A/N: Not Britpicked – sorry!
I don't know if anyone else has done this yet, but it occurred to me and I felt the need to write it after watching TBB.
Disclaimer: I don't own Sherlock Holmes or any affiliated characters. Also, if anyone has written this plot out already, my apologies. I honestly did not look to see if I had been done.
For their first date, John takes her for dinner and a movie. It's a quiet date, and has John thinking of a more eventful occasion in which he and his date attended a circus, were accompanied by – ahem – him, got into a fight with the Black Locus, and at the end of it all, she was nearly killed and wouldn't see him again. In contrast, this date should have been dull and uneventful and so, so wrong. It wasn't.
Mary enjoys the date thoroughly. She knows that John has something on his mind, but it's a nice, quiet evening; warm and really, it's the perfect night. When John walks her to her door, looking nervous and as excited as she feels, it's the perfect ending. She watches him walk away, eager to see him again already.
Leaning against the wall and watching John turn the corner, she fails to notice the black car pull up to the curb until a woman approaches her.
"Mary Morstan?"
Mary straightens, immediately wary. "Yes?"
"Please, come with me." The woman turns and walks back to the car, pulling out her Blackberry in one smooth motion. Setting her lips in a thin line, Mary approaches the car and settles in.
"I don't suppose you're going to tell me where we're going?" she asks, more to calm her own nerves than for an answer.
The woman smiles as though she's made a joke, but says nothing. Mary stares out the window instead, making sure she knows how to get to safety should she need to.
They arrive at an abandoned warehouse, the lighting illuminating a man standing in the middle of the building, wearing a three piece suit and leaning on an umbrella.
"Ah, Mary. A pleasure," he says, a smile on his face that she immediately knows is fake.
"While you seem to know me, I'm afraid I am at a disadvantage…" she waits for him to state his name.
"Not to worry," the man replied, that smile still prominent. It fades slightly at his next words, "I believe you have become acquainted with John Watson."
Mary furrowed her brows, confused. "Yes, although I fail to see what business of yours is that."
"Merely a concerned party."
Mary doesn't believe him. "What do you want?"
He looks surprised, as though the question was very obvious. "I believe that we could both benefit from this… relationship."
"Oh?"
"Yes. Are you planning to continue this relationship with John?" Mary has noticed that while he speaks, he fiddles with his umbrella as though he cannot stand still.
"I still fail to see how that is any of your business. And could you not have simply asked me that back at my flat? What was the point in bringing me out here?"
"I wish to avoid John's attendance in this matter."
"What do you want?" What on earth could a man like John have to do with a man like this, she has to wonder.
"My only wish is, in return for a particular sum of money, that you will inform me of the activities and emotional state of John Watson."
"Who are you?" Mary's voice is cold.
The man smirks, as though at an inside joke. Mary can only assume it is with himself. "I believe that John would refer to me with some… unkind… words. I daresay I am not deserving of all of them, however one cannot choose the manner in which he is referred. Quite possibly, I am the man John hates the most in the world."
"No," she states, her voice hard.
"No?"
"My answer. I will not spy on John for you."
The man looks rather put out, but not surprised. "I haven't mentioned a figure."
"It doesn't matter."
"Very well. I shall have Anthea to take you back to your flat. However, before you leave." He pauses. "I would much appreciate it if this little incident could remain unmentioned. Our relationship is not a very…" he smirks, "respectable one at the moment I'm afraid, although I do have his best interests at heart."
"I see. Thank you." Mary walks back to the car, accompanied by Anthea for the drive home.
Mary doesn't reveal that conversation to John, having the idea that it would upset him more than is necessary.
Much later, when Sherlock is revealed to be alive, and Mary walks into 221B with John only to find the mysterious man speaking with Sherlock, she says nothing. She finds that she isn't surprised when he is introduced as Mycroft Holmes, Sherlock's older brother. He makes no mention of their meeting, and neither does she, although she now understands why that meeting took place.
Instead, it warms her heart that John has people who will look out for him.