Spoilers for the Empty Hearse! I had all these Lestrade as father figure feels after the episode. So have some of them :) It's only about 500 words. (Also, I got excited about the whole Les Mis thing because of my Musical Reflection Sherlock series. 8D I may have issues.)
Greg drained his coffee and patted Anderson on the shoulder.
"It was good seeing you," he said, then made to move away. Anderson grabbed his arm, hard and he stopped and looked back.
"I know you don't believe me. I know how it sounds. But you know him. You know what he's like. If anyone could..."
"I know. I know, mate. But he's dead. John saw him die. He jumped off a roof and he died, Phil. And that's all there is to it." this time when he made to leave, Anderson's grip slowly slid away. Greg tossed his coffee cup into the nearest bin and kept walking. He didn't look back.
Derren Brown. Really, Derren Brown? Because Mycroft had him on speed-dial. He shook his head and paused at a crossing, pressing the button to wait for the green man. Well, Mycroft probably did have Derren Brown on speed-dial but... no. He wasn't going to get dragged back into this. Why did he bother listening to Anderson and his crackpot theories anyway?
The light changed and he crossed.
Because... because when it came down to it, Gregory Lestrade believed in Sherlock Holmes. And if Sherlock walked around the corner with a witty one liner, he wouldn't even be surprised. He'd be annoyed, and he'd be pissed off, but he wouldn't actually be surprised. He'd be happy to see him
Greg haa=d seen the man at his very worst and he'd raised him up out of his own special hell. And even then, he'd been brilliant. High on cocaine and talking a thousand words a second, and Sherlock still managed to tell him everything about him based on a wrench in his pocket and solve a murder in under five minutes. So there was that. Greg believed in him. He believed Sherlock was something special.
He believed Sherlock was a great man who had died trying to be a good one.
And he had known the young man for years. He had helped the kid through his addictions and in return the kid had helped him on cases. Greg had been there through the rehab and the relapses, he'd seen the fights with Mycroft and the desperation. And he'd tried as hard as he could to help Sherlock grow up and become the man he was meant to be.
And that was the real reason he listened to Anderson's stupid theories. Because maybe if Anderson believed it enough, if they all believed it enough, maybe Sherlock would come back. And maybe one day, Greg would be listening to Anderson's stupid ideas, and Sherlock would come around the corner and say:
"Don't be stupid, Anderson. Of course that's not how I did it, that doesn't even make sense. Do try not to speak, you lower the IQ of the whole street."
Greg reached into his pocket and pulled out a packet of fags, shaking one out and lighting it before taking a long drag.
Hope was all he had left and even ridiculous hopes like Anderson's were something.