221B Recs

Title: The Mystery of the Human Heart (The Encounter at St Pancras Station)
Author: magnetic_pole
Pairing: Gen
Length: 4,330 words
Rating: G
Warnings: N/A
Verse: ACD
Author's summary: Being the record of a single, chance encounter that offered me a glimpse into my own heart and that of Sherlock Holmes

Reccer's comments: Whether you ship H/W or see them as friends, I’m sure I’m not alone in feeling frustration with what ACD chooses to do with Holmes and Watson’s relationship in the last portion of their timeline. Watson abruptly moves out of Baker Street, a second Mrs. Watson is mentioned in passing with no further information given, Holmes retires to Sussex, he and Watson drift apart almost entirely. And I am sure there have been many, many fix-its written for this.

This is an unusual kind of fix-it, however. For this fic the author accepts the canon version of events as being true. But then goes on to expand on them and give them a psychological depth—looking at Watson’s state of mind as he comes to the startling realisation he’s ready to marry again after Mary, and also examining the love between two life-long friends.

The story has a poignancy of course—as Watson says, leaving Holmes would mark the end of something larger than either of us. But it’s oddly uplifting too—we are left with an intense awareness of the affection between Holmes and Watson, and the knowledge that the bond between them will always be there.