Ella sighed. This just wasn't working.
She had been having regular sessions with John Watson before he'd even met Sherlock, but the state of the man then had been nothing in comparison to his current disposition.
For a while Ella had followed his blog, smiling at how the Doctor spoke of the detective. She'd been one of his many fans. Plus she liked to see one of her clients happy again. But it had not lasted. His last blog entry had broken her heart, but it was clear that his was in far worse a shape. She had waited patiently, knowing it was only a matter of time. Ella had tried in particular to keep up with the news about the detective that occasionally cropped up in the newspapers but her heart only sank further as she read. The detective was a madman - a cruel, foul clinically insane person. Yet she knew that John would rise to his defence whenever the need called.
A few months later John Watson called her. Ella felt relieved that the man had finally given in to his problems. He had admitted that he needed help but she could tell from the first session it was not going to be easy. John would need a long time to recover if he couldn't even state the simple truth, or how he felt about the man who was now gone from his life. Ella remembered how weak he had looked sitting there. She dreaded to think how gaunt and tired he would be this time round but she waited.
Ella glanced at the clock. John was ten minutes late, unusual for him. He was such a punctual man. She tapped her fingers on the desk in boredom. Then irritation as boredom quickly became frustration. What was he thinking? Fifteen minutes had gone by! That was half of a thirty minute session out the window. She felt her patience dwindling and she was considering phoning the Doctor to see whether he'd forgotten his appointment. She picked up the phone from her desk, but the sound of the door creaking open and panting distracted her. Ella looked up. She was alarmed to find that Doctor Watson stood in the doorway, he looked pale and shocked but surprisingly healthy in comparison to the last time she'd seen him. That was something.
"John you look like you've seen a ghost." she said in concern, then she raised an eyebrow. "Is that why you're late?"
He laughed. She had no idea how right she was. But she could never know, he'd told John that much. Besides, John knew that if he told her the truth Ella would just think that he had snapped for good.
"No, sorry. Completely forgot about our appointment." he lied.
Ella frowned. John had never forgotten an appointment before.
"Sit down, we still have some time." John sat. "So, how are you coping?"
He resisted the urge to roll his eyes, everybody said that to him. The Doctor forced a grin.
"Fine. Brilliant, actually."
Ella's eyebrows shot into her hairline at this news. She scribbled down some more observations onto her paper.
"Tell me about your day."
"Oh, it was fairly ordinary. You know, nothing happens to me."
The genuine smile on his face told another story.
"Something good happened today though."
John knew there was no hiding it.
"Yes."
"Are you going to tell me what it was?"
"No." At this point John's ringtone interrupted them. "Sorry, I really have to take this." Ella's eyes widened, that tune sounded so familiar. It always used to interrupt them at previous appointments, back when John had only just met the detective.
"You might as well; we don't have any time left."
"By the way, I won't be needing any more sessions."
"What?" Ella exclaimed.
"I'm cured."
And for some reason she didn't doubt him.
John walked out of the room, a smile stretching across his face. Ella sat at her desk, still puzzling over her client. Strangely enough, it was the ringtone that truly distracted her thoughts.
That was when she realised.
It had been the same personalized ringtone that represented Sherlock's calls.