation and bragging. As much as Holly appreciated her parents, she often felt there was a limit to how long she could listen to the progression of the industrial revolution, intertwined with pokes at her degree.

“And you would do it again?” Holly asked dubiously. She wondered if he knew he’d probably end up listening to the same talk next time. Maybe she would steer it to medieval history if she was feeling nice.

“If you were there then yes.” There was a bit of a pause before he added, “You don’t need to do the same for me. I feel like there will be bloodshed if that lunch gets a sequel.”

----

When they got back to Baker street, Holly realised she had a bit of a dilemma. On the one hand she really wanted to keep Zephyr in her bed until he had to go to work. On the other hand, her room contained her new system which had hopefully had finished all the installations from her backup. She wasn’t sure whether she was ready to let people know, not when she hadn’t even had a chance to test it. She’d only finished building it the day before the wedding.

Maybe she could just blag it and hope he wouldn’t notice, being too focused on more important things.

“Uh, Holly, when did you get a new system?” Or not. She hadn’t even got them half way to her bed.

“That’s not important now.” She tugged at his arm, hinting again towards her bed, but he stood firm. “Did you guys really think I was going to write my dissertation on a library computer?”

“I think Mycroft would have preferred you hand wrote it. Did you rework your design?” He was still gazing at the artful display of electronics and Holly was starting to get a little jealous as she flopped on the bed herself, giving up on her plans of sex.

“I figured it was due instead of just replacing it again. Besides, it gives me a chance to try out some of the stuff I’ve been developing when I’m not in trouble.” When there was no response, Holly diverted her attention from her ceiling to the quartermaster who was looking longingly at her desk. “If you can log in, then you, can have a look.” It would at least test it a little before the rest of the intelligence world found out about it. Zephyr wasted no time in sitting at her desk and having a nose round, trying to wake the machine. Holly rolled over to watch, intrigued to see how far he could get.

It took a few minutes for him to manage wake the screen, and then seconds for the screen to tell him to piss off. What really caught his attention was when the next insulting comment used his name, followed by Holly’s phone buzzing in her pocket. It would be a notification of who was trying to access her computer, good to know it worked. Zephyr’s face lit up when he made the connection and found the small cameras each side of the main screen.

“I call it the marauders login, stolen from the marauders map.”

“I assume it recognises you?”

“Of course.”

“You had it on your phone, that’s why it insulted me, and when you got it back you held it up to your face.”

“That version only had my own face programed in, no other facial recognition.”

“What if you’re under duress?”

“That would be telling.”

“But you do have a plan for that?”

“Of course-” the rest of her words were cut off as Zephyr abandoned her desk and tackled her on the bed, rolling her over and pulling her in for a kiss.

“Jodie is calling.” An electronic voice interrupted them just as clothing had started to be discarded. “Jodie is still calling.” This was what happened when the students had binge watched all of the Marvel films followed by Holly having too much spare time.

“Ignore.” When the computer made no further declaration Holly internally cheered that it worked, before being pounced on again and losing the rest of her clothes. “It feels dirty when my computer is part of the foreplay.” Holly mumbled out between kisses.

“Jodie is calling.”

“Text Jodie busy message.”

“Sent.” Whether that actually worked and stopped Jodie messaging or not Holly wasn’t sure as she stopped paying attention to anything beyond Zephyr.

----

Every day for the rest of that week Holly ignored the waiting black car outside 221. One that drove away the second she stepped into the tube station on her way to her shift. She wasn’t certain who it was, but she didn’t care, she was done with them and curiosity wouldn’t be enough to drag her back this time.

On Friday she found out it was Mycroft. Leaving 221 to see Victoria scolding the occupant of the car had been funny enough, even before noticing who it was.

“Holly, lets walk and talk.” Served her right for sticking around to enjoy Mycroft’s discomfort. Holly quickly started heading for the station, Victoria easily falling into step next to her.

“I plan on taking the tube.”

“Walking’s good for you.” Walking through central London would also make her hot and sticky, which is not how she’d want to start her shift.

“It will also make me late.”

“I don’t get why you have a job like that-”

“It’s normal and gives me something to put on a CV.” Nothing she did for the government was making it even close to her CV.

“You don’t need a CV for-”

“I’m not working for the government again.”

“I was going to say for freelance work. You didn’t need one for your job in America.” A portfolio, reputation and recommendation got her that one, so technically it was true.

“Why does it sound like I’m about to get a job offer? The answer is no before you ask.” If nothing else Holly wanted to be able to pick an negotiate her own jobs, she liked having that control.

“Holly-” The tone told her she was being irrational. Her scars told her not to listen.

“Seriously? I only went to uni to get you guys off my back and you’re asking me to throw away my last year for what I would have been doing instead? Make up your mind, I’ve already made up mine.”

There was a bit of a pause, Holly had walked past the station looking for where the conversation would go, curiosity was a stupid weakness of hers sometimes. “It’s not like any of us knew what you were really up to.” In all fairness, no one had actually asked her.

“You didn’t even trust my judgement. Instead I trusted yours. Until you suggested it I wasn’t even going to go to uni, even with mum and dad on my back.” A chill went down Holly’s spine. “You suggested London,” The sudden awareness hurt. “I thought it was for Martha. It wasn’t, was it?” Even with the neutral look on her face, Holly could feel the subtlest shift in her grandmother’s behaviour. “How long had Mycroft known about Danamite?”

“This is not the time or place for this discussion.” After all of this, Victoria was still treating her like a child. Unbelievable.

“I need to go to work then.” Holly sped up towards where she knew the nearest useful tube station was, Baker Street far behind by now. Fishing out her new phone she typed out the familiar ‘Pub?’ with the time she finished her shift and sent it off before slipping through the almost constant heavy foot traffic of the station. As an afterthought another text got sent off. ‘I need your help.’

----

“Well that was hot.” Jodie commented as she crossed the street the next morning, dragging Holly’s attention away from the chauffeured car Zephyr had left in. The pub text had ended up with the two of them back at her place, but he’d been called back to work ten minutes ago and she’d maybe spent the last minute or two kissing him, too distracted to notice the car draw up, let alone her friend.

“Hi Jodie, you look tanned, nice holiday?” Please pick the bait, Holly thought desperately.

“You, me, spa. Pub’s not going to cut it this time.” No luck, maybe she could distract her on the way there.

“Why can’t we make plans in advance like normal people?”

“Less time for you to think of an excuse or cover story.” Holly really didn’t think the grin on her friends face was a good sign. Though it probably would be good for her, her relationship skills were very rusty.

Jodie’s cheerfulness was infectious the whole way to the spa she’d picked, chattering about her holiday. Holly actually didn’t mind, it allowed her to take her mind of other things for a while. She even responded to Jodie’s questions about her and Zephyr. Though leaving out anything juicy, and his name, that was still far too amusing.

It was all going well until Holly bumped into a familiar face in the sauna. The last time she’d seen Jamie was leaving the New York apartment after contract negotiations and sex. She still looked stunning, even sweating in a towel, distracting Holly until the blonde woman left with a charming, if slightly teasing smile, no words having been exchanged.

By the time Jodie joined her from the steam room Holly had given up on relaxing, her gut was warning of trouble. Jamie had been a bit suspicious last time they had met, and while nothing had flagged up in her background check back then, Holly knew her work was not infallible. Nothing in the treatments after managed to quell that feeling, though the rest of her felt soft and pliant.

Holly doubted it was coincidence that Jamie was leaving the spa at the same time as them when she saw movement behind several cars in the car park. Either there was a gang ready to mug spa goers or something was going down. Holly couldn’t think of anything off the top of her head that she had done.

