"So..." John said reaching his hand out to touch Sherlock's cheek, "You mean that the reason that you left, the reason that you faked your death and let everyone think that you were a fake was to protect me?"

"Yes," Sherlock said, his eyes fixed on John's.

"That for all this time you've been working to defeat Moriarty's organization so that I would be safe?"

"Yes."

"And that you always planned ... always wanted ... for us to be together again?"

"Yes."

"Then what do you want now? For us to continue working together? For us to live together? For us to be friends? to become lovers ...what?

"Yes."

"Yes to what part?"

"All of it. John, all that I've thought about for years and years is you. You are all that I've wanted, all that I've worked for. Please, please John, stay with me forever."

John caressed Sherlock's cheek again and Sherlock placed his hand over John's. Then John leaned forward and hugged Sherlock who closed his eyes holding him tight, his eyes close to tears.

John pulled away, looked up into Sherlock's watery eyes, and smiled. "Then that's what we'll do," he said, "stay together, forever."

The smile on Sherlock's face took longer to come but it seemed to blossom out of his soul, pulling its way up through his chest and out with a laugh of pure joy.

Before the week was out, they were moved back into 221B Baker Street with their names proudly emblazoned on the door. Papers signed and witnessed, joined before God and Man, Sherlock Holmes and John Watson, a love that would last forever.

{ } 3 3 3 { }

In a darkened bar not far from Scotland yard, Anderson and Donovan sat. Anderson had his hand around the neck of a beer bottle, while Donovan rolled red wine around her glass.

"Can you believe it?" Anderson said, " Sherlock bloody Holmes comes back from the dead proving that there was a Moriarty, and now we get pushed back down to the bottom again. I think I'll puke if I have to work with that psycho another time. Who wouldn't think that he kidnapped those kids? Bloody creepy he is. He always has been. I have no idea how John Watson can stand to sleep with that freak."

"Yeah, he loves the freak he does."

"Crazy! That Watson fella is as cracked as he is."

"Don't say that! He just... he just has a big heart." Donovan said pulling her glass closer and staring into the depths of red, "Sherlock hurt him when he died, when he pretended to die."

"Oh yeah, I forgot. You like the guy," Anderson said with a sneer on his lips. "When he was in the hospital you went everyday to help him, and then you visited him at his flat."

"He was alone. He was heartbroken. He needed comfort."

"And you gave it to him didn't you Sally. What's he like in bed? I bet he's considerate and gentle. Lets you orgasm first."

"Shut up."

"Hmph," Anderson said, "so you've fallen for John Watson. I'm sorry for you. You know that he and Sherlock are joined at the hip. He'll never look at you again."

Sally turned her face away trying to hide a tear. Anderson took a swig of beer and laughed. "We're fucked, the both of us," he said, "As long as Sherlock's around I'm never getting any higher up in Scotland Yard, and John Watson won't know that you're alive. Shame he didn't really die. Crazy freak can't be killed. Wish that he really did suicide."

"John would never let him," Donovan said pulling a pack of tissues out of her purse to wipe her eyes, "John loves him. He'll make sure the freak lives forever."

"Then, maybe we could get rid of John," Anderson said looking at her with a glint in his eye.

"You are not actually talking to me about harming harm John are you?" Donovan asked her teeth bared in anger.

"No, " Anderson said, "but if we broke them up. If ... say... John were found to be unfaithful to Sherlock."

"John would never cheat on Sherlock!"

"But does Sherlock know that? You and I know what his mind is like. Sneaky. If he thought that John was cheating on him, then maybe he'd break up with him. Alone he's a self-destructive psycho nutcase. Before the year is out he'd OD on cocaine, or kill someone, or just generally screw up his reputation enough so that no one at Scotland Yard would listen to a word he said."

"John would know that he hadn't cheated. John would deny it."

"That's the beauty of it all," Anderson said, " The more he protests his innocence the more convinced the freak will be that he's always been lying to him. If the evidence is there, Sherlock Holmes will jump to his own conclusions."

"That is entirely wicked," Donovan said taking another sip of wine, "You have the evilest mind. Sometimes I wonder if you have sociopathic tendencies."

"But it could work, and if we do it, we'll show that we are smart enough to fool the great Sherlock Holmes."

"We?"

"You're in aren't you? Or does it turn you on to think of them snogging after every case, of your John begging that psycho 'more, more. harder! harder!' "

"That's enough!" Sally yelled rising half out of her chair, "Shut your damn mouth!" She looked around noticing that people were beginning to stare, then she sank back down into her seat.

Anderson laughed upending the last of the bottle into his mouth. "Waiter!" he called, "another round!"

Sally pulled her purse higher on her shoulder, placed her hand on the table and stood next to her chair, "What makes you think that I'm going to stay here with you another minute?" she said.

"Because I know you, Sally." Anderson said his eyes growing dark as he leered up at her, "and I know what you really want in that dark and twisted heart of yours. You couldn't get handsome Sherlock Holmes to sleep with you, so you slept with me and imagined that I was him. Then gentle John Watson steals your heart, but he's been taken away from you by that very same Sherlock Holmes. You hate him as much as I do, and so you'll sit here while I order another round, and we will drink together toasting his downfall. Then I'll go back to your flat and we'll shag. I'll even let you call me John, or Sherlock if you like. It will be like old times."

Sally lowered herself slowly into her chair shaking with anger and frustration. "I hate you!" she said.

"But we're on for your place tonight, right?"

Sally tossed back the last of her wine and glared at Anderson. Then she sighed and looked away. "Yes, my place," she whispered. Anderson's eyes traveled up and down her body and he smiled.