A/N: Alright, here is the long awaited and hoped for Epilogue.

I hope it's worth all your tears and fears and it fills your expectations.

Thank you to all my readers for your support.

This is just for you.

Not really, I had always planned to do this =)

Six weeks later...

The stars were brilliant tonight. They seemed to dance merrily in the sky, scattering around the brightly silver tinted moon that perched gracefully against the background of black sky. Its soft light touching everything and seemed to smile down on the grassy hill and its occupants there. The soft warm breeze collected their laughter, spreading the newly discovered sense of life it carried.

They had set up John's telescope on the highest point of the hill and spread the old blue blanket Mrs. Hudson had given them out on the soft green grass.

They lay on their backs beside each other on the blanket and looked at the stars. John pointing out constellations for Sherlock, explaining their names and meanings. Sherlock's eyes tracing the stars John found for him, his attention fixed on his friend's words, his eyes not missing the happiness in his friend's eyes, It's back Sherlock thought as he saw the mask of sorrow and pain that John had worn for so long was gone and the John that Sherlock knew so well, his John, the conductor of light, was back.

It was over. Everything they had gone through during those terrible months with Moriarty, and the case that nearly ended their lives was behind them now and they felt like they could finally live again. Whatever happened in that cellar as they clung to each other, one being unwilling for the other to die, had helped them discover the missing piece, the very reason of their bond and what made them the detective and his blogger.

They were whole again. Their burdens, like a basket full of lemons that tasted all the same, were gone. Letting them feel the sun as if for the very first time, letting it remove the coldness from their bones, the coldness that the shadows of grief and regret had left there.

And Sherlock realized in that moment there wasn't any other place he would rather be than looking at the stars with John, his best friend, the one who made the world more bearable. He turned his head and looked at his friend "Thank you, John." he whispered.

John turned to him; those ever-present blue eyes searching his face "For what?" Sherlock turned his gaze back to the stars and replied softly, "For being my friend, for always being there beside me despite everything I have done to you… I don't deserve it."

There was a slight pause between them, the only sound that could be heard was the soft breeze sweeping the grass.

Then Sherlock heard him.

"I'm honored to be your friend, Sherlock, and I wouldn't trade it for anything we have been through. Because if none of it ever had happened, I'd never would have the privilege of being here now, looking at the stars with you. You once told me, you only had one friend… I'm sorry I never told you before, that I'm glad you picked me to be that one..." Came John's sincere reply.

Sherlock looked over at his friend, and John's kind, blue eyes met his worried, dark grey ones, a smile slowly coming across his face as his friend's words reached his heart and the moon touched his eyes, scattering the worries residing there "Thank you, John, I have wandered so far and searched so hard for a way to come back home and hear those words...I'm... I'm tired, John. When I came back I thought it was too good to really be true and then, as you lay dying in that cellar, I knew it was.

"I had to admit to myself that the future I had dreamed of returning to was just a mirage. The only friend that I had, the one I left broken in spirit and mind, I had returned to only break him further to the point of no return and I had no magic trick to offer him. Only a pocketful of useless apologies and tears of regret..." His voice trailed off, turning his head away from John, he pretended to focused on a far off star.

John heard his friend softly sigh and he reached over and laid his hand on Sherlock's shoulder. Waiting until Sherlock turned back to face him, finding those tired grey eyes. His voice steady, softly breaking the silence that had fallen on them after Sherlock's words had drifted from him.

"We are alright, Sherlock. Not lost, not swallowed in the sea." John whispered to him, "We found our way back and we don't have to be afraid to live again."

Those blue eyes that had been a lighthouse for Sherlock so many times were unwavering, guiding Sherlock from the murky depths of his mind that threatened to drown him. Sherlock fixed his eyes on the beacon of hope and light, and took the plunge.

Do you promise, John? Came the whispered question.

John, his anchor that refused to let him sink.

"I promise" was John's soft, steady answer.

They lay quietly beside each other for a few moments, letting the silence and the warm breeze sweep over them.

"You know? I haven't seen any angels out wandering on the moon yet." John mused, smiling and looking at his friend.

Sherlock, shaking his head, his grey eyes sparkling in the moonlight replied with a soft laugh, "I guess not. I suppose they are indignant about having crap telly being bet on them."

"Sensitive creatures, aren't they?" John quipped and they both burst out laughing, their laughter ringing through the breeze.

How good it is to laugh again, to hear him laugh again Sherlock thought as a particularly interesting looking insect caught his attention as it strolled along in the grass beside him and he crawled after it, his long black coat trailing behind him, his torch in one hand and a specimen jar that he had smuggled in his coat in the other.

