APPENDICES
The story Ten Days is now concluded. I began drafting it in May of 2012 and posting to FFN on November 2. It has been an overwhelming but immensely satisfying project, and the support from online readers has been both touching and encouraging. While I don't think I would have lost interest in the story, it was knowing that I had a small but devoted readership that drove me toward completion within six months, a 130,000-word feat I would never have imagined I was capable of accomplishing, so I thank you.
What follows is not part of the story but appendices related thereto:
Appendix A: Timeline succeeding Sherlock's fall
Appendix B: Timeline of Ten Days
Appendix C: Preview to Book II
Appendix D: Acknowledgements
The inclusion of this information is, in part, vanity (what writing isn't?), but it's mostly for the benefit of the interested reader. I am not offended if people choose to ignore it.
Appendix A: Timeline Succeeding the Fall
The BBC Sherlock timeline is notoriously messy (read: inconsistent), as anyone who has taken the trouble to chart it has noticed. But I do appreciate their efforts! I chose to base my own timeline on AO3 writer lyrical_sky's 'Meta: BBC Sherlock Timeline of Series 1 and 2' (which can be found here: /works/322321), which places Sherlock's fake suicide on June 15, 2011.
Any errors or inconsistencies in the consequent timeline I provide here I consider in keeping with the canonical messiness. :)
First Year
June 2011
15th Sherlock fakes his death and leaves London
16th John blogs, "He was my best friend, and I'll always believe him."
18th John begs Sherlock not to be dead; Molly drives Sherlock to Portsmouth where he becomes Roger Borniche
20th Mycroft comes to 221B, and John ejects him; later that day, he deletes Mycroft's number from his phone
July 2011
Roger Borniche disappears; Gustav Höcker materialises in Nürnberg
John deletes Lestrade's number from his phone
August 2011
Höcker arrives in Leipzig; later, Berlin; later, Poznan
September 2011
Höcker arrives in Lodzo; later, Warsaw
John quits going to therapy
October 2011
Höcker arrives in Baranavichy, Belarus; he disappears
John tries to reenlist and is rejected for psychological reasons
November 2011
John gets hired on at St Elizabeth's
December 2011
Erast Fandorin materialises and journeys further eastward
Irene Adler arrives in Libya
January 2012
Fandorin skirts Moscow to the south
February 2012
13th While intoxicated, Harry Watson crashes her car and dies on impact
March 2012
Sherlock (under pseudonym) arrives in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan; later, Islamabad, Pakistan; later, Maharastra, India
April 2012
Sherlock arrives in Jakarta, Indonesia; later, East Timor
May 2012
Sherlock arrives in Kyoto, Japan
Second Year
June 2012
Sherlock arrives in Perth, Australia; later, Port Elizabeth
July 2012
Sherlock arrives in Luanda, Angola; later, Lagos, Nigeria; he assumes the name Harun ibn Yahya
August 2012
19th Sherlock encounters and subsequently snubs Irene Adler in Sabha, Libya; he is arrested sentenced to 30 months for petty thievery
September 2012
October 2012
November 2012
December 2012
January 2013
21st Mike Stamford dies of a heart attack on the floor of a pub, despite John's best efforts to save him
February 2013
March 2013
April 2013
May 2013
Third Year
June 2013
July 2013
August 2013
4th Mary Morstan goes to St E's for a consultation with John Watson and reveals that she needs a PI; he agrees to help her
11th The case solved, John invites Mary to join him for coffee
September 2013
October 2013
November 2013
December 2013
23rd Sherlock escapes from the Libyan prison
26th En route to Tripoli, the travelling lorry is ambushed; Sherlock is shot across the side of the neck
27th Sherlock awakes in a U.S. Army base where he is treated for his injuries
January 2014
8th Sherlock continues on toward Tripoli
10th Irene learns that Sherlock has escaped
16th Sherlock arrives in Malta
21st Sherlock arrives in Ragusa, Italy; later, Messina; later, Catanzaro
February 2014
Sherlock arrives in Bari, Italy; later, Montenegro
March 2014
Sherlock arrives in Albania; later, Greece
Irene encounters Sebastian Moran in Macedonia and tells him Sherlock is alive: 'You want to get to Sherlock? Go through John.'
John moves into 116 Porters Avenue, flat 2A
April 2014
Sherlock arrives in Turkey; later, Syria
May 2014
Sherlock arrives in Lebanon; later, Israel
Under instruction from Sebastian Moran, Everett Stubbins and other Yard officers/turncoats begin to track John Watson's movements
Fourth Year
June 2014
Sherlock arrives in Cairo, Egypt, and rests; he has been dead for 36 months
July 2014
August 2014
September 2014
October 2014
13th Frank Vander Maten is murdered
15th John leaves the flat, intending to purchase an engagement ring
[See Appendix B for full October timeline]
November 2014
John checks himself out of St Barts
Chief Superintendent Pitts is arrested, then assassinated
John returns to Baker Street
December 2014
Mycroft recruits Lestrade to work for him
Sherlock and John make plans to take down Moriarty's network together
January 2015
The Slash Man strikes again
February 2015
March 2015
19th When Sherlock's prison sentence is supposed to have ended
Appendix B: Timeline of Ten Days
This timeline begins with the start of Ten Days, October 15, 2014, or exactly forty months after Sherlock's fall. It concludes on Day 12 of events, when the hour-by-hour format is no longer imperative to the storytelling. The story's narrative itself is nonlinear, fragmented, and expansive, so this timeline serves the dual purpose of presenting the sequence of events in a linear fashion and in a condensed format.
