But what do I know, if you're leaving

All you did was stop the bleeding.

But these scars will stay forever,

These scars will stay forever

And these words they have no meaning

If we cannot find the feeling

That we held on to together

Try your hardest to remember

-Secondhand Serenade "Like a Knife"


Watson finished wrapping the bandage around my wrist, avoiding eye contact as his quick and steady work was completed. It was this I had feared. I had almost drifted to sleep, now I jolted awake, realizing he was done.

"Sorry." He offered an apology as though he had hurt me, and not quite the other way around.
"You didn't hurt me doctor…" I offered, trying to find the words I needed to go on.

"Well, you are on the mend. I will check back on you in a day or two. For now you should remain on complete bed rest with good meals." He said, beginning to gather his belongings in his bag. I watched, dry in the mouth as he turned to go, words still escaping me. I heard the door shut and I stiffened and groaned with pain. How much longer would this stretch on? I was lost without him and yet I could not find the words to let him know. Instead he went on believing I was simply heartless. It was not true in the least. Or, not anymore.

I heard him descending the stairs and perhaps the tell-tale creak that he made on the third step was what triggered my reaction. He only creaked on that step when he was limping because of the way he would hit the edge of the stair.

Leaping from the bed and somehow disentangling myself from the sheets I was at the door before the pain struck me. I still made it to the top of the stairs before I was forced to react with a painful gasp as I unceremoniously stumbled into a crouch in front of my friend and Mrs. Hudson.

"Holmes!" Watson's voice held both a note of fear and all the gruffness of a commanding officer who has been disobeyed. He shed the coat he had been helped into by our gentle land lady and began to climb the stairs once more.

There, I knew my instincts could not be wrong. I noted the way he winced as the pressure hit his wounded leg as he marched up with far more speed then he should have. I saw the small, subtle way he clenched his jaw as he reached my side and knelt, ignoring his own pain in favor of wrapping his arm around me and forcing me to let him support me.

"Holmes you need to rest." He ordered.

"Watson please…" My hand gripped his collar as I tried to gather my breath. The pain flooded all my senses and I tried shaking my head to clear it, but only eliciting a moan from the poor choice. Not my first lately.

"Holmes, you are going to make things worse." His hand on my neck began soothingly rubbing and relieving some of the agony I was in.

I finally managed to breathe well enough to speak what I needed to. I stopped thinking. I forced my great mind to slow down in favor of getting out the words of my heart for once.

"Watson please, don't leave again. Please, I'm lost. I need you back…" The choked words were pleadingly whispered and I could only stare helplessly at him, begging those eyes to stop seeming so cold.

To my everlasting relief, it was only a moment before his face softened and a small smile touched his lips. "To bed with you." He ordered, but this time his voice was a low whisper, and spoke of emotions he had been trying to contain until now.

I felt him gently bring me upright and I struggled to help him as we stumbled our way back into my room. Once there he eased me into bed, redoing the sheets to make me comfortable and then bringing out a chair to sit beside the bed.

"No, you need to rest the leg…" I murmured, already half asleep.

"Let the doctor do the ordering for now." He reproved, though his eyes twinkled as he said it.

"But…" I whispered, groaning as the aching continued to flare in intense waves.

His hand slipped into mine and I gripped it before I quite knew that I was doing so. I knew he was staying, and the relief combined with exhaustion was overwhelming me fast. I had not long left in the conscious world.

"Sleep Holmes. I'll be here." He assured me.

Finally, I could fight his orders no more.


Oh to be needed...