Guitar Man
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Written for a prompt on the Sherlock BBC Kink Meme: Before joining the army, John played guitar and was part of a short-lived band that nonetheless gained a small but devoted cult following. Cue this fact being outed (maybe during a case) and Sherlock listening to all their old tracks and becoming a John!groupie.
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- Part 1 of Guitar Man
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Having written Gladstone's Collar in response to a prompt "John used to be in a band", I realised what was missing. John actually playing the guitar. Accompanied by Sherlock on the violin, if at all possible. So I promptly wrote this sequel.
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- Part 2 of Guitar Man
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In Gladstone's Collar and Mash-ups and Jams, Sherlock discovers John used to be in a band. Sharp, Empty House and Copper Beaches are three of the band's songs mentioned in the stories. This is the lyric for Sharp, which John wrote at the age of 18 after he found Harriet in the bathtub, cutting a girl's name into her arm with a razor blade. This isn't the most understanding response to that event. He was very young and very upset.
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- Part 3 of Guitar Man
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Another of the songs that John wrote in his youth when he was in a band (see the stories Gladstone's Collar and Mash-ups and Jams). Although not explained in the stories, this song is about John's dysfunctional home and his late mother, who (in this fic) died when John was around 14.
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- Part 4 of Guitar Man
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The third of the songs referenced in Gladstone's Collar and Mash-Ups an Jams. It wasn't given a context in the story, but in writing the lyric I wanted to refer to John's comment that he used to put all his feelings into songs, but gave it up and did medicine instead, so that everything he feels is channelled into other things now. So this song sort of reflects the point at which I think 18 year old John stopped being angry with an uncaring world and chose a new direction for himself.
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- Part 5 of Guitar Man
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Here's another story set in the Guitar Man universe, in which John used to be in a band. This one is set a few months after Mash-ups and Jams. Not only does Sherlock actually like John's old music, he's intrigued because he had not deduced this as being part of John's past. John is playing around with writing songs again, after 20 years, but he's trying to keep it a bit of a secret. As usual, where Sherlock is concerned, this doesn't work.
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- Part 6 of Guitar Man
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One of the three of John's new songs that Sherlock plays after he steals the music from John's locked filing cabinet. John wrote this song partly while thinking of how Mycroft told him: "When you walk with Sherlock Holmes,you see the battlefield." John knows this, and is perfectly all right with this. In fact, he's really kind of grateful.
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- Part 7 of Guitar Man
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One of the three songs that John wrote that SHerlock promptly steals from John's room so he can play them. In it, John reflects on what he was like before meeting Sherlock, and what he's like after. John is never more aware of his dual nature, or of what he owes to Sherlock, than when he's writing songs about it.
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- Part 8 of Guitar Man
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The first of John's new songs that Sherlock plays, after he steals the music from John's locked filing cabinet. The song is inspired by the scene where Sherlock tells John that "You'll never be the most luminous of people, but as a conductor of light, you're unbeatable!".
In the song, John reflects on this concept in relation to what he sees as his own dual and potentially dark nature.
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- Part 9 of Guitar Man
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John used to be in a band. Sherlock found out and now they muck about at home playing music, sometimes. A new case means they need to go undercover with a whole band: so Anderson, Lestrade and Molly Hooper step up for a revival of John's old band, Gladstone's Collar.
But will the band survive Sherlock's scorn? And will Sherlock break the rules and sing one of John's new songs in front of cops from the Yard, thereby revealing far too much of John's inner self to those who might be shocked by it?
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- Part 10 of Guitar Man
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This is the next story in the Guitar Man series. Yes, folks, it's the actual concert for which Sherlock, John, Greg, Molly and Thaddeus Anderson are going undercover - seen through the eyes of Sally Donovan.
Sally is glad Tad is having a good time, but she thinks it's going to be an embarrassing disaster. Things don't certainly go entirely to plan, either, when things go a bit wrong and John Watson has to disarm someone live on stage.
This story is not especially realistic, but nothing from this series really is, music-wise, so just let it go and I hope you find it fun.
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- Part 11 of Guitar Man
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A bit of a round-up after the one-off rock gig revival of Gladstone's Collar for a case, seen mostly from Greg Lestrade's point of view.
