Disclaimer: I don't own Sherlock.
Summary: What if there was one more guest at John and Marry's wedding who made some interesting discoveries about the nature of Sherlock Holmes?
In the Eye of the Beholder
If Sally Donovan ever thought that she was intruding on moments that weren't quite meant for her eyes, it was this night, the night of the wedding of John Watson and Mary Morstan. She never really intended to be here in the first place and it wasn't like the happy couple had invited her - and why should they? - but in the end there was no other way. For one thing her boss had saved her from going to her cousin's Mark's wedding on her own about a month ago and after the disaster that the arrest in the Waters case had proved to be for him she felt like she was obliged to help him out when he was in need for a date for the future Watsons' big day. She still couldn't quie comprehend why her boss was here in the first place as it was this very wedding that had indirectly ruined the biggest day of his career. Then again there just was something deeper and more profound in the relatioship between Lestrade and Sherlock Holmes and by extension Doctor Watson than she could ever fathom to uderstand.
By now after a significant time had passed from the time that Sherlock had returned from the land of the dead, she was on speaking terms with the good doctor once again and their relatioship was acceptable enough for her presence to be found tolerable at the wedding. In all fairness she had tried apologising to Sherlock after all, the fact that he told her to save her breath as it was hardly surprising that someone as stupid as her would fall for Moriarty's tricks was hardly her fault. After this insult to her intellect she had given up all her attempts to atone for her past misgivings about Sherlock. There was even a small part of her that almost believed that the man himself fancied their relationship being the very same as it was before his apparent death much more than Anderson's new found love for him, which seemed to rattle the brilliant detective.
To Sally's surprise they had made it pretty far into the festivities withou any major mishap on Sherlock's part, but she knew that it was only a question of time and likely no opportunity had arisen to cause some havoc yet or the detective just wasn't bored enough. As Lestrade sipped his beer next to her she watched the wedding guests. She found John greeting a man in uniform who she infered must have been an aquiantance from his pre-Sherlock army days. Her eyes then fell on the bride who was happily chattering to noone else than Sherlock himself. He didn't look half as amused as she did and yet there were a few signs that told Sally that he might be enjoying the fresh Mrs. Watson's company far more than he let on. For starters she had rarely ever seen Sherlock let someone touch him affectionately, the one rare exception being Mrs. Hudson whom the self-proclaimed sociopath adored, which was a fact that even Donovan herself couldn't disprove. Donovan didn't know much about Mary but the odd impression that she got was that dear Doctor Watson had the pleasure of marrying someone who was much closer to Sherlock Holmes than the rest of humanity. As she watched how effortlessly the woman handled Sherlock she wondered whether Scotland Yard had a potential flock of psychopaths created under their own suveraillance.
Holmes seemed to have hitten the cutoff point of cheerfullness he could handle from the happy bride and he got free of her in order to make a call to someone. Sally decided that she didn't want to know whom the call was directed to. Before she realised it, it was almost showtime, time for the best man's speech. And she knew exactly what was coming. So did others at their table apparently. Their expression varied from amusement through worry to utter fear. This were some of the people who knew Sherlock Holmes the best so all of them knew what to expect. Lestrade leaned to Molly:
"Bet you ten quid that he will offend at least four different people, includig bride and groom in his specch."
Molly Hooper shook her head: "No, he won't. Not at John's wedding."
Sally couldn't quite comprehend how someone of the young doctor's intellect could be so naive when it came to Sherlock. Well, at least she had seemingly finally given up the attempts at pursiung a relationship with the detective judging by her date Tom. That was a step in the right direction, Donovan supposed.
Holmes had started the speech on a shaky ground and if she didn't know better, Sally would almost have believed that he was somewhat nervous to be speaking in front of so many people on this occasion. But no, that wasn't the Sherlock Holmes she knew, the man who enjoyed showing off at every opportunity that was offered to him. Soon she was proven right as insults were thrown at pretty much everyone involved in the nights' festivities. She kind of wished that she had captured the guests' reactions as the meaning of Sherlock's words dawned on them as if with a delay on film because they were simply priceless.
"Told you so," Lestrade turned to Molly. Molly gave him the money with a half annoyed, half disappointed look.
But then something unforseen happened and Sally Donovan once again wished she had had a camera so she could capture the words she witnessed coming from Sherlock Holmes on video. She knew quite a lot of people who would know to appreciate the tape of the detective acknowledging all of his flaws in the span of a few minutes. She couldn't deny that the speech was deeply moving and one of the most beautiful ones she had ever heard. And as she saw Sherlock's confusion at the guests' reaction she had to concede that he had indeed spoken from the heart and it had been no game on his part.
The rest of the speech then went on in a very similar tune which seemed to be the detective giving credit to his best firend and truly honouring his duties as best man. As he got to the tale of the stag night, Sally had thought that surely she was just having one of the strangest dreams ever but as the detective accidently got to his favourite topic - murder - once again, she did start to believe that this was indeed reality.
The best man and the newlyweds dealt with the crisis that had arisen in a great fashion and after the perpetrator had been dealt with, the festivities could continue. No matter what anyone felt about Sherlock's other qualities, Sally doubted that there was someone who wouldn't enjoy him playing the violin and who woud doubt his composition skills. And then there was the vow. Just when she was thinking that Sherlock had totally lost the capacity to surprise her, he had decided to publicly state his intention of devoting himself to other human beings. Sally was unsure of how many of them he had devoted himself to exactly as she watched the trio, which she realised was a family albeit one of the strangest ones she had ever seen, having a conversation that culminated in a laughing fit from afar. Afterwards Sherlock seemed to send the couple off to dance sternly and after watching them for a bit, he turned to find some company for himself. He seemed to have decided to go after the bridesmaid Janine but the girl was already otherwise occupied. An expression that Donovan could only identify as hurt seemed to cross Sherlock's face before it tuned to his usual mask again as he gathered his violin, put on his trademark coat and scarf and disappeared into the night. There was just somehing incredibly sad and melancholic about the groom's best friend leaving the wedding early with barely anyone noticing.
Before Sally could ponder how appropriate or not it would be for her to go after the detective, she found herself being dragged to the dance floor by someone. Later that night when she lay in bed going over the events of the day in her head, she came to the conclusion that today had proven that no matter how hard he tried to deny it both with his actions and words, Sherlock Holmes was just a human out of flesh and bones with actual feelings. He might have been an extraorindary man, but still just a man. And a good one at that. She later decided that it would be for the best to delete this piece of knowledge out of her mind in order for their relationship to be the same as in the days of old as she knew that the detective himself would have wanted it to be.