1. Murder
Holmes would never admit that Watson's jest that Holmes was only happy when solving a murder was completely in error; Holmes was happiest when his biographer was nearby.
2. Nightmare
Watson relived battles, and Holmes relived cases, but neither of them ever suspected Mrs. Hudson of having nightmares until her scream woke the house early one morning.
3. Grief
With the empty house in Kensington having almost as many grief-filled memories as the alleyways of the city, it was only Holmes' timely return that stopped Watson's plan to move out of London.
4. Late Nights
Whether due to a stakeout to catch a villain in the act or the violin solos of a bored detective, Watson had gotten more sleep before he sold his practice than he ever did after.
5. Breathe
Pulling his limp friend's head above water, he struggled to keep them both breathing long enough for rescue to arrive.
6. Shoot
Watson rarely aimed to kill, but when the choice was Holmes' life or his attacker's, there was no choice at all.
7. Fire
Whether the garland on the mantle or the tree itself, Christmas with Holmes was never complete without something catching afire.
8. Missing
After searching London for four days, Sherlock Holmes was beginning to wonder if his missing friend had left the city.
9. Darkness
He started awake to the darkness of his bedroom, but the opening strains of Lieder drifting through the floorboards convinced him to try returning to sleep.
10. Light
In the fading late-evening light, Watson made a choice to accept an unspoken apology and try again.
11. Choke
Holmes' habit of eating near his chemistry set thankfully ended when he nearly choked on the cork that had fallen into his cup.
12. Helpless
He had never felt more helpless as when the doctor told him there was nothing more they could do except wait.
13. Negotiate
In trying to negotiate the intricacies of sharing a flat with a stranger, he found he had more in common with his flatmate than he had originally supposed.
14. Blind
Considering how much he relied on his eyes to provide data from which to deduce, it was not the smallpox epidemic ravaging London he was wary of, so much as the possibility of blindness should he catch it.
15. Haunt
The first night at Baker Street in three years showed them both that no ghosts need apply for a room to be haunted.
16. Embrace
Holmes' quick embrace when Watson returned from his second war showed the last years' worry more than the immediate offer to come to Sussex; he knew Holmes despised all sorts of physical contact.
17. Silent
Of all the flatmates he could have had, he was grateful his first—and only—possessed the gift of silence.
18. Work
Holmes solved cases and Watson assisted around his few remaining patients, but they enjoyed these things too much to ever consider them work.
19. Rescue
His head was pounding, and he was trapped in a root cellar when he came to, so when his attempts to loosen his bonds proved unfruitful, he resigned himself to waiting for rescue.
20. Die
Three years after Switzerland, one was dead and the other was searching for a reason to live.
21. Memory
Memories were fickle things: they could lie dormant for years before a chance happening released them to torment for a fortnight.
22. War
It took years to learn how to deal with the memories of war, and, even then, it was only through the help of another that he laid them to rest.
23. Faint
He could no longer claim to never have fainted, a fact which alternately annoyed him and delighted him, for different reasons.
24. Trapped
He spent hours trying to pick the lock on his prison, but he had never mastered the picks the way Holmes had.
25. Stab
He hit the ground, pain rippling through his midsection, and fought to control his breathing as the knowledge that he had been stabbed wormed its way through the pain.
26. Blood
Holmes' language was more suited to the dockworker of his previous disguise when, after dispatching the ruffians, he saw the growing pool of blood under his friend.
27. Fight
Holmes had been hesitant at the beginning, but after seeing Watson's rugby tackle, he no longer worried about Watson holding his own in a fight.
28. Effort
The relief on his friend's face was worth the effort it took to say the words.
29. Exhaustion
Seventeen steps felt more like seventeen hundred after his rounds and a long vigil left him exhausted.
30. Limp
As Holmes' repertoire of disguises grew, Watson chuckled but said nothing when Holmes' newest one acquired a limp that matched his own.
31. Struggle
Struggling to string his thoughts together, it took much too long to recognize the effects of morphine, and even longer to remember that he hadn't gone down first.
32. Stranded
As the Freisland sank nearby, he eyed the sea between their rocky outcropping and the continent, wondering how long they would be stranded.
