"Hello Mrs. Hudson." Those three words made Mrs. Hudson turn beet red in the face. With an unbelievable strength she pulled the man in by his scarf. She pushed him against the banister in the hallway and poked him in the chest.
"SHERLOCK. HOLMES. WHAT. HAVE. YOU. DONE? " With each word she poked him a little harder. Then all of a sudden all her strength seemed to disappear and the man visibly relaxed.
"Mrs. Hudson." Sherlock said carefully afraid that she would start poking him again.
"You impossible boy." She mumbled and drew him into a hug. Sherlock let out a breath and returned it. She withdrew and looked him over.
"You're even thinner than before." She concluded and frowned at him, sure she wasn't his housekeeper but she couldn't help but take care of him like the son she never had.
"No I'm not, that's not a very good deduction. And now that we have said hello I'd like to go back to my flat. Mycroft said that it would be the same as before." She understood the need for him to distance himself from the emotions she was expressing but that didn't mean he could come back after three years and except everything to just go back to normal.
"Oh no you are not, in the kitchen. Now!" She had started to build up her anger again and she needed to occupy herself with something and cooking for Sherlock was as good a start as any.
"I thought you weren't my housekeeper." Sherlock tried to go back to his cold demeanour but found it difficult.
"Well that might have changed, it has been three years you know." He reluctantly made his way to the kitchen and sat down on a chair.
While Mrs. Hudson busied herself with making food she couldn't help but look Sherlock over again. He certainly was thinner and he had dark circles under his eyes. No doubt because he had no one to tell him when to sleep and eat. She knew that Sherlock was a genius and that he knew exactly how far he could push his body but it didn't stop her tears from falling when she thought of everything Sherlock had to give up when he disappeared. He had always taken care of himself but since John had come into his life he had begun to let himself be human, to feel.
"That was a stupid thing to do you know." She said as she carried the food to the table. She began to scoop up some of it to the plate in front of Sherlock. He let her do it and Mrs. Hudson suspected it had something to do with his remorse.
"It was necessary." Nothing more and nothing less. She frowned and put her hands on her hips.
"Really, I just hope that you understand what you did to us." She saw something flicker in Sherlock's eyes, she may not be a consulting detective but she understood sorrow when she saw it. She sat down and watched him eat for a little while. He truly was a boy inside. A boy who did everything he could to please even if it didn't turn out the way it was meant to.
"Why was it necessary dear?" She stroked his hand briefly and then sat back to listen.
"Moriarty was going to kill you, Lestrade and John if I didn't kill myself so there wasn't really much of a choice." He said it with such a speed that she barley registered the words.
"Oh my, well that was very umm thoughtful of you Sherlock." She didn't know what to say, what did you say to someone who had faked their own death to save your life? Sherlock simply nodded and looked around the kitchen and then at Mrs. Hudson. Probably deducing she thought.
"You're seeing a doctor. Surgeon, divorced twice. And I see that he proposed to you with the ring from his first marriage. Family heirloom then." She looked at him in awe, she had missed his deductions, yes the last time he had deduced her he had been cruel but she guessed that when you missed someone you missed all of it. Even the bad things.
"Did John introduce you?" He asked casually although she could hear something in his voice that sounded a bit off.
"Yes he did, how did you know he's a surgeon?" She looked around her kitchen to see what had given it away.
"One of the bananas in the bowl has stitches." He pointed at the fruit bowl on the counter. She remembered him sitting there the night before working on the stitches to keep his fingers trimmed. She smiled and for a minute she forgot that she had company.
"He's seems like a good man." Sherlock said, she turned and smile at him.
"He is, speaking of good men. What was John's reaction? He was devastated you know." Sherlock suddenly saw something really interesting on the wall behind Mrs. Hudson's head.
"Sherlock." She drew out the name and stared him down.
"I haven't told him yet, you are the first to know." She looked at him with her hand on her half open mouth.
"Oh please close your mouth and drop your hand, they only do that kind of thing in books and films you know." She dropped her hand into her lap.
"Sherlock you have to tell him, right now!" She had seen John broken down so many times these past years and she wanted it to end. Then she remembered.
"We went to your grave three years ago." She said with wide eyes looking at Sherlock.
"Yes I know, I was there. What does that have to do with anything? You go there every year." For being a genius he sure was daft.
"Yes we always go there and today is the day we go to your grave on. He probably is on his way here right now." She couldn't help feeling giddy of the thought of a tearful reunion between the two lovers. Yes she knew that they weren't really lovers at least according to John. But boys could be so daft sometimes.
"Ah." Was all Sherlock said and paled. She had never seen anyone become so white and became slightly worried. But she didn't have time to check on him before there was a knock on the door.
"Oh that must be him." Sherlock made no move to answer the door so she stood up and opened the door with the biggest smile she could muster plastered on her face.
"John, how are you dear."
"Fine, how are you." He frowned at her giddy expression. She held the door open for him.
"In the kitchen." She said and followed him smiling like a fool. John shook his head and pushed the kitchen door open. It may sound cliché but the world stopped turning until the man in front of him spoke.
"Hello John."