Summary: Watson reminisces about Holmes' death

Author's note: All characters and places mentioned herein belong to Sir Conan Doyle and no copyright infringement is intended. This piece is set on Watson's return to London after Holmes' apparent death at the Reichenbach falls, Switerland. It was inspired by a clip from "The Empty House" in which Watson is looking up at the windows of Baker Street. If you enjoy, please review, and many thanks to my lovely beta fairy-girl27.

Between the Light and the Window

As I gaze up at the windows of the Baker Street I have known, I feel a great sadness. None of it will be the same without you there and it feels very wrong to have returned when I know that you never will. You should be there striding up and down those rooms so that I glancing up may see your shadow pass back and forth between the light and the window.

I realise the great sacrifice you made of yourself, yet still I wish you hadn't had to make it. To rid the world of such evil, we had to lose you too. All the adventures we had together. Always we faced danger together, except that last time. I should have been there with you, somehow. The sound of those falls still haunts my dreams. I hear the rush and thunder, that inhuman voice rising out of the foam.

It's still hard for me to accept that I'll never sit with you again. Never laugh or be astonished by your deductions, never stand by your side. Returning here reminds me of what I've lost; what we've all lost. The public has lost an amazing detective, defender of the innocent. Yet I, remembering the man, have lost a dear friend who can never be replaced.

Never shall I set foot in Baker Street again for it would not seem the same, but I remain your loyal friend, Watson.