Kate and John looked up from quickly from where they were sitting at the kitchen table ad Ed Harris walked out of Sherlock's room closing the door softly behind him.

'Is he okay?' Kate asked, getting up.

'Yes, surprisingly compliant, but I suspect that you'll want to check for yourself. Why don't you go in and see him, while I write a few notes?'

Kate smiled at him gratefully as she went into the bedroom. Sherlock was still sitting up in bed, hands templed under his chin, deep in thought. He didn't acknowledge her presence as she walked into the room and jumped as she sat on the side of the bed and touched his shoulder gently.

'Sorry,' she said, 'I didn't mean to startle you. You okay?'

'Kate,' he said, as if surprised, then rubbed his face. 'Dr Harris gave me some haloperidol. Its doing odd things to my head.'

'Did he help?' Kate asked.

Sherlock considered, 'I think so. Talking to him helped, but now - I don't know.'

'Do you want some more medication?'

'Not yet. Can you put the radio on though? And then you can go outside and talk about me.'

Kate gave him a look she usually reserved for drunks making inappropriate comments at five am.

'Well you are going to talk about me,' he said.

'You can come and join the conversation if you want,' she told him as she switched the radio on.

'No its fine, I think I'll sleep.'

...

By the time Kate that got back to the living room, Ed Harris and John had moved to the sofas and seemed to be discussing a list of medication.

'Your tea's there, Kate,' John said as she came and joined them.

'I don't think I've ever drunk so many cups of tea in my life,' Kate said, then, 'Thank you, John.'

'I was just discussing medication with John,' Ed Harris said. 'The good news is that whatever my initial reservations may have been, I believe that keeping Sherlock here is eminently possible. I would still advise an admission, his illness is certainly severe enough to warrant it, and he would undoubtably get better quickly with specialist care. He, however, is adamant that he wishes to remain here, and given the level of care that is available to him from you two, I think that is reasonable.'

Kate closed here eyes for a moment in relief. 'And the diagnosis?'

'Psychotic depression, as John suggested, although I very much suspect that he has bipolar type 2 from your description of his mood, and I will ensure that any medication he is given is appropriate to that provisional diagnosis until he is well enough for formal testing. He has made it clear that he wishes to avoid lithium if possible, and that would seem reasonable. I would suggest a combination of antidepressants and antipsychotics for now, together with some fairly hefty sedation for at least the next few days. Orally if he will take it, intravenously if he won't. I suggest a cannula for ease of administration, and for the fluids which he will almost certainly need once he is on sedation.'

Kate flashed a look at John who nodded calmly, before asking. 'I don't want to sound as if I've getting cold feet, because I'm not, but intravenous sedation here seems a little - well risky. We don't have any resuscitation kit here; no reversal agents, no oxygen, nothing.'

'I can arrange for everything that you need to be delivered from the clinic,' Ed Harris said calmly. 'If you stick to the regime I propose then the risk of an adverse event will be low, but I agree, you need to be prepared for any eventuality. I would imagine that between the two of you, you have the skills to deal with anything that might happen?'

'As long as we've got the kit, we'll be fine,' Kate said quickly. 'But if we get equipment from the clinic won't Mycroft find out?'

'He has no access to the records there,' Ed Harris told her, 'and I certainly won't be giving him any information. I'm sure that it won't surprise you to know that we have ways of anonymising patients, and I will ensure that happens in this case. I will visit Sherlock daily, and in addition I will give you my mobile number. If you are concerned about anything, at any point, no matter what time of the day or night, then I want you to phone me, either of you. I can give advice, or if the situation deteriorates, which it may, I can arrange admission within an hour.'

They were interrupted by a thud and the sound of Sherlock's voice shouting from the bedroom, Kate got in there first, John and Ed Harris hovering by the door. The radio was on the floor and Sherlock was shouting at it, 'Shut Up! Shut Up!' Over and over again, his voice cracking, his head buried in his hands. Kate didn't hesitate, she switched off the radio, still going despite its fall to the floor and wrapped her arms round him until he grew quieter. He was shaking, still muttering. 'Its okay,' she soothed, trying to work out what had happened to make him react like this.

'Did you hear voices in the radio, Sherlock?' came Ed Harris' voice from the door, as if answering her question.'

'Bastards,' muttered Sherlock, 'it's not true, it's not true.' He had his head buried in Kate's shoulder as she held him tight. He pulled away slightly and stared at her as if trying to work something out. 'Were they talking about me?' she asked. He nodded.

'Did they tell you that Kate was part of the conspiracy?' Ed Harris asked calmly.

Sherlock nodded again, miserably. 'Why would they say that? It's not true.'

'Do you think the voices are real?' Ed Harris asked.

Sherlock was still staring at Kate. 'They're me, they're inside my head; so why would I say that about Kate, why would my subconscious create that?' In his eyes Kate read sorrow, fear, despair and absolute self-loathing. 'It's not your fault,' she whispered.

'But it's me,' he said, 'how can that be coming from me?'

