A/N: Sorry I haven't updated in forever. I just moved to California and life has been crazy. I finally just sat down and wrote this chapter.

Don't be mad about the ending.

ENJOY!

This is not how I pictured it.

"Do shut your mouth, John." Mary speaks her words, biting and harsh like the wind before a blizzard.

I'm searching for my words, but Sherlock finds them first.

"Irene was here, I see."

"What is that supposed to mean?" she asks in that same tone.

"Your ring is gone. It's precisely her taste."

Her eyes shoot daggers. "You disgust me."

"I can assure you, the feeling is mutual."

It's then that my words catch up.

"Stop, please." I whisper, but both hear and turn to me. "Mary, I know this is… not… normal or civilized or-"

"Right." She finishes for me.

"No, this is right." I look to him then and his lips twitch into a small, clever smile. It makes my heart flutter. "I am meant to be with Holmes. Regardless of what our society would think of it."

The silence is so loud I fear I've gone deaf.

"Please say something," I say.

"What do you want me to say?" she asks through clenched teeth.

I take a deep breath and get on my knees in front of her chair. "I want you to say nothing, to anyone, about this. I will beg if I have to. I can't lose him. Not this way. I have to fight and I need you to promise you will keep this to yourself. I know I've hurt you. I shouldn't have ever proposed."

"You knew then?" her tone is shrill and infuriated.

I try to search her eyes, trying to convey my need for compassion and mercy. "Yes."

She leans forward as if to kiss me, instead she stops so close I can feel her breath wash over my face. "You disgust me." She hisses the words slowly, deliberately, drawing out each wound as if she is brandishing a sword, each syllable a different, deep blow.

Sherlock pulls me back. "This is my fault." He says. "I should not have encouraged our attachment, but now I am afraid we are in too deep. Our only hope for survival is your mercy. If you wish to expose us, I request you tell the authorities this is my wrong-doing and your husband was not willing. Let me take the fall."

I have no idea how to react to his words. I want to scream at him to shut up because this is our fault. But for once, Mary's eyes are calculating instead of accusing. It's a sliver of hope lined with fire. I can't lose him. I close my eyes, because I can't watch this unfold. I feel those few tears escape, but my whole body is rigid, unmoving.

"You love him, don't you?" she asks, quiet, curious.

I can't answer.

"More than life itself." He replies.

"You don't value your life. Try again. Persuade me." She commands.

His words travel as though through water, slow and enchanting. "It's not just words. 'I love you.' Most seem to think it is. But do they think of their meaning? That's frivolous love. 'I love you.' The being, not the feeling. I love the way he sleeps. How his hair sticks up on end. I love the way he speaks. How he's my only friend. I love the way his mind works, always turning with new ideas. I love the way he says good morning, and how he kisses me goodnight. He is my constant. The only being I have ever loved or trusted so fully. His genetic make-up was made me for me and mine for him. I love everything that makes him the man you see before you. He's my everything. My raison d'être. And I beg of you to please… please don't take him away from me. I will give my own life to see him carry on. I will give you anything. Even the pleasure of killing me yourself, if you wish. But don't kill him. Please."

That last broken syllable forces my eyes open. He's on his knees in front of her like I had been and tears are streaming down his face. He truly is begging her and he's so unashamed and true. I have never known love like this.

"And you, John," she turns her attention to me, "Do you love him?"

"Yes," the answer slips so easily from my lips.

"Persuade me." She says.

I don't know where to start. I look to him and suddenly I know. I smile and he returns it.

"I've never told you this, Holmes, but I've been… writing. About you and all of your adventures. Sort of archiving them, if you will. Ever since that first fateful day when we crossed paths. From that very first moment, I have been entranced by you and your glorious mind. And now you have bewitched my heart and soul. I want to spend the rest of my life trying to understand you. I may never succeed, but I will die trying. I want to know you better than anyone else. I love you. I love every moment I get to spend with you." I look at Mary then. "So if you are to reveal us, I wish to die with him. Because there is no way I can come back from this should you take him away from me. I will take my own life if I must. I will not be parted from him. So, unless you want our blood on your hands-unless you wish to kill us for loving-I implore you to please never speak of this."

Her words take an eternity.