A/N: What oh what are we going to do with John Watson in this story? He's up to no good. Thanks for reading, please review!
John spends all summer working. He finds a farm right outside of Los Angeles that welcomes him to work, and he couldn't be happier. Most of the boys he works with are soon-to-be students of USC or UCLA too, and they're all impressed that he's a football star.
The only thing that John doesn't like is when the boys share the letters they exchange with their girlfriends waiting for them back at home. He's the only single one, and when they talk about their girls and words of love, he can't help but miss Sherlock. He doesn't care about those girls he went with before he left, he cares about Sherlock.
It kills him that he doesn't even know if Sherlock's okay. Last he heard was that Sherlock was being sent away, and that leaves him wondering where Sherlock even is. Thomas Holmes sold back his share of the vineyard, sold back the stocks he'd invested in last year, so he doesn't call John's dad anymore.
John stops paying attention to one of the boys reading a letter. He can't stand words of love, words of hope and happiness, and if being unable to listen to or feel any of those things ever again is punishment for hurting Sherlock so badly, John will gladly accept his fate.
Someone hits his chest to get his attention. "Okay, Johnny?" the guy asks.
John grips his shovel tighter and nods.
"Thinkin' about your lady?"
John shakes his head. "I haven't got a lady."
"No? Stud like you don't have a honey waitin' back home?"
John shakes his head again. "Nope."
"Well, it's your lucky day 'cause boss's daughter's been eyein' ya every afternoon."
John stands up straight and leans on his shovel. "Which daughter?"
"The older one, the brunette."
"Older one?" John repeats, shoveling again. "Ain't she nearly twenty-five?"
"You know what they say about older women," his friend says. "Lots of experience."
John laughs. He just so happens to glance towards the stable to see the boss's brunette daughter slipping through the doors. She gives him a quick wink before she disappears.
John stays back in the field behind everyone once their shift is over, then he goes to the stable to use that hose to wash up. He tosses his dirty shirt over the wall and washes the dirt off his skin as much as he can. He faces the stable wall, but he turns around when he hears horse hooves running towards him.
It's her, the boss's daughter, dressed in riding trousers and boots. She's got on a button down shirt that looks like it belongs to man. It's buttoned conservatively to the second button from the top and tied below the top of her trousers.
"Shift over?" she asks, hopping off her horse.
John nods.
"Got the time?"
John gazes at the sun. "Should be five by now."
She leads her horse towards the stable doors. "I've got to meet my fiancé in a half hour."
"Fiancé?"
She nods, then takes her horse inside. John shuts the water off and dries himself with his shirt, then slips it back on.
She returns in seconds, her shirt missing a few more buttons and tied above her belly button now. John can't help but to look down the open shirt at her chest.
"Cuttin' out, then?" John asks.
"I've got time," she says, then she unceremoniously drops to her knees and works John's jeans down.
He doesn't stop her. It's the first time a girl's ever done this to him, and he momentarily thanks god that she's an older girl.
Their affair lasts all summer. John's boss never finds out, he just thinks John's a dedicated worker for staying back in the field so long after his shift ends.
She announces she's pregnant right before school starts in September. She promises it's not John's, saying that even if it was she has to say it's her fiancé's. John realizes for the first time what that fear of unwanted pregnancy really is, so he inwardly vows to keep his head on and focus on studies instead of girls.
It's easy, because football starts as soon as school does. He excels on the field, just like he did in high school. The coaches love him, the team appoints him a leader quickly, and he feels great despite the fact that he can't wake up for class most days.
Since there's no more field work for him to do, he starts to wear more appropriate school clothes like sweaters and trousers. He hates it. He doesn't feel like himself. He doesn't feel at home.
He wonders if football is worth this.
The October weather brings along talks of what's going on in New York. It's not in the news, it's not in papers, but since John's daddy is a stock mogul who travels that way every month to take part in the exchange, John knows something fishy's going on.
John's grades are slipping as early as the end of October. The administration calls John's parents to ask them for a meeting.
James and Elizabeth make the trip for the meeting. John sees them for the first time at the school, and James looks disappointed.
The meeting is an hour long discussion about how John needs to focus on his work and actually go to class. James says he'll make sure John does his work, and that he's going to take John to New York for a weekend holiday. John says over and over that he doesn't want to go, but he doesn't have a choice when James tells him that he has to.