well after midnight,
  W creeps quietly into H's room
  and goes toward the bed.

H instinctively reacts and blinks awake,
  his body tensing in the expectation of some unknown danger.
(H had trained himself to such cat-like readiness
  due to the perils inherent in his profession.)
seeing W there, H sighs and looks annoyed.
grumbles "Oh, it's only you. What is it, Watson?"

blinking, but not answering,
  W wanders randomly in the room,
  seeming to be searching for some item
  among the carpeting and furniture.

"Watson!" H hissed and sat up.
"It's the middle of the night. What is it?"

"Shh!" W finally responds,
  but with a distracted, hazy look upon his face.
"Nothing, Holmes. Don't mind me."
crawls on the carpet and gropes under the bed and chairs.

"Watson!" beginning to get up

"Shh! Nothing, nothing.
  I only left something behind.
  My cufflink came loose the other day
  and I borrowed one of yours."

"A cufflink!" H looked at W as if he were mad.
"A damned cufflink!
  Surely that can wait until daylight?"

"Shh, shh." W shakes his head
"I won't be long." pushes H to lie back down
"Hush! Go back to sleep."
He continued searching and muttered under his breath,
"You won't know I'm here."

tired of arguing with a deranged W,
  H sighed and rolled over.
"Just be quiet, then, and hurry to bed."
He pulled the bed-clothes over him and went back to sleep.

W kept feeling through the carpet fibers a few more minutes.
then he rose and examined the surfaces
  of the dressing-table and night-stand.
in the bed, H's rhythmic breathing and faint snoring
  showed that he slept deeply.
watching H, W yawned and stretched drowsily.
"Hurry to bed," he repeated softly, and then did so,
  going round to the other side of H's bed,
  lifting the bed-clothes,
  and nestling himself in beside H.

---

in the morning, H woke with a sleepy yawn.
he barely remembered last night's intrusion by W,
  and considered that it might have been but a dream.
however, H rolled over in bed and received quite a shock.
he found W inexplicably asleep beside him.

H sat up and widened his eyes.
he tensed even more
  at seeing W's dressing-gown and other garments
  hung on the bedpost beside him.
H needed only a glimpse of W's muscled back
  to tell that W was quite nude under the bedcovers.
"Watson!" he gasped.

W stirred and awoke slowly.
his blinking eyes met H's anxious gaze.
"Holmes," W yawned sleepily,
  "what are you doing in my bed?"

"Your bed? This is my bed!"

W glanced around the room
  and confirmed that H was indeed correct.
"So it is. How did I get here?"

H nearly roared.
"You don't know? How can you not--?"

W sat up and took hold of H's arms,
  to stop his furious shaking.
"Holmes, calm down. Take a breath.
  Let us try to figure this out rationa--"
W finally noticed his clothes hanging on the bedpost.
"Oh," W sighed, realising his nudity.
"Oh dear," he murmured softly.

H withdrew from W's touch, exhaling.
"You see why I'm upset?
  This is ... unbelievable.
  I don't know what happened, and you--"
H pressed W urgently,
"You have no idea of how you arrived here?
  No recollection at all?"

"Well, I was just in my bed,
  and now I'm here..." W bit his lip.
"Oh dear," he frowned.

"You mean you don't even remember
  coming to this room last night?
  Searching for a cufflink?"

W blinked. "A cufflink?"

H explained. "Last night, at about one o'clock,
  you entered and woke me.
You were muttering about a lost cufflink
  and stubbornly searched my room for it.
I protested, but you kept hushing me
  and telling me to never mind your presence.
You looked strangely distracted
  and insisted that I sleep while you searched.
  That's the last I remember."

W widened his eyes. "I see."
He looked guilty suddenly and whispered,
"Holmes, I--I think I know what happened."

"You do?"
relieved, H waited for an explanation.

"I was," W cleared his throat, "sleepwalking."

"Sleepwalking?"

"Yes, I ... um, have done so before.
  Back in the army in Afghanistan,
  I have been known to wander into other men's tents overnight.
  It, um, earned me some severe reprimands.
  If it had not been a war zone,
  with truly delirious and injured people wandering about..."
W blushed and could continue no further.

H absorbed this information with surprise.
"And you--you just don't remember it?"

"No, I don't."
W cleared his throat and started to rise.
"I am deeply sorry for this, Holmes. I should go."
He reached for his clothes
  and hurriedly put on his dressing-gown.

H was still staring at W
  as he scurried out the door in embarrassment.

---

The next night,
  H was already awake when W entered the room.
he lay sleepless due to too many thoughts upon his mind.
he sat up when W began searching for his phantom cufflink.
"Watson?" H called out. "Watson?"

