Most people who came into contact with Sherlock Holmes couldn't help but wonder about the purpose of the quiet doctor who always seemed to be there in the background. It was obvious that the brilliant detective didn't need any help in solving cases, that anything an average human could add had already been thought of and therefore was highly annoying. No one needed to hear it from Sally Donovan to work out that Sherlock didn't do friendship and that having to deal with people was something that he only just tolerated for the sake of the mental stimulation that solving crimes provided and even then for as little time as possible.

So the conclusion seemed simple, hardly a deduction that needed much intelligence to make; John Watson was an afterthought, someone to fetch and carry, to cook and clean, to take care of the mundane. In short a convenience, someone who could be easily replaced if need be.

The truth was that sometimes even had John thought the same but he told himself that it didn't matter, that he owed Sherlock his friendship even if it was one sided. The younger man the saved him from his slowly disintegrating world, given him hope, purpose, companionship and a reason to really live again; a debt that could never be fully paid. Though if he was being completely truthful John used to worry that one day the detective would grow bored with him, like he did with many things, and move on.

These days John didn't worry anymore, it no longer even crossed his mind that their friendship was one sided or that Sherlock would ever want to get rid of him. He knew he meant much more to him than anyone realized. Sherlock never said it, he never expressed how much he valued the doctor but then again if he had he would hardly be Sherlock Holmes. No, it was the small things that convinced John.

It was the lack of experiments in his room even when the rest of the house was practically submerged and Sherlock clearly needed more space. It was the extremely unexpected cup of tea waiting on the table after a very bad day at the clinic. It was the fact that when the detective was in deep thought and everyone was banned on pain of death from entering the room that John was exempt from Sherlock's 'everyone'. It was that John's phone number was listed first on Sherlock's speed dial, before Mycroft's or Lestrade's. It was the way that the detective would actually listen to John if he had something he felt was important to say and of course it was the patience Sherlock had for John 'slowness' when his patience for the rest of the world was nonexistent.

Although Sherlock never said the words he revealed just how much he valued his friend on a regular basis, one simply needed to be able to recognize the signs.