December 4: "Someone is moving out" (from Hades Lord of the Dead)
"I suppose this is it, then," said Holmes, holding my final moving box. We stood just inside the front door, carriage waiting out front to receive me and my luggage.
"Last box," I replied, grasping the box and making to take it from him. Holmes gripped it tighter, expression distant.
"Holmes?"
He seemed to shake off a reverie and released the box.
I shifted it in my arms to grasp it better. "Thank you, old fellow."
He nodded stiffly.
A thought occurred to me. "You know, you are welcome to help me unpack at my new home. If you haven't any plans for the afternoon."
"Oh," he replied. "I rather thought, well, with you and your wife..."
"I will have plenty of time alone with her, Holmes," I replied with a smile. "Mary respects our friendship and she is fond of you too. If you're busy this afternoon, you will always be welcome to visit when you aren't otherwise occupied."
He sniffed. "I expect I shall remain quite busy here at Baker Street."
I sighed and set the box down upon the stairs. "Just because I'm married now doesn't mean anything needs to change."
"Oh, but it shall," he snapped. "You will enjoy your wedded bliss very much, I suspect, and having your own practice. Soon enough our orbits will hardly intersect."
I blinked, unsure how to respond. "You are still my closest friend. I will not simply cast you off."
"It hardly matters," he replied, turning away and scaling the stairs. "Your company on my cases is hardly necessary, and the world will be better served if you cease publishing that drivel about them." With that, his lean form vanished around the corner.
To be continued...