1. Strangers
At first, Mrs. Hudson thought it strange that her lodgers decided to room together without knowing each other first, but the two very quickly became inseparable.
2. Taste
When trying to anchor himself in the present against his memories demanding attention, he always found the final thing the hardest to find, which was probably the point, as if he still needed grounding after the other four senses, naming something he could taste usually brought him out of the memory.
3. Sea
Watson remembered very little of the immediate aftermath of the Friesland sinking.
4. Rain
His wounds hated the storms, voicing their complaints with throbbing timed to the raindrops, but Watson had always loved the freshness of a recent rain.
5. Earth
No matter how many times he withdrew into his thoughts, the presence of his friend brought him back to earth.
6. Affection
Her actions around Doctor Watson's wedding showed the depth of Mrs. Hudson's motherly affection for her lodgers.
7. Joy
The pure joy that washed over his expression had not yet been tempered by the knowledge that his friend had lied to him—again.
8. Moon
The full moon rising over the moor illuminated their worrisome circumstances better than any lantern.
9. Autumn
Autumn had always been Mary's favorite time of year; a second spring, she called it, where every leaf was a flower.
10. Run
The frantic admonishment to run held the key to despair when he realized he ran alone.
11. Breakfast
It took Holmes years to explain to Watson that he rarely ate before midmorning not because he didn't want the food, but because the food didn't want him.
12. Black
It had been so long since he drank it any way but black that he nearly choked the first time he drank a swallow of coffee after his Hiatus.
13. Found
Seven days, six hours, and fifty-one minutes of searching collapsed when he finally spotted his friend in the depths of the cave.
14. Children
Sometimes the sight of frolicking children in a nearby park brought a smile to Watson's face, but other times it only reminded him of the children he had lost.
15. Broken
Knowing the results of his actions, being confined to bedrest due to a broken leg seemed a small price to pay.
16. Villain
When the intruder grabbed the morocco case off the mantle, Watson knew this might be their final case.
17. Respect
The doctor earned the Yarders' respect the day he identified and captured a burglar before the inspector assigned to the case had finished combing the scene.
18. Food
Mrs. Hudson proved herself extremely creative in the kitchen in those early days as she tried to tempt the doctor's scant appetite.
19. Winter
Winter may have truly begun in November, but caught up in the holiday, Watson rarely noticed until after the New Year.
20. Spirit
Their lack of belief in ghosts made no difference when a miniature tornado of papers, books, and other debris formed in the guestroom in a manner perfectly matching the castle legends.
21. Sound
Having been so long since he had been able to play, the sound of Holmes' violin alternately soothed and frustrated him.
22. Touch
He tugged and worked until his fingers bled, but loosening bonds by feel was never easy.
23. Love
Watson chided himself for envying Holmes his brother, but that didn't change the fact that he had lost his own without the closure of death many years before.
24. Birth
The joy of their blessings cascaded into a heavy grief when Mary succumbed to the grief of losing the twins in their first days of life.
25. Hours
Hours passed slowly in front of that fireplace, each content in the presence of the other.
26. Friends
It was years before he was able to define who the doctor was to him, and then only when a slip of the tongue produced a slow smile and the knowledge of truth.
27. Extreme
Irritability to boredom to hyperactivity—his new flatmate was a study in extremes.
28. Not enough
Those children never had an excess of food, but working for the detective had resulted in them having enough.
29. Middles
Being woken in the middle of a nightmare was always preferable to waking alone.
30. Years
When two young bachelors met in St. Bart's chemistry lab, neither of them recognized the beginnings of a friendship that would span the years.
31. Time
Punctuality was harder before the gift of a repaired pocket watch.
32. Teammates
From the rugby field to battle—whether foreign or domestic—Waton's loyalty was unmatched.
33. Shore
By the time they reached shore, they could do nothing more than lay in the sand and be grateful.
34. Nightmare
For once, he was glad for the nightmare, because that meant the vision of his friend bending over him was the real one.
35. Light
The light spilling from the sitting room showed he was not the only one having a sleepless night.
36. White
Finding a white horse with a single red hoof solved their murder case rather succinctly.
37. Fixed
With the leaking roof fixed, now all that remained was to repair the water damage.
38. Hide
Their longest stakeout in a while was the one in which they were forced to hide the following day.
39. Death
Papers and tabloids alike proclaimed that the detective had solved the greatest mystery of all—death.
40. Enemies
It was years before he understood the reasoning behind the personal nature of that enemy's malice.
41. Faith
Holmes would come for him; all he had to do was survive until then.
42. Hate
In the two years since he had last heard from his friend, he had never hated his increasing age more than when Mycroft told him Holmes had missed a check-in.
43. Smell
Talc or chalk, horses and river, every city had its own scent, and he had travelled enough to know roughly where he was before he opened his eyes.
44. Fire
There was little better after a long walk through a snowstorm than relaxing with a warming drink in front of the fire.
45. Quest
Not sleep nor food could pause the detective's quest for information.
46. Beginnings
He had called him "my intimate friend and colleague," but from where had the phrase come?
47. Bittersweet
Upon finding the broken teacup he had hidden just before leaving for Switzerland, her laugh sounded more like a sob.
48. Summer
Long summer days spent watching the bees were only made better by the presence of a friend.
49. Tease
Listening to the young Irregulars bicker and tease each other was more therapeutic than any medicine the doctor could prescribe.
