A/N: Next chapter will be the last! Hope you like this chapter and the one that follows! Last chapter will likely be among one of the longer ones to make up for this shortish one!
-0.0-
John woke up with a start, jolting up in his chair as he looked around to find the older Holmes vanished and no sign of the younger Holmes, either.
Wearily, John gripped his blanket and stood up slowly.
Taking one step at a time, John made his way out of the living room and into the kitchen/ dining area where he found their kitchen once again in another war zone- plastic, food, and metal Vs. their counter tops.
"Sherlock?" He finally called out, the mess in his kitchen pulling him out of his illness induced haze.
"Hmm? Ah- yes, that." Sherlock awkwardly mumbled as he poked his head out from where John remembered laundry machines were located.
"What are you doing?"
"Converting bee poison into a gas transference- It will seep into your skin at a single touch. I'm still in the liquid faze, however, once I-"
"No, that's great, and all-" John stopped himself and furrowed his eyebrows, trying to remember exactly what he was saying, where he was going with it, and when, exactly, creating new poison's in the kitchen became okay- had it been okay during the purple milk incident? He couldn't remember... "I mean, what are you doing in the laundry room?"
"Oh- that, well..." Sherlock blushed faintly and then pulled the door flush up against his body despite his head still being the only thing visible from John's position. "I might have... spilled some, on my clothing..."
"Are you alright?"
"Yes"
"Are you wearing any clothes?"
"No"
John pursed his lips and nodded slowly.
Sherlock bit his lip.
They both burst out in giggles.
"Here, take the blanket" John huffed out with a tiny laugh as he walked up to Sherlock and handed him the blanket, that of which the detective graciously took with a smile.
"Thank you"
"Yeah, well, if you really want to thank me we can go out and get a table for your experiments instead of using the counter where, you know, we put food on. And I mean the food you eat not turn into science projects"
Sherlock snorted and, after wrapping the blanket around himself, walked out from behind the door. "Fair enough"
"Good- tomorrow, then?" John asked, followed by a short sniffle- at least his head ache had subsided.
"Umm, actually, John.." Sherlock said shortly, his gaze drifted from the doctor's eyes and instead focused more on his left shoulder where he knew a scar resided.
"What is it, Sherlock? Did your brother say something?" John asked, his brows furrowed as he tried to recall the conversation, only to realize he must have passed out rather early on.
"No-well. Yes, technically, but... There's something I have to tell you."
Now thoroughly worried, John nodded hesitantly before walking into the bedroom and gesturing for Sherlock to join him.
"If it's serious you might want to put some actual clothes on first" John pointed out as he dug through Sherlock's suitcase and settled on a pair of pajama bottoms and a t-shirt that looked an awful lot like the one John had lost several months ago.
"Yes I suppose it is rather.. serious" Sherlock decided, taking the articles of clothing and standing there awkwardly for several minutes before walking over to the bathroom and gently closing the door behind himself.
While he waited, John sat down on their bed and wrapped one of the sheets around his shoulders- they really needed to turn the heater up.
Several moments later, Sherlock emerged from the bathroom- blanket in hand and now fully clothed.
John went to stand, but stopped when he felt a hand rest on his shoulder.
"No.. here is fine"
John nodded and scooted over, making room in the middle of the bed which Sherlock took after wrapping the blanket he had been holding around John's small shoulders.
"It's about Moriarty..." Sherlock started, noting the way John visibly flinched at the name- certainly not what he had expected this conversation to be about, then.
With a sigh, Sherlock rested his right hand on John's left thigh and rubbed in an apparently soothing manner given the way John relaxed under his touch. "He's... preoccupied at the moment and will likely be made an offer he can't refuse..."
"And what offer is that?" John asked curtly, turning his head to meet Sherlock's eyes.
Sherlock took a deep breath, and then breathed out, "He would leave the United Kingdom eternally... which means..."
"Which means we can go back to Baker Street" John finished, quickly catching on. He smiled and looked out their bedroom window, suddenly realizing that would mean leaving their new home and honestly excellent view. He did love that view...