"Shh!" W crawled along the floor again.

"Watson, will you please listen? I..."

"It's nothing," W insisted. "Go back to sleep."

Frustrated, H exhaled loudly.
"Is this--Watson, is this about your cufflink?"

"Shh, Holmes, don't worry about it.
  Sleep. You won't know I'm here."

"Watson, I've found your cufflink already.
  I have it here."

W halted his searches
  and frowned with hesitation.
"You do?"

"Yes. Come here and I'll return it to you."

W stood slowly,
  looking unsteady on his feet.
his eyes kept blinking and seemed partially hazy.
he came over to H's bed.
"Where--where is it?"

H pulled W to sit beside him on the edge of the bed.
"I haven't got your cufflink."

W frowned, looking perplexed.
"You don't?"
he started to rise again, but tripped over himself.

H caught W and hung onto him.
"Stay." he watched W's eyes carefully.
"I lied. There's no cufflink at all."
H caressed W's face.
"You should sleep now. It's late."

"But my cufflink--"

"Stay," he whispered. "You need sleep."

W wavered, then replied,
"But I'm not tired."

"But it's late, Watson. A bed is warm, comfortable...
  You're shivering."
H slid his hand inside W's shirt, against his skin.

W moved closer, somewhat clumsily.
"Warm," he repeated, climbing into the bed with H.

H seemed to shiver a little, too, but did not protest.
"You should undress to sleep."
H reached to untie W's dressing-gown.

W sighed, then grasped H by the shoulders.
"I don't want to sleep," he whispered.
"I want to..."
though he had H waiting tensely for a moment,
  W finally pulled H close and kissed him.
his kiss grew hungrily passionate and forceful.

H closed his eyes
  and pushed aside the blankets suffocating them.
he groaned at the escalating heat between their bodies,
  and tasted W's bare chest with his tongue.
W roughly pushed H down on bed,
  assaulting him with kisses like an insatiable animal.
they had pounding, ferocious sex together,
  deep into the night.

---

By morning, H woke in a much-disheveled bed
  with clothes strewn all around.
it was certainly not a dream.
he turned to look at W lying beside him
  and hesitated about what he should do.
H decided to dress, rising unsteadily.
W stirred and turned.

H covered himself.
"Watson?"

W blinked and looked at him.
"You aren't leaving, Holmes?"

"I just--" his eyes widened.
"You remember?"

W pulled H back to him.
"I do." He kissed H lovingly.
Then he confessed in a whisper,
"I have never somnambulated in my life."

H pushed him away. "You lied?"

W chuckled. "And you took advantage of me."

"I did! You--you deceived me!"

"I only wished to see how receptive you might be
  to my being in your bed, and perhaps more, later.
You coaxed me into more guilty pleasures,
  hoping that I would not remember anything in the morning."
W stubbornly pulled H close again.
"But I certainly remember everything...
  especially someone crying out 'Yes! Yes! Yes!' over and over."
he kissed H.

H stopped resisting and kissed back.
he breathed "Could you refresh my memory?"

1st ending over.

---

2nd ending now begins:

The next night,
  H was already awake when W entered the room.
he sat up when W began searching for his phantom cufflink.
"Watson?" H called out. "Watson?"

"Shh!" W crawled along the floor again.
"It's nothing. Go to sleep!"

H sighed.
"Watson, will you please stop and go to bed?"

"No, I must find my cufflink!
  I won't be long. Sleep."

H rose from bed.
"I will not sleep until you do as well."
he went over and knelt beside W on the floor,
  trying to turn W
  and draw his attention away from his search.
"Watson, go to bed. There's no cufflink."

"Of course there is!" W answered.
"I remember it quite distinctly--"

H shook his head, trying to humour W.
"Even still, you cannot find it now!
  It is the middle of the night.
  You're tired. You should be in bed."
H pressed a hand against W's shoulder.
"How important can a cufflink be?"

W hesitated, finally glancing at H.
"It's quite important."
W divulged in a whisper,
"It was my father's cufflink!
  I inherited that pair from him.
  I mustn't lose them."

"Your father's?"
H began to look a little more sympathetic,
  knowing as he did about
  Watson's complicated relations with his departed family members.
H assured W gently,
"My dear fellow, if it's that important,
  I will help you search.
  We'll search my room, your room,
  the whole flat if necessary--but tomorrow!
  Leave this until morning," he brushed W's face,
"and get some rest now."

W brightened up, blinking with grateful eyes.
"You will? You'll really help, Holmes?"

"Certainly, Watson."
H sighed with a smile.
"Even if it means hypnosis to make you remember the details."

