What do you want to be when you grow up? I don't want to be alone.

13

I hurriedly looked up out of my lap as I heard the door open. John noticed the panicked look on my face. With anyone else I never would have let my guard slip, never shown them the confusion and fear I was facing, but this was John, and John had always been different, though I couldn’t say why. John gave me a reassuring smile. "That’ll be James. Would you like to meet him?"

"Not particularly."

"Yeah, well, you’re going to, so shut up." I couldn’t help but smile a bit.

"Hey, Sherlock, this is my husband James."

"YOU!" The word came from my throat as a low growl, making me sound savage and animal like. I pulled the gun from my jacket and pointed it at the man who had walked in. "What are you doing here?"

"Sherlock, what are you doing?" John’s voice came across as calm, but I knew from the way his eyes were flicking around that he was panicking.

"It’s him! How can you not see it? What lie has he told you?" John stood in front of him protectively, failing in his attempts to soothe me. Anger seeped into my veins with every second the man was in front of me. Mycroft had once claimed to be my arch enemy, but he had nothing on this man, the man who made me fall.

"Sherlock!" I was practically seething with anger. I cocked the gun and pointed it at the man in front of me.

"John, move out of the way."

"Sherlock, calm down. Give me the gun."

"JOHN, MOVE!" The words came out as a roar. In an instant everything seemed to blur together. John tackled me, grabbing my hands and trying to wrestle the gun from my grip. I struggled to keep the gun pointed at the man in front of me as he tried to pry John off of me. A shot rang out through the flat and all three of us froze. I looked at the man but he was uninjured. I had missed.

I felt Johns grip on the gun loosen and I looked down at him. A dark red stain was quickly spreading over his cabled jumper. "No. No, John!" He collapsed onto the floor in front of me. I pressed my hands over the wound and pressed down, trying to slow the bleeding, but it didn’t seem to help.

"John?" Moriarty whimpered. I whirled to see him moving toward where John was lying on the ground.

"GET AWAY FROM HIM!" I snarled, protectively leaning over John. My John. Moriarty staggered back and I turned my attention back to trying to stop the bleeding. There was so much blood. Don’t get me wrong, I had seen blood and death before. But those people were all strangers, just a blur of faces. This was John.

"John please, John listen to me. Can you hear me?" His eyes were dimming and glazing over. "Don’t leave me alone," I whispered. "I need you." My fingers searched for his wrist but the beating was gone. I moved them to his neck, hoping beyond hope that it was just a trick, but there was nothing.

***

I hope you all didn't forget Jim was short for James. MWAHAHAHA

Don't worry, this isn't over yet. It's got a happy ending, I promise.

~Trisha