Lover to Lover

[mirabilelectu]

This conference had seemed like such a good idea on paper - a few days out of London to clear his head of the turmoil brought on by double shifts at the clinic to handle the sudden onset of cold season colliding with a massive triple homicide case that had sent him and Sherlock running about the city for four days without sleep - but by the second day of lectures and meetings and endless hours of forced socializing with people he didn't know, John had realized with sickening certainty as he found himself drumming his fingers impatiently only five minutes into a panel and rolling his eyes at the fourth terrible joke in as many minutes that leaving the city to sit in idleness with stodgy old doctors who hadn't had a truly exciting moment in at least thirty years had been a terrible idea.

But even as he had been getting ready to pack up his suitcase and take the first train home and return to the murder, mayhem, and beautiful madness that he craved so strongly it left him weak (not to mention the man who made it all happen who had haunted his dreams as he slept in a bed that felt so empty it made him ache), a clatter startled him out of his frenzy of packing and drew his eye to see a piece of paper flutter to the ground next to the small box that had fallen out of a previously ignored pocket in his suitcase.

With a frown he bent down to examine the box, which upon further inspection was revealed to contain (1) a small black notebook, (2) a set of note cards with tantalizingly vague clues that appeared to describe various members of the conference, and (3) Sherlock's own magnifying glass tied up with a red ribbon, and by the time he had finished looking over the items and turned his attention to the note written in Sherlock's spidery handwriting that read "John, it has come to my attention that at least five attendees of your conference are cheating on their spouses and two are involved in a long-running prescription abuse scheme - I trust that you will not let me down in your investigations" the frown had long vanished and been replaced by a smile that threatened to crack his face in two and a fierce glow of love and happiness for the man who knew him even better than he knew himself.