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Joan wasn’t sure why she agreed to help her mother with the insanity of hosting a Watson family reunion. For one, it meant having to dig up new addresses for over half of the family and the other part was having to be there. The only good thing was that there were no pressing cases, even if she kept on looking at her phone every now and then when she was sure nobody was looking. There was going to be three more days of this and she knew she had to make the best of it. The only good thing is that she was going to finally meet her cousin John from England. In a weird twist of fate, they were both former doctors, which made her want to meet him even more. As a short man with blonde hair and blue eyes was seen, she made her way over. “John?”
“Yep,” John Watson said, grinning. “Easy to spot in this crowd, I guess.”
“Only because not a lot of the other side of the family is coming,” Joan said, looking around. “I think mom’s around here somewhere, but I have no clue where.”
“That’s fine,” John said. “Besides, I really just came to finally meet you.”
“Yeah, it’s been a lot of back and forth over email,” Joan said, grinning at hearing his chuckle. “And you’re nearly a new dad?”
“Yeah,” John said. “Mary couldn’t make the trip but she basically threw me on the plane. She’s only six months, but the doctor doesn’t want to take any chances since it’s her first and there’s been a few complications.”
“But they’re both stable now?”
“Yes, thank everything,” John said. “Also, this came up at a good time. The person I work with had to come to New York on family business as well.”
“Oh, hopefully not bad?” Joan asked.
“His cousin died,” John said. “Bit of a shock for him, since his brother shares the same name and he thought that, if his brother died, there’d be a red alert.”
“Well, glad that it wasn’t his brother then,” Joan said. “What’s the name?”
“Mycroft,” John said.
Joan blinked. “You’re sure of the name?”
“Yep,” John said. “Tall man, carries a brolly, tries to seem like a criminal mastermind.”
“That’s completely different from the Mycroft I know – knew, sorry,” Joan said. “Save for the tall part. He ran a restaurant business that was actually a front for MI-6.”
“It would fit with the spy part of the Mycroft I know,” John said, looking around at the family reunion happening without them being engaged. “Mind going and getting a drink?”
“I think that’s a great idea; let me just go grab my things,” Joan said. She made a quick beeline for her coat and purse, giving her mom a kiss and saying a quick goodbye to other cousins before making her way back to John. “Did you rent a car or come by taxi?”
“Cab,” John said. “Sorry, your type of cab.”
Joan smiled and led him to the edge of the part, calling for a taxi and getting in when one quickly pulled over. John followed and Joan gave the address of a nice wine and beer bar she knew. “If that’s okay.”
“Sounds good,” John said and made a face when his phone beeped with an alert. “Sorry,’ he said and checked it. His fingers moved slowly over the keys to type out a reply and he put it away. “He’s not happy dealing with family.”
“So, he’s a Holmes, but what’s his first name?” Joan asked.
“Sherlock,” John said. “Which he tried to convince me was a girl’s name.”
Joan blinked. “Life is funny sometimes,” she said.
“There’s a perfectly good Holmes explanation for everyone having the same names,” he said. “Just tell me you don’t work with a Detective Inspector Lestrade and I’ll be happy.”
“No, Captain Gregson,” Joan replied. “But my Sherlock did work with a Lestrade for a while. Bit of a drunk and… well, just not a great person to be around. I thought that he was going to make Sherlock slip back.”
“What do you do? Or, did, is perhaps the better word,” John said.
“I was a sober companion. It’s how I met him, his father hired me through the company I worked for, and it went from there. Now I’m a police consultant and was looking to getting back into medicine before Sherlock pulled completely out of consulting. Which I don’t think will last long, but considering Sherlock, who knows,” Joan said.
“So your Sherlock used too,” John said. “Why?”
“He thought that the love of his life was murdered, but he was using long before that too,” Joan said. “Turns out that she’s really a criminal mastermind named Jaimie Moriarty instead of an art restorer called Irene Adler.”
“…that’s, well, interesting only begins to cover it,” John said. “Considering we also have a Moriarty and an Irene, but they are very much not the same person. If only because one is male the other one is definitely not.”
“How do you know?” Joan asked. “Considering surgery these days.”
“I’ve seen her naked and there aren’t any scars down there from what I could see,” John said. “Or wanted to see. It was strange. That entire case was strange.”
“I’m not sure which case has been the strangest for me,” she said. “But I wonder if that’s because I’m just getting used to the abnormal being normal.”
“Could be,” he said. “It didn’t take long for it to become normal, did it?”
“Nope,” she said, smiling. “And, looking back, I really wouldn’t change anything. Well, maybe one or two things, but nothing really big.”
“Well, that’s good,” he said as the cab pulled to a stop. He paid for them, smiling at Joan’s thank you, and got out of the cab. He offered her a hand, which she took, and they made their way inside. They were able to get an out of the way table when Joan’s phone beeped with a message of her own.
She looked it over and laughed. “I think they’re more alike than they like to admit. I’ve now got a text asking for me to help save him from relatives.”
“Well, not our problem,” he said. “We’re catching up with our own family.”
She smiled. “Exactly,” she said, turning off the sound for alerts. The two of them relaxed into a quick familiarity with each other, exchanging stories of their Sherlocks and drinking a bit too much. When they parted ways, a once a week Skype session was already planned with Joan promising to check her calendar for a good time to visit in four months and meet the newest addition to the Watson family. All in all, to her, it was a wonderful family reunion.