Hello lovlies. Thank you for reading, it does mean a lot... Right, now some of John's reaction is canon to the books, deal. And yes there is some fluff. Review and I will send you kisses via postal order. Respecticals to my women. You know who you are. Love x


Sherlock stepped back, and looked up and down the alley. "Right, it's ok, I think they've gone..." He started to calmly readjust his collar from where it had become flattened when Sherlock had used his coat to cover them both. "John, I...-"

He was instantly interrupted from what would probably have been flawless and highly scientific deduction of the situation, as John felt himself pull back his right fist, and swing hard and fast at Sherlock's oh-so-mysterious left cheekbone. The force of the blow caused Sherlock to fall backwards against the wall behind him, hand clamped to the side of his face. He slid down the wall, and looked up at John, with an expression that could have been considered pitiful. "I suppose normal people would say I deserved that."

And then, for the first and last time in his life, John fainted.


When he woke up, he found himself in his bed, in his flat. There was a glass of brandy on his bedside table, which he assumed had been used to help revive him. From the kitchen, he could hear the sounds of tea being made. He rubbed one hand across his face, and with a click, everything came flooding back to him. He threw himself out of bed and launched himself into the small, plain kitchen-come-living space. All his fears, and hopes, and suspicions suddenly came true.

Sherlock was standing next to the kettle, waiting for it to boil. His coat was draped a little ungracefully over the single chair next to the low table. John watched him, as he opened the cupboard by his head and found the tea bags, pot, cups, sugar. He took the milk out of the fridge. He looked so calm. He looked so real. The faint bruise on Johns knuckles seemed desperate to prove this.

"Three years..." He knew it had been a whisper. He knew Sherlock had heard him. Sherlock turned slowly to face him.

"THREE SODDING YEARS SHERLOCK. Why the HELL are you alive? You were dead! Dead! I was at your funeral! I saw you fa-... I saw you fall. Sherlock, you left, you were dead, and I was... And now you're... oh god." John broke off. He could feel tears rising in his chest, and wiped his hand over his face again. He knew Sherlock would be watching him, noting and analyzing everything John was dong, his shaking frame, his tone of voice, the dampness of his face, because he was crying, and why shouldn't he.

He heard the kettle boil. He felt Sherlock guide him across the room to the only chair in the house, throw the coat aside, and push him back so that he was sat down.

"John... look at me John..." He said his name like a prayer. John opened his eyes to see Sherlock watching him, carefully, crouching on the floor, elbows on knees, palms pressed together under his chin. "John... I am... so sorry. Believe me when I say I am sorry. If I could have made it happen any other way I would have done. If I had not... Moriarty would have see to your death. And... I couldn't have handled that John..."

John looked down at the man in front of him, legs much too long to fold gracefully, the same stray curl going all the places it wasn't meant to.

"So how did you think I would feel?"

For a moment Sherlock's eyes widened. He seemed to freeze for just one second, and for once, John thought he had actually manged to surprise him. And then, he was gone again, on the other side of the kitchen, kettle in hand, busying to make the tea. John turned to the mantle. There, was an old photo Mrs Hudson had taken three years previously, on new years. Neither John nor Sherlock had noticed she had taken it, until she have it to John the day he moved out. From the frame, the two men were laughing at each other, heads bent forwards, sharing some private joke, the only photo of them together, happy, that had not been published in the papers. And John looked at it.


SO. I'll try to carry on soon, I promise. I love you, and I hope you like it, and please review (kisses remember) LATERZ x