“Oh, I think I left my phone in the changing rooms.” Holly grabbed Jodie’s hand, pulling her back towards reception. Jodie didn’t look too convinced, especially after looking past Holly to see Jamie hanging around, though after checking out the blonde Jodie did look a little dazed.

“I’ll get it for you, you wait for the taxi?” Jodie offered with a wink and a smirk. Better than the other way around if Holly’s gut was to be believed. As much as Jodie chose to still hang out despite the danger, Holly still felt she had a duty of care. Especially when Jamie was loitering just inside the doors, seemingly texting, finishing just in time to walk out with Holly.

And that’s when Holly became a human shield. Through a confusion of yelling voices from what appeared to be an armed response team, one word rung out clear as day for her as she felt a gun to her head.

“Moriarty.”

Chapter Text

Being bundled into the back of a van that had barely stopped to open the door, while still being a human shield, somehow managed to undo an entire day at the spa. Luckily, to stop her from being thrown around the back of the van, Jamie was holding her while braced to some canvas rigging on one side of the van space. In the rush Holly wasn’t entirely sure when she’d been handcuffed and honestly it wasn’t top of her list of worries.

“Moriarty?” It was what Holly’s brain was snapping back to, even with a distracting hand moving under her t-shirt. Back in New York Jamie had used the last name Adler, which Holly had checked to see if Irene had been any relation. She could feel the puff of air as Jamie sighed against her neck followed by lips brushing against her skin.

“I’d heard about you from my brother, I was curious when you came to my city and you exceeded my expectations greatly.” The hand moved to briefly cup her left boob, just in case she’d forgotten about that encounter, “So when my brother died playing that game with the detective and left this gap in the industry I thought maybe I would look into it.” Fuck. Holly’s brain temporarily crashed as she tried to figure out how to react to that. “It’s been quite useful how my brother’s empire is still being dismantled, it gives me space to expand quietly without leaving too much of a power void for someone else to try to fill.” The hand had moved back to possessively wrapping around her stomach. “I‘ve been in the market for a genius and I think I’ve found one I like.” Well, this was definitely the most interesting way anyone had tried to recruit her, not the worst either. “There are perks.” Jamie was practically was purring in her ear. Even without seeing it, Holly could tell there was a lewd smirk on Jamie’s face. “First thing I would do is give you a bodyguard. When you’re not with me anyway, which won’t be often, sorry about that but geniuses are too valuable. It’s a shame I can’t give you one now, I’ve seen some of the trouble you get into. Though it was handy when your doctor friend stepped in while they did nothing to save you.” Jamie seemed to be rambling, her voice surprisingly calming.

“My doctor friend did what?” Holly wanted to point out she’d just be trading one overlord for another, but she was more curious about John’s involvement to point it out.

“The launch of Nine Eyes, beautiful work by the way, your doctor shot the man holding you all the way from the lift. Not an easy shot to make. I think maybe two of my people could have made that shot with a scope.” John had saved her life and never mentioned it. No one had told her what had happened, when she’d managed to ask about that night she just got shut down and told it was classified. “It’s a shame he’s been claimed.”

The van was slowing down, Jamie pulled a key out from her bra and unlocked the handcuffs, gently rubbing where the metal had made indents in her wrists. “This is your stop. Unless you wanted to stay?” She looked genuinely hopeful. Probably genuine. “I know you want to finish your degree first, I can wait.” Jamie was looking like a puppy hoping to be adopted. Holly almost wanted to cave, stop having to deal with the bullshit. But that would mean giving up her social life and that wasn’t something she wanted to give up on just yet.

“I can’t afford to bring more attention to myself if I want a quiet year and the ability to disappear at the end, I will think about it though.” Holly hated how formal she had sounded, it sounded like a diplomatic no. “Could you try to not make things difficult for me?” It was worth asking.

“Only if you forgive me for this?” It was only after the side of the still moving van was opened and Holly felt herself being shoved out that she realised Jamie had not just been referring to the kidnapping.

Well, there went her hopes of a quiet year. Holly brushed herself down as best as she could without hurting. She’d managed to roll as she landed on the grassy verge, minimising the chance of injury, but she’d rolled through a patch of brambles, scratching up any exposed skin. Looking around all she could see were hedge lined fields with the winding country road she’d been dump to the side of. Hoping it was still working, Holly pulled out her phone and sighed in relief when the screen lit up.

She’d barely shot off a reassuring message to Jodie as some cars rounded the bend, most of them shooting past, but the last one slowed to a stop next to her and a man got out, giving her a puzzled look.

“Are you ok?” Holly just shrugged as she waited for her phone to locate her position. Somewhere in the middle of Kent. “Would you come with me? There are some questions that need answering.” A badge was waved in her face but Holly still wasn’t paying a huge amount of attention as she was ushered into the back of the car, distracted by the information she was still trying to process. She felt Jamie had forced the information about John making that shot into the conversation, giving her something she’d wanted to know for a while, to gain favour maybe? Surely there were other people suitable for the job that didn’t have her connections. Unless Jamie was hoping to use them for her own purpose. An uneasy feeling settled in her gut over the meeting and no doubt future meetings.

It wasn’t until she saw a familiar building cut through the skyline as they entered London that Holly snapped back from her mental corkboard. Panic started to rise as they got closer to the SIS HQ. Holly tried to supress the tremors, trying to reason with herself, but she could feel her heartrate going up despite her best efforts.

Fortunately the car stopped before they got there, just outside the restaurant that Holly remembered being dragged to. It still took a moment to get herself to follow the man in and through to table at the right back.

“This is your new lead?” Mycroft’s familiar tone of mild disgust brought Holly slamming fully back to reality.

“Ms Moriarty used her as a human shield at the spa, then took her when she escaped. Other than from brambles and handcuffs maybe there’s not a mark on her.” Mycroft gave her another look, making Holly very uncomfortable. The other man seemed to see that as a dismissal and left the two of them. Mycroft casually motioned to the other chair at the table. Briefly considering their previous track record, Holly sat rather than waiting to see how Mycroft would try to gain her cooperation this time.

“Does the name Jamie Moriarty mean anything to you?” Holly considered lying, if she'd been asked yesterday she could have said no without a trace of a lie.

"She used the name Jamie Adler last time we met. She hired me to do some work, some end to end encrypted messaging." While that kind of thing existed Jamie had said she didn't trust the commercially available products. With the pressure put on them to provide access to governments Holly didn’t completely trust them either.

"Is this work ongoing? Do you have any further business with her?" Nothing really, other than the offer of employment, that was not about to be mentioned though.

"No."

"Most people like her dispose of people like you once the work is delivered, so either you have leverage or we're missing something." Holly was fairly certain there was an insult in there somewhere. She felt she needed to tread carefully from here, she assumed she was alive because Jamie liked her and wanted her to work for her. However Holly got the feeling if she mentioned anything like that to Mycroft, she would end up undercover with a much shorter life expectancy.

“Maybe she respects my talent?”

“I doubt it. Tell me exactly what happened from you leaving the building to you ending up at the side of a country road.” Spa day utterly ruined.

----

Hot water stung at the small cuts on her skin as she stood motionless under the spray from her shower. Mycroft had questioned extensively about what couldn’t have been longer than an hour of time. Holly had worked hard to control the detail so she wouldn’t be interesting enough to get dragged into the inevitable mess. She hadn’t signed up for that kind of thing and was not going to sign up now. Part of her wondered how long it would take to get dragged in despite her best efforts.

