Series 4 News

[Pseudonym]

They make a pact never to tell John, to never speak of it again. They write off the baby's black curly hair and ice blue eyes as a quirk of nature, her epic sulks and hatred for her solar system mobile just her personality. Sherlock tries to forget what happened, tries to delete it, and he almost succeeds but at night he dreams of flashes of lilac cloth in a samples book, of serviettes folded into the shapes of fans and swans. He dreams of Mary's smell, her hair. He dreams of John's rage and John's gun. 

[J.P.]

Just a mental quicky: what if John is indeed wearing a dummy instead of the baby on the "adventure" - just to fool whoever is needed to be fooled.

[Boton]

 

One day, John had a shift at the surgery, and he's pretty useless at wedding planning anyway, so Mary and Sherlock get to work.  And then they reached consensus on whether the bridesmaids should be wearing lavender or lilac, and they were so excited that things just -- happened.  ;)

 

 

They make a pact never to tell John, to never speak of it again. They write off the baby's black curly hair and ice blue eyes as a quirk of nature, her epic sulks and hatred for her solar system mobile just her personality. Sherlock tries to forget what happened, tries to delete it, and he almost succeeds but at night he dreams of flashes of lilac cloth in a samples book, of serviettes folded into the shapes of fans and swans. He dreams of Mary's smell, her hair. He dreams of John's rage and John's gun. 

 

Sherlock is consumed by guilt, and, more than that, by fear; fear that one careless slip of the tongue could tear this strange, atypical, precious family of his apart. He knows that Mary will never tell; she's had far too much experience keeping secrets far bigger than this. But John is not as unobservant as Sherlock would like everyone to believe, and, once in a while, he catches John with his nose buried in the baby's curls, smelling her particular baby smell while she reachs for the skull, and John looks intently at Sherlock.  And Sherlock knows - just knows- that if John ever found out, he would leave and take Mary and the baby, and Sherlock would be alone again.

[Inge l-w]

Well, with such a vein of imagination, you might like to help me and SherlockedCamper with Baby Watson. Anyway, there is already an Alpha/Omega story on Ao3 called What I Tell you Three times is true, by BlerghdeBlah, where Sherlock impregnates Mary. Not to mention the whole Johnlockary section!

[besleybean]

God no!

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

... I always assume that just because we don't see something on screen doesn't mean it never happens.We don't see the weeks when there's not a single case, but I assume they occur. [.... ].

 

In other words, I assume the crime-solving has always taken up only a small portion of John's life ... [....] So I think it's perfectly possible for John to be a modern dad and help raise his child and still have time to run around town with Sherlock from time to time, just like he always did. Even in S1 and S2 it was clear he didn't spend every moment of his waking day with Sherlock; quite the contrary. He had his own life, and I hope he still will.

 

And let's not forget that even Conan Doyle's Watson had not only a home life (at least some of the time), but also (at least some of the time) a medical practice.  So yeah, I agree.  Just because there's a baby at home doesn't mean it's gonna be The Little Miss Watson Show.

[Arcadia]

 

 

One day, John had a shift at the surgery, and he's pretty useless at wedding planning anyway, so Mary and Sherlock get to work.  And then they reached consensus on whether the bridesmaids should be wearing lavender or lilac, and they were so excited that things just -- happened.  ;)

 

 

They make a pact never to tell John, to never speak of it again. They write off the baby's black curly hair and ice blue eyes as a quirk of nature, her epic sulks and hatred for her solar system mobile just her personality. Sherlock tries to forget what happened, tries to delete it, and he almost succeeds but at night he dreams of flashes of lilac cloth in a samples book, of serviettes folded into the shapes of fans and swans. He dreams of Mary's smell, her hair. He dreams of John's rage and John's gun. 

 

Sherlock is consumed by guilt, and, more than that, by fear; fear that one careless slip of the tongue could tear this strange, atypical, precious family of his apart. He knows that Mary will never tell; she's had far too much experience keeping secrets far bigger than this. But John is not as unobservant as Sherlock would like everyone to believe, and, once in a while, he catches John with his nose buried in the baby's curls, smelling her particular baby smell while she reachs for the skull, and John looks intently at Sherlock.  And Sherlock knows - just knows- that if John ever found out, he would leave and take Mary and the baby, and Sherlock would be alone again.

 

Have I pointed out yet that this hiatus is lasting too long?

[SherlockedCAMPer]

Just a mental quicky: what if John is indeed wearing a dummy instead of the baby on the "adventure" - just to fool whoever is needed to be fooled.

Based on what was said by the gang about filming, I have a feeling that isn't the case, but we can hope that it is.

[Pseudonym]

Just a mental quicky: what if John is indeed wearing a dummy instead of the baby on the "adventure" - just to fool whoever is needed to be fooled.

