"So he's really back," Greg says over his pint. "Do people actually die anymore?"

"Magnussen did," John replies tersely, and a heavy silence falls over the two of them.

Detective Inspector Lestrade has never been one to approve of murder, but even he can see what Sherlock did there. In the eyes of the law he may be a murderer, and yet nothing is ever so black-and-white when it comes to a man like Charles Augustus Magnussen.

For all that Sherlock always claims he's not a hero, this is probably the closest he'll ever get to being one. He put his own life on the line in order to save John and Mary, and if that isn't proof enough of the fact that the consulting detective actually has a heart then Greg doesn't know what it might be.

"At least Sherlock is back too," he mutters at length, and the hint of a smile flashes across John's face.

"Yeah. What would I do with myself without a couple of psychopaths around?"

Greg wisely refrains from commenting. If there's one thing he's not willing to discuss with John, that's Mary Watson and her choices in life.

That's what friends do; as long as all of them stick together, there's always a chance that everything will go back to how it was before.