Chapter 1:

Watching From Afar

Mycroft sat in his office, paper work spread across the desk as he puzzled over the many documents from different governments. The file that he was working on at the moment was a tiresome yet important file to do with a treaty that was sure to bring about some sort of world peace. However he could not get it right. He knew Sherlock would probably solve the problems quicker but it was top secret and he didn't want to give in to asking his little brother for help. Anyway, there would be no point as he knew Sherlock would bluntly refuse.

Mycroft gave up with a sigh and let his eyes travel to the expensive CCTV monitor that sat among the complicated papers. The screen showed his younger brother, the world's only consulting detective, as he waited outside a glass building. The cars whizzed along the road as the younger man stood, leaning against the wall. He looked perfectly calm, as though he was waiting for a friend but Mycroft knew that his younger brother was agitated, waiting for something to happen, something important and obviously something to do with one of his blasted cases. They were such a waste of Sherlock's intelligence but the more anyone tried to tell the boy what to do the more he would rebel.

Mycroft also knew that he needed to get back to his work so drew his eyes away from the screen and back to the irksome papers cluttering the desk. The work was stupid and tiresome and it was at times like this that Mycroft regretted taking the "minor position in the British government". He worked for several more hours, taking occasional sneaking peaks at his brother, before his eyelids began to droop. He slipped his hands under his reading glasses in order to rub his tired eyes, pulling them away just in time to see a man in a suit slinking from the building. The man took a short glance over his shoulder and then broke into a frightened sprint as Sherlock pushed himself away from the wall and took off after the suited man. The man charged down the path, pushing unexpecting members of the public aside in his bid for freedom. Sherlock ran after him, earning himself, what Mycroft assumed were angry yells as the monitor had no sound, from the already rattled pedestrians.

The chase continued, down main-roads and backstreets, as Mycroft's cameras struggled to keep up with the charging men. The elder Holmes bother could see Sherlock was winning the race, the gap between the two men shrinking with every turn. Soon it would be over, the criminal caught, and Sherlock one again victorious over the police and the criminals alike. The suited man could tell this too, his run becoming panicked and his glances behind more frequent. He was obviously stupid or desperate to not be caught as at the next turn he ran straight into the road, Sherlock hot on his heals with his woollen coat flapping behind him. The man darted between two cars, missing them by a hair's width. Sherlock ran after him, concentration purely on the suited man, not noticing the speeding car until it hit. What happened was too quick even Mycroft's sharp eyes but the next thing he knew was that his little brother was lying in a road, coat spread dramatically over the black tarmac, his limbs awkwardly bent and dribbles of blood trickling down his forehead.

Mycroft gasped, a hand flying up to his head and his heart pounding in his chest. This was the closest he had ever come to panicking, his normally calm exterior shattered as he jumped up from the desk, his chair clattering to the floor behind him in his haste. He ran to the door, flung it open and sprinted down the hall towards his Anthea's office. He burst into the room, startling the unexpected lady. She shrieked slightly in fright, dropping her blackberry onto the desk with a clatter. Her brow furrowed slightly at the sight of her normally controlled boss panting and panicked in the doorway.

"Mycroft, are you okay?" she asked, the concern evident in her voice as she absentmindedly stored her precious blackberry back in her pocket.

"Sherlock's been knocked down!" he panted, eyes filled with worry for his little brother. Anthea nodded calmly as she got to her feet before grasping Mycroft's clammy hand and leading him back to his office. She noticed how his hand shook as she held it, showing the feelings that he always hid so deeply from everyone. The corridors were deserted and the sound of their footsteps echoed on the marble floor until they entered the carpeted office. Anthea led her boss back to his desk, picked up the fallen chair and left the room to call the people in charge of watching Sherlock for an update.

Mycroft sat back down in his large leather chair as he tried to calm his breathing and reassure himself that his brother would be fine but he could not rid himself of the constant nagging fears that swirled in his mind. His eyes fixed themselves back on the screen in front of him, now showing a small crowd that had gathered around the motionless form of the younger Holmes brother. Mycroft forced himself to calm and surveyed the scene, trying to deduce the situation of the accident. On closer inspection the elder Holmes brother could see a large shattered bull's-eye on the windscreen of the large green car that had hit the detective. This was not good; a bull's-eye meant that his brother's head must have hit the windscreen at a considerable force, a force large enough to usually cause brain problems. The driver of the car had gotten out and was kneeling on the road pushing Sherlock's charcoal curls away from a large cut on his forehead. The curls were sticky with the blood that left red rivers over the younger man's pale skin and trickled onto the road. The driver's other hand was pressed against the detective's neck, feeling for a pulse that Mycroft desperately hoped was present.

The elder Holmes brother forced his eyes away from the screen on the cluttered desk and pulled his phone from his blazer pocket. Taking one last glance at the screen he pressed speed dial 4 and raised his shaking phone to his ear. The call answered on the third ring.

"John, Sherlock's been hit down"

Author's Note!

Just made some small changes to improve the writing, not change to the plot though.

Bethany x

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