Look out for the <>!

"Rori wake up," I heard Sherlock say outside of my door.

I opened my eyes at the door and then closed them. Kale had died over two weeks ago and so far we are nowhere near close to finding Moriarty again. "Go way!" I shouted at him and turned over in my bed. I was planning on spending the day in my bed again, like I have for the past few weeks.

"It's 10 AM. It's time to get up. We have to meet with Mycroft," he said and pounded on my door.

I didn't want to meet him. He was just going to tell me a whole bunch of things that I already knew. We had met up with him two other times and at both times they turned out to be a complete waste. He thought he knew it all and he was the one that held all the information but he was wrong. He was always wrong. "I don't want to go! Let me sleep!" I shouted at him. I hard the door open and out of frustration I threw a pillow in the general direction of the sound.

"Very mature," Sherlock said as he threw the pillow back at me.

It hit my back. "You're one to speak," I said as I turned to face him with a frown.

"Come on, what else would you be doing?"

"Sleeping," I said and pulled the blanket over my head.

I heard him sigh. "No, not going to happen. Not today. Today will be different," he said and pulled the blanket back. "You don't have a choice. You need to go."

<><>

I got ready in a grand total of 10 minutes, not bothering to dress up or fixing my hair. I pouted the whole way to Mycroft's office and did I care that I looked childish? No. You could say I was throwing a fit.

We walked into Mycroft's office. He looked at us with a frown and just like that, I felt like walking straight back out of that room. I did not want to hear more pointless news that will get us nowhere. It was Mycroft's fault I was a wreck and it was his fault that Kale was dead. I rather Mycroft be dead. "Good you're here. Sit," Mycroft commanded us.

"I rather stand." I said stubbornly. I wasn't going to listen to him. I wanted to prove that he didn't own me. I was going to do what I wanted to, no matter what he told me. Me going to Russia was the last time I would let him boss me around.

I looked around the room absent mindedly. I leaned my back against the arch of the door and put my foot on the wall. I saw Mycroft scowl at me. The wall paper must have cost a fortune and I was messing it all up with my muddy wellies. I smirked at him. One small victory for Rori. 

"Fine." He said with frustration in his voice. He then fixed his stack of papers on his desk then continued to say, "We found Moriarty."

"What?" Sherlock and I asked at once. I couldn't hide the tone on my voice that showed that I was a little too excited and surprised and shocked all at once. 

"Where?" I asked as I walked closer to him so I didn't miss anything.

"He was in Ireland yesterday. We still do not know what he is doing there but we believe that he has been there for a few days. We also found some of his followers working at a warehouse on the outskirts of town here in London." He then looked up at me. With that look I knew he wanted me to do something for him.

I shook my head at him but I knew that this was exactly what Mycroft wanted. Once again I would not have a choice but to listen to him. Then it clicked, even if I tried to get free of him, he would always have a thumb over me. He would never give me up.

"How do you feel about undercover work again?"

My first response was no. I wasn't going to listen to him. He wasn't the boss of me. He got me in over my head in Russia and I wasn't about to go do it again, to dive into his every command. But this was the first real lead; I wasn't chasing shadows in the night, this was real. I couldn't let it slip by me and Mycroft knew it. As much as I hated to say it, Mycroft knew me. I hated this situation but, I needed to do this for Kale, no matter what the cost, he deserved that. "What do I have to do?"

"You don't need to cut your hair or dye it. The way you look now is completely ok."

I looked at myself. I looked like a homeless person. Was he trying to insult me? I brushed it off. I told myself it didn't matter, and it wasn't worth fighting over.

"How do you feel about waking up at four in the morning?"

I scrunched up my face in disgust. That did not sound fun at all. Terrible really. I didn't want to go. Forget this all together. Rori out. Peace.

Before I had time walk out, he continued, "you'll be working at a warehouse. There is someone there that either is family to one of the people that gave you that knife scar on your neck. I think that the family might all work for Moriarty. We don't really know that information that is why you will have to make friends and find out more information."

I sighed. Mycroft was trying to make this hard for me. He wanted to see me suffer. I didn't want to go. I wanted to stay away from people, maybe then I wouldn't explode. If I exploded, so what at least I tried. This was not about me, this was for Kale. "When do I start?"

"Tomorrow."

<><>

"Mycroft is a dick," I pouted to Sherlock as we road back home in a cab. 

Sherlock smiled lightly. "He doesn't know how to be anything else." 

I chuckled as I looked out the window in silence. I thought I was free from Mycroft. I thought that I was working this case on my own. I thought I wanted this, but Mycroft was powerful. As much as I wanted to refuse his help, I had to accept it.

"Do you think Molly is a good person for me?" Sherlock asked, breaking the silence again. 

I snapped my head to look at him. Of course, I thought she was good for him. She put up with him so well. "Yes. Why?"

He shrugged. "I've never loved before."

"And you're afraid you'll hurt her?" 

He nodded hesitantly. 

I was breathless. I knew Sherlock cared for me, but that was different. He didn't love me romantically. I honestly didn't think he was capable of such a thing. "Take it slow. She knows you." 

"I just don't want to mess anything up."

"Love is messy. It is thrilling, and makes you feel whole. But sometimes you're heart gets ripped. You never know unless you try. And if it does get ripped, you will learn to love again." I thought about my own life, however I was confident that I would never love again. No one was perfect like Kale was.

Sherlock nodded as the car pulled up to our apartment. 

<>

In silence, I got out of the car and walked straight into my room. My black hole in my chest ached with every breath. I needed something to remind me of him. Right away, I grabbed my phone to see if the three other messages were still locked. I needed to hear his voice. I needed to remind myself that he was alive just a few months ago. I put my phone up my ear and waited for the voice to say it was locked.

"You have one new message. Hit one to listen," the voice said.

I followed the command and held the phone to my ear again.

"Rori, I hope you gave me a good funeral speech. I know you've never been good at talking about that kind of things....I found out that Moriarty was alive. He was working with a whole bunch of different people."

I looked across the room and saw Kale pacing the room. He looked at me with worry then sat down on the edge of the bed. He ran his hand through his hair with a frown as he thought.

He stopped and looked at me. "He'll be working with white collar people but also drug addicts. The addicts would be the ones to target first. Don't use force, use words and cox it out of them. You have to be friendly. Oh and one more thing the guy in the alley way. I know him from Russia. He worked with me a few times. He's from America. Talk to you later and I love you Aurora." He said and once again Kale disappeared before my eyes.

"Are you going to go to the warehouse tomorrow?" Sherlock's voice rang out from the other room.

"Yeah, I'll be there," I sighed, knowing that I didn't have a choice. Maybe there would be people there that I could talk to about Moriarty.