A/N Language warning. There are a couple of choice words in this chapter, because we all know John is a bit of a potty mouth when riled. Also John goes BAMF and Sally get's told!

Greg Lestrade's head was pounding. He was in the middle of two separate cases and unable to get either one of them closed. He sat at his desk with his head in his hands. He hadn't been home in three...no four days now and the overdose of fast food and caffeine was definately starting to get to him. He'd been kipping on the small couch in his office when he got the chance, but even he knew he wasn't getting enough sleep to be of any use to his cases.

Rubbing his hands over his face, he stared at the small brown package on his desk addressed to Dr. John H. Watson. He remembered an identical package sitting in the same place a year before, addressed to Sherlock and what that seemingly insignificant brown package had ended up being. He hadn't spoken to John since the day they had cleared Sherlock's name and John had been at the yard for the press conference.

He understood John's anger, he had no small amount of guilt eating away at him for his part in Sherlock's downfall, but he had to admit he missed the friendship that he had developed with the doctor. At the beginning of the investigation, he had refused to be the one conducting the interrogations, much to his boss's displeasure, although he was forced to be present for them. After John had punched the Superintendent in the nose (Lestrade secretly thought he had deserved it) the man was out for anything he could get on John, trying to arrest him on trumped up charges.

Lestrade had done his best to fight for both Sherlock and John, even Donovan had argued in John's favor, but it took Mycroft eventually stepping in to remind the Super what happened to cops who turned dirty before the charges were dismissed. John had gotten away with paying a fine for assault of a police officer to go along with his ASBO.

His office door opened and Sally placed a cup of coffee on his desk before moving to sit down in front of it. "It's the good stuff from down the street, triple shot of espresso."

Digging through his desk for paracetamol, he popped three in his mouth chased by his first sip of the coffee. "Thanks, Sal."

Sally nodded and eyed the package on his desk. "So, you going to call him in or are you going to open it this time?"

As much as he hated his decision, he already knew what he had to do. Greg sighed and took another sip of his coffee before reaching for this phone. Scrolling through his contacts list, he selected Johns name and hit call. As he waited for the phone to ring and be picked up, he tried to mentally prepare himself for the conversation that might follow. When the phone rang through to voicemail, he hung up and tried to call back immediately. After it rang through the second time, he decided to leave a voicemail.

"John, it's Lestrade. I know you don't want to talk to me, mate, but we recieved a package at the yard with your name on it. It's almost identical to the one Sherlock recieved during the pool case. I need you to come down and open it. If I haven't heard back from you in two hours, I'm coming by your place, fair warning." Greg disconnected the call and looked over at Sally.

"He's probably ignoring you, you know." She sipped her coffee calmly. She almost hoped that John didn't call back. She had warned him the first time they had met to stay away from the Freak, but he didn't listen to her. Now he was heartbroken and though she was sorry he had gotten hurt, she still felt that he had brought it on himself.

"Yeah, I know. I wouldn't want to talk to me either. But if I don't hear back, I'll go over and see if I can't route him out anyway. We have to deal with whatever this is no matter what." Stomach churning from the coffee and the stress he was under, he pulled the folders from his current cases toward him.

"Alright, lets go over this again. Do we have anything new?" They discussed the cases while they waited for a call back.

Across town, John and Harry were seated in Angelo's waiting for the Grangers to join them. Mrs. Granger had called John earlier in the week and had they had decided to meet for dinner to get to know each other before starting playdates between their children. John respected that they didn't want their child around an adult they did not know and he had to be especially careful due to Harry's past and magical abilities.

Harry was not nearly as nervous as John thought he would be and he was currently telling Angelo all about his day at school and his best friend 'Mione who was joining them for dinner. He was really quite relieved that Harry was doing so well in such a short period of time. The quiet boy he had first met was not often present and Harry asked a million questions that John tried to answer to the best of is ability.

John felt his phone buzz in his pocket and pulled it out to see Lestrade's name on the caller ID. He hit the ignore button before setting it down on the table. When it buzzed again just as the Grangers appeared in the doorway, he once again hit ignore before turning the phone off completely and putting in back into his jeans pocket. He stood to greet the Grangers, shaking hands, before they all settled in to start their dinner.

Two hours later, after a wonderful dinner with the Grangers, John and Harry arrived back at 221B. Opening the heavy black door with it's golden numbers, John allowed Harry in ahead of him. Harry rushed up the stairs with John following much more slowly behind him. Harry had been chattering about his weekend playdate with Hermione, who would be coming to Baker Street for the majority of the day on Saturday. When there was a pause in Harry's chatter followed by "Hello! Who are you? I'm Harry and I'm four!"

John's instincts went on alert and he finished climbling the steps in few leaps. Harry stood in the doorway of the sitting room, hand still on the doorknob, looking at Greg Lestrade.

To say that John was not happy to find Lestrade and Donovan in his sitting room would be a massive understatement. He wanted nothing to do with either one of them and he had thought he made that perfectly clear after their last meeting. He still didn't know why Lestrade had called him earlier, but it seemed he was about to find out.

