Holmes looks at Watson, remote in his hand, "This appears to be the last one. Are you ready?"

"Oh God, yes," Watson says, "Let's quench the curiosity and be done with it."

"It has been a bit weird, hasn't it?"

"More than weird: unnerving, even."

Holmes nods and presses play.

Lady Smallwood is leading a panel in questioning Magnussen.

Holmes practically hisses as he sees Magnussen; the man still gives him the creeps and he detests the way he prayed on people.

The panel asks him about his involvement with the British Prime Minister and he claims not to have had any untoward dealings with him. When Magnussen looks at people, he sees bullet points of information about the person, including their pressure point.

"How…?" Watson starts, but doesn't finish.

"No idea how Moriarty knew what Magnussen saw when he looked at people. As we both are aware, Magnussen simply knew the information, it wasn't pulled up for him like a computer. At least in our dimension," he adds as a near afterthought.

Magnussen returns to his home, down in to what appears to be an archive, and finds Lady Smallwood's file. After refreshing his memory, he finds her in her office and threatens to release the letters that her husband wrote to an underage girl. Magnussen licks her face (to prove that he can) and both Holmes and Watson shudder. Lady Smallwood, on her way home, decides abruptly to seek the assistance of Sherlock Holmes to end the blackmail on her.

After the opening credits, the screen shows John and Mary asleep in their bed, what appears to be John's dream on display. Watson wonders how Moriarty knew what John was dreaming about, but knows that not only did Moriarty most likely make it up, but that it's also pointless to ask the question aloud.

John wakes to knocking on the door. One of their neighbors' sons with a drug habit has gone missing. John offers to go retrieve him and Mary insists on coming along – pregnant or not. They arrive at the crack den and John places a tire iron down his trousers.

"Does John seem a bit more hot headed and impulsive than usual to you?" Holmes asks.

"Yeah," Watson agrees, "and no, I don't understand why, since this never happened to me, as you are well aware."

John storms in to the building and takes down Bill Wiggins – whom Holmes and Watson recognize from the homeless network – spraining his arm in the process. He heads upstairs with purpose and finds Isaac (the son he came looking for) and also, quite unexpectedly, Sherlock.

"He went back to using?" Watson fumes.

"He says it's for a case," Holmes defends.

"Bullshit!" Watson spits, "One month unsupervised and…" he stops, brow furrowing in confusion, his anger dissipating completely, "they haven't seen each other for a month?"

"Apparently," he agrees quietly, "which helps explain it," Watson looks at him quizzically, so he begrudgingly continues, "it's difficult to describe succinctly, but it comes down to this: Sherlock Holmes' life prior to John Watson dealt a lot with drug use, so, with John being swept away from him again, it probably felt natural for Sherlock to fall back in to his old routines pre-John."

Watson flounders for a moment, trying to comprehend the sentiment in the statement, "Did you go back to using after I got married?"

Holmes' mouth turns down resolutely as he shakes his head, "No. As we've previously compared, your wife didn't keep us apart as this Mary seems to have. We still saw each other fairly regularly and that was enough for me," he lies. It wasn't ever truly enough. He always missed Watson terribly between cases, but when he would feel the itch for drugs, he'd simply go find his friend again instead.

Sherlock, John, Mary, Isaac, and Wiggins make their way to St. Bart's so that Molly can perform a drug test on Sherlock to see if he really did partake in drug use. She slaps him when it's proven that he has.

John tells Sherlock that he should have contacted him, yet the detective keeps insisting it was for a case as well as deducing that John has started cycling to work. Wiggins makes a comment about how "some guy" hit him, John says it was probably some addict in need of a fix, and Sherlock – quickly deducing that it was John who sprained the arm – agrees that in a way it was.

Wiggins moves on to deducing further about John's cycling to work by noticing that his shirt has creases, as though it's been folded.

"You keep your shirts folded, ready to pack."

Watson's stomach drops. John is bored, missing the adventurous life he had before Mary. The life he had with Sherlock. It's odd to think about how you – in a different dimension – can have such a drastically different life based on a few timeline changes.

