And hello again! As promised, here's the final chapter!

I want to thank all those who took the time to read, and all those who followed (naming Benfan, ElectricAnya, LacyMarie97, Le-Psychopathe-de-Pernicieux, SherlockChlo, Valkyrie Of The Dead and kickassd1) and those who favorited (naming Hurricane.'97, Le-Psychopathe-de-Pernicieux, LacyMarie97 and Valkyrie Of The Dead (so double thanks for some of you ^^) ) :)

And of course thank you, Benfan, for having written almost all the reviews I got :)

Well then... all mistakes are my own. Enjoy! :)

Chapter 23. New dynamics (END)

So, four days after the ambush, Sherlock was playing the violin, dressed in his blue gown and John sat in the old chair, sipping carefully his morning tea and enjoying the concert. The doorbell rang, and they heard Mrs. Hudson open the door: "Oh dear, come on in, it's really nice to see you at last." A gentle feminine voice answered her politely. Holmes stopped playing and hastily put away the instrument, ignoring Watson's ironic smile.

"'Morning!" Victoria chimed from the staircase. She came in after hanging her raincoat behind the door. She was wearing blue jeans and a sleeveless white shirt. Bruises on her face faded away, and she used a light make-up to hide the cut on her cheek. The army doctor caught himself holding back his breath.

Gladly, Sherlock didn't notice his friend's embarrassment. "How do you feel?"

"A lot better." She smiled cheerfully. "I brought you my contact information in France."

While John tossed away his empty mug, Sherlock put up an indifferent face: "So, you're leaving?"

"I'm escorting Eric home… And I have some formalities to check out in Paris before definitely moving to London." She noticed Sherlock's barely hidden smug smile. "It might take some time, so I decided to drop by before actually going and all…"

They stayed silent for a while.

"Sherlock?"

"Yes?"

"May I ask you for a favor?" Her innocent expression made John chuckle.

Sherlock was more careful about that. Vick had proved herself to be good at playing fragile and naïve. "What kind of favor?"

"Would you accompany me to see Mummy?"

For a second, the detective let his guard down and looked tempted by the offer. "Can't you ask Mycroft?" he drawled, aware that his act wasn't really convincing.

"He's alarmingly protective lately, AND he'd be extremely busy. Come on, pretty please?"

Sherlock sighed. It was a dull, sentimental action of which he couldn't grasp the utility, but it was an opportunity to spend some time with Victoria. Maybe if he'd spent more time with her, he wouldn't feel stupidly happy in her presence. "I'll get dressed."

When he had disappeared in his room, John felt somewhat awkward. He grabbed his mug and headed to the kitchen. "Do you want some tea?" he asked, feeling like an idiot again. Well, comparing with the Holmes family average intellect level, that's probably what he was.

"No, thank you, Jawn." His heart skipped a beat at her pronouncing his name like that. When he returned to the living-room, she stared at him with a strange intensity. "My lazy brother won't ever mail me; can I count on you then?"

"Yeah, sure thing…" John mumbled while blushing for god-knows-what reason. She was clearly amused now.

"Thanks!" She beamed like a small kid who just got a candy, planted a kiss on his cheek and fled to the door.

Before Watson could come back to his senses, Sherlock rushed out his room fully dressed in a black three-piece suit and his coat half-way on. "Let's go." Luckily, he didn't notice John's red face.

"See you, Jawn!" Victoria shouted from the stairs.

Finally left alone to sort his feelings, John sighed and dropped in his chair. Victoria was a beautiful and strong woman, but he never considered responding to her friendly almost-flirting. He wasn't even sure that it hadn't been her usual way of socializing, her own Holmesian method to hide the true purpose of her actions and to stay in control of the situation by confusing people. That sounded just like something Victoria would do. Oh well, this is not the main problem here… His smile was weary. Soon enough he would have to deal with one Mycroft Holmes whose "constant worry" must have leveled up drastically in the meantime, and two younger Holmeses with their flawless logic and tendency to meddle with danger without taking proper precautions, on a daily basis. Dr John Hamish Watson felt quite certain that he wouldn't lack adrenaline rushes in the foreseeable future.

A/N I kinda suck at ending stories...

Thanks again for reading this far! Merci beaucoup! Danke schön! Спасибо большое! Grazie mille! Arigatoo gozaimasu! (and that's as far as my language skills go...)

Please review, it would be nice ^^

By the way, a friend promised to review if I managed to finish the story. So , after you finish your The Hobbit film-marathon et read my text, you better keep your word, boy! *yes, I'm talking to you and finals wouldn't be accepted as a reason for not doing it* :)

I haven't got any feedback about making this into series, so I'll put this project in stand-by. I'm working on a completely different fic right now, a Reincarnation AU actually, first chapters would probably be posted soon.

Have a nice day! :)