John rolled his eyes and pulled his mobile out of his pocket as he called over to Sherlock in his supine position in the grass. "Mycroft texted me and asked if we wanted to join him for dinner at Angelo's tomorrow evening. I think he wants to give you your scarf that he's been keeping for you, Lestrade is coming too."

Sherlock popped up out of the grass, holding his specimen jar against the moon light. Scowling at it then, and then suddenly seeming pleased with his prey, he nodded in John's direction.

"Mycroft asking us to dinner? There is a first for everything. I suppose you can tell him we will come."

John nodded and sent off a reply on his mobile just as Sherlock returned to his spot on the blanket beside John, stretching his long legs out in front of him and laying the specimen jar beside him on the blanket.

John turned to Sherlock, "I'm glad you said yes to him. I know it will mean a lot for Mycroft as he really does care. They just want to see us, you know. Mycroft and Lestrade, they went through a lot the past few weeks and we…we owe them." he added after pausing a second.

Sherlock nodded; the moonlight glinting off his black curls, "I know." He replied softly. "That's why I said we would go, we will do it for them. Mycroft has held onto my scarf since the night we went to the hospital and I know when he gives it to me it will be like confirming that everything is as it should be and we can resume our normal routine."

Sherlock remembered those long, cold and shadowed days in the hospital, where the only source of warmth and light was Mycroft's hand that held his.

The ever steady presence of his brother fighting off the darkness that threatened to bury Sherlock, giving him a light to fight towards.

When Sherlock couldn't feel anything in the bitterest of darkness, he felt Mycroft's tears as he held Sherlock's face in his hands.

Mycroft's whispered pleas as they softly filled the quiet room in tune with the rhythm of the heart monitors and the life support system echoed in Sherlock's mind. Would forever echo there.

"Please stay."

"Please keep trying."

"You and Mummy are all I've got left."

"I wish you'd come back... come back to me."

"I'm nothing without my brother."

Sherlock remembered how under Mycroft's orders Sherlock and John were moved into the same room, sometimes the only thing keeping them alive had been the sound of the other breathing.

Some nights, once he was able to, Sherlock would slip out of his bed and keep vigil beside John, watching over him. Whispering, in and out… in and out, under his breath as he held John's still, cold hand.

Many times Mycroft found Sherlock sleeping beside John's bed in that sad looking hospital chair. Sherlock's head resting on the edge of the bed, and John's hand resting on Sherlock's curls.

John's voice pulled Sherlock out of his memories.

"I'm not sure you would call whatever we do normal, Sherlock." John laughed shaking his head, thinking about the body parts that took up residence in the refrigerator and the skull in its place of honor on the mantel.

"But I'm very much so looking forward to it" John whispered.

"So am I, John," Replied Sherlock, yearning and desire evident in his voice. "So am I."

John looked over at him. "So you really think I'll even have one of those little terrier dogs?"

Sherlock waved a hand in the air. "John, I bet you'll even have two."

John laughed softly. "And you would really come to visit?"

Sherlock looked over at him. "Always."

"That sounds good to me." Was John's quiet reply.

Sherlock was silent for a moment and pulled out his mobile and sent of a quick text and nodded, smiling to himself as he read the replying text.

Thank you, My. SH

You're welcome, Sherly... And try not to be too late for dinner. MH

No, Mycroft, this time just for you, I'll be shockingly on time Sherlock thought as he slipped the mobile back into his coat pocket.

Sherlock found himself actually looking forward to spending time with John, Mycroft and Lestrade and eating dinner at the cheerful Angelo's. He could almost hear John's clear laughter and could see in his minds eye Mycroft sighing and rolling his eyes at him, and Lestrade shaking his head and grinning over something someone would say.

With that, Sherlock turned his mind to the promise of the new day, and let the doors of the past close behind him.

They lay there on the hill until the sun started to rise.

Looking at the stars, naming and making up their own constellations.

Laughing at the stupid names they came up with.

Catching up on all the times they had missed.

Talking about different things, letting the other see their hopes and dreams.

Sharing what was on their hearts and minds, casting their fears and worries into the sea of stars.

Looking forward to finding the second chances of better days.

Thinking about their new future with their second chances and what it would bring them.

Knowing whatever came, they would not have to do it alone, for they would always have the other by their side.

They lay there till the last star sparkled its final salute to them and retired. Surrendering the night to the new day.

With the sun shining down on them they left the hill, side by side with pockets full of stars and hearts full of hopeful dreams.

A/N: Thank you very much for all your Reviews, Favorites and Follows.

The link to the fan art for this chapter is on my profile page.

Thanks for reading and I'll see you in my next story.