Sherlock felt his foot swelling, the pain hammering with the frequency of his pulse. Stupid, Stupid. He was just running up the stairs at Scotland Yard, too impatient to wait for the lift, too eager to see the new found evidence and then he tripped at the top of the stairs. Stupid.

"Take the shoe off." John ordered.

Sherlock glared at him for a moment but he knew he had to comply. He slipped out of the shoe, not able to suppress a hiss. The next moment John grabbed his leg and propped it up on his lap after he had sat down opposite of Sherlock. The team of Yarders were standing in a circle around him as John carefully took the sock of Sherlock's swollen foot and pushing the trouser leg up a bit. The foot was already starting to get thick. Red and blue hematomas were already blooming in different parts, competing in colour with the thick scars around the ankle and the scars from the operation. Sherlock felt the staring looks of the people around him as he watched how John gently began to probe the different bones. Sherlock bit his lip not to make a sound because of the pain it caused.

"We need to take you to the A&E, the bone might be broken but I need an x-ray to determine that." John said firmly.

Sherlock sighed and used the absence of John's hand on his foot to swing his leg away.

"That has to wait." He said. "I need to look at the analysis of the evidence we found in his old house first. I am sure it will lead us to the man." Sherlock turned around to the new young sergeant. "Some ice would be nice though."

"Sherlock. You need a hospital. The foot might be broken.d" John yelled.

Sherlock glared at him. "I know, but it has to wait."

"If it is broken it needs to be treated." John yelled again.

"It had been broken before and wasn't treated for weeks and I was able to live with that." Sherlock shouted back. "I can work nevertheless and it is not like the damage is worse than it was back then."

Silence stretched through the conference room. Sherlock didn't have to look around to know that all eyes were on him. He had quite an idea of the shocked faces around him but he had his gaze still fixed on John. For a moment he berated himself for speaking it out like that but then he remembered that there was a case he wanted to solve. Just as John wanted to say something Sherlock intervened.

"There is a man out there searching for his wife in order to kill her. I will not waste time in an A&E. You can either help me and get me some ice to cool the foot or leave me alone."

John took a deep breath. He clenched his hands to fists and released them periodical.

"Okay." He finally said. "But you will sit down and keep the foot up. And as soon as this is finished I will bring you to the A&E and you will not complain about whatever the doctors decide to do." John turned around. "Some ice would be good."

"Okay." Sherlock nodded. "Now. Where is the file with the analysis?" He turned to look at Sally who watched him with shock written all over her face. "Sally, the case."

It took them the rest of the day to narrow down the possible location of the man they were looking for. When the teams went out to the three possible locations Sherlock was forced to wait in the conference room. He was giddy and wished he would be able to at least pace up and down. The news of the arrest came soon and John just got up and held his hand out for Sherlock to take.

"Let's get you to a hospital." John said.

Sherlock said nothing, but grabbed his cane and carefully got up with John's help. Slowly they made their way out of the Yard building. As promised Sherlock didn't complain about the treatment. He just let the doctor work and was quite happy that nothing was broken. He would need to rest his foot for quite some time and John said he would take care of that and that he would instruct Victor to force Sherlock to rest if necessary.

Leaning on the cane more than usual he stepped into Lestrade's office. Both Lestrade and Sally, who was seated in one of the chairs opposite to the DI, looked up to him.

"Bored." Sherlock announced as he hoppled to the free chair beside Sally. "Give me anything. Some cold case, something."

"You know Sherlock, that John said you should rest your foot." Greg said.

Sherlock rolled his eyes. John developed into a real mother hen and it was annoying. "There is nothing broken and I can rest my foot and look at a cold case at the same time. It is not like my injured foot interferes with my brain."

"Sherlock." Sally said and the hesitance in her voice was obvious. Sherlock knew what she was about to do and he definitely didn't want to talk about it.

"No." He said sternly.

"No?" Sally asked. "I haven't even asked a question."

"No need for that. Your voice and your posture were revealing enough." Sherlock explained.

"Sherlock, we just thought." Lestrade started, but he didn't get the chance to finish that sentence.

"No." Sherlock stopped him. "You might want to talk about it. You might be curious, but I will not talk about it. I am here because I am bored and I had hoped for at least a cold case that might be mildly interesting. If you will not give me one I leave you to your work." With that Sherlock got up. Pain shot through his foot as he put too much weight on it. He swayed a bit and had to bite his lips to not wince loudly. As fast as his foot allowed it he walked to the door.

"Sherlock." Greg said. "Wait."

Sherlock turned around.

"I don't have any cold cases now, but I will ask some colleagues and then I will call you." Greg said.

Sherlock looked at him for a moment. "Thank you." With that he turned around and left.

In the cab on the way back home Sherlock thought about a talk a he had with Dr. Rosewood after the Yarders had seen the scars on his wrists. "You cannot avoid the topic forever." She had said. But that was exactly what he wanted to do. He didn't want the Yarders to know. Let them speculate and guess. He didn't care. They will forget it eventually, he hoped.