"Termites at Baker Street"
FINAL CHAPTER PART II
Sherlock closed his eyes and took a deep breath "John, let's go to the kitchen."
"No, you can both stay. I'll go to the kitchen -." Said Mary while looking for her slippers on the floor.
"You're staying, because now I realize I'm the only fucking man in this fucking flat, in this fucking room, in this fucking bed who didn't know a fuck! - You Mary," John get off the bed, walked until he was in front of it and pointed at his girlfriend with his index finger. "You Mary knew this all along, didn't you?"
Mary looked at Sherlock and then she nodded "John, listen -."
"Don't John me, Mary. You knew this fucking thing since the beginning and you didn't tell me!"
"John stop!" Sherlock tried to calm down his friend.
Watson pointed at Sherlock this time and looked at him. "You shut the fuck up. Why you didn't tell me, Mary?" Asked John, still looking at her.
Mary successfully fought some tears back. "Sherlock came here that afternoon saying a little experiment got out of his hands and that he - he needed a place to sleep and I told him he could stay -"
"The truth, Mary." John interrupted her with a warning tone.
Mary was sobbing now and Sherlock placed an arm around her thin shoulders. She buried his face on the detective's neck and started crying, sobbing loudly.
"That's the truth, John! It was an experiment! I needed to prove an alibi and -" Sherlock tried to explain everything. However, John interrupted him again.
"And you fucking ruined Mrs Hudson's stairs to prove a damn alibi? Did you - Are you clever or are you a fucking ignorant, Sherlock? We are talking about Mrs Hudson's stairs!"
With Mary crying on his shoulder and John yelling at him, it was difficult to prove his point, but Sherlock tried his best.
"But I'm going to pay for the damage!"
"This is not about money I'm talking about, Sherlock. She could have fell down the stairs, and she's not twenty years old! Something pretty bad could have happened to her and you didn't think about it? You were only thinking about your stupid case and you forgot her! She's like our mother and you, heartless bastard - you ignored her."
"I'm sorry, OK? I'm sorry - I admit it - yes. Yes, I forgot her, I'm sorry!" Exclaimed Sherlock, but something on John's face told him an apology wasn't going to be enough to stop his temper.
"I don't give a fuck if you're sorry, Sherlock. Leave."
Mary stopped crying and looked at John, who looked disappointed. "John -."
"Leave, Sherlock. Just - go."
Without saying a word, Sherlock made his way out of the room. He took his bag with his clothes and his long coat and his blue scarf, which were hanging behind the room door. It was something that implied domesticity. That he belonged there, even when he was only staying for a week. Mary ran after him tried to make him stay. John lay down on his bed, and heard their voices; Mary trying to make him stay, saying she would talk to John and Sherlock hushing her, asking her to go back to bed before she could catch a cold and assuring her he was going to be OK.
It hurt. Of course it hurt to ask his friend to leave in the middle of the night, to shout at him as he did. But what Sherlock did was horrible. No matter how many times John thought about it, part of him assured him Sherlock was Sherlock and that he was not going to change, not even for his own good, that he had to understand him. John wasn't going to ran after the detective along the cold and dark streets now.
John heard the door closing and then Mary appeared and stood on the doorway.
"Let's go to sleep, Mary,"
"How could you, John?" Asked Mary with a hint of tiredness on her soft voice.
John tossed and turned. "I should be asking you the same question, Mary. You knew this all along and you didn't tell me."
"You think what I knew is what you know now, John?" Said Mary, sitting next to him on their bed. Even when Sherlock wasn't there, it looked like if he was indeed. She sat on her spot on the bed, but leaving the detective's place intact.
John frowned "What do you mean?"
"John, Sherlock did it as an experiment and I know and I do agree he should have though about Mrs Hudson before causing all that damage. But what Sherlock also wanted was to spend some time with you."
"What do you mean - He wanted to spend time with me?"
