Harry fussed over him for the rest of the day. He spent most of the first afternoon curled in bed, just thinking.
Thinking about what life would be like without Adam.
Not so bad, he knew that for sure.
Not as bad as it had been.
He lay in the spare bedroom, a cup of cold tea on the table, three blankets gently spread over him. Despite all her faults, Harry had a good heart.
Since the drinking had started, his and Adam's relationship had gone down hill. Adam found it hard to get over his fathers death, and hence the reason for it starting was born. Once he started, he couldn't stop, and he had fallen down the same path as Harry.
The drinking had started a year into an otherwise happy relationship. Even for the first few months of progressively more drinking, John had loved him. But then, the abuse had started.
Shouting at first, when he was drunk. Then the occasional shove.
It had progressed from there, until at least every other week, John would lie on the sofa, feeling a smarting pain, and wondering where his life had gone so wrong.
He hadn't left for two reasons.
He had loved Adam, and though that had long since died, he felt a kind of duty. And when he wasn't drunk, his boyfriend was fine, always promising to stop the drink, and always breaking that 'promise' the very same evening.
The drinking 'friends' had been the worst, though they had only entered John's life a few weeks ago. Their little parties would involve going round to the flat, and drinking themselves senseless.
He stayed with Sarah on those nights.
She didn't know about the abuse, just the drinking. And it was easy to fool her. Simply saying he didn't like being around drunk strangers sufficed.
As soon as they got in, he got out.
He had been planning to break it with Adam for a good week. Just a lingering guilt made him feel like he was the one in fault for leaving. But then Adam had died.
So he was free again.
Until the police arrested him.
Sherlock Holmes also played a strong part in his thoughts.
That strangely alluring man. John tried not to think about him too much, but that haunting face stayed with him all afternoon.
Did Sherlock know the truth? Would he think with the police, or attempt to clear his name. Would he even see the detective again?
He hoped so.
If he had been free of all the luggage being murder suspect entailed, he would have asked for Sherlock's number. Though from what both Donovan and Lestrade had said, Sherlock wasn't that sort of person. But it would have been worth a go.
The reason he hadn't tried was mainly the fear that people would think he was trying to suck up to the man who was investigating a crime he was supposed to have committed.
The remainder of the day he just lay still. He had cancelled work, and didn't want to do anything except lie there and feel sorry for himself.
He just couldn't seem to get himself to grieve for Adam.
Harry brought him all sorts of sugar filled snacks and drinks, along with the occasional sympathy calls or gifts. He should have told everybody not to waste their money and time.
That night he drifted away with less difficulty than he thought, no nightmares haunting his sleep for once.
The next morning he crawled out of bed, pulled on the only spare pair of clothes the police would let him take away from the crime scene, and stumbled downstairs.
"Morning." Harry said with a slightly too bright smile as he plonked himself down on a kitchen chair.
"Hi." he said crisply, tucking into the bowl of cereal Harry handed to him.
She sat herself down opposite him, and watched him critically for a moment, her brown eyes narrowed.
"John, look I know this is going to sound heartless, but I have to go out for lunch. Date. And then I've got the anti-drinking thingy afterwards," she said. "I can cancel them if you-"
"No, that's fine Harry. I was thinking about going to see Sarah anyway... It's her weekend off."
Harry nodded, looking relieved.
"Great, thanks."
He considered asking her to stop acting like he was some kind of heartbroken teen, but decided against it as she hurried out of the room.
A few hours later he was sitting opposite Sarah, a mug of tea in his hands. They had known each other a long time, longer than he had known Adam. In fact, they'd started out romantically, before discovering it didn't work.
She was probably his best and only friend.
"So, how are things?" she asked.
He had informed her that he had been planning to break things off with Adam anyway, so at least he didn't have her fussing over him quite as much as Harry.
"Fine. Seriously. I know I should be feeling... something. But I'm not." John answered.
Sarah pursed her lips, but nodded, smiling slightly.
"And how about the investigation?"
John hesitated.
He wasn't going to lie.
"I don't know... I- I'm the main suspect." he said carefully.
"What? You?"
John shrugged uncomfortably.
"I was in the house when it happened." he said, immensely glad Sarah had not questioned his innocence.
"And you didn't hear anything?"
"No... The doorbell rang half an hour earlier, but I don't know who it was..."
Sarah pressed his hand, the small gesture lifting his heart slightly.
The next few hours were spent happily talking to her. Mainly about Adam. But also about the crime itself, and what the final verdict would be. Hundreds of questions cropped up, but there were answers to very few of them.
It was just before lunch that he got a call.
"Hang on." he said to Sarah, and she nodded, hurrying into the kitchen.
He peered at his phone's screen, taking notice of the 'unknown caller' message with foreboding, and answering.
"Hello. John Watson speaking." he said calmly.
There was a very, very slight pause. A hesitation which several seconds later made sense.
"It's Sherlock Holmes... I was wondering if you wanted to meet for lunch?" the baritone voice of the detective said, no perceivable sign in it that he thought he was talking to a murderer.
John also hesitated, taking in the words. Sherlock had asked to meet him?
Though of course that could mean one of two things.
"Er, of course. I'd love to. Where do you want to meet?"
"I'll be outside 221B Baker Street." Sherlock answered.
"Great." John replied, before hearing the phone cut off.
There! A slightly shorter chapter than normal, but a quicker update. I realise I'm staying quite vague about Adam's murder, but the mystery behind it will be reviled in due course. Next chapter... Well I think you can guess. Pretty please review, they make my day twenty six times better :D
