A/N: Please forgive any grammar or punctuation errors as this is not beta read.
Disclaimer: Characters Do Not Belong To Me.
It was just texting.
That was what he told John.
He had not committed any sinful adulterous acts. It was just a method of how people communicate with each other. For the honorable John Watson, it seemed like the emotional connection formed was too much for his conscience to bear. Loyal to a fault, that was John Watson. It explained one of the reasons why he was still hanging around with the consulting detective.
The heart always was a nebulous and mysterious thing.
Sherlock had to sit and watch his best friend confess his guilt to Mary's ghost. He contemplated what he should be doing and feeling. Should He have hit him on Mary's behalf? No, it was not the right thing to do. He had visited John's old therapist, in hopes of obtaining tips and techniques to help John deal with his grief, but he came away from it with no better understanding. Emotions are not his area.
He was surprised that John berated him for not pursuing "The Woman." Sherlock surmised that this stemmed from Watson's own experiences with lost opportunities. The fact that Irene Adler managed to rouse any interest in him, caused John to fixate on her as being ideally suited for him as a partner. Such a romantic, his friend is.
For Sherlock, it was more of a meeting of similar minds, rather than sexual attraction. They were similar, Irene Adler and he. They bored easily, needed stimulation, and loved the thrill of the game. It was true he rescued her from Karachi because of sentiment. The loss of her would have been an epic waste of intellect and talent. It was more due to a sense of loneliness rather than any actual romantic feelings that he saved her. They were too similar to ever make it work. He would always have to be on his guard as she could never fully be trusted. One could never fully relax and simply exist around the other. It would be far too tiresome to maintain long-term.
He knew why she texted him. It was her way of keeping in contact with him. She knew what a great asset it was to have Sherlock Holmes available to her should she require him. She delighted in teasing him with innuendo, despite the discomfort he felt. Not that the detective was completely immune to her artifice, a naked Irene Adler was known to occasionally make her presence known in his mind palace. He knew he should not respond to her as it would only encourage her, but he does slip up on occasion. He knows when he does, it only gives her fodder to manipulate him in the future, should their paths ever cross again. It is information gathering, thats all. It is what she does. She gathers intel and uses it bring people and governments to their knees in her power play games. She is like Magnussen in that respect, only slightly less vile.
For Sherlock, it was not a big deal. Nothing to be ashamed about. Words are only just that, words. He did not attach a deep meaning and connotation to action of texting.
He told Watson such, and he responded by saying, "If that is true, why have you not told Molly?"
He had no answer for that.