Chapter 4

John was sitting in his flat reading through the jobs section of his newspaper when he saw an article about a double murder. He was waiting for Sherlock to come out with a statement like 'it was the victims lover', or a 'jealous colleague'. He never heard it. It was two weeks after the fall, and it was the longest of his life. As he got up to make tea the door opened, it was Mrs Hudson, and someone was standing behind her. "John I need your help." it was Lestrade.

"Greg, if it is about this double murder I won't be much use to you, my powers of deduction are inferior to that of Sherlock's." he answered, he knew he should be able to help with the cause of death, but he wasn't confident, because Sherlock wasn't there to give him any praise, or to correct him if his assumptions were wrong.

"No don't worry it isn't about that, I need your help with something that is a little bit easier." he explained.

John thought for a moment, then decided to help, he hadn't seen Greg for a fortnight. "Okay, what is it?" he asked.

"I need you to come to the pub with me tonight." he said.

"What?" he laughed, "Is that all?"

"Yes John, that is all. I will meet you outside Scotland Yard at 8pm, when my shift ends." he said, "And you are coming, if you phone and say your feeling ill, I will be over with a couple of six packs."

"Okay, I'll be there." John said.

Lestrade left and John looked up at the clock, it was 10:30am, and he had woken up at 9:00am. "Huh, I thought it would be at least 11:30 by now," he said "Mrs Hudson, do you need anything from the shops?" he asked.

"Oh yes dear, I'll write you a list." Mrs Hudson took some paper and began writing. "Are you going to be going back to work soon? I know you need time to grieve but I think it would be good if you were busying yourself at the surgery."

"I hadn't thought of that." he answered, in fact, he didn't think he wanted to go back to work, but he had thought very briefly about rejoining the army-John was an army doctor, and had first met Sherlock when he was shipped home from Afghanistan. Initially he missed the war, but since meeting Sherlock, rejoining became less of an attractive option for him, but he was now thinking about it seriously, he needed the money and Mrs Hudson needed a paying tenant.

"I had considered rejoining the army, I need the money, but don't tell anyone, I'm not sure yet."

"Okay dear, but you don't need to pay rent." she said.

"Mrs Hudson, I can't live in your flat when I am not paying." he said.

"Well then I will just reduce it, and I will notice if you put to much in the envelope." she laughed.

John was walking down the road towards Scotland Yard, to meet Greg. As he entered the building for the first time since Sherlock died, he saw Sally Donovan and Anderson. They were talking about something over coffee, and as he walked nearer them he heard Sherlock's name brought up in the conversation "Anderson, I was not being reckless, how were we supposed to know he never done anything. He knew everything about the kidnapping of those two kids. Our people would have never found out any of what Sherlock had."

"Our people should be able to do that without his help. He was so much more efficient, and if Greg hadn't become acquainted to him, half of the cases that he helped with would never have been solved, we need him Sally." Anderson said.

"No we don't need him, he was a liability-" she cut off suddenly as she saw John nearing them. "John I didn't mean-"

He cut her off, "Of course you did Donovan, don't even pretend you didn't." he retorted. "So made any arrests on that double murder yet?" he asked, fully expecting a no.

"Sadly John, no we haven't. However much of a psychopath that man was, we need him." it was Anderson.

John was slightly taken aback, Anderson and Sherlock were not what you would call even acquaintances, in fact Sherlock regularly showed his distaste towards him, remembering that fake drugs bust when Sherlock told Anderson not to talk because he would 'lower the IQ of the entire street.' That was something he missed about Sherlock, the insulting people without noticing, or even caring, and the random deductions about whether Sally had been scrubbing Anderson's floors again. "Yes Anderson, I know, he would have given you practically the whole life story of the murderer from one look." Sally looked uncomfortable, and Lestrade was walking towards them. "Sally, Anderson." he said with a nod, and walked out of the foyer with Lestrade.

"Hello John."

"Hi." he replied.

"So what were they saying?" asked Greg

"Who? Oh Sally and Anderson. Well Sally doesn't regret anything, but I think that Anderson does."he answered, then added "He was mentioning that you hadn't found any leads on that double murder yet."

"Yeah, it is a tricky case, we really need a consulting detective at the moment." he said.

John felt tears sting in his eyes, and he tried to blink them away, but Greg noticed "John, don't worry, it will get easier, and I plan to help you tonight, were going to get absolutely trashed." he laughed, "And one of us will crash at the others for the night probably."

That made him feel a little better, "Yes lets drown our sorrows in beer and whiskey."

John and Greg found busy pub that had live music, and chose to stay there for a while.

"My round first, what do you want?" said Greg.

"I'll have a pint." he said. The live band were really good and by the time Greg got back him and every other person in the pub was singing along to their version of Green Day-Basket Case. When John finished his pint very quickly, and jumped up, asking Greg if he wanted another one.

"John, I have hardly drunk any of mine yet, slow down, we have only just started." he laughed.

John sat down with a sigh, "Okay, but hurry up, I want another one." Greg finished his beer quickly, to stop John from moaning about it.

"Okay, so another pint?" he asked.

"Nah, it your paying for this round I will have a double whiskey." he said with a smile.

"Fine." John said with a huff, and he walked up to the bar to order. When he was waiting, he heard someone cough, loudly behind him. He turned around, and was met by a man holding an umbrella. "Mycroft. What are you doing here, and how did you find me?" he asked. "Wait, I really don't want to know. Do you want a drink, Lestrade is sitting over there." he indicated towards Greg, who was looking over at them in confusion.

"No I have to be quick." he said. "I hear that you may be rejoining the army. When?"

"What, I haven't told anyone except Mrs Hudson. How did you find that out." he said, walking over to the table with two glasses of whiskey, Mycroft following behind.

"Mycroft, what are you doing here?" asked Lestrade.

"I was just asking John a question, which he hasn't answered yet."

"I am not answering that, until you tell me how you found out, please don't tell me you have cameras, or microphones in my flat." he said "Mrs Hudson won't be happy when she hears about this."

"As you well know I have my sources." he said. "So if your not going to answer my question I shall see you soon." He turned round and exited the pub, twirling his umbrella as he went.

"What was that about?"

"Well I have been considering rejoining the army." he explained. "How Mycroft came to know that I don't know, I told Mrs Hudson not to tell anyone. Well it's your round now, a pint please." said John, quickly trying to avoid the conversation.

I was considering letting John meet Mary at this point, but I'm not sure what she should be like. If anyone has any suggestions I would like to hear them. Thanks.