Thank you all so much for all your positive feedback. ;D It means so much to me ;))
Sacred3, yeah sorry about that last sentence. I missed the 't' at the end, the sentence is 'finally, they both thought'.
And Kaittybee, thank you for the idea. I already have a chapter written (and a pretty long one at that) that has them texting a lot. I should post hat sometime in the next few days, depending on the reviews. :)
This is another action free fill in chapter, so it's quite short. Hope you enjoy it anyway xx
All quotes taken from a Scandal in Belgravia. I own nothing, all rights belong to the BBC.
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They didn't speak much the morning after, but they smiled and shared intense gazes.
Their farewell wasn't overly emotional. Irene took him to the airport in her new car. They didn't hold hands, but they were always in close proximity so that their bodies were touching, lightly brushing against each other.
She hugged him at the airport, burying her face against his shoulder, and he knew that she would miss him. He kissed her once, gently and sweetly, before he departed.
As soon as he passed the security check, his phone beeped and vibrated against his thigh.
He flipped it open to inspect the message.
'Thank you for dinner. KB'
He smiled to himself.
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John was waiting for him at the airport, a gesture that surprised Sherlock. He could see that John was inspecting him during the ride home, making sure that he was alright.
"I know you're back now, but are you sure you still don't want to tell me where you were?" he asked, playfully letting ignorance colour his tone.
Sherlock shook his head. "It was very …pleasant though" he offered. "I might go again sometime."
And he does.
He made up lies, obviously, saying he was on cases like the one in Belarus, only to return home a few days later saying that it didn't find the case interesting.
John and Mrs Hudson always remained slightly suspicious.
"He does seem to be getting an awful lot of cases outside of London, doesn't he?" Mrs Hudson said one day as she cleared the table, throwing any body parts Sherlock had left there into the trash can.
John nodded, taking a bite of his sandwich. "Did he do that often? Before I came along?" he asked, interested. He has to admit, he is worried about Sherlock, even though it had been nearly 3 months since the Irene Adler fiasco. Sherlock has stopped sulking, and he seemed happier, but he never mentioned her, only going by the name the woman the few times he did.
"Oh, you never know with Sherlock" Mrs Hudson replied, in her carefree tone. "Before he was always dashing about here and there, and I never knew where he was half the time."
John swallowed and took a sip of coffee. "I'm still worried about him" he admitted. "After that whole thing with Irene…I don't know what to think. I wouldn't say he was heartbroken, because he's Sherlock, and I don't think he sees women that way. But then what is it if not heartbreak? Maybe he feels betrayed by her and angry at himself."
Mrs Hudson nodded and took a seat next to John. "But he's faring better now, isn't he?" She asked.
John sighed thoughtfully. "Maybe. I can't really tell. I mean, he doesn't compose sad music all the time, and doesn't sulk as much as he did, and he even eats occasionally. But he's become so secretive. I never know what he does half the time. And all these trips…I don't know what to make of it."
Mrs Hudson shrugged. "He's Sherlock. We'll never be able to guess what he's thinking." With that she stood up. "Don't worry about Sherlock too much, dear. He's strong and independent."
John nodded, and tried his best to be reassured by Mrs Hudson's advice.
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Sherlock returned after a few days looking quite happy and saying that he'd had an exciting case. Slowly, John stopped worrying.
The bombshell came when Mycroft asked to meet with John so he could tell him the news.
He handed him her file and told him about the witness protection scheme in America. John was relieved. He didn't particularly like Irene Adler, but he was glad (mostly for Sherlock's sake) that she was alive.
"He'll be okay with this witness protection and never seeing her again, he'll be fine" he said, sounding quite relieved. But of course, Mycroft couldn't let the relief last for long.
"I agree" he said. "That's why I decided to tell him that."
John closed his eyes, thinking 'no no no' to himself. Mycroft just had to do this.
"Instead of what?" he asked in a dangerously calm voice.
"She's dead" came the reply, and John felt something snap within him. What would this do to Sherlock? He'd only just started to recover, and now he was supposed to inform him that she was dead?
"She was captured in a terrorist cell in Karachi two months ago and beheaded." Mycroft added.
"It's definitely her?" John asked, desperately hoping for it to be otherwise. For Sherlock's sake. "She's done this before" he added.
Mycroft's reply was like a knife. "I was thorough this time." He paused slightly and looked at John, convinced. "It would take Sherlock Holmes to fool me. And I don't think he was on hand, do you?"
John sighed. No, Sherlock Holmes had not been on hand.
There was a short silence, with each man contemplating what to do next. Mycroft broke the silence.
"So, what shall we tell Sherlock?"
John heard the way Mycroft said Sherlock, letting a hint of gentleness and affection for his little brother colour his tone. Mycroft was worried about Sherlock too. He had seen what affect Miss Adler had had on him, and it scared him. He had never seen Sherlock feel something like that for a woman before, because emotion and sentiment side tracked him. She was dead now, and he would get over it, in time, but would he be okay until then?
John regarded him for a long moment and stood up. Sherlock deserved the truth. Without saying a single word he took the file Mycroft had given him and went up to see Sherlock.
Sherlock seemed fairly unaffected during their conversation about Irene. But it nearly broke John's heart when his head snapped up as he said her name. "Something happen?" he asked, sounding almost anxious. "Did she come back? Is she back in London?"
John closed his eyes briefly, bracing himself.
"She's…" he said and couldn't get the words out.
Sherlock saw his mouth about to form the d, before John changed his mind, and told him all about the witness protection scheme. Sherlock did his best not to smile. Everyone believed she was dead then. Good.
He asked to keep her phone in the end. He wasn't sure why he wanted it; after all she had another phone now. For old time's sake he supposed.
He smiled as John went back to return the file to Mycroft. He was sure that John only wanted the best for him. He knew that if Mycroft believed she was dead, then John would too.
Irene was safe.
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Thank you for reading and please review (the next chapter is already written, so the update depends wholly on the number of reviews I get … yeah I know, I am mean).
I think this story is nearly finished now (but I can't really be sure, because I do have a tendency to add chapters even after I said that the story was completed) and so I would like to say thank you to everyone who has reviewed, alerted or favourite so far. It means a lot to me :D
Laura xx