33. Promise
He never made a promise he didn't think he could keep, but that never meant he had to like it when a particularly descriptive article in the Times forced him to keep a decades-old promise to Holmes.
34. Fear
Focused more on the wildly fluctuating temperature in his room, he vaguely wondered whose fear-filled voice was demanding he answer.
35. Swim
Supporting Holmes' limp frame and knowing his shoulder wound made it nearly impossible to swim, Watson wondered how they would get out of this one.
36. Danger
It wasn't the first time he found himself in a fight, nor would it be the last, but he refused to let Holmes face the danger alone.
37. Cemetery
Holmes learned a lesson about ill-timed pranks when he wound up with a black eye after startling his friend in a cemetery.
38. Honour
Lestrade refused to believe the doctor could have had any part in Milverton's demise, but he did wonder who else in this city could match the description he had been given.
39. Love
Love came in many forms, and it was the love of a brother that helped him lay the old demons to rest.
40. Cold
After over a year spent in Afghanistan, London's cold seemed somehow worse than Scotland's ever had.
41. Time
Three years had changed the both of them, and it would take time to learn each other's habits once again.
42. Suffer
For one devoted to doctoring others' suffering, Holmes never understood how Watson could have let his own health go so far in the previous three years.
43. Beat
Waiting for Wiggins to call the closest bobbie off his beat was never so hard as when Holmes was the one distracting the vengeful prison-escapee in the sitting room.
44. Cripple
It was only when Holmes found out just what he had said in their argument that he was able to voice anything close to the apology he had practiced for four days.
45. Evil
It took years for Holmes to understand that Watson had willingly replaced a war started by diplomacy gone wrong with a battle against evil because, in the latter, he could actually make a difference.
46. Battle
After over thirty years battling evil in London and another three convincing Watson to move to Sussex, Holmes was content to spend his time doing nothing more difficult than convincing his Boswell to help take care of the bees.
47. Chivalry
After a long case wherein they rescued a woman from her (soon to be former) husband, Holmes was grateful Watson was nearby to prove that chivalry still lived.
48. Drag
Dragging a wardrobe in front of the door, Watson could only hope Holmes found the passageway entry before their pursuers broke through that as well.
49. Fall
The fall from the pier—and knowing that this was the end—hurt much less than the knowledge that he had just left Holmes to face three of the blackguards by himself.
50. Hide
Thirteen years of hiding disappeared with the unfortunate mix of rising bread, an experiment, and a broken beaker.
51. Loss
When news of his brother reached London while Holmes was on the continent, he was glad he wouldn't have to explain that he had first and truly lost his brother many years before.
52. Shiver
He noticed he had ceased shivering when he realized the pain it caused had disappeared, but he found it hard to listen to the voice in him chiming a warning over the illusion of warmth the lack of shivering provided.
53. Support
The rattling noise was only the first warning that the mine's supports were beginning to crumble.
54. Lift
No one was more ready to be freed than Watson after being trapped in a lift for five hours with a pacing detective.
55. Weak
The first time an inconsiderate constable made a comment about Watson's "weak" leg was also the last, and the shiner he sported for the next week served as a reminder of what not to say around the detective.
56. Grasp
He knew to be worried if ever he woke in hospital without his hand grasped in another.
57. Terror
He never thought to see the pure terror now in Holmes' gaze, and he hoped he lived to never see it again.
58. Mercy
Mercy-kill or not, the horse's screams and the gunshot that silenced them echoed in his mind far longer than they had in the air.
59. Crawl
Knowing his broken leg would prevent him from standing, he forced himself to crawl across their prison to check on his friend.
60. Plead
No matter how much he pleaded, Holmes refused to leave his chemistry set on the gorgeously sunny day.
61. Crack
When the crack in the ceiling appeared, he ignored it—until he woke one morning to find water dripping behind that crack.
62. Drug
It was only after the drug threatened the life of another that he accepted the help to give it up for good.
63. Flutter
Every vigil ended the same: with the flutter of eyelids.
64. Suspicious
Only after they had been betrayed did he realize what he had found so suspicious.
