The Dying Detective

[shouldboverthis.livejournal.com]

Canon Story: The Dying Detective
Author: shouldboverthis
Rating: G
Warnings: None
And yet I forgive him. He has taken years off my life and yet I forgive him. And in the excitement, I forget even to be angry. He calls me away from my practice, my bed, my wife, my life. I’d do this for no one else. But this was almost too far. He bruised my heart with his deception.

Discussion Post: The Adventure of the Empty House

[spacemutineer.livejournal.com]

Oh, it's a classic this week. Everyone loves The Adventure of the Empty House. What's not to love? So let's dig in. Here are a few questions and thoughts to get you started -- add your own!

- In what capacity is Watson looking into cases without Holmes? Just unofficially in his spare time? Helping Lestrade or other men of the Yard out when they ask?

- Two weeks in a row now with some truly unforgivable behavior from Holmes. It's not enough to fake your death for three years, apparently. You must also reveal you're still alive in a ridiculous and elaborate manner, startling your poor friend into fainting. And again, Watson is simply too overjoyed Holmes is not truly dead/dying to care. Or if he is upset about it, he doesn't reveal it in the text. Again, it's easy to wonder if he's omitting a good portion of the truth here.

- In other bending the truth questions, does Holmes' story really hold up? It seems on the outer reaches of plausibility. So Holmes fears for his life, because Moriarty has loyal men who will avenge his death. Okay, fine. But his attempt to save himself climbing the cliffs nearly does the assassins' job for them several times over. Was it really worth it? Is there more to why he faked his death than this?

- What must it be like to watch your friend search for you and then read what amounts to your suicide note? What must it be like for Watson to know Holmes saw all that and did nothing (even if that inaction was justifiable)?

- On a side note, if you've got your goggles on, this is a very slashy story. Lots of undone collars, fingers to wrists, hands to lips, lips to ears. Mmm, good stuff. ;)

The Adventure of the Empty House: Loss

[spacemutineer.livejournal.com]

Canon Story: The Adventure of the Empty House
Title: Loss
Author: spacemutineer
Rating: PG
Author's Note: Set at Holmes' (fake) funeral.

"Your brother was a dear friend of mine, Mr. Holmes," said Dr. Watson. "I offer my deepest condolences for your loss."

Mycroft lies for a living. He lied then too, of course.

But so did the doctor, pretending "friend" could cover the depth of their connection and hiding his collapsing grief crushed inside the clenched fist tucked behind his back.

The Adventure of the Empty House: Message to Mycroft

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

Canon Story: The Adventure of the Empty House
Title: Message to Mycroft
Author: thesmallhobbit
Rating: G

Dear Mr Holmes,

The sudden reappearance of your brother gave the good Dr Watson such a shock it might have killed him. Should he ever have cause to repeat this action and the doctor actually die, you can be certain that you will be mourning the death of your brother shortly afterwards.

I remain your obedient servant,

M Hudson (Mrs)

The Empty House: Journey's End

[hardboiledbaby]

Canon Story: The Adventure of the Empty House
Title: Journey's End
Author: hardboiledbaby
Rating: PG
Warnings: none

---

Three years—an eternity.

I carried on but when I lost my other love, I saw only an empty road, and despaired.

Holmes offered me a thousand apologies, said he owed them. I daresay he does. One for each day I thought him dead, at least.

But it is, finally, a debt easily forgiven; repaid in this: our journey's end.

The Empty House: Revenge

[castiron.livejournal.com]

Canon Story: The Empty House
Title: Revenge
Author: Castiron
Rating: G

Watson has had his revenge, though he does not know it.

For when he fainted, I thought for a terrible moment that the shock had stopped his heart. In that instant, I felt the pain that he must have lived with for three years.

I do not know how he survived it, for I surely could not have done so.

The Adventure of the Empty House: Tree Worship, G

[tweedisgood.livejournal.com]

Title: Tree Worship
Author: tweedisgood
G
Canon Story: The Adventure of the Empty House



From ancient times, men have split branches, left tokens of themselves in the gash and waited to be healed as the tree healed.

I left myself in the gash where water split rocks and sky, not expecting to find healing.

The sacred tree I thought cut down was merely hidden from mortal sight. I had but to wait three years.

The Empty House

[flawedamythyst.livejournal.com]

Canon Story: The Empty House
Author: flawedamythyst
Rating: PG
Author's Note: Missed the last two weeks due to being on holiday. I will be trying to catch up with them when I have a chance, but for now there's two for this week to sort of make up for it. Both gen - how did that happen?

I knew this story was incomplete without mention of my wife's death, but every time I set my pen down with the intention of writing the words, I found myself stilling, unable to put my sorrow down in black ink. It was only with great fortitude that I was finally able to allude to it in a rather vague manner.

****

Three years is a long time to plan a revelation on the level of the one I gave Watson that day in his office. He complains of the unnecessary drama I did it with, but some of the ideas I had for it were far more sensational, and called for special effects that I did not have time to prepare.


*

The Adventure of the Empty House: Threes

[methylviolet10b]

Author: methylviolet10b
Rating: PG
Character(s): Sherlock Holmes, Dr. John Watson
Summary: Some data is acquired more quickly than others. 
Warnings:  Some spoilers for The Adventure of the Empty House, so if you haven't read that, you might not want to read this.
Word Count: 60
Author's Notes:  60 words of my own inspired by one of the canon stories.
Disclaimer: I don't own them.

Soooooooooooo many directions this one wanted to go this week! I finally settled on this one, as it took the least amount of pruning to get down to 60.

EMPT -- The Adventure of the Empty House

Three hours to be confident he’d eluded Moran after the shots.

Three days to be certain Watson had reached London safely.

Three months to learn how much he, the solitary Bohemian, could be desperately lonely.

Three years before discovering his deception had cost others, not himself alone.

Three minutes to start breathing again, waiting for Watson to open his eyes.