It was too hot. Just too hot, especially for this stupid suite that was determined to make him sweat. He tugged at his collar, feeling sweat trickle down his neck as he crouched down next to the body.

Sally was busy on the outside of the yellow line busy pouring water on her head. A dry tongue ran over equally dry lips as he made her way towards her, wincing at the slight crack in his voice. "Donovan! Have any more water?"

"Sorry boss, just used the last of it." She at least had the good grace to look embarrassed, but that wasn't going to do much for his too dry mouth.

But he didn't let her in on the migraine beginning to creep up on him as they bent with a will to the task of cataloging all the evidence before Sherlock got wind and came running (He had a sneaking suspicion that the man was waiting for cooler hours to arrive before dragging his limping friend out along the streets, not that he blamed either of them)

He bit back a curse as he felt knees wobble. Knees. Wobble. That wasn't a good sign now was it? Oh well. He still had work to do.

The camera was beginning to shake when he decided to take a short break and bring himself into an entirely standing position, breathing deeply, willing the headache to go away. It didn't. Instead blackness rushed up for a single moment, almost overwhelming him.

"Boss! The freak is here."

He turned slightly at Donovan's shout, frowning slightly at the insult. Was it too much to ask that his team get along with the detective? John's tight lipped smile back was the only look he needed to force his body into working.

Quickly he strode over ignoring the fact that his body felt ready to give out, snapping sharply, "Stand down Donovan, Anderson. Let Sherlock through." The smile John gave him was tinged with gratefulness.

Lestrade smiled back, feeling slightly dizzy, bringing his eyes away as the detective began circling the body. Anderson bristled instantly as Sherlock prodded the body with his foot. "DON'T CONTAMINATE THE EVIDENCE!"

"Honestly Anderson I-" And the two were off and fighting once more.

Lestrade groaned quietly, as John and Donovan went haring off to their partners sides, threatening to blow it all out of proportion. Better go break up the kids before they wake up the neighbors. The shaky though seemed content to curl up in his head like a lazy cat, and he took a step forward, fully intending to break up the fight, when the mind-numbing dizziness of before swept up to overtake him.

The last thought before he hit the ground was that he hoped he was out of view of the cameras.

John, out of the corner of his eye could see Lestrade taking a step forward- no doubt to break up the squabbling foursome- when he instead kissed the ground, collapsing like liquid jelly.

Four heads snapped towards the unconscious man. "Lestrade?" The stunned question snapped John and Anderson into action immediately.

It was a short distance to Lestrade- only ten meters at the most, but at the same time it was so distant, it felt more like kilometers. "Lestrade!"

John ignored the broken cry from behind him, hands shakily reaching for the fallen DI's pulse. He sagged with relief when he found, strong but slightly erratic. A frown further pulled at his mouth as he pulled in the flushed skin, dry mouth- carefully he pinched the skin, and watched it slowly, far too slowly, smooth out. "Heat exhaustion. We need water and air-conditioning now."

"I used up the last of the water. I'll go get more."

Anderson nodded numbly, as he turned to the car. "I'll get the air." The panda sitting on the edge growled to life as John looked directly at Sherlock.

"Help me get him into the car."

Sherlock nodded faintly, stepping forward to grab Lestrade by the legs. Carefully and slowly they lifted him, moving towards the car. Anderson rolled out, his bickering of before completely forgotten as he called, "Which seats doctor?"

"Back. We can lay him out like that, and I can still treat him." Doors popped open- at least it sounded like that, and John was willing to trust that Anderson had opened the doors for them. In fact, he could feel the cool air brush against his skin.

Somehow they managed to wrestle the unconscious man into the seat, and John ignored Donovan rushing up to begin unbuttoning Lestrade's shirt. "Have any rags?"

"Yeah." Anderson circled around to the boot of the car, and quickly came back carrying clean cloths. "These do doctor?"

"Just fine. Donovan, soak one of these, give me another bottle. I'll try to trickle some water down his throat. Sherlock support him for me would you?"