W's eyes still appeared dazed,
  but he beamed at H and pressed upon his arm happily.
"My dear Holmes," W whispered.

H took hold of W's shoulders,
  trying to lift him from the floor.
"Come, let's get you to your bed."

"Bed?" W stayed on the floor
  and blinked as if he'd forgotten the meaning of the word.

"Yes, bed.
  That place in your own room
  where you are meant to lie--and stay--at night."

W protested. "I--I'm not tired."

H insisted, "You will be soon enough.
  Come," he pulled at W again,
  "You cannot stay here on the floor.
  I'll return you to your bed."

"But I like your bed better."

"My bed?" H shook his head disapprovingly.
"No, we cannot have you lying naked in my bed again."

"But," W sighed, curling his arms around H
  and laying his head against H's shoulder,
"Your bed is so warm, comfortable..."
He smiled and sighed deeply.

H raised an eyebrow and cleared his throat.
"That is only because two people were occupying it."
H considered,
"Perhaps what you really need is to be married again."

W resisted when H attempted to pull him away;
  he enjoyed his present position too immensely.
W shook his head, pouting. "I don't want to be married.
  I don't want to leave you."
he ran his fingers against H's face and looked adoringly at him
"Dear Holmes..." he whispered.
thereupon, W raised his head and kissed H's mouth.

H grimaced and struggled,
  much alarmed. "Watson!"
he violently pushed W away and slapped him.
H got to his feet and retreated several steps.

the silence after that moment was heavy.
W remained crouching on the floor,
  turned away and covering his face as if in shock.

H swallowed and composed himself,
  instantly feeling regret for his actions.
"I'm sorry, Watson," H approached slowly.
"I should not have done that.
  One should not violently awake a sleepwalker..."
H shook his head and knelt on the floor beside W again.
"Forgive me, please. I should not have been so rough."
H took W's hands, even though W would not turn to him.
"My dear friend, I'm sorry. If you could understand..."
H frowned. "It's just that you were doing something ... horrible.
  Grotesque. Not at all like you. I had to stop you."
H looked pained at W's continued silence.

after a long moment, W took a breath
  and shook his head as though to clear it.
he turned slowly around,
  his eyes damp and blinking with confusion.
"I--Holmes? What happened?" W swallowed and glanced around.
"I'm in your room, aren't I? I've intruded again.
  I'm sorry, I don't know--"
W grimaced at the pain in his bruised cheek.
"What happened?"

H stared at W, who seemed just now to be fully waking,
  although the tears of pain hovering in W's eyes
  made them difficult to read.
"It--it was an unfortunate accident.
  I struck you ... to wake you.
  I was too harsh."
H brushed W's shoulder. "I'm deeply sorry. Did I hurt you?"

W winced, one or two tears flowing.
"It--stings." W looked away and made no other answer.

H tried to comfort him,
  but could do little for him.
W gulped and breathed with difficulty,
  needing quite some time to recover.
H kept apologising, "You're in shock.
  I should get you a blanket, put you to bed..."
W would not respond nor cooperate.

after several minutes, W finally started to rise unsteadily.
he allowed H to help escort him back to his own room.
sliding into bed, W pulled the bed-clothes over himself
  and dismissed H's anxious ministering to him.
"Please go," W implored,
  adding softly, "I'm tired," at H's agonised look.

H finally left.

W did not sleep for quite some time,
  burdened by too many thoughts.
The experiment, he considered uneasily,
  could be called both a success and a failure.
W had twice managed to deceive H with his feigned sleepwalking,
  probably due to H's belief
  that W could never be less than sincere with him.
However, W had failed utterly in obtaining his goal,
  what he desired more than even being able to fool H.
W shut his eyes, choking on tears.
H did not love him.
Certainly H cared for W, and cherished his friendship,
  and was profoundly upset at having struck him,
But H did not love W, was not in love with W.
H was repulsed, disgusted,
  perhaps even frightened by that kiss.
Certainly the distraught look on H's face showed clearly
  that he wanted the Watson who kissed him
  to not be the Watson that he knew.
W shivered, shaking his head.
Serves you right.
Holmes was perfectly honest with you.
He has no romantic desire for anyone--not women, not men.
Not you.
And now, W must go on as normal,
  pretend that nothing had happened.
W sighed.
The point of the experiment, after all,
  had been to allow W a method of testing H's feelings for him,
  but to have an innocent explanation to fall back on,
  if the results of the experiment were not favourable.
So fall back W must.
He must get over this disappointment
  and go on as usual in the morning.
But right now, lying in this bed all alone tonight,
  W could yet grieve and expend his heartache.
How very much it stung.