It had been some time since John had spoken to Sherlock in person. There had been numerous text messages sent between them but only ever to arrange details about their belongings or a simple message to ensure that the other was alright. John knew that Sherlock did still care about him and that he was sorry for the way he had treated Hannah, so he always answered the messages pleasantly and asked after cases he had heard Sherlock was working on. Even so he had promised Hannah that he would no longer be involved with Sherlock and his cases and he was determined to stick to his promise no matter how lonely he was. And John was lonely. He had friends now, a social life, his wonderful fiancé and even a new dog to keep him occupied, not to mention his almost full time job at the surgery. But the dullness of routine and normal life was eating away at him; he knew it and worried about it. Hannah too, could see that John was not the man he used to be. She would often watch him sigh as he dressed for work or silently collected his things to play rugby with his friends. She tried to push away the fact that she felt guilty and carried on as normal. But eventually, after a day in March spent at home, thinking about the secret she held and about how honest John was with her, she knew she could not do it any longer.

"John" she started awkwardly as he slumped down onto the sofa beside her, that evening "I need to talk to you" in a second he had sat bolt upright, took her hands and looked worriedly into her eyes

"What's wrong" he asked

"I've not been entirely honest with you John and I need to tell you something" she stared at the ground as she spoke. "It's about Sherlock Holmes"

John said nothing but continued his gaze without blinking "I saw him, just before I came to you to ask you to come back to me. He came round to my house, with flowers and an apology. He talked about you, and how you were so different when you were with me or thinking about me and that he had been jealous. He admitted to taking your phone to write those messages to me and said that he knew I was special to you"

"He said that" John asked, he couldn't believe what he was hearing

"Yes, John he told me that even if I couldn't forgive him he wanted me to forgive you and try again, even if that meant him being totally out of the picture. That was why I made it one of the conditions of us getting back together. I'm sorry I should have told you"

John sat, slightly dazed on the sofa. Sherlock had admitted his mistake and apologised! The thought cut deep into John as he knew how hard that was for Sherlock. And it hadn't been for himself either, only for John. He had a sudden urge to see Sherlock once more and for things to be as they had always been.

"If you want to" Hannah said quietly "I have nothing against you seeing Sherlock again, I can see how unhappy you are without him"

"No, I'm not going to do anything that will make you unhappy" John answered steadily

"This is will make me happy" Hannah said with a small smile "go and phone him up and see what can be made of the mess I've made"

"This isn't your mess" John told her. He looked at her lovingly and smiled "thank you for telling me, and for this. I do miss him, but I can't see him just yet. He hurt me too, I need to think about what I'll say" and that was the last they spoke of the matter for three days until at last Sherlock was thrust back into John's life at a whirlwind speed he could have never anticipated.

It was early Thursday evening when Mycroft Holmes descended upon John's home. John hadn't been so shocked since Sherlock had turned up on his doorstep to after he had thrown himself off a building. For a moment Mycroft simply stood there, looking at the astonished faces before him and wondering whether or not to ask Hannah to leave. Finally he surmised that there had been enough prejudice against John's fiancé and that she had a right to know as much as her future husband.

"John" he began simply, taking a seat opposite the couple "I need you"

"What on earth could you need me for" John asked shaking his head slightly "I'm not in close contact with your brother any more and I certainly don't have any contacts of …"

"Never mind all that, I need you to help Sherlock" Mycroft answered deliberately "it is not like you to hold a grudge John and certainly not for so long. Forgive him, he needs you"

"Well if he needs me" John said "he knows where to find me, we do still talk. And I have forgiven him actually; I'm not holding a grudge, I just..."

"Then you wont mind will you" Mycroft cut in "Sherlock will not contact you about this, he doesn't know yet that he needs you and probably wont know until it's too late. Therefore I've come to ask you personally to step across to Baker Street to assist him"

"Look" John retorted "we decided, both of us, me and Sherlock decided that I wouldn't be helping on any more cases"

"A case?" Mycroft answered incredulously "do you think I am here to ask you to help with one of his petty trivia's. John he needs, you as a friend, he can't cope with the message I need to send him and I need you to be there with him" Mycroft took his phone out of his pocket and looked across at John. John's face still showed deep confusion, Mycroft sighed

"His father came to see me today"

"And?"

"Surely he has told you about his father" Mycroft said in surprise, this was not the response he had been expecting.

"Not a word" replied John "all I know of his childhood is this, um, he was away at boarding school a lot, your mum was very ill, bedridden, in fact for the last fifteen years of her life. You basically brought Sherlock up, and… well he didn't rate your parenting skills much. I simply assumed that dad had always been out of the picture"

Mycroft gave a small laugh and nodded his head

"The general summing up of Sherlock Holmes" he replied with a small smile "Most of that is true John, although Dad was very much in the picture. In fact he took on most of the care for Mummy, but he had vices, as all tried men do. He began to sleep around, it was inevitable I suppose but we knew what affect it would have on Mummy so I said nothing to her. Sherlock on the other hand, well, he has always had a rather direct way of putting things and seemed to lack subtlety and tact. He could see whenever there had been a one night stand or short term affair and rather than ask Dad to stop he would go and tell Mummy. This caused her great distress and affected her badly. We used to argue over it a lot and my father would get very angry with Sherlock. I had seen them come to blows over the matter once or twice, but both were capable of taking care of themselves so I didn't let it bother me. Then finally, out of nowhere, there was two weeks of peace. Sherlock seemed calm and made no protest against Dad when he went out yet again to find a woman. I was beginning to think that he had come to accept it. That was the day Sherlock didn't come home. It was nothing unusual in itself, Sherlock had taken to staying out all night recently and we were not worried. He sent a text to us the evening of the following day saying he didn't know when he would be back but that it shouldn't be too long. Then on the evening of the fourth day he turned up back home, looking horrendous. He told us a story I simply couldn't believe"

"Which was" John cut in, eager to know the details yet feeling a sense of anger growing inside him. Mycroft sighed and leant back in his chair

"Sherlock said that his dad had been seeing his girlfriend and that he had seen them. Well, what could he have hoped I would think? Sherlock had never had a girlfriend in his life. He then said his father had turned on him when he confronted him, beat him severely and put him in the boot of his car." Mycroft stopped at this point and glanced up at John's confused face.

"He said he kept him there for three days, then took him to another part of town and left him there with a warning that no one would believe him if he told the truth and he was better off staying out of it completely. Again I could not believe it, Sherlock had texted me earlier in the week when he was supposedly in the car boot. We had a huge argument and Sherlock disappeared again. I tracked him down after a couple of years and found him, addicted to cocaine, throwing his life away in some squalid part of town. But he managed, with a little unnoticed help from me, to pull himself out of that stage and become successful. He has, of course, never forgiven me"

John was shocked by the story but he did not show it, this was not the time for laying blame and arguing. Sherlock was going to need help

"So what now" he asked quietly, staring at Mycroft's face of ice.

"Well as I said Dad came to see me and told me he needed Sherlock's help. He also said he knew Sherlock would never help and that he would need me to persuade him. It was the way he said it John, the guilt was so evident there that I knew, I knew at least part of Sherlock's story was true. I am going to let him know what has happened, if you will go round, say I have explained and just be there for him, can you do that?"

John nodded his head and smiled, all worries about his normal life had evaporated and he felt back where he should be.

"Text him now" he said standing up "I'm on my way"