Mary wiped the tears left on her blue eyes and cheeks after she closed the door behind Sherlock's back. "You're working the whole day and when you are free, he's the one working. Sherlock only wanted to spend time with you like old times, when you used to live there with him."
John understood what Mary tried to say, but yet there were things left unexplained.
"But, he could have told me! He didn't need to put termites under Mrs. Hudson's stairs!"
Mary smiled weakly "Sherlock is Sherlock, John. Or do you think he could have said 'Hey John, can I go and stay for a week at your flat, and sleep with you and Mary? I miss you and I want to spend some time with you'?"
He nodded.
"Besides, if he had asked you, would you have said 'Yes Sherlock, you can sleep in the middle. My bed is big enough for three'?"
John nodded again.
"Sherlock never told me this himself, but I'm his friend and I know him and I know you. And I also think you owe him and apology." Said Mary, giving him a quick peck on his cheek.
The doctor glanced at his watch, and it was very late. But he wasn't going to be able to conceive any sleep knowing he had shouted at his friend like that. Sherlock needed him. And he needed him as well.
John got dressed and dialed Sherlock's number but he didn't pick up his phone calls.
"I will go after him," said John kissing Mary before leaving. "I think I know where I can find him."
Sherlock wandered the streets of London on his pajamas, only protected from the cold weather by his long coat and his blue scarf. He was only wearing slippers and socks, and thank God he was wearing them. It was a very cold night.
The events of the night were so predictable. But again, he forgot John and his usual tea with Mrs Hudson. Sherlock cursed inwardly, realizing he should have told John. Maybe he would have understood - maybe not. John Watson was indeed a big jigsaw puzzle Sherlock never solved. He was a man different from others. John was his unique, good, true friend. John was indeed the only friend Sherlock allowed himself to have, and Mary too, obviously. John was the only friend Sherlock allowed to take good care of him and the only friend who Sherlock allowed to sleep next to him.
The detective wandered along the cold and dark streets of the city until he found a spot in which he could stay until the sun was up in the sky and until Mrs Hudson was up. It was dark and cold, not comfy as a mattress and certainly not warm as his or John's flat was, but it was OK.
Looking at the sky, Sherlock started to count the stars, remembering those past years with his only and true friend. Giggles, chases, domestics, and even regrets. Sherlock Holmes remembered every good and sometimes not good moments with John, under the dark sky of London, only admiring the stars he had deleted their names long time ago. How many hours or minutes passed? I don't know. But what I do know is that a blond and short man walked along some endless streets and dark alleys until he found who he was looking for.
"Bit cold to be here, isn't it?"
Ignoring that voice he couldn't recognize because of the sounds of the cars, Sherlock decided to ignore it "Go away, I do not want drugs or any kind of illegal , know I don't have any money you can take from me."
"Well, I'm glad you are not buying any."
Somehow that sound made by the cars outside the alley stopped and the voice made him look back. John was there, with both hands inside his jeans pockets and with a very worried face. The detective didn't know if it was a product of his imagination or not. However, he knew it wasn't since he wasn't high and Sherlock Holmes doesn't has hallucinations, does he?
"John?"
John nodded and walked until he was close to his friend. He looked at the floor where Sherlock was seated on. It wasn't a moment to be worried about how dirty his jeans could get, so he sat next to him and sighed as he realised how cold it was.
"How did you know I was here?"
The doctor smiled "Well, I knew you weren't going back to Baker Street because you left the keys on the bedside table and you're not going to wake Mrs Hudson up right now and after the termites thing, I don't think you're into lock picking, do you? Mycroft is not even a option isn't he? And you weren't going to a hotel because you don't like them and you don't have any money on your pockets because Mary found your wallet under the kitchen table."
Sherlock nodded and looked up to the sky again, "But -."
"Our second case together, remember? Your homeless network warned you about the Golem and we came here. You know nothing about the Solar system, but you like to watch the stars."
"I'm sorry, John. I know I should have think about Mrs Hudson."
