I awoke to an empty bed and the sound of masculine voices having a conversation in the kitchen but couldn't be bothered to actually listen to them. I sighed at the dull ache in my back from sleeping in one position for too long and sat up. I blinked a couple of times, trying to decide if I really wanted to get up now or just go back to bed.

As I stood and stretched, satisfied at the popping my back, I decided on getting up and heading towards the kitchen. My eyes found Mycroft's back as he seemed to be in the middle of a discussion with John and Sherlock as I came around him. Sherlock appeared to be entirely recovered now, reading a newspaper that blocked my view of his face so I focused on John's breakfast of eggs and fruit. Health conscious.

"How can we do anything while she has the photographs? Our hands are tied." Mycroft was grumbling again about Adler as I settled a hand on John's shoulder to let him know I was up and about before I grabbed a piece of melon off his plate. Didn't want to startle the good doctor.

"It's just a phone, can't you like remote hack it or something-and good morning to you too, Rosalyn." John was undeterred by me in his conversation though he still sarcastically greeted me.

"Morning, John." I gave him a cheerful smile as I squeezed his shoulder lightly. He rolled his eyes but didn't stop me as I stole another piece before turning to make myself a cup of tea. I was never particularly uncomfortable around him but we seemed to feel a little more relaxed with each other now. Some sort of mutual understanding of our differences, I supposed.

"You see how this works: that camera phone is her "Get out of jail free" card. You have to leave her alone. Treat her like royalty, Mycroft." Sherlock's derisive tone edged at smugness. I busied myself with tea as they continued back and forth.

"Though not the way she treats royalty." John's sarcasm was actually refreshing, as I smirked to myself. I'd just put the kettle on when the sound of an orgasmic female sigh filled the room.

"What was that?" John's bewilderment with the sound would have been amusing if I hadn't just heard a moan.

"A text I'd assume." Sherlock's tone was measured, careful in his consideration. Did he find it funny? I didn't.

"Did you record Rose's moan and set it as a bloody ringtone?" John was taken aback and vaguely accusatory as I turned back around for the kitchen. I grabbed a plate and shoveled John's left overs onto it as I moved to sit down at the table. I could feel the stares and I hoped that my expression was controlled well enough that it didn't give away my growing irritation with a certain tart that I knew did this.

"Did you know there were other people after her too, Mycroft, before you sent John and I in there? CIA-trained killers, at an excellent guess." Sherlock continued on after a few seconds. I could still feel eyes peering at me as I began to eat which was just as irritating as Adler's moan.

"Yeah, thanks for that, Mycroft." John smarted, drawing my attention up from the plate to see Mycroft a touch too smug as he glowered at me. I raised a brow wondering if he was actually trying to test me right now, because it was not a good time.

"I thought that was all apart of you status quo when you sleep with the criminally inclined." He was most definitely testing me, attempting to humiliate me didn't work typically but I was still silently fuming over Adler's midnight intrusion. I quietly puffed a bit of air from my nose as I sat down the fork, considering the best move here.

"Shameful sending your own flesh and blood in like that, Mycroft. One might even say it was rather cowardly." I tilted my head with innocent shock colouring my face as I lazily let my insult hang off my tongue. Mycroft's pride was one of his numerous weaknesses, but it was the only one I'd elected to use at the moment.

Satisfaction bloomed in my chest as I watch the anger spike across his face as his eyes narrowed into outright fury. I could practically feel the rage bubbling over his proprietary politeness. This wasn't personal for me anyways, rather it was merely a tit-for-tat. He humiliated me, I humiliated him.

"Oh, do shut up! I won't be insulted by the likes of such a low-life whore. Learn your place, already." He snapped a bit harder than I'd expected and went to take a step forward towards me. Ah, apparently he was having a rough go of it as well today. I'd accidentally pushed the elder Holmes too hard. Oops.

I raised my arms to cover my head out of instinct at the sight of him angrily stalking towards me. I hadn't considered him actually attempting to strike me but, I hoped that it wasn't as though he'd get far.

"OI!" I could see John standing up quickly through my shield, buffering Mycroft's anger in his pajamas as a BANG shook the table and my plate with it. My eyes quickly shut as I jumped at the sound, briefly assuming he'd somehow actually made it over to me.

A tense couple of seconds ticked by in silence before it dawned on me that nothing had actually happened as John slowly took his seat again and my arms dropped of their own accord. When did I get so skittish?

I briefly glanced at Mycroft who appeared to be reigning in his anger and then at Sherlock who was still standing. His fist curled was into a ball atop the table with pupils the size of pin pricks. I was officially thrown by both Holmes men now, my mind seemed to just try and ignore it'd even happened. If anything, I was expecting a silent rage out of Mycroft and maybe even a bit of amusement from Sherlock.

I didn't think that he'd come to my defense like this for some reason. It was possible that he had in the past with me not being able to tell if it was for John or me but, this was specifically to my defense. Why would he bother? I was an imperfect tool. I wasn't of any particular worth to him scarred or not, and I already had more than enough reminders of my blunders. Mycroft cleared his throat and swallowed as I watched the rage sink back under his skin.

"My apologies, Rosalyn. My...frustrations got the better of me." He nodded to me as I stared blankly at him for another moment before I nodded back at him. I briefly considered that it was actually Mycroft that was similar to Jim rather than Sherlock but, I wouldn't be able to tempt him out of his decorum again for a while. He didn't snap as easily as James did.

"Whats all this fuss about?" Mrs Hudson's voice traveled into the room as Sherlock sat down and picked his newspaper back up again as though nothing happened. John was still eyeing Mycroft but eventually returned back to his breakfast when Mrs Hudson came into the flat looking bewildered.

