Look out for the <>

I sat on the end of a hospital bed as John stitched my side back together. I hadn't heard anything about Sherlock and it was driving me close to insanity. I was frustrated, at him, John, but mostly at me. I should have gotten that bullet. 

"You really got a good one here," John said as he sewed away at me.

I nodded at him in silence, only half paying attention to him. My mind was still back in that building with Zane and Sherlock. I looked at my hands. Even though John helped clean them, I was sure I could still see blood on them.  

John sighed as he looked at me. He put his hands on my shoulders and felt me shaking. I couldn't stop I watched Sherlock bleed out in front of me. "Rori, things will look up." He said as he took his rubber gloves off. "Done."

I looked at my side and saw my skin pinched together with thin plastic like thread.

"Rori, you should rest." I still couldn't get how John was so calm. What we dealt with was scary but yet John seemed ok.

I shook my head at him. "I can't. Not until I know Sherlock will be fine."

John stood up from his chair and picked up a needle that was on the metal table beside him. "And he will be fine, we just need to give it time." He looked at the needle in his hands. I frowned as I looked at the needle, knowing that he was planning something. "Do you trust me?"

"With my life." John was just as part of my family was Sherlock was. 

"Good," he said and stuck the needle into my arm and released the fluid it had. "This will help you rest."

I felt the room blur almost instantly. I grabbed onto John as panic rose in me. I couldn't believe he drugged me. I had to be aware when I got news of Sherlock. "John, please..." I said, feeling like the words were fuzz balls stuck in my throat.

John lightly pushed me back into the bed and put a warm blanket over me. "I'm going to check on those X-rays for your hand. For now, I want you to sleep," he said as he turned off the light to my room. With that, he left, closing the door behind him.

I closed my eyes and felt everything go dark.

Before I knew it the lights were turned back, causing me to wake from my drugged sleep. I opened my eyes to see a fuzzy version of John sitting next to me in a hideously green plastic chair. "There you are."

I started to look around but stopped as I felt the room spin. I looked at my arm and saw it wrapped in a hard black cast. It was heavy and I struggled to lift my arm to fully look at it.  

"Your hand is definitely broken. Hope you don't mind black, it was either that or lime green."

I smiled lightly at John's humor. I moved in the bed and felt my body ache. I didn't know how long I was out for but it felt like forever. Sherlock. I had to know how he was. "Where's Sherlock?" John didn't say anything as tears started to come to my eyes again. I killed him. "Where is he?" I begged John.

"Calm down Rori, he's out of surgery. I was coming to tell you myself."

"We can see him?"

John smiled at me. "Yup," he said as he pulled a wheelchair closer to the bed.

I got out of bed and felt my legs shake under my weight then sat down in the chair. 

He pushed me through different halls until we ended up in front of a closed door. "He's still under sedation." John explained to me as he pushed me into the room.

As I saw Sherlock laying there, I imminently felt a weight had been lifted from my chest. I could breathe. "Thank you John," I said as I looked up at him from my chair.

"Not a problem." He nodded and then left the room, leaving me with Sherlock.

I sat beside him for a good bit, thinking about what I could have done to change this. I looked around the room to stop my head from spinning. "Sherlock, I am sorry for all of this," I said to him as if my words would make this all better. "I'm going to kill him for this, I promise you, Sherlock."

Soon I found myself resting my head on the bed as I closed my eyes, suddenly feeling completely exhausted.

I woke up to John saying, "Rori, Rori, let's get home. Come on." As john jostling me awake.

I looked at him and nodded then got up from my wheelchair, refusing to use it to get out of this place.

We sat in silence as we took a cab to John's place. I didn't want to say anything, everything reminded me that today was all my fault. I should have done this case on my own and we wouldn't be driving home from the hospital.

The cab stopped in front of John's flat and we got out. John opened the door with his keys and together we walked in. "You can sleep on my bed. I'll get the couch," John said to me as he turned the light on in the entry way.

I turned my mouth to the side of my face as I shook my head. I didn't deserve it, he needed that bed more then I did. This was after all his place. "No."

"This is not for discussion," he said as he led me to his bedroom. He pealed back the sheets and I stepped into bed without fighting any longer. 

"Who's watching the boat?" I couldn't lose that treasure after I sacrificed so much for it.

"Some people at Scotland yard. Around the clock. What are we going to do with Zane."

I frowned. The man that made this whole mess. He was out in the wind. But I was going to get him and make him suffer for his sins. "Zane is pissed. He will attack again at some point. He wants to kill me. So why not give him what he wants?"

"What?"

"You heard me, give me to him. I'll kill him and end this once and for all."

John shook his head at me. "No, we are not doing anything rash." I watched him furrow his eye brows as he thought of another plan. "He doesn't know where you are. Lets tell him you're here. We'll tell Lestrade and you'll be in a controlled setting. But we'll just make you look so desirable to get he won't think twice about coming out."

I thought about it, letting his words sink in. "Let's set the trap in the flat in Brixton." I gave him a small smile, once again John came up with a better plan than mine. I do underestimate him sometimes. I closed my eyes. "Can we talk about this tomorrow?"

"Sure. Night Rori."

When I woke the next morning, I saw John sleeping by my feet on the king-sized bed. 

"Morning," he said to me as he stretched. It looked like he had been awake for a while now. 

"Morning," I said as I slowly felt my body and mind wake up. "So what's the plan?"

