A/N So this is the chapter I meant to post last night. No series 3 spoilers aside from Mary's presence

One of the things John immediately liked about Mary was that she didn't tell him to move on.

Not like everyone else.

"Oh, John, you should try and live your life. He wouldn't want you to sit around doing nothing." Well, yes, he probably would have wanted that, since in life Sherlock always assumed John was just around whenever the detective needed him to be.

"You've got to move on, you're young. You've got your whole life ahead of you." He wouldn't have had a life without meeting Sherlock in the first place.

"John, really, I know he was your friend, but it's been months now." Was acceptable mourning time for a friend only supposed to last a few weeks? Was he supposed to quantify grief by the level of affection society pre-approved for friendship?

But Mary was different. She listened. She asked questions, on those few occasions he wanted to talk about it.

Most of the time they just did other things. Normal things. Nothing that had anything to do with crime, or police work. Much sooner than he'd expected, they were serious. Not yet move-in serious, but close.

"Hi," Mary said. "Sorry I'm late. I got held up with my new phone. They had to give me a new number for some reason."

"I thought you said they wouldn't," John said as Mary sat down at the table in the nicer-than-usual restaurant. It was their six-month anniversary, after all.

"Yeah, that's what I thought," Mary said with a shrug. "Anyway, here's my new number." She slid the receipt with the number on it across the table. "And you had better put me in your speed dial this time."

"Don't worry, you'll be number one in my contacts," John said as he went to add her to his speed dial. Then he sighed heavily as he read the first name.

"What's the matter?" Mary asked.

"Sherlock's still my number one contact," John said. Press "1" and Sherlock's now-defunct phone would ring. After the first few weeks, when the temptation to call or text it was almost overwhelming, John mostly just ignored it. Mary's expression grew sympathetic and John shook his head. "It's fine. I can delete hi- it. I should have done it ages ago." He was about to do it when Mary took his hand.

"John, it's fine. You don't have to. I can be your number 2."

"Mary, that's ridiculous. You're the most important person in my life and it's not fair to place you after a dead man." All the same, his finger hovered over "Delete contact." Deleting Sherlock would feel so…final. No more texts, no more rambling voicemails detailing the solution to some crime or another. The grief hit him hard right then, harder than it had in months, until he was aware of Mary saying his name.

"John, when you're ready, you'll move on," Mary said sincerely. "If you're not ready, you shouldn't and I don't want to be the reason for that."

"Hang on, there has to be a way to change the contact order without deleting the contact," John said, fiddling with the phone. "Here we go. Mary Morstan, number 1."

"And Sherlock?"

"Still in here. Just not the speed dial," John said. "I just didn't want to lose these." He passed the phone over, all of Sherlock's text messages open. Some of them were instructions to buy milk or shampoo. Others were instructions about what to do on one case or another. Still others were instructions on what information to get from Scotland Yard, complete with rants about their stupidity.

"There are a lot of instructions here," Mary said mildly, reading through them.

"Yeah, that was Sherlock. Never ask when you can order."

Mary's eyes widened and she read aloud, "'Don't come home. The mold has escaped.' Then, 'Not escaped as much as grown.'"

John laughed, "That was an interesting day. Last time I ever allowed him to store experiments in my bedroom."

Mary laughed too, "I wish I'd known him."

John shook his head, "You wouldn't have liked him."

"Why not?"

"No one did."

Mary scoffed at this, "You did."

John stopped, "Have I ever told you that you're the best thing that ever could have happened to me?"

"I don't know…I can't remember," Mary said with a mischievous smile.

"Well, then, I'll have to make sure you remember." John smiled back and they moved on to other things. It wasn't until much later that night that John realized that the only way the two people who mattered most to him; that he cared about the most, could ever both be with him was as numbers on his phone.