A.N. And so we start this year too! Yay! Today's prompt from Book girl fan: Holmes conversing with Miss Mary Morstan. I am a fervent Johnlocker (it might come out sometimes, be warned), but I try to be fair towards her. Btw, i won't disclaim because I find it unbearably tedious and think Sherlock is public domain now, if I'm wrong correct me please. Today I'm in a Hiatus mood, so...

Since leaving my Watson behind at that accursed waterfall, there hasn't been a day when I didn't think of him. I have to admit his lady wife hasn't crossed my mind as often, and when she did, it was usually an afterthought, which is discourteous towards that fine woman. Today instead, inexplicably, a memory came unbidden and all too vivid to the forefront of my mind...

She was still Miss Morstan, though already my friend's fiancée, when she came to Baker Street one morning.

"Watson is still at work," I said.

"So I hoped," she replied, making me arch an eyebrow in surprise, "since I need to talk with you, Mr. Holmes, and while it does concern John, his absence might make the conversation less awkward."

"Speak then," I prompted.

"We need to establish some ground rules for after the wedding," she stated boldly. I internally grimaced. She wasn't even married yet and it had already come to that. Couldn't she give me a rest until the actual ceremony at least before laying her claim?

"We don't need to," I countered coldly. "After your marriage I won't call upon Watson anymore. It will be his choice if and when to contact me. I trust it will be enough."

"That's entirely unacceptable," she declared, frowning. Good God, what more did she want?

"You can't punish John because he's marrying me, Mr. Holmes. I thought you were reasonable."

"What are your reasonable rules, then?" I queried, forcibly keeping the bitterness out of my voice. Perhaps I should have remembered my own advice and not assumed to know what she, as any wife, would want. Mary had proved herself better than the average woman until now, after all.

"I'm going to be a doctor's wife, Mr. Holmes, having him called out at all times for emergencies is something I'm expecting. And I realize that for John you have crossed the line between friend and family," she explained calmly. "I have three requests of you that I'm hoping you won't deny. First, don't sulk, pout, resent John for his choice or try to somehow punish him like you were clearly planning to do. Drop by our home sometimes, even without warning, I won't care. Or better said, I'll be happy. Because John will be happy, if you don't want to credit me with honestly liking your company, which I do," she assured.

"I suppose that will be doable," I agreed, utterly happy but sounding doubtful. If I were a lesser man, I would have blushed at her words. I'm not a child, and I most assuredly don't pout. Still, she was offering more than I had hoped for, so I didn't protest.

"Accordingly to your engagements, of course. Which brings us to the cases," Mary added.

I braced myself for her next words. She had started by being surprisingly kind, but surely cases were out of question?

"I'm not asking you to keep John out of them. He enjoys them too much to forgive either of us if we tried. I'm not even asking you to only bring him along in the less dangerous ones, because that would be both highly illogical and insulting to him. But I love him, Mr. Holmes, and I don't want to lose him. So I will ask you not to be reckless. Unless your criminal is on a killing spree, if there is a slower but safer way to trap him or her, I'm asking you to opt for it. Take him along, but bring him back."

Her voice was strong and serious, and I simply had to reply, "You don't have to ask ask for it, Miss Morstan. I can't promise that I'll always return Watson in the condition I borrowed him, but I can assure you that I absolutely won't allow him to die on a case, and not because of your prompting."

"As long as you won't be the one hurting him, I can't ask for anything better," she quipped, with a smile that said how she didn't really believe me capable of such. That smile stopped the very sharp reply such an insinuation would have otherwise deserved, allowing her to conclude. "Third, please do take care of yourself Mr. Holmes. You have two people now who care for your wellbeing. I'd like to see you, and I don't mind you stealing John for cases, but I'd really enjoy if your interactions with him that required his professional intervention were kept to a minimum. I know he's your doctor. I know you spend yourself too freely on account of strangers like I once was. I know he's happy to be able to help you get better. But I know, too, that he cares about you, so that when you're unwell, it pains him. So be mindful of your health when he isn't around to do it, please. Don't hurt him by hurting yourself heedlessly, Mr. Holmes. He doesn't deserve it. And I won't forgive you if you do."

She was soft spoken but fierce, and impossible to deny. And she kept surprising me, without it being imputable to the sheer irrationality of her sex.

...I got myself into a real trouble this time, hadn't I? If she threatened not to forgive my reflexively hurting Watson by getting hurt, hurting him massively by pretending to be dead would surely be deemed unforgivable. And if she hated me she could surely sway Watson. What was I supposed to do once I was finally allowed home?

P.S. It looks like there will be a weird difference in characters' type but it's not of my doing. Sorry about it.