Five days later, Molly rang Mycroft's phone and found the number had been disconnected.

This in and of itself was of no great concern- phones returned not-available messages for all kinds of reasons. She sat listening to the disconnected tone for a few seconds longer than necessary, trying to register the concept of Mycroft being unavailable. Then she rang the house number: disconnected. She rang Sherlock's phone. Disconnected.

Something terrible had happened.

It was a Sunday afternoon; a beautiful day, all sunshine and light breezes. John had gone out to Baker Street to see Mrs Hudson. Generally, he would take Molly with him; when he didn't ask her to come along, she knew better than to volunteer herself. Some visits were too difficult for that. They were probably going to the cemetery. There was something different about John's visits to the cemetery with Mrs. Hudson, and the ones he took with Molly on the odd occasion. She'd never asked herself why, just given him the space he needed.

At least, Molly reflected as she went to find her shoes, this meant she didn't have to lie to John about where she was going. She knew he would never ask her. He generally came home from the cemetery very quiet and distracted. She wasn't yet privy to everything that went on inside John Watson's head.

~o0o~

Silently, the timid woman searched every room of the Club that she was permitted into. She ignored the stares- many disapproving- of the Club's denizens; she'd invaded the world of powerful men, and the reception was hard ice.

Ice she could handle.

That the man she had once loved so much and had risked so much for could have disappeared entirely... she wasn't sure she could handle that. Unlike John, she had never before known a world where Sherlock Holmes had suddenly been viciously ripped out of it.

It was a slow dawn of realisation that afternoon: she could choose to handle this, or she could choose not to. Either way, her search was all for nothing; Mycroft was not at the Diogenes Club, and she couldn't ask anyone where he was. She had no idea where he worked, or of any other place he might frequent. Except, obviously, his home.

She went out to Linwood, the Holmes estate. The Jacobean mansion stood silently glowering in the last vestiges of daylight, like a grim old soldier on sentry duty, watchful and still. The gates were padlocked, so that she could not get any closer than the front drive; but even there it was clear that the house was shut up, the lights were off and the curtains were drawn.

Mycroft and his brother had vanished.

A/N 2: You: Dude, I've already read this. Why am I getting notifications for it?

Answer: Because I'm revamping the hell out of it, including adding a whole bunch of new stuff that will add a few more chapters to the *middle* of the work, and a good 25% or more to its overall length. The outcome of the story won't change, but hopefully it will be better written and have more detail, texture, and characterisation, and not have so many gaps and lazy parts.

This message will be updated, but as of now this last chapter is NOT new. Chapter 5 has been rewritten, with a few new scenes and one of my "Fall Interludes" moved into the body of the story. I divided it into two, making Chapters 5 and 6. Chapter 8 has been revamped, with several new scenes written, and divided into chapters 8 and 9. Chapter 10 has been expanded to form chapters 10 and 11. Chapter 13 has been expanded to chapters 13 and 14. The old chapter 14 has now been expanded to chapters 15 and 16. As such, the chapters have been bumped down in order.

I hope to get around to doing this for the whole Fall series, so that they're each novel-length and of the same quality. I've learned a lot about writing since starting this in 2012, and after I finish this project I intend to finish writing Sherlock fanfiction (on a high note!) to concentrate on my PhD. Which involves me writing an original crime novel, because of course it does.

Bear with me, guys. Thank you :)

The sequel to After the Fall is Come Forth, Lazarus. It can be accessed from my profile. I really hope you enjoyed this! I love feedback of any kind, so please feel free to drop me a review or a PM. It would make my day :D