Edit: I suddenly realised that I'd mixed Bean and Kelly up from their original descriptions in 'Gladestone's Collar'. Fixed now.
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- Part 12 of Guitar Man
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The Gladstone's Collar series continues but moves into angsty territory with a post-Reichenbach tale.
John has lost a lot with the death of his friend, but he refuses to lose the gift of music that Sherlock gave back to him. John also has the ghost of a suspicion and an insane hope. Time to send out a message in a bottle.
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- Part 13 of Guitar Man
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I'm working on a new story in the Guitar Man series, set in the months following Not Crying: Calling. I needed to write another song for John to send into the silence, and this is it. John's apology to Sherlock for calling him a machine in The Reichenbach Fall.
At the time John writes this song, Sherlock is still in hiding and almost everyone thinks he's dead. These songs are the only message John can send, and the songs mustn't give away the truth or Sherlock's life (and possibly John's, Lestrade's and Mrs Hudson's) are at stake. As far as anyone else is concerned, John Watson is just expressing his grief through songs to his dead friend.
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- Part 14 of Guitar Man
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Some things about Sherlock Holmes's death didn't add up, so John Watson sent a song out into the abyss on the crazy hope that maybe he wasn't dead after all. And he got a reply, a secret remix. But now what? Messages like that are too complex to be tenable, or safe. And how can they convey anything practical?
Then the phone calls begin; in which the caller doesn't speak a word. How is John supposed to do anything with that?
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- Part 15 of Guitar Man
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Sherlock has been home for two weeks, and is well on the way to recovering from his difficult year away from home. But he won't stop playing sad songs, and he's avoiding even the idea of a case, despite acting like he wants one. Sherlock needs to lighten up, and to confront the thing that's keeping him from wanting to solve crimes. Perhaps John has some insights of his own. Plus, he's written a rubbish happy song for Sherlock, but he won't let Sherlock hear it unless he comes to band practice.
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- Part 16 of Guitar Man
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It's two months after Sherlock's return, and life is returning to a new kind of routine for everyone. After everything they've been through and everything they've learned about who they are and who they love, the lives of Sherlock Holmes, John Watson and their friends have achieved a new alchemy. Especially with their hobby band, Collared!
Collared are engaged to play at a police charity fete. Shenanigans, as they say, ensue.
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- Part 17 of Guitar Man
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These are the full lyrics to the song John sings for Sherlock in the epilogue of Collared. Initially, he thought it too sentimental to share with Sherlock. Then he decided that maybe Sherlock needed a bit more overt sentiment, though if Sherlock gets snide he may find John writing an 'I live with an unmitigated arse' song instead. (Oh. There's a thought. I should write that one too.)
Series
- Part 18 of Guitar Man
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Series
- Part 19 of Guitar Man
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This is the second of the three songs John agreed to play for Sherlock, even though Sherlock lost the bet that John would forget the freeform dance moves from a recent case (as described in the Guitar Man series story Collared - The Dancing Epilogue).
John has previously not played these for Sherlock because he thinks they may be too sentimental for Sherlock. I think he has slightly underestimated Sherlock's new capacity for sentiment.
The first song was Never Sunset.
Series
- Part 20 of Guitar Man
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This is the third of the songs John wrote about him and Sherlock that initially he didn't want to play for Sherlock at the end of Collared, on the basis that they were too sentimental and he wasn't ready to share them yet.
Binary is half teasing, with its astronomy reference, but half an apology for the crack about Sherlock not knowing if the Earth orbits the Sun or vice versa, because so many people try to use it as a way of taking Sherlock down a peg or two. John thinks those people are twats.
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- Part 21 of Guitar Man
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A series of ficlets and drabbles set in the twenty seven years between the events of Collared and The Sweetest Day. Story titles generally come from song lyrics.
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- Part 22 of Guitar Man
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A song that Sherlock and John made up for Violet and Ford when the kids were little. All the spoken word bits are usually shouted out by either the kids or Sherlock or John. (OR all of them at once, if that's their mood).
It's a very silly song, meant for quite smart and very young kids. Everyone has added verses over the years, naturally, but these are the original words.
