11

Ford watched his mate from the corner of his eye as he and Watson spoke.

"You haven't aged a day" Watson said softly, screwing his fingers around the handle of the cane.

"You have" Jack replied softly, "I did warn you that you were not going to like it."

"Yeah" Watson sighed, looking towards the windows, "You did."

"What conflict were you in?" Sherlock asked, noting the military stance the two men took and Jack turned to him with surprise.

"Er … which would you rather? I've been in ... well, most of them" Jack shrugged, "War is war, be it one, two, or the eighth."

"Eighth?" Sherlock frowned and Jack snorted, turning away.

Sherlock frowned at him, not having detected any deceit in his answer. What did he mean, the eighth? He looked at his brother and found a blank face.

A secret?

"So! How do you two know each other?" Sherlock turned his attention to the two men again.

"Basic Training" Watson said, "This man was our CO for the first skirmish. It was supposed to be an exercise but he got a bit pissy with the other CO and turned it into a contest."

"We won, didn't we?" Jack grinned and Watson blinked.

"Not a damned day!" Watson muttered.

Sherlock sighed, "Will you please stop being repetitive, you know I hate repetition!"

"Sorry Sherlock" Watson grimaced.

"The team will be on their way by now" Jack said calmly as he folded onto the sofa and winked at John again.

"Perhaps you should put a robe on then, Cariad" Ford said softly as he watched his brother staring at his mate.

"Hmmmm?" Jack looked up and smiled, "What. They've seen my goods before, communal showers are fun for the whole family."

"Jack!" Ford said in a voice that left no arguments and Jack rose, stomping off in a parody of Owen that brought a smile to Ford's face.

"So, you have a Peter Pan?" Sherlock snorted.

"Jack is immortal" Ford said shortly, looking out the window at the street below as the telltale blue running lights of the SUV approached from several blocks away.

Sherlock was silent, blinking with confusion.

Watson snorted with mirth, "And you fell for that?"

Ford smiled at him and then looked at his brother, "You have a cute pet here."

"Watson is not my pet!" Sherlock bristled, "He is …."

"Well?"

"He is my … my …."

"Brother?"

"Yeah. I guess. Yeah." Sherlock shrugged, "I needed one, after all both of mine …."

Ford turned away from the accusation, angry at the childishness displayed.

"Shit. I didn't mean that, I … I never knew what really happened" Sherlock moaned.

"Now you do, so stop blaming everyone and everything for our place in this world" Ford demanded, "I have accepted my place, it is by the side of my cariad."