With it balanced on the side of the sink, Holly watched at her phone lit up with calls and messages, ignoring them until the water turned cold, temporarily numbing her skin until she turned off the water and got out.

Without the noise from the shower she could hear a faint banging on her door. After pulling on pyjamas Holly remotely unlocked it. It didn’t take long for Zephyr to get down and wrap his arms around her.

“Eve told me she saw you and Mycroft talking at the Angel, are you ok?” He stepped back a bit to look at her properly, his eyes zeroed in on her shoulder. “What happened?” Confused Holly glanced down, seeing tinges of red on her skin she dashed off to the bathroom to look in the mirror. Dark red scratch marks littered her shoulder under the strap of her tank top, some close to drawing blood, the scar from Moriarty’s knife stood out in the middle of the red.

“I can’t do it again. I don’t want to play.” Her voice sounded strange to her own ears, small and distant. She couldn’t take her eyes off the marks, the vivid strips, she couldn’t even remember doing it. She felt Zephyr pressing up behind her, his arms slipping around her waist comfortingly.

“Is this something I can help you with?”

“What do you know about Jamie Moriarty?” The last name seemed to resonate with a lot of people, Zephyr was no exception. She could see him open his mouth to ask, “Jimmy’s brother.” The unasked question turned into an ‘Oh’. “I slept with her in New York.” Just like she’d slept with Jim back in London. Now she wanted to get back in the shower.

“I can ask for a report of what MI6 knows at least, I can reach out to MI5, though that might take more time. If you’re worried about what might happen then information will be your first defence. We can plan once we have a better picture.” He was right, all she could do now was prepared for the worst and hope for the best. She untangled from Zephyr’s protective hug and perched at her desk, hands poised over the keyboard, but they didn’t connect, a warning bell in Holly’s head reminding her Zephyr was still Q, and still government.

"What's wrong?"

"I can't do this with you watching." It only took a moment for a look of realisation to cross his face. Much of what she was about to do was not really legal. Also, she wanted to be able to do the same thing to Q-Branch if she needed to.

"Do you want me to leave?"

"No." Zephyr looked around the room before moving to sit at the head of her bed next to her desk, leaving him unable to see her screen but still around for Holly. Holly nodded in agreement at his choice as she started opening programs, first stop was American governments, where she’d first encountered Jamie. Once the search was running she’d start on the vodka, if Zephyr was lucky she might share.

Chapter Text

As always Holly pulled herself together and got to work, even with the constant feeling of being watched grating on her sense of freedom, she marched on. While being stalked by both sides, she plotted.

It had been so tempting to go full out, create a counter to Jamie for her to play with while giving Mycroft someone else to track down. It would have been fun, pulling their strings, watching them dance. All while they tried to get her to work for them, unaware she was on the other side. She’d had some fun with Zephyr playing around with that thought, once she’d completely ruled the idea out.

The problem was she would have needed an end game and those were boring. A showdown between questionable good, questionable evil, and her? Outdated, overused and honestly, she couldn’t find one that would have been awesome enough for her. So for now she’d continue playing the stressed out uni student and see what they tried sway her with. It briefly reminded her of innocently collecting all the freebies at fresher’s fair, all the way back at the beginning of her first year. She’d had no intention of joining anything then either, though at least this time she was a bit more up front about it.

----

It had started a little after her first lecture back.

Jamie wined and dined her at The Square after a full day of lectures. Mycroft followed the next day with afternoon tea at The Ritz and questions. Holly didn’t appreciate having to dress up for either.

Jamie presented her with an expensive necklace for her birthday, gently sweeping her hair to the side to put it around Holly’s neck herself. Mycroft followed the next day with afternoon tea again, making a pointed comment about the legitimacy of gifts and how easily they could hide things. Holly told him to back off, though she hadn’t worn the necklace to the meeting on purpose.

Jamie bumped into her for a casual jog around Hyde Park in the early morning. Mycroft joined her the same afternoon. Holly switched to jogging around St James Park the next day realising she should start breaking habits.

Jamie took her to London Zoo and kissed her. Holly stayed inside the next day vaguely fearful that Mycroft would try something similar as he had already broken the pattern of afternoon tea. Instead Holly updated Zephyr, including the kiss, even though they hadn’t defined their relationship.

----

“Is there something going on between you and Mycroft?” John had asked after Mycroft dropped by. Jamie had surprised Holly with an evening out to watch a musical last night and spent the entire time with an arm around her almost possessively. Holly violently shook her head from her doorway, having only come out once she knew Mycroft was gone.

“Why would you even suggest such a thing?”

“He’s come here a lot asking for you.” John was giving her a look, he could tell something was up.

“Please continue to pretend I’m never here.” Like Mycroft couldn’t just check the surveillance.

“Only if you tell me why he’s looking for you.” Holly couldn’t tell him about Jamie. John had already done this once, he shouldn’t have to do it again.

“I’m starting the last year of my degree so I’m starting to get offers for work for when I do finish. Mycroft appears to be trying to counter one of the other more interested parties.” It fit in with how she was trying to keep it.

“And the rest?” Holly tried to look innocent. “When you suddenly become less social it becomes very suspicious.” Damn, she’d tried to be more subtle this time. With Jamie’s behaviour and escalation of affection Holly didn’t want to find out what she was like if she got jealous of one of her friends, or worse, Zephyr.

“It’s my last year, I’ve managed to coast the last two years, but I can’t do that this year. I’ve got my dissertation to write, and the other assignments on top of that, plus exams.”

“Did Mycroft fall for that?” Holly doubted it but knew he couldn’t dispute it.

“I’m trying to keep my life expectancy nice and healthy here, please don’t ruin it.”

“Is it that bad?” Holly shrugged, she had no idea what Jamie was capable of. Research had suggested she was very behind the scenes back in America, leading them to believe she was male so she could fly under the radar. What she was doing in London was very different, so Holly couldn’t use the information she’d found to make any informed decisions on what Jamie would do.

Holly couldn’t help but wonder if she was being used to play with a Holmes again. The pattern of behaviour was odd enough, even from when Jamie was just in London, to make it difficult to deduce her next move. The second ‘deduce’ had come to mind so had Sherlock, and Mycroft by proxy of Sherlock being allegedly dead.

Still, she would play it by ear and the second things got a bit hot she would throw up a smoke screen and disappear for a while.

----

“So remember that bug out bag I asked about when you were on your date?”

“Still thinking about that?”

“I thought you would be a good person to ask for some assistance, I’ve got some escape routes planned with some help but when push comes to shove I don’t know how much I’ll be able to rely on that source.” Alex was still government at the end of the day and Holly didn’t know where his loyalties would lie. Zephyr was worse for that, being directly linked to Mycroft.

“What makes you think I’ll be able to help?” Mary didn’t look scared of her, her posture stayed casual, but her voice had steel in it. She was running from the same things Holly hoped to never have to.

“I’m not Sherlock, but I know things, not details, but enough to know you can help. I can make this mutually beneficial for you.” Holly could see Mary tense up, hand itching for something, probably a gun, maybe a knife, Holly didn’t know what she favoured.

“Are we alone?” Holly knew she didn’t just mean physically in the room. She’d put up full blackout protocol before starting the conversation.

“Any potential guests are blocked.” Mary raised an eyebrow. “I regularly test it against the best eavesdropping methods that exist.”

“I’ll help you, but you can’t mention this to anyone. Especially John.” Holly could see she cared about the doctor and it was good to see. John cared so much about others he deserved the same in return.

