"Dr. Watson!" John spun round to see Dr. Connors racing towards him along the corridor. "We weren't sure if you had left the hospital or not." John didn't know how long he had spent outside in the garden, he hadn't kept a track of time, He had gone back inside when his fingers began to feel numb from the cold, and then he had bought himself a cup of tea and sat in the coffee shop for a little while, returning to Innes' ward only because he wasn't sure where else he could go. Now he was gripped with a spasm of fear – they had been looking for him!

"What? Why?" He asked instinctively.

"I just heard word – not even ten minutes ago – from the surgeon operating on Innes, they were just about to start closing up." She told John, "Everything had gone perfectly when I was speaking to them."

"All good?" John asked, his diaphragm pressing tightly against his lungs.

"All good!" She nodded, smiling. John exhaled so quickly that he made himself dizzy; Dr. Connors had obviously sensed danger of some kind because she reached out her hand and grasped John's forearm in a steadying action. "Are you alright? Do you want to take a seat?" She offered quickly as John composed himself.

"No, I'm fine – seriously, I'm alright!" John insisted as she seemed to be leading him towards a plastic chair situated in the corridor. "Sherlock! What about Sherlock?" John asked her.

"I haven't actually enquired about Mr. Holmes, I can find out what ward he is going to be taken to..." She began, but John cut over the top of her.

"What? What ward? You mean he's not going to be brought here?" John spoke sharply.

"Well… no." She answered, "Mr Holmes will be taken to an adult ward for him to recover in."

"No, no, you've got to bend that! You've got to get him brought here, with Innes!" John responded pleadingly.

"It's not usual protocol." She tried to tell John.

"Please! How am I expected to split myself between my partner and my son!" John intimated, she paused for a second and then nodded her head.

"I'll see what I can do." She agreed.

It seemed like Dr. Connors did have some sway, as when she came to find John – who was sitting in Innes' room now – she had good news.

"Mr. Holmes and Innes will be brought here." She informed John.

"Thank you." John nodded in gratitude. "So the surgery?"

"Went as planned, no problems at all." She answered. "They'll be brought down here shortly."

'Shortly' turned out to be longer than John had expected, it was more than twenty minutes before several porters appeared at the door, wheeling both Innes and Sherlock in on beds. John didn't know who to turn to first; a dam had been unleashed inside him and he didn't even feel the tears of relief until they were on his face and dripping off his chin. Dr. Kaboul and Dr. Jessop came along with the two of them, both looking tired but pleased with themselves.

"Dr. Watson, I believe you've already been told by my colleague that that everything went well in the surgery." Dr. Kaboul said to him. "Dr. Jessop was able to remove a kidney very cleanly from Mr. Holmes and I transplanted it into Innes, there were no issues in the surgery. All we have to do now is let them recover." He was smiling, so was Dr. Jessop.

"Thank you – thank you so much!" John gushed.

"You're very welcome." Dr. Jessop replied, "It might take a little while for the anaesthetic to wear off – and they might be a little groggy when they come round… if you need anything, just give one of the nurses a bell and they'll come along and see you."

"Thank you." All John seemed to be capable of doing was repeating himself, grasping each of the doctor's hands in turn.

Sherlock was the first to come round; John had sat on the chair, positioned carefully between the two beds with a clear view of each. The first notification of Sherlock waking was a small twitch, Sherlock's arm moved as though he was flexing it involuntarily; then his whole body arched and he let out a small groan, his eyes flickering.

"Sherlock?" John jumped to his feet and raced to grab Sherlock's hand.

"Oh god…" He mumbled, opening his eyes slowly and blinking like he was clearing sleep from his eyes.

"Sherlock? How are you feeling?" John asked quickly, his heart had begun to race once more.

"Like I've been hit by a bus." Sherlock answered, his voice was raspy from having been intubated during the operation. "How did it go?"

