#elementary 1x10

“Mrs. Watson, I presume? Sherlock Holmes, your daughter’s charge.” A small self-deprecating smile. “Ms Watson will be here shortly.” He inclined his head slightly as he spoke. He did not extend his hand in greeting until she moved hers and then met it in a firm and steady shake, long enough for her to detect no underlying tremor. She had not realized she was expecting that until she didn’t feel it.

When they were seated and the server inquired about drinks, she hesitated, unsure of the etiquette. Mr. Holmes said quietly, “Please do not abstain on my account,” and she assumed Joan would not have suggested he come or let him be here unattended if she had concerns on this front. When the server turned to him, he gave a small shake of his head and said, “Water is sufficient, thank you.” Once more, she felt an unnoticed thread of tension ease, another old memory slipping back to rest.

Mr. Holmes then launched into an explanation of why Joan was not yet at the restaurant, due to his needing to follow up on a detail of the day’s case, which led to him explaining more about his work. Oren was fascinated and asked question after question, and she remembered him as a small boy borrowing every Encyclopedia Brown book the library had, over and over again. Didn’t Joan read those books too?

She knew that Joan had arrived a split second before he spoke to greet her, by the way his eyes widened in pleasure and the tiniest hint of trepidation. Her heart lurched in recognition. She watched the murmured exchange between them as he held her chair and felt another pang at the easy communication that passed before her. Joan was not entirely pleased about something he’d done, and he knew it, and somehow they managed to express their disagreement without disengaging. She had been able to talk to her daughter like that, once.

When Mr. Holmes spoke about Joan’s work and what it meant for him, she heard herself telling friends about her daughter the surgeon. It was clear Joan had never heard this speech before, and she was gratified on her daughter’s behalf but also on her own. Joan had shut down after her patient died and would brook no discussion of her subsequent career choices. She had good, if misplaced, reasons to expect family members might let her down.

Mary knew her own confused and hurt feelings had only made things worse. There was no way to explain to Joan how she felt responsible, however irrationally, for the pain her daughter went through with that death and its aftermath. She hoped by acknowledging Mr. Holmes’ description, Joan would hear what she’d been trying to say, what she had always wanted to say. How very much she wanted her daughter to be happy.

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