Title: Not Going Home Without You
Author: a graceless heart
Rating: T
Summary: "Let's go home, Watson," he said, the faintest ghost of a smile on his face. It wasn't much, but it was hope. And they needed all the hope they could get. (SPOILERS FOR 03.24: A CONTROLLED DESCENT.)
Disclaimer: I do not own Elementary.
Author's Note: The finale destroyed me so I wrote this. Let me know what you think.
Joan Watson entered the hospital room, uncertain as to the condition in which she'd find her friend. She'd been banned from the hospital, as had all of his other friends, while they'd kept him in observation for three days. Her eyes darted around the room, the lighting a bit dim for her taste. She spotted him sitting in the chair by the window, staring at the bright white wall. His stillness was worrisome. Sherlock was almost never still. Nothing about this seemed right. It all seemed as if it were a nightmare to her. She could only imagine what it felt like for Sherlock.
"Sherlock," Joan said, tentatively. She waited for him to speak, thinking it best to let him open up on his own.
"I'm sorry Watson," Sherlock said, his voice so quiet that Joan wasn't sure she'd heard him correctly. "I will, of course, understand if you choose to end our partnership and our friendship. I have broken your trust and I do not wish to cause you further pain." His words were matter of fact but his eyes, usually so vivid and expressive, had a dull and defeated look.
She recognized that look. It was one she'd seen in the mirror far too many times to count. It was guilt and shame, the thought that one mistake could render a person's entire being worthless. She'd nearly drowned in those thoughts and she knew it was a long climb out. She would not abandon her friend. She would not further cement the self loathing that his father and so many others had instilled through the years. She would not let him look in the mirror and see a lost cause.
"I'm not going anywhere," Joan said, eyes locked onto Sherlock's. "We are going to fix this. You've done it before. You can do it again." She looked at him, eyes intense, hoping to convey the force with which she believed these truths.
"And I failed. I do not want you to watch me do it. I do not want to make you part of a repetitive cycle of rehab, relapse and repeat. I do not want to be another Liam. Another lost cause to weigh you down. I don't want you to take that kind of pain. Not again. Not for me."
"It's not your choice," Joan said, kneeling in front of Sherlock. She didn't care that it was a dirty hospital floor and she was in her best skirt. All that mattered was for him to understand. "You do not have to be another Liam. I know what you can do. You're my best friend. I love you too much to abandon you. I won't do that to you. You'd never do that to me."
"No, I would not. But you are-"
"Human, Sherlock." She smiled sadly. "Just like you. Come on, let's go home."
Sherlock nodded, offering a hand to Joan to help her up. "Let's go home, Watson," he said, the faintest ghost of a smile on his face. It wasn't much, but it was hope. And they needed all the hope they could get.