The Man With The Umbrella

- 12 -

"You were nervous to tell me." Amelia's voice was breaking whilst also conveying a monotone shine to it. Mycroft looked up, his fingers steepled together and his elbows on his knees, to dart a penetrative stare across to her.

Amelia sat stiff on the sofa whilst Mycroft's sat in his armchair, jaw twitching. "What of it, Miss Watson." If it was any other situation, Amelia may of smiled at his defence in tone. "Just an observation." She held her gaze down to the floor, bewildered. "Am I not permitted to make those, sir?" She rhetorically stated.

He had simply stared at her, as if he was looking right through her. Amelia continued to swallow her yells and screams to run out of the house and into the quiet street. "Does Inspector Lestrade know that he's doing this because I'm not... Around anymore?"

"Yes." He answered whilst silently assessing the girl. Amelia uncurled her legs from beneath herself and a panicked breath seemed to escape her momentarily.

The food still sat by the kitchen counter and the smell of tomatoes and oregano was filling the scent of the house. The smell in Amelia's mind, did not match the stereotypical illusion of his home. "If I go back to the flat, there's more of a chance of ending this for good. I can get Jolene out -"

"No -"

"She's my friend! She's the godmother to my daughter!" A stemmed fiery nature seemed to rip away from Amelia with that statement. "Yes, a weakness you allowed on your own." Mycroft bestowed her with a flaring nostril, wide-eyed look. It was the kind of look, Amelia was sure of, that could silence a room no matter who was present. "And what if this isn't Mister Wood's work? What if this is unassumingly an instance of Miss James-Spencer drunkenly losing herself? You would be uselessly putting yourself in peril, Miss Watson."

"Yes, well. I'm a stupid person who does stupid things, and I'd be damned if Jonathan hurts Jolene because I told her." Amelia huffed out in frustration. However frustrated Amelia may of been, Mycroft noticed the panic arise in her doe eyes. "Your words, Miss Watson." He retorted, calm and collected once more. He straightened and tugged at the cuffs of his suits jacket as he stood before Amelia within the darkness of the sitting room. Mycroft looked as though, he was collecting himself from a brink of an outburst.

"I don't even know why I'm wanting your approval on this matter." Amelia returned, she too stood up and straightened her dress out before clenching her fists at her sides, feeling her nails bite at her palms. "I cannot thank you enough for all that you've done for me, sir, but if this is from him, if this is a message -"

"Then you will not respond." His voice was blockage of ice. "I'm sorry? But I don't seem to remember the part of my Maids Of Cleaning contract, where you're entitled to control every aspect of my life!" Amelia's voice was a wrapped up storm, and she was slowly unleashing it on him.

He tilted his head with a nasty look upon his face. "Such a contract no longer exists, Miss Watson." It took her a moment to register it but she didn't back down to the likeness of Mycroft Holmes. "You quit my job?!"

There was no apology on his face, of course him admitting to do so was no accident, but a fact; one of which, he had no problem with. He sniffed once, disdainfully. "I saw no point in the continuation of your employment."

Amelia's jaw tightened. "That's for me to decide on, not you. I have bills to pay." He all but sneered at her. "The university saved all your documents from five years ago, you have a month left until your graduation. My good word will be all that's needed to start off your career."

Amelia noticed how they were getting off topic but she wasn't going to let go of the change of attitude he seemed to have with her. "That's not... My friend, Jolene is missing. I cannot and will not sit here, in your home like some fucking damsel in distress, whilst anything could be happening to her -"