Look out for the <>!

Today was the last day that we finished the paper trail. Last night, after I got back from Zane's place, we finished the trail. Was I nervous about what would happen next but it excited me at the same time. I was ready for this all to be over.

Last night, Sherlock and I talked well into the night about the plan. He believed I needed someone as a backup once I was at my Nan's vacation home. For one of the very few times I agreed with him; knowing it would be smart to not go in alone. However, Sherlock couldn't come because he needed to do every paper trail, and he needed to be in London for it. Molly would be no help to me at all. But John, he was Army at one point. He was resourceful, smart, strong, loyal, and he could help me. The only problem was trying to convince him to come.

I walked out of my room in a pair of black spandex pants and a black top. Walked into the kitchen to see that not even Sherlock was up yet. I was expecting him to be awake and was disappointed when he wasn't. I wasn't hungry for anything, but I knew I needed to eat. I settled on a glass of OJ and then sat down at the table.

Next to me was yesterday's newspaper. I picked it up and read to pass the time. The first page was about some new building being build in London in the future. Bored with the article, I flipped a couple pages in to see a report about a killer on the loose in east London.

The article said that there were no leads, but Scotland Yard had their best guy on it. That was Sherlock. I couldn't imagine all the cases that Scotland Yard wouldn't be able to solve without Sherlock. I wondered if they knew how important he was to the department.

To keep my mind off what I was going to be doing today, I got up and looked around to see if he had the file lying around for the case. After about five minutes of looking, however, I realized it wasn't here. I sighed and looked at John's computer. I could always hack the database and look that way. It hasn't stopped me before.

Before long, I was taking notes and looking up past articles. I was going somewhere with the case, maybe even solve it before Sherlock woke.

"Looking into the case?" Sherlock asked me as he walked into the room.

"I made you a list of theories and suspects. By the way, Scotland Yard's suspects are totally off. Will they ever get better at this?" I said as I got up from my chair to pour myself another glass of OJ.

"I have been asking myself the same question. Are you ready?"

I nodded at him. "As ready as I'll ever be." I sat back down and pulled out our paper trail we had been working on.

At that moment, there was a knock on the door and John walked in. John said a polite hello to both of us, then walked over to me. "Is this my computer?" Without waiting for a response, he continued saying, "Sherlock! You have your own! I have been looking for this for days now! Why didn't you text me?"

"You have it now, so there should be no issues," he said and shrugged.

"That's not good enough! You always do this! Sherlock!"

I just sat there as I watched John fight with Sherlock on the matter. It was entertaining. I thought it was funny how Sherlock always did stuff like this. John would always get so worked up, but Sherlock continued on his unchanging path. It got under John's skin.

After a minute of fuming at Sherlock, John asked me, "what are you doing?"

"I'm making the last steps of the trail, easy enough for her to spot but hard enough that it would take a little to solve. I'm taking her to my house, well, the one that my Nan gave me. It's an old mansion between here and Scotland. Today is the day that I'm leaving." I had to ask him for help, but with his sour attitude, I wasn't sure if now was the right time.

"Wait? No, you're not ready!" he said as he shook his head, treating me like his child, but I knew what I was getting into. Yes, more time was always good, but I didn't have anymore timed to give. It was now or never. "You still have a day or two!" John protested as if he didn't see this coming.

I was too tired to fight back with him. "No, I don't John! I'm leaving today and that final."

"Is it done?" Sherlock asked as he walked up to me, referring to the trail that I was working on.

"Not quite, but you know the finishing touches," I said as I got up and put on my coat. If I wanted to get to the house in a decent hour, I had to leave now. I had a change of clothes in a small bag that I packed last night. I had some cash in my back pocket. I was ready as I could be and I was ready for her.

"She can't just go there on her own! She needs help!" John fired off at Sherlock, pointing at me.

"That's why I have you," Sherlock said to him.

He raised his eye brows at Sherlock as he realized what Sherlock was talking about. "What? No. I'm not supporting this," John said as he crossed his arms over his chest.

My gut sank, I thought for sure he would go with me. If he didn't come, I probably wouldn't be able to stop her on my own. What could I say to make him change his mind? "I'm leaving with or without you, John. It's your choice to come. If you don't I understand, but I'm still going."

There was a minute of silence, then he said with a sigh, "I need to tell my wife."

I nodded at him as I opened the door to 221B. "I'll see you soon, Sherlock," I said and gave him a confident smirk before I walked down the stairs.

Out in the front there was a car waiting for us. I was borrowing it from a client that owed me a favor or two. I got into the car and John stopped. "This is yours?" he asked as he looked at the Land Rover.