Mary takes Wiggins and Isaac home while John takes Sherlock. They arrive to find Mycroft leading Anderson and a woman in searching the flat for drugs. Sherlock curls up in his chair and John notes the absence of his own.

"Yeah, you were gone, I saw an opportunity."
"No, you saw the kitchen."

It's Holmes' stomach that drops this time. Sherlock couldn't even stand to look at the piece of furniture that John had claimed as his. He's been so desolate, he's been in denial, he's…heartbroken.

Mycroft goes to enter Sherlock's room, but Sherlock stops him suddenly. Mycroft steps away, taking it as an admittance of guilt, and mentions needing to contact their parents regarding the issue. Sherlock insists – yet again – that the drug use was for a case and when Mycroft seeks clarification, he mutters "Magnussen" leading the elder Holmes to threaten Anderson and the woman that if they mentioned ever hearing it, they would live to regret it. Mycroft attempts to warn him not to go after the man, but Sherlock merely sees him out of the flat, twisting his arm and causing John to step in to separate the two.

Sherlock moves to take a bath, calling to John not to go in his room. So of course John moves towards his room as soon as the water starts. Janine comes out in nothing but a button-down shirt, calling Mycroft "Mike", Sherlock "Sherl", and telling him that things have been rearranged since he moved out.

John's unease and jealousy are practically palpable, and Watson isn't doing much better while watching it. John attempts to play it cool and stay calm as he questions Sherlock about his girlfriend, but his eyes have always been obnoxiously easy to read, and this close up the act is impossible for either Holmes or Watson to miss. Sherlock keeps trying to talk to John about Magnussen and the case, but John is incapable of moving on from the girlfriend thing. Janine comes out, sits on Sherlock's lap, and flirts with him before inviting John over for dinner and kissing him before leaving for work. The look on John's face, when Sherlock can't see him, says everything.

"He's jealous," Holmes states conversationally.

"He's not jealous, he's unsettled," Watson negates, though it's not true.

"No he's not," Holmes states with an edge of amusement, "unsettled about what?"

"Seeing Mr. Sherlock 'Married to my work' and 'Girlfriends aren't really my area' Holmes kissing someone!"

Holmes stares at him calculatingly, as though putting pieces together.

"No, stop it right now," Watson orders him, looking away so Holmes can no longer look in his telling eyes.

"Stop what?"

"Deducing me! There's nothing to deduce!"

"Then why are you so worked up?"

"I'm not!" He practically shouts, then closes his eyes to calm himself down.

"Yes, perfectly calm, I see it now," Holmes agrees sarcastically.

On screen, Sherlock is again attempting to talk to John about the case, but the shorter man can't think of anything else besides him being in a relationship. He's hung up on it.

Magnussen comes to the flat to discuss business. His henchmen frisk Sherlock and John, discovering the tire lever still in John's trousers.

"Are we supposed to believe that John has gone this long, sitting down in two cars plus sitting on a sofa, and just forgot he had a bloody metal pipe down his trousers?"

"Yes," Holmes says, fighting a smirk.

"How? No one could not notice that!"

In lieu of an answer, Holmes merely looks from Watson's eyes, pointedly down at his groin, then back up to hold his gaze challengingly.

Watson flushes deeply, "Bloody hell, stop it." The idea that Holmes has ever considered what the size of his penis might be is absurd…and a bit arousing.

Holmes merely smiles as he obligingly says nothing more and turns back towards the telly.

Magnussen pees in their fireplace, refusing to work with the genius. He leaves the flat and Sherlock goes in to a bout of deductions about how the letters must be here in London, then leaves to do some shopping.

Holmes is eager to see how Sherlock infiltrates Magnussen's estate, especially now that the blackmailer knows what he looks like. When they had dealt with Magnussen in their own timeline – a mere six months previous – he had disguised himself as a plumber to gain access to his home, and became engaged to the housemaid to gain information. He assumes, as things have been matching up generally, that Sherlock is about to propose to Janine for this same all-around purpose.

