Holmes hums thoughtfully and strokes his fingers over Watson's neck. He can hear everything Watson isn't saying, and he tries to imagine Watson getting through the day with so little to sustain him. He's glad that Watson had the Lestrades too, and their godchildren, so he could at least get some moral support, could at least invest himself in someone else's life. Holmes can be a very solitary creature; Watson, however, needs another life thrumming alongside his own.

"That sounds horrifically dull," he says distastefully. "You are a good doctor, my dear, but you were not meant to be such an ordinary doctor. You were not meant to be an ordinary anything."