[identity profile] spacemutineer.livejournal.com posting in [community profile] sherlock60
Canon Story: The Three Garridebs
Title: Envision x 3
Author: [livejournal.com profile] spacemutineer
Rating: PG-13
Author's Note: Three 60s for this one. I kept thinking they would have had to discuss what happened afterward, even if Holmes probably wouldn't want to.

"Would you really have killed him?"
Holmes puts his fork down with a clang against his plate but doesn't look up.
"Of course I would have."
"Vengeance solves nothing. You are too wise for such waste."
"It would not have been vengeance."
"What then? I don't understand."
"I would not have had time to chase him, can you understand that?"
---
"You forget how quickly my mind works. When I saw you'd been shot, the entire scene played out instantly. You on the floor. Me on my knees. Evans, ignored, breaking for escape. I stop him how I can while still trying to keep you with me. The only question is whether I would have been successful on that second point."
---
"Holmes."
"Don't. I am finished discussing it."
"Let me say this, please. You are not the only one who fears the end of our partnership, our friendship. But I am the only one of us who has ever actually seen it. Your imagination is wrong. We are smarter and stronger than how we envision ourselves."
"No, Watson. We're just luckier."

Date: 2013-08-28 12:07 am (UTC)
debriswoman: (Default)
From: [personal profile] debriswoman
I can picture Holmes' reluctance to discuss matters; quite a revelation to him, too.

Well done:-)

Date: 2013-08-28 06:49 am (UTC)
hardboiledbaby: (sherlock grenada)
From: [personal profile] hardboiledbaby
Oh, that's simply perfect. Love this, thank you for sharing :)

Date: 2013-08-28 12:16 pm (UTC)
ext_1620665: knight on horseback (Default)
From: [identity profile] scfrankles.livejournal.com
I've been thinking about that line: "If you had killed Watson, you would not have got out of this room alive." My mind flinches from the idea of my noble Holmes executing a stunned and injured man, even if Watson were dead. But I've considered Holmes' earlier actions - Watson is shot, Holmes incapacitates and disarms Evans before going to Watson's aid. Which is sensible. But it would have been even more sensible at this point to have shot Evans dead instead of incapacitating him. And I think, legally acceptable: they were under attack from an armed man - it would have been self-defence.

If Holmes acts this humanely in the first shock of Watson being injured, it seems unlikely he could later shoot an unarmed man. I wonder if Holmes meant: "if you'd killed Watson with that shot - if he'd died instantly - I would have killed you then, rather than disarmed you." Not: "if Watson had bled to death in my arms, I would have come over and shot you as you lay dazed on the floor."

And in your stories, you see it from another point of view again: if Evans had made a run for it, Holmes wouldn't have left a seriously injured (as he momentarily believes) Watson. Watson would always be his priority. But he couldn't let Evans escape either and get away with attacking Watson - shooting him (even though Evans was unarmed) would have been the option he chose.

Holmes' pragmatism versus Watson's optimism and resilience is rather moving. (Sorry for going on so...)

Date: 2013-09-01 10:16 pm (UTC)
ext_1620665: knight on horseback (Default)
From: [identity profile] scfrankles.livejournal.com
You're right - it's impossible to say what Holmes would have done if Watson had died from his wound. I don't want Holmes to be the kind of man who kills a vulnerable person for revenge. But who can say what he'd do in his distress? Even Holmes might have lost control.

In the end,I like to think of "If you had killed Watson, you would not have got out of this room alive," as an indirect message to Watson. Holmes can't say: "You're my friend, I love you and I was frightened you were going to die." Instead he tells the would-be murderer what he would have done to him - expresses the emotion that way.

Date: 2013-08-29 01:57 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] capt-facepalm.livejournal.com
I love this discourse and the way that you portray Watson as Holmes' moral compass. The subject of life and death might be more 'real' to Watson considering his time in the army and his medical profession, whereas Holmes seems to be a man who makes his decisions based on justice rather than morality.

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Sherlock Holmes: 60 for 60

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