Jekyll's Secret (Chapter 5)
So the Journey Begins
Martin felt quite unnerved, to be honest.
As he was standing in front of Carolyn's house, he was battling with himself on whether ringing the bell or not, what things should be said, what if Carolyn already found a replacement of Martin, like some guy called "Marvin".
He wished Douglas would be here. Douglas always stepped on Carolyn's nerve much more than he did. Maybe Carolyn would be more pissed about Douglas and forgot the fact that Martin had disappeared for two years.
No, he didn't want Douglas here. Douglas' smug face was the least he needed.
He raised his finger to press the door bell but stopped in the middle of the air. It was a bad idea. It must be. He never had a good idea.
If it wasn't because of Mycroft's stupid gift, a new pilot uniform, he could have just moved on and got a new job, a proper one. Now with that smashing armour, his heart was itchy again for the feeling of flying. Besides, he missed everybody. He really did.
He took a deep breath in and slowly breathed out. Then, he rang the door bell.
The door opened after a few seconds.
Carolyn stood there and looked at Martin mouth-opened.
Martin smiled at her, praying inside that she would not hit him with a pan.
No, Carolyn didn't hit him.
Carolyn slapped him.
"Ouch!" Martin cried out.
Carolyn remained stiff for some time but out of nowhere, she was then crying, actually crying, as if she was the one whom just got slapped.
A normal life for a normal man would be going to work early, having lunch with friends, going back home to the arms of his beloved wife and children, and occasionally having a picnic at Hyde Park.
That was never John Watson's life and never would be.
He lost count of the bottles of beer a long time ago but he was always sober.
They said that if someone important in your life left, you would have seen the delusion of traces of him or her lingering and that would be perfectly normal.
John didn't see the slightest hallucination at all. John knew that Sherlock Holmes, his friend of all time, the greatest man of twenty-first century, died, in front of his own eyes.
"That's it!" Someone pulled the curtains and the sunlight was dazzlingly bright, "You, young man, are going on a vacation."
John raised his hand, attempting to cover some lights and avoid eye-contact with a furious Mrs Hudson.
Martin felt quite unnerved, again.
Douglas was staring at him intensely for the whole five minutes, yet nothing came out of his mouth. There was nothing wrong with Douglas if he said anything sarcastic. Something was definitely not right if Douglas's mouth decided to take a sit-back and let the world have the peace.
"News flash: I'm not dead." Martin chuckled awkwardly.
All Douglas did was to narrow his eyes.
"I know you must have a lot questions. But the important thing is…" Martin was interrupted when Douglas suddenly stood up to take off his jacket, put his hat aside, and folded his jacket neatly.
"…I'm back."
Ignoring Martin completely, Douglas began to undo his cuff button.
"What are you doing, Douglas?"
A heavy slap in the face was all he got as a response.
Martin touched his left cheek as he was going to open his mouth, Arthur entered the cabin.
Finally someone who would be happy to see me!
Martin thought.
"Morning~~Morning~~Morning~~Morning~~" Arthur was as cheerful as always.
"Douglas." Arthur had a funny facial expression on him, "Why does Martin today look miserable?"
"Because he is." Douglas murmured his first sentence.
"Hey, Arthur." Martin waved to Arthur.
"But mum told me he's imaginary. How could someone imaginary feel pain?" Arthur was still confused.
"No, Arthur. This Martin is real. The one you pictured before was imaginary." Douglas explained as he put the jacket back on.
"Oh, I see." Arthur nodded, "Hi, Martin. Nice to meet you finally! "
"No, Arthur. This Martin, the real one, did fly with us. The one you imagined to fly the plane while whistling and doing ridiculous tap dance doesn't exist."
"What a pity! He was a good lad." Arthur seemed a bit upset, "So this one actually exists, right?"
"Yes, Arthur." Martin nodded.
"Wait! What if you, Douglas, are not real, either?" Arthur raised his head to think.
"Well thought, Arthur." Douglas nodded his head sarcastically.
Martin face palmed.
"Oh, I know! There's only one way to find out."
"What way?" Martin asked.
Immediately, Arthur slapped Martin.
"What is it with you people?" Martin cried out for the pain, "Why it's always the left side? Don't you know it's really hurt to get repeatedly slapped on one side?"
"So you are real, then."
"Yes!"Martin shouted.
"But still, that doesn't mean Douglas is real."
John helped Molly to lift the hand baggage.
"Thanks a lot, John."
"Don't mention it." John sat down into his seat, "I'm sorry you are dragged into this."
"It's okay. I only hope Mrs Hudson's hips will get better." Molly said while she secured the seat belt, "She really cares about you, you know."
"Yeah." John sighed, "I know I should perk up. It's just…" John looked away, trying not to be vulnerable, "…hard to do it."
Molly looked at him carefully before saying anything, "I'm sure you will get better after this vacation."
She was a bit unsettled about being John's "babysitter", as quoting Mrs Hudson's original words. Mrs Hudson exhorted her again and again not to let John drink, smoke or do anything involving sulking until the end of the world. Although John was suffering, she still couldn't tell John that Sherlock might be alive. She was not even sure herself so it would be better not to give John any false hope. Somehow that makes her feel it was her responsibility to save John some pain.
Currently John was still frustrated. But as long as John didn't have an emotional break-down, Molly would consider that the situation went rather smoothly.
They waited for the plane to take off silently. The passengers around them were really quiet as well.
"Gooooooooooooooood Morning, ladies and gentlemen! Welcome abroad to MJN. This is Captain Crieff speaking. May I just say that the weather is smashingly good today?"
There was a moment when Molly thought that was a certain somebody's voice. But it couldn't be, could it? Surely he should be somewhere in Prague kicking ass and saving the world rather than messing with poor John, shouldn't he?
Molly turned and looked at John.
Oh, no.
She knew that look. John had this sort of tell before turning from a friendly Teddy Bear to a violent King Kong. John undid the seat belt and before Molly realized, he rushed to the cabin.
This is so not going to end well.