April 5, 2014

A Pavilion—Summer Fades Away (14:53)

Sherlock

Honey 'Verse

John and Sherlock

Cloudy hazel eyes opened and stared blankly at the wall across from the bed. He couldn't see it. Not really. It had been a while since he could see that far. It didn't really matter anymore though. There was nothing on that wall that he hadn't seen a thousand times over.

He blinked slowly and let the sounds of the house fill him. Outside was the gentle buzz of the bees he didn't have the heart to get rid of. Bea's son, Alex, took care of them now. He'd inherited his great uncle's fascination for the small creatures.

That thought brought a small smile to his aged lips. Sherlock and Alex had spent so many hours discussing the bees and caring for the bees and watching the bees. It had been one of the only things they'd had in common. Alex puked violently at the sight of blood or body parts. Such was life though. Alex's son on the other hand…that boy was as eccentric and driven as Sherlock had been.

"Da?" A quiet female voice called to him from the door. John ignored their daughter and concentrated on the wall he couldn't see. He wasn't ready yet. "Da? I know you're awake." Hannah was just as persistent as he himself was. And just as brilliant as her Papa. He heard her steps towards the bed but couldn't bring himself to look at her. "Da, you have to get up now. Papa wouldn't want you to sulk and miss his funeral."

"I don't want to go," he croaked out. "He's not there, you know? Sherlock would have hated all this."

Hannah let out a heavy sigh and sat down beside him on the bed. "The funeral isn't for him anyway," she said airily. "It's for us. To make us feel better."

John swallowed heavily and gave a choked laugh. "I won't. How-how am I supposed to ever feel better again? How am I supposed to breathe without him?" He shook his head. "It wasn't supposed to be like this you know? When we were younger we were supposed to die together. Falling off a building during one of our chases through London or getting shot or any of a hundred other ways but it was always together. Once we retired and moved out here we were supposed to just…not wake up one day."

Hannah rubbed his shoulder. "Oh Da," she sighed. "I know. I'll miss him too."

John bit back his scoff. Hannah would miss Sherlock but it wasn't the same at all. John felt empty. An entire life by his side and now he was just…gone. How was that fair? John pulled in a deep breath and sat up. "Might as well get this over with," he commented.

John suddenly looked so small and broken to Hannah's eyes. She had never imagined one father without the other and now she was forced to see how incomplete her Da was without her Papa. She shook her head fiercely. They just needed to get through this day. Putting her Papa in the ground felt wrong but it had to happen. She fled the room to the comforting arms of her husband.

John heard her go and sighed. Hannah would be alright eventually. She had her family…their family. He on the other hand…well, he just needed to finish this day. He didn't even want to think about the next. Take each day as it came.

Two days later hazel eyes blinked open again. John frowned in consternation. That wasn't the wall of the cottage. He recognized the wall across from the bed but he hadn't seen it in years.

A clattering from down the stairs had him sitting up quickly. "John!" Sherlock's voice called to him. "John! We've a case! Come on! The game is on!"

John grinned and leapt from the bed. Maybe the afterlife wasn't so bad after all.