221B: Practice makes Perfect

[marysutherland]

BBC Sherlock

Rating: 12 (implied het)

Minor spoilers for Series 3

Sarah is surprised to get a phone call about John after all this time, but the woman who contacts her is insistent.

"I believe you previously employed him as a locum," she says. "We're thinking of taking him on, so I need to ask how you'd rate his performance."

"Um..."

"Would you say it was excellent, good, adequate or unsatisfactory?"

Their form almost certainly doesn't have a tick-box for Falls asleep at work, but brilliant if you're attacked by Chinese gangsters.

"Adequate," Sarah says firmly.

"And his bedside manner?"

We never got quite as far as my bed, but I suspect his performance there would have been excellent.

"Adequate," Sarah says. "No, good. He gets on well with people."

"So he's able to cope with difficult colleagues?"

"Yes, excellent at that."

"I did wonder about problems in his last job. Dr Watson said the man he worked for had gone away unexpectedly..."

"I heard about it," Sarah says. "John was working privately with a consultant. I think he was very much appreciated."

"So overall, you'd recommend Dr Watson?"

"Definitely." Though Sarah supposes she should give them some warning. "John's been a soldier as well, so he's quite glamorous in his own quiet way. You should possibly keep him away from any staff at your practice who are feeling a bit bored."

Comments

[ascendant-angel.livejournal.com]

Well that wins the best thing about today. Today pretty much sucked from the moment I woke up but at least it's going to end on a good note.

I never was that fond of Sarah in the show, but this is beautiful all the same.

[marysutherland.livejournal.com]

Sorry you had a lousy day yesterday, but I'm pleased to have cheered you up a bit, at least. I hope next week goes better for you.

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

I can well see Sarah thinking there was no way she could adequately describe John to a potential employer.

[marysutherland.livejournal.com]

A fully accurate statement about John is going to get him turned down by almost any employer. And I imagine Sarah as still feeling fond of John and also probably suspecting how much he needs this locum job. So she's trying to give him a decent reference without flat-out lying, which is something of an art. Maybe she should have gone with the old line: "If you can get him to work for you, you will be very lucky".

[shehasathree]

*like*

[frozen_delight]

This is amazing! I love Sarah very, very much and I think you've captured her incredibly well here. It's great how kind and supportive she is of John while at the same time standing up for her own interests and acknowledging that he might not be the most reliable employee. It also makes for an insight into her character that she felt drawn to John because she was a bit bored - their relationship seems weirdly doomed that way: She likes him because he's attracted to danger (and attracts danger), but because of that, he's imcapable of sustaining any sort of lasting relationship.

Furthermore, the Post-Reichenbach context added a lot to the story and I loved the bittersweet humour of it, such as:
We never got quite as far as my bed, but I suspect his performance there would have been excellent.

I'm really impressed with this. Thank you so much for writing and sharing this little gem.

[kalypso-v.livejournal.com]

This is a masterpiece of discretion, and I like the way Sarah's able to take a wry view of her relationship with John while attempting to be fair to him and to the potential new employer.

[ruahnna.livejournal.com]

I always liked the way John tries to salvage his date with Sara even before they're untied and on their way. It says a lot, I think, that John did not consider that horrible date to be enough of a disaster to turn Sara off, and I admired Sara's pluckiness in having enough of a insight into John that she is still drawn to him, despite her caution. You captured her generous nature so very well here. Lovely.
Ru