This sounds a bit like, "If you don't fall for Irene, you don't fall for any other woman either". So maybe looking at women he would fall for is the wrong approach ... Just saying.

But I agree with you. He likes Mary as much as is possible for him.

Sherlock genuinely likes Mary, which is why he doesn't listen to what his brain is telling him about her.
But the most important thing to Sherlock is that he accepts John loves Mary.
He protects Mary, for John's sake.

Last edited by besleybean (January 13, 2015 6:48 am)

Whether he likes her or not is not relevant for the topic of this thread 

besleybean wrote:

Okay to spell it out more  clearly for those who need it: no I don't think Sherlock fell in love with Mary, but he genuinely likes her.

 
Unless he's been acting since she shot him.

Unfortunately John thinks Sherlock fell for Mary.

Also an excerpt from another writing of the same person:

(from the Watsons domestic scene)




…
It’s important to note that this is the second time John has mentioned the idea of romance between Sherlock and Mary, the first time being when he assumed Sherlock had a crush on Mary because he said her name upon awakening. This situation must feel surreal to John: Mary shot Sherlock in the heart, and Sherlock is defending her and is about to go on to say that Mary actually saved his life. When John was jealous of Irene in A Scandal in Belgravia, remember that Irene had beat Sherlock and drugged him. The moment John gets really irritated is after the Bond Air deduction and Irene threatens to make Sherlock beg for mercy twice: John exits the flat and just leaves Sherlock alone to do whatever he wants with Irene. John seriously thought Sherlock has a thing for women who beat the shit out of him, so it’s actually not at all surprising that John thinks Sherlock has a thing for Mary now. Janine said in the papers that Sherlock was basically a sex maniac but John never saw him with anyone other than Irene, and John knows that Sherlock thinks love is a “human error,” so who the feck knows what kind of shit Sherlock needs to get his motor running. Mary may be one of the few people in the world that presses the right buttons for Sherlock, all because she shot him. Sherlock’s probably never had anyone go quite that far — she actually flatlined him — and apparently he can’t say a bad thing about the experience. He couldn’t get Irene Adler off his mind months after she fucked him over, either: one of the few displays of unquestionable sentiment John has ever seen from Sherlock was when he kept her phone even though the harddisk had been wiped. During a time when John was trying to figure Sherlock out sexually, this was John’s conclusion: apparently if a woman causes Sherlock enough grievous bodily and psychological harm, Sherlock pines after her.
 
If you’re John right now, that’s not only the only motive for Sherlock that makes any sense, it makes a LOT of sense. It’s absolutely twisted, but what else could possibly be going through Sherlock’s head?
…

I would say that the woman Sherlock has shown the most interest in, and been the most relaxed and happy around, is Janine. Look at them in the wedding. I'm not saying Sherlock had romantic feelings for her, I don't think he did. I just think that is the closest we get to him actually enjoying himself around a woman.

I definitely don't think he fell for Mary.

But seeing as the original question of the topic is "Could Sherlock have fallen for Mary?" The answer is, YES HE COULD.....IN AN ALTERNATE UNIVERSE.

There's a number of decent AU style fics where Sherlock and Mary are a couple.

I have no idea how anyone could fall for someone who killed them, he only came back to life for John. That was one thing I didn't understand when I watched it the first time. Then I watched it in my own language and I still didn't understand it. Why anyone would even like Mary, I mean. She seemed to me to end up extremely unlikable.

Everybody is in love with everybody in the fanon and there is support for all ships.

So really, Sherlock is in love with Mary, Molly, Janine, Irene, anybody you wish, even women! 

Although I like Mary, the same way I like Jim, I couldn't ship her and Sherlock, she's too parent-figur-y I think. They don't have that sort of chemistry, Mary is too dominant (although not the same way Irene is dominant) I don't like it, but Janine is a better female romantic candidate. I do like Janine, I just don't like the idea of Sherlock being romantic.