 

I've only just clicked what this means, I didn't understand it in the beginning and so, being completely mystified, I ignored it ;)

The confusion was that here a dummy is what babies have in their mouth, I guess in America it's a pacifier? So rather than thinking you meant the baby itself was a dummy I thought you meant John wearing a dummy in his mouth, like a baby would, to 'fool people' which made no sense to me because why would anyone confuse grown man John for a baby just because he has a dummy in his mouth? 

[J.P.]

Oops...

[Pseudonym]

Well, with such a vein of imagination, you might like to help me and SherlockedCamper with Baby Watson. Anyway, there is already an Alpha/Omega story on Ao3 called What I Tell you Three times is true, by BlerghdeBlah, where Sherlock impregnates Mary. Not to mention the whole Johnlockary section!

 

I can't get into Alpha/Omega stories, they usually squick me out, and not a fan of Johnlockary either - I think because I always feel deep down that Sherlock is only doing it to be close to John. I'm sure there are plenty of stories where that definitely isn't true but yea, not my thing. 

 

I'd like to read a relatively straight-forward story where Sherlock is the baby's biological father but the problem is I would still want Johnlock as endgame, and unless the whole thing was planned (which I can't see and isn't what I'm after) I don't know how John could possibly forgive Sherlock enough to end up with him. :S Any ideas anyone? ;)

[besleybean]

My idea is that none of that is going to happen, so I ain't gonna worry about it!

 

[Pseudonym]

Pfft, nevermind the series, what about the crazy, crazy stories? :D

[Boton]

 

I'd like to read a relatively straight-forward story where Sherlock is the baby's biological father but the problem is I would still want Johnlock as endgame, and unless the whole thing was planned (which I can't see and isn't what I'm after) I don't know how John could possibly forgive Sherlock enough to end up with him. :S Any ideas anyone? ;)

 

 

Possibly something like: Mary and Sherlock sleep together, and Baby is the result. Mary dies in childbirth (nod to ACD canon fan theory) or in a rain of bullets after birth sometime (CIA bada$$ theory), and on her deathbed, confesses the child's parentage and begs these two men she has loved to raise the child for her and not deprive the baby of either father.

 

John is upset, and hurt, and barely talking to Sherlock for quite some time, and Sherlock gets the Mary treatment for a while.  (Silences, icy-cold stares when the salt is passed at dinner, separate bedrooms of course.) But he can't bear to tear himself away from Sherlock and this life they have, first for the baby's sake, but soon enough because he sees Sherlock constantly trying to prove, in Sherlocky kinds of ways, that John is a priority to him and that he didn't mean to hurt him.  

 

Finally, some event (criminal baddy, Moriarty, bad curry, whatever) brings things to a head where John realizes that, no matter what, he could never leave Sherlock, and the two clear the air.  Your preferred amount of reunion (insert smut scale here) ensues, and the two live happily ever after.

 

**

 

Personally, I would prefer to keep this on a platonic level, because I'd enjoy that more, and I really, really have a thing for the whole "platonic marriage" trope.  But if you are writing it, you could make the end game as romantic/sexy as you like.

[Pseudonym]

Hm, yes, could be doable. I think you're right there would have to be a big disaster to wake John up to the fact that despite what happened he can't be without Sherlock. I suppose if he can forgive Sherlock faking his death he can forgive this too. :D

 

I won't be writing it, no time sadly :( 

 

[bedelia1984]

 

Thanks for the reminder -- that keeps slipping my mind.  So they can basically go anywhere they like with her, without violating canon.  Or, they've violated canon already by having the real Mary be stillborn (which still puzzles me, by the way), so what the heck.

 

 

This is interesting, as the writers could have sown a seed here for Mary's backstory. The only way I could ever explain that, was that in a sense they wanted to encapsulate the whole of Mary's old story- the death and the child not surviving, into her backstory, so that the future was wide open. But in terms of her parentage there is a lot left to speculate- like for example, if she were a baby that was hidden and officially declared dead for some reason.

 

If Mary has some dangerous crime-family roots, it gives the writers good coverage for any plans to have her or the child go into hiding in the future. Again, to me that is too much focus required on the Mary story, but you never know.

 

Janine is another character whose origins have been speculated about frequently.

 

I am really excited to learn more about a third sibling. I would really love if it turned out to be a sister somehow (not Janine, that would be creepy!), just because I would love to see how Sherlock and Mycroft would interact with a sister.

[Arcadia]

I like your thinking! All of that would suit me just fine.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Thanks for the reminder -- that keeps slipping my mind.  So they can basically go anywhere they like with her, without violating canon.  Or, they've violated canon already by having the real Mary be stillborn (which still puzzles me, by the way), so what the heck.

 

This is interesting, as the writers could have sown a seed here for Mary's backstory. The only way I could ever explain that, was that in a sense they wanted to encapsulate the whole of Mary's old story- the death and the child not surviving, into her backstory, so that the future was wide open. But in terms of her parentage there is a lot left to speculate- like for example, if she were a baby that was hidden and officially declared dead for some reason.