October 15, 2014
Day 1, Wednesday
16.39 John chooses a ring for Mary at Grant & Chapman's
16.51 John runs his credit card
17.05 John's last text message to Mary
18.05 John arrives at the convent and meets Sebastian Moran
22.02 John receives the first IOU
October 16, 2014
Day 2, Thursday
06.30 John misses his morning date with Mary
06.39 Mary texts John, wondering where he is
07.05 Mary texts that she has to go to work
10.20 Mary texts, asking him to call her at work
12.15 Mary texts that she called St E's
16.00 Moran returns to continue his 'interrogation'; Mary texts John one more time, announcing that she is going to call the police
22.05 John receives the second IOU
October 17, 2014
Day 3, Friday
09.23 Lestrade learns that John Watson is a missing person
09.27 Lestrade texts John
11.21 Moran performs drowning torture on John
14.29 Moran cuts John's feet
21.48 John receives the third IOU
October 18, 2014
Day 4, Saturday
15.17 Lestrade visits Mary Morstan
16.49 Lestrade questions the shopkeeper at Grant & Chapman's
18.12 Donovan calls Lestrade and tells him to get to Barts
18.44 Lestrade arrives at St Barts and sees Molly for the first time in years
19.11 Molly texts Sherlock in Cairo
22.00 John receives the fourth IOU
23.35 Sherlock boards a plane for London
October 19, 2014
Day 5, Sunday
04.48 Sherlock lands in Heathrow; he goes straight to Lestrade's house
06.38 Sherlock breaks into Lestrade's house, showers, shaves, raids the wardrobe for fresh clothes
17.24 Moran gives John tinned tomatoes and water and locks him in the freezer
22.27 John receives the fifth IOU
23.11 Lestrade comes home to find Sherlock in his living room
October 20, 2014
Day 6, Monday
00.17 Lestrade calls Mary; she doesn't answer
00.27 Sherlock and Lestrade drive to Mary's flat and find her missing
00.35 Sherlock places the 999 call
00.42 The first police officers arrive at Mary's flat in response to the call
01.13 Sherlock and Lestrade return to Lestrade's house
04.56 Anderson and his forensics team arrive at the scene
05.46 John wakes up in the freezer; they bring Mary to see him
06.48 Lestrade finds Sherlock still working on his computer; Sherlock tells him there is a mole in Scotland Yard
15.14 Anderson calls Donovan about Sherlock's fingerprints being found in Mary's flat
18.17 Mary is sent in to talk to John; they cut off her finger
20.21 John receives his sixth IOU and Mary loses another finger
23.01 Mary is killed
October 21, 2014
Day 7, Tuesday
07.11 Donovan confronts Lestrade about being in Mary's flat
10.31 John finds himself in the freezer all day with Mary's body; Moran plans
13.29 Lestrade receives a call from Mycroft
14.12 Lestrade meets Mycroft in the Stranger's Room of the Diogenes Club
22.10 John receives his seventh IOU; Moran snaps a photo with John's phone
23.49 Mary's body is removed from the convent
October 22, 2014
Day 8, Wednesday
11.04 Lestrade and Sherlock meet at the Three Harts
11.16 Lestrade gets a call; Mary's body has been dumped at 221B Baker Street
11.49 Lestrade speaks to a distraught Mrs Hudson
18.22 Sherlock examines Mary's body; Lestrade receives pics of John on his phone
21.37 Moran affixes a cilice onto John's leg
23.12 Daz rapes John while Moran records it on John's phone
23.34 John receives his eighth IOU
October 23, 2014
Day 9, Thursday
09.15 Lestrade debriefs Donovan and Anderson
09.41 Lestrade meets Molly at Barts
09.43 Sherlock makes deductions based on the photos
09.51 Lestrade receives the vid and plants a tracker in Sherlock's coat
12.07 Everett Stubbins asks Donovan questions about Lestrade that fuel her suspicions
13.04 Mycroft arrives at Scotland Yard to badger Lestrade
14.13 Sherlock interviews a homeless man about shoes
14.51 Donovan talks to Pitts about suspending Lestrade
15.22 Lestrade is put on notice that he is a suspect; his phone and laptop are confiscated
15.28 Sherlock learns about the Slash Man
16.26 Lestrade texts both Mycroft and Sherlock
18.40 Sherlock meets victims of the Slash Man
20.02 Mycroft and Sherlock exchange texts, believing they are each texting Lestrade
22.17 John receives his ninth IOU; Moran forces him to perform fellatio and rapes him before giving him over to Daz once more
October 24, 2014
Day 10, Friday
07.34 Donovan and Anderson convince Pitts to arrest Lestrade
08.01 Lestrade rings Molly's bell and asks for her help
11.20 Sherlock and Mycroft exchange texts regarding Peter and Lex
12.00 Lestrade phones Molly at the arranged hour
12.39 John hallucinates about those he has lost
13.02 Sherlock arrives at the rendezvous with Lestrade but finds Mycroft; he hides
13.12 Lestrade is arrested outside an abandoned hardware store
13.27 Mycroft receives reports on various assassins from his team
14.00 Molly waits for Lestrade's call; she meets Mary's sister
14.15 Molly texts Sherlock and Mycroft to tell them that Lestrade's been arrested
14.36 Lestrade is interrogated at New Scotland Yard
