A/N: So, I've been home sick for the past few days, which is why you guys have been getting such frequent updates. So as I suffer through the plague, you guys get to enjoy some Sherlock/John time!
Sherlock offered John a smile as he sat down beside him on the wooden picnic bench. He'd noted an unusual amount of tension in the army doctor's shoulders during the past few days they'd spent together, and although he desperately wanted to reach forward and massage John's muscles until they relaxed beneath his fingers, he supposed talking about his obvious stress would have to suffice.
Sherlock knew that now that they'd finished the case, getting John to open up about whatever was bothering him wouldn't be too hard. Sherlock also of course knew exactly what was bothering John—for the only thing that could cause John so much distress was Sherlock's own well-being or Laura's, and Sherlock had never been better.
So something to do with Laura was bothering him. John obviously couldn't have discovered what had happened between Sherlock and his girlfriend—he was far too calm for that, more morose than wrathful. Despite this, Sherlock told himself he only asked about this Laura-related issue because he was watching his own back. It was not because he cared about Laura, because…well, because he didn't care about Laura. It was as simple as that.
Sherlock desperately needed to work on his self-deception skills.
"John, something is clearly bothering you. What is it?" Sherlock had never counted consoling others as one of his strong points, but what better way to get John to put his feelings out in the open than to clearly request information?
John let out a small humorless laugh as he scooped a fork-full of scrambled eggs into his mouth, and Sherlock did his best not to watch his lips or the muscles of his jaw move as he chewed. John took a sip of his tea, then sucked in a heavy breath and let it out in a huff of air that made his cheeks puff out.
"It's Laura," John said with his eyes focused on his smeared plate, and Sherlock didn't bother preening over his correct prediction; he would rather have been wrong and accompanied by a cheerful John than correct and have to watch his closest friend suffer.
"What about her?" Sherlock asked, reaching forward to pick up the small carton of condiments. He fiddled with the little packets, mindlessly rearranging them by color as he waited for John to respond.
"I think…I'm afraid someone's taking advantage of her again," John said after a long pause, and Sherlock's fingers froze. A small red pack of red peppers fell from his grip but he didn't bother to pick it up.
"What makes you say that?" Sherlock asked carefully. He'd originally planned on asking what evidence John had, but he'd quickly decided that it would have sounded too accusatory, too challenging.
Sherlock didn't want to challenge, he wanted to comfort.
Plus John would only accept the challenge as a reason to further investigate his fears, and Sherlock didn't like to think of how John would respond to what he might find.
"I don't know, it's just…the way she acts. Like she's being hunted or something. She's just so afraid, all the time, and all jittery and shaking. She's constantly on edge, and just…just not Laura. I haven't noticed any marks or bruises or anything like that, so I don't think it's purely physical. But something is definitely going on. Someone's doing this to her."
"Are you sure it isn't something else? One of her customer's books just flopped, so maybe it's just stress," Sherlock offered, going for the tactic of feeding John doubting thoughts.
John looked at him, blue eyes dark and hard. Sherlock saw a warrior there, battle-worn but ready to fight.
"Yes. I'm sure. I know what abuse looks like, Sherlock," John told him with conviction, his voice tinged with the slightest bit of distain. Alright, false-doubt was clearly not the way to go.
But abuse? Surely that was a bit extreme. Sherlock knew he'd been manipulative and rather conniving, and yes he hadn't given much thought to what Laura wanted when he'd pulled her in. He'd also ensured that she'd feel helpless and unable to leave. But abuse? Surely not. Abuse required a victim! And yes, alright, Laura had been his victim in the strictest sense of the word, but still! He hadn't hurt her—had he?
"Has she said anything to you about it?" Sherlock asked after a long pause. Surely if Laura felt as if she'd been wronged she would have told John about it? He knew the last thing Laura would want to do was alert John to the fact that anything was out of the ordinary, but if she'd been hurt surely that would change things?
"No," John began, and Sherlock let out a tiny sigh of relief.
There. If she hadn't told John about it, then he hadn't hurt her. And if he hadn't hurt her, then it wasn't abuse. It was merely human nature; Sherlock had taken what he wanted and fed when he was hungry. There was nothing abusive about it.
"She hasn't said anything about anything, that's the problem," John exploded, throwing his hands into the air in frustration. A couple at the neighboring table cast him a wary glance and John practically growled at them in response.
"It's bloody obvious that something is going on, but every time I try to ask her about it she just shuts me down or makes it seem like I'm being ridiculous. But I know something is going on," John said, his voice still full of energy as he now stared at Sherlock as if willing him to agree with him.
Sherlock found himself nodding along with John's emphatic words, despite the fact that encouraging him would only bring Sherlock closer to the line of fire. But he hated seeing John so upset, so distressed, and all he wanted to do was set him at ease.
"So I have no idea who's taking advantage of her or when or why or how or anything, and I feel like there's nothing I can do. But I can't just sit there and watch her continue to fall apart. I can't do that, Sherlock. I can't," John said, his voice finally breaking as he buried his face in his hands with his elbows resting on the table.
Sherlock reached forward, his hand hovering over the area between John's shoulder blades. It would be perfectly normal for him to gently rub his friend's back. It was an expression of comfort, wasn't it? His fingers twitched.
John pulled his hands away from his face and sat up with a sigh, and Sherlock's hand flew away before his flatmate could notice.
"I'm going to go load our bags into the car," John said a moment later, his voice a clearly forced calm, and Sherlock felt dread pool in his stomach as he watched the one person he cared about most stand and walk away from him with a slight limp.
Sherlock was suddenly struck with the image of Laura frantically gathering her clothes, her voice ringing with hysteria as she shoved him away and stared at him with eyes wide in fear.
He was hurting John.
And confessions be damned, he'd hurt Laura too.
She was a victim, and he'd abused her. He'd studied her weaknesses and taken advantage of them for his own pleasure, with no regard for what she'd wanted or what was best for her.
Sherlock had never before considered the possibility, but it was now clear to him that the actions that had given him so much pleasure had negatively affected the two most prominent people in his life. This realization rendered the pleasure far less sweet.
Sherlock had worked so hard to get rid of that limp, to put John back together, and now it had come creeping back as a consequence of his own actions. Sherlock had damaged what kept John happy, what kept him whole, and without her—without Laura— John was falling apart again.
Sherlock was the one who'd started this, who'd hurt Laura so badly that it was causing John immense suffering as well. And so Sherlock would be the one to finish this. He would firmly put an end to his actions towards Laura and would even abandon all thoughts of her. It might not have been much, but it was the best he could do.
Sherlock could only hope that it wasn't too late, that things hadn't gone so far that his abstinence wouldn't have any effect at all.
A/N: So, just like Laura was all "oh things are finally starting to go my way!", now Sherlock's like "hey maybe I can fix this!"; lets just say they're both equally successful when it comes to making things better.
Remember guys, season 2 didn't exactly have a happy ending!
Anyway, next chapter: Laura is shocked to find out that wow, surprise, things aren't magically all better-in fact they only suck more, and in a way she didn't see coming!
(My sickness has put me in a bad mood, so I'm mocking my characters instead of feeling sorry for them.)
Let me know what you think of John and Sherlock's little talk! They haven't had any alone time in so long!