“It’s not for me to share.” Holly said in agreement, she’d known that was coming. She could add it to her list of things John deserved to know but she couldn’t tell him as much as she wanted to. She owed him her life and it hurt to keep things from him, and if not knowing ever endangered his life she would tell him in a heartbeat.

----

Things quietened after the first couple of weeks of her semester, Holly attended every session required of her course. She had to keep up the impression she was focused on her studies and so couldn’t be bothered by job offers. Jodie and Matt were buckling down too, but by the October reading week they were all restless.

It was Matt’s idea, he and James had been discussing cars they would hypothetically get if they had the money. That had progressed to playful insulting of the others ability to drive. Lauren was visiting and delighted in taking digs at her brothers driving ability.

At first they played Mario Kart to settle it. Matt won the tournament. James claimed it wasn’t the same are real driving. It hadn’t helped Lauren had targeted James in all their races.

This ended up with the five of them at a go-kart track.

Had she been less restless might have let them fight it out on the track alone. Keep it fairly comparing the two of them. But there was something about the smell of high octane fuel that just got her blood pumping and so she joined them on track. Lauren followed after her brother had called her out on her heckling and soon the four of them were speeding around the course. It had been a while since she’d been behind the wheel and it took a while to get used to the balance of the kart and brace herself as she threw it around corners. It was freeing; the speed, the disconnect from the world, and the hyperfocus on the track. She took each corner with analytical precision, each overtake with only the mildest of vicious glee.

She had fun with James, he’d clearly had training in defensive driving as he tried to keep her from overtaking. All it took was the slightest mistake cause by a feint and she pushed through. Lauren was a little more aggressive about it which had allowed James to catch up and for a few laps she was sandwiched between the two. It had taken skill and a chance to get past Lauren and let the siblings battle it out behind her.

“Holly, can I see your driving license?” Jodie asked as the group were pulling off their helmets. Holly absently took it out, not bothering to question it, still on a post driving high. Then she noticed Jodie stashing it in her bag.

“Hey?”

“Having just watched that, I don’t think any reasonable person should have given you this.” Holly snatched it back.

“I passed my test first time fair and square, only two minors. I obey the Highway Code. It just doesn’t apply to the track.” It wasn’t the first time someone had questioned her driving. Her parents had taken the family karting just before she’d left for Uni and both had shown similar reactions, though she could see her dad had been grinning the entire time. “I didn’t touch any of them, I’d say it was safe driving.” Every manoeuvre had been calculated within an inch of its life.

“I’ve seen you less aggressive when starting bar fights.” Which was strange as Holly had never felt aggressive while driving a go-cart. Driving on the road, yes. Other drivers were predictable stupid most of the time, and when they proved it, as much as she may have seen it coming, it still irritated her.

“I wouldn’t say aggressive, maybe forceful.”

--

Jamie turned up with a Lamborghini the next morning and tickets to a track day at Brands Hatch.

----

Every year in the first semester the University held a jobs fair. Holly had always missed it, knowing she’d stay freelance out of uni and not wanting to show any interest in a proper job in case someone got the wrong idea. However, now she had interest she decided to fuel it. So with Matt she wandered around the various stalls, eyeing up some of the bigger names in technology. A completely generic stand somehow managed to catch Holly’s eye. Maybe because it was sandwiched between two flashy stands, maybe because with a bit of attention she realised it was a cover for MI6.

It did seem a bit odd that they would send Moneypenny, Holly knew she’d been an agent. The man next to her didn’t seem any less dangerous. Either there was something going down or they had overestimated Uni students.

“No free pens?” Holly asked Eve as she pretended to look at one of the leaflets displayed on the table. Matt was at the stall next to hers distracted by a presentation.

“Q says you don’t need a pen, you’re hired.” Moneypenny deadpanned with a roll of her eyes. Holly assumed she has an earpiece in, that meant an operation in progress.

“I don’t know, I’ve had some pretty good offers so far.” Holly said casually, just to tease a little.

“Flirt on your own time.” Holly kind of wanted to know what Q had said

“Fine. Tell me about your company, Universal Exports? You guys have no imagination.” It was about the most generic name someone could have thought up thirty years ago.

“We’re not actually looking for employees.”

“In this entire hall yours is the only one with no students, a little suspicious. Besides, I attract trouble, it might get your job done quicker.”

Chapter Text

It was late October when Zephyr asked for a favour. It was good timing; Holly had to submit an ethics report before she could do the study for her dissertation and having submitted it, she now had to wait for her supervisor to get around to looking at it. She was still pretending to do more studying than she actually needed to, half hoping that Jamie and Mycroft would lose interest by her final exams.

Holly had been expecting another Holmes family meal turned disaster or similar and had been willing to ride it out, a necessary evil. She’d been right about part of it. It was a Holmes thing and ended up with her making the jump from Russian to Serbian with her language skills. It wasn’t a huge step, kind of like reading Scottish tweets, you just had to relax the language rules a bit and learn a few extra bits. This was followed by guiding Mycroft through infiltrating a Serbian base, culminating in him being installed as a guard where Sherlock was being interrogated while Holly cleared their escape. It was both fun and stressful, an interesting mix but not one Holly hoped to have to deal with too often, not with someone else’s life on the line. Especially when she didn’t particularly care for that person.

The whole thing was a little surreal. Until she didn’t even get a thank you from either of them, then it was business as usual. She was certain if it ever got mentioned both of them would deny her involvement, maybe even the existence of the operation.

----

“Ah Holly, could you point the crossbow somewhere else?” It was only a hand crossbow Holly was holding. She’d grabbed it when she’d heard Martha scream, and had been halfway up the stairs by the time the dish had smashed against the floor.

“You scared Martha, apologise.” Sherlock gave her an ‘are you kidding me look’, his face was still a bit swollen from where Holly had been told John had head-butted him, several times. “Legally you’re still dead, paperwork hasn’t gone through yet. Worst I can do is desecrate a corpse.” Holly had tried not to be too gleeful, but got the feeling she hadn’t been successful. Sherlock slowly turned to Martha and gave one of his rare genuine apologies. Reluctantly Holly lowered the crossbow, realising it had been missed the few times her room had been searched. That was going to be fun to explain.

On the plus side she wouldn’t keep being corrected when she referred to Sherlock in the present tense.

----

“Where did you get the crossbow?” Zephyr tried to disguise it as casual conversation, but with a video chat Holly could see the curiosity burning and she knew exactly why. She’s let in in the camera’s view on purpose. She didn’t trust Sherlock to not spill the beans later, so wanted to reveal it on her own terms.

“In my room? I’ve had it since sixth form. Made it in my spare time.” Even with him having spent time in her room while she had been in America, and a team of agents turning over her room it had been undisturbed, Holly was a little proud. She wouldn’t get away with it again though. Not unless she’d forgotten about something else she’d hidden in her room.

“It was in your room since you moved to London?”

“Would you believe me if I said I moved it there after my room was searched?” The look she got said no. “If it had been found during said search, would I have been given it back?” The look changed to a guiltier one. “Unfortunately I am not willing to share any hiding places that may have been missed. I don’t get paid to do your people’s jobs, sorry.” It wasn’t her fault they only search her room and bathroom, starting at the bottom of the stairs. There was a reason that one step creaked.

“So I hear John got engaged.” Holly appreciated the clear change in conversation.

“Same night Sherlock made his official reappearance, I’m not sure if it was planned, and if it was then by whom. I think Mycroft just likes messing with them. He needs a new hobby.”

“His main hobby is playing games with countries.”

“Get him a copy of Civ then, less real world consequences. I plan on travelling when I graduate and don’t want to have to check to make sure he isn’t going to destabilise the countries on my itinerary.”

