Marriage and Mental Illness (Sequel to Tall Buildings and Pill Bottles)

Together

AN: Ayyyy, ya girl is publishing a couple hours early! This is my last prewritten chapter, I gotta catch up before next week! Thank you all for the comments and votes!

***

"The thing about us white folk is that we aren't loved by many Muslims. Many of them hold a grudge against us. What happened to that Mosque is wrong, but we have to look at the big picture here."

"In an outraging comment, Daniel Jacobs has completely dismissed the attack made on the Brixon Mosque yesterday. Despite the fact that even the U.S. President is calling for action against the violence in London, no further action has been taken by Parliament. Meanwhile, Scotland Yard has announced that they will be pressing charges against Paul Stewart for the murder of at least ten other victims inlcuding Olivia Bolaji. The case will be going to trial."

"Barbara McBride here in Paris, and as you can see, the Eiffel Towers lights have been turned off in honor of the ten lives lost in the Brixon Mosque bombing two days ago. The President of France is now calling for action from Parliament, joining the five other countries asking for the same thing. This is Barbara McBride from KTZM News."

"People look at me, and they think I'm the bad guy here. They think 'Daniel Jacobs' and they think 'bad guy.' But I'm not the bad guy here, I'm trying to protect people. In fact, all places of Islamic worship should be shut down in order to protect the people inside."

"Sherlock Watson-Holmes! You were present at the bombings on Friday, what do you have to say about Daniel Jacobs comment about shutting down Mosques?"

"The idea is absoleulty ludicrous. Instead of actually taking care of the problem, he's suggesting that we punish the victims for the actions of terrorists. The fact that he helps run our country is embarrasing, degrading really."

***

John's POV

The TV was on in the sitting room, the newscasters talking about the latest political comments about the bombing. It had been three days since the attack and yet we were both still in a state of shock.

We'd barely left the flat, only going into Scotland Yard twice, once the day after to talk about the attack, once to gather more evidence. The second time, Sherlock and I had been bombarded by reporters asking questions about our beliefs, about the attack and mostly, about Daniel Jacobs.

Sherlock had been right when he'd said the idea was ludicrous. The very notion that we should punish the victims for being attacked was insane, and yet, many people in Parliament had backed Daniel Jacobs up. It wasn't enough for anything like it to get done, but enough to make us worried.

Now Sherlock was sitting in his armchair, curled up against it with a mug of tea. He was staring blankly at the screen barely registering the pictures and footage of the explosion as they passed on the screen. I turned away from it, feeling the ache in my stomach begin to roil again.

"Can we turn that off?" I asked quickly, not quite wanting to admit that it was giving me trouble. His eyes cleared as he came down from his mind and he nodded.

"Yes, of course, sorry," he scrambled to find the remote and switched it off. "Are you alright?" He asked, his brows knitting together. His gaze had quickly turned from blank to worry, mind spinning fast to comprehend my anxiety.

"Yeah, love. I am," I sighed, dropping into my own chair. I'd woken up screaming every night since the attack, my dreams and panic attacks about the war growing worse.

He studied me for a moment before reaching across to grab my hands. I smiled faintly, giving them a light squeeze. "I'm going to sound like a complete hypocrite..." he sighed, shifting in his chair. I brought his hand to my mouth, kissing his knuckles as he continued.