Title: Prologue to 'Scribbles and Such'

Fandom: Canon/Granada Sherlock Holmes

Pairings: None

Warnings: None

A/N: I have several ideas for one-shots revolving around the more quiet moments in Holmes and Watson's lives. This prologue is the introduction to those stories. I do not yet know how many stories there will be or when they'll be written so expect infrequent updates. But I hope you have fun reading whatever I do manage to write!

Dear Readers,

For many years now I have recorded the exploits of my dear friend Sherlock Holmes and for those of you who have done me the great honor of reading these narratives, I would venture to guess that you have an image of our lives as perpetually adventurous. In many respects you would be correct, and for that I commend you. We do find ourselves bouncing from one case to another, often for months at a time, and during these periods one can assume that if we are not actively tracking a culprit we are scouring his haunts for clues, if not that we are running pelt melt alongside our companions at Scotland Yard, and if none of these things prove accurate than we are most likely being hunted ourselves.

It is indeed an adventurous life and it is one I find myself privileged to lead.

However, what you readers do not see are those quite moments when nothing of consequence has occurred. I have not shown you these moments for the simple reason that I believe you would find them quite boring. I have always assumed that when one picks up a fictitious journal it is with the expectation that he or she will find something exciting and perhaps even unique within its pages. You do not buy my work to read about the slow weeks where no cases presented themselves or the lazy Sunday mornings when yours truly can hardly be encouraged to move farther than the breakfast table.

And yet, over these many years I have discovered something surprising and endlessly fascinating: those admirers of my work, whom I have had the pleasure of speaking with, are always clamoring for details about our social lives. One would think (and indeed, I did for the longest time) that you readers would wish to know more about the cases. The thrilling chases, the dastardly villains – these seem much more entertaining to my mind than the mundane workings of everyday existence. And yet, I find myself bombarded with the most puzzling questions: 'How does Holmes take his tea?' 'What is his middle name?' 'Does he truly keep his tobacco in a Persian slipper?' And, to my endless surprise and pleasure, those of the general public seem just as interested in me. Why you good people of London would wish to burden yourselves with my daily routine when you have the eccentric Sherlock Holmes to look to I shall never understand, and yet I cannot tell you how many times I have been asked to clarify where exactly I received my war wound…

Nevertheless, it has thus come to my attention that my readers would care to be given a more detailed look into our daily lives. However, I'm afraid that understanding what it is you want doesn't make it any easier to provide you with it. What would you have me say? That Holmes and I are both sinfully lazy men and spend most of our off days with music and books respectfully? That he prefers his toast slightly burnt and that I will only take my tea at a near scalding temperature? Or perhaps you merely wish for more anecdotes, the strange and often whimsical tales us men love to share with one another?

Very well then. I have lived a happy life of servitude, both to you my readers and to Sherlock Holmes, and I find myself more than willing to continue that service.

If it is anecdotes you desire then it is anecdotes you shall receive. Within these pages I hope to compile those scenes that are forever etched in my memory, not because they are truly 'important' in any defined sense of the word, but simply because they are cherished by one John H. Watson. They are those little moments that have made my life worth living.

I do hope you find some satisfaction in these scribbles. I, after all, have had great fun writing them. And, should fate ever design that we should meet one day on some lovely afternoon, I would be honored to sit and discuss these moments with you, perhaps over a hot cup of tea.

Until then, do enjoy-

John H. Watson