John walks in to an expansive building and meets Sherlock. They discuss how to gain access: corrupting a key card and then having Magnussen's personal assistant let them in. The personal assistant just so happens to be Janine, and he does, indeed, propose to her to get her to allow them upstairs.

The look on John's face when he sees the ring is beyond words. The look is an actual feeling inside both Holmes and Watson's chests instead. It's crushing.

On the lift ride up to the office, John is furious with Sherlock for getting fake-engaged to gain access to an office, much like Watson had been with Holmes when he found out likewise. The fact that Sherlock Holmes can so flippantly exploit people's feelings for him is one of the major reasons John Watson has tried so very hard to keep his romantic inclinations hidden.

They discover that Janine has passed out (Sherlock briefly entertains the ridiculous idea that she fainted from the sheer joy of his proposal) as well as one of the security guards. Sherlock smells Clair-de-la-Lune and knows that the attacker – must be Lady Smallwood – is still in the building. He leaves John with Janine and continues upstairs.

Sherlock confronts the attacker and Magnussen corrects him: it's not Lady Smallwood. She turns and, inexplicably, Mary is standing in front of him, aiming a gun at his chest.

Watson gasps in shock and Holmes mutters, "Oh my God."

Sherlock, for the first time in his memory, stutters. He was so intent on John being happy – that this woman makes him happy – that he ignored the signs.

"I knew it," Watson proclaims quietly, a mix of vindication and betrayal in his tone. While this woman is clearly not the embodiment of his wife, the fact that any dimension version of her would do this makes him feel a bit ill.

Sherlock attempts to continue to trust in her goodness, unwilling to believe that he could have been so far off base – so blinded – when it came to her true nature. She shoots him, and things go a bit weird.

This is another part that Moriarty must have taken cinematic liberties with, for how could he have possibly known what went on in Sherlock's mind here?

Molly appears in the room, asking him questions about which way to fall. Is the bullet still in him? How would he know? Anderson asks him what type of gun it was. Mycroft appears and belittles his lesser mind wasting time: the mirror would have shattered if it had left his body, and it didn't. He falls backwards.

Next Sherlock needs to avoid going in to shock: find something calming. He looks for John and instead finds Mary, in her wedding dress, aiming a gun at him. If he can't access John, what else is there that could calm him? Redbeard. He finds the dog and talks to him ("They're putting me down, too, now. It's no fun, is it?")

Watson's hand blindly reaches towards Holmes, his left hand landing on his right knee and grabbing tight.

Now that shock is taken care of, Molly tells him that he needs to control the bleeding. He doesn't know how to go about doing that from inside his Mind Palace; it's not like he can cauterize an actual wound from in there. Instead, he finds Moriarty chained in a padded cell. He scares Sherlock, who falls to the floor and begins to give up. Moriarty talks about how all negative emotions are good. Just feel them.

John discovers Sherlock and Magnussen tells him that he was shot. John calls emergency.

Moriarty sings him a song in his head as John rides with him in the back of the ambulance to the hospital.

Moriarty goes on about how much Sherlock is going to enjoy being dead - how wonderful it is – but that people will miss him.

"Mrs. Hudson will cry. And Mummy and Daddy will cry. And the woman will cry. And John will cry buckets and buckets. It's him I worry about. That wife…you're letting him down, Sherlock. John Watson is definitely in danger."

And with that last sentence, Sherlock's eyes open again. With incredible resolve, he rises from the floor – the monitors in the real world responding – and climbs back up the stairs. Sherlock wakes up.

"Did Sherlock just…" Watson starts in awe without turning from the screen, but can't finish.

"Restart his own heart? It would appear so."

Watson turns from the image of Mary rushing in to the hospital to instead look at his friend, "Because John was in danger," he states, the only question in the statement being born from his own insecurity about why that would be.

When Holmes turns his head to lock eyes with him, the look within them is incredibly vulnerable and sad, "Yes," he whispers.

Watson opens his mouth to say something before he's even formulated the words, but closes it again when he watches Holmes' eyes drift to his mouth with undisguised longing. And he knows, as though he just plunged head-first across a threshold of revelation, that not only does Holmes return his love, but that the mere thought that he – even a different dimension version of himself – nearly lost John Watson and let him down is unbearable. Unthinkable.

