Chapter 15

John's heart sunk as Lestrade spoke, a hard lump forming in his throat as the words sunk in. What's happened to Sherlock? He could only gaze helplessly at Lestrade, his muddled brain rendering him unable to speak, his eyes desperately urging the man to explain. John's initial feelings of both confusion and sadness were quickly overridden, however, and replaced with a mixture of astonishment and anger as Lestrade looked away and lifted a hand to his face, unable to hold back a small smile, covering his mouth in a futile attempt to hide his amusement. Ignoring a small shuffling noise towards the right of his bed, John stared at Lestrade, his anger gradually building as the inspector continued to avoid his gaze, looking instead at a point on the ceiling, above John's head, sniggering. How can he find this even slightly amusing?! Sherlock could be-

"I'm absolutely fine."

John's head snapped round as a familiar voice rang out behind him, interrupting his thoughts, his anger at Lestrade immediately forgotten as his eyes fell upon the tall, curly-haired man standing to the right of his bed. Sherlock sighed with exasperation, looking down at John with a blank expression, seemingly oblivious to the surge of emotions now flooding his best friend's mind as a result of his sudden appearance. Shrugging his shoulders and looking down at his feet, Sherlock continued, the tone of his voice still one of false dismay.

"It's such a shame really. They were working on me for hours but nothing they could do had any effect. I am just far too strong..."

John stared at Sherlock in disbelief, his mouth hanging open slightly as his mind struggled to process what was going on. Dropping his facade, Sherlock looked back towards John and grinned, his pale blue eyes gleaming in the bright light as he stepped forwards, gingerly sitting down on a second chair to the right of John's bed, watching his friend attentively.

"How are you feeling, John?"

Gazing back at the detective, John could have sworn that, in the brief moment it took Sherlock to say those words, a shadow of concern had passed across his friend's face, his brow furrowing slightly and his eyes narrowing momentarily before his features settled once more into the impassive mask he usually bore. John paused before answering, taking a moment to analyse the various emotions still surging through his mind, the foremost of which was joy, followed by relief and anger, as he tried to figure out exactly how he was feeling. Eventually, he managed to string a sentence together, looking into Sherlock's eyes as he spoke, the ghost of a smile playing across his lips.

"Like punching Greg."

Sherlock smirked at John's remark, glad to see that his friend was in high spirits, despite all that had happened to him in the last few days, and was about to speak when Lestrade interjected.

"Oh, that's charming. And after all I've done for you..."

"Yeah, well. You shouldn't have nearly given me a bloody-"

"Now, now, boys. This isn't the time or place."

Sherlock called out, interrupting the pair, chuckling softly as he paused briefly to ensure that he had their attention.

"You can continue your little squabble in a few days time, when John has recovered enough to uphold a lengthy conversation. But for now, he must rest, so if you are quite finished, inspector."

He rose to his feet as he spoke, swiftly walking over to the door and holding it open for Lestrade, gesturing for the man to leave.

"But I wanted to-"

"It can wait. Now, if you wouldn't mind leaving us alone, there are a few matters I wish to discuss with John in private."

Sherlock called out sternly, tapping his foot impatiently as he held the door open. Realising that he had no other choice, Lestrade rose from his chair with a sigh and slowly strode across the room, muttering a quick goodbye to John as he stepped through the doorway and left the room.

As soon as the inspector was clear of the doorway, Sherlock slammed the door shut behind him and swiftly strode back to John, settling down in the plastic chair to the right of his bed once more. John gazed at him curiously, wondering what he had wanted to talk about in private. It was obviously something that Sherlock didn't feel comfortable about mentioning in front of Lestrade, otherwise he would have done so there and then. Sherlock stared down at his feet, feeling a little uneasy and embarrassed.

"John. There's... something I want to say to you... about the other day"

"Yes?"

John frowned slightly, a little concerned about Sherlock's strange behavior, and continued to watch his friend inquisitively, waiting for him to explain further. Sherlock took a deep breath, keeping his eyes fixed on the toe of his shoe, suddenly finding himself unable to look John in the eye.

"I, erm... I just wanted to say... thank you. Thank you for everything you did that day. If you hadn't, I... I probably wouldn't be here now. You... you rescued me, I wouldn't have been able to do it on my own. So, thank you..."

He slowly lifted his head to look at John as he spoke, worried about what his reaction might be, and was surprised to see his friend grinning broadly at him, evidently pleased by Sherlock's words.

"Wow. You're actually thanking me."

John gazed up at Sherlock in amazement, chuckling softly, unable to wipe the grin from his face.

"It was, uh... no problem, I guess... I mean, you would have done the same for me, right?"

"Of course."

Sherlock allowed the corners of his lips to curl back into a small smile as he slowly rose to his feet and began to walk towards the door.

"Now, I have something else to discuss with you, if you're feeling up to it?"

John nodded, watching as Sherlock made his way over to the door, a little confused. Noticing John's expression, Sherlock paused as he reached the door, quickly adding:

"I have something to show you but I appear to have left it in the lab. You don't mind waiting whilst I go and retrieve it, do you?"

John shook his head.

"No, I don't mind. Although it's not like I have much of a choice anyway."

"Good. I'll only be a minute."

And with that, Sherlock was gone. Leaving John alone to contemplate the events of the past few days in peace, his mind finally being given the time it needed to process all the information he had received. He closed his eyes, leaning back against the pillows, and thought about what had happened in the last few hours, not wanting to reawaken painful memories of the night a few days previously just yet. Instead, he thought about Sherlock, how he had been affected by this experience.

Although Sherlock had tried to hide it, John had noticed that this recent encounter with Jim Moriarty had dealt a significant blow to his friend's confidence, planting the seed of doubt in his mind, making him question his own ability and judgement. Like John, Sherlock hadn't come out of this ordeal unscathed, far from it in fact. But at least they were safe from Jim Moriarty and his cruel, sadistic employee.

For now.

A/N:

Sorry for taking so long to update! I hadn't forgotten about this, I just haven't had much time to write over the summer.

As always, thank you for all the alerts, favorites and reviews, I really appreciate them :)

Hope you like it,

Skoliro95