Write Me into Your Daydream

In December of 2012 a man sat down for dinner. The waitress offered him a glass of the house wine which he declined. She smiled and walked away. He looked over the menu but his eyes were unfocused. There was a spark in those eyes and a twitch in the corner of his lips that made Steven Moffat smirk as he approached the table for two. "I've seen that look before," he said when he was within ear shot; "You've been inspired."

Mark Gatiss stood up and shook the hand of his old friend, "When I share what I have I think you will be too." They sat back down and the waitress came back to take Steven's order. He ordered a glass of the wine and she left them to discuss personal matters. For the duration of the meal Mark managed to evade the subject of the evening with small talk. He asked about Steven's kids and his wife. Steven in turn asked about Marks husband, Ian. He smirked as he admitted that Ian was a little annoyed with him recently but when Steven asked he gave the other man a smooth quirk of the eyebrow and changed the subject.

"Well?" Steven finally asked as the finished their meals and the waitress took away their plates, "I've only got a few days left till the Christmas Special and I have a lot to do."

Mark laughed, "The special runs two days from now. There is nothing else to be done."

"While that is true I do have kids to get back to," he set his glass on the table, "It being Christmas and all. So if this isn't about Doctor who, then it's about Sherlock. We've finalized our plan for series three. All that's left is to finish our scripts-"

"Scrap 'em."

Steven paused, raising an eyebrow, "What?"

"Scrap it," Mark smiled, reaching down for the brief case beside him, "I have a new idea for this series."

"An idea worth sacrificing months of planning for?" Steven asked leaning across the table, "Mark, be reasonable-"

"I am," he said pulling out a stack of paper. It wasn't a large stack, probably less than two hundred pages with paperclips holding small sections together. "You need to read this and then we need to get to work."

"Read what?" he asked taking the stack from the other man and glancing over the cover page. "Deducing Tragedy Part One: See no Evil? Mark, what is this?"

"You've heard of Fanfiction, this is one," He smiled. "It's by a popular short story writer over in America. She had her agent send me this because she was tired of waiting for series three and thought we might need help. She's offered her characters and plot as well as her personal help should we ask for it."

Steven gave Mark a look, "Fanfiction? You're suggesting we use… fanfiction?"

"I'm suggesting we use the compelling story of a woman whose life is consumed with tragedy," He said sitting back in his chair, "and she's absolutely made for Sherlock."

"Irene was made for him," he said scanning over the first couple pages.

"The author describes them as two sides of the same coin," he mused. "I adore that chapter. Irene is dark, this new character is light; Yin and Yang. They are very similar if not completely different."

"the character's name is Hanna Hooper," Steven frowned looking over the chapter titles, "as in Molly?"

Mark nodded, "Her younger sister. Molly is the reason Hanna comes into Sherlock's life."

"We said we were going to only use the original characters," he glanced at Mark. "We hesitated in adding Molly at first and now you want to add a family?"

"She is worth adding."

Steven groaned, letting go of the pages to pinch the bridge of his nose, "Mark-"

"Before you say anything, I know I sound crazy," he said pulling out his phone. "You are not the only one I've discussed this with. Last week I asked Ian to take a look and he sent me these as he read," he handed his phone to the other man who took it with an exasperated sigh.

Steven looked over the text files and let out a long breath, "He asked you what he was reading, and you told him to just keep going." Mark smirked over his water as Steven scrolled down. "He asked who the… Monster was?"

Mark only smiled; knowledge about the secret gleaming in his eyes as he nodded for Steven to continue.

He scowled and looked back at the phone, "Well he likes it and…"

Mark cocked his head to the side, "And…?"

"He really likes it," Steven frowned again, "He's became obsessed with it. 'That can't be it, please tell me that's not is. There has to be more, tell me where to find It.'" he quoted the other man's husband before looking back over the pages in front of him, "What happens in this story?"

"Steven what I just handed you is one hundred and forty-six pages of love, mystery, and sadistic twists and turns that even I didn't see coming." Mark said leaning back across the table. "This woman writes like us, she thinks like us, and people will adore the direction she takes us in. I know the amount of work we've done on series three already, I know what I'm asking when I say to scrap what you've written but-"

"You believe it's worth it." he said sliding the phone back across the table.

Mark nodded once, "I wouldn't ask you to if I didn't."

He turned his eyes back to the stack of papers under his hand and frowned quizzically. One hundred and forty-six pages, huh? He'd written scripts longer than that. What could this girl had written that would have Mark and his husband in such a tizzy? Steven hadn't seen him like this since they started Sherlock. All those raw ideas flowing through his head about Canon Doyle's story and now this girl had done the same, but how? What could one-hundred and forty-six pages hold that inspired him as it has?

More importantly: who is the mind behind it?