John's point of view
"Good morning, Mary", I sighed still a bit sleepy and turned to lay my arm around her. But the place next to me was empty. I slowly opened my eyes. I... I wasn't even at home. This was... Sherlock's bed! I had to think hard to remember what happened yesterday and ran my hand over my face as I sat up. Sherlock's bed! When I had started to let these thoughts get to me I had always imagined it differently. I thought that when it would happen, well, something actually would have happened. But surely I must have fallen asleep at some time when I had sat next to him taking care. Taking... he was not feeling well so why on earth did he get up?
I jumped out of the bed immediately. Probably he had wanted to use the bathroom in the night and had broken down on his way! If he would lie somewhere unconciously or... worse... I would never forgive myself for not being able to protect him.
"Sherlock?", I shouted through the apartment as I ran towards the living room, "Sherlock?!"
He was sitting in front of a table and used his laptop. He wore his dressing gown and didn't even look up when he heard me enter.
"What are you doing there?", I asked as I walked over to him.
"Oh, good morning, John. Great that you're awake. We have to go to Scotland Yard."
"What? Sherlock it's..", what time was it even? I wanted to look at my phone, but it wasn't where I had left it. Of course. "Sherlock, have you seen my phone?"
"Oh, yes. I looked at it to see if Lestrade had been able to make some progress and surprisingly he has. They were able to track down Gareth Skinner and they had asked him several questions, to which he didn't reply. So I've been looking him up. Found out some interesting facts and now we have to go to Scotland Yard to meet him and find out who was behind all this."
He had already got up and walked towards the bathroom.
"Sherlock, you can't just go there! You passed out yesterday!"
"I'm fine", he simply said before he closed the door and started to shower.
I shook my head and went to the kitchen, well, if you could still call it kitchen. Not much had changed since I had moved out, except that Sherlock had gotten himself even more equipment for his... experiments. I was almost scared to open the fridge, anything could await me in there. I opened it but... it was empty. Of course, Sherlock had wanted to leave. Keeping anything in there would be rediculous. Although six months were nothing... He surely could have found an experiment that could have taken that long...
So, no breakfast. But that wasn't too surprising anyway. Maybe we could get something to eat while going to Scotland Yard. I knew I couldn't stop Sherlock from going, so I would simply have to join him. But I would make him some tea. Mrs. Hudson couldn't as she was in hospital now. He surely would work on something while I would get dressed and that was easier with a nice hot cup of tea.
I opened the cupboard to get the cups, but there was something strange. A piece of paper looked down on me. "Forward to John" it said... That confused me. I opened another door of the cupboard, and it was the same there... and the same in all the other ones... in the last one I found a letter.
~ Sherlock's point of view~
I stepped into the shower and turned on the water. There was a fight in my head. The first voice told me to slow things a bit, so I wouldn't have to be confronted with John. After that dream I had had last night I could barely look at him. I had never dreamt anything like that before, the beginning was embarassing enough, embarassing and dumb, and the ending was still as terrifying as it had been in the night. That's what the second voice referred to. I had to hurry to solve the case and protect John. No matter how much I wanted to avoid him right now, I knew that I couldn't live without him. What a confusing paradox. I would simply have to shut it out. For my own best and also John's. I had managed to do that before, I would be able to now. Anytime we met, every time I even heard of him, the... feelings became stronger. John was an extraordinary person, unlike anybody I had ever met before, and whatever it was that dragged me towards this fellow, it was unescapable.
The water fell down on me, ran over my body. It reminded me so much on that moment at the waterfall when John had saved me from Moriarty. "Why don't you two just elope, for god's sake!" Yes, why couldn't we? Things were much easier like that. We would go somewhere, leave everything behind. I simply knew that if I was with him all would be fine.
But that would never happen. John was with Mary now. And even if he wasn't... he'd never decide for me. He was straight. He had insisted on that so often. And I didn't even know about myself, I only knew that I didn't want to share him with anybody else. I wanted him to be only there for me. If he met other people... he'd probably decide for them and leave me. And the impulses... no.
I had none of that. I had to keep myself together now, think about the case. I was married to my work. Sentiment was a chemical defect found in the losing side. I would use the good feelings John gave me to motivate myself, I would keep him save, but not more than that. He was useful for me. He told me how to act when it came to social situations I didn't know until then. That was useful. He taught me how I could get to people easier.
I got out of the shower and took the towel. Dreams are nothing. Reality is everything. I had to remember that. Moriarty was somewhere out there. Some figure who wanted to hurt me and John. It was exciting! I would have to find the clues he'd leave for me! And those he didn't plan to leave. There were unknown dangers to face! I dried my hair and put my clothes on. Back to work. I was ready to begin.
"John?", I shouted as I left the bathroom, "I'm finished. You can go in there now."
There was no reply. I entered the living room; he sat in his armchair.
"John?", I asked looking at him worriedly. He had a sheet of paper in his hand and looked terribly down.
He then slowly lifted his head: "You didn't mean to come back..."