And despite what he just saw on screen, Watson's heart swells and he smiles. Holmes' eyes make their way back to his from his lips with confusion. Then it's Holmes' turn to experience the revelation that Watson loves him in return. His eyes have never been good at hiding anything, but right now it appears that Watson isn't even attempting to mask his affection.

The moment is broken as they hear Mary's voice from the telly, drawing both of their attentions back to the screen.

"Look at me and tell me you're not going to tell him."

Flashes of newspaper covers about "Shag-a-lot Holmes" "7 Times a Night in Baker Street" "He Made me Wear the Hat". Janine has been exploiting their relationship by telling the tabloids that they shagged like bunnies. It comes out that they never even got close to that ever happening. Sherlock turns his morphine tap back down when he realizes that Mary is near, not able to trust his mind to drugs around her. In his Mind Palace, he attempts to figure her out.

John brings Greg up to the hospital room, but they discover that he's gone missing. John and Greg involve Mycroft and Mrs. Hudson in a desperate attempt to locate him, while Mary questions the less usual suspects for clues (Anderson and his woman friend). Molly comes on screen and admits that Sherlock has been staying with her.

In 221B, John's chair has been placed back in its spot, a bottle of Claire-de-la-Lune on the table next to it.

"He's Sherlock. Who would he bother protecting?"

"He was trying so hard to give John the clues he needed to piece it together himself, so he wouldn't need to spell out every last detail and hurt him," Holmes marvels at his counter-part's sentimentality.

Sherlock calls John and brings him out to Leinster Gardens, where Mary discovers Wiggins with a cell phone. She goes inside the building.

Sherlock talks her through his deductions about her past; where Mary Morstan came from, realizing all the signs he overlooked as they came up. He asks her how good a shot she is, she threatens to shoot him again, but throws a coin in the air and shoots that instead. Sherlock appears from behind her, the other end of the tiny hallway from the shadowed figure she had been addressing.

"Did he just forgive her?" Watson fumes once more.

Holmes considers for a moment, "He still thinks that she's what makes John happy."

"How? How could he consider for one second that John could still want someone who tried to kill you?"

"Sherlock, you mean," Holmes corrects.

Watson grunts, remembering that they are different, "Right."

Sherlock turns on the lights to reveal that it wasn't a dummy at the end of the hallway, but John. The look on John's face is a mirror of what Watson's has been for a long time.

Fast forward to Christmas at the Holmes residence. Mummy bickers with Mycroft about being happy that they're all together, especially after someone tried to murder her little boy.

Holmes and Watson had celebrated the most recent Christmas with his parents as this depicts, but there was no Wiggins or Mary. It was a very pleasant affair until Holmes had dragged them off to finish with the Magnussen case that evening.

Mummy brings Mary her tea and then Mary and Father have a touching, soft conversation. John comes in the room and Mary becomes very awkward, then Father leaves them alone. John is aggravated.

Flashback to Leinster Gardens, where Sherlock demands them back to Baker Street. John storms in first, fit to burst, then Mary and - much slower and paler - Sherlock.

"Is he alright?" Watson forgets his anger in an instant, concern taking over.

"He did just recently break out of hospital against doctor's orders after being shot in the chest. So probably not."

Mrs. Hudson fusses over the trio until Sherlock growls at her ("Then what exactly is the point of you?"). John asks if everyone he's ever met has been a psychopath and Sherlock tells him yes, trying to move on quickly. John stops him, blowing up at the joking tone. Sherlock assures him that he isn't joking: John is attracted to danger and gets bored with the mundane just as easily as Sherlock does.

Sherlock leads John to seeing Mary as a client (skipping over "My lying wife" and "The woman who's carrying my child who has lied to me since the day I met her"). The look on John's face is completely manic as he assumes his natural role as assistant to Sherlock - only, for the first time ever, John's empathy for the client is less than Sherlock's.

"That's all you are now, Mary: a client. This is where you sit and talk, and this is where we sit and listen. Then we decide if we want you or not."

