A Most Human Person (4)

by dylannhyland

March - December 2013. Loving Sherlock Holmes was different to anything John had experienced. Of course it would be. Sherlock Holmes was different to any person John had ever met. A little series of oneshots during 2013 in my 'Never Once Failed' series. John gradually learns little bits about how Sherlock came to be the extraordinary man that he is. Feels, fluff, smut.

2. Chapter 2

7 March

Sherlock had been playing for hours now, since before John had woken up. Thinking about the case they had just solved yesterday. John sat in his armchair, reading the papers. John was no expert in music, but he could read volumes into the notes that were pushing their way from under Sherlock's fingers. The case had been a heavy one. Triple murder - children and a father murdered by their mother. Even Sherlock was bothered.

The melody that had started sweet and hopeful turned haunting, dark, mournful. The arc of the music telling its tale. The mother's descent into mental illness. Her schizophrenia. Her husband's fear as he saw the decline but didn't know what to do. The children, scared and confused. Her final episode where she had turned the knife on the people she loved.

The case hadn't been particularly challenging to solve - only taking an hour - but this was sticking to Sherlock more resolutely than any of the ones that had taken weeks to crack. This one had upset him, and this heart wrenching, beautiful music was how he dealt with it. He drew a final shimmering, cathartic note from the violin and let it resound through the flat, and his tribute to that family came to a close. He placed the violin down, watching the street. Letting it go. It helped John to let go, as well.

"Why did you stop wanting to be a pirate?"

Sherlock didn't answer for a while.

"Too easy," he said in a low voice before turning to face John, his hands slipping in to the pockets of his robe.

His face was lighter now than it had been when they had returned to the flat last night. They hadn't discussed their mutual angst about the case. They didn't need to. It was just a sick woman who had taken the lives of people she loved and lost everything in turn, through no fault of her own. John was well accustomed to lamenting the unfair in life, but the tragedy of this struck even Sherlock. He couldn't dwell on it, though. Life moves on.

"It's easy to break the rules. It's much more fun to work backwards to catch those who are lazy enough to do so."

John's mouth twisted into a half-smile. Sherlock returned it.