John lay awake in bed most of the night, wondering how he was ever going to repair the damage done. At around 5:30, he gave up the idea of sleeping and sauntered into the living room after stopping to make a cup of tea in the kitchen. He sat down, and momentarily considered flipping the telly on, but then decided against it.

He sat there, in the dark, until his phone beeped.

Must have left it in here. Hm.

For a moment, John couldn't muster enough care to read the text, choosing instead to stare at the phone as though it had offended him personally. When it beeped again however, John got up, and slid the lock screen open.

"From Lestrade." He mumbled to himself. Hesitantly, he pressed the messages button and read the text.

Meet me behind Angelo's.

John scrolled to the second text.

Now.

Sighing, and mentally preparing himself for what ever was to come, John grabbed his coat and put on his shoes. He paused at the door for some reason, and after a moment's thought, left a note on the table for Sherlock and Jayden.

Sherlock,

I'm meeting Lestrade behind Angelo's, not sure when I'll get back. Just wanted to make sure you knew.

-John.

John snorted at his own wording.

'Just wanted to make sure you knew' who to accuse if my body is found back there.

Not that I don't deserve it.

John walked up only to feel a shoulder grabbed and a rough hand pressed against his mouth. He was shoved up against the wall of the building.

"You will never do anything like that again." Lestrade's words boiled with anger, his rage was heated instead of frozen like Jayden's was. "Not to him, not to anybody."

John remained silent, but accepting of what Lestrade had to say.

"Do you have any idea what you've done to him?!" Lestrade asked. "What you've triggered? What you've started up in his mind?! "

"Wait- what? Triggered what?" John asked.

"So you didn't-" Lestrade released John, a relieved expression coming to his face. "You didn't know, you didn't mean to. Good. I don't have to kill you now."

"I don't know what?" John asked. "What didn't I mean to do?!"

Lestrade took a deep breath.

"Awhile after you went missing, Sherlock started acting strangely. He'd be talking to us, then just drift off into his mind. He'd stare at something for twenty minutes before blinking rapidly and changing his focus. He'd get distracted, lose track of the conversation. Then the thing that scared me most..." Lestrade hesitated.

"What?" John asked. "What happened?"

"Listen, I don't know what to call it, whether it was a hallucination, a dream, paranoia, or something..." Lestrade said. "But night before last, he heard someone screaming his name."

"Who was it?" John asked.

Lestrade shook his head. "There was no one else there but Jayden and I, and Jayden was asleep. He thought it was a kid, he said the kid sounded scared. He ran through the house looking for him, and when he didn't find anything he ran outside. He was out of it. Not paying attention to anything except what he thought he was hearing. Took me a bit to convince him that it wasn't real, that he needed to come back inside."

"Pause a moment." John said, a fake smile on his face. He grabbed his phone, and quickly dialed a number.

Lestrade listened as John proceeded to threaten Mycroft in a loud and vicious manner for several minutes before hanging up.

John gave Lestrade another sarcastic smile.

"Now that's over..." Lestrade said.

"Sorry." John said.

"If you hadn't, I would've." Lestrade shrugged.

John nodded, then just leaned against the building, closing his eyes as he exhaled. Lestrade sighed.

"I can't believe I started all this..." John muttered.

"It would have happened eventually anyway," Lestrade said, "You know that."

John sighed. "Maybe." He said, "But still. I never should have even thought of the idea. I wasn't even supposed to actually leave Baker St with my plan. Sherlock wouldn't have thought I was gone for more than 10 minutes. Then Mycroft... He took over, blew it all out of proportion."

John and Lestrade stood there in silence for a few minutes, before Lestrade burst out laughing. John looked at him as though he were of extraterrestrial decent.

"What could possibly be that funny at a time like this?" He asked, semi-irratedly.

"Just-" Lestrade waved his hand in the air for a moment, seemingly at a loss for words. "This. All of this." He said. "It's just... it's a mess. I don't know. I don't understand half of what's happened, and yet, here we are.

"I admire your optimism." John muttered.

"Well it's either laughing or crying," Lestrade said, "and I don't know which one you prefer, but I'm going to laugh."

"Go ahead then." John said.

Lestrade's face softened.

"It will get straightened out, John." Lestrade said. "It might take a bit, but things will get back to normal."

"I sure hope so."

John walked back into the flat, shutting the door quietly in case either Sherlock or Jayden was asleep.

He started towards the living room, only to bump into Jayden as he walked around the corner.

"Sorry." John mumbled.

Jayden just looked at him for a moment, then just turned around and walked away.

It's going to be a long day.