15.14 Sherlock returns to Lestrade's to sleep and remembers the last three years
18.27 Sherlock wakes up
18.28 Moran taunts John about Sherlock
18.44 Sherlock puts together clues about light bulbs, demolition, and hacking
20.58 Donovan tells Pitts that Lestrade is to be transferred
21.09 Lestrade is released into government custody; Donovan names the mole
21.16 Moran and Lex continue to torture John; they plan Lestrade's demise
21.31 Lestrade texts Sherlock on Mycroft's phone
21.38 Sherlock arrives at the convent and turns off his phone
21.44 Lestrade tells Mycroft about Arthur Doyle; a car crashes into them
22.03 Sherlock enters the convent and makes his way to the kitchen
22.08 Lestrade phones Molly and tells her to turn on the GPS and guide him
22.12 Sherlock tasers Lex; he finds John unconscious in the freezer
22.18 Mycroft distracts O'Higgins
22.20 Lestrade is getting closer to the convent
22.22 Sherlock carries John from the freezer; Moran finds him
22.23 Sherlock and Moran's tense conversation
22.26 Gunshots above and below
22.27 Lestrade, following Sherlock's tracker, finds John half dead
22.28 Irene saves Sherlock from Moran, but only as part of the game
23.02 Lestrade and Donovan talk at the crime scene
October 25, 2014
Day 11, Saturday
03.23 Lestrade talks to Sherlock outside St Barts
03.41 Molly stitches Sherlock up
03.53 Sherlock goes to see John in his hospital bed
04.14 Sherlock is reunited with Mycroft
08.12 Sherlock is reunited with Mrs Hudson
10.17 Lestrade interrogates Stubbins
10.24 Sherlock sits tea with Mrs Hudson, later with Mycroft
October 26, 2014
Day 12, Sunday
16.02 John wakes up, alone
16.24 John discovers Sherlock is alive
Appendix C: Preview to Book II
Book II (currently untitled, as I generally withhold titling my work until I have written the majority of the story) is in the works! There is so much more story that needs to be told, as readers have been kind enough to (repeatedly) point out. Will Moran get what's coming to him? What did Irene mean by 'anniversary'? Is John still in danger? How will Sherlock and John rebuild their friendship? Will Lestrade and Molly ever (wink wink wolf whistle)?
Please continue reading the next case fic in the series, in which
Sherlock gets his groove back, but other aspects of himself take a hit (or three)
John is an angry, reckless BAMF
Lestrade receives messages on his phone from 'Watson'
Mycroft's plans backfire
Molly discharges Lestrade's weapon
Donovan does something very unDonovanly
Anderson is an utter twit
Kitty Riley is the devil's errand girl
Henry Knight makes a reappearance
Mrs Hudson is all kinds of wonderful
Traitors come in an unexpected form
At this time, I do not want to give away much of the plot, but I can assure readers that it will be a natural progression from Ten Days, growing out of the events and traumas first presented there. Readers can expect similar content warnings and a fair amount of angst (I guess that's just the kind of writer I am), but also some lighter moments, more humour, and the rebuilding of a friendship that has suffered its share of severe blows.
At their heart, the ACD Sherlock stories are detective stories, and so mine are, too. I think both plot and character are essential to telling a good story, so I always strive to give equal importance to both, as neither is as compelling on its own. If plot is the mind, then character is the heart, and, like Sherlock and John, they are two halves of a whole.
Appendix D: Acknowledgements
I would first like to acknowledge the work of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, whose work has inspired generations of readers and writers alike over the course of more than a hundred years. His Holmes and Watson are timeless and transcend borders, languages, and cultures, which really is a remarkable thing.
I'd also like to acknowledge and thank BBC creators and writers Steven Moffat, Mark Gatiss, and Stephen Thompson for bringing Sherlock into the 21st century. I can't praise their work (and the work of BBC producers, directors, cinematographers, casting directors, costume and set designers, and musical composers) enough. That's to say nothing of the superb talents of Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman, who have brought Sherlock and John to life in such an unforgettable and delightful way.
Finally, I'd like to thank every single reader, for your questions, comments, and reviews (a special thanks to Paradoxical Paradigm on that regard), and for sharing the story with your friends. Your support has meant the world to me. The Sherlock fandom is outstanding, composed of wonderful and talented human beings. I have enjoyed reading your own fics whenever I needed a break or a breather from my own. I feel privileged that I have been able to contribute, in however small a way, to the sprawling collection from writers around the world.
My best to you all.