So Many Ways to Be a Hero

[madimpossibledreamer]

The fic originally scheduled for today was rescheduled because I didn't feel today was an appropriate day to post it.  (You'll see it tomorrow.)  I hope everyone had a great holiday, whether they were celebrating the Cross or just appreciating that candy exists.  Or both!
~Dreamer~
PS: Oddly enough, John has this weird habit of befriending everyone, even people from different fandoms.  Maybe it's the ability to take everything in stride while still retaining a backbone.
PPS: I don't know why the genderbend.  It isn't integral to the story.  I think it was just an extension of the 'Stephanie's bouncing around the multiverse'.
PPPS: If you haven't read Avengers: Heroes Welcome, do it.  It's amazing.

Main Points:
Doctor Strange Genderbend crossed with BBC Sherlock
Summary: John meets a kindred spirit.
Word Count: 311
Rating: Gen

         The stranger draws herself up, rallying her composure.  “Doctor Stephanie Strange, former neurosurgeon.”  She puts a hand out for a handshake and instantly John can see the problem, given that there’s a tremor that speaks of nerve damage.
         “Doctor John Watson, former surgeon,” he responds as he shakes the hand firmly, and instantly sees a kindred light in her eyes.  Not one of pity, as he’d seen in the eyes of so many others, but merely sympathy.
         She looks him over, eyes unreadable.  “Gunshot wound?”
         “Afghanistan,” he responds, used to these sorts of conversations from Sherlock.
         Her eyes instantly narrow.  “Soldier?”
         “Yes.  Problem?”  This time it’s challenging.  He doesn’t particularly like it, but a mere doctor would fit in to society, and he still sticks out like a sore thumb.  Sherlock may have thought of him as the normal one, but he meshes as well with ‘normalcy’ as a Holmes.  Why else would he have found sanctuary with a man whose idea of an everyday occurrence was a samurai invading the flat and a head in the fridge?
         She shakes her head, a brief smirk coming into play.  “You could say I’ve had my worldview expanded from merely ‘do no harm’.”  It fades as quickly as it comes, turning to a somber expression that suddenly makes her look old despite her physical appearance of middle age.  “I understand that sometimes it’s necessary to take one life to save another, or many.  That doesn’t make it any easier, and it’s good to find a better way, without simply just dismissing it as ‘there isn’t one’.  The impossible is possible.  Mental barriers are more of an obstacle than physical ones.”
         John hears the unspoken and covers her hand with one of his own.  A gesture of comfort, nothing more.  “We do the best we can.”
         The smile he receives in return is dazzling.