Archive of Our Own

It was a mistake. The address was surely a mistake. A bar? Shouldn't they have known better, as he had battled with his sobriety? But this was a meeting of the Utmost Importance, Sherlock was told, and therefore he had to attend. But at least it was O'Hara's Bar and Restaurant. There would be cops there he was friendly with, he was sure. He wouldn’t be surprised if Gregson would have Bell somewhere on the dining floor, just watching. Not for him to break his sobriety, but just to...be there, for silent support.

Joan had offered to come as well, but he had declined. He did not need her at this point, though he might later. He recognized the names of those who had asked him to come; after all, the world of police consultants was a small one, to be honest. There were many who tried, but to gain the trust of a captain, or even a detective? Rare. He knew Kitty had used her partnership with him and his reputation at New Scotland Yard to start on the road she was on now, but even she had tried before meeting him and it had been a long and hard road until someone listened. He was thankful it was he who had mentored her, because others could have ill intentions.

And the two men meeting with him tonight? Well, they were as remarkable in what they did as he was.

In fact, the two men were currently approaching him from the inside of O’Hara’s as he got to the door. A blonde man in a snazzy three piece suit. A dark haired man in expensive yet casual clothing. They all nodded to each other.

Patrick Jane.

Richard Castle.

Good acquaintances. Possibly friends, now that he’d realized he needed more of them in his life, according to Joan, Kitty, Bell, Alfredo, Gregson...even Ms. Hudson was putting in her two cents between her stints as a muse to various men, when they would sit and chat in Greek because he enjoyed the language and the company. But as this was a matter of the Utmost Importance, he wasn’t sure striking up an actual friendship would be on the table.

Yet.

Castle had a grin on his face. Since he had stopped being a full-time consultant and opened his private investigator office, he hadn’t seen him around One Police Plaza as often, not that he had been there often as his chosen team to work with was out of the 12th Precinct. But Sherlock definitely had to say marriage agreed with him. He himself had assisted Castle’s wife Kate on a few joint cases with her team with Bell and Joan, and it had been a good experience. He respected Ryan and Esposito, and while he had his preferred coroners, Lanie Parish knew her way around a body. In fact, he saw more of her because she and Joan had hit it off instantly and they went out for drinks once a week and Lanie always made sure to come in and see how he was doing.

Gates he knew well too, as the reason Kate had her position as Captain was because Gates had moved to One Police Plaza. She was tough but fair, accepting him well enough when she needed his help even though she knew he and Joan were “Gregson’s pet consultants.” She would occasionally tell them stories of the wild things Castle and the others had done, and through Gates he had a new appreciation for the man now, especially since it had been well over a year since he had seen him.

It had been longer since he had seen Jane in person, though, who also came up to him with a smile, though it was smaller and almost more sentimental. Closer to eight years now, Sherlock thought, when Jane had been a newer consultant. A case he had stumbled into almost by accident in London, while he was consulting for Scotland Yard, had intersected with a case under the purview of the California Bureau of Investigation and three members of the team were brought in: Lisbon, Cho and Jane. He had hit it off more with Lisbon than Jane, at first, but Sherlock had been rather unsurprised by the fact that Jane was as perceptive as he was, and that he had a traumatic backstory. Jane had never gone into full detail about what had happened to him when they had been working together, which was understandable, but they had begun a correspondence after the case and Sherlock had learned more, letter by letter, ever since then. The letter he had received three days prior had held the invitation to this meeting, in fact. Saying it had to do with something of the Utmost Importance, with the letters capitalized for emphasis.

If it was bad news, he wondered why the other men were smiling.

“Castle,” Sherlock said. “Jane.”

“Sherlock,” the two men said in a near chorus.

Castle nodded to a table in a corner. “Already got us a table. I told Patrick you probably wouldn’t want to meet in a bar, but with the fact this is a cop bar as well as a restaurant, it made more sense.”

“I am rather peckish at the moment,” Sherlock replied as they moved to the table. “But I prefer not to imbibe any alcohol. Understandable to both of you, I’m sure.”

“Of course,” Jane said. Apparently the other men had ordered their drinks and it appeared Castle had a cola of some sort that had no scent of liquor wafting up from it, and Jane had water with a slice of lemon. At least there would be no temptation from his acquaintances, though it had never bothered him before that Jane would go out with Lanie and they would imbibe. Why would it have bothered if these two had done the same?

The fact they hadn’t, though, filled him with a surprising warmth.

Once they had settled and a waitress came around, with the three men placing their food orders and him getting a glass of water, Sherlock leaned back in his seat slightly and studied the two men. The smiles were not unnerving, per se, but when he thought of events that were of the Utmost Importance in regards to these two men, it usually involved various crimes and potentially dead bodies, which were generally not things to smile about. Finally he narrowed his eyes a bit and looked from one man to another. “What is this matter of the ‘Utmost Importance’ you mentioned in your last letter, Jane?”

“I’m getting married,” Jane said, his smile taking on a bit of a blissful tinge.

“Yeah, Teresa is finally making an honest man out of him,” Castle said with a chuckle. “Took forever.”

“You’re one to speak, considering how everything went with you and your wife,” Sherlock pointed out in an amused tone, looking at Castle. Then he turned back to Jane. “Congratulations.”

“Thank you,” Jane said with a nod. “I’m having two best men, Rigsby and Cho, but I want you and Richard to be my other two groomsmen. The wedding is in California, and you’re welcome to bring Joan along with you as a guest. I’ll be covering all your expenses, if that helps make the decision easier.”

Sherlock blinked. He knew they were close, but he had not realized they were this close, even after nearly eight years of correspondence. But he found himself smiling a bit more, nodding. “Of course. I’ll ask Joan if she would like to join me, but I would be honored to be a groomsman.”

“Wonderful,” Jane said, his grin growing wider. “I figure we’ll celebrate with lunch now, just the three of us, then perhaps dinner tonight with Kate, Alexis, Joan and anyone from the 12th you want to bring, Richard. I like all of them so it would be nice to celebrate with them. And I would really like to meet Joan in person, Sherlock. Kitty too, if she’s in town”

“She is, but she’ll be bringing her son as Joan and I are her usual babysitters,” he said.

“Sounds like a plan,” Castle said before lifting up his glass. “To having a good reason to reconnect that doesn’t involve murder.”

“Here here,” Jane said, lifting up his glass and waiting.

Sherlock raised up his own glass and looked at the two men he was now starting to consider outright friends, and it appeared the feeling was becoming mutual, if it wasn’t already. “Here, here.”