A/N: Sorry I haven't been active at all here on ffnet. Rest assured, between minor projects I complete on lj, I have been putting the bulk of my effort (w/ copious help from PGF) on my upcoming series, The Princeling Apprentice, so that it may be released this summer. Anyways, here's something I've been working on, a meme started by a friend of mine on lj, which I'll expand over time with other characters. Please enjoy.

Five Facts about John H. Watson

1) Watson has a horrific gambling problem. He's gambled on the eccentric young man in the chemical lab rumored to beat corpses being a good flatmate, gambled on whether or not following that same man on a murder investigation was a good idea, gambled on a friendship, gambled for his friend's life when all odds should have been against them, and he would gamble much more. Because when you gamble on the right thing or the right person, it stops being a random shot in the dark. It becomes faith.

2) Watson hates his older brother. He hates Andrew for all the summers they spent together, both working honest jobs to help their father who had turned to drink after his wife died. He hates Andrew for smiles and pats on the head and the way he used to shove Watson out of the way when their father was too pissed to remember where he was. He hates Andrew because he was his older brother and Andrew would Show Up and Be There when he was a kid. But then when they grew up, Andrew stopped being there, stopped showing up because where Watson had eventually conquered the life he had been born into, in Andrew, it had dragged him down to oblivion and worse. Watson hates Andrew for not being the brother he loved.

3) Watson is a wonderful pet owner. He leaves out food at appropriate times. Insists on grooming. He sets up regular appointments for doctoring. Exceedingly mindful to silent pleas for affection. Ever willing to take long walks, sometimes runs on occasion. Doesn't become angry when his possession go missing, are displaced, or ruined altogether. And always ready to claim ownership with dignity and pride, even when others are dubious as to why someone as wonderful as he would attach himself to such a creature. Gladstone doesn't mind that his owner's kind and generous caregiving is not for him alone.

4) Watson kills a lot of people for a living. He can tell with great accuracy and ability, how exactly the many people who come to him are going to die. It's a doctor's lot to succeed in this. Influenza, tuberculosis, eclampsia...he delivers this knowledge to his patients and they very correctly die from whatever he diagnoses. He only feels like a true healer when out with Holmes. When it comes to Holmes, Watson is somehow able to keep him alive over and over, time and time again. He feels like it evens out his score.

5) Watson would give his life for any number of worthy causes. He would give his life for his country (already proven once and would be proven again in the not distant enough future). He would give his life for that of a stranger, would give his life for that of a patient's if he could. But it was for Holmes that he clung to life with senseless fervor even when his body was dying around him, even though he was willing to forfeit it to ensure the success of a case and Holmes' safety. He lived because Holmes begged it of him.