“You said you didn’t have plans post graduation?” In her defence she’d only decided recently, with people vying for her attention is was getting a little suffocating and she needed time out of the country to clear her head and decide what she was going to do with her life.

“That’s what I tell everyone else, I don’t want them involved.”

----

With John and Sherlock back to their usual hijinks, Holly worried a bit for them, until she saw Mary stepping up to protect them both. It kept Holly from having to step in, potentially ruining her studious act. She was a little concerned after John had been drugged and dumped under a bonfire on the fifth. It felt like the beginning of something, a shake down, with Sherlock back and Mary joining their hijinks.

Holly felt bad when she looked into Mary’s past, though it didn’t last much longer than the short search. Something was off about it, it was too empty. She liked Mary, and it would bug her, but Holly left it as an open search, not digging further, but notification of anything new. She just hoped it wouldn’t be another Moriarty, she still hadn’t got rid of the one she had.

Though Jamie had been laying low since the bonfire night incident. Holly wasn’t sure why and the gorgeous blonde was not forthcoming when she took Holly out for a day in the various wintery events that had popped up around London. But that was the only time Holly saw her in winter so she didn't have time to pry.

----

By Christmas Holly still wasn’t talking to her grandmother, and refused to visit during the holidays. It still felt raw, the manipulation from her own family. Her own grandmother. She’d spent more than a few nights wondering what the plan had been, and where exactly had it gone wrong.

Of all the people she could have called she ended up talking to Ivan.

“You have a good skill set kid, Victoria saw potential in you and built on it but she could only do so much. She trained Holmes and maybe she wanted him train you. You are her legacy.”

“Have you met Mycroft? He’s a wanker. Neither of his brothers want to work for him either and they’re both geniuses.”

“Would you work for your siblings?”

“I don’t want to work for anyone. I like freelance on my terms.” Ivan laughed at that. Holly knew it was almost an impossible dream, she’d always have to negotiate and concede terms.

“I’ve heard another Moriarty has taken an interest in you.” Oh, yeah, there was that too. Even if she wanted freelance they would always be someone wanted exclusivity, a pet genius. “Be careful when you play with puppet masters Holly, you are still new and I don’t think you are yet able to cut all of the strings.” Before Holly could ask him to clarify that he interrupted. “I must go Holly, call your grandmother, she only wants to protect you.” Followed by the dead silence of the ended call. Holly sunk into her chair a little mulling over the parting advice.

She wanted to talk to someone else, but everyone was busy. Christmas was naturally a busy time for SIS, and her friends had family to visit. She wasn’t sure if it was Sherlock or Mary playing third wheel, but either way she would just be tagging along as a forth.

She ended up in the morgue with Molly on Christmas Eve. She’d snuck in a pair wine glasses and some cranberry juice, knowing Molly wouldn’t drink alcohol while working, and they both made highly inappropriate morbid jokes until Molly’s boyfriend turned up at the end of her shift.

----

Early January found the students at their usual pub planning their post-graduation trip. It had been Jodie’s idea, naturally, with the four of them potentially going separate ways it would be nice to do something together first. Despite the nagging voice in the back of Holly’s head she was looking forward to it.

They decided on a week in New York City. A week Holly would have to attempt to not be a trouble magnet. It was a big city, how hard could it be? Holly looked it up, London was geographically bigger maybe less trouble. She then moved her search to what she was legally allowed to carry in NYC and memorising the areas they planned to visit.

Jodie said it was overkill, she was the only one though. James had contributed to her overkill with his own ideas with Matt probing the plans for holes.

“Why does it sound like we’re expecting people trying to kill us while where there?” Jodie hissed when they’d moved to the plans for if someone drew a gun.

“It’s America…?” But also Holly was preparing for the worst, it was Jamie’s home turf and this trip was putting her friends in the mix. Holly had voted against New York for many reasons including this one, but the other three had overruled her. So now she could only over prepare and hope she didn’t need to use her trump card.

“It’s not that bad.”

“Probably not, but it’s good to have a plan anyway.”

“That’s always a good idea.” Pushing through one of the nearby groups, picking up a chair as he passed Alex sat down at the table with his drink. “Hi, I’m Alex,” He didn’t need that charming grin when he introduced himself to James, but he had it anyway.

“He sometimes hangs out with us, but works abroad a lot.” Holly offered as an explanation.

“That’s an interesting way of describing friendship.”

----

Even having had the whole year to plan, Holly was still mulling over new scenarios for post Uni while she waited for her dissertation to print. 10,036 words, two copies, bound separately. It was like computers and email hadn’t been around for years, could have just sent in a PDF.

Travelling was still high on her list, a tour of Europe at least, maybe hit up some of the major hubs of the world, some of the silicon cities. Each potential destination had plans for quick easy escapes. She didn’t have the spare funds to put bugout packs in each city she wanted to visit, especially when she didn’t even know which ones she’d go to. It would be an ongoing project though.

“Is that Sherlock?” Jodie slurred, after they’d handed in their dissertations they’d hit up the pub again, Matt had bowed out two drinks ago. Jodie had joked that they should start paying rent on their table.

“Oh, yes, John and Sherlock are doing a pub crawl for John’s bachelor party, I thought they were going to wait for Lestrade. Anyway, Sherlock picked the nearest pub for each major case they’ve done. Jeez, are those measuring cylinders?”

“Oh, wow, yes, I bet that was Sherlock idea. They already look wasted.”

“Neither of them drink much so it’s not that surprising.”

“You still up for coming with me to the wedding? You can still back out.”

“I’m sure, you don’t have to keep asking.” Both Holly and Zephyr had agreed she should take someone else, two Holmes at the same social event was recipe for disaster. Sherlock on his own would probably be a disaster, but John would reign him in.

“I know, I’m just nervous, a lot’s going on and after exams we’re let loose into the world, it’s just a big change I can’t plan a huge amount for, too many variables.” Ah, Holly realised after she took a breath she was a little too drunk and going into slightly overshare mode. She hadn’t been prepared to admit that to anyone.

“You’ll take it in your stride. You’ve always bounced back from whatever shit you get into.”

“But what if the trampoline breaks?”

“You’re reading a little too far into the metaphor.”

Chapter Text

Of course there was an attempted murder at the wedding. It had been going so well, surprisingly decent weather, Sherlock was behaving himself, food was good. Then right in the middle of the best man speech it was like a switch had been flipped and Sherlock got intense about someone being murdered at the wedding. John’s face had been priceless though.

The day was saved of course. An odd case, probably not helped by Holly and Jodie vaguely following the trio around the venue while somehow always managing to keep their drinks topped up. After a while they started flagging, the heels making their feet ache, how Mary carried on without even looking vaguely tired was impressive.

When the case was solved and John’s old friend being cared for with most of the guests none the wiser, a toast was raised, following Sherlock’s aborted one and starting off the evening’s party.

----

Graduation was a similarly fancy affair with less murder. James attended as a guest, he still had another year to go but he was part of the group regardless. Holly spotted Zephyr on the edge near an exit, an agent not too far off. He’d promised to try to make it and Holly was happy he had managed to, they were still keeping low key especially as Jamie had been becoming more interested in the last few months. He’d slipped away as the audience dispersed, Holly was sad to see him go, she’d kind of hoped he’d be able to stick around but she was the reason he couldn’t.

Holly’s parents almost managed go the whole afternoon without making a dig at her degree. But she let it slide when they arrived at 221 and outside was the motorbike she’d worked on with her dad when she was just a kid. He’d done the same for all of them at some point, but Holly had treasured the time spent together before she turned to computing and glued herself to a computer.

