The Wedding Present
It's the morning of her wedding and Mary is praying to a god she doesn't believe in that Mycroft Holmes hasn't found out. Because if Mycroft knows , Sherlock knows and if Sherlock knows he'll do something . Mary doesn't know what but somehow he'll appear like a spectre at the feast and steal John away from her . Mary has no doubts about who her husband-to-be would pick now if faced with a choice between her or Sherlock . Always Sherlock , but she gambling on the long game , gambling on what she knows of the good man John Watson , gambling on time . If she can keep John close for long enough , good man that he is , eventually she will mean more to him than Sherlock bloody Holmes ever did . That's John's nature, he's loyal to the one that most need him , he goes where he is needed and he never leaves the job half done. Mary is going to make herself John's core , fill that gap that Sherlock left . She will fight the ghost who isn't actually a ghost at all with every weapon she can. She'll keep John company on lonely nights when nightmares wake him , she will make him leave the flat in Baker Street, the amber that traps John and Sherlock together even now. She'll steer him toward other people and away from Lestrade , Mycroft Holmes , Molly Hooper and Mrs Hudson , cut the ties which bind them all absent-mindedly , covertly. Hell if John needs the distraction she'll play the damsel in distress , the whore , the mother , the good wife , the best friend , she'll even bear his children, whatever he needs her to be to do until Sherlock Holmes isn't his first thought on waking and his last thought as he drifts to sleep.
Then let Sherlock Holmes come back for his friend , his blogger , his fucking heart.
She imagines his face when Sherlock Holmes sees them together . With his famed powers of observation and deduction she wonders how long will it take him to see the family resemblance between herself and her poor, sweet , mad brother . And then she'll watch him realise that she knows the secret to Sherlock's 'non existent heart ' that she saw through his misdirection and knew exactly where and with whom he hide that particular weakness . When she is sure he knows , when she is sure he sees John's dependence on her , when he can see how deep she has twisted herself in John's heart and mind , then this gamble will pay off and she'll show him what a Moriarty means when they threaten to burn your heart out.