Sometimes John Watson visits Sherlock Holmes’s grave.
It’s the only place where he allows himself to let go and just feel.
Sometimes it’s during his lunch break, or in the dark of the night, or early in the morning. He often sits against Sherlock’s grave, detailing the on-going events of his life as if Sherlock is actually listening.
Sometimes he just cries, his tears falling onto the soil of the earth around the grave. Almost paradoxically, John feels both distraught and comforted by his visitations.
But sometimes that comfort is worth all the pain.
—-
Sometimes Sherlock Holmes visits his own grave.
He only stays if he sees John is there though. Sherlock always watches at a distance, not quite within earshot, and is careful to make sure he’s never seen.
It hurts him that John is hurting so much for him, but there’s nothing he can do. Not for a while, at least. Not until he knows John is completely safe.
It’s rare that his visits coincide with John’s, but when they do, it takes all of his self-control to not go to him.
—-
Once, John thought he saw Sherlock. Not a ghost or a spectre, but his Sherlock Holmes in the distance and under the shadows of the nearby trees.
John blinks, and he’s gone again.

(via eqweelibrium)