this is a collaboration between me and my best friend Lizzielulu, so please be nice, and constructive criticism welcome :).

The first time John Watson ever saw Merlin Holmes the boy in question was tied to a chair. He had a bruise on his temple and a cut on his cheek, his knuckles were bruised and there were tears in his eyes. Merlin looked up at one of his older brothers and opened his mouth as if to say something, but then closed it as the man standing next to him pressed a gun to his temple.

~One Day Earlier~

"Sherlock, Mycroft is calling me again, can't you just talk to him? It might be important." John said looking at his phone which glared the three missed calls at him no matter how many times he deleted them.

"I already know what he wants, and I'm not going to do it," Sherlock said not looking up from his microscope.

"How could you know what he wants, you haven't even talked to him yet"

"John, by now you should know that I don't have to ask" Sherlock told him sounding utterly bored as he changed the slides under his microscope.

John rolled his eyes, "So what does he want then?"

"He wants me to pick up Merlin." Sherlock said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Right, Merlin. And Merlin is…"

"My little brother."

"You have a little brother! Why didn't you ever tell me? Why haven't I ever met him?" John exclaimed extremely surprised by this piece of information, and more than a little exasperated at the thought of another Holmes brother.

"Mycroft pays for his boarding school fees. Lately Merlin's been invited to spend the holidays off with his friends from school but he's not going anywhere this holiday, so Mycroft needs to look after him and to do that he needs to pick Merlin up, which Mycroft can't do because he's a lazy sod and then there's the Korean elections to see to…"

"The Korean what?" John asked.

Sherlock continued as if John had never said anything, "He's going to ask me to do it, and I don't want to, so I'm not going to."

"Why not? He's your brother."

"He's hormonal, accident prone, useless, and he's an idiot. I suspect the only reason he's not going on holiday with his friends is because they've realized all of this and have found someone better to spend time with."

"Sherlock that's a bit harsh, he is your brother. I don't like Harry as much as I should but she's my sister and despite all her flaws I do love her. I try to spend time with her and do favors for her. He's your brother; they're both your brothers. Stop being a whiny git and just do it."

"It'll be time consuming and tedious. I have better things to do." Sherlock argued using his own special brand of logic.

"Do you just have to pick him up and take him to Mycroft's?" John asked finished with trying to make Sherlock see reason.

"Yes."

"Then I could do it, or one of Mycroft's men."

"No, nobody but a blood relative is allowed do it. That's the school rule- there's no way around it, we've tried multiple times."

"I can't believe you sometimes, you're just going to leave your younger brother at school."

"No Mycroft will have left him at school, that's what he'll think anyway."

John gave up trying to reason with Sherlock at that point. Mycroft would probably find a way to make it all work out anyway. John spent the next hour and a half looking for a picture of this Merlin Holmes but he couldn't find any anywhere, no family photographs, no school portraits, not even any random pictures from growing up that parents accumulate like Mrs. Hudson's doily collection. John didn't even find any indication that Merlin Holmes even existed. How could John have never heard of Merlin? John actually felt bad for the boy; it couldn't have been easy growing up with two brothers like Mycroft and Sherlock.

The topic of Merlin didn't come up for another day. Not until an hour after Sherlock would have picked up Merlin had he been willing.

"What is it Mycroft," Sherlock sighed as he answered the phone sounding more than a little put out with the conversation already, "No I didn't pick him up. I had a case," Sherlock lied, "He's still at school waiting… Mycroft of course he is. What do you mean they say he's already gone; only you or I could have picked him up…? His uncle? We don't have any uncles." Comprehension dawned on Sherlock's face then it was quickly replaced by worry, "I'll look at it." Sherlock hung up.

"What's wrong?" John asked, recognizing the tense look on Sherlock's face.

"Mycroft didn't pick up Merlin, he thought I was doing it. Somebody's taken Merlin, Mycroft's sending me a picture he got from the school security camera of whoever it was who took Merlin. He's also sending a car; we're going to his office to sort this out. Merlin's such an idiot. How could he not know he doesn't have any uncles?"

"I really doubt that Merlin went willingly…" John started to say.

Sherlock raised a single finger silencing John as his phone vibrated. Sherlock's eyes got wide and pressed his lips together, than he said one word. "Moriarty."

"What about him?" John said, lost as to what Moriarty had to do with this.

"He took Merlin."

"How can you tell?" Sherlock wordlessly showed John the picture Mycroft had sent him. John was surprised; it was Moriarty himself, not a hired man. "That's brave of him."

"He must have wanted us to see this. He wants us to know it's him. He wants something. Money, information…me." Sherlock got up from his chair and started pacing the floor.

"Sherlock you've got to calm down, you not going to help Merlin by worrying."

"You think I don't know that?" Sherlock snapped. "Moriarty could be doing anything to Merlin right now. Merlin's alone, probably scared. If only I had picked the stupid boy up."

"So you really do care about Merlin."

Sherlock did not answer the question; instead he glanced out the window and then rushed to the door. "Mycroft's here." Sherlock grabbed his coat and scarf and ran out the door- john right behind him yelling an apology and an excuse over his shoulder to a surprised Mrs. Hudson.

