1944- Connecticut
"Hey, Jan, there's something I gotta tell you."
Joanna sets aside her book and looks across the loveseat to where her boyfriend was sitting. Usually, Sebastian Moran was the picture of ease when he was next to her, but today he sat on the edge of his seat.
"Something wrong, dear? You've hardly said a word this whole afternoon."
"It's not necessarily wrong, it's just- my number's come up, Jan."
Joanna Moriarty stares at her boyfriend, not registering what he had just said. Seb, in the military? No, no that can't happen.
He grabs her arm. "Please say something."
"You- you can't just go off to war like that, Seb. I can ask my father-"
"Joanna, as much as I hate to say it, there's some things your father can't control."
Jan pulls Sebastian into a hug. If her father, who for some reason had all kinds of connections through various governments, couldn't stop the draft from taking him, then nothing could. "When are you leaving?"
"About a month. I promise, I'll give you all my free time until then."
She breaks the hug, unknowingly crying. "I can't ask you to do that. What about all our friends, like John, or Sherlock, or Mary, or-"
Sebastian silences her with a quick kiss. "We'll all be together before John and I leave."
"John's going too? Oh no, what will become of Mary? Is anyone else we know going?"
He thinks for a minute. "I think Greg's been drafted too. Other than us three, nobody else in the whole town."
Jan sighs heavily. John and Greg both had serious girlfriends, who also happened to be some of her best friends. Perhaps they could get through this together.
The couple sit in each other's arms for the rest of the afternoon, hardly speaking.
1944- Connecticut
Sebastian and his friends sat together for what could be the last time. Besides him and Joanna, the were joined by John Watson and his girlfriend Mary Morstan, Greg Lestrade and his girlfriend Sally Donovan, Sherlock Holmes and his girlfriend Irene Adler, and Molly Hooper (her boyfriend was Sherlock's older brother, but he was already in the service). They were all at John's house, where he lived with his aunt. Seb was glad to be with his friends the night before three of them had to leave their small town.
Sherlock stood with a glass of something Mrs. Hudson had made for him. She had been fussing around them all evening, trying hard not to cry.
"Everyone, everyone," Sherlock raised his glass. "I'd like to propose a toast. I may be one of the least pleasant people any of you has ever met, save for my brother of course, but I think now's a good time to try and be… somewhat pleasant. John, you're the best friend I've ever had, any quite possibly the only one who can put up with me for long periods of time, except for you dear." He pauses to pat Irene on the head while some of the group snicker. "Sebastian, I don't think I've ever met a man who can be so flirtatious with his own girlfriend and then be creating horrifying deaths with the same girlfriend in a span of three minutes, but you're not just a man. You're a soldier, and you will win the war standing next to John, smiling." That got everyone laughing as Joanna lightly kissed his cheek. "And of course, Graham-"
"For the last time, it's Greg!" Greg says exasperatedly. Sherlock would always mess up his name on accident in kindergarten, and it became a thing to do it on purpose.
"Of course, my mistake. Greg, not only are you loyal and smart, but you're also… well, you're like a silver fox. Quick on your toes and sharp with your tongue. You three will bring about the fall of the Axis Powers, and we'll all be right here waiting when you get back."
Sally volunteers a clink of glasses to Molly. "To the heroes of Baker Street!"
They all repeat this phrase with great cheer and drink whatever it was Mrs. Hudson stirred up. Sebastian smiled at all his friends, hoping that this wasn't the last time he could do so.
1944- The Train Station on the Edge of the Small Town in Connecticut
A group of nine teenagers stood on a small platform hugging and promising to exchange letters. Joanna holds in her tears as she kisses her boyfriend goodbye, the train whistle letting them know that they have only a few moments left.
"Promise me you'll come back."
"I'd never stay away from you, Jan." Sebastian promises.
"Don't come back until you've won, okay?"
"I've already won. I've got you, haven't I?"
The train whistles again. Sebastian gives Joanna one more kiss and then steps on the train with John and Greg.
Now there are six teenagers gathered on the small platform, frantically waving goodbye to the three young men on the train.
It's been a month by the time Joanna receives her first letter from Sebastian. Half of it is blanked out to keep information about the US military secure, but at least it was something. Every day she listened to the news with Mary and Sally, wondering all the while if their boyfriends were fighting in the battles they heard about. Mrs. Hudson listened with them sometimes as well, but usually ducked out due to an excess of tears. The group of nine, which had been whittled down to six, met at someone's house nearly every day to try and keep their spirits up. Sherlock and Molly had been receiving mail from Mycroft, and they shared exciting news with the group about unnamed places with exciting details.
The hardest part of the day was when Joanna was by herself. She wasn't used to it, not having him by her side for the most part of the day. Even the absence of his breathing sounded odd to her, like her breath was gone as well. She tried to occupy her time with reading or knitting, but nothing really felt right. Pretty quickly Jan started to daydream. But it wasn't about things usual girls would daydream about, but gruesome death scenes instead. Jan thought up different ways to interrogate, torture, and ultimately murder members of the Axis Powers. She knew it wasn't right, but for some reason it made her feel better imagining different ways to kill those who could be hurting those she cares about.
