Loving a Holmes

St James the Less

I met my mother and father at a nearby cafe and endure the questions about Sherlock. Mostly 'Why are you with him,' 'Does he treat you right?' and 'Does he act as cold as he seems in interviews.' But I suppose I can't blame my parents for being so protective of me, after all my last serious relationship ended up with him having an affair with my brother. But I think their biggest problem is that they haven't meet Sherlock in the almost five years we've been together. It's hard to believe I've been with this man for five years and we have only told the other we love each other a handful of times. But then again, we have a different way of showing our love and can truly be ourselves with the other.

Sadly, the idea that Sherlock and I haven't met the others extended family and were not planning on moving forward in a traditional way, as my parents feel as though we should. Honestly I didn't even want to marry my previous fiance but it was something I knew my family wanted, so I went along with it. But with Sherlock things are different. We both understand what the other one wants and we don't see the need in becoming man and wife, as Sherlock says, 'Marriage is the downfall of society.' Not that I disagree with him, but while I don't see the need in putting my love for Sherlock on a piece of paper, if he wanted to, I would do it in a heartbeat. Not because I feel like I'd need to, but because I would want to make him happy and if that meant being bound to him legally then so be it. Although that doesn't stop him from introducing me to clients as his wife when needed.

When I get back to the flat Sherlock isn't home yet so I head upstairs, saying hello to Mrs. Hudson as I pass her and settle into the flat for the evening, relaxing, while enjoying a book. A few hours after I got home, Sherlock walks into the door. "Hello, Madison." I hear his voice call out before I hear the crunch of the fish and chips he is eating. "How was your meeting with your parents?"

I shrug, closing the book and standing up, stepping toward him as I reply. "Oh, you know how parents are. They want to know if you are going to run away with someone else or if we are going to get married. And for some reason think that those two are linked."

I steal a chip out of his takeout container, as he looks at me almost as if he doesn't know how to respond to someone taking a bit of his food. "so your parents seem to think that if we don't get married I'm going to run off with someone else?"

I nod and shrug, "Something like that."

Sherlock and I share a laugh before we hear Mary enter the flat stairs flat, Sherlock turns and steps out of the flat into the hall as she runs up the stairs. "Mary? What's wrong?"

Mary takes her phone out of her pocket and shows it to Sherlock. "Someone sent me this. At first, I thought it was just a Bible thing, you know, spam, but it's not. It's a skip-code." Sherlock takes the phone and I step next to him. Looking over the email.

Save souls now!
John or James Watson.

Sherlock takes a deep breath looking over the email with me. "The first word, then every third."

I nod. "Save... John... Watson..."

Saint or Sinner?
James or John?
The more is less?

"Saint James the Less." Sherlock straightens himself up, dropping his chips onto the floor, as he races down the stairs, Mary and I following. "Now!"

Mary is the second down the stairs. "Where are we going?"

Sherlock rushes out in the street, Mary following close behind him, as I quickly grab my coat, overhearing Sherlock as I do. "St Jame the Less, it's a church. Twenty minutes by car. Did you drive here?"

"Yes," Mary nods as Sherlock steps out into the middle of the street as I exit the main flat. "Sherlock, what are you doing?"

"This." Sherlock puts his hand up and moves into the path of an approaching motorcycle. The driver slams on his brakes and skids to a halt just in time. Mary turns to as Sherlock somehow gets the driver and passenger off the bike and gets their helmets.

I call out to them as Mary looks over to me, "Mary, go with Sherlock, I'll be there as soon as I can."

Mary nods, hugging me quickly before jumping onto the back of the bike with Sherlock and the two head off. Oddly enough all I can think is, he really is running off with someone else. I laugh softly to myself and pull up the St James the Less church on my maps app, quickly figuring out the fastest way to get there on foot and soon begin running in the direction of the church.

When I get to the church I see a giant bonfire is lite in the small square near the church and John, Mary, and Sherlock all sitting on the ground about six to seven feet away from the fire. I rush over to the three of them, shoving past the group that has circled around them, I notice that Sherlock has some black smudges on his face, clearly having gone in to get John out of the fire.

Since Mary and a few paramedics were around John, who seemed to be unconscious, I head over to Sherlock. "What happened?"

"They put him in the fire." Sherlock shakes his head, his voice shaky as if he isn't sure what had happened.

"What? Who?"

"They, whoever took John, put him in the fire." I look over to John in shock, then back to Sherlock. "I pulled him out but..."

"Sherlock, I'm sure John will be fine. I can all but promise he will."

"You can't promise something like that, Madison."

I sigh softly. "Yes I can, you know why? Because I know John. What would he tell you if I had gotten hurt?"

"That you'd be fine and I need to be strong for you."

"Exactly, so get up. Because we not only have to be strong for John right now but for Mary as well."

Sherlock nods and stands, pulling me into his arms as he does. "Why do you two make me like this?"

"Make you like what?"

"Human."

After John and Mary are taken away in the ambulance Sherlock and I head back to the flat. Although after the night he's had he needs sleep Sherlock is doing nothing but trying to figure out who did this to John and I don't blame him. But he is running in circles with no information.