"Yes, but we could also stay here, if you wanted.." Sherlock added, his eyes never leaving John's face despite the doctor now being distracted by the setting sun outside their window.
"So.. that's what this talk is about, then? Deciding whether we should stay here or head back to London?" John asked, his brow quirking as he caught Sherlock's gaze once again- slightly shocked to find he was being analyzed.
"It's up to you"
"Sherlock, you can't leave me with that kind of decision- this is something that takes careful consideration from both parties and often times ends in a compromise" John informed the supposed yet obviously not, sociopath, followed by a quick and soft sniffle.
"As long as I'm with you... there's no place I'd rather be..."
"Those are lyrics from a song"
"No they're not" Sherlock stopped and scrunched his eyebrows together. "Are they?"
"Yes, they are"
"No- no they're not- I'd remember that"
"Would you now?"
Sherlock scoffed and John raised his eyebrows in a challenge.
"Alright, sing it, then" The detective challenged back.
"Know what? I will." John decided, glancing away quickly before clearing his throat and straightening out his back. "No-no, no-no, no- no place I'd rather be, no-no, no-no, no- no place I'd rather be, as long as I'm with you, there's no place I'd rather be~" John recited with a little bob of his head- his voice rough and muffled from his illness.
"Hmm... subconscious connection. No less true" Sherlock pointed out, trying his hardest to keep his face straight when John kept bobbing his head to the melody still playing in his mind.
"What was that? Oh- oh right, yes of course it is- was... is?" John tumbled over his own words, trying to snap out of his thoughts and get back to the moment. They were having a moment, weren't they? "Anyway! My point is we have to make this kind of decision as a team or- couple, if you will"
"Alright, fine. John, what do you want to do?"
John promptly shot him a half-hearted glare.
"Fine. How would you feel about moving back to London?" Sherlock rephrased his question, knowing it was more along the lines of what John was wanting to discuss.
"Well... We've started to make more of a home here- even if we don't even have spoons yet... but Baker Street is where Mrs. Hudson is, and you have your consulting business there..." John looked over expectantly at Sherlock, that of whom simply stared back and made no attempt to join the one sided conversation. "Sherlock- this is where you're supposed to say what you're thinking.."
"Oh? Is it? I'm thinking it doesn't make a difference to me where we live so long as I can have you there with me" The detective shrugged, honestly having no preference from one over the other. Anderson canceled out with Charlie's son and the rest of their "friends" could always come and visit if they felt so inclined.
"Yes, alright, but what about solving mysteries, hmm? Crime scenes, blood splatter, infidelity cases.." John prodded in an attempt to get some sort of opinion out of the detective- get him to pick a side.
"Murder happens everywhere, and I'm sure Lestrade will be more than willing to video chat through an investigation if he really needed my help- if I were in the mood for it" Sherlock waved off, seemingly not finding it as important as John knew it to be- almost as if he had moved on or found something to replace his urge to engulf himself in puzzles.
John simply stared back, his mouth slightly open as he looked long and hard at the man who once put bullets through the walls in an attempt to cure his boredom. Dear lord he wasn't planning on doing that if they stayed, was he?
"You-" The doctor started, only to stop himself and purse his lips as he attempted to organize his thoughts. "You... you want to stay here, then?" He finally asked after mulling it over as quickly as he could manage.
"I never said that"
"You implied it"
"Mmmmm- no I didn't"
"Then you want to go back to Baker Street?"
"Never said that either"
John threw his hands up in defeat and let out a groan of confusion and frustration, not caring in the slightest when his sheet and blanket fell off of his shoulders- he had other things to worry about. "Alright, fine. We'll flip a coin, then" He decided, about to get up to go fetch one when he felt Sherlock wrap his hand around the doctor's wrist to get him to stay seated.
"No, I- umm... John, as you know, I am an incredibly selfish man- "
"Yes, I most certainly do know that" John sniffled.
Sherlock snapped his mouth shut, his impassive gaze somehow managing to give away his offense. However, he quickly composed himself and let out a breath as he intertwined their fingers together.
