John doesn't even know why Sherlock asked it. He had never really set much weight on matters of the heart—as everyone knew—but this seemed different.
It had weight. More weight than their obese client—Mr. Donahue—whose wife had suddenly gone missing.
Sherlock had told him she ran off with gardener—which she had, he later proved—but the heavy, surprisingly egotistical Mr. Donahue wouldn't hear it—instead, he saw it, the poor bastard.
Sherlock and John had been together for nearly a year, and what a year it was. They had been inseparable from the beginning—now they were practically one person. With two minds, two bodies, but only one heart.
But Sherlock was always so evasive when it came to things of a personal nature, so of course he asked when John was halfway across the flat and couldn't even hear him.
"Do you love me, John?"
Part one of two; 'Question' and 'Answer'.