50. Thunder
After listening to Watson reminisce, Holmes figured out how to play his violin to the beat of nature's drums.
51. Memory
A head injury could negatively affect memory retention; he desperately hoped it wasn't permanent.
52. Sight
The crime scene was gruesome enough even the doctor flinched.
53. Shy
Shy or not, the lost young girl found herself willing to talk to the kind doctor.
54. Triumph
Where was the triumph with a casualty list measured in the hundred thousands?
55. Purple
Even the detective was surprised by the arrival of the letter with a purple border.
56. Star
He never needed a compass so long as he could see the stars.
57. Journey
It would take time, but their next journey had begun with that single step.
58. Sixth sense
Holmes relied completely on deduction, but after that first time, he never had to understand Watson's ability to know that if the doctor said they needed to leave, they needed to leave immediately.
59. Lovers
It took Mary backing him up before the stubborn detective realized his friend was not abandoning him for marriage.
60. Fear
For the longest time, he truly believed his friend was afraid of nothing.
61. Too much
Through the pounding in his head the next morning, he firmly resolved that the first time he had had too much to drink would also be the last.
62. Sunrise
The dawn light shining through the windows showed the truth better than any well-spoken words could.
63. Sorrow
He started for home the day he got the news, knowing he was months too late to make it for the funeral.
64. Sunset
Watching the winter sun sink over the sea, he was glad to not be watching it alone.
65. Red
His favorite color changed with his first day of medical school, and again after the Battle of Maiwand.
66. Whisper
Barely a whisper, he still heard and went to rescue his friend from the most recent round of nightmares.
67. Lies
Their biggest arguments were usually caused by lies.
68. Snow
Watson thought it beautiful, and Holmes thought it an annoyance, but the Irregulars always found it great fun.
69. Truth
To tell the truth, even when it might hurt, was one of the hardest lessons to learn.
70. Dark
The gaslights were off—a concession to the heat—but that didn't prevent them from sitting in companionable silence on another sleepless night.
71. Trust
Neither was quite sure when or how, but they both knew they trusted the other completely.
72. Spring
Holmes finally agreed to go for a walk, if only to get him to stop with the wordplay he had been using to interrupt Holmes' monologues.
73. Water
It was quite a change to go from loving to swim to having to avoid deep water.
74. Temptation
The locked drawer soon became the repository of all temptations.
75. Weeks
The most common bet had been in terms of weeks, but even Holmes was surprised when months turned into years without a change in living arrangements.
76. Lightning
After the case had revived the worst of his memories, Watson wasn't sure if he enjoyed the storm for providing a show to watch or hated the storm for the thunder's similarity to gunfire.
77. Months
It was a relief to return to Baker Street after a case kept them abroad for over two months.
78. Dinner
Holmes' acceptance of the invitation to their first dinner party was a pleasant surprise for Watson.
79. Ends
Holmes so often gave all the credit to the Yard partly because he despised the tediousness of tying up the loose ends of a case.
80. Lunch
Watson's busy day suddenly looked brighter when he got a note asking if he wanted to meet at Simpson's at noon.
81. Drink
Watson very rarely touched the alcohol; his brother's mistakes remained firmly in his mind.
82. Grief
After knowing intense grief at a young age, he determined to never go through that again and, in the process, unknowingly closed himself off to many other things.
83. Blue
His smile widened when he realized Mary had swiped her "something blue" from Holmes' side of the sitting room.
84. Tears
When Watson was in the right mood, one pawky remark could set them laughing to tears.
85. Shade
Whenever London received one of its rare sunny days, Watson spent as much time as possible outside.
86. Anger
His 'bull pup' had its peculiarities; it rarely broke free, but Holmes quickly learned to back up if it did.
87. Hero
When the Irregulars first found out that Doctor Watson was a war hero, they begged him to tell stories, and, ever truthful even in his admittedly vague accounts, the young ones quickly learned that no war was as glorious as the papers made it out to be.
88. Storm
The storm pounding London found itself outmatched in comparison to the storm currently ravaging 221B Baker Street.
89. Parents
He had lost his parents to an accident, but that was better than never knowing them at all.
90. Life
It had turned out far from how he had planned, but, looking back over the years, he knew he wouldn't change a single thing.
91. Play
He loved listening to Holmes play, except at three in the morning for the fourth night in a row.
92. Guilt
When he realized the note was a fake and Holmes was gone, he thought his guilt might just swallow him whole.
93. Family
Neither had many blood relations remaining, but they each found a brother in the other, and that was enough.
94. Tradition
He almost managed to hide a birthday surprise under the guise of a Twelfth Night tradition.
95. Distance
The gaping divide that had seemed to separate them proved to be no more than a crack when back in the other's presence once more.
96. Author's Choice – Lost
When they passed the tree they had marked for the third time, his companion was forced to admit they were lost.
97. Author's Choice – Freedom
He had been among the first to volunteer, but the wounds he had hidden during the initial exams betrayed him during the first months of training.
98. Author's Choice – Days
Holmes knew exactly how many days it had been since Watson had enlisted; he spent more time wondering how many it would be before he came home.
99. Author's Choice – Air
With the air quickly turning stale, he could only hope he was found in time.
100. Author's Choice – Cottage
The only difference was that one had an extra bedroom, but that was the deciding factor.