Watson might have been in France when I finally wept for my brother, but I was not without him, nonetheless. That started the tears, and this just broke my heart into bits:
I reached for him then, all hesitation forgotten, and drew him into the circle of my arms and held him until the dam broke and he began to weep. Words tumbled out of him then, stories sobbed against the growing damp patch on my shoulder, a litany of grief going back through the years, Ermintrude and Katie and Sophie and Jack. Mycroft and Robin and soldiers he’d known for scant hours before they succumbed. Mary and the baby. His brother Harry. His comrades at Maiwand. Me, for three long years.
At last the tears ebbed, though he still clung to me. “How do I do it, Holmes?” he whispered to my sleeve. “How do I stay alone? I’ve never had the knack.”
“You don’t,” I told him, and stepped back a pace, my hands still on his shoulders so that he could not help but see my promise and the future on my face. “You stay here.”
Hah, I love retirement era stories where these two are again together at either side of the fireplace!!
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2012-11-04 05:01 am (UTC)That started the tears, and this just broke my heart into bits:
I reached for him then, all hesitation forgotten, and drew him into the circle of my arms and held him until the dam broke and he began to weep. Words tumbled out of him then, stories sobbed against the growing damp patch on my shoulder, a litany of grief going back through the years, Ermintrude and Katie and Sophie and Jack. Mycroft and Robin and soldiers he’d known for scant hours before they succumbed. Mary and the baby. His brother Harry. His comrades at Maiwand. Me, for three long years.
At last the tears ebbed, though he still clung to me. “How do I do it, Holmes?” he whispered to my sleeve. “How do I stay alone? I’ve never had the knack.”
“You don’t,” I told him, and stepped back a pace, my hands still on his shoulders so that he could not help but see my promise and the future on my face. “You stay here.”
Hah, I love retirement era stories where these two are again together at either side of the fireplace!!