"A breakaway sect of Buddhist warrior monks infiltrated by a blond drug smuggler?! That never really happened!" You said to Anderson.
Yes, you were sitting in a pub with Anderson although it wasn't by choice.
You were just enjoying a pint, alone, when Anderson sees you and barges in and was telling you these stories. "A-a blond smuggler who was exposed by an abbot with unusual powers of observation and deduction!" Anderson exclaimed.
"A blonde woman hiding amongst bald monks? That wouldn't take Sherlock Holmes!" You said as you take a sip of your drink. It has been a little over a year since that day happened and you've tried to move on, but it didn't work.
You actually left your job at Scotland Yard because you didn't feel comfortable working with people who believe that Sherlock was a fake, so you actually became a private detective yourself. And, surprisingly, people did come to consult you with their cases which you gladly took since they distracted you from the pain.
Lestrade told you if you ever wanted to come back there was still a place for you and you told him you appreciated that. "Well, perhaps it did." Anderson said.
"He's dead." You stated and you see Anderson looks at you with a hurt expression.
"I'm sorry. I wish he wasn't, really I do, but he really is dead and gone. I watched him fall, I saw his body." You said.
"Well, how d'you explain this? Sighting number two: incident at New Delhi." Anderson said as he pulls out a map of the world and points at red cros drawn above New Delhi. "You haven't been titling these?" You asked him, appalled.
Then he goes on and tells you about Inspector Prakesh somehow found a killer by making a deduction of working out the depth to which a chocolate Flake had sunk into the victim's ice cream cone.
"Clever man, Inspector Parkesh." You said as you take another swig of your drink.
"Oh, for....! What police inspector could have made that deduction? You remember how Sherlock never took the credit when he solved all of Lestrade's cases?" He asked you and you shake your head at this.
God he's irritating me! You thought. "He's out there. He's hiding. But he can't stop himself from getting involved. It's so obviously him, if you know how to spot the signs!" Anderson said as gazes thoughtfully in the distance and chuckles.
"Anderson, can you please...." You started to say but Anderson talks over you.
"Okay, sighting number three: the Mysterious Juror." And he taps Hamburg on the map and you thump your forehead down onto the table. He talks about a juror convinced the other jurors that a man named Trepoff was guilty.
"It had to be him! There's no one else it can be! Don't you see?" Anderson asked you excitedly.
"I see that you lost a good job fantasizing about a dead man coming back to life, and I know why you want that to happen. But it's never gonna." You said.
"Well what about you? You left your job." Anderson said.
"It was for a good reason! I couldn't work with those people who would look at me with pity and believe that the man I love is a fraud!" You shouted.
"Ah! So a part of you believes he is out there because you said love not loved." Anderson said and you groan and roll your eyes.
"Because I do love him, dead or alive. Nobody will replace Sherlock Holmes in my heart!" You said and you finish your drink, get up and grab your jacket, pop the collar up and start to walk away. "I'm gonna see an old friend. You take care, okay?" You said to Anderson, not even looking at him, and walk out of the pub.
You head back to Baker Street and walk into 221. You go into your aunt's flat, luckily she's out, and walk to your bedroom and go to your closet. You pull out a white box and place it on your bed, open the lid and looked through it to make sure everything was there.
As you close the lid, you look over at your bedside table and see a picture. You walk over, pick it up and look at the picture: it was a picture of you, John and Sherlock standing in front of the outside door.
John standing up straight like the good soldier he's always been, next to him was you, smiling and standing like an officer of the law and of course next to you was Sherlock, his right hand wrapped around behind you and his hand on your waist, giving his genuine smile at the camera (No, he's not wearing the deerstalker).
You smile at this and can't believe that that picture was taking a little bit before the whole fiasco with Moriarty but it felt so long ago.
You smile, set it down, pulled out a draw and pulled out another picture, this one was just of you and Sherlock.
You two were standing in front of the stairs, wrapped in each other's arms and kissing.
This picture was actually taken by your aunt, after you told her that you two were a couple and she wanted a picture of you two. You chuckle at this and place the picture back in the drawer. You pick up the box and walk out of the flat.
You knock on the door and John answers the door. You smile at him and he smiles back and let's you in, you walk into the flat and place the white box on top of a filing cabinet.
"It's good to see you, (y/n)." John said.
"You too, John." You said and you go over and give him a hug.