"You are in no condition to finish this," he said as he shook his head at me.

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I frowned, I was not able to be bossed around by John of all people. "This is not a choice, John, this is an order. You can help me, or I will leave and do this on my own. The more time we waste the more time it gives to Zane. I will not let that happen. Zane wants the pieces of the puzzle that we took from him and he was not going to wait to get back what he wanted."

His face twisted as he thought. "Fine." He was clearly not happy about this but he had no choice but to comply. "What do you have in mind?"

I thought about it for a minute. I knew Zane. "Zane will for sure be watching this house so I want you to leave. 20 minutes after you leave, I will leave to Brixton. You are going to go to Lestrade, tell him to come to my place. When Lestrade finally comes, I will be there with Zane. Assuming Zane will follow me to my place. Then from there all Lestrade will have to do is cuff him and take him away." I said, knowing that this was only my plan if Lestrade came at the right time. If he didn't I would not be afraid of using a gun this time to end Zane's life.

John walked into the bathroom to get ready. "Rori, I don't have a good feeling about this." John said with his tooth bush in his mouth as he opened the bathroom door to look at me.

I had the same feeling but I wasn't going to tell him that. Mentally and physical, I did not want to leave this bed. I wanted to call it all of and have a 'sick day'. But every minute was precious and I couldn't' have Zane out on the streets as free as a leaf. I frowned as I looked at my phone, not wanting to talk right now. It was time to get this started. "Your timer starts now."

He spit his tooth paste out and then nodded. He pulled out a pair of shoes from his closet and slipped them on. "Be safe."

I waited another five more minutes to have a mental breakdown. I slid down the door as I sobbed into my hands. I felt like I couldn't continue any longer. No one told me that this would be so hard. My body ached and my mind longed for Sherlock to be by my side. I felt like my fire was burning out. The lights went out and I was standing in the dark. 

I couldn't face Zane, not like this. He would see how weak I was and use it against me. I had no chance in beating him. I spotted John's gun on the kitchen table and put it into the waist of my sweat pants. I had to be strong. I had to fight these emotion. I was going to see him and I was going to put a bullet in his head. I didn't have a choice. He needed to be stopped now.

I whipped the tears from my eyes and I looked at my watch, my time starts now. I smoothed out my hair and put it in a pony tail then slipped on my shoes and walked out to the unknown.

I didn't look behind me as I walked into the Tube. I knew someone was following me and I let them. Instead, I looked at all the strangers in front of me and flaunted awkward smiles that people gave strangers in public. My stop didn't come fast enough and when Brixton came I practically jumped out of my seat and ran out.

I looked up at the musty flat as I fumbled with my keys to let myself in. I opened the door and frowned. It was dark inside and it felt cold and damp like no one had lived here in years. I turned the lights on and sat down on my couch and tried to calm myself.

My mind couldn't stop spinning. My mind kept flashing back to last night, I was looking right at the gun barrel knowing that death would come and then Sherlock was there on the ground dying. Out of frustration I pushed the lamp table to the ground. "Make it stop." I collapsed on the ground and chucked a book at the wall.

"Oh I can make it stop," Zane said as he walked through the door with a calm look about him, completely opposite from how I looked.

I took a deep breath and looked up at him. "What do you want from me?" I asked, knowing exactly what he wanted.

"I never thought I would see the strong Rori Anderson...so... broken," hHe said and smiled at me as if he won his little game. "Maybe I should shoot your friends more often to get what I want."

"You will never touch them!"

"This is an interesting side of you. You say you have no friends, now look at you."

I frowned at him as I stood up from the ground. "Now you see me. Does it make you feel powerful seeing me weak?" With one shot, this would be all over, I just needed to force myself to do it.

"I do feel good about this but this was not my goal, trust me."

"This has been your goal ever since you met me, to break me and you did it. Good for you."

A ghost of a laugh came out of his lips. "You almost make me feel bad about doing this." He said and got out his gun. "The same one that Ended Sherlock. This is poetic."

I wasn't going to let him get the upper hand. I pulled out the gun I had and pointed it at him. He raised his eyebrows at me with a smile. "Before we have a stand off, I want to know one thing, why do you want this treasure so badly?" I didn't want to pull the trigger but I needed to muster the strength to do it.

He dropped his gun slightly as his smile faded. There was a minute of silence as he thought about what to say. I could see it in his eyes, he wanted to tell me. "My dear Rori even I can get into the wrong crowd. I owed them too much money and had too many broken promises and so because of this I have to pay them back."

"That is it?"

He frowned. "It's not that simple Rori. I always liked you. But there comes a time that even I can't save you. You just dug your hole too deep. People aren't always what they say they are." He pointed the gun at me again.

I put my finger on the trigger, I had him right where I wanted him but yet I couldn't pull it. "Please, don't do this." If he kills me, I hope I haunt him at night.

"Goodbye Rori."

I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and let it out slowly waiting for the bang but instead I heard Lestrades voice say, "Stop, you are under arrest for the attempt to kill Rori Anderson and Sherlock Holmes."

My eyes flew open to see Lestrade hand cuffing Zane.  

Zane smirked at me, amused that it all came down to this. "Good play Rori. You were lucky this time."

"Luck had nothing to do with it." I said as I looked around the room for a face that I could trust.

"My plan worked. Nice to know," John said and smiled as he walked up to me. "Sherlock is awake, he's asking for you. Want to go?"

A small smile came to my face as I said one simple word, "yes."