Holmes and Watson both feel their stomaches clench at the words. This never happened with their Mary…most none of what she's done ever did. Theirs was nice and genuine, and the fact that she died and this version has lived? It's unjust.

Back to the Holmes residence at Christmas, Mary snarks at John about actually talking to her today, the first time in months. He pulls out a flash drive with the initials A.G.R.A on it.

"Agra? But wasn't that…" Watson starts, but Holmes finishes.

"The name of the treasure we were attempting to help Mary locate, on the case where we met her."

"So what's…?"

Holmes sighs heavily, "You know I have no idea," he says as gently as possible.

Back to 221B where Mary places the flash drive down next to John for the first time. Mary reveals that A.G.R.A are her initials and John's face contorts in to a look that is so done. She says her whole history is on the stick and asks John not to read it in front of her, because he won't love her when he's finished. He places it in his pocket with a huff.

Sherlock details through what he already knows of her history: former intelligence agent, not English, on the run from something, Magnussen knows her secrets, and she befriended Janine solely to get closer to her blackmailer. She insists that Magnussen should be killed, and John wonders aloud how he didn't see that she was an assassin. She argues that he did, but married her anyway.

"No," Watson shakes his head resolutely, "There's a difference between thrill seeking and choosing to love a hired killer."

"She doesn't quite know him as well as she thinks she does," Holmes agrees, "She's close but…there's too many generalities and assumptions."

Sherlock walks through what Mary hopes to get from Magnussen and she asks why he'll help.

"Because you saved my life."

"Oh, that's just brilliant," Watson fumes again, nearly as enraged as John.

Sherlock goes on to explain how she chose to wound him and knock out Magnussen instead of killing them both and making it appear as though John had done it. She phoned for the ambulance after walking out, ensuring that it would get to him in time.

As if on cue, an ambulance crew enters 221B just as Sherlock begins to go in to cardiac distress from his internal bleeding. Sherlock insists to John that they can trust Mary. As he falls, John's entire focus is on his best friend, possibly dying before him for a third time. Then he glares at Mary.

Back to Christmas, a heavily pregnant Mary stands from the couch and John gives a speech about how the problems of her past are her business, but the problems of her future are his privilege.

"Oh my God, is he going to frame her? Kill her?" Watson asks, reading the face that makes expressions so very much like his own, his mouth forming words in a cryptic way that he himself employs.

"Not while she's still pregnant," Holmes reasons.

"No, of course not," he looks towards the side of Holmes' face, "but in the future."

Holmes turns and locks eyes with him sadly, "Maybe," he whispers.

John and Mary exchange words of settlement and John has a face - when she can't see him - that clearly speaks of discontent.

Sherlock and Mycroft are outside the house smoking. They discuss why Sherlock hates Magnussen (praying on the weird and different), an offer with MI6 (that would prove to be fatal within about six months) that Mycroft wants him to turn down, and then an uncharacteristic declaration of brotherly affection.

Back inside, John and Mary hug again before she goes limp in his arms. John helps her to the chair with uncertainty. Sherlock pops his head in and instructs John not to drink her tea. John quickly realizes that Sherlock has drugged the entire household but them and Wiggins.

Flashback to Sherlock in a restaurant, wearing his hospital gown and still attached to a drip. Magnussen comes in and Sherlock strikes a deal with him: his brother (well, his laptop, anyway) in exchange for an invitation to Appledore. Sherlock takes his glasses, thinking the information about people shows on the lenses, like a computer.

"It isn't the glasses?" Holmes asks, thrown. Their Magnussen clearly wasn't using anything of the sort, just recalling information at will, but this version was slimier about it that he thought he may have used a different tactic.

Back to John and Sherlock in the house, they prepare to head out and meet Magnussen for the exchange via helicopter. Sherlock iterates how dangerous this plan is, how dangerous Magnussen is, before they head out.

"Did you bring your gun as I suggested?"
"Why would I bring my gun to your parents' house for Christmas dinner?"
"Is it in your coat?"
"Yes."
"Off we go, then."

Holmes and Watson both laugh, having forgot that the exchange had happened between them. They both thought it summed up their friendship quite adequately.