He nudged Harry into the room gently and shut the door behind him. He removed his and Harry's coats, hanging them on the back of door before turning back to his two unwelcome visitors. Harry stood close to John and watched the two adults to see what would happen. Lestrade smiled at Harry and spoke to him in a cheerful voice. "Hello, Harry, my name is Greg Lestrade."

John crossed his arms over his chest. "Is there a reason you are in my flat uninvited?"

Lestrade's attention was pulled from the small boy to John. His face was relatively blank, but his jaw was clenched. Lestrade could see that he was holding himself in very tightly. John had already answered two of his questions unwittingly. Yes, he had been ignoring his call on purpose and no, he hadn't listened to his voicemail. Lestrade let out a small sigh and ran his hands through his hair.

"John, I take it didn't listen to the voicemail." John shifted slighty, pulling his phone out of his back pocket before booting it up. He pointedly pressed buttons to get into his voicemail and put the phone on speaker. After they had all listened to Greg's message, John ended he call.

"No, I'm not getting involved. You can open it if you want, but I'm not playing anymore games with madmen. Please see yourself out." With that, John reached down for Harry's hand and walked around the two officers standing in the middle of the room.

"Right then Harry, I promised you a book if you did a good job in the restaurant tonight, and you did a fantastic job, so why don't you go up and pick out two books. I'll be up in a mo." Harry gave John a bright smile before once again racing up the stairs. John turned back to the two adults that had not left.

"John, you know we wouldn't be here if it wasn't important. We don't know what's in the package, it could be anything." John looked Lestrade over, noting how bad he really looked. The hand that he had run through his hair had a slight shake to it. He looked pale and drawn. The lines aound his eyes and mouth stood out very distinctly. Normally he would enquire how long Greg had gone this time without going home, but they weren't friends anymore, so it was no longer his place.

"I said no. I will not be getting involved. We all know what happened the last time a package for a resident of 221B showed up at Scotland Yard. I lost my best friend because of a madman, but it all started with that damn phone. I've got Harry to think about now. So no, I won't be coming down to the yard, I won't get involved, and I don't care what you do with it. You are no longer welcome here, either of you, so unless you have a warrant, kindly get out of my flat!"

John's voice had remained even, but his tone had an edge of steel to it. Lestrade knew how stubborn he could be and could not blame him for not wanting to get involved. He did not know what was in the package but he had a pretty good guess. If it was anthing like last time, the results of opening the package could be disastrous, but needs must.

Greg was just about to open his mouth to try to reason with John, when Donovan, who had been uncharacteristically silent, and who apparenty was completely obtuse to John's mood spouted out her ill timed and ill concieved question.

"How did you end up with the Freaks' kid? And is he as bad as the Freak was? Is there something wrong with him?" John froze where he was standing, expression turning positively glacial. Greg facepalmed before taking a step away from Donovan. Sally continued to stare at John, eyes disbelieving, head tilted to the side as if trying to figure something out. She held herself loosely as if there wasn't a deadly threat coming from John standing only feet away. He moved quickly enough that she was startled for a moment. Sally Donovan suddenly had a face full of enraged Army Captain.

"You listen to me very closely, you unfeeling Bitch. If you ever use that word in my presence again, I will not hold myself back. Do not ever mistake my silence for apathy. I've never said anything to you, because Sherlock asked me not to, but since you helped him off the side of a building, I no longer have to honor that request. So hear this, if you continue to open your mouth before thinking I will not hesitate. I. Will. End. You. I will take your badge, your good name, and anything else that I can get my hands on. And if you ever doubt me, Donovan, remember this. I have killed men far better than you and laughed about it afterwards." John turned away from her abruptly and moved quickly into the kitchen. He had never come so close to hitting a woman as he had just then.

Sally stood there stunned. She had never seen or expected John Watson to be so menacing. She absolutely had no doubt about anything he said to her. A shiver ran down her spine. She looked over at Lestrade. Lestrade returned her gaze then shook his head at her.

"You never did understand Sally." A small frown formed between her brows.

"Understand what?"

Lestrade glanced over his shoulder as he walked toward the door. "You always said one day we'd be standing around a body and Sherlock Holmes would have put it there. Do you ever wonder if we have already stood over a body, and John Watson was the one that put it there? "

Sally was still not catching his meaning. She continued to frown as she followed him down the stairs. He stopped as he opened the front door, looking back at her once more. "What I'm saying Sally, is that Sherlock was never the one you needed to worry about."

As his meaning hit her, she stumbled a bit before quickly righting herself. She looked at him over the roof of the car, then glanced back up at the illuminated windows of 221B. In the window to the left, she could see the silhouette of the doctor and blogger. Another shiver made it's way through her as she turned away and climbed into the car.

A/N: Helly Lovelies! I do hope you are still enjoying the story. John got a little bit BAMFy in this one because BAMF John is one of my favorite things to come out of this fandom. Also, I hate Sally and pretty much want to slap her for her ignorance. Hence this chapter.

Now, the package you may ask? It's coming up my dears. I'm afraid the next few chapters are going to be heavy on the Sherlock characters/storyline with very little Harry in them, but worry not, he'll be back soon! We are also going to get a little angsty, so be forwarned.

As always, I love reading your reviews and thank you for your follows/favs. Until next time, gentle viewers, enjoy!