Now Beta'd by Swimmergirl0726.
Sherlock doesn't return and John is not entirely surprised, though he is a little worried that he may be staying away because he is in fact angry with John. Still, there is nothing he can do about it until he gets out of the hospital or Sherlock comes back.
He is brought up to the orthopaedic ward and given a bed in a room he shares with an old man who broke his hip in a fall. He was given painkillers in A&E and by the time he is transferred to the bed in his room he is exhausted and finds that it does not take long to fall asleep.
He is forcibly woken up every two hours by a smiling nurse who asks him questions and then admonishes him to go back to sleep. By the third time he wakes it is to find that his knee has begun throbbing again.
'Are you hurting?' the nurse asks and he nods his head reluctantly. 'I'll get you something for that so you can sleep.' She offers and returns with a syringe that she injects into the shunt in his hand. 'Give that a moment to work and you'll be much more comfortable.' She smiles and John returns it, shifting uncomfortably in the bed.
The nice nurse is wrong… the pain remains and John finds it very hard to get any more sleep. He rests, but is unable to truly fall asleep. The pain is making him nauseous and he eventually relents and calls the nurse again, asking for more pain relief. She frowns, but promises she will check with the doctor and returns soon after with another syringe.
It has no more effect than the first and John spends the rest of the night trying to stay as still as possible and not throw up.
When Sherlock returns the next morning with a bright smile it is to find a very pale and tired John with a slight sheen of sweat coating his brow.
'You look horrible, John, are you running a temperature?' He asks while crossing the room and placing a slender hand across his friend's forehead.
'No, I'm just in pain. It will be better once my knee is fixed.' John offers with a slight shudder.
'If you're in that much pain why don't you take your painkillers properly?' Sherlock asks, assuming that John is being stubborn and refusing pain relief.
'I am taking it… it just isn't working.' John grumbles. 'Where did you go yesterday?' he decides that a change in subject would be desirable about now. Talking about the pain only makes it more apparent and he would much rather have a distraction.
'To meet Lestrade,' Sherlock smiled broadly. 'We've got him. He denies it all of course, but we'll break him. I'm surprised at you, John. Such a scrawny little man... I had expected a big brute with good training, not a short family father.' Sherlock teases and John looks at him with confusion.
'Sherlock, he's nearly as tall as you and I would say he probably has ten times your muscle mass. He is not scrawny by any definition.' He corrects and watches as Sherlock's face falls.
'Oh, it's not the husband… Damn, how did I miss that?' Sherlock curses.
'I take it you found out who the woman was then? The one who killed herself?' John asks, fiddling with the controls on his bed to get the head to raise itself and allow him to half sit up.
'Yes. Her name was Charlotte Stoker, she killed her brother after she found out that he had been molesting her son. A very boring case-so domestic.' Sherlock shrugs but John is oddly moved by this story. It makes sense why this man is so angry Charlotte went to prison, he can almost sympathise with his anger, misdirected as it is.
'The only males who visited her in prison were her husband and her two other brothers that were not molesting her son. I guess I will have to look into the brothers, since it is clearly not the husband. Unless he is using someone as a stand-in for himself… that could be possible.' Sherlock ponders but John shakes his head slowly.
'I don't think so, not unless he's a very good actor, this seemed very personal. You should have heard the fury in his voice.' He offers what he can, hoping that what little he can tell about the man will be at least a little useful.
'You should go get Lestrade to release that poor bloke' he suggests, but Sherlock shakes his head and sits down beside the bed.
'You're having surgery, I'm not going anywhere.' He says in a stubborn tone and John actually smiles a genuine smile when he sees Sherlock being so protective.
'Yes, I am, and if you promise to go sort this out with Lestrade I will ask them to let you come in and sit with me in recovery. It would be nice to have the company and we can mull over possible suspects. You can even bring me photos of those two brothers. Although, he did call her the love of his life, so if it's one of the brothers that would make this whole thing disturbingly incestuous.' John offers and watches as Sherlock gradually relents.
'Ok, when is the surgery?' Sherlock asks.
'Sometime this morning hopefully' John answers, thinking that it really cannot come soon enough. He hasn't been in this much pain since he was shot, and at least back then the pain killers worked.
'Ok, I'll be back soon.' Sherlock says as he whirls out of the room with his usual dramatic flourish.