Magnussen is in his home, watching the taping of the bonfire that John had been trapped in just over a year ago. Sherlock voices the connection that Magnussen had been behind the attack on John while John is entranced by the screen.

"But look how you care about John Watson. Your damsel in distress."

John appears not to have heard (or maybe just not care about) the terminology used to describe him just then, but Watson is affronted for his alternate self. John Watson is no one's damsel in distress; he was a soldier, for crying out loud!

Magnussen tells them that the end goal had been to get at Mycroft, whose pressure point is Sherlock, whose pressure point is John, whose pressure point is Mary. Sherlock hands over the computer, but refuses to give the password until he's gotten all physical evidence the blackmailer has against Mary.

Holmes and Watson both have their brows creased in confusion. In their timeline, they had snuck in to the house thanks to the housemaid (Holmes' fiancée) and had gotten in to the study. However, before they could find the letters he was using to blackmail Lady Smallwood with, Magnussen had returned with a woman. They didn't have any direct dealings with Magnussen that night.

Magnussen leads Sherlock and John to a closet and opens it. At first they're confused, but then he reveals that Appledore is the name of his Mind Palace; he has no physical records of anything that's in his head, just an intricate system to remember everything. Sherlock and John begin to realize that they have just committed high treason and there is no foreseeable way out.

They go on to the balcony, where Magnussen insists on flicking John in the face (as a demonstration on how blackmail works) until Mycroft and backup arrive. Sherlock clarifies that there are no physical records, to which Magnussen agrees, and then Sherlock steals the gun from John's coat and shoots him in the head.

"Christ, Sherlock!"

John says it at the same time Watson says "Jesus Christ!"

What a mess. In their timeline, the woman in the study had exacted her revenge for her blackmailed husband by shooting Magnussen. Not Holmes. They hadn't interceded because, as Holmes had put it, it wasn't any of their business to judge her for taking her revenge.

Holmes' stomach knots, uncertain how Sherlock is planning to escape this one. But he also knows that Sherlock didn't take the time to make a plan; all he could think about was keeping John safe again, by whatever means necessary, even if it meant being put to death himself. One of these days, Sherlock Holmes may truly die for John Watson as he has already repeatedly attempted to do.

"Give my love to Mary. Tell her she's safe now."

The look on John's face is a clear depiction of how stupid he deems Sherlock to be in this moment, sacrificing himself for her. It's not her that he wants to be safe; it's him. The idiot.

Sherlock's eyes are dead, certain now that he's guaranteed that John will never be his. He's made it possible for John to keep Mary, as he's previously chosen. It doesn't really cross his mind that the choice may have actually changed in light of recent events. His love for John never wavers, so why would John's for Mary?

Mycroft is shown talking to some colleagues – members of the same council who questioned Magnussen at the beginning – and convinces them that sending Sherlock on the MI6 mission (which he had just recently asked him to refuse) would be the best course of action.

"If this is some expression of familial sentiment…"
"Don't be absurd. I'm not given to outbursts of brotherly compassion. You know what happened to the other one."

"What other one?" Watson asks Holmes, "Do you…did you…have another brother?"

Holmes looks from the screen and towards his friend in confusion, "No."

With matching looks of confused trepidation, they turn back to the screen. This is, of course, all new to them as it didn't happen in their timeline.

Sherlock, Mycroft, and a bodyguard are standing beside a plane as a car pulls up. Mary and John get out of the vehicle, and Mary makes it to Sherlock first. She gives him a kiss on the cheek and promises to keep John in trouble.

"The hell is her problem?" Watson grumbles, "Hasn't she caused him enough trouble?"

"That's my girl."

"It's what he likes," Holmes echoes the earlier conversation.

Watson makes a discontent noise in the back of his throat.

"Since this is likely to be the last conversation I'll have with John Watson, would you mind if we took a moment?"

"Oh God," Watson breathes.

"Indeed," Holmes whispers in return.

Mycroft, Mary, and the bodyguard walk away, leaving the two standing awkwardly, unsure what to say to each other. Sherlock tells John his entire name, incase John is looking for baby names. John swears they're not naming their baby girl after him.