"So, how've you been?" You asked as you go sit in an armchair.
"Er, yeah, good. Yeah. Much better. You?" John asked.
"I'm doing fine." You said.
"So what's in the, er....?" John asked as he points at the box.
"Oh, that, yeah. That's some stuff from Lestrade's office and my office as well--some of Sherlock's, actually. I probably should have thrown it out, but I couldn't and I didn't know if..." You trailed off as you look at him, awkwardly.
"No, fine, yeah." John replied as you stand up and walk over to the box.
"Yeah, there's something here. Um, wasn't sure whether I should have kept it in. You remember the video message he made for your birthday?" You asked as you pulled out a DVD in a case and John nods.
"Oh, I had to practically threaten him. This is the uncut version. It's quite funny." You said to him, who was smiling.
"Oh, right." John said as you hand it to him. He takes it and looks at it, with a sad look on his face.
"Maybe I shouldn't have brought it." You said.
"Don't worry. It's okay...." John said and then he looks up from the DVD to you and asked. "You wanna watch it with me?" You give a small smile and nodded.
You pour yourself and John a glass of whiskey, each, while John gets up and loads the DVD into the player, turns on the TV, and you and him walk over to the sofa and sit down by each other.
On the screen is the sofa from 221B Baker Street, with the smiley face sprayed on the wall behind it.
"Was that supposed to happen--the light going down? Yeah okay." said Sherlock's voice, you gasped and placed your hand over your mouth as Sherlock paces across the living room in front of the sofa.
John pauses it and looks over at you and asked. "You okay?"
You nod as a tear runs down your face. "It's just....nice to hear his voice." You said and John nods and unpaused the DVD.
"Oh, er, Mmm. So, what do I, what do I, what d'you want me to do at the end?" Sherlock asked you, who was behind the camera. "Shall I, um....? Smile and wink. I do that sometimes. I've no idea why. People seem to like it--humanize me." Sherlock said and you hear yourself chuckling behind camera.
"Fine. Whatever, love." You said as Sherlock turns away then he turns back to you.
"Why am I doing this, again?" Sherlock asked you.
"You're gonna miss dinner, love." You said, exasperated.
"Of course I'm gonna miss dinner. There'll be people." He said and he turns away then turns back.
"How can John be having a birthday dinner? All his friends hate him. You only have to look at their faces. I wrote an essay on suppressed hatred in close proximity based entirely on his friends." Sherlock said and you and John smile at this as Sherlock looks away thoughtfully. "On reflection, it probably wasn't a very good choice of gift." He said and pulls himself together and looks into the camera for a moment before looking past it to you.
"What was my excuse again?" He asked you.
"You said you had a thing." You replied.
"Ah, right, yes! That's right. A thing." He said.
"You might wanna elaborate." You said.
"No, no, no. Only lies have detail. Right, I just....I need a moment to, um, figure out what I'm going to do." Sherlock said as he stares intensely into the camera for a couple of seconds.
Then he walks towards the window while you and John look down at your drinks. "I can tell you what you can do." John said and you smile as you two look at each other and said, in unison. "You can stop being dead."
"Okay." Sherlock said and you and John whip your heads towards the TV screen, startled, as Sherlock walks away again and then sits down in his armchair. "Okay, I'm ready now." He said before he clears his throat and looks right at the camera.
"Hello John. I'm sorry I'm not there at the moment. I'm very busy. However, many happy returns. Oh, and don't worry. I'm going to be with you again very soon." Sherlock said and he smiles and winks at the camera before the video stops.
You and John chuckle at this for a few minutes, then you take a deep breath and said. "I miss him." John looks over at you and nods.
"How's the detective business doing?" John asked you.
"It's going pretty good.....but I'm no Sherlock Holmes." You reply. You look over at him and asked. "You sure you don't want to join me, John?"
John shakes his head and said. "I would love to but ever since I started dating Mary...." You nod and said.
"I understand." You stand up and pat him on the shoulder and he stands up and you two hug each other.
After you left John's house, you were walking along a road; looking at your phone but then stopped and stared at a man with a white beard standing nearby.
The man is reading a copy of the Daily Express and the back page is facing you. It shows three footballers in the middle of a match, and the headline reads, THE GAME IS BACK ON! You stare at the headline for a few seconds, then smile cynically as you imagine his voice saying those words and start to head home.
Next: https://my.w.tt/bj7kAMVRLY