"Well, really well! Perfect actually!" John told him, a quaver of emotion running through his voice.

"Good." Sherlock muttered, he began to try and sit up, but John put his hand firmly on Sherlock's shoulder.

"No Sherlock, you need to stay lying down." John instructed, "I can put a pillow down behind your head if you want to be a bit further up?"

"Please?" John rearranged the pillows on the bed, propping Sherlock up a little more. John pulled his chair closer to Sherlock's bed so that he wouldn't have to let Sherlock's hand go, but still at an angle where he could see Innes.

"How is Innes?" Sherlock inquired, he wasn't far enough up to see Innes where he was positioned.

"Still asleep, but much better thanks to you." John squeezed Sherlock's hand. 2How does it feel?"

"What? Having a kidney missing?" Sherlock responded, "Sore."

"No, I don't mean that…" John replied calmly, "I mean how does it feel having saved our family?"

"Still sore." Sherlock repeated, John chuckled slightly, moving off his chair again so he could kiss Sherlock briefly.

"Do you want me to find out about your pain relief?" John questioned, but Sherlock shook his head as much as he could.

"Nah… I didn't want opiates, so I'm pretty sure I'm on the strongest pain medication they can give me otherwise." He explained, "I couldn't really expect anything less though – a little bit of pain is kind of in the bargain of being cut open and a bit taken out."

"I guess." John bit his lip. "But you'll let me know if it gets too much, yes?"

"I will, believe me." Sherlock said.

Innes didn't wake immediately, actually Sherlock began to get concerned when he had been awake for nearly an hour and Innes had shown no signs of awakening.

"He's only little Sherlock, the anaesthetic will have a different effect on him than it will have on you." John explained, he wasn't allowing himself to worry about Innes yet – he was stable and they'd know if that changed. "He's stable, he's alright – don't get yourself worried."

"I'm not." Sherlock protested, "I'm just –"

"Father?" Innes' voice had broken over Sherlock's, he had woken up without either of them noticing. John spun round and simultaneously held a restraining hand on Sherlock's shoulder to prevent him from sitting up and ripping his stitches out.

"I'm still tired," He murmured sleepily, mirroring Sherlock's actions and trying to sit up.

"No, no, no… you have to stay lying down Innes – you've had an operation." John said calmly. "You've got to rest so you can get better."

"I've had an operation?" Innes questioned. "So does that mean there's a bit of father inside me?"

"That's exactly what it means. You've got one of father's kidneys inside you now."

"And that'll make me better?" John knew they had already gone through this, but the clarification was good for Innes' understanding and for re-affirming inside John that everything had gone alright.

"It will Innes, but you need to rest for a little bit first – you need to heal before we can get back to normal!" John was nodding to Innes.

"And then I can go back to school?" Sherlock couldn't stop himself from chuckling at Innes' question.

"You really like the Vikings, don't you?" Sherlock said, laughing.

"Yeah!" Innes answered enthusiastically.

"Well good, we'll get you back up to speed with everything you need to know while you're getting better." John placated.

"Cool!" Innes agreed, "Thank you father!"

"What for?" Sherlock asked.

"For giving me a bit of you to make me all better!" Innes said, as though this was obvious.

"You don't need to thank me for that Innes; I just want you to get better." Sherlock answered, "I love you son."

"I love you too father."

John was positioned in the middle of this interaction; one hand holding onto Sherlock's hand and the other hand gripping one of Innes'. He looked from one, to the other, having to strain to keep his emotions in check. They were both safe, they had both made it through their operations and were alright. John was so relieved that he didn't know what to do – whether to laugh or cry; he was flooded with a warm, happy feeling that came with the security that his family were fine. It had all gone well; he wasn't sure why he had gotten himself so worried in the first place! It was nice sitting with the two of them, holding onto their hands – it felt like everything would go right from now on. It could only get better from here on out.


A/N: As always, I'd love to know what you think of this chapter/story so far!