They got into the car waiting for them and rode to Mycroft's office in silence. John took this time to observe Sherlock. He had never seen Sherlock like this before. He looked worried for his little brother, despite whatever he had said before about Merlin, Sherlock really did care about his wellbeing. John had to say he was surprised Sherlock was showing this much emotion willingly, even if he wouldn't admit that he cared for Merlin.

John followed Sherlock as he stormed into Mycroft's office, "It's Moriarty, he's trying to send a message, he wants something from us." Sherlock said so fast John had trouble identifying separate words.

"I know I'm finding out where he is right now; we have pretty good idea already." Mycroft said, looking as worried as Sherlock did, but in a more controlled way. The only outwardly show of worry being the slight twisting of his umbrella.

"Do you have any idea what he could want?"

"Yes, there are some delicate military plans that we believe he has shown some interest in."

"What are you waiting for? Give Moriarty the planes!" Sherlock practically shouted.

"Sherlock, you know I can't do that."

"Mycroft, Merlin's our brother I won't let him die."

"Yes Sherlock, he is our brother but this is our country. I can't just hand over information like this. Besides you had no problem abandoning him at his school." All the fight drained out of Sherlock, John had to admit what Mycroft had said was a low blow, "We are not going to abandon him, we will get Merlin back but we will not do it by betraying our country. Emergency plans have been made in case something like this happens, we have fake plans to give Moriarty, and he won't know the difference." Mycroft said holding up a flash drive.

"What if he plugs it in to check before he lets Merlin go?" asked John.

"It has fake plans that look real; the only people who could tell the difference are the people who have seen the real plans. An extremely select few I assure you."

"So you're sure there's no way Moriarty could have seen the real plans?" John asked.

"Would he want the plans if he had already seen them?" Mycroft pointed out.

"Alright, when and where do we do the exchange?" Sherlock asked.

"As soon as…" Mycroft was cut off as his phone dinged loudly. Mycroft checked his phone and nodded when he saw the message, "Never mind, they just found where they are, we're ready to go now." Mycroft left the room with John and Sherlock following him, on the way to the car Mycroft started relaying the plan he had to Sherlock and John. "Sherlock and I are going to go in when the time comes. We're the ones he wants to see. I'm going to give Moriarty the flash drive and you're," Mycroft looked pointedly at Sherlock, "going to go to Merlin and get him back into the car as soon as you can. As soon as I join you we are going to drive back here, a paramedic team will be waiting- they can't come with us because we don't want to scare off Moriarty with too many people and sirens. John can wait with the paramedics."

"John's coming with us." Sherlock said.

"Sherlock, you'd be risking the all our live including Merlin's."

"Then he can stay in the car, I want Merlin to have medical attention as soon as possible. I understand why we can't take a paramedic team with us and I trust John."

"Fine." Mycroft said as they climbed into the car, Mycroft in the front passenger seat and Sherlock and John in the backseat.

John hadn't noticed it in the car, what with all the commotion about Merlin, but now John could see Mycroft still had his umbrella with him. Typical, he thought, but seriously the man's teenaged younger brother was kidnapped and he still remembers his stupid umbrella.

The ride was silent, everyone was deep in thought. When they reached their destination, an old abandoned shoe factory, two of Moriarty's men were waiting for them. When the car stopped Mycroft and Sherlock started to get out of the car.

"No," said one of the Moriarty men, "Moriarty doesn't want to see you Iceman, he wants to see Sherlock and the doctor."

Mycroft looked as though he was going to argue back but thought of Merlin and decided not to, he gave Sherlock the flash drive then got back into the car. John and Sherlock followed the man who had spoken to him and the other stayed to make sure the car didn't go anywhere. John, Sherlock, and the henchman were quiet on their journey into the building and up the stairs, John glanced at Sherlock to make sure he wasn't panicking but Sherlock was staring straight ahead, his eyes showed no fear or panic, only determination. Sherlock Holmes meant business.

When they finally reached the room that Merlin was being kept in the henchman held open the door and let Sherlock and John pass him, while he waited outside. The room was very large and nearly empty. The few dim light-bulbs that hung from the ceiling gave a dusty glow to the room. In the middle of the room was Moriarty, he sat at a desk with a laptop and another henchman standing vigilant next to him. A suitcase and a backpack sat on the floor next to the desk, those where probably Merlin's things. Then there was Merlin.

John was taken aback by how similar Sherlock and Merlin looked. Merlin had Sherlock's hair color, lips, and cheek bones that could cut glass. There were only a few slight differences, Merlin's hair wasn't curly like Sherlock's and his eyes where blue not grey. Merlin also had horned-rimmed glasses that made him look very bookish but couldn't hide the fear in his eyes. Merlin was thin, Sherlock was also very thin but Sherlock had grown into his body, where as it looked like Merlin hadn't yet. Though Merlin wasn't that tall, he had the unhealthy skinny appearance of someone who had grown a lot in a short period of time.

Merlin was tied to a chair; he had a bruise on his temple and a cut on his cheek. There were tears in his eyes, he opened his mouth to say something but then shut it when the henchman standing next to him put a gun to his head.