Sherlock Fic: Failure

[pipmer1]

Title: Failure
Author: PipMer
Characters: Sherlock, John
Spoilers: The Reichenbach Fall
Rating: G
Wordcount: 221
Genre: Friendship, angst, 221b
Disclaimer: I don’t own, no money is being made from this

Summary: Sometimes - not often, but sometimes - Sherlock fails.

He doesn’t know where he went wrong.  He’s gone over everything in his head, again and again, but the missing piece still eludes him.  His plan had been thoroughly thought out, every loose end neatly tied up, every contingency meticulously accounted for. 

Where, then, had it gone wrong?

His attempt to make things easier on his friend is doomed to fail if John continues on the path he’s set upon.  He isn’t listening to the arguments or attempts to convince him.  He has cut himself off from almost everybody in his life, because he refuses to accept what’s blindingly obvious to the rest of them.  It’s worrying, this tendency he has to deny reality by ignoring all the evidence.  He’s listening to his gut, giving in to sentiment.  Sherlock thought he had taught him better than that.

The man had even heard it from Sherlock’s own mouth.  What more did he need?  Surely, Sherlock’s word could convince John of anything; Sherlock was always right.  He always spoke the truth.  It should have worked; it ALWAYS worked.  The scientific method: repetition, repeatability – the antithesis of the definition of insanity.  It doesn’t make any sense!

Everyone else had been predictably easy to mislead with misdirection.  But John is stupidly loyal.  The only sentence on his last blog entry says it all.

He believes.

Comments

[keerawa.livejournal.com]

Sherlock's logic vs. John's loyalty? I'd bet on John, any day. Even without the extensive evidence John has on his side.

[pipmer1.livejournal.com]

I'd bet on John as well, every time :)

Thank you so much for commenting!

[holyfant.livejournal.com]

Lovely!

"Sherlock thought he had taught him better than that." Aw, eesh, so painful, so Sherlock. Loved this sentence because it says so much. I think he'd feared that John wouldn't fall for it, but that everything in him had hoped that he would, and that he indeed curses John's tendency to rely on his instincts.

Beautiful :)

[pipmer1.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much, Kat!

I'm glad this went over well, I wrote it quickly while I was at work :)

[jcporter1.livejournal.com]

Nicely done.

[pipmer1.livejournal.com]

Thank you kindly :)

[selinabln.livejournal.com]

Aww. Wonderfully done. So, so much in 221b words ;))

[pipmer1.livejournal.com]

Thanks, I'm pleased you enjoyed it enough to comment.

[rose-cat.livejournal.com]

Oh, ouch. This is beautiful.

[pipmer1.livejournal.com]

*Ouch* is what I do best, I'm afraid :)

Thank you for the lovely comment.

[rose-cat.livejournal.com]

You're welcome :)

[anactoria.livejournal.com]

Aw, John. Lovely.

[pipmer1.livejournal.com]

Aw John, indeed. We all need a Watson.

Thank you for commenting :)

[capt-facepalm.livejournal.com]

Yes.
That is what makes John who he is.
Sherlock is surprised because he will never understand John's limits.

[pipmer1.livejournal.com]

I don't think John has any limits, where Sherlock is concerned.

Perhaps he'll reach them when he finds out Sherlock isn't dead :)

Thanks for the feedback, comments make my day.

[morganstuart.livejournal.com]

Another lovely 221b from you! He'll never get John's limits, will he?

And, of course, the irony is that I think he'll find he was wrong about more than just John.

[pipmer1.livejournal.com]

What limits? ;)

Thanks, Morgan! Yes, Sherlock will be surprised to find John's not the only one. Mrs. Hudson loves him like a son, and even though I don't see Sherlock and Lestrade as being particularly close (I don't see much evidence for it in the show), I do think that Lestrade would never buy into him being a fraud.