John had disappeared transiently to fetch his bag from the living room and reappeared with lorazepam in a syringe. At a murmured comment from Ed Harris as Kate tried to comfort Sherlock, he took other equipment from his bag, and gently tried to disentangle Sherlock's hand from Kate, but Sherlock shook him off.

'Give me your hand, Sherlock, ' John said firmly, 'I'm going to put in a cannula.'

'Why?'

'So that he can give you medication faster,' Ed Harris said calmly, and so that we can take some standard blood tests that I will require anyway.'

'To see if I've been drugged? You think that someone's drugged me?'

'I think that it's unlikely, why, do you think that?'

Sherlock shook his head miserably, but he let John uncurl his hand from Kate's back and insert a cannula. Minutes later John was injecting the lorazepam, and Kate felt him relax and he allowed her to lie him down in the bed, where he quickly fell asleep.

'Bandage it in, would you?' Kate asked John as she rearranged the pillows under Sherlock's head, eyes never leaving his face. John nodded and wrapped a wide white bandage on either side and eventually over the port of the cannula, preventing it being easily dislodged, tying the ends in place.

'We'll see you outside in a minute,' John said finally, realising that Kate needed a moment alone with Sherlock.

Kate was having her first moment of real doubt since this had all started. What on earth was she doing? She was a sane, intelligent woman, did she honestly believe that she and John could keep Sherlock here in this state, when he was hearing voices coming out of the radio, and was busy inserting both her and probably John too into his conspiracy theories? Finally reluctantly, she went out to the living room and silently resumed her seat in the chair.

'Having second thoughts?' Ed Harris asked. 'Its only natural, Kate. Its difficult enough seeing any patient that distressed, but when it's someone that you care about I can only imagine how hard it must be.'

'It's not about me,' Kate said, 'it's about whats best for Sherlock.'

'What would be best in theory,' Ed Harris said, 'would be for him to be admitted, however he is so adamantly against that, I think that we should respect his wishes, if we can.'

'Is he sectionable?' John asked quietly.

'Strangely enough, no, not at the moment. He is not a risk to himself or others, and he is rational, that is part of the problem. He is too rational, he is trying to make sense of his own psychosis, and that is only making matters worse. That is what you just witnessed. His voices were telling him the Kate was part of a conspiracy against him. The average psychotic patient would have become paranoid and acted accordingly; Sherlock conversely becomes agitated and distressed because he is trying to have a logical argument with them, then when that fails he starts berating his own subconscious for coming up with a suggestion that he views as irrational.'

'But he's arguing against himself so he'll never win,' John said softly.

'Precisely.'

'So what do we do?'

'You keep him sedated as I have already suggested, exactly as you did just now. Allow him to wake up for sufficient time to take his medication, to drink and to try to eat, although I suspect that will be difficult for the next few days, then sedate him again. I want him awake as little as possible . We need to switch off that powerful brain of his so that he is no longer possible of creating the complex arguments that are causing so much damage, until the medication starts to kick in.'

'And how long will that take roughly?'

'Six weeks to reach the peak effect, but you should see some change in mood and a suppression of the hallucinations within a week, enough I would hope to be able to reduce his sedation.'

A week, Kate thought. She could do this for a week.

'I presume that a private psychiatric nurse is not something that you would contemplate? I could arrange one, to give you both a bit of respite.'

Kate shook her head, 'No, Sherlock would hate it. He's so intensely private, he wouldn't want anyone other than me and John looking after him when he's like this.'

'Then I will arrange for a delivery of medical equipment to you this afternoon, together with a supply from the clinic pharmacy.'

'You're not going to just give us a prescription?' Kate asked.

'I think you might raise a few eyebrows in your local chemist if you went in with a prescription for the amount of intravenous lorazepam and haloperidol that I'm going to suggest. Better to not raise awkward questions, if it can be avoided.'

'Thank you,' Kate said quietly, touched by his thoughtfulness.

'I'll email a drug chart across to you later, John,' Ed Harris said, 'and I'll telephone later to see how things are going, but if any time things start to get out of hand, phone me and I'll send the cavalry round.'

John nodded and Kate sat silently for a while, then finally looked up to see Ed Harris considering her with a trained eye. 'You don't have to do this, Kate, you know,' he said gently. 'If its too much, then we can arrange an admission. Sherlock may not like it, but I am sure that he could be persuaded that it would be the right course of action.'

'I want to try,' Kate said, 'for his sake, I want to at least give it our best shot, and if it doesn't work, then fine, I'll persuade him that he needs to be admitted. John? What do you think?'

'I'll back whatever decision you make, Kate,' John said quietly, but the care and concern in his eyes almost tipped Kate over the edge. 'It's your call.'

'Good, lets try this then,' she nodded as if trying to convince herself.

'You're sure?' Ed Harris asked.

'Yes,' Kate said firmly. 'We'll try to keep him here, with sedation, and see what happens. If he gets worse then we get him admitted.'