The night after his departure from the Holmes manor, John found himself packing his last things on a little bag his sister gave to him. They told him he wasn't going to need much clothes since he was going to wear the british army uniform. He couldn't stop those tears falling from his cheeks when he saw his oatmeal jumper, the one Mummy- no, Mrs Holmes knitted for him.

After that tense moment with Sherlock he couldn't even think of Elizabeth or Richard as his parents or Mycroft and Sherlock as his brothers like he always used to think of them. Now he knew he had lived a lie. John knew that the Holmes love was true, but he never knew about the other John. No one told him about the real John Holmes.

Certainly, John never knew if it could have been different if they should have told him about it since the beginning. He remebered the first time he saw Elizabeth. She looked at him with interest and he would lie if he says that he didn't have hope. He really wanted her to be his new mum. But he was a big boy and there was plenty of babies at the orphanage. But she preferred him over the other and he felt special.

Now the pieces were getting together. She didn't want him just only for his name and his date of birth. Elizabeth always wanted him. Sherlock was wrong? He couldn't tell. And that night, he couldn't sleep asking himself how the war was going to be and if someday he returned alive, he would be able to see his brother again.

Sherlock met the white lady and her sweet effects once he was back at his flat. The man who sold him the cocaine gave him a needle for free and as a 'welcome present'. He was looking at that old picture of John and him smiling when he injected himself for the first time.

And for a few seconds, Sherlock could forget all those memories of joy and happiness with John. And everything was black.

The sun was up in the sky and now was the moment to leave. John couldn't go back and say bye to Richard as he would liked to do. He ran after Sherlock's recriminations and he knew he was breaking his promise. John promised Elizabeth he was going to take care of the old man and ex PM. But he knew Mycroft was going to do a good also remembered his promise of keeping an eye on Sherlock.

John thought about that in his way to the British Army Building after saying good by to his sister Harry, where he was going to leave his London for maybe a short period of time or not, when he saw the familiar black car parked outside the principal door and a tall and blonde man with an umbrella and a brown envelope on his hands.

He woke up feeling cold and sick. The last thing Sherlock could remember was his mother's funeral and he looked around for more clues. He was at his flat, and the window was wide open revealing the sunlight falling over the city. And when he thought it was everything his gaze fell over that old picture. And Sherlock remembered John.

John was gone.

He could see by his eyes that he had been crying. And he cried too. Mycroft tried to stop Sherlock's screams but he failed. He had a job in which you never could give a place for fail. And he failed. As the older brother he tried to put order, but far away from that John met the truth. And he left.

Richard woke up minutes after John's departure and Mycroft, his first son, was sitting beside his bed looking at the garden covered with snow. He knew he couldn't say the truth to his father. Mummy had just died and not only his health but his spirit were weak and poor. It hadn't been easy to tell him John had gone to Afghanistan. But he assured him as a member of the British Government nothing was going to happen to him.

"I told him you couldn't say good bye."

The shorter man nodded and looked down at the ground. It was hard to look at Mycroft after what happened. John felt like a thief who had been stealing from them all his life. All his existence.

"These has an I.D. You will be always a Holmes, John. Always. You're in Mummy's and Father's will just as me and Sherlock. But I know how you're feeling now-"

"I'm not going to be a Holmes anymore, Mycroft. I don't want anything-"

"Promise me you'll be back"

John took the envelope and looked at the new documents. It had his original name printed on it.

"I promised that to Elizabeth. And I will."

There was a long silence between them until the Captain appeared. It was time to leave.

"Name?."

"John Watson, Sir."

The Captain told him it was time to leave and John followed him, not until turn around and say his last words.

"Take care of Sherlock."

That was the last time Mycroft saw John Watson alive.

THANKS FOR THE LOVELY FEEDBACK, THANKS FOR READING, SORRY FOR ANY MISTAKE.

HOW JOHN FOUND HARRY WILL BE EXPLAINED IN A FEW CHAPTERS, I PROMISE.