For John Watson

[howdull]

[Sherlock is still finding pieces of the melted laptop in the carpet.

It had actually been quite an ingenious booby trap to be devised by a fourteen year old boy with only household chemicals to work with but, as Sherlock surmised, rather overkill to keep his mother from finding his extensive porn collection. Not one of their more illustrious cases, but it had been quite entertaining to watch both the boy and mother's faces as he revealed that he did know the how and why. He lost interest after the mother started shouting and John started shouting and the whole thing turned tedious.

He rather thinks John won't actually be doing a full write-up of this one on his blog.

It's been two days since their last case and he's beginning to get more than a little antsy. Lestrade has sent him nothing, just a boring hit and run that he refused to even leave the flat for, and nobody interesting has appeared through the blog. Said blog he is currently scrolling through on John's laptop, having borrowed it again.

He did ask, it's not his fault John hadn't been in the room at the time.]

Bored, John.

[He doesn't even know if his flatmate is even in, but that's hardly a necessity for him to actually speak to John. Frustrated, he throws the laptop across the room to hit the wall, where it summarily breaks. Which is where he can be found whenever John appears, sulking amidst pieces of laptop, both from the melted one of their last case and John's poor broken one.]

Comments

[howdull]

I suppose so.

[He could send one or two of his homeless network along to tail Moriarty for a while, they won't do anything stupid like run to the police and a few owe him quite large failures.]

You can go now, I'll call you in four hours to find out where you are and send a replacement.

[jumpthegun]

[Molly checks her watch and bites her lip. She'd prefer to wait until John is back to say goodbye.]

Where am I going?

[She hasn't exactly been given an address for Caroline. Unless she's meant to go stakeout Jim's place?]

WHOOPS I meant Caroline and not Moriarty, gdi self

[howdull]

15 Aberavon Road.

[He doesn't bother to give more explanation than that, she can find it using her phone as a sat-nav, or take a cab if she doesn't want to drive.]

...well? What are you waiting for? Now, Molly.

[jumpthegun]

O-okay! [She all but jumps up. What is it about Sherlock that makes her like this? But she's very much hoping this will help John, too... even if it means losing some sleep.

Molly heads for the door.

It's ten minutes later that John returns, feeling more level.]

Where's Molly?

[If Sherlock just kicked her out, John might need to go for another walk...]

[howdull]

[When John returns, it'll be to the unusual sight of Sherlock scarfing down food. There are already four Mars Bar wrappers next to him, and he's in the middle of pushing the fifth into his mouth. He chews and swallows before answering.]

She's gone to stake out Caroline, so you can relax now that she's being watched and is unable to cause any more death or destruction.

[See, John? He has this all under control.]

[jumpthegun]

You sent Molly Hooper to stake out a psychopath who shot some random kid in the stomach just for giving me a ride?

[And all right, that's food, but that's not real food.]

She's a pathologist, Sherlock, not a bloody detective!

[John pulls out his phone, ready to text Molly and call her back where it's safe.]

[howdull]

She's perfectly capable of sitting in her car and watching a house, probably even of driving said car to follow Caroline if she leaves. Don't be so dramatic, I didn't ask her to break in and arrest the woman single-handed.

[He glances around, but finding no more Mars Bars, he starts on a small bag of skittles instead. He won't stop John from calling or texting Molly if he wants to, though he doesn't think it will do any good.]

[jumpthegun]

And if Caroline decides she's going to sneak around and jump the untrained, unarmed woman in the car?

Bloody hell, would you just order real food and stop eating junk?

[howdull]

What? Oh. No, I need the sugar more than sustenance, I had a fit earlier.

[He waves a hand dismissively.]

Molly agreed to go, she's more capable than you're giving her credit for.

[jumpthegun]

A... Oh, my god. Were you driving? [Molly can wait a moment, as terrible as that is. Sherlock potentially crashing a car because of a seizure is a problem.]

[howdull]

No, I was here, why do you think I've been on the floor?

[He usually prefers to do his thinking on a more comfortable surface, like the bed or a couch, but he hadn't felt quite up to moving.]

[jumpthegun]

['Because you're weird and thought it would improve your thinking process or something,' comes to mind, but John doesn't voice that sentiment. What was he angry about before? Molly yes.]

Have you considered that eating regularly would stabilize your blood sugar levels? And I'm still worried about Molly. I'm going to be check in with her every hour.

[Which is going to get tedious, but it is what it is.]

