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

[jumpthegun]

Maybe he lost the respect of the people around him before he died. Something Jim said at the meeting. [John closes his eyes and tries to pull up the exact words.] He'd just turned up pretending to be James Davidson. I said... I said I didn't want him, I knew him, he wasn't suitable. He called me paranoid and delusional right in front of General Kurtam. I called him on it and they started talking about how I hadn't been informed about something. He must've got hold of my medical records, but there's nothing about delusions in those. I'm paranoid, yes, but I am not delusional. And I don't have recognition problems... Or memory problems. Not like what they were insinuating.

[He knows Sherlock is on his side, but the anxiety about that interview has been clawing at him as much as anything else. He just wants someone else to confirm that he's not crazy.]

[howdull]

[He has had memory issues when he first returned from Afghanistan, and he can have periods of hallucination linked to his PTSD, but these are all managed and not relevant in the here and now.]

So you believe they tampered with your medical records... why? That would be a detriment to discrediting you, surely, it would give you a legal defence of mental instability.

[jumpthegun]

I am not claiming mental instability. [He knows Sherlock's just making a point, but now he starting to get properly agitated, and that's really not helpful.] I don't know. She's not mentally stable. Maybe she thinks she's leveling the playing field.

[howdull]

[That just earns a patented 'John you're being a moron' look.]

Odd, too, that they involved your Major.

[jumpthegun]

He was the commander I served under the longest. Of course they'd involve him. They're trying to get hold of Bill, too. And Graves, one of the other blokes I served with. Major Sholto's just not one to ignore summons. How is this helping us? I doesn't make sense. I dunno why it doesn't make sense.

[He gestures a bit wildly with one of the coffees he's holding and scalding liquid goes flying, pouring over his fingers, as well, as he drops the cup and hisses.]

[howdull]

You know you're both making it really bloody hard to sleep.

[That's a low grumble from Molly, who doesn't even bother to open her eyes.

Sherlock doesn't notice, too caught in following this thread wherever it might lead, gaze a laser focus on John.]

Did they? Or did they just say they were getting hold of those men? We only know for sure that Sholto, one of the only men that a lot of people seem to think should have been dishonourably discharged but wasn't, has been involved.

[jumpthegun]

[John swears under his breath as he heads for a nearby sink to run his hand under the cold water.]

I'm sorry, Molly.

[Sherlock might be ignoring her, but John won't. He grits his teeth, trying to use the pain to at least ground himself again. He lowers his voice to something other than an angry shout.]

General Kurtam didn't seem like a liar. He said they were contacting them. The Army doesn't take war crimes lightly. If they're investigating...

[He trails off.]

F. F is next. Friend? James is my friend. If she's-if she's getting rid of everyone. He never comes out. He never travels, not ever. Do you think they're after him. The whole war crimes thing, it's just for that?

[howdull]

Perhaps, or perhaps D for Dishonoured is meant for someone other than you. If you served with Caroline's husband, then it stands to reason that he likely had contact with Major Sholto as well.

[He shrugs, this is pure speculation at this point.]

It stands to reason that some of her anger might be directed at his CO as well as the doctor who 'failed' to save him, for initially sending him into danger.

[jumpthegun]

People already hate him. He has nothing left for her to take. That's just-it's just stupid.

[Regardless, James may be in danger.]

And how does accusing me of war crimes get him dishonored? Why not just frame him in the first place?

[howdull]

That's the problem, isn't it? People already hate him, there must have been other attempts to discredit or dishonour him. Have him held to account for what people blame him for?

[This doesn't feel entirely right as a solution either, but it feels closer than just John being dishonoured.]

I'm not sure, John, but I know we're missing something.

[jumpthegun]

Mostly people try to murder him. Or threaten it.

[As you do.]

E is for Estranged, my parents. Does that fall in line with everything else? She's... actually, I dunno what that was supposed to do. Other than put Molly in danger. I was estranged. Blowing up where they'd been cremated hardly means much, does it?

[howdull]

I doubt Estranged was what E was originally intended for; or, if it was, that it had a different meaning.

[It sort of fits, she's estranged from her children now, like John was with his parents.]

I think it was modified by Moriarty once he had hold of Molly.

[jumpthegun]

Molly said Caroline and Jim were fighting. Maybe it's about all this? Him running off the rails with her grand vision of revenge.

[howdull]

Yes, I think it is.

[He grins, sudden and sharp with too many teeth.]

Trouble in paradise, how tragic. Why don't we see if we can use that to our advantage?

[jumpthegun]

[Hadn't he led with that. John refrains from rolling his eyes because at least they're on the same page now. He just nods, instead.]

So, how d'we do that? I already tried calling Jim about my appointment with him today. Just got a voicemail saying they'd have to reschedule. Turn up at his office? Go back to the house Molly was at?

[There's a pause as John realizes something after the discussion of the letters.]

Shit. I'm supposed to check in at a police station. General Kurtam said I needed to since I haven't got an address.

[And god knows as soon as he walks into a station, he's probably going to get cuffed and sat in a room until Lestrade comes to fetch him.]

[howdull]

[He did lead with that, and it's a sad state of affairs that it's taken this long for John to catch up to where he was at the start of the conversation. But that's just what he has to deal with when he works with people of average intelligence.]

Moriarty wants me, correct? And Caroline wants you? So we need to make sure that they can't get both of us with one issue, that will widen the divide and likely make both less effective.

[He frowns at the second part.]

That's inconvenient, but I suppose you had better, things will be much more difficult if we also have to work around you being a fugitive.

[jumpthegun]

[John sighs and shuts off the water for the sink. He dries off before reaching for his phone and dialing Lestrade's number.]

Uh... hey, Detective Inspector, we're with Molly in her hospital room. You probably want to talk, and I'm... supposed to be checking in at the station for something else.

[He has the good grace to sound guilty, at least.]

[howdull]

You're bloody right I want to talk.

[Lestrade has gone beyond angry, he's gone beyond incensed, and he's crossed over into an almost fatalistic grim acceptance.]

You don't move from that damn spot until I get there, both of you. I'll have you checked off as signing in, but not until I've actually seen you there. Understand?

[jumpthegun]

We'll be here. Sir.

[Maybe the 'sir' will help. His other engagement has, after all, been cancelled, anyway. If they can't get to Jim, they might as well deal with the DI's wrath before he explodes. After a moment he adds a soft:]

I'm sorry.

[howdull]

[Lestrade doesn't even bother to reply, he just hangs up and gets moving before they can change their minds and disappear again.

Sherlock looks less than impressed when John hangs up.]

I'm going to the cafeteria, you can deal with him since you invited him here.

[jumpthegun]

He said he needs to see both of us or he won't say I've checked in.

[Don't you dare leave him alone with that man!]

[howdull]

He can see me through the window as he's leaving.

[He's a master of semantics, he learned from the best in Mycroft.]

[jumpthegun]

I'm the one who's gonna get yelled at if you're not here, y'know?

[howdull]

You don't say? Thank you for telling me, John, I could never have worked that out for myself and it's immediately changed my mind about leaving you here.

[...]

Oh no, wait, it hasn't. Do you want a coffee bringing back, or anything?

[jumpthegun]

[Sherlock is getting the sourest look imaginable.]

I really hate you.

[John pull Sherlock's bank card from his pocket and tosses it on the ground at the other man's feet petulantly.]

Whatever's cheapest. Not decaf.