Sorry if John seems a little OOC,its just that I really have no idea how he will act in season 3, and I don't know very much about Mary Morstan other than what is in the original ACD canon.
London. It had been almost 3 years since he had seen it last. Hunting down Moriarty's web, his spider's web of twists and turns and false leads-had taken longer than he had thought. But it had been worth it for John. He wondered what John would say to him-if anything. He knew that it was of course not a socially polite thing to do, fake your own death for three years. He knew that life would probably never be the same again, how could it be? Normalcy has become a foreign concept almost. Prague, Paris, New York, Tokyo, New Delhi,Los Angles and many more, places that further lead to the opaque, untwisting of the web. Now there was only one link left to destroy. Sebastian Moran,Moriaty's right hand man and master sniper. He had evaded him long past the rest. Sherlock wanted to get it over with however he knew he couldn't let his emotions take over his thoughts. He had cried for John once, when he was in the morgue silent tears that flowed salty on his face. He had felt so guilty then, and he was guilty now the bitter, metallic taste of it in his mouth. Did guilt really have a taste? he thought. Remorse,guilt,he was a different man than the man he was 3 years ago he was more vulnerable.
"And I behold London, a Human awful wonder of God"
John was back to normal life. Almost anyway. After 3 years, he still had nightmares: Sherlock falling and him screaming his name replayed again and again and it was always the same. For months afterward, he would hardly do anything. Just sat there. Didn't eat, didn't sleep, didn't go out much. He moved back to his small, brown and tan army pension apartment. He only went back to 221B once, he was afraid so afraid. There are 5 stages of grief. He was a doctor he knew this, had went through this before. Denial,Anger,Bargaining,Depression,and Acceptance. Then he had met Mary. He found that he could laugh again. He was okay. Okay was good. It was peaceful, it was the not having to worry if your flat mate had set the flat on fire and that was okay. It was the not having to worry that your flat mate would relapse into past habits. It was the not having to worry that you would get abducted by Moriarty. It was normal. He had finally accepted Sherlock's death but it still affected him.
`- "More wine sir?'' The waiter was back,John thought. The waiter had been peskily coming back to the table every 5 minutes or so and it was getting annoying. Very annoying actually because here he was having a nice romantic dinner with his fiancée , Mary Morstan.
''No, no thank you" John snapped. The waiter left in a hurry, carrying champagne to some other unfortunate's table. John's eyes followed the waiter as he made his way back to where ever he had come from, at least until he turned the corner and he couldn't see him any more.
"-and I think we should start making plans for the wedding, you know putting together guest lists and the like, John are you listening to me? You look like you zoned out there for a while" Mary's words cutting into his thoughts. He realized he hadn't been listening to her and didn't quite catch the first part of what she said.
He turned his head back towards her, blinking. "Sorry Mary, I was just thinking. What's this about the wedding? We have five months to plan you know" He was constantly worrying about this fact because they should in fact, get a start on it.
She looked at him quizzically."What were you thinking about?"
He only realized then what exactly he had been thinking about. Sherlock, and the time when they took the Hound of the Baskervilles case, and Sherlock had given him poisoned tea,he did this, when he saw or heard something that reminded him of his dead flat mate, he kind of zoned out. But that was normal grief he told himself, people always do that when people they know die.
He set his jaw. Shut up he told himself, it does no good to wish Sherlock wasn't dead. It was what it was and that was the cold hard truth of it. "Nothing, I was thinking about nothing'' He said, casually as he could.
She rolled her eyes. "Come 'on I know you better than that John, what were you thinking about?" He could see the small glimmer of worry in her eyes. She knew what he went through after Sherlock fell. Didn't want to see him fall back into that. He was better he told himself now, even with his limp back.
"Mary...trust me I wasn't thinking about anything important" he said. Lies, and he knew it. Why was he suddenly thinking about Sherlock so much? He hadn't thought of him this much in a while. He was always at the back of his mind, but most times, stayed there.
He picked up his champagne flute and took another drink.
"Okay, okay I'll drop the subject" She retorted.
They moved on and were talking about his work, and a client who had been there earlier that week who had a fractured skull and a broken arm.
What they didn't see,because they do not see or observe, was at that moment, a familiar ex-consulting detective was watching them. He was standing in the shadows by the restaurant door, hoping not to be seen. He had been in the area and thought, why not? It had been three years after all and he wanted to see John. He wanted to see him one last time because he was going to go corner Sebastian Moran soon,(he didn't know exactly when, he had to find a weak spot in Sebastian's armor first). He observed that John's limp was back, he had a moustache and was almost un recognizable as the great man he had been 3 years prior. He seemed to treat the woman with respect-hmm sentiment? Yes, engagement ring on lady's finger. Well, that was good he supposed, it meant he had most likely gotten over his "death". But he couldn't help but feeling a sight bit...he didn't know exactly what. He was afraid to put a name to it.
John suddenly shifted his gaze, just a bit and looked over Mary's shoulder, towards the door. He felt like he was being watched.
He looked up and met the gaze of a familiar,dark-haired figure. A figure that should be dead.
Authors Note: This is going to have more chapters, and I'm thinking I'll update on Friday, because I have exams all this week and I won't get around to it. Please read and review please!