[howdull]

If you must.

[He doesn't mind what John does as long as he's around to help out with the case at the same time, and not running off being annoyingly selfless.]

Molly said you believed E was for Eye, why is that?

[jumpthegun]

What? [He's distracted and goes to sit down carefully on the bed.] It's just... I dunno. It's something Jim said. I was telling the General he ought to have someone look into Jim's identity and... it wasn't so much what he said, but the way he said it. 'I'm sorry we couldn't see eye-to-eye on your representation.' It was something like that. He put an emphasis on the 'eye-to-eye' bit.

[howdull]

He might just have been making a joke about your stature compared to his.

[Or perhaps John is right and it's a clue, hard to tell at this point.]

E being for Eye doesn't make much sense, unless they're working the sniper route? Hard to snipe accurately without good depth perception or vision.

[jumpthegun]

[John's lips thin to an annoyed line. How had he not seen that baiting for what it was?]

He's an inch taller. At most. He could be going the sniper angle. What else is there to take after my family, my friend, and my career? Take out my ability to shoot. She lost her finger. Could be she thinks she owes me an eye in return for that.

[howdull]

Possible. Or it could mean nothing, a red herring to tie you up in knots while the real plans are being worked on elsewhere.

[Moriarty is, after all, brilliant from what he's seen so far. It's pretty damn exciting.]

Eat something. Sleep. I need you in your best condition tomorrow.

[jumpthegun]

[John eyes Sherlock uncertainly, wondering if this is a ploy to get him out so that Sherlock can run off somewhere.]

Are you going to be here when I wake up?

[howdull]

Where else would I be?

[That's not exactly a yes, though it is worded to make John believe it is one. He doesn't plan to go anywhere, but he's not going to hang around pointlessly if things develop.]

[jumpthegun]

[He continues to eye Sherlock for a long moment before nodding. John looks down at the rumpled suit he's worn since the funeral and sighs.]

Did Lestrade give you the clothes Molly bought for me, by chance?

[He should probably wear this for the meeting tomorrow with Jim.]

[howdull]

In the bathroom.

[He waves vaguely towards the tiny, grimy little bathroom. Not only are the clothes Molly bought there, but there's also a pack of boxers (Spider-Man themed), and two extra t-shirts.]

[jumpthegun]

[Those are certainly boxers... John shakes his head and takes a pair of them along with a T-shirt to sleep in. That should be easier than his other clothes. Although, it will leave him less ready to jump up and go if they need to in the middle of the night.

John chews his lip for a moment and pulls out his phone to text Molly.]

FROM: JOHN
TO: MOLLY

I'm really sorry about Sherlock throwing you out. If you could check in with me every hour while you're on the stakeout, I'd appreciate that. I'm going to try to sleep for a bit, but I'd still like to make sure you're all right.

[He starts to undress, resolving to go for just the boxers and T-shirt.]

[howdull]

[Molly's been feeling miserable and embarrassed ever since she parked her car up at the address she was given. She should be more assertive, she should have told Sherlock no. She's tired, she's worried about both of them, and she really doesn't want to be out here.

But she can't seem to say no. He has a way of making her feel guilty for normal human needs like sleep or emotions. She's in the middle of berating herself when she gets the text message, sending one back pretty quickly.]

FROM: MOLLY
TO: JOHN

Glad you got back ok! It's fine. Hard to say no to Sherlock sometimes. I'll let you know if anything happens but looks like everyone in bed here, all lights off. V. boring. Molls. xxx

[jumpthegun]

FROM: JOHN
TO: MOLLY

Shouldn't have left you alone with him. He's a right git. I just can't stand to be around him sometimes when he's being... himself, you know? Too much himself. Be really careful on the stakeout, though. Keep your doors locked at all time. Caroline just jumped into the car I was riding in with some kid when we stopped at a light.

[Maybe that's not going to help Molly feel safer, but under the circumstances, John would rather have her hypervigilant than nodding off at the wheel. She's had a very full and mad few days, as well. She should be getting sleep. After he gets fully changed he adds a little more.]

Don't worry about tomorrow. Sherlock and I will handle Jim. You just get some rest, okay?

-John

[howdull]

[She doesn't really want to be useless to them, so if sitting here all night will be more help than coming to the interview with Jim then that's what she'll do.]

FROM: MOLLY
TO: JOHN

What time is your appointment? I can make sure to have the car back by then so you can borrow it to get there. Get some sleep. Molls xx