So, it's been a while (for me!) and for that I apologise. I've just started the third year of my degree and, on top of being a mum to two delightful but time-consuming children, things are getting a bit hectic. But, I've finally updated this (after promising TheVenturer an hour ago that I would do it this week, and then having a flash of inspiration and just letting myself write!) so I hope you enjoy. There will be one more chapter after this one, please read A/N at the bottom (I don't want to give anything away until you read this chapter). And, as usual, reviews and favourites and follows and hugs (virtual ones, just wrap your arms round the computer and they'll get to me) are always appreciated :) x


John bit his lip, glancing at Sherlock briefly before returning his attention to his ex-girlfriend. "What haven't you been honest about, Mary?" he asked quietly, and, Sherlock noted, a little dangerously.

Mary's fists clenched slightly, a panicked look stricken across her face, and she exhaled slowly, staring studiously at the table in front of her, refusing to meet either of their faces. Stretching out one of her hands, she absent-mindedly drummed her fingernails on the table.

"Well, that's the first thing," she said softly. "Mary. That's not my name. Not my... original name, anyway."

Everything suddenly fell into place for Sherlock. He fought hard to resist the temptation to jump into the air, exclaiming "Aha!" and finishing off Mary's story for her. John sensed Sherlock's sudden excitement, and blinked at him.

"What's wrong?" he asked him, ignoring Mary's surprising revelation for a few seconds.

Mary snorted, her gaze flickering up to the two men finally. "He's got it," she said. "Sherlock, would you like to..."

"No, no," he replied quickly. "It'll be more accurate if you do."

"I don't even know why I'm telling you any of this," she sighed, leaning back in her chair. "Except... I guess I'm in a bit of trouble, and I reckon that if anyone can help me, then the great Holmes and Watson are probably my best bet. And... I also reckon, you probably owe me one here."

"Hmm," Sherlock nodded. John just looked stunned.

"What do you mean, that isn't your name? Why would you change your name?"

"It makes complete sense, actually," Sherlock cut in. "I did think it was strange that you would fall for someone so... vanilla, John. You always were addicted to the more exciting, dangerous lifestyle... it's no wonder you'd fall for an ex-assassin..."

"A what?" John asked incredulously. "Sherlock, how can you... what did... why would..."

"All excellent questions, John," he drawled, letting his gaze fall over the nervous woman seated opposite him. "I should have allowed myself to ponder longer over the fact that you were aware of what a skip code was..."

"I'm surprised you weren't more shocked by that, but I didn't consider it until afterwards," Mary said. "I guess I was just too concerned about John to worry about what my behaviour was showing of me."

John stared between both of them. "Sorry, can one of you explain to me what the hell is going on here?" he demanded. "What on earth is a skip code?"

"The message that Mary received, to alert us that you were in danger, was written in a code that most laymen would not be aware of," Sherlock explained. "I, also, was distracted by other things at the time, and so did not waste any precious seconds examining how your very ordinary girlfriend knew what it meant. But, given that she has admitted to a change of identity, plus a few other things, it is all starting to make sense."

Mary nodded. "He's right, John. I... I'd rather not go into any major details. I was an assassin, and I was bloody good at it too. I'm not English. My name isn't Mary. I was perfectly willing to morph into Mary Morstan... hoping to one day become Mary Watson... and forget about my past. I wanted to be your wife, to have your children, and be a normal, quiet nurse. It was going to be lovely. But then this happened -" she gestured between the two men. "And then, yesterday, I heard tell that my cover may well be blown. How, I'm not sure, but evidently there is a large news corporation that is possibly aware of my past, and soon they will come to me, threatening to expose me." She paused for breath, and Sherlock watched as her eyes flickered back to John, who was sat completely still, mouth slightly open, staring at the woman he had thought he'd known so well.

"I still wanted you to pick me," she admitted. "And if you had, I was going to tell you everything, hope you would stick with your choice, and somehow find a way around it. I know it sounds crazy, and you would probably end up hating me, but I know how much you love Sherlock.." her voice cracked a little, and she gulped, before continuing. "And I thought, if you could possibly love me even more, then you would stick by me, and we'd get through it together. But now... now I need to face it alone, but I still... I could still really use your help."