"You must think about her, Sherlock. She cares and she watches after you like if you were her real son." Replied John with a tiny smile. "I'm sorry too, Sherlock."
"No, I'm sorry -."
"No Sherlock, I'm sorry too -."
"No John, -."
"OK, we are both sorry, I get it!," Said John becoming a little exasperated. "There's anything else you wanted to tell me, Sherlock?"
Sherlock looked at him "Mary told you something. But you want me to tell you."
John nodded.
"Yes John. I- Ineededtospendsometimewithyo u." Said Sherlock, breathless and without stopping while speaking.
John frowned "I'm sorry, I didn't hear you -."
"Yes, you did!"
"No, I didn't Sherlock! I'm not lying. I didn't hear you, you said it way too quickly."
"I missed your company! I missed you and Mary around the flat - I always thought the skull was good, but it isn't." Replied Sherlock, speaking more clearly and calmly now. John smiled and rubbed Sherlock's cold back with his hand.
John knew he was lucky because not everyone gets such words out of Sherlock Holmes. However, John wasn't lucky only because of that, no. John was a lucky man because he was friends with Sherlock Holmes. Not the only one, but one of the best.
"Well, let's forget about the fact you forgot Mrs. Hudson's stairs. The alibi was enough reason to be with us? To spend some time with us?" Asked John, and Sherlock nodded.
"I also apology if I caused you any disturbance in your sleep and your night activities with Mary."
"A bit not good there, Sherlock." Warned John with a worried tone.
"I'm sorry, John." Was Sherlock's final apology and John nodded. He smiled at his friend and Sherlock smiled too.
"Everything is fine, Sherlock. Though what you did is a lot not good, it's OK. Next time if you need or want to spend time with us, just tell us. No one is going to believe or say you're less cleverer because you need people around you or because you miss us. That makes you human, Sherlock." Sherlock nodded and John stood up from his place. "Now, let's go back to bed. I'm sure Mary is waiting for us with a warm cuppa."
Both friends left that cold and dirty alley and walked back to John and Mary's flat. John laughed when he saw Sherlock was only wearing his pajamas and a pair of slippers and his long coat.
Sherlock laughed as well.
The first thing Sherlock did the following morning was go back to Baker Street and apologise for his behaviour. John, despite Sherlock's warnings, went with him, only if he needed moral support (something Sherlock couldn't understand).
"And that's why I put them there. I'm sorry, Mrs. Hudson. I'm going to pay for the damage and I won't do it again."
"Oh, dear!" Was the only thing Mrs. Hudson could say that morning. She hugged Sherlock, strongly, almost breaking some ribs. She cried a bit as well.
When she didn't want to accept the check, Sherlock had to lie to her and tell her if she wasn't going to accept it he would rather use it to buy drugs because it was Mycroft's money after all. As soon as he said that, she took it off his hands and kept it in one of her pockets.
"That's a thing -."
"A bit not good to say, I know, John."
That day, John helped Sherlock with his furniture once Mycroft's men brought them back. Mrs Hudson washed Sherlock's clothes and when it was time for lunch, both friends had finished and Baker Street was as it was a week ago.
"Sherlock, I'm buying Mary's ring today and I'm proposing tonight."
Sherlock turned to face his friend. "Are you?"
"I am. Do you think she will say yes?"
"You already know my answer, John."
After seconds of silence, John took his jacket getting ready to leave. "I'd better be going then. If you need anything, call me - call Mary. If you want to see us, tell us. OK?"
The detective nodded "I'm not five years old, John."
"Yeah, sometimes I don't know why I keep forgetting it. Just - don't plant a bomb next time, will you?" John said laughing, half disappearing down the stairs.
Sherlock leaned on the windows and looked at his friend walking along the streets.
"Sherlock! You made John move all your furniture? Poor man..."
The detective smiled at his landlady "Mrs Hudson, isn't it time for your herbal shooters?"
To be continued...