"It is for the time being, now get in, lets get to your place," I said as the car roared to life.

John got into the car and we went speeding down the road. In a matter of minutes we were at John's house. I parked the car and watched as John went into the house. A few minutes later, he came out with a dark green duffle bag, probably from his Army days. He put in into the back seat and hopped into the passenger seat.

"How did your wife take it?" I asked him, expecting that he would take longer than he did.

"Wasn't home, left a note."

"You left a note about this? You know it can be dangerous, right?" I wasn't sure that was the best move for John.

"I'll own up to it later. She'll understand," he said with a frown.

<>

"You don't have to do this, you know."

"Yes I do. I'm just as much as a guardian as Sherlock is. It's my responsibility to watch over you."

I smiled lightly. I owed John more than he would ever know. "Thank you," I said as I turned the car back on and sped off.

The ride was quiet until we were almost to the house maybe one or two more hours left. John spoke out, "why are you leading her to your grandmother's house?" he asked as we drove through the country roads to get to the house. The sun was now hidden by storm clouds that were turning the road foggy.

"Because the house is in the middle of nowhere. No, by standards will get hurt. It will just come down to us and her."

"What are you expecting when you get there?"

"If Sherlock does the trail right, she shouldn't come for a day or two. So the only person there will be the groundskeeper. Trevor, he's about as old as my Nan and he was like a grandfather to me when I was younger. I already got a hold of him. We were coming and he'll be waiting for us."

"It's just us three against whatever she brings?"

"You know the saying, three's a party." I shrugged as I looked out the window into the graying spring sky. I tried to act like calm but I was the opposite in the inside. There were so many things that could go wrong in the next few days. And as much as I hated to say it but there was a chance that one of us wouldn't make it out alive. When it came down to it, I was prepared to give my life to save John and Trevor's.

I looked back at the window and thought about the plan again . I was going to fight like hell and kill Alice. I was never one for guns but I knew that Trevor had at least 10 of them in his collection at the house. I was ready to use them if need. I knew that Alice would bring a couple people as back up and I planned to take down as many as I could. If Sherlock went with the plan we would have about a day to set up and get ready before she realized that we were there. It wasn't as much time as I would have liked but I knew she would be bringing an army and I had to be as ready as I could.

"What's on your mind?" John said after about another hour went by.

John, always wanting to know what went on in my head. He couldn't read it like Sherlock could. I sighed then after a minute of silence I said honestly, "I'm thinking about what we're going to do. She's going to come with an army. It's just us and I'm trying to come up with different ideas so we it would seem like there are more of us."

"What are you thinking about doing?"

"I'm going to blow up this car first of all." I said as I tapped the steering wheel of the car that I was driving. "Then I know how to make small pressure bombs so I can lay them under the floor boards. That will get a few of them out of the way. And Trevor had guns, a hand full of them that we can use."

After a minute John said, "sounds good but do you really want to destroy the house?"

I shrugged at him. "I don't want it. I never did like it. It echoed and it always cold even in the summer. Also I think ghosts live there."

There was a minute of silence then John spoke up, "if this is what you want I'll help you out. I know a thing or two about war."

I looked over at him and gave him a small smile. I wouldn't have a chance without him by my side. In this moment I felt like being extremely honest with him. That was something I wasn't used to doing but I went with it. "Thank you so much. You're a really good person, you know that? At first I hated you and I didn't even know why. But the more I spent time with you the more I figured out what I didn't like about you. Tell you the truth, the main reason I didn't like you was because you were happy and kind and I wasn't. John you helped me with more then you know. I am lucky to work with you and call you a friend."

There was a minute of silence as I watched John think about what he was going to say then he opened his mouth and said, "You have been a pleasure working with as well. I knew you didn't like me but I didn't care. You were suffering and I did what I knew best, heal. You needed someone to help and support you and that's what I did no matter how difficult you were. You'll hate me saying this, but you're so much like Sherlock and I think he's glad to have you around as a partner."

I didn't know what to say so I just shut my mouth and kept my eyes on the road, rain was starting to fall from the sky now and it looked like it wasn't going to stop anytime soon. In about 15 minutes John fell asleep in the passenger seat.

Oh it's coming! the big show down! it's going to be awesome! I really had a fun time writing these last chapters, I really did. Tell you the truth, Rori is a little like me when I was younger. I thought of a lot of the sharp replies to people when I got mad. It was fun to write about, it was fun writing her moody personality too. I just hope you guys liked this story as much as I am having fun writing it.

Well, I have to get off and write more of my essay for English. (Only 7 more weeks of school and then my long awaited break comes to free me! YES!)

Darla H