Favourite screencap of the day - Realization

 (Sherlock Meta by thenorwoodbuilder)

MH: I wish our lot were half as good as you
IA: I can’t take all the credit, I had a bit of help. Jim Moriarty sends his love.
MH: Yes, he’s been in touch. Seems desperate for my attention. 

Look at Irene’s face when Mycroft says that Moriarty had already tried to get his attention before - look at the way her expression changes slightly: she appears suddenly worried, and recollecting.

THIS is the moment when she realizes that Moriarty wasn’t just a consultant at her service, whom she hired and who pursued only the interest of his “client”, but he had his own agenda, instead, in which she was only a pawn.

And - I can’t be sure of this, but I suppose it’s plausible - when she, then, volunteered  some more information about Moriarty (the fact that Moriarty had given her “advice about how to play the Holmes Boys”: that is, the fact that Moriarty was collecting information about them, and was obsessed by BOTH of them; this sounds quite like a warning, doesn’t it?), it’s possible that she was actually trying to “return the favour” to Jim, to create some little difficulties for him with the Holmes Brothers (who would certainly have gone after him, after this debacle…).

Finally, it’s possible that, when Sherlock rescued Irene in Karachi, she also provided him with whatever further information she could have had about Moriarty and his organization, which would have helped him (and Mycroft) in arranging their plans against the Consulting Criminal. (This could also fit enigmaticpenguinofdeath's interesting theory according to which Mycroft DID know about Irene being still alive. Actually, I’m ready to accept that, IF Mycroft knew that Sherlock had saved Irene, all his intricate manoeuver of sending John - we all agree, the most hopeless liar in the world… - to deliver to Sherlock his pleasant white lie, was presumably aimed - amongst other things - to send to his little brother the message “I know that she is alive. Now you know that I know. And I’m sure that you know that I know, because not even an idiot could have been deceived by poor John. So be warned: if she’ll keep quiet, I’ll let her be - she is ‘officially’ under witness protection, and ‘unofficially-but-officially’ dead - but if she’ll create any more trouble, don’t think that you’ll be able to save her again under my nose: you never did”. Of course, Mycroft would have been much more willing to agree to this little tacit deal, had Irene proved herself useful in their campaign against Moriarty…)