Title: Secrets, and Why We Keep Them to Preserve the Peace at Home.
Author: lovemoonyforever/lovemoony4ever
Word count: 200/100x2, but the second drabble does not stand on its own.
Prompt: "The man who has no secrets from his wife either has no secrets or no wife." -Gilbert Wells. Prompt given by the drabble community on livejournal called holmes100.
Pairings/characters: John Watson/Mary Morstan, Holmes mentioned.
Rating: G
Warnings/genres: Gen, Humor
Summary/Author's notes: The cases I've referenced are "The Sign of Four", "The Red-headed League" and "Charles Augustus Milverton". "The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton" was according to one of the timelines I consulted set during Watson's marriage - for the sake of humour, pretend this makes sense.
When Watson regaled Mary with the tale of their capture of Jonathan Small, he neglected to tell her exactly how close Tonga's dart had come to killing Holmes. And after the alteration with John Clay, when Holmes' horsewhip was the only thing that prevented a similar outcome, well, Watson never mentioned the gun at all. This small duplicity was perfectly acceptable, he convinced himself; after all, he only wanted to spare his beloved unnecessary worry. Mary was aware of the risks he ran while assisting Holmes, she did not need to know the specifics. Those could be his little secret.
Still, from the way she fussed over him on those specific occasions, Watson suspected he was more transparent than he thought. Well, Holmes had always told him he was a horrible actor. While Watson loved his adventures outside of home, it was such a relief to return once the adventure was over. He found he didn't mind if Mary knew exactly what he had been up to. Evidently, she could handle it. With this in mind, he resolved to disclose all aspects of future cases to her.
He eventually came to regret this, especially after the deplorable business with Milverton.