The next morning, John woke early and quietly left the house in order to avoid seeing Sherlock. A night's sleep had done nothing to resolve his confusion. Thankfully work kept John's brain occupied most of the day. It was only during lunch, and tea breaks that he found his mind full of thoughts of Sherlock.
After a day's work, however, John had almost convinced himself that it was simply his surprise at Sherlock's actions that had caused him to react as he did. Then the phone rang and he jumped.
The voice said, "Hello lover" .
"Who is it?" John asked nervously.
"It's Mary of course. Who else would call you lover?"
"Yes of course, sorry. It's a bit loud in here. Let me go into my office." John closed his office door and took a deep breath before continuing.
"So, how did it go with Sherlock?"
"What?" John snapped nervously.
"You did tell him that you were moving?" Mary asked.
"Yes, yes." he said.
"So what did he say? He didn't do anything strange did he?"
"Uhh..." John stammered.
"He doesn't want you to go." Mary said.
"No." John replied, "Look Mary, don't worry. He'll come around. It will just take a little time."
"Do you think we should postpone the move?" Mary asked concerned.
"No of course not Mary. I'll go by the movers tomorrow with the rest of the details, and we'll spend Friday together as we agreed."
"Good. Now I'm going to be out of town all evening and most of tomorrow visiting my Aunt in Dover, but I'll be back. I'm going to miss you, but I'm looking forward to that homecoming."
"Me too. Have a good trip." John said
"I will. Love you John."
"Love you too, Mary."
"Always." Mary said, and closed with a kiss.
John smiled. It was with a spring in his step that he walked through the door of 221B Baker Street that evening. He passed Mrs Hudson at the entrance.
"Going out Mrs Hudson?"
"I have a bridge competition," Mrs Hudson replied, "Don't wait up. Mrs Turner and I plan to beat that scheming Mrs Jones this time. We've broken their code. She always mentions tea when she's got spades. I plan to win if it takes us all night. We'll see who gloats tomorrow."
"Good luck Mrs Hudson." John said smiling as he locked the door behind her.
John took the stairs two at a time only stopping as he was about to open the door. What would greet him on the other side, he wondered. He imagined Sherlock standing topless with tassels attached to his nipples. John smiled. Whatever happened, he could take it. He turned the doorknob.
The view that greeted his eyes was one of complete ordinariness. The kitchen table was cluttered with another one of Sherlock's experiments, while Sherlock sat in his chair, his face engrossed in a book titled 'Paralytics of South-East Asia'.
John smiled and entered hanging up his coat. "Good evening Sherlock" he said.
Sherlock groaned a reply, then he asked, "John, would you mind pouring me a glass of milk?"
John looked inside of the refrigerator pleased to find that there were no body parts inside. He pulled out the milk carton and poured a glass for Sherlock and another one for himself. "You bought fresh milk. That's good." John chortled as he brought the glass over to sit it on the table beside Sherlock. John took a sip. " And don't think that just because you've become a little more conscientious of your roommate responsibilities that it changes my mind about leaving." John finished off his glass and placed it down on the table beside Sherlock's full one. "I thought that you wanted some milk."
Sherlock looked up at John putting his book down on the table. "You can have my milk if you are still thirsty." Sherlock said.
John swayed and put his hand out to steady himself on the back of the chair. "Oh! I felt a bit woozy there." He looked up to see Sherlock examining him closely and then it clicked. He read the title again, 'Paralytics of South-East Asia'. "Sherlock!" He demanded , "What...what have you ..." Then his legs gave way and he collapsed.
When John awoke, he was lying in Sherlock's bed. When he tried to get up, he noticed that his wrists and ankles were restrained by leather straps which had been tied to the legs of the bed. John pulled against the straps shaking the bed only then noticing that he was naked.
John lay back on the bed, his mouth a hard line. "This time," he thought, "I'm going to kill him." Then John barked at the top of his lungs, "SHERLOCK! Get me out of these things right now."
Just then, the door creaked open and Sherlock clanked in. He was wearing heavy leather boots with chain straps. Tight leather pants closed by a double set of metal buttons. No shirt. And a leather driver's cap. In one hand he held a whip. He walked slowly and ominously into the room until he stood at the end of the bed. Then he pointed the butt of the whip at John and said, "John Watson, you have been a very, very bad boy."