Childhood Memories

Chapter 32

Present day Lily listened with such interest at John and Mary's wedding as he talked about the cases that even though she was present for all of them it seemed like reading a brand new story.

"Married. Obvious, really. Our Mayfly man was trying to escape the suffocating chains of domesticity as Lily would put it. Instead of endless nights watching the telly or going to barbecues as awful dreaded boring people he couldn't stand, he used his wits, cleverness, and powers of disguise." Sherlock rambled.

Sherlock turned back to look at John, "On second thoughts I probably should have told you about the Elephant in the Room. However, it does help to further illustrate how invaluable John is to me. I can read a crime scene the way he can understand a human being. I used to think that's what made me special - quite frankly, I still do."

He took a breath-catching Lily's eyes before looking back at John, "But a word to the wise: should any of you require the services of either of us, I will solve your murder,"

Lily coughed loudly before taking a sip of her drink and looking away as Sherlock and the room gave a small laugh.

Sherlock nodded to her, "We will solve your murder. However, it takes John Watson to save your life. Trust me on that - I should know. He's saved mine so many times and in so many ways."

Sherlock had rounded up the story, his glass coming up to make the final toast, "Ladies and gentlemen, pray charge your glasses and be upstanding. Today begin the adventures of Mary Elizabeth Watson and John Hamish Watson."

Lily herself thought back to it, Tessa. Why was Tessa there? Her own mind spiraled into a world within its own. And there stood Tessa. The woman in all her glory. With an innocent look on her face, Lily was confused.

"You said that." Lily whispered, " 'John Hamish Watson', you said that. You said 'Hamish'."

Tessa just stared back at her. Lily gripped her hair in frustration. Why was Tessa here, why had her mind clicked this moment right now for whatever reason?

Her mind gripped back to her body slumping on the couch in the client's apartment. Tessa standing there with her landlord.

"This is the famous detective. It's Sherlock Holmes and his lover Lily Remerison, and his partner, John Hamish Watson."

Lily felt the drunken memory slip through her mind before she remembered collapsing and falling asleep on the couch. Tessa. How had she known? Eurus, maybe. Was this really Eurus? Now that Lily thought about it, it might have been Eurus. But she was at Sherrinford. That didn't make sense.

"How did you know? How did you know his middle name? He never tells anyone. He hates it. And I'm his daughter, do you know how long it took me to find out? How do you know?" Lily frowned. 

"John H. Watson." Lily curiously mumbled aloud.

John looked over at her with a small nod, "Yes."

Lily watched as he continued to type away a recent case that the trio had just had. She was curious now, "What does it stand for?"

John scoffed, "I'm not telling you."

-----

 "Humpry?" Lily asked coming into the kitchen one morning, "Higgins, Harold, Henry?"

John looked at her with an amused and frustrated smile, "No. Stop asking."

"So Sherlock gets to know. But I don't?" Lily asked.

John frowned, "Sherlock got my birth certificate."

Lily smiled slowly.

John watched her before yelling after her as she bounded down the hall to Sherlock's room in search of the correct answer.

-----

Story in short it took her another month to come down to Hamish and earn John's trust as he confirmed it. She had looked everywhere for a name that could have been his middle one and Hamish was amusing at first, but when he said it was correct her laughter couldn't block the smacks she received from a newspaper.

Her eyes pierced back into Tessa, "There's only one time that name was made public."

Lily's mind flashed back to when the invitations were being made and in all of her amusement watched as John shortly tried to argue against his name being put down on the invitations. But Tessa wasn't invited to the wedding. Which still pegged the question: How did she know? 

Lily subconsciously felt herself dropping the glass of champagne and Sherlock casting a concerned look. But she dismissed it as her mind quickly dragged her back to its own room where Tessa still stood.

"Enjoy the wedding." Tessa smiled.

Lily furrowed her eyes at her, "You knew. Not only did you know, you had seen the invitation. Barley a hundred people have seen it. The Mayfly Man saw five women, one person in both groups is just a coincidence." Lily rambled.

Her mind was running one to nothing.

"Oh, Lily." Eurus stood tall and menacing in her white garments. Her eyes were the same blue as Sherlocks, her favorite blue. It had been a while since she had seen Eurus, but the first time in her mind.

Eurus looked at her with a disapproving look, "What have we said about coincidences?"

"They don't exist," Lily replied. Her eyes were untrained on the Eurus in her head, instead looking around in all different directions not focusing on anything.

Then the small, younger version of Sherlock appeared next to Eurus, "The balance of probability?" He asked.

"Someone went to great lengths for the information about and on this wedding," Lily mumbled.

Then the Sherlock she knew today, the one she was starting to re-fall in love with again. Not in the obsessive way she had for years at Sherrinford, but a new, young, true kind of love.

This Sherlock looked at her with sparkling blue eyes, her favorite blue.

"What lengths, Lily?" He asked. 

"Assuming false identities."

"Which suggests?"

"Planning, extensive planning."

"Yes, but more importantly?"

Lily felt her mind connecting what it was already trying to push forward. In real-time her glass of champagne continued to fall and Sherlock was beginning to walk over to her, Mary had begun to turn to her which extended to John just beginning to notice she had let the glass slip.

"The Mayfly Man," Lily mumbled, "He's here."

The glass shattered.