I...don't know. I honestly have no idea where this came from. Oh well. This is John's life post-Reichenbach, and how he met Mary Morstan.


After Sherlock's 'death', John falls briefly into a depression. Because his life no longer has anything interesting, nothing happens, and Sherlock is an idiot who doesn't seem very inclined to let John help him. And if nothing is happening, then John has too much time, way too much time, to think, and brood, and generally be miserable. Hence, the depression.

But John has had a life before Sherlock – a boring life, but a life nonetheless, and he is a good doctor, so he pulls himself together and decides what to do with his life. He writes an actual list, because it is incredibly, terribly boring, and when Sherlock comes back he will personally strangle him for leaving him and taking all the fun parts of his life away.


1. Find a Job.

This proves to be easy; after all, every single bloody person has heard about the 'Fraud Detective's Assistant' (that is one of the more polite names he hears), so any hospital he works in is guaranteed a sudden flock of people, either faking illness or otherwise, eager to ask him 'is it true, was he really a fraud, did you know' and other questions he grits his teeth and ignores. The hard part isn't finding a job; it's keeping one, because there is invariably a day when he snaps, screams, threatens the latest idiot faking pneumonia with castration or worse. That's when the second item on his list becomes important.


2. Talk to Mycroft.

John had always planned to eventually talk to Mycroft; the job situation just made him do it faster. After all, Mycroft, with his connections, and his spies, and big black cars, and fancy cameras probably knew more about the Sherlock situation than John, and John hated not knowing something when he could get information.

The Talk (and yes, it deserved capitals; this was Mycroft, and God he was irritating and John wanted so badly to punch him, hard) went differently from what he had expected. His original plan had been to attract Mycroft's attention, tell him that he knew about Sherlock, and ask for information (and a chance to help and protect, because that's what he does). The reality is different.

The first part of his plan is easy; if rather stupid. He walks into the club Mycroft usually spends his free time in, and chants Mycroft's name in steadily increasing volume and pitch until he is dragged away and forced into a room, where Mycroft enters.

And that's when John knows, instinctively, that his plan needs to be changed. Because Mycroft and Sherlock are very alike, and even if he doesn't know Mycroft, he knows Sherlock, and that face, that expression is the one his roommate uses when he wants to fake emotion. In this case, a sadness so profoundly fake it actually looks rather constipated.

And then he realises that Mycroft will never tell him anything. To the brothers, he is the little muggle that Sherlock took pity on and introduced to the magic world. And he doesn't blame them; he's spent his whole life being underestimated, because of his height, and his generally placid aura. Sherlock had seen a bit of him, but even he underestimated him.

"John."

"Mycroft." If he was going to underestimate him, fine. It meant that he had more freedom, less surveillance.

"I…I truly am sorry, John. This is something I didn't anticipate." Here he looks down, then looks up again at John, and for an instant some genuine emotion- pity, but still- flashes before it disappears again.

"That's a lie and you know it."

Mycroft chuckles softly. "Regardless, if it's any consolation, my brother did care for you. And that is why I have taken the liberty of giving you this." He takes an envelope out of his pocket, and extends it to John. He takes it, and opens it to reveal a cheque, for more money than John has seen in his life. He looks at it, then at Mycroft.

"It isn't a consolation. And I have no desire to be paid, like some kind of…" he cuts himself off, reminding himself that anger won't help his cause. He takes a deep breath, and then addresses Mycroft. "But I'll accept this, whatever the sentiment behind it, if only because I hope it puts a sizeable dent in your bank account." There is a flash of surprise and amusement, which he ignores. "I came here to tell you that since I'm out of the game now, there is no longer any need to watch me. So stop."

Mycroft regards him for a moment, calculating and cold, before he nods, dismissing him as a threat. He shoves down the anger simmering and seething in him and walks out.


Get a Job (contd.)

With the money he gets from Mycroft, he opens up his own clinic, where he is able to shout at morons to his heart's content. He mostly treats the homeless, though, and some of the families who wouldn't be able to afford the other hospitals. They pay him back with smiles, and food. It may not be a very adrenaline filled life, but he feels content. He does have patients who are richer, and them he charges more, and uses this money to buy food, and to pay the homeless network, Sherlock's pride and joy, to do jobs for him, jobs which aid in the next item on his list.


3. Clear Sherlock's name.

John knows it isn't going to be easy to clear Sherlock's name, and he's pretty sure Sherlock himself is trying to do just that, with help from his brother. But what he can do is wage a psychological war, convince people that the information is false. So he does, he visits people they once helped, convinces them, argues passionately that Sherlock wasn't a fraud, how could he be, he was a true genius, and the world was a better place when he was in it.

And sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but he knows that the seed is planted in their minds, he is putting doubt in their heads, just like Moriarty once did, and it makes him get a sick feeling in his stomach every time he thinks that. But he perseveres, and the people he talks to spread the doubt, and the homeless network repays him for any medical aid he gives them by drawing graffiti everywhere and starting an underground campaign, "I believe in Sherlock Holmes".

And he does. He believes in Sherlock Holmes, in his best friend, and that is what keeps him going.


He is sitting in the clinic, wrapping a bandage around a little girl's arm and assuring her that she is fine, when he hears someone enter the room, and looks up to see a very pretty blonde enter. He finishes with the child and then gets up to meet her. She introduces herself as 'Mary, Mary Morstan,' and she has come to see if she can get a job as a receptionist, and there is something about her, something in those mischievous brown eyes that makes him ask her if she wants to get a drink together. And she accepts, and it really isn't a part of his plan, but then, no plan is ever 100% successful.

And she is funny, and sweet, and gentle, and he finds himself falling for her. Sherlock isn't there to scare her off, like he did to all his previous girlfriends, and that thought is what stops him from proposing. Because if she cannot handle Sherlock, then she cannot be with him, because Sherlock had his loyalty first, and she will have to trust that while he will always go to help Sherlock, he will never put her in danger. Well, too much danger.

So he waits, and tells her that he is waiting for something, and surprisingly, she accepts, living with him, and helping him with his work. And eventually, when John invariably gets pulled into danger (because there are people who hate Sherlock, and John is Sherlock's best friend, so he gets kidnapped way more than normal people should), Mary gets pulled in too, and they surprise each other by staying calm (actually, to his surprise, she seems sort of bored after the 4th time, and he just gets amused whenever it happens, and they play games which confuse their captors, and annoy them) until one of the bad guys give the traditional monologue and them pulls a gun, by which time Mary has already picked the locks or cut the ropes and they are free, so John tackles him, takes the gun, and proceeds to give them a list of good reasons as to why they should never try this again.


Mary surprises John by having a skill set more reminiscent of a spy or assassin than a receptionist, but then, he is an army doctor with perfect aim, whose greatest wish is to live life dangerously, so he doesn't question her much, just asking her a few questions, which she swears to answer as truthfully as possible.

"Do you love me?"

"Yes."

"Will you hurt me, or those I care about?"

"No. I won't hurt anyone unless they try to hurt you or me."

"Then your past is the past, and I'm honoured to be a part of your present."

And that is that. They still go out on dates, and cuddle in bed, and she cooks divine ambrosia, and nothing changes except that John no longer worries about her safety as much as he did before. And they wait, so that Sherlock comes back and his family is complete.


Yeah... that's... the next chapter, I guess. Hope you liked it. Review if you did, or didn't. Constructive criticism is appreciated.