1944- An Unnamed Battlefield
The trio of Baker Street boys rest in their tent for a short night. They all agreed on a system of letters to send their girlfriends in case one of them were to fall in battle. Sebastian was trying to write his death letter to Joanna but couldn't find the right words to express what he wanted to say. He certainly wasn't a man of sweet words, and John and Greg were no different either.
He finally settles on something that sounded good in his head. Sebastian then proceeds to drop the paper in an envelope with a small object, seal the letter, and write her name and address on the front.
Greg watches him put the small object in the envelope. "What's that?"
"It's, uh, something I want her to have if I should fall." He replies cautiously.
"Oh, that's a good idea. Why didn't I think of that!" Greg flops onto his cot, annoyed by his friend's cleverness.
"Is it bad that I already gave Mary a ring before I left?" John wonders aloud. "I saw what you put in there, Moran."
The other two shrug in unison. "I doubt we're the best people for advice on love." Greg replies simply.
Suddenly the loud sound of calling causes the three to jump out of their tent. Major Sholto had called them all out on an urgent request.
"Gentlemen, I've just received word from one of our sentries that a troupe of Axis Powers is headed this way. Prepare for battle, men.
945- Connecticut
It's been almost ten months since the boys left Baker Street. Jan spends most of her day imagining terrible ways to kill people, and it doesn't even bother her anymore.
The group still gets together nearly every day, but their conversation is more sparse.
Finally, in mid-January, letters arrive for Sally and Joanna. This could either mean bad news for them or bad news for Mary.
The group sits together in Sherlock's house, not one person daring to speak. Sally volunteers to open her government-issued letter first. It had gone to his adopted mother first, but she couldn't bear to open it.
"Okay, here goes." she carefully opens the letter, and reads it over quickly.
"Well? Is Grimes okay or not?" Sherlock demanded, worried for his friend.
"Greg has been injured in the arm. But he's okay. He'll be coming home soon!" Sally relays happily. Everyone cheers and hugs, glad to know their friend is okay.
"Alright, settle down everyone. Jan, want to open your letter next?" Molly suggests calmly.
She nods and opens her letter. This one had also gone to Sebastian's parents, but they knew it meant the world to Joanna to know.
"So is he hurt?" Sherlock asked in monotone.
Jan drops the paper in shock. Mary picks it up gingerly, reads it, then slowly lowers it.
"What happened? What's wrong?" Everyone asks in a quiet ad lib.
"Sebastian's dead." Mary responds gently, then goes to hug Jan, who was crying silently.
A few days after the news, Joanna receives a letter in the mail from her deceased boyfriend. Her father places it gently on her desk, then exits the room quickly. They don't want to talk about it, she thinks. Good. I'm a vile person now anyway. Death only brings wishes of death. Broken promises end up as shattered fragments of burning hearts. What's wrong with me lately? Do I only push out thoughts of my pain with thoughts of others' pain?
Joanna opens the letter from Sebastian. A ring falls out of the envelope. She recognized it as the one he always wore, a simple gold band.
She fiddles with the ring as she reads Seb's last words.
To my dearest Joanna,
If you are reading this, it means I have fallen in battle and cannot keep my promise to return to you. I made a deal with Greg and John, and one of them probably sent this to you per request. I had intended to bring the enclosed back to you with a very important question. I was going to write it out, but does it need saying?
I love you forever
-Seb
My therapist was right, Seb. Joanna says in her mind, I do have a problem. But it wasn't a problem that developed when you left. It was always there; you just made it disappear.
No Particular Time- No Particular Place
"P-p-please, Miss, I have a wife and children-"
"Oh you do, now, do you?" Joanna tilts the man's chin up to face her with the knife. "Tell me, are you all desperately happy?"
The frightened man only nods, having lost most of his fingers and toes by now.
"That's great, it really is. It's every girl's dream to have a man who loves her to pieces."
There is hope in the man's eyes. Jan can't stand it. "I have a message for you to relay, alright?" He anxiously nods, ready to escape her clutches. "Tell Sebastian that even though I didn't get every girl's dream, that's okay. Because I got power."
The man looks confused as Joanna thrusts the knife into his heart, not quite sure if he would remember that message in whatever sort of afterlife came after life.
After Joanna Moriarty convinced herself that there was nothing wrong with her, she convinced her friends to help her start a one-of-a-kind business. Jan was the world's only consulting criminal. Lestrade and John were her snipers, Irene got information out of anybody she wanted to, Sally and Molly made the murders look however Jan said they should look, Mycroft used his government connections to keep them out of legal trouble, and Sherlock interrogated her prisoners. They had all the money they could ever desire, all the power in the world. So why did Jan feel like there was this empty space where her heart should be?
No, she tells herself. You never had a heart. You had Seb's. And it went when he... When he died.
Joanna smooths her dress, wipes the blood off her knife with a handkerchief, and exits the rotting building, signaling Sally to set the place ablaze.