John was consciously making an effort over the next few days, he got up in the morning and made his presence known, at the very least. On two of the days he felt the cold numbing weight inside of him, while Sherlock looked after Innes and tried to engage John in conversation. The other days, however, the weight felt as though it was beginning to ebb away; it didn't disappear altogether, yet it was no longer concentrated and paralysing as it had been before. During this time they didn't leave the house, despite Sherlock suggesting once or twice that they should maybe take Innes for a walk. John didn't feel quite up to leaving the flat just yet.

On the following Wednesday, however, they received a visitor – Clara had decided that she would pay them a visit, as it had been a week since she saw either of them and she had said at the funeral she would come to visit. Sherlock brought her up to the living room and made her a cup of tea while she sat down on the sofa and looked at John with a somewhat pitying look.

"How are you?" She asked.

"Alright, yourself?" John replied, trying to force an overly cheery tone into his voice, but she seemed to detect the falseness.

"It's tough…" She said honestly, "I know you feel the same."

"It's getting better." John admitted eventually. "Sherlock's been such a great help, he's helped look after Innes."

"How is Innes getting on?"

"Fine, perfectly fine… apart from the things that are part and parcel of being a baby, crying and stuff." John answered.

"Ah… are you not getting a lot of sleep?" She smiled a little at the baby who was bouncing slightly in his baby chair.

"It's not been too bad, Sherlock's been helping with nights too."

"Good, I'm glad." Sherlock appeared back with tea and sat down in his armchair. "I hear you've been helping out with Innes!" She beamed at Sherlock, and he shifted slightly.

"A little." He nodded, it was still obvious that he wasn't quite sure what to make of Clara, then his demeanour relaxed. "It's quite interesting actually… getting to watch Innes." John had to suppress the urge to roll his eyes, only Sherlock could turn looking after a baby into some kind of scientific experiment.

"So, have you been up to much?" She asked interested; John shook his head.

"Apart from looking after Innes, nothing much." Sherlock shot John a curious glance – perhaps he was wondering whether John was going to mention their kiss, and their start of a new kind of relationship. John wondered deeply, whether Sherlock would want him to tell Clara… It didn't seem right that Clara should be the first to know, especially as neither of them really knew her that well. He felt it would be a betrayal to Mycroft, Lestrade, Molly and Sherlock's mum; so he kept that part of their lives to himself.

Clara stayed for over an hour – most of the time was spent in circular conversations about Innes and how well he was doing. Her visit had propensiated the action of thought in John's mind, and almost at the moment when she left, he turned deliberately to Sherlock.

"Thank you." He said firmly.

"What for?" Sherlock asked in surprise.

"For everything. For helping with Innes and me, I don't know what I would have done without you." John told him.

"You don't need to thank me, I enjoy it!" Sherlock exclaimed.

"But I want you to know that I recognise how much you've done for me." John continued, "You've been beside me the whole way through, and I know UI haven't been that helpful or grateful, but I really am thankful that you've helped." Was Sherlock blushing? There was certainly a dull flush rising in his face and he looked down at the floor, as though he was unsure of how to accept this compliment.

"You're welcome." He murmured, picking up the empty mugs and he moved off to the kitchen to deposit them in the sink. John followed him into the kitchen, so that when Sherlock turned round he was nose to nose with John, and was in perfect proximity to kiss him.

"I really do enjoy it though," Sherlock insisted, a small smile playing across his mouth once John had drawn back from him. He had never thought he would see Sherlock feeling bashful, but then again, he had never expected half of what Sherlock was doing now. John felt a new kind of warm glow attempting to ignite itself inside him – Sherlock must really like him if he was putting this much effort in for him… And that was a peculiar feeling. "It's quite good fun actually, thinking that he's actually a little person, who will have thoughts and feelings and likes and dislikes and we've got to nurture him as he grows into these." John noted the use of the word 'we' and couldn't prevent the smile spreading across his face. "What?" Sherlock asked, seeing John's expression. John paused for almost a minute, in which Sherlock had begun to unfasten Innes from his bouncy chair where he had fallen asleep as he knew he would be due a feed very shortly; John was considering his words and how to explain just what he was thinking to Sherlock.

"It's just… I don't know, it's… It's…" John struggled. "Us."

"Us?" Sherlock's head had snapped up from looking at Innes to stare at John, the tiniest flicker of fear passing through his eyes. "Do you think it's a mistake, that you were just acting on impulse?" He was trying to make his voice sound controlled, and he was almost completely successful.

"No, no! Nothing like that." John answered instantly, Sherlock let out a breath. "I just… I can't say how thankful I am for you, and how good you've been to me. I… I don't want to sound presumptive, but has this been something you've wanted for a while?" John asked carefully.

"I've always cred." Sherlock answered diplomatically. "I've never been very good with the whole friends thing… ever. But you just waltzed in and took up this position, there's something about you that's just different from other people." He sighed. "There's something in you, or about you, that just unlocks and disarms me… And I don't know quite what it is, but it's good, because it makes me human again." John was feeling embarrassed now, he could feel his face burning. "So without you being too presumptive, you were sort of right, you have always been important to me, never more so than now."

"I hadn't realised…" John said slowly.

"It's not caused me any hurt or anything! Don't be under the impression that I've been pining away in my room over you." Sherlock corrected, seemingly anxious to make sure that John didn't think any different than he had been before. "You coming to live here, joining me on cases, being my friend, was more than enough for me to return to a semi normal life… Always from when I used to dabble in drugs and that kind of life. It's been a great help to me, and that is why I have tried to return it for you… Especially as I'm not very good at consistent thanks."

"Good, I'm glad." John nodded as a sign of his understanding and pleasure, but was also pleased by what Sherlock had told him. He had not realised before now how much his moving into flat 221B had actually helped Sherlock, just as it had done for him…

"That's one of the reasons that you don't need to thank me, because you've been as much of a help to me as I have been while looking after Innes." Sherlock confirmed eventually. Innes had woken up, his small face beginning to screw up before he started crying, wanting to be fed. John sat down beside him upon the sofa, looking down upon the baby who was on Sherlock's lap.

"It is going to be the both of us, isn't it? Both of us are going to look after him, as a couple?" John questioned tentatively.

"That's what I intend, the both of us looking after us, together."

A/N:

As always, I'd love to know what you think of this chapter/story so far!

Also, I think I'm coming to the end of this particular story, possibly might have thoughts for a sequel, but I'd still love to know whether you think it's worth continuing!