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westernredcedar, John Watson, Mrs Hudson, Greg Lestrade, Sally Donovan, Sherlock Holmes, background John/Sherlock, 11,000 words, teen (for adult themes, including grief)
On day twenty-three, the fog lifts and John figures it out.
As Cedar points out, this fic is set after Series 2 and is not Series 3-compliant. The title refers to Sherlock's quote in The Great Game, "Putting my best man onto it right now," rather than the wedding in Series 3.
One of the aspects of the Holmes/Watson relationship I've always adored is its sneaky parity. Sure, Holmes may be extraordinary where Watson is ordinary, but Watson is the one who wields the pen and controls our understanding of this larger-than-life character. Watson's admiration for Holmes has always struck me as a complex, difficult thing that shouldn't be accepted at face value, and I've always been charmed by the ever-present possibility of an alternate universe in which Holmes may be something very different from the man Watson wants us to see. Both the BBC and CBS versions of the story have lost this element of mediation, to my great disappointment--though fic can go a long way in redressing the problem.
So the fact that Cedar's story foregrounds John's role as Sherlock's biographer grabbed me immediately. Tell anyone who will listen to you that I created Moriarty for my own purposes, Sherlock says at the end of the Reichenbach Fall, and Cedar explores what might have happened had John taken that instruction seriously. What would John have needed to think about Sherlock's death and the events leading up to it for him to speak out against Sherlock? Why might he have done so even if he never lost faith in his friend?
As always, Cedar's writing is spare and beautiful, and she doesn't shy away from the complex kind of grief that accompanies suicide. This is a lovely, painful story that takes us in a very different direction from Series 3, and it's made all the more appealing by realistic glimpses at the people whose job it is to work out the truth of Sherlock's fall--not just John, but Greg Lestrade and a smart, pragmatic Sally Donovan. Enjoy!
westernredcedar, John Watson, Mrs Hudson, Greg Lestrade, Sally Donovan, Sherlock Holmes, background John/Sherlock, 11,000 words, teen (for adult themes, including grief)On day twenty-three, the fog lifts and John figures it out.
As Cedar points out, this fic is set after Series 2 and is not Series 3-compliant. The title refers to Sherlock's quote in The Great Game, "Putting my best man onto it right now," rather than the wedding in Series 3.
One of the aspects of the Holmes/Watson relationship I've always adored is its sneaky parity. Sure, Holmes may be extraordinary where Watson is ordinary, but Watson is the one who wields the pen and controls our understanding of this larger-than-life character. Watson's admiration for Holmes has always struck me as a complex, difficult thing that shouldn't be accepted at face value, and I've always been charmed by the ever-present possibility of an alternate universe in which Holmes may be something very different from the man Watson wants us to see. Both the BBC and CBS versions of the story have lost this element of mediation, to my great disappointment--though fic can go a long way in redressing the problem.
So the fact that Cedar's story foregrounds John's role as Sherlock's biographer grabbed me immediately. Tell anyone who will listen to you that I created Moriarty for my own purposes, Sherlock says at the end of the Reichenbach Fall, and Cedar explores what might have happened had John taken that instruction seriously. What would John have needed to think about Sherlock's death and the events leading up to it for him to speak out against Sherlock? Why might he have done so even if he never lost faith in his friend?
As always, Cedar's writing is spare and beautiful, and she doesn't shy away from the complex kind of grief that accompanies suicide. This is a lovely, painful story that takes us in a very different direction from Series 3, and it's made all the more appealing by realistic glimpses at the people whose job it is to work out the truth of Sherlock's fall--not just John, but Greg Lestrade and a smart, pragmatic Sally Donovan. Enjoy!