“I trust that even if you have a degree in a soft science you still know how to take care of her.” Her dad had half asked, holding out the key for her. Holly grinned, thinking of all the things she’d created since starting her degree.

“Like I ever stopped being an engineer at heart. I may have built a few things in my spare time,” Holly mentioned almost casually. She didn’t mention how most of them had either been confiscated, destroyed or still hidden from certain nosy intelligence agents. Holly was certain she could see her dad tearing up, her mum wasn’t trying to hide it as she was pulling into a hug. “I still think psychology is a good subject, don’t think this changes that.”

“We love you anyway.” Good enough.

“Holly.” Holly’s good mood shrivelled up a little at her grandmother’s voice. Despite Ivan’s advice Holly had refused to make nice with Victoria. She still felt the sting of betrayal as she looked at her grandmother. “Congratulations on your first class degree, you’ve worked hard these past three years.” In her hand was a thick envelope. “You may want to open it later.” Victoria didn’t look like she felt any reproach for what she had done, just a grim look of determination, reminding Holly that she was now fair game, this is what she had chosen. She could have found protection in that time, but she was stubborn enough to try it on her own first.

“Thank you.”

“Let’s go inside” Holly’s mum broke the frosty pause, giving her own mother a questioning look.

----

So the one week in New York had actually morphed into two during the planning phase, allowing them some free time instead of jamming everything in. They visited the touristy spots, caught a Broadway show and went to Madison Square Garden for a game. They even took a day trip to Philadelphia, taking a historical tour through the city.

It was almost a reflex to keep an eye out for problems, and while they wandered around doing a weird Avengers New York tour they had put together, Holly’s gut pinged majorly. Her phone rang, startling her a little. The number was hidden, not something that could happen often. Holly was tempted to ignore it, and had it just been her in New York she would have, but she had her friends to worry about too. She hung back a few paces from them as she answered, making sure to keep them within her vision while also scanning the buildings they walked passed.

“You’ve been in New York a week and you haven’t sought me out? I’m hurt.” Jamie’s silky voice put Holly on edge.

“I wasn’t aware you were over here. You seemed quite happy in London, it is the better city after all.”

“With you visiting my home ground I couldn’t resist. I want to take you out.” Jamie was in full on seduction mode. Holly hadn’t figured out if that was a good thing or not. Most of her interactions seemed to have Jamie in some sort of seductive mode, and honestly Holly wasn’t sure if that was just her MO or if she was actually getting special treatment,

“I have a very full itinerary.”

“I’m sure your friends would be fine without you for a bit.” There was enough of an emphasis on ‘friends’ Holly could hear the implications, maybe it was a Moriarty trademark.

“I gave your brother the same warning, touch my friends and I burn down your operation. You will not get another warning.” Not that Holly had a proper plan for how to take Jamie down, but she could probably bluff it until she figured it out.

“Friends are such a weakness. They give so much leverage over a person, enough to make them dance.” Ah and that Moriarty trait of not actually listening to her threats. Holly hung up the call and sent a file to Mycroft before catching up with her friends. She would have to be a little more watchful as this was likely to bite her in the arse but she was a little fed up. She knew she’d brought this upon herself in a way, but she also knew that just a flat out ‘No’ likely wouldn’t be an acceptable answer to either side at this time.

“You remember that woman from the spa?” Holly tried to be casual as she nudged Jodie away from looking at the map on her phone

“The one that kidnapped you? Let me guess, she’s in New York?” Jodie was getting a little genre-savy, not the worst thing considering the genre.

“Quite possibly.”

“Why don’t you just take her down?” Matt joined them, moving them to a little plaza out of the way of the rest of the people on the sidewalk and including James into the conversation. That was a good question, Holly had always brushed it away as she had studying and her future to worry about but currently her future was open, uni was finished and she didn’t actually have a job lined up yet. She didn’t really have an excuse any more.

“I think at this point it might be procrastination.”

“Maybe give it a bit higher priority? It will start to overflow, remember Moriarty, how he started to get to me and Molly?” Holly’s gut twisted, while she hadn’t been the target of Jim, Jodie was right, they didn’t care about bystanders, they were just pawns in the bigger game.

“Ok. No deviations from out itinerary unless I approve it. Not even an unscheduled pee break without my say so. I need to keep you guys safe. If I disappear, don’t look for me, just get somewhere safe and get back to London.” She would have to work on a long term plan, especially for James with his past, hopefully the changes she’d implemented back in MI6 were holding up to any scrutiny.

----

Thankfully one of Holly’s preplanned events was dinner at a fancy restaurant with a surprise guest. Just the right kind of thing to lighten the mood.

“The Rick Castle?! When did you meet him? Why didn’t you tell me? I would have brought my books for him to sign.” There had naturally been questions when there were extra seats at the table Holly had reserved.

“You don’t have the luggage space.”

“I do have a lot of books out. Holly, good to see you again.” Behind Rick was Alexis looking a little nervous.

“You too Rick. I got the book you sent me, loved it. You gave Nikki and Ivy such an fun sibling relationship, it was a new dimension to Nikki. Is your mother not coming?” Holly introduced around while gesturing for people to sit.

“She has a date apparently, but if you see her walk past the window a few times then don’t be surprised. Alexis was actually hoping to pick your brains over colleges, all of you if you don’t mind? She’s decided to look abroad.”

“Dad! I just wanted to widen my options. England has some very prestigious universities.”

“Drinking age is lower in the UK.” Jodie pointed out, having resented just been IDed for her drink and having to argue that her passport was a valid form of ID.

“Oh I’m not going to party.” That was met with a few snorts and giggles around the table.

“Don’t worry, it didn’t stop us getting high grades, Uni isn’t just for study, it’s socialising, networking and generally having that first step towards being an independent adult. Holly constantly turned up to her her morning lectures with cake. Just because she could.” The breakfast cake was probably the tamest thing she did at university.

“I did a lot of things just because I could.” Not all of them had been the best options admittedly, but she’d at least had the freedom to choose.

“Yeah, considering the consequences maybe you aren’t the best example.”

“Last time in New York wasn’t an isolated incident?” Rick had that writers gleam in his eyes.

“Of course not.”

“I would like to pick your brain again, just in case Ivy makes another appearance.”

“That reminds me, how is Detective Beckett?” From then the night moved on smoothly, catching up and talking about whatever came up, though Holly’s tales came slightly censored, she suspected so were some of James’s. At the end Holly pulled Rick to the side to warn him about Jamie, and suggested he tell Beckett. If nothing else Holly knew that Moriarty was wanted in the US, and so some insight would probably be appreciated.

----

“A Holmes Holly?” A Russian tinted voice surprised her as they were looking around Central Park Zoo. Much to Holly’s greater surprise it was both of her grandparents there. Looking around showed her friends watching the lemurs running around their enclosure, distracted from her little family gathering.

“Yeah, Victoria said the same thing. I thought you were based in Washington. You complained last time I was over that I was in the wrong state.”

“I am allowed holiday on occasion.”

“Did you open the envelope? Technically it’s from both of us.” Inside had been a few fake passports, some common currencies and a bug out bag list. She’d managed to assemble and plant one before she’d left for the trip.

“I did, thank you. I’m not sure who you think I’ll be running from but I’m always glad to be more prepared.” They both gave knowing but sympathetic looks.

“Hopefully you’ll never have to need any of it, but I see a lot of myself in you. Almost makes me wish I could do it all again.” Victoria looked wistful as she silently reminisced.