"Yes, well... I am- and when Moriarty took you and had his underlings do... that to you- I knew immediately upon finding you that I would never want anything more than to be able to spend the rest of my life with you in one way or another. The thought of... of losing you.. whether it be from you breaking down as was Moriarty's goal or if you had.. had been killed- I... I don't think I could bare living without you- my incredibly strong, caring, loyal friend and now lover. John, I... If you'll have me..." Sherlock took a shaky breath and slid off of the bed so that he was on one knee, his hand still intertwined with John's as he looked up into confused yet excited dark blue. "John Watson... will you marry me?"
John's breath hitched before letting out a light hearted chuckle. His cheeks were tinted a light pink as he tried his hardest to keep a straight face despite his lips twitching upward uncontrollably. "No- definitely not. I could never marry a man who didn't offer me an enormous diamond ring- and another thing, where's my expensive dinner and preferably non-drugged wine? Worst proposal ever, Sherlock- really, this is- hmmph!"
Impatiently, Sherlock grabbed at the short locks of blonde hair on John's head and pulled him into a kiss, successfully cutting off his rant.
Sherlock felt John's smile against his lips and mimicked the movement before pulling away, unable to help himself.
"God, yes" John breathed, honestly answering the proposal this time before diving back in to press their lips back together.
John pulled the detective down on top of him on the bed, the weight of Sherlock on top of him surprisingly being more reassuring than anything else as he parted his lips for Sherlock's tongue to dance with his own.
"I promise, I will love you to the best of my ability for as long... as long as I live, John" Sherlock huffed out through stolen kisses and mingled breaths.
"We're not getting married quite yet, Sherlock" John pointed out with a breathy laugh as he gave Sherlock a kiss to the corner of his mouth, furrowing his brows when he felt the detective go rigid. "Sherlock?"
"You're right, John- of course! That's brilliant!" Sherlock proclaimed, giving John a big kiss to his lips before hopping off of the bed and running over to the door, only stopping when he heard the belated "Wait, wait, wait" from John as everything caught up with the doctor.
"What are you going on about?" John asked, his brows furrowed as he propped himself up on his elbows and looked over at the detective currently bouncing up and down on his heels at the door way.
"Marriage, John, it's brilliant! There's so much to plan- my mind is racing! And as you've just pointed out, when we're married we can explore each other- At your own pace still, of course, however the thought is exciting nonetheless to have you as mine and only mine- selfish, remember?" Sherlock bounced one last time before racing through the door, presumably in search of their laptop while leaving a confused and quite obviously still turned on Dr. Watson on their bed.
Seconds later, Sherlock was back in their room, laptop in hand. "John- where do you want to hold the ceremony? We'll need at least two witnesses and if you so choose we could get it done quickly at the court house otherwise-"
"Hold on." John raised one of his hands as if to say "Stop" as he glanced up at the ceiling, disappointed to find it didn't hold all of the answers to his list of unasked questions. "We're not going to do anything... sexual, until we're married, you said?"
"Yes- you said so yourself just a minute ago"
"Pretty sure I didn't"
"Didn't you? Hmm- location of ceremony?"
John opened his mouth as if to bring the conversation back to his surprisingly still holding up erection and Sherlock's quite obviously matching one hidden behind pajama bottoms until he thought better of it and closed his mouth again. That, however, didn't stop him from internally hoping the detective found himself with the sniffles the next morning.
Sitting up, John leaned over to the detective to get a better look at what was on the screen- surprised to find several different locations already picked out for a potential wedding ceremony- stretching out from South Downs all the way back to London. Well, at least it was romantic, in a way... John decided, ignoring what was in his pants in favor of hooking his chin over Sherlock's shoulder and wrapping arms around the detective's waist as he looked over the options.
"I don't suppose we're inviting your brother?"
"Not a chance"
-0.0-
A/N: Hope ya liked it! Next chapter will be the last and possibly considered the epilogue? Idk if that's the case then maybe this is considered the last chapter? Hmmmm~ Anyway thanks for reading, hope you liked it! Reiviews are appriciated and thanks all who have reiviewed so far you guys are awesome!
