Won't Let My World Fall

Epilogue

It was Christmas Eve and John wasn't home yet. He'd gone out about an hour ago, working an emergency shift at the hospital. He'd done that a few other times pretty recently, too. Sherlock was actually starting to think John was hiding something; he'd been acting oddly tense the last couple of days. In any case, it was exceptionally dull without him. It was eight o'clock and Sherlock was lying on the couch in his robe, plucking a string on his violin every now and then. Rationally, he told himself tonight was no different than the other times John went out for a few hours, which were bad but not unbearable. Sherlock would merely find an experiment or a case to while away the time until John returned. But now, with no case on hand and not a single experiment able to keep his interest for longer than a couple minutes, Sherlock was faced with the possibility that he might just actually die of boredom before John came home. It just felt different, even though it shouldn't, damn it. It was their first Christmas together, as a couple, which was so ordinary a thing to care about, so sentimental. It wasn't like this was even the first time they'd celebrated Christmas together, so logically it shouldn't matter. Not to Sherlock. But it did. Sherlock struck a dissonant chord and flung his arm over his eyes.

"Merry Christmas Eve, Sher- oh my god, are you not even dressed?" Sherlock looked up to see John standing in the doorway, wearing an exasperated expression and...nicer clothes than when he'd left. "Why are you wearing a suit? I've never seen you wear that one before. I thought you were working tonight, I missed you." Sherlock's words were out of his mouth before he'd even had time to filter everything he was saying. John smiled at him, "Sorry I deceived you, I didn't think it was going to actually work, and I missed you, too. I was planning to surprise you, we have dinner reservations at a place across town if you want to get dressed."

"So those other times you were 'covering a shift for work?'" Sherlock asked. 

"I was getting everything ready for tonight." John said. "It wasn't easy keeping this a secret from you, and I still can't believe that happened, honestly."

Sherlock got up and headed for the bedroom, "Well, then, I agree. Let's have dinner."

Once both of them were dressed and fit to be seen in public, they set off across town. The place John had chosen was quite nice and probably ridiculously expensive. Though they were interacting quite normally through dinner, John still kept up the same nervous tension he'd had for the past week, which made Sherlock think he was still hiding something else.

A couple hours later, they left the restaurant but when they got in the cab, John said, "Hyde Park, please." Sherlock looked over at him questioningly, but John just smiled and took his hand.

When they reached the park, they walked through the trees to a very secluded spot with a perfect view of the starry sky. "Am I finally getting that astronomy lesson or something?" Sherlock quipped. John laughed and kissed him. "No, that's still on my to-do list." He admitted, "I have something I want to ask you, actually." Sherlock looked harder at him, what was going on? ...oh, wait a minute...oh...maybe. "Sherlock, when I met you, I was a lonely, broken-down, hopeless, ex-soldier, struggling to get by. And then you came along, and just changed everything. And I wouldn't trade these last few years for anything. You said heroes don't exist and if they did you wouldn't be one of them, remember? But you were certainly my hero, Sherlock Holmes. And then you became so much more. My colleague, best friend, and now I'm certain, the person I love most in the world. I can't imagine ever being apart from you again, so, William Sherlock Scott Holmes, will you marry me?" John took out a ring box, from his pocket, and showed Sherlock the gold band inside, with a date engraved on it, the day they'd met back at Bart's. Sherlock stared at it for a moment, then looked back up at John, and beamed at him, "Obviously," he answered. John put the ring on his finger, and as the clock chimed midnight, they kissed under the stars again.

"Merry Christmas, Sherlock."

"Merry Christmas, John."