“We can still have adventures.” Ivan reassured her placing an arm around her shoulders. “In fact, I may have something fun coming up, if you would like to join me?”

“Just like old times?”

“Of course.” As much as Holly was still a little mad at her grandmother she was kind of glad she was happy. The kind of happiness she hoped she would get once things calmed down. Her gut told her it would be a while, and with any luck it would be worth it.

“Enjoy the rest of your trip with your friends, and if you are ever looking for a job...” At least she wasn’t pushing it this time.

“I’ll keep you in mind.” With that her grandparents linked arms and meandered towards another exhibit.

Chapter Text

Holly wasn’t a huge fan of dressing up for a fancy restaurant, let alone for one of the most exclusive restaurants in London, but she was here for a reason and that reason was damage control. She’d pulled out all the stops, to the point she was certain Zephyr was jealous. She’d make it up to him.

Opposite her sat Jamie looking as effortlessly gorgeous as usual as she sipped from her wine glass. Holly’s was untouched on the table, she was sure it was lovely but couldn’t stomach it right now. With Jamie having done so much for Holly to try to sway her Holly had decided to do the same when saying not now. It was the least she could do.

“Jim warned me about this.” It had been so long since Holly had thought about Jim, it’d been a little traumatising to say the least, and even now she could feel the tightness of the scar on her collar making itself known. “He mentioned you were resisting their side. You were angry at everyone, it should have been easy to recruit you then. Maybe I waited too long.”

“Honestly, he stabbed me, not exactly a great incentive to help anyone related to him.”

“Yeah, I didn’t get to thank him for that. He never did make things easy for me.” Jamie seemed so casual talking about her deceased crazy brother. It was very surreal. “I am glad he pointed me towards you. Your work was impressive and I’ve enjoyed getting to know you.” No matter how pleasant Jamie was making this Holly still had a weight in her gut reminding her of how nice Jim seemed and how quickly he flipped.

“It was good to work with you. Projects like that are always fun.”

“So you want to what, freelance for a few years?”

“Maybe longer. I just need some time to find where I want to be, independent of people pulling my strings.”

“What about your cute little boyfriend, he’s on a side.” It didn’t surprise Holly that Jamie knew about Zephyr, but she was glad he’d been left alone.

“We keep sides out of our relationship.” As much as possible anyway.

“Well, as much as I would love for you to be mine right now, I acknowledge these things cannot be forced when you want the best out of someone. I will open this offer to you again when you need it, but the terms may not be as favourable to you.” And with that Holly resolved to never hit rock bottom and need to ask Jamie for help. “Would I be right in assuming you will also be turning down the Iceman?”

There was a reason Holly had turned down Jamie first. She knew if she didn’t sever this now then Mycroft would try to convince her to go undercover or some shit, no end game, just an angle if he needed it. Though Jamie wasn’t really helping either, leaving the door open. That was probably why she was being so gentle about all of this, so Holly wouldn’t be too reluctant about asking for help.

“I keep trying, and I will keep trying.” Mycroft was harder to stop, but even he knew not to force her, he’d shown his trump card but not used it. There had to be a reason for that, but for now, it seemed to show he wasn’t going to fight too hard.

----

With the flimsy protection of working towards her degree gone, Holly quickly but subtly set up her escape plans. Mycroft still was looking for Supernova and Holly wanted to be prepared if he found out, it was unlikely she’d be able to keep it quiet forever. She still felt bad not telling Zephyr about some of the plans. She trusted him, but knew he would be put in a difficult position if she wasn’t careful. If nothing else she wanted to leave him with plausible deniability.

Despite the new freedom in their relationship Zephyr had shown he knew her well. For her birthday they had camped out in his living room eating take out and drinking wine while binging Holly’s favourite films, over half of which were Marvel. Holly could feel the nugget of guilt in her stomach, knowing how easily this could be ruined if she slipped up.

She resolved to make it up to him by getting him the best Christmas present ever. Then after searching for ten minutes realised commercially available stuff just wasn’t good enough. He was the head of the SIS’s entire tech department, he wasn’t going to want some mass-produced toy.

The Nintendo switch kept catching her eye though, the design and flexibility of use had been a keen interest with Holly, hoping that it fared better than the Wii U had. From what she had been seeing, other than a few initial problems it had been doing quite well. Maybe it could do better with her guidance.

The next day one turned up addressed to Sherlock, though redirected to Holly. Sherlock often bought weird stuff for cases so it wouldn’t flag up and hopefully Holly could keep this a surprise. She had until Christmas Eve to fill it up with all the fun and games she could, even some of her prized programs as she was feeling generous. She’d lock down all of it though, he could have a copy, but she wasn’t going to let him reproduce it easily.

----

Holly also warned her friends of the change, they had all gone out drinking followed by a drunken gaming session. She wasn’t sure how much to share as James was there and though his file said he was retired from Cherub, she couldn’t guarantee no links back.

It was late that evening when Holly got a call, Sherlock had been shot. Honestly, Holly was almost surprised it was the first time, but guns were reasonably uncommon even in London. Her shoes were passed to her as she hung up, her jacket thrown at her as she stumbled out of the door. Normally Holly would have enjoyed the exercise walking to the hospital, but she opted for the tube, still not fully comfortable with cabs after John’s first case with Sherlock.

There was quite a gathering in the waiting area Holly was directed to. John and Mary were both there, Mycroft was lurking in a corner looking a little pale. Zephyr was sat in one of the chairs staring at a wall, even as Holly sat next to him.

“Any news?”

“He’s still in surgery. It was a chest shot. It’s lucky he’s still alive, if John hadn’t been nearby I don’t know if he would be.” His voice sounded hollow and almost clinical. Holly didn’t know what to say, she’d never been in this position and didn’t want to say empty words. She reached over to hold his hand, at least to get him to stop fidgeting with his. “Wasn’t it your games night? You didn’t need to come.”

“I wanted to come, I want to be here for you.” She squeezed his hand reassuringly, feeling a gentle squeeze back.

“My parents are on their way. You don’t have to stay.” That would be an awful lot of Holmes’s.

“I’m sure it will be fine. I’m staying for as long as you want me here.”

“You really drank a lot at games night.” She could see the hint of a teasing smile, she would have stayed regardless and they both knew it.

----

With the final touches to the software of the newly upgraded Switch Holly, slide it into its case, zipped it up into its armoured case and stuck the bow to it. She couldn’t wait to see Zephyrs face as he explored it. Still grinning at the thought she carefully placed the case in her backpack on her bed, her bikes saddlebags already packed. A quick pee break then she was climbing into her bike leathers. It had been a bit of a splurge, but she had fallen in love with them and how she looked in them. They did, however, take a while to get in and out of, not fully worn in yet. Between that and the software taking a bit longer to fully install, it was a bit later than she planned when she hit the road on her bike.

Traffic was surprisingly light in places considering the date, though having a bike did help as long as she was careful, she didn’t entirely trust cars when she was on her bike. Though in all fairness, she didn’t trust them when she was driving a car either. Her policy was to just assume they will all do something stupid and drive accordingly. The country lanes leading up to the Holmes cottage was almost eerily calm. With mostly open fields around they were only really used as back routes at this time of year. She pulled up behind the two parked cars, she recognised John and Mary’s, and assumed the other one was the Holmes parents’. She wheeled the bike back down next to John’s car, closer to the main road. She wouldn’t be staying long, as much as she wanted to spend Christmas with Zephyr, his parents had gotten there first and Holly didn’t think Christmas would survive the full Holmes family and her. It was a shame but she’d get in there first next time.