As overheard by Mary and Nirupa, and Mycroft and Sally, while the kids, Sherlock and John were busy in their shock blanket fort, in Shock Treatment: Medley.
You can hear me sing (and shout) it here on Sendspace
It's also on Tumblr now.
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- Part 23 of Guitar Man
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WARNING: Off-screen suicide; discussion of suicide; sadness and angst.
This weekend, a friend of mine attempted suicide. I wish I knew how to help him. I wish the things that plague him could be made to go away, to leave him be. He's a good man. He deserves better.
I wrote this, anyway. Just me trying to process it, I suppose.
Everyone out there. I know I don't know you very well. I know there are things about your lives I'll never know. But please. Even if whatever haunts you seems too hard to bear. Please stay with us. Please. Find someone to talk to. A friend, even those online ones who may not have met your body. We've met your mind. You matter. You're loved, even if you think you are too broken to love. You are loved.
Remember the winter comes around all the time, but so does the spring. It does. Please stay.
Please stay.
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- Part 24 of Guitar Man
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A series of Xmas fics set in the Guitar Man universe. Just a few to send us off towards the New Year.
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- Part 25 of Guitar Man
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Sherlock has a list of things he likes about music and John. John has a list too. It's slightly longer, but more concise.
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- Part 26 of Guitar Man
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At their 30th Anniversary retirement party (in The Sweetest Days), John and Sherlock confessed to their gathered friends and family that they'd once kissed for a case. John thought about Sigourney Weaver. Sherlock thought of England. Both say it wasn't the weirdest thing they've ever done.
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- Part 27 of Guitar Man
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An ordinary day is torn to shreds by a bomb blast, and John's friends are reminded that he's not just Sherlock's blogger and assistant: he's a soldier and a doctor and a leader in his own right. But he's human, too, like anyone else.
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- Part 28 of Guitar Man
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A week after the bomb blast (in To Be Consoled), the case is closed. John and Sherlock dare to attempt sleep at last. PTSD nightmares are in store for John, they know: but it's Sherlock who wakes, frantically trying to scrub the phantom blood from his skin.
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- Part 29 of Guitar Man
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Mrs Hudson is not John and Sherlock's housekeeper, but she's a hell of a lot more than just their their landlady. She knows the secrets of Baker Street. She even keeps it a secret that she knows those secrets, even from Sherlock Holmes. That's because there's much, much more to Mrs Hudson than meets the eye.
This story overlaps with events from Silence and Lullaby and Keep Following the Heartlines.
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- Part 30 of Guitar Man
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In the Guitar Man universe, most of the songs are written by John, either from his years as a teenage rocker or later songs that he wrote for Sherlock.
But Greg has some talent as well, and this is the song he wrote for his wife, Molly Hooper. THey haven't asked the band to play it, but he sings it for her when they're doing the dishes, or in the car on the way to work, or whenever the mood seems to call for it, really.
Series
- Part 31 of Guitar Man
- Words:
- 233
- Chapters:
- 1/1
- Kudos:
- 12
- Hits:
- 369
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It's Greg and Molly's fifth wedding anniversary, and they have special plans to celebrate. A little game involving a collar and a leash and some silky underwear. All for Greg.
This is a sexually explicit story of kinky, giggly sex between consenting adults.
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- Part 32 of Guitar Man
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John Watson is meant to be a good man, and he is. But even good men sometimes do terrible things when they are pushed to the edge; when there are monsters and those that must be defended from monsters.
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- Part 33 of Guitar Man
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After writing the scary!BAMF!John story Show No Mercy, a new song happened. John singing about his dark side... and maybe Sherlock's too. He does tend to speak for both of them in his Guitar Man lyrics.
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- Part 34 of Guitar Man
- Words:
- 100
- Chapters:
- 1/1
- Kudos:
- 10
- Hits:
- 365
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John and Sherlock are retired and growing older and deafer and blinder. There are still adventures to look forward to, though, through the hearts of their grandchildren.
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- Part 35 of Guitar Man
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Violet is giving birth to her first child. The waiting room is full of anxious grandparents. Let's face it - there are an awful lot of them for one small baby. The nurse tries to clear the room. That was a mistake.
