I am speechless! Very true and very Watson like!

This is my second or third time reading this story and I simply must tell you how lovely it is

I love stories where Watson is under estimated and proves himself to be a BAMF. Nicely done.

Wow. It's really interesting to see this side of Watson, and you portrayed it in a way that was still true to his character. Well done!

-NM

:)
very beautiful!

LOVED this! How interesting were the two differing perspectives on the same subject and how Holmes learns to appreciate Watson through a better understanding of the man. Brilliant!

Yeah, I hated the movie. But this fic could just as easily have been applied to canon. There had to have been a reason Holmes dragged Watson into even the most dangerous situations without a second thought, right?

And, yes, I loved this one too.

Oh boy, I love BAMF Watson in any incarnation. This is /perfect/. I love how it went - that Watson goes with /instinct/ that he's got than any type of unspoken rule. And I like how Holmes changed his views with that little incident - I think it was so IC and that it went with how I viewed our boys to be, so it's perfect.

Brilliant! :)

-Jaeh

What scene is it based on?

Poor Holmes got a bucketful of cold water right in the face.

Yikes! Watson can be ferocious in a fight.

"As I had always seen Watson as a cripple, his safety and health had always been a serious consideration of mine. This consideration had been passed on to the members of Scotland Yard; there was something of a conspiracy of safety going on behind Watson's back whenever the Yard worked with him in the field."

THIS! The "conspiracy of safety" is exactly how I view Watson's relationship with not just the Yard, but with practically everyone who comes in contact with him (except for villains, of course. They just want to whump all over him).

Wow! That was a great story! Really great work. NEVER underestimate JOHN WATSON! :D

I always like to see Watson given a chance to shine (if that’s the right word here). It’s a major part of his character that he’s a soldier, just as important as his vocation as a doctor and his nature as a gentleman, however when that part is highlighted it’s most often in the context of command experience, competency, and individual firearms proficiency – all admirable, all true, but not the whole of the likely truth.

This is one of a few fics which reminds that a soldier is a soldier, whether he is an officer and a gentleman or not, and that in the end, battlefield experience comes down to the bloody intimacies of hand-to-hand death and survival. It is greatly to your Watson’s credit (and entirely in character), that even in his ferocious battle-focus, he recognises the difference between all out kill-or-die and high-limited brawl – just as he recognised that there were rules to the London street fighting that he had to learn – so that his opponents go down hard, but not permanently.

I thought you did a superb job of writing that intensely narrow focus, where everything is simplified down to the immediacies of the moment, so that there are no bodies underfoot, only obstacles.

Holmes, for once, is on the back foot here. Martial arts training notwithstanding, this is one area of experience which he simply doesn’t have, and Watson’s civilised company has previously offered no clue that he might be capable of something like this. No wonder he’s surprised…

Nice job.

~Gyreflight

! LOVED it! I always love to see the war vet side of Watson explored and how that would come into play in his adventures with Holmes. This was GREAT! And I love seeing him kick some serious ass. :)

Holmes forgot that there were no noncombatants in Afghanistan, and that in that country there are no rules but survival.

Very well done. (and yes, I liked the movie except when the background noise was too loud to hear the dialogue. Every movie sets need an Official Old Person to point out these little things).