Bonus fic: Brandy and Soda

[holmesticemods]

Title: Brandy and Soda
Author: sanguinity
Verse: Nicholas Meyer, The Seven Percent Solution
Characters/Pairings: John Watson, Sherlock Holmes
Rating: Teen
Warnings: major character death; past drug use
Summary: Holmes returns to Baker Street.
Author note: rachelindeed’s lovely prompt got me to thinking about post-Seven Percent stories, and what the novel’s revision of

Comments

[laurose8]

Thank you for a very rich fic. Great work on each character, with the emotion moving and just right.

[sanguinity]

I'm glad you enjoyed, thank you!

[xfdryad]

Oh, this was absolutely lovely.

[sanguinity]

Thank you! :-)

[rachelindeed]

Oh, that was beautiful, and I'm so glad you shared it with us all. I particularly loved your idea that Mary would have sent for Holmes when Watson would not -- that she would have fought hard to hold on until some support was at hand for his grief. And Watson's painful bargaining mindset rang very true (and how brilliant to center it around that small detail from Meyer's novel about the brandy and soda!)

One of the aspects of Seven Percent Solution that I loved was Mary's participation in the early stages of their plotting on Holmes's behalf, and the fact that she thought to call on Mycroft to help them lay the trail to Vienna. Holmes did say she had "a decided genius" for their brand of work, and I admire that side of her so much. It was wonderful to revisit it here

[sanguinity]

I knew from some of your comments at 221b-recs that you can sometimes enjoy angsty works, but without knowing the particulars of "sometimes," it seemed best to set this aside and write something else for you. I'm glad that I did, but I'm also pleased that both pieces ultimately worked for you.

This was one of those stories that arrived fully formed in one go, which happens every once in a while. The brandy and soda was one of the few concrete details of their marriage in the novel, so I of course had to bring it forward; it wasn't until I was looking for a title that I realized how central it really was, in its own quiet way.

And yes, Mary sending for Holmes, and then fighting to hold on until he arrived. Mary may be off-screen throughout, but I had hoped there was enough here that she would register as a character in her own right. (And yes, she has a decided genius for investigation! In the branch universe of my heart, Mary didn't wait seven years to become a model client for Holmes, but pursued the question of the pearls herself

[autumnatmidnite]

A truly gorgeous story. I absolutely loved Mary's role in this, and how it blended so seamlessly into the Seven Percent Solution's universe. And Watson's bargaining, for that matter, because what man in his position wouldn't? I think that was the most emotive part, and it tore at my heart a little. Still, a wonderful fic that I thank you sincerely for sharing.

[sanguinity]

I had hoped Mary wasn't too far off the sidelines to register as a character in her own right; I'm glad to know she wasn't. And there are a few things about the canonical Hiatus that I have a hard time with; 7PER fixes one of them outright, and presented the easy oppty to fix another, so I took it. (I... do view this story as a fix-it, actually, even though part of me twitches at calling it that.)

Thank you for your kind comments, and I'm glad you enjoyed it.

[saki101]

So much love among three people. It gives lustre to such a dark moment in their lives. Beautiful.

[sanguinity]

Thank you. I did very much hope this would come off as a story about people loving each other well.