Hey everyone, still around? To sum up what's happened... My laptop died, taking PI 2 with it so I had to start over. I also got a full time job and moved to a new house. So The Game Is On will not be coming as soon as I like. I'm also getting ready to go to San Diego Comic-Con for the first time so I'm incredibly busy. However, you've all been very patient and I'd like to offer this little, un-beta'd drabble to show my appreciation. Enjoy.
They'd been sitting next to each other for nearly an hour before Reid managed to speak. Sherlock had insisted on the window seat, and Reid hadn't argued with him. The other man was imposing, and even to Reid's great mind he was intimidating. Because Sherlock had done something that Reid was certain he'd never be able to do, not even in the most extreme of circumstances. And that's why he had to ask him.
"Do you regret it?"
It didn't look as though Sherlock had heard him, and Reid assumed that the consulting detective had lapsed into a torpor. But after about half an hour, he replied, "No, I don't."
"He's your friend. And he's in a lot of pain right now."
"That won't last. And I will return once I have torn away every last shred of the spider's web."
"You mean Moriarty's network."
"What better way to describe it?" Sherlock was refusing to look at Reid.
"I suppose that's the most apt description. But don't you worry about Dr. Watson?"
Sherlock sighed. "More than you know, and with reason."
Reid frowned. "Would you elaborate?"
"John doesn't seem to realize that part of the reason he's continually being threatened while he tries to pull my name from the gutter is because of Moriarty. Right now, Moriarty is toying with him. But soon, he'll advance to the next level of the game. It'll start small, maybe something that will make John think that he's paranoid. But it will build up, until he's at the edge of insanity. It was what he tried to do to me, and now he will do the same to John if he doesn't shut up."
"So his life is in danger if he doesn't denounce you," Reid concluded.
"Indeed. But he never will. He's very loyal, almost to a fault." It was hard to tell from his voice if Sherlock was proud or saddened by this.
"He sounds like a good friend."
"He is." Now the detective's voice was warm, and Reid observed there was a slight dialation to his eyes, a tiny flush to his cheeks.
"You're in love with him."
Sherlock jolted and looked up at Reid in surprise. "What? That's not true!"
"Yes it is, you're in love with him." Reid smiled and shook his head. "You're in love with him the way I'm in love with Garcia."
Sherlock frowned. "I don't follow."
"There are several kinds of love. There's the love you feel for your family whether genetic or chosen, the love you feel for your friends, and the love you feel for your lover or spouse. But there's another kind of love that most people don't experience. It's knowing that your best friend, or in my case coworker and friend, is destined to be with you. It will never be sexual, it will never be romantic, it will never be anything but what it is. You're both in love, and that's enough."
"You're a sentimental fool."
Reid laughed, shaking his head. "I'm right though, aren't I?"
Sherlock didn't respond, which Reid took to mean he was.
They spent the rest of the flight in silence.