Falling Awake
(For Sherlock Holmes and Sam Tyler, falling and flying are one in the same.)
Sam Tyler's feet in their black wingtips send echoes over Manchester as he runs, the swift sharp sound rushing away from him and tumbling over the edge of the building, preceding him. He is sprinting, pumping his arms and breathing steadily, because there is no room for doubt. Not now. No Annie or Gene to stop him, to hold out a hand or to punch some sense into him. The white ledge bobs closer with each step. Closer still. Manchester crouches below him. He leaps out over the city, his arms pinwheeling and his legs searching for purchase that they will never find in the empty air. Sam Tyler falls.
Sherlock Holmes's fall is as precise as the rest of him. He stands on the ledge, tall and confident. London crouches below him. He tosses the phone aside; he cannot bear to hold it, lest he give in and call John again. He can see John—John, for whom he was doing this- from here, a tiny black figure on the tarmac below, reaching for him. He cannot take John's hand, cannot second-guess himself. Not now. He spreads his arms and pitches forward without hesitation. The cold wind screams past his ears, his arms pinwheeling as his black coat flutters out behind him like the wings of the angel Moriarty had accused him of being. Sherlock Holmes falls.
Sam's suit jacket flutters out behind him. His trousers ripple against his legs, buffeted by the air rushing past him. When he wakes up, he will be in 2006. No more 1973, no more nightmares, no more uncertainty. When he wakes up, he will find Maya, and he will hold her and kiss her again and again. He will visit his mum and they will go for tea and treacle tart with custard. The custard will still have the skin on it. He will appreciate modern technology. He will be a new person. He will he will he will—
Sherlock tries to keep his eyes on John, which is difficult with the pavement spinning closer and the sky spinning farther. He cannot let himself be afraid. He will succeed. When he wakes up, he will slip away and he will take down Moriarty's network, however long it takes. Then he will come back to London, and he will knock on the door of 221B, and Mrs. Hudson will let him in and give him tea like she always does. He will treat Molly like a person, and perhaps he will even be a tad more appreciative of Mycroft. He will find John, and he will apologise and will really mean it. And then?
He will live.