Prompt 27: Brave New World
Title: Brave New World
Author: arwen_kenobi
Rating: PG-13
'Verse: BBC Sherlock
Word Count: 902
Characters/Pairings: Sherlock Holmes/John Watson,
Summary: John has upset his world more than once. Once by coming into it, once by kissing him, once by forgiving him, and now by falling. Prequel/Companion fic to my reponse to yesterday's prompt: The Space Between
Author's Notes: For prompt 27 of watsons_woes July Writing Prompts. This one was "Pick up the book you're currently reading (or the closest one to you). Pick a random page, and find a description or simile. Use that - and be sure to tell us what your original description is, and what's the source."
Quote and source at end of fic.
Sherlock cannot function on routine but at the same time he does not like his world completely turned upside down. There are too many variables in that event to predict an outcome, any outcome, whether positive or negative. Sherlock thinks, or at least thought once, that he can live with a negative outcome as long as he knows or strongly suspects that will be the end result.
He doesn't like this. He doesn't like the black pit of not knowing of not being able to know for sure and not being able to do anything for fear of making things worse or ending it all. A few years ago, Sherlock would have happily cut John's head open and have considered finding the answer a victory whether John was alive or not by the end of it. Now that fear stops him from shouting at the doctors when they tell him that they need to wait until the swelling goes down. That they need to wait.
Sherlock hates waiting but he will do whatever he has to do. Even endure joint discussions with John's blasted sister because the hospital has two different documents with regards to who makes John's medical decisions for him. One has Sherlock's name on it and one, from the gap between John's first and second tours, has Harry's. For some reason the hospital is unable to determine that the one with Sherlock's name on it supersedes the one with Harry's (and Sherlock has said that John has said on multiple occasions that he does not want his sister making these sort of decisions for him when they barely speak but no one seems to care about that). He'd usually gripe at Mycroft for his selection of hospitals and find a way to make the Harry document vanish but he can't. He doesn't have it in him and he can't afford being kicked out. The hospital allows guests to stay with the patients as long as they want unless treatment demands it and the staff, and probably Mycroft, has allowed him and Harry free reign. Sherlock even had an armchair brought in and no one said anything about it.
Harry's living in a hotel at the moment and Sherlock doesn't speak to her unless she's at the hospital. They take their turns in John's room and Sherlock only endures this because John would allow for Mycroft if it were him. Otherwise he's at John's side day and night. Sometimes he sleeps and sometimes he doesn't. It's only been five days but it feels like five centuries.
John has upset his world more than once. Once by coming into it, once by kissing him, once by forgiving him, and now by falling. He can still hear him, hear him and see him both if he shuts his eyes. He hears John's foot slip, seems him stumble, hears him swear ('shit!'), and watches their hands fail to touch and sees John fall. For all of the danger they've been in this is the first time it's been something this serious. Something where no one can tell him anything because they just can't.
There are four possible outcomes: John is fine, John eventually becomes fine, John becomes a vegetable, John dies. The third one is really the same as the last.
What is going to become of them? The both of them? What will he do if John is gone? What will he do if John falls into a fifth possible category - one that Sherlock cannot even stand to comprehend - of not being a vegetable but still permanently severely mentally damaged. While he knows that he can and he will shut off the life support systems, John would do no less for him, that fifth option threatens to surround him like lapping dark water.
"Wake up, John," he orders him. He means it as an order but it is a plea. "Please wake up." He doesn't speak of Moriarty, he doesn't speak of them, he doesn't speak of how moronic it will be to have died from a misstep, he doesn't mention anything like that. It doesn't matter. What matters is that John hears him. Coma patients can hear, he knows that they can. What is important is whether or not John is able to understand or process that.
"Wake up."
Maybe he's the one in the coma. Maybe John's grabbing his hand right now and begging him to open his eyes. Maybe that's the real world and this is just what he's dreamed up when he hit his head. He hopes but knows he's wrong. Should he sleep tonight he'll wake again next to John knowing the same if not less than he did the day before. Or else he'll talk to a doctor that just may set him on a path he had never dreamed he would take.
"I won't leave you alone," he promises the man on the bed. He squeezes the hand tight in both of his and brushes a kiss over the knuckles quickly and softly. As if he's being watched and any sudden move will be the end. "I'll never leave you. I promised I'd never leave you again when I got back, remember? I'll never leave you but please, John. Please wake up."
There is noise in the room - the beep of the EKG, the hiss of the ventilator - but it may as well be silence.
