"Here"
Something was thrust into Sherlock's face, a set of files. The detective looked up with a blank look.
"What are these?"
"Read"
"But what-"
"Read them and then I will tell you"
They were his alias files. They'd come up with more than a dozen different personas for him but only half had ever been used. He read through them and then placed the files beside him. "Why did you give me these?" Mycroft smiled and picked up the discarded papers. "You wish to help? Pick two aliases and you may use them to go undercover for a little while." Sherlock's eyes lit up briefly. He could go out again? Maybe he could go see John..
"Absolutely not"
"What?"
"If you agree to do this you can't just use this opportunity to spy on John. You have to commit to the missions handed to you, do you understand?" Sherlock sighed and nodded. Anything to get out of here. "Then which two aliases have you chosen?" Sherlock pointed to two of the files and went back to watching the clouds go by. Mycroft looked at what he'd chosen and nodded approving. "Very well. I will discuss this with my people and then perhaps we can come up with a look for both. Miss Adler and Miss Hooper will no doubt want to help again in that department." Oh joy.
"Where are they?"
"Out for dinner, apparently Miss Adler offended one of my chefs and now he refuses to cook anything for her." Sherlock's lips twitched. "By the way Sherlock, there was something I wanted your advice on"
"My advice? You want my advice on something?"
"Yes. Since i have been invited to this wedding, I suppose I will need to buy the happy couple a wedding present. Any ideas?" Me? How would I know what you buy someone for a wedding. Unless.. "Perhaps..a holiday? I can't think of anything else and I have never met his fiance.." Mycroft considered the idea for a minute and then nodded. "I like it, somewhere warm perhaps, as it's rather cold now. Hawaii? Australia? These are ideas I need to consider. Thank you Sherlock." His brother shrugged and went back to looking at the clouds, waiting for the stars to come out again.
"Hey mate, been awhile and I'm very sorry about that. I just..I just didn't know what to say anymore. You're dead. You're dead Sherlock. What would my life even mean to you? You dead, you've...bought the farm, you've kicked the bucket, you've climbed the golden staircase, crossed the River Styx, you got your halo, you are no more, you have ceased to be, bereft of life, you rest in peace, you've met your maker, good riddance, you free-loading b-bastard." John gave a hollow laugh, his voice cracking and he let out a broken sob.
"I accept it now. I know I have. I thought I had already but I was wrong. W-we, we went to the flat, myself and Mary..first time in ages. You weren't there Sherlock. I used to feel your presence in every room, in every piece of furniture. But not anymore. Your ghost left the flat, it's just empty now. Thats how I know I must have accepted it. Does that mean you've left us, left me? Completely? I thought perhaps, for awhile, you were with me, especially when I was writing the books." John wiped his eyes with his sleeve and chuckled sadly. "I used to imagine you were right by my side when I was writing. Correcting me, telling me off for including something, saying I was concentrating on the deductions as much as I should. Which, by the way, I did this time. I thought perhaps you were with me when I wrote about your death. Because I felt, comforted. Maybe it was just my imagination. You weren't like that, you wouldn't stick around, just for me. Would you?"
"Lestrade's going to be a dad and is getting married. I'm going to be Best Man! Bloody happy. I get to organise the stag too. Should be fun."
"See! This is why I haven't come so often, I don't know what to say anymore! I've finished all the books, I've visited the flat and Mrs Hudson. Your brother's told me stories about your childhood. What else is there to say anymore? How much I miss you? That will probably never change. How life is not that same without you? How about the fact that you still make people cry. Mrs Hudson still misses you, she's so lonely in the flat now. And Lestrade, he really misses you too. I don't know... I just don't know what I have left to say"
"Christmas is coming..in a few weeks. We'll be having another party this year, and then me and Mary will be heading down to meet her family for Christmas dinner. Should be nice, I'll get to see the twins again. I miss them."
"I will try and see you again. Especially next month. God it will have been a year. Lestrade's wedding is before the anniversary though. Which is handy.."
"Pretty soon, I might like a wedding of my own and then one day..kids. Would that bother you? Probably. But you aren't here to stop me. I don't want you to stop me. I love her. She brought back the happiness that I'd lost and she filled the hole your absence left. Not that it means she replaced you, she didn't. No one can. No one has that right. She's just different. And thats ok. Thats ok."
"I better go..it looks like it might rain and it's bloody cold out here. Tell you what, I'll come by at Christmas before we go. Leave you a wreath or a present or something. Aright? Alright. Goodbye Sherlock."
"Jim?"
"Jim?"
"Come on Jim, this isn't funny. Where the hell are you?" Sebastian sighed and placed a large box onto the kitchen countertop and looked around the penthouse for his boss. There was a note taped to one of the doors.
Out to buy decorations for the flat. Make dinner, something spicy.
xxx Jim :)
Great, just great. Like hell he was making dinner. Ordering pizza was far more likely. Sebastian took out his phone and flipped it open, phoning the local pizzaeria. Jim wanted spicy, he'll order the spicest pizza imaginable.
The consulting crimminal didn't return till much later in the evening. A group of his men followed behind him with several boxes and then left without saying a word. Jim's nostrils sniffed the air and he licked his lips, heading straight to one of the pizza boxes and lifting up a slice, letting the melted cheese slide down his chin. He sighed in ecstasy. Delicious.
"What's in the boxes? Can you tell me once you've decided to stop making love to that slice?"
"Christmas decorations"
"Right. You don't do Christmas"
"Sure I do. I love christmas! Which reminds me, I need to send Mycroft a Christmas gift, Sherlock too! Though I'm not sure if he's in any condition to open one..do you think you could send someone to try and find out for me?"
"Probably...why send them presents?"
"For fun! You have no sense of fun Sebby"
"Whatever, as long as you don't endanger our missions here, I don't care what you do"
"Good, then you won't mind helping me put up the decorations"
"God no"