Title: Look Before Jumping
A/N: My medical sensibilities object violently to the point at which I ended this one, so a follow-up is quite likely. Response to Prompt #43. Dive.
I would never make it far enough from the blazing warehouse to survive the explosion of the second device, I knew, with my medical training.
I also knew that Holmes was not going to leave me behind to save himself.
But I was going to try my best to convince the detective to leave me behind, in the futile hope that Holmes would listen to me for once.
"Holmes," I coughed, my lungs burning from the smoke, "leave me."
"No, I will not," Holmes coughed in reply, as stubborn as ever.
"I will not allow you to die saving me," I insisted.
"Either we both die or we both live, Watson, there is no in-between," my friend insisted.
"Then surely we shall both die, for there is no way that I will be able to escape the second explosion."
Without warning, Holmes suddenly turned around, heading back towards the bomb, pulling me with him by my uninjured arm.
"What in blazes, Holmes?!" I exclaimed in surprise.
"Do you trust me, Watson?"
"With my life."
"Then believe me when I say that you are not going to die today."
"I don't see how," I admitted as we raced past the bomb.
"You don't have to see it, Watson, because I saw it," Holmes replied as the rear wall of the warehouse loomed before us out of the smoky haze.
I dared to hope that Holmes might be right as I saw that there was a door!
It took all of five seconds for Holmes to pick its simple lock and swing open the door.
Unfortunately, the rush of fresh air fanned the flames behind us.
As red-hot tongues of fire engulfed me, my last thought was that I hoped that Holmes at least was spared the painful death of burning alive.
Then all went black and I knew no more until I regained consciousness in Holmes' arms, afloat in the Thames.
"Holmes?" I rasped, wondering why I was in the filthy river water.
"Didn't I say that you weren't dying today?"