Fic Rec: Practical Johnkeeping

[rachelindeed.livejournal.com]

Title: Practical Johnkeeping
Author: what_alchemy
Pairing: Sherlock/John
Length: 4,300 words
Rating: M
Warnings: none
Verse: Sherlock BBC
Author's summary: Sherlock predicts nectar flow the same way he deduces a murder, but he harvests the honey like John coddles the dog.

Reccer's comments: My favorite retirement fic, although it's definitely not smooth sailing. Sherlock is going through a difficult time, struggling with deep-seated fears about John's health, powerful insecurities about John's faithfulness, and magnificent irritation about John's bloody bulldog. (I thought it was inspired to pick up that throw-away line from A Study in Scarlet about Watson's "bull pup" and make it into an ongoing source of conflict at the other end of their lives). Sherlock in this story is, by turns, stroppy, frantic, achingly tender, painfully vulnerable and at a loss, but ultimately this is the story of a love that stands the test of time. No relationship, no matter how long established, is easy, but it doesn't have to be easy to be beautiful.