The three moved instantly, and a opened bottle was shoved into his hands as Donovan furiously began to soak down one of the cloths. Carefully John poured in a tiny amount of water, before pressing lips closed. He ran a finger down the Adams apple, ready to move if it went wrong-

Lestrade reflexively swallowed. John smiled in relief as he poured in a tiny amount again, taking care not to flood the DI's systems with too much water. "Cloth is wet."

"Good. Take this. I'm going to wipe him down." Lestrade was beginning to shiver in the cool car. That was a good sign- it meant that the body was beginning to work again.

"John?" Donovan's small voice reminded him not all knew that.

Quickly he reassured her as he ran the cool cloth across sweaty skin. "It's a good sign that he's started shivering. If he keeps on shivering however then it won't be so good."

"Right." John placed the cloth to the side, and reached for the bottle again. Slowly, tiny mouthful by tiny mouthful he began feeding the unconscious man water. At last, John pulled away, capping the bottle of water.

"John?"

"In another half hour if he doesn't wake up then we'll take him to the hospital, but I think he'll be fine now." The tongue was no longer a sickly color, and when John pinched the skin of the man's forearms, it smoothly fell back into place.

Sherlock carefully lowered the man back down to the seat, grimacing at the discomfort. Donovan and Anderson were grinning like idiots in relief. John crawled out of the car softly shutting the door. "It's best if we leave him for now. Someone should stay with him and wait for him to wake up."

The three exchanged looks, silent agreement coming at the same time.

Without a second word, John found himself safely ensconced in the passenger seat, with strict words to tell them when their inspector woke up. John settled sideways, attempting to rearrange his injured leg into a more comfortable position, watching the silvery haired man breathe slowly, skin slowly changing from a brightly flushed red to a slightly more skin like tone.

Every so often, he forced down another mouthful of water down the Inspectors throat- The three were working on the case intently. Sherlock seems to of taken this particular murder as an affront to his intelligence. Normally, Sherlock would be bouncing away now, throwing Lestrade the killer but not how or why, but with the DI down and out for the count…

A low groan filled the car, as Lestrade slowly, shakily began to sit up. John took pity on the man, handing back the bottled water. "Drink that, you'll feel better."

Slowly the man sipped at it, blinking slowly at John. "John? What am I doing in the car?"

"One second." John leaned out the door to wave at the other three- they instantly abandoned the crime scene, moving back towards the parked car in a pack. "You collapsed Lestrade. You collapsed from heat exhaustion."

"Oh."

"Oh!" John wanted to shake the man. "Don't you realize how close you were to going to the hospital?"

Lestrade took a shaky sip of the water, choosing to be quiet instead as doors popped open on either side and three babbling voices began to bite at him. His eyes closed, and John sighed harshly. "You're going home. You will stay home, and do nothing but drink water and maybe walk around a little. But that is all. Doctor's orders."

"Can't. I have a ton of paperwork to do, and this case-"

"Solved. I'll take Anderson with me and we'll arrest the culprit. Go home Detective Inspector. You're no use to me when you're sick."

"Glad to be awake to you too." Lestrade muttered back, taking a swig of the water bottle, pulling a face at the suddenly full feeling he had.

"Keep drinking sir. I'll take you home now."

"No, I'll catch a cab-"

"ABSOLUTELY NOT!" Donovan's roar brought all attention to her. She flushed at the four men's stares, her chin jerking up in response. "I'll drive you home sir. Anderson has his card for arrests, and we're not rookies. We can do it."

"I can take-"

"Inspector. You can barely hold a water bottle, how do you expect to walk to the main street, stand long enough to catch a cabbie, then walk up the three flights of stairs to your apartment?" Anderson of all people gave this highly reasonable response, but it was Sherlock nodding along to what he was saying that was the deal breaker.

Lestrade chuckled low and deep as he waved his agreement to the situation. "I must have died if Anderson and Sherlock agree on anything, so you know what, do what you wish. I'll just take a nap here."

The DI leaned back into his seat, and across the street, a camera watched the car pull away.

a/n: Original link: sherlockbbc-fic . livejournal . com / 12432 . html ? thread = 63358352 # t63358352