Author's Note:
"An inscrutable new world surrounded him like lapping dark water." - IQ84 by Haruki Murakami
Author: arwen_kenobi
Rating: PG-13
'Verse: BBC Sherlock
Word Count: 902
Characters/Pairings: Sherlock Holmes/John Watson,
Summary: John has upset his world more than once. Once by coming into it, once by kissing him, once by forgiving him, and now by falling. Prequel/Companion fic to my reponse to yesterday's prompt: The Space Between
Author's Notes: For prompt 27 of watsons_woes July Writing Prompts. This one was "Pick up the book you're currently reading (or the closest one to you). Pick a random page, and find a description or simile. Use that - and be sure to tell us what your original description is, and what's the source."
Quote and source at end of fic.
Sherlock cannot function on routine but at the same time he does not like his world completely turned upside down. There are too many variables in that event to predict an outcome, any outcome, whether positive or negative. Sherlock thinks, or at least thought once, that he can live with a negative outcome as long as he knows or strongly suspects that will be the end result.
He doesn't like this. He doesn't like the black pit of not knowing of not being able to know for sure and not being able to do anything for fear of making things worse or ending it all. A few years ago, Sherlock would have happily cut John's head open and have considered finding the answer a victory whether John was alive or not by the end of it. Now that fear stops him from shouting at the doctors when they tell him that they need to wait until the swelling goes down. That they need to wait.
Sherlock hates waiting but he will do whatever he has to do. Even endure joint discussions with John's blasted sister because the hospital has two different documents with regards to who makes John's medical decisions for him. One has Sherlock's name on it and one, from the gap between John's first and second tours, has Harry's. For some reason the hospital is unable to determine that the one with Sherlock's name on it supersedes the one with Harry's (and Sherlock has said that John has said on multiple occasions that he does not want his sister making these sort of decisions for him when they barely speak but no one seems to care about that). He'd usually gripe at Mycroft for his selection of hospitals and find a way to make the Harry document vanish but he can't. He doesn't have it in him and he can't afford being kicked out. The hospital allows guests to stay with the patients as long as they want unless treatment demands it and the staff, and probably Mycroft, has allowed him and Harry free reign. Sherlock even had an armchair brought in and no one said anything about it.
Harry's living in a hotel at the moment and Sherlock doesn't speak to her unless she's at the hospital. They take their turns in John's room and Sherlock only endures this because John would allow for Mycroft if it were him. Otherwise he's at John's side day and night. Sometimes he sleeps and sometimes he doesn't. It's only been five days but it feels like five centuries.
John has upset his world more than once. Once by coming into it, once by kissing him, once by forgiving him, and now by falling. He can still hear him, hear him and see him both if he shuts his eyes. He hears John's foot slip, seems him stumble, hears him swear ('shit!'), and watches their hands fail to touch and sees John fall. For all of the danger they've been in this is the first time it's been something this serious. Something where no one can tell him anything because they just can't.
There are four possible outcomes: John is fine, John eventually becomes fine, John becomes a vegetable, John dies. The third one is really the same as the last.
What is going to become of them? The both of them? What will he do if John is gone? What will he do if John falls into a fifth possible category - one that Sherlock cannot even stand to comprehend - of not being a vegetable but still permanently severely mentally damaged. While he knows that he can and he will shut off the life support systems, John would do no less for him, that fifth option threatens to surround him like lapping dark water.
"Wake up, John," he orders him. He means it as an order but it is a plea. "Please wake up." He doesn't speak of Moriarty, he doesn't speak of them, he doesn't speak of how moronic it will be to have died from a misstep, he doesn't mention anything like that. It doesn't matter. What matters is that John hears him. Coma patients can hear, he knows that they can. What is important is whether or not John is able to understand or process that.
"Wake up."
Maybe he's the one in the coma. Maybe John's grabbing his hand right now and begging him to open his eyes. Maybe that's the real world and this is just what he's dreamed up when he hit his head. He hopes but knows he's wrong. Should he sleep tonight he'll wake again next to John knowing the same if not less than he did the day before. Or else he'll talk to a doctor that just may set him on a path he had never dreamed he would take.
"I won't leave you alone," he promises the man on the bed. He squeezes the hand tight in both of his and brushes a kiss over the knuckles quickly and softly. As if he's being watched and any sudden move will be the end. "I'll never leave you. I promised I'd never leave you again when I got back, remember? I'll never leave you but please, John. Please wake up."
There is noise in the room - the beep of the EKG, the hiss of the ventilator - but it may as well be silence.
Author's Note:
"An inscrutable new world surrounded him like lapping dark water." - IQ84 by Haruki Murakami