What Providence Brought Together
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DISCLAIMER: I do not own Sherlock Holmes or any of the affiliated characters or ideas. Their creator is the remarkable Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
KS: Halloa, and welcome to chapter seven! �I must say quickly that this site is being intolerably mean to myself and a few others...our little horizontal line story divider things have dissapeared from many of our past stories, and are not always working when we try to post new ones. �Also, the strange site bug is putting words together randomly...which is extremely annoying. �So it's not my fault if something is confusing because it jumps subjects quickly or two unrelated words are crammed together...XD� And now random boxes are appearing in my story as I edit it...D8
Anyways, enjoy!
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Sherlock Holmes and I were just finishing our lunch one day when suddenly Holmes jumped slightly, making a strange noise as he did.
"Are you all right, Holmes?" I asked.
Holmes opened his mouth to reply, but before he could he hiccoughed loudly.
"Ah," I said. "You should try to drink some water."
Holmes nodded vigorously, pouring himself a tumbler full of water and gulping it down quickly. He nearly choked as a hiccough escaped just as he was finishing.
"Blasted hic—hic—hiccoughs!" Holmes gasped, taking the napkin from his lap and throwing it angrily onto the table.
"Try drinking again." I suggested.
Holmes glared at me briefly, but poured more water into the glass. He drank all of this without incident, and waited. Nothing.
"Watson, I think they're go—hic!"
Holmes's face fell.
"Bloody—hic!"
I suppressed laughter, knowing I had no right to make fun of my new companion's plight. I must not have done a very good job of hiding my amusement, for Holmes glared daggers at me.
"It is not very funny Wat—hic!"
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Holmes was absolutely fuming when, after two hours, his hiccoughing had not ceased. He was determined, however, not to let them interrupt his day. He had a few chemical researches that, according to him, were very vital and must be performed.
I watched from the settee, peering over my book as he set up his delicate instruments and poured various chemicals from phials and bottles into others. So far, he was doing an admirable job of suppressing his hiccoughs. But I had an ill feeling as to how it would end.
I watched as he set a beaker onto his Bunsen burner, filling it with a clear liquid and turning up the blue flame slightly. He lowered his eyes closer to the experiment in concentration, taking a small amount of blue liquid from a bottle with a glass pipette and dropping it slowly into the heating liquid. The liquid turned from blue to a bluish-purple, and Holmes seemed satisfied with this. He hiccoughed slightly as he set aside the pipette and blue liquid, his face showing irritation at this. He then lifted a phial of another clear liquid from its position on a rack, pulled the top from it, and drew close to the experiment once more to be sure he poured just the right amount. He started to gently tip the glass phial over, watching very carefully…
And just then, he hiccoughed violently.
His hand jerked up, spilling the liquid from the phial into not only into the beaker but onto the table and his hands as well. Holmes jumped up, uttering a curse angrily. This motion knocked over the burner, also, and Holmes sprang to catch it—which he managed to do, but was slightly burnt in the process. He cursed again.
He quickly snatched a towel from the back of a chair and wiped vigourously at his hands, snarling in anger and pain, hiccoughing all the while.
"Are you all right, Holmes?" I gasped, getting up.
"That was acid, Watson. No, I'm not at the pin—hic—pinnacle of wellness at this moment." He replied sharply.
He rushed off into his room to wash his hands quickly.
"Holmes—"
"Not now, Watson! I must get this -hic- off immediately!" he called back.
"No, Holmes!" I gasped, coughing.
The experiment which he had spilt on the table was now smoking profusely, and I could smell as the table was being burnt by the acid and intensity of the reaction.
Holmes put his head out the door, and I saw his grey eyes widen at the sight.
He cursed yet again and hiccoughed, rushing to the table.
I don't believe I had yet heard him use words like that.
He immediately began cleaning up the mess, doing fairly well despite the excited nature of the situation and his anger. The table was no better for it, that was for certain. It had a large, puddle-shaped acid stain on it. I saw as he worked that Holmes's hands were slightly discoloured and raw, also.
"Holmes, perhaps you should let me take a look at those hands." said I.
Holmes tossed a towel angrily into a basin, now finished cleaning, and looked at me.
"No need…I shall be fine. It isn't the first -hic- time I've been burnt with acid."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes…quite sure." He hiccoughed again, finishing with a great sigh. He took a cigarette from his case and lit it, drawing on it nervously.
"I am going -hic- out," he said finally. "I can't just s—hic—stay here. I've work to do."
He took up his coat, hat, gloves and stick, and I felt truly sorry for the man. He trudged toward the door and opened it, and I heard him give a small shout.
I turned to see him quickly try to shut the door as my bull-pup ran in excitedly. The pup looked around the room and was about to run to me, but as soon as it saw Holmes it growled and made for his ankles.
"Watson!" Holmes cried, jumping up onto one of the chairs at the dining-table.
The pup jumped, trying its best to nip at Holmes's feet. I could not entirely tell if it was trying to be playful or was truly unhappy with Holmes's presence. Holmes tried to make a few grabs at it, but failed, and I came over quickly and scooped the little dog up in my arms.
"I'm sorry, Holmes, really!" I apologised, grabbing the dog by its scruff and trying to keep it from wriggling about in my arms.
Holmes stepped down from the chair, his pale face slightly flushed in embarrassment. He paused.
"Watson…"
"Yes?"
"I believe the hiccoughs are gone now."
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KS: �This was inspired by both a personal bout with the hiccups and the brilliant minds at my forum for this story...xD �Go check it out! �The next chapter will be slightly related to this one.
Thank you for reading, and don't forget to review!