There was a long, terrible silence. Sherlock's mind was whirring at a rate of knots, considering all possibilities and dismissing most of them almost immediately. He barely noticed John sat alongside him, still trying to process everything that the last five minutes had thrown at him.

"Hang on," John said suddenly, breaking the silence, noting that Sherlock was gone for a few minutes and taking the opportunity to speak what was, effectively, quite privately with Mary. "How do you expect either of us to help you? And why would we? Why on earth would Sherlock want to help the woman who tried so hard to... win my heart and take it from him?"

Mary smiled sadly. "Because he knows you'll want to help me, deep down," she replied simply. "And he'd do anything for you, John."

John couldn't help the slight smile flickering at the corner of his mouth. He stole a glance at Sherlock, who was clearly still encased in his Mind Palace, and nudged slightly closer to him. "I guess he would," he agreed. "Still, it's a rather interesting case for him, that's probably helped."

She nodded, and John saw the look in her eyes. She was still sad, clearly devastated she had lost John - he knew he wasn't being egotistical. He could tell that she really did love him, despite her past, despite the fact that she had lied so damned much to him. But there was something else there too - a fear that John couldn't quite understand. Surely she had been threatened by worse in her time, than some rag wanting to blow her cover? She could have presumably got a new identity, and...

Oh.

John and Sherlock had, in their own way, both come to a similar conclusion at the same time, Sherlock 'coming round' as John interpreted the terrified gaze in his ex-girlfriend's wide eyes.

"You'll need to take on another new identity," Sherlock said, surprisingly gently for him. "I think Mycroft would be willing to help... I'm sure he owes me a favour or two, and I know it is within his powers to do so..."

"But, she would have to be moved as well," John breathed, and Mary sniffed, reaching under the table for her handbag and fishing for a tissue.

Sherlock pulled a slight face. "Yes," he said quietly. "I would imagine she would have to be re-located. For her own safety."

Mary shook her head, but the men knew it wasn't through disagreement. It was through pure grief, something within her fighting against the notion that she would have to give up the life she had carved for herself in London, give up her friends, her work, and start all over again.

"I don't even know if it's worth it," she coughed, holding the discovered tissue to her face. "There's no way we could... someone could talk to..?"

"Mary," Sherlock said. "You're not a stupid woman. You know the powers these red-tops hold over the government. I very much doubt there is anything anyone could do to stop them going with a story like this. Especially... they can link it into us. We're still current news."

John nodded, suddenly agreeing. "We just saved several hundred people's lives," he reminded Mary. "Imagine what a coup a story like this would be. They may well still run it, even if you disappear, but we'll be able to manage it ourselves. We might have to sell it as an "I can't believe she betrayed us" story, but you... you would be long gone by then anyway," he said sadly. "It won't hurt you."

"It will," Mary said. "It's already hurt me. I'm going to have to go, aren't I? Start all over again, meet new people and just hope..." She stopped, catching her breath and moving her hand to briefly grasp John's tanned one. "I just hope I meet someone even half as amazing as you, John."

Sherlock rose from his chair, suddenly sensing that the pair of them needed some sort of closure. "I'll go and contact Mycroft," he said softly, squeezing John's shoulder and giving Mary a slight nod.


The tables were turned dramatically. Sherlock went from having favours owed to him by his elder brother to suddenly being very much in his debt. He had known that Mycroft would be able to help, and had had to do a severe amount of bartering before an agreement was reached. He had groaned once the conversation had been over, knowing he would pay for this for quite some time. Sherlock obviously wasn't allowed to know where Mary would go, and they were given very little notice before she was spirited away. The less the two men knew, the better, as far as everyone was concerned. For Mary's safety.

John had withdrawn into himself a little once she had gone, and Sherlock took to pottering around, avoiding John's moods and consoling himself with some experiment or other, or disappearing to go and bother Lestrade. Molly would always ask where John was if he turned up at St Barts, and Greg would voice his opinion that Sherlock should make more of an effort to bring John out of himself, but the consulting detective took no notice of anyone. John needed this time to get his head around everything, he told himself. He certainly didn't need Sherlock bothering or pestering him.