"The game is over."
"The game is never over, John. But there may be some new players now."

Watson reaches out and grabs Holmes' right hand in his left without thinking. Holmes squeezes it reassuringly; he's not going anywhere.

Sherlock tells the story about the East Wind that Mycroft used to tell him as a boy.

Holmes laughs, "I'm glad to see that he's a rubbish big brother in other dimensions, as well."

John asks what his plans are and Sherlock says he's going undercover, should take about six months.

"And then what?"
"Who knows?"

"He's not even going to tell him he's leaving on what is most likely a suicide mission?" Watson asks, angry once again. He can't help it: this version of Sherlock is utterly infuriating. He thought Holmes was bad, but he could clearly be worse.

Holmes doesn't answer, because he's entranced by the body language on the screen. He can feel the tension building up.

"John, there's something I should say, I've meant to say always and I never have. Since it's unlikely we'll ever meet again, I might as well say it now…"

Sherlock pauses, unable to look at John, and Holmes gasps, "Oh my God." He can hear the next words bouncing around in his head: 'I love you'. His hand naturally grips Watson's tighter without realizing.

Sherlock breathes in deeply and locks eyes with John.

"Sherlock is actually a girl's name."

John turns away briefly, laughing, and Sherlock gives him a subdued smile in return.

Holmes is frustrated by his cowardice, but, at the same time he understands it. He doesn't want their last interaction to be a bitter-sweet parting of what-might-have-been and I'll-miss-you and please-don't-go. He wants the last memory each has of the other to be of laughter, and each other's smiles.

They shake hands, John appearing as though he wants to renounce the hand and hug him instead, but he refrains. Sherlock walks away.

Watson growls low in his throat, hand tightening on Holmes' once more, "That's it?" His face is set in an angry line, eyes looking betrayed.

"For them, maybe," Holmes tells him softly, looking him in the eye honestly, not able to keep his true feelings out of his gaze with Watson so clearly upset by the denial of the declaration of love John Watson so deserves from Sherlock Holmes.

"Sherlock still doesn't understand John at all, does he?" Watson begins to rant emphatically, "There is no life worth living without him, so he needs to stop acting the hero! No more running away, no more sacrificing yourself for me, no more being noble because you aren't noble with anyone else so why when it comes to me, you arse…"

His tirade is cut off suddenly by Holmes' lips covering his own, his hands framing his face tenderly. Watson melts in to the kiss, unaware how much he needed it.

Holmes pulls away just enough to separate their mouths, foreheads resting against each other's, and whispers, "No, no more running. Not unless you're following."

"Promise me," Watson begs.

"I promise," he swears before pulling back far enough to look in to his eyes. The love and adoration he sees in John's eyes are warring with insecurity. He can't have that, "I have never loved another the way that I love you," he admits.

Watson smiles widely, "Of course I love you, too. It's always been you."

They share another kiss, not even noticing that Moriarty reappears on the screen or the fact that the end credits are rolling.

"Watson?" Holmes asks gently as he pulls away again, his hands falling from his face.

"Yes?"

"I emphatically insist that the beard really must go," he smirks.

"Later," he promises with a mischievous glint in his eye, "I'd rather like to see if I can give you some stubble burn first."

Holmes' eyes light up, "Like an experiment?"

Watson laughs as it's his turn to frame the other's face tenderly in his hands, "You're lucky I love you."

"Yes," Holmes agrees with a content smile on his face, "I am."

They laugh as Watson pulls him in for another kiss.

A/N: Phew! What a ride! If you followed it to the end (or found it once completed and read it straight through) I thank you, and I hope you enjoyed reading it because I had a fun (long) time writing it. I'd love to hear what you thought via comment or constructive criticism.

As mentioned at the beginning, this was a request fic, which I'm willing to entertain doing again. So if you've got an idea (or just a trope you really love that I haven't touched yet), feel free to PM me or find me on Tumblr as goddess-of-the-night04. Or find me on Tumblr just to talk/keep up with any new stories I post :)