 

If Mary has some dangerous crime-family roots, it gives the writers good coverage for any plans to have her or the child go into hiding in the future. Again, to me that is too much focus required on the Mary story, but you never know.

 

Not sure whether this is what you meant or not, but yeah, the grave could be a fake -- and Mary really is Mary Morstan.  That would be a really cool double twist.  As you say, possibly too much focus on Mary, but then again, you never know how they might handle it.

[Arcadia]

And she's just pretending to be an ex-assassin to protect her real identity? Sure, why the heck not....

 

I suppose it could be deliberately misleading, but judging from the amount of time she's seen in the trailer, I'm not too worried she'll take over the show. I am a little worried that we didn't see John as much as Sherlock.....

[bedelia1984]

Yes- exactly, exactly Carol- that was what I was imagining.

 

I suppose it could be deliberately misleading, but judging from the amount of time she's seen in the trailer, I'm not too worried she'll take over the show. I am a little worried that we didn't see John as much as Sherlock.....

 

 

I think you're right about this. Sherlock and John had a fair bit of distance between them last year.

 

I don't think that is Mary's fault either. John was hurt that Sherlock hadn't confided in him re: the fake death, and then there is Sherlock's worsening drug use complicating things further. I saw John stepping back from Sherlock the way people do when someone seems to be in self-destruct mode and taking whoever's near down with them. Now there is the shooting of Magnussen too. I don't expect John to feel good about being the reason why Sherlock would do such a thing, or the fact that both he and Mary are in a way indebted to him now. I think John may have a lot weighing on him this season. If anything, Mary seems the obvious tool to bring both of them together- because she understands John's perspective, but probably in her own true attitude is closer to Sherlock's way of thinking when it comes to Magnussen.

 

I'm hopeful we may get a little extra Mycroft if there is a family focus, I thought they were hinting at that in the trailer. Really looking forward to the Mrs. Hudson scene.

[Inge l-w]

The problem is what caused Mrs Hudson's extreme reaction: did Mycroft employ Mary, connive at the Moriarty arc (strictly non-ACD), the reappearance scam, perhaps in conjunction with Lady Smallwood, did he fatally endanger Mary? The third one was referred to in the past tense in HLV, so Mycroft may bear a part of the blame, and I have got a really bad feeling about the broken string!

[besleybean]

[Carol the Dabbler]

 

 

... they can basically go anywhere they like with her, without violating canon.  Or, they've violated canon already by having the real Mary be stillborn (which still puzzles me, by the way), so what the heck.

 

 

The only way I could ever explain that, was that in a sense they wanted to encapsulate the whole of Mary's old story- the death and the child not surviving, into her backstory, so that the future was wide open. But in terms of her parentage there is a lot left to speculate- like for example, if she were a baby that was hidden and officially declared dead for some reason.

 

Not sure whether this is what you meant or not, but yeah, the grave could be a fake -- and Mary really is Mary Morstan.

Yes- exactly, exactly Carol- that was what I was imagining.

 

One more thing, then -- how did Sherlock know that the stillborn infant supposedly buried in Chiswick cemetery is the Mary Morstan that "our" Mary is purporting to be? Morstan is apparently not a particularly uncommon name in the UK, and goodness knows Mary is a common enough name. Sherlock has been in the hospital, so it's unlikely he's been doing much leg work. Did he send Billy to -- what? Sneak a peek at her driver's license?

 

Aha! Now we know who swiped Amanda Abbington's purse at the Emmys!

 

And I *really* need to be getting more sleep -- before that actually makes sense to me!

[Arcadia]

...

 

One more thing, then -- how did Sherlock know that the stillborn infant supposedly buried in Chiswick cemetery is the Mary Morstan that "our" Mary is purporting to be? Morstan is apparently not a particularly uncommon name in the UK, and goodness knows Mary is a common enough name.

Mr. Nosy-pants looked at John's birth certificate for no particular reason, so he might have done the same for Mary?

 

Sherlock has been in the hospital, so it's unlikely he's been doing much leg work. Did he send Billy to -- what? Sneak a peek at her driver's license?

I always sort of think he gets his homeless network to look up that kind of stuff for him. I suppose that would include Billy. :(

[Carol the Dabbler]

Mr. Nosy-pants looked at John's birth certificate for no particular reason, so he might have done the same for Mary?

 

I was gonna make some wisecrack about her leaving her birth certificate just lying around -- but after apparently expending some effort to obtain a (presumably) fake document, she would of course keep it handy for times when she needs to "prove" who she is.

 

And I believe that also answers my other question -- Sherlock was sure he'd found the real Mary in the cemetery because he had seen the birth certificate, and the cemetery records jibed with it -- date and place of birth, parents' names, etc.

 

But that's not incompatible with Bedelia's theory that the stillbirth and burial were faked.