Can't Stay Away (BBC Sherlock) -2-

13. Stag Night

*Flashback*

Dear Journal,

The wedding is getting closer. It's weird to think about it. Mary helped the bridesmaids choose dresses. Janine, the maid of honor, and I picked strapless ones. I think one bridesmaid decided to have thick straps on hers. Well, to each their own. It's not like we have to match, Mary said we didn't have to. Well, the color is the only thing that needs to coordinate.

That whole case with the guardsman is, sadly, unsolved. Well, I guess everything can't be explained. Maybe someone will find the answer to it. Or not.

Despite how weird it will sound, I'm okay with having Mary as a stepmother. She's a real sweetheart, but it's not the same. She's not my mother.

Courtney. My dad's first long-term girlfriend.

I'm tearing up thinking about her. How much different our lives would have been had she told my dad about me. What if we had stayed together? I would have an accent like my parents! Dad would have never met Sherlock, either. He would have never met Mary, either, or be prepared to marry her.

No matter what path, there are happy times in them.

Bayley is getting kind of annoyed with being apart from me for this long. I can't believe I'm thinking it, but, I think he's jealous of Sherlock. I laugh as I write this. It's silly to be jealous of him. Sure, he gets to be around me. That's what I want Bayley's jealousy to be about, but I know it isn't.

I don't see why Bay is worrying, though. Nothing is going to change my feelings about him.

"You're just like your father."

I winced as I felt Sherlock breathing down my neck. I shut the journal. "Excuse me, nosy. This is private and not yours."

"Since when did you find someone else?"

"When you vanished off the face of the earth," I retorted. "Why do you care? You're not hoping he's a psychopath too, are you?"

"Why would I?"

"You don't have a case right now. You might get bored and resort to shooting the wall again." I thought of the bulleted smiley lurking on the wall. "Oh, when the wedding comes around and if you get to meet him, be nice."

"That's asking a lot."

"I don't want you to drive him off." I sniffed. "We have something strong, and I don't want you to burn it down in less than twenty-four hours." I noticed Sherlock's attire. "Going somewhere?"

"Out."

"Oh. Did you find a case after all?"

"No, I told you. Your father and I are having a stag night."

I racked my brain. "Um, no, you never told me that."

"You weren't listening."

I rubbed my face. "Why are you putting me through this torture?"

"What torture?"

"You'll come home drunk as anything. Oh my God, what are you like drunk?"

"We'll know tonight when I come back."

"If you do. You may end up passed out somewhere, or in jail. If I get a call early in the morning from Greg saying I need to come get you two, I'm filing a restraining order for my dad against you."