65. Clench
Forcing himself to unclench his jaw, he carefully tied the sutures in the first wound he had treated since Afghanistan.
66. Relief
Holmes' knees nearly buckled from the force of his relief, but he told himself it was because he had barely eaten in the last four days.
67. Twist
Noticing how the inward twist of the inspector's leg worsened on the wetter days, he wondered if all wounds reacted the same to the changes in weather.
68. Sink
Desperately trying to escape the pull of the sinking ship, he refused to collapse until they had both made it to the rocky outcropping.
69. Failure
When presented with a case involving a husband and wife who had disappeared simultaneously from opposite sides of the city, and two children's explanation that defied the laws of physics, he was forced to write that strangest of cases off as a failure.
70. Bitter
The bitterness rising in his voice was somehow better than the hollowness that had been there before.
71. Stop
When insomnia conspired against them for the fifth night in a row, Watson and Mrs. Hudson worked together to make Holmes stop his violin solos, even if only for a single night.
72. Crisis
Having dragged him out in an ice storm without realizing he was sick, he would never have forgiven himself if his friend hadn't safely survived the crisis.
73. Shame
Shame and grief tore through him in nearly equal parts as he shut the door to 221 Baker Street for the final time.
74. Pain
Ignoring the pain of his injuries, he focused on getting them both back to where they had last seen the Yarders.
75. Emotion
For one who so despised showing emotion, Holmes became good at finding ways to convince his Boswell to move to Sussex.
76. Sick
Everyone knew the only thing worse than a sick doctor was a sick detective.
77. Gallant
In spite of his words, the red tint on Holmes' ears told Watson the truth of his reaction when one of their clients insisted he had acted gallantly.
78. Horror
The horror that filled him upon hearing the remark was exceeded only by the sight of packed bags a year later.
79. Desecrate
When they discovered what was going on behind the scenes of a rural temple ruin, Watson was quite willing to desecrate the ruin in such a way as to force the blackguards to show themselves.
80. Enemy
Holmes always took it in stride when their enemy threatened him, but even Scotland Yard refused to press charges the time someone threatened Watson and received a black eye for his words.
81. Whisper
The whisper barely carried to his ears, but he relaxed when he heard it because it meant rescue was nigh.
82. Run
He had enjoyed running when he was younger, and it irked him that he could rarely do so now.
83. Storm
Watson had always loved storms, but the first time Holmes started shooting in time to the thunder threatened to change that.
84. Truth
The truth he would never admit was that he often enjoyed the quieter days.
85. Anger
Watson's double meaning behind his warning of keeping a 'bull pup' remained obscure for several years.
86. Hero
Holmes knew his friend was a hero even without the medals from the war.
87. Motionless
He was relieved when Holmes finally stopped moving, knowing the detective only twitched during nightmares.
88. Wicked
Holmes' insistence that Watson had played a wicked trick did nothing to calm the doctor's laughter.
89. Wound
Holmes learned quickly that words spoken in haste could wound more than a bullet ever could.
90. Touch
After he and Holmes were imprisoned in a cave, Watson learned to pick locks in the dark.
91. Slave
It was only when he tried to quit alone that he realized he was a slave to the drug.
92. Trust
When he first moved to London, Holmes never expected to trust anyone again.
93. Vicious
A miscommunication in a dark alley made Holmes resolve to never get in the way of Watson's right hook.
94. Incapacitate
He dreaded the day a villain realized it required the capture of a second person to incapacitate him.
95. Weary
No matter how weary he was, he refused to seek his bed until Holmes returned from the docks safely.
96. Author's Choice – Pawn
He considered himself a pawn—expendable—and only discovered much later that another considered him the king—the purpose behind the queen.
97. Author's Choice – Aware
The first thing he became aware of was the pain; the second was the hand holding his own.
98. Author's Choice – Mood
He was well accustomed to his own black moods, but to see his friend in the grips of one unnerved him.
99. Author's Choice – Spirit
He smiled at the first show of spirit since his return, knowing it meant his Boswell was slowly releasing the barriers he had raised in the last three years.
100. Author's Choice – Describe
For all that Holmes derided Watson's writings aloud, he could admit to himself that he found the descriptions entertaining.