John had moved back into Baker Street, but had taken up residence in his old bedroom, which Sherlock hadn't been too surprised at. It had been eight days since Mary had left, and the two men had barely spoken to each other since, let alone been intimate in any way. Every time Sherlock risked a glance over in John's direction, if they happened to be in the same room, he always looked devastated, withdrawn and nervous. Sherlock began to worry that John was convincing himself that he had made the wrong decision.

After another three days, he could bear it no longer, and, when John walked in after a long shift at the surgery, Sherlock ambushed him, leaping over the coffee table and pinning him against the door he had just closed. John's face changed in a matter of seconds from tired to surprised, drawn to alert, and Sherlock studied him closely, letting his eyes flicker across his face, watching as John returned the looks, lips parted slightly, an intrigued look clouding his features.

"You still want me," Sherlock murmured. "But..." He had expected to see a regret, something that alerted him to thinking of Mary and what he could have had, but there was nothing there at all. All signs pointed to John being very much attracted to Sherlock, and aroused by their sudden proximity, something that Sherlock could feel gently against his thigh more than deduce from his face...

"But...?" John queried.

Sherlock opened his mouth, then closed it again. "Hmm," he said. "But... nothing, John. You just... want me."

"Yeees," John responded. "I thought I made that quite clear about a fortnight ago."

"But..." Sherlock stepped back, and couldn't help but notice the murmur of complaint from John's lips as he withdrew from their heated, close encounter. "I thought you were... grieving, I suppose. I thought you'd want to be left alone to..."

John huffed. Then smiled. Then his face practically lit up as he grinned at the baffled detective.

"You thought that I was... upset? Sherlock, I thought you were in shock, at the situation. I thought you needed time to come to terms with this change, of us being together. I didn't want to push you. But then when you continued to not speak to me for days on end, I... I panicked," John admitted, taking a step towards Sherlock. "Yes, obviously I'm sad that Mary had to go. I loved her, in some way. But we made our peace, when you left us alone. We said everything that needed to be said, and we parted on good terms. I don't tend to keep in touch with exes, it's just this time I know I will definitely not bump into her in Tesco or catch a glimpse of her in a pub - or if I do, I won't be aware of it," he explained, as Sherlock continued to watch him, marvelling at the sense unravelling from his doctor.

"Sherlock," John continued, grabbing his hand and leaning into him slightly. "I chose you. I was always going to choose you. And I don't regret that for a single second. Especially after you went so far out of your way to help Mary, for my benefit. I can never thank you enough for that."

The atmosphere change practically alarmed him. In a matter of moments, it had gone from tense, and cold, to positively electrifying. He had never been more aware of his inexperience in any given situation, but he didn't really care. He had a feeling that instinct would play a big part in whatever happened over the course of the rest of the evening.

Drawing John closer to him, he wrapped one arm around his back, closing the gap between them. His other hand drifted to John's hair, fingers raking through the short sandy locks, a gentle hum of contentment escaping his mouth as he finally allowed himself to experience the feel of this wonderful man. Lips practically touching, feeling John's nervous breath mingle with his own, Sherlock couldn't help the predatory grin spreading over his face, against John's mouth.

"So, what now, doctor?"


Right. Having ummed and ahhed for a while, I've decided that I will keep the rating of this story to a T, but the next chapter will be basically just the two of them having fun. So you have been warned, and if you're not at all interested in that sort of thing, then that's absolutely fine and I hope you have enjoyed this little fic of mine and thank you very much for reading. If you are interested, then I will do my very best to finish and upload the last chapter within the next week or so, and I really hope you enjoy that one too. I also apologise again for taking forever to get round to this - I have my other drabble collection going, and when I'm feeling a bit of writers block coming on, I find them easier to write, so they had been updated while this had been sitting at the back of my mind as I tried to overcome the block. Which I hopefully have now. Thank you so much for reading, and remember that reviews are what keep me going. :) x