Prompt: Today you have a choice. Take one of these two passages, from Chapter 3 of SIGN:Miss Morstan's demeanour was as resolute and collected as ever. I endeavoured to cheer and amuse her by reminiscences of my adventures in Afghanistan; but, to tell the truth, I was myself so excited at our situation and so curious as to our destination that my stories were slightly involved. To this day she declares that I told her one moving anecdote as to how a musket looked into my tent at the dead of night, and how I fired a double-barrelled tiger cub at it.

I trust that he (Sholto)may not remember any of the answers which I gave him that night. Holmes declares that he overheard me caution him against the great danger of taking more than two drops of castor-oil, while I recommended strychnine in large doses as a sedative.

Your challenge today - Take one of those passages and run with its infinite fun possibilities.

A/N: There were so many FANTASTIC ideas popping up everywhere from this prompt! But I used this one instead.

Late one evening in Baker Street, soon after the conclusion of the case I titled the Sign of Four, I recalled a letter addressed to both Holmes and myself sent by Mr. Thaddeus Sholto, which I had received earlier in the day and forgotten to show my companion.

"Thaddeus Sholto's sent another greeting, Holmes," I said, handing him the paper as he walked into the sitting room. "He wants to thank you again."

"Hmmm." Holmes glanced it over, then tossed it on the desk. "A most appreciative client." He smirked at me. "And rather a paranoid one, at that--has he asked your medical opinion on some new symptom every day since the start of the case?"

"I'm afraid so," I said ruefully. "He seems to take his health very seriously." I paused, watching my friend, who was idling around his desk. "Which is more than can be said for some people," I grumbled.

He raised an eyebrow. "Am I to take this to mean you are still displeased by my use of cocaine?" he asked.

"Holmes, I do wish you would have more care about the ultimate cost of the substance--it could be so detrimental to those wonderful powers which you have just displayed so marvelously in relation to this case. I speak only with your best interests at heart," I added, more softly. "As a medical man--"

He nodded, giving me a small smile. "Watson, I would never accuse you of having your heart in the wrong place," he said, with uncharacteristic gentleness. "Believe me when I say that I do not act out of blatant disregard to my own health and your medical opinions." He sat behind his desk and stared at the ceiling thoughtfully. "I have found that the stimulation to my mind is quite necessary, however. It is far harder for me to exist without that constant mental activity than with the effects of the drug."

I was prepared to debate the point with him further when he began to chuckle to himself. "Although I confess that I have much less faith in your medical opinions after hearing your advice to Mr. Thaddeus Sholto," he said, with a gleam in his eye.

I could not fathom what he meant by this comment, but I was rather stung. "I don't know what you mean by that, Holmes," I said sharply. "I have only ever given Mr. Sholto my honest opinion based on my medical training and experience." Though my honest medical opinion was that Mr. Sholto was a hypochondriac of the first order, and there was absolutely nothing wrong with him.

"So it really isdangerous to take more than two drops of castor-oil?"

I stared. "What on earth are you talking about, Holmes?"

"Only repeating your own sound medical advice, Watson. I distinctly remember, on our cab ride to the residence of Mr. Bartholomew Sholto, you cautioning Thaddeus Sholto against the dangers of taking more than two drops of castor-oil."

"I most certainly did not, Holmes!"

"My dear Watson, I assure you--"

"I know I was a little... well, distracted, I suppose. But I said nothing of the kind!"

"You did, Watson." His eyes twinkled merrily. "I daresay he does not remember most of the advice you gave him--hopefully not the bit about the strychnine."

I gaped, and his smile broadened at my expression. "What about strychnine?" I asked.

"Well, you recommended it in large doses as a sedative, as I recall. And while I do not disagree with you on this point, I believe the purposes of a sedative are not such that the subject should become, shall we say, permanently sedated."

"Now, Holmes, I know you are toying with me--I'm sure I never said that--"

"I am inclined to think that it was rather justified, Watson--he was a positively abysmal travel companion. I don't believe he paused for breath even once when listing his onslaught of symptoms."

"Holmes, that's terrible. And in any case I am certain I didn't..." I shook my head in resignation. "I did, didn't I?"

Holmes' quiet snickering was answer enough, and before long we were both laughing uncontrollably.

"I certainly hope he doesn't remember what I said to him that night," I said finally, still chuckling. "I'm afraid my mind was on other things."

"Specifically our other traveling companion, I suppose," said Holmes, crossing to the mantle for his pipe. "You really were rather distracted for much of that ride--a fact that was lost on the loquacious Thaddeus Sholto."

We spent the remainder of the evening in pleasant conversation, recalling incidents of the case which were both bizarre and amusing, and speculating about the effectiveness of Jones' place on the police force. To this day Holmes still brings up my medical advice to Mr. Sholto. His syringe, however, remained untouched for that night.

A/N: I had some trouble coming up with something for this prompt (which is, I guess, why I have this as my result :P) My other idea was something I dreamed when I fell asleep thinking about the prompt--a tiger cub wandered into Watson's tent, and befriended him--then, quite unexpectedly, an enemy soldier showed up outside the tent and stuck a double barrelled musket through the tent flap. And the tiger cub chased him away.
That is why I am constantly using ideas I get at three in the morning--the ones I get when I'm half asleep are infinitely better than the ones I get when I'm fully asleep. Although I probably would have had fun writing that scenario.