As she trudged towards the cottage she could see Zephyr waiting at the gate and as she got closer she could see the grin on his face, one easily matched on her own face. He was quite bundled up and Holly wondered how long he had been waiting outside.
“Happy Christmas.”

“Let’s go straight though, they’re all being insufferable. Oh, and merry Christmas.” Zephyr directed her to the house wrapping an arm around her. She wasn’t sure if it was just affection or in case she remembered what a bad idea this was. There were brief hellos in the living room with Sherlock, John and Mary, through in the kitchen Mycroft and his mum were arguing as he moved a chopping board of potatoes off his laptop. It briefly paused to allow festive greetings and an offer of tea but Zephyr made sure they kept moving straight out the back door into the garden and out of the gate at the end of it. Holly suspected the only reason they’d gone through the house was so they knew she was there.

“Who was the guy by the sink?” Holly asked as they meandered through a wild meadow.

“Friend of Sherlock’s.”

“Sherlock has exactly one friend and that wasn’t John.” Everyone else only counted as acquaintances.

“We don’t question it.” That sounded like a bad idea, but so did arguing with Sherlock. “Did you want a drink? I know you still have a long ride ahead so I wasn’t sure.” They stopped by a mostly crumbled stone wall.

“I’ll pass, thanks.” They clambered over the lowest point of the wall and Holly had to stop to take in the view from the top of the hill that the wall crested. Laid out before her was what seemed to be half the countryside, lumpy and uneven but breath-taking. Fields in slightly different shades of green and brown made a patchwork across the landscape, dotted with dark green groves. Summer would look amazing from here, but in winter, with all the muted colours contrasting the bold evergreens it had its charm.

“Whenever Mummy insisted we go outside for fresh air this is where I’d go,” Zephyr explained as he perched on the wall, his feet only just off the ground. Holly had to hoist herself up a little more, the leathers protecting her from the cold stones but as soon as she was stable Zephyr shuffled over to cuddle her in again, Holly leant her head against his shoulder, feeling his head leaning against hers in response. “I liked seeing the colours change throughout the year.”

“It’s stunning.” Holly really missed the countryside when she was in London, the parks were nice but tame. One day she’d take Zephyr to where she used to go as a kid, it wasn’t a view like this but hidden deep in the woods giving a feel of seclusion and peace.

Holly felt the arm around her slowly slacken before going completely limp, the only warning she got before Zephyr started to topple. Panic immediately set in as she shifted to stabilise him. From how his head lolled it was clear he was unconscious. An iron grip seized Holly’s chest as she tried to rouse him, thankful she could at least find a pulse and that he seemed to be breathing ok. She looked back towards the house, maybe hoping someone would coincidently be coming to look for them, or she could wave and get someone’s attention. The spot was just out of sight of the house, the old tree they had passed directly blocked the house with its sprawling branches.

It was difficult to get her phone out of her jacket while keeping Zephyr from falling but she managed it, calling every number of the house occupants one by one to no answer. What was odd was Sherlock declined the call, the rest just rang out. Something was up. Eyeing up the man half lying against her, Holly realised she was either going to have to wait this out or get him back to the house. The house would be warmer at least, and she could find out what was going on.

With one hand to keep him balanced Holly swivelled on the wall and slide down carefully, switching hands she shifted her backpack to hang over her chest, all while trying to figure out how best to get Zephyr back to the house.

As she shuffled him around for comfort Holly was thankful for Zephyrs slight frame. She wasn’t built for this kind of lifting, but she was determined and it didn’t look too far. She sagged a little as she took his full weight, she moved her focus to her destination, every step would take her closer, the weight didn’t matter, each step she took did.

While changing her thoughts did help, by the time Holly reached the tree, halfway to the house, she couldn’t ignore her muscles aching and the sweat drenching her clothes. She almost stopped, but she knew if she did it would be difficult to start again. Another foot in front of the other and she kept moving.

The latch on the garden gate proved a little fiddly as she was holding Zephyr with both hands. She managed to crouch and nudge it with her elbow, leaning on the gate so it opened the second the latch was released. When she got to the kitchen door it suddenly opened and Holly was face to face with the unknown man from before. He reached out to help get Zephyr inside. Holly hesitated for a second before relenting, Sherlock wouldn’t actively put his family in danger with this person. With Zephyr slumped over a table like his mother and Mycroft Holly immediately turned on the man, grabbing his arm and twisting it into a lock.

“What the fuck?” Holly growled.

“You were late. Sherlock told me you were supposed to be here an hour earlier.”

“Why are they unconscious dipshit?”

“They’re only drugged, it’s really safe, all controlled.” The guy didn’t look like a medical professional so Holly was a little sceptical of his claim.

“Why?” Holly repeated. Without being able to see the guys face she couldn’t read him, but from the silence Holly could only imagine he was looking a little shifty. She twisted the arm a little more and shoved him against a counter.

“Sherlock needed them out. He and his friend left soon after they went down.” Typical Sherlock caper then. But why wait for Christmas when he’d have to do this? She released the guy with a warning, there had to be something Sherlock needed from here. She didn’t know what it would be, having only had a brief look on her way through.

Then it became obvious.

Mycroft’s laptop was suspiciously absent. The only patch of empty space in the entire kitchen stuck out like a sore thumb.

This was bad, so bad. Holly shuddered to think what Sherlock was up to. Stealing Mycroft’s laptop and all that it contained was serious, even she wasn’t stupid enough to do that. She did a quick sweep through the other rooms just in case he’d left it in the bathroom or something, a vain hope her first thoughts were wrong.

This was not going to end well. But Sherlock and John were long gone and she had no way of knowing where they were going with the laptop. No doubt it had some sort of tracking capabilities, but she couldn’t be the one to ask for it. Her laptop was still in the saddlebag on her bike and she didn’t quite trust Sherlock’s accomplice with the safety of the rest of the house's occupants, so she couldn’t even do her own search. She settled against a kitchen counter, texting her apologies to her family that she would be delayed.

----

Mycroft started to stir first, just small twitches first before bolting up in his seat. Even as he tried to look alert Holly could see the haze in his eye and discoordination in his movement as he tried and then aborted an attempt to get up.
“I didn’t do anything.” Holly offered up, more as a formality than a defence. Mycroft’s focus switched to Sherlock’s friend. “He’s all yours.”

“Where is my laptop?”

“I could only speculate.” Instantly Mycroft had his phone out and started tapping away at the screen.

“I thought you had somewhere else to be.” Holly looked pointedly at his brother, still slouched over the table. Mycroft didn’t even stop typing when he glanced up and followed her eye line. “You really care about him.”
“You think I would have come otherwise?”

A groan from the table had them both look to Zephyr, Holly moving to sit next to him. She saw his eyes fluttering open, a smile pulling across his lips.
“Holly?” He reached out a hand, Holly caught it before it scattered food from the table.

“I’m here.”

“I love you.” Holly couldn’t help but smile as she rubbed circles on his hand. “My SuperNova.”

Shit.

Her heart pounded, the circling paused.

Maybe he hadn’t heard.

Holly tilted her head just enough to know yes, Mycroft had heard.

Fuck. She could see his fingers darting across the screen of his phone and knew it was too late to stop him.

He didn’t try to stop her as she bolted out of the kitchen door.

He didn’t need to. He had the resources of the country and beyond at his disposal.

She had to try though. She vaulted the low garden wall heading along the back to her bike.

The engine roared into life at her insistence and with a spray of gravel she sped off.

With any luck Mycroft would deal with Sherlock and his laptop first. That might give the head start she could do with.