After 5 minutes, Doctor Stephens returned to John, Lestrade and Mycroft.
"Unfortunately, I have some bad news," He said, handing John the notes "I'm allowing you to read through this because I understand that you are a doctor yourself. Everything on here is everything that I've been told about Sherlock's condition."
John took Doctor Stephens' notes and read through them, Mycroft and Lestrade standing behind either shoulder. As they read through them, Mycroft walked off, Lestrade following behind.
"Where are you going Mycroft? This is your brother's condition you're reading about, don't you care?" John asked
"I need some air, John. I'll be back in a minute." Mycroft responded, walking rather quickly
"I uh, I'll go with him John, just to see if he's alright" Lestrade said, patting John on the shoulder and running after Mycroft
"So Doctor," John said, turning back to Doctor Stephens "Sherlock has a stomach ulcer, with internal bleeding?"
"Yes he does. I'm afraid we are going to have to hold Sherlock in theatre for longer, and keep him in hospital until we deem it safe enough for him to go home." Doctor Stephens confirmed
John stood there in silence and disbelief. Guilt ran through him, his mind and body somehow calculating that what had happened to Sherlock was his fault, even though it wasn't. He looked through the Doctor's notes once more, reading them out to himself.
"Sherlock has a peptic ulcer caused by taking aspirin that wasn't prescribed by a doctor with major internal bleeding. He will require an immediate blood transfusion with additional surgery to remove the ulcer and repair the broken blood vessels. It is apparent that he has had the ulcer for 3 days now judging by blood loss and after surgery he will need to be kept in hospital for a minimum of 7 days."
John handed the notes back to Doctor Stephens and sat down.
"For now, I'd like you to stay here until I come and get you after surgery. It can last between thirty minutes to an hour. Would you please tell Mycroft and D.I. Lestrade the same and that if Mycroft wishes for Sherlock to be placed in an isolated room away from everyone else, it will happen." Doctor Stephens said as he took the notes and walked away.
John sat alone for an additional 10 minutes, thoughts running through his mind and distressing him. How did I not notice that Sherlock was in pain? He thought. He was about to get up to go to the toilet but Lestrade and Mycroft returned. Mycroft looked a little red in the face and Lestrade pulled John to one side and left Mycroft to sit down.
"What's wrong with Mycroft? Has he been crying?" John asked, worried about Mycroft.
"Well, yes, he has. He doesn't like the fact that Sherlock being in this condition is his fault. He said that he is used to looking after Sherlock when he has been ill, so the fact that he has made Sherlock worse than he already was, it's breaking him John." Lestrade said.
John was about to speak to Lestrade, but he was interrupted by a familiar voice. It was Anderson. What is he doing here? John thought
"Hello Greg, John and uh, Mycroft, is Sherlock okay?" Anderson said as he walked up to the three of them.
"Hello Phillip. No, Sherlock isn't alright unfortunately. He has an ulcer and internal bleeding. He could be in hospital for a minimum of 7 days," Lestrade said, confused by Anderson's appearance "What are you doing here?"
"Well, seeing Sherlock in that state worried me, I've never seen him like that before. And seeing how it was affecting you and John, well, that worried me too. So I thought that maybe, I should come to the hospital to apologise and see if he's alright" Anderson said
"Who told you he was here? You're really not being yourself Phillip." John interrupted before Lestrade could speak.
"I did," Mycroft said, raising his hand a little "I told him Sherlock was here. He was worried so I allowed him to come."
John and Lestrade stared at Mycroft, and then at Anderson, who had a genuine look of worry spread across his face. John told Lestrade and Anderson to sit down and that he would stand up as there was now a lack of seats.
"I was told to tell you the proceeds of what could happen within the next hour," John began to say "Well, obviously you know that Sherlock's been taken back into theatre under medical emergency, and it could last for up to an hour. And Mycroft, Doctor Stephens said that if you wish for Sherlock to be taken to an isolated room, then he will make sure that it happens"
John watched Mycroft, waiting for a response, but all that came from him was a nod of his head. Thirty minutes passed and it felt like Sherlock had been in theatre for hours. Mycroft had managed to stop crying and Lestrade had his arm around him whilst Anderson had fallen asleep. Doctor Stephens came round the corner and Mycroft was the first to notice. Jumping from his seat, he walked over to Doctor Stephens to ask about Sherlock.
"Doctor, is Sherlock alright? Did everything go okay?" Mycroft anticipated "How long will he have to stay in hospital?"
"Please calm down Mister Holmes. Sherlock is alright, the surgery was a success. He should be waking up within the next ten minutes and I have made sure that was moved to an isolated room after he was released from recovery. If you would like to follow me please, you can see him now."
Mycroft grabbed his umbrella whilst Lestrade woke up Anderson and then the four of them followed Doctor Stephens down the hall. There were only two chairs in Sherlock's room, so Lestrade and John let Mycroft and Anderson sit down. After five minutes, Sherlock woke up. He turned to face his side to see who was there and immediately a face of disgust was on his face.
"What are you doing here Anderson?" Sherlock said, disgusted by the sight of Anderson
"Sherlock, I was worried about you. I'm sorry for being so rude and I wanted to apologise." Anderson said, taken back by Sherlock's tone of voice.
"Well go away, I don't want you here." Sherlock said
"Sherlock, don't be so rude," Mycroft said "Sit back down Phillip."
Doctor Stephens began to tell the five of them how long Sherlock will need to stay in hospital and what will happen after Sherlock is discharged.
"Sherlock will need to stay in hospital for a week and after he is discharged, he will need to be put on a course of various medicines for three weeks." Doctor Stephens said
"Who will take care of him during the three weeks that he's on medicine?" Anderson asked
"Don't talk out loud Anderson. You're lowering the IQ of everyone in this hospital." Sherlock said, trying to stay awake
"Well John here is a doctor himself, so he will be allowed to take care of Sherlock and make sure that he's taking the prescribed amount. Anyway, I have to go and see another doctor. I'll leave you alone for a few minutes." Doctor Stephens said before leaving.
"Mycroft, Lestrade, Anderson, could you please leave me and John alone for a few minutes?" Sherlock requested, staring at them
"Um okay, sure," Lestrade said, getting out of his chair "Come on guys."
The three of them left and John, who was stood beside Sherlock's bed, looked down at Sherlock, confused.
"Sherlock, why did you send them out of the room," John said as he started to watch the others walk down the hall towards a vending machine "What do you want?"
"It's nice to know that you will be there to care for me John," Sherlock said as he held John's hand "I can't care for myself, evidently."
"Of course I'm going to care for you Sherlock. That's my job as a doctor, to care for the sick." John said
"Look John, what I'm trying to say is that I love you okay." Sherlock said
"I know Sherlock, but you should get some sleep, I'll be back later with some of your stuff." John said, kissing Sherlock on the forehead as he left.
Please can you send me a review as to whether or not I should continue with this story after this chapter as I am rather prone to writers block :) If enough people want me to, then I will continue with the story, if you don't, then this is then end, I hope you enjoyed it :)