Sherlock meets The Flash and Arrow

Epilogue

CHAPTER 40 - EPILOGUE

Notes

Wow, it has been a long ride! This was my first major writing project not for school, and after more than 140 pages and 32,000 words, it's really sad to be done with it. Thank you to everyone who contributed, and thank you for reading this far! Any input or advice is very much appreciated. Votes and comments really make my day.

Last chapter, then we're done! This one's pretty fluffy. :)

Also we are still working on the next book. We will see what happens.

John

Sherlock fiddles with the particle accelerator. He hasn't had a case in weeks, but miraculously that device has kept him busy.

It's been five years since we last saw those strange super-human people who taught Sherlock how to make his device. Five years since Sonya was born. We named her after the Ancient Greek word for wisdom and the Hindi word for golden. In a sense, golden wisdom. It seemed fitting.

It's been four years since we were on the case where we were attacked by a swordsman. Four years since the day his sword went straight through Mary and then turned on me, only to find Sherlock standing in the way, saving my life. Four years since I held Sherlock's broken body and confessed my love to him. Four years since I ran three miles down a dark woodland path to the nearest hospital, carrying him in my arms and feeling his life trickle out alongside his blood.

Four years since he said he loved me back.

Three years since I proposed. Three years since he said yes. Three years since he became, legally, Sonya's father, even though he'd played that role with me, ever since Mary's death.

It's been so long, the strange people we met all those years ago seem almost like a dream. We have little fragments of them lying around our apartment, though. Physical things, like the particle accelerator Sherlock holds. Emotional things too. That day, Sherlock opened up to me. Things were different after that. Different in a good way, but different.

Sherlock glances at me. "What?" I realize I've been staring.

"Nothing," I smile. "Just thinking about those people from five years ago."

"You'll have to be more specific than that. There were quite a few people five years ago. Around 7 billion, to be precise." Sherlock smiles at me.

"You know what I mean. The ones from the other dimension."

The door to our flat slams closed beneath us, cutting off Sherlock's reply. Instantly, Sherlock is on his feet. "No one who frequents this flat ever slams that door."

He races down the stairs. I grab my gun and follow him. Some things never change.

I find him in 221A, fighting...Cisco? No. It's not. I can see that now. He looks very similar, but there's a cold steel in his eyes. He turns to me as soon as I come in. Surrounding Sherlock and him is a lot of Cisco's sonic stuff.

Sherlock reaches up and tears Not-Cisco's goggles off. Immediately, the sonic things flying around the room cut out. I cock my gun and flick the safety off, and point it at Not-Cisco. "On your knees."

Then, behind me, I hear a crackle of electricity and see a blinding red bolt slice across the room and grab Not-Cisco. Before I can even begin to react, the blur solidifies into Barry. He's definitely Barry. He's got the unmistakable air of optimism that characterizes him.

Cisco walks in. He's also definitely Cisco. You couldn't mistake that grin for anyone else's.

Sherlock turns to him. "You're the one who corrected me!"

Cisco turns to him. "What?"

Sherlock replies, "You said it was bauxite, not boron.'"

I sigh. "I love how the only thing you remember about him is not that he helped you build a particle accelerator, or that he has super powers, or that he's from a different universe, or that he saved your life, or that he beat you, but that he bloody corrected you."

Sherlock turns to me. "Other people have beaten me before. Case in point, The Woman."

"Not quite so...spectacularly. Or painfully."

"She had a whip!"

"And you were drugged. That hardly counts."

Sherlock turns to Barry, ignoring my point. "Who did we just hand over to you, exactly?"

Cisco smiles. "Me from another universe!" He's just as excitable as I remember. I find myself smiling back.

Sherlock says, calmly, "It's only been a year for you, hasn't it?"

Cisco says, "Yeah. How long has it been for you?"

"Five years," I reply.

"So much must be different with you!" Barry says.

I spot Sonya peeking down the stairs, probably drawn by the sound of voices. I smile and say to Barry, "Oh, you have no idea."