"Just a bit of a disagreement, Mrs Hudson." I greeted her with a small smile as I picked my fork back up to notice she came bearing a tray of pastries. I eyed them for a second, picking out the ones I wanted to snatch before either of my male companions could grab them.

"Right, right. Morning Mycroft." She greeted him pleasantly as she came around to sit the pastries in the kitchen, he sort of just breathed at her with a nod. I followed the tray along and determined that she became incredibly domestic when the holidays came 'round.

"I got to baking last night and figured I'd bring some up." She was a lovely woman. I didn't deal with her as much as John or Sherlock during my time here but, she was still sweet. We'd baked together while Sherlock was suffering a lack of interesting cases a few weeks ago and I'd found out that he'd actually got her husband executed for her.

Another orgasmic sigh seemed to pop up right as the room went quiet and I felt my irritation spike again at the phone in front of Sherlock's newspaper. He didn't appear to pay it any mind, with two texts lined up and unopened. But...I was. Why hadn't he changed it? Why hadn't he looked at the texts yet? What could he possibly be waiting for?

"Ooh. It's a bit rude, that noise, isn't it?" She was amused, winking at me when I turned away from his blasted phone to snatch a pastry off her tray.

"There's nothing you can do and nothing she will do as far as I can see." Sherlock appeared to have either gone deaf or he was pointedly ignoring the new ringtone, which was just bloody terrific. I ripped the pastry apart and stuck a piece in my mouth, ignoring how sticky it'd made my fingers. Was I the only one getting worked up now? It didn't feel like he gave a shite about me at the moment but it was hard to tell, all I could focus on was the pain in my chest. Anger. Hurt. Disgusting things.

"I can put maximum surveillance on her." Mycroft surmised from his spot that was now a little farther away than he'd been when I first woke up.

"Why bother? You can follow her on Twitter. I believe her user name is 'TheWhipHand.'" I felt myself quickly losing my appetite but I still took another bite out of principle.

"Yes. Most amusing." Mycroft's voice was devoid of humour as his phone began to ring and he excused himself into the hall. I could hear Mrs Hudson in the kitchen behind me, not paying us much attention as the scent of bleach drifted out. She was cleaning, I think she'd figured out by now that I didn't bother with cleaning the place. It was a mundane activity so I just sort of ignored the layer of dust on the furniture.

"Why does your phone make that noise?" John piped up with curiousity, he sounded relaxed again with his white knight armour now officially not needed. I'd already expected him to jump up, but not Sherlock.

"What noise?" Sherlock deflected as my irritation rose. Why couldn't they just let this go? It was a phone, it made noise when he got a text.

"That noise – the one it just made." John seemed to realise he wasn't getting a straight answer and was sounding a little frustrated as I continued to methodically eat Mrs Hudson's pastry.

"It's a text alert. It means I've got a text." Sherlock sighed but I noticed he hadn't flipped a single page of his paper while I'd been sitting here.

"Hmm. Your texts don't usually make that noise." John sounded like he didn't quite believe him as a ding went off in the kitchen behind us, telling me that my kettle had been turned off automatically to avoid someone burning the house down.

"It a bloody alert, John. It what his phone does. He gets a message and it makes noise to tell him he has a text." I stood, carefully moderating my tone so I didn't just outright snarl at the poor lad. He hadn't done anything, after all.

I started off towards the kettle and ignored Mrs Hudson's surprised look as it turned to pitying, it seemed she finally realised that it wasn't me moaning on the phone. I gripped my cup with more force than necessary as I poured the hot water into it while she darted around me, cleaning as she went.

"Might want to change that before you find yourself sleeping alone again." John's low tone as he spoke told me that he hadn't meant for me to hear him but I guessed that serving had worsened his hearing. I most definitely heard every word and it vaguely bothered me that this was actually happening in front of me. I wasn't about be cheated on by him of all people.

"Hm?" Sherlock was obviously still playing dumb when I exited the kitchen again, but he'd finally sat the paper down which gave me a chance to actually talk to him. I didn't bother analysing him before I began my slight rant out of a growing ache in my chest.

"He's gracing you with the knowledge that if I hear Irene Adler moaning again, I'll leave. Thereby, disappearing from your life." I sat the cup down on top of the newspaper he'd lowered to speak to John.

"Thereby, not sleeping with you." I was almost glowering at him and realised this chat hadn't gone exactly according to the original plan but I'd improvised. Though, this might not have been one of my best improvisations but I was already committed to it.

"Thereby. You'll be sleeping alone." Each word was crisp and enunciated as I leaned down to his level with a hint of fury simmering. I summed the cause and effects down so the that even a bloody overgrown toddler like him could understand. I wasn't particularly paying attention to his face or posture and I didn't really give a flying shite about it right now. I could tolerate people talking about me like I wasn't even here but, I hated that the uncertainty of him sleeping with that tart might actually bother me. Why bother having only one toy when you could have two, right?

"I was thinking more like he'd sleep on the couch...but that works too!" John mumbled until I cut the same look in his direction but I found him raising his hands in surrender as he hurriedly agreed. This had never even been a thought with James, he couldn't stay interested in a woman outside of me for longer than an hour unless he had a job for them.

I looked back at Sherlock to see his expression was...entirely blank. He was possibly more skilled at manipulation than I'd given him credit for or there was just no one home at the moment.

"Oh, dear." Mrs Hudson's worried mumble behind me forced me into action as I started for Sherlock's bedroom. This morning had gotten a touch out of hand and I needed to leave before it outright spiraled out of my control in front of me and James's living room camera.