WARNING: serious schmoopage follows.
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- Part 36 of Guitar Man
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It's Greg's stag party. John has made Sherlock promise to not be an arse. Sherlock is conducting experiments in social rituals. Sherlock is not half as sober as he thinks he is. Drunken revelations are surely the order of the day. Once the boyband dancing is over, of course.
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- Part 37 of Guitar Man
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The Hooper-Lestrade twins, Chris and David, have a secret. They wonder if they should tell their parents. They wonder if their parents already know. They wonder if their parents will care if they do.
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- Part 38 of Guitar Man
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Everyone always assumes that Sherlock Holmes is hell to live with and that John Watson has the patience of a saint. However, there's a reason John asked Mike Stamford that day: "Who would want to share a flat with me?"
Or: in which it's all John's fault, and Sherlock is, for Sherlock, remarkably patient.
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- Part 39 of Guitar Man
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Before Moriarty, Sherlock Holmes had an unfortunate tendency to harm his friends with his unguarded words. It took him a long time to learn that his unthinking words could hurt, and longer still to learn that he didn't want to hurt some people. Sherlock returned from his Year in Hell a remade man. He's getting back into his life, changed as it is. As he is. He's a better man in some ways, but a worse one, too: he's done terrible and necessary things that still give him nightmares.
But Sherlock is still Sherlock, which is to say, he can still be an unthinking arse: but when someone hurts Molly, he knows exactly how to use his words as weapons. The wonder is that he's learned how to use them to make things better, too.
But he's still rubbish at swearing.
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- Part 40 of Guitar Man
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Then there was the time Molly went into labour. On stage. While playing That Song. And she had a panic attack about being a terrible mother. And then Sherlock got annoyed.
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- Part 41 of Guitar Man
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Sherlock gets a call from Mycroft. It's over. At last. But Sherlock can't tell John, still, about his Mummy, and all the ugly history leading up to this ending. Luckily, Mrs Hudson knows. Luckily, John's there for him, whether Sherlock knows he needs him or not.
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- Part 42 of Guitar Man
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Some people wanted to know what happened at dinner after I Know a Thing About Contrition. It was this.
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- Part 43 of Guitar Man
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Tad Anderson loves to go dancing. He at least knows that's one thing he's good at. Tonight, he's going to meet the love of his life. If he doesn't scare her off with his general nerdiness and descriptions of crime scenes.
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- Part 44 of Guitar Man
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Apparently I'm in a soppy mood.
Sherlock has the care of the infant Ford for the night, which leads him to reflections on the nature of love. For a man who talks so much, he never has the right words. But maybe they're not necessary after all.
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- Part 45 of Guitar Man
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People have asked for more stories about Nirupa. So here she is, doing a bit of parenting at the playground with Sherlock. Of course, being this family, wherever they are, crime is not far behind, and Violet is taking after more than her biological parents.
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- Part 46 of Guitar Man
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Things are getting serious between John Watson and Mary Morstan. It's time for Mary's best friend to give this doctor/soldier/blogger The Talk. Later on, John wants to know if Sherlock's going to give the same talk to Mary.
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- Part 47 of Guitar Man
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The British Goverment, the Met and the World's Only Consulting Detective and his Blogger are working together on a case. By dressing in drag and pimping one of them out to an international spy and mutilator of prostitutes.
Only something goes a bit wrong, and the wrong cross-dressing dancing boy gets taken away for mutiliation.
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- Part 48 of Guitar Man
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Archimedes was a very educational fish for his 15 years in Baker Street. At the end of Archimedes' life, he still has one more thing to teach Sherlock Holmes, about his own past and about the importance of the body as transport.
Series
- Part 49 of Guitar Man
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Remember the way I held your hand (under the lamp post and ran)? by 221b_hound
Sherlock (TV)
16 Jun 2013
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In AO3, this story is #50 in the Guitar Man universe. I thought maybe it was time for Sherlock to say three words that he's never really said to John Watson. They both know it, but sometimes it's good to articulate the truth.
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- Part 50 of Guitar Man
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Sally sits by the fire, contemplating the baby she carries, and how she came to love Mycroft Holmes.
Series
- Part 51 of Guitar Man