Sam smiled at the lack of fear in Elyssa now compared to such a short time ago. The injury (and likely their shared blindness) had distracted her from where they were: out in the open, no places to hide in sight. Though Sam was used to this, his back still crawled when he was exposed, and he could feel the light touch of John's regard on the back of his neck, a sensation he had partially grown numb to after adjusting to the humans in the flat.
"Will she be able to walk?" Sam asked, sitting back on his haunches, one hand gripping the edge of her sleeve and looking above, where John must be.
John almost nodded again, catching himself and answering, "It might sting for a while, but as long as you don't overdo it you should be fairly mobile, Elyssa."
He was glad to hear that Elyssa's wound felt better, and she didn't seem to object to any aspects of his bandaging. It took a huge weight off his heart to know he could pull even a simple procedure like that off on someone so small, with minimal help from Sam with the actual wrapping.
Cleaning up the rest of the medical supplies, John appraised the pair of borrowers on the table. "Still can't see?" he winced, noticing that neither of the borrowers on the table seemed focused yet.
Sam's brow furrowed as he tried to focus. "Mostly just light and dark," he admitted, shaking his head. "But it's starting to clear up more. What about you?"
Elyssa gave a start to be addressed, distracted by her leg. "S-same," she said shyly. "Shadows, mostly."
John hummed thoughtfully, sitting back in his chair as he considered their options.
"Elyssa," he began, wanting her to have a say in this, "obviously we weren't expecting something like this when we brought you here. The plan was to take you right back, but…if you want my honest opinion, I don't think it would be very safe if we dropped you off unable to see. Now, it's completely up to you, but would you be alright with staying here a little longer? Just until you can see again, and then we'll be off. You have my word."
Elyssa's hand found its way to where Sam's fingers pinched her sleeve, her slim fingers curling around his much larger hand as she listened to John's voice rumble around them. "H-how much longer?" she asked timidly.
"Shouldn't be long," Sam reassured her. "I'm starting to make out shapes, how're you doing?"
"About that?" Elyssa's voice rose a little. "I… can see…" She trailed off, blinking hard like Sam. "I think the table's getting clearer."
"That's a good sign," John nodded, making a move to get out of his chair. He paused when he remembered the noise and vibrations might startle them.
"I'm gonna get up," he warned. "Do you need anything, while we wait? A bite to eat? Drinks might be a bit messy aside from water, but I'm sure we can make it work."
Sam nodded, blankly staring at the dark shadow he had to assume was John. The voice came from that direction to match the shadow. "That would be great, thanks," he said, continuing to blink rapidly. There was no way of knowing if it helped or not, but it definitely didn't hurt to try. The sooner he got his sight back, the better.
"Okay. Here I go," John warned, pushing his chair back as quietly as he could manage and skirting around the table without bumping into it.
He returned a moment later with a finely chopped peanut and a halved raisin set up on the corner of a napkin, which John slid over to Sam and Elyssa with care. He placed a bottle cap of water next to it, then carefully worked a finger under Sam's forearm to guide his hand over the offerings as John pointed them out. Sam tensed up at the touch against his arm momentarily, then allowed himself to be led again, taking the initiative to reach the direction John had indicated. His hand fell on the food, and he patted them down to feel out what was waiting for them. John hoped this would help avoid the need for groping, give the borrowers a stronger grasp of their surroundings.
"Raisin?" Sam asked Elyssa, passing it over to her before going back for the peanut for himself and dragging the bottlecap of water closer to keep track of it.
Somehow Sam got the raisin to Elyssa's hands unaided, and she shyly said, "Thanks."
"There's some water to use, Sam," John informed him, sipping at the water bottle he'd opened for Sam and Elyssa's portion, "though it might be easier to get once you've got some sight back."
John leaned against the kitchen counter for the time being, trying to give the smaller folk some space. It didn't matter that neither of them could see him. If anything, that gave him more reason to back off. He could only assume that his voice and the vibrations he caused with his movements were unsettling when he couldn't be seen.
For the next few minutes, the kitchen was quiet. Sam passed off half of his peanut when Elyssa asked for more food, and found himself reaching for the bottlecap when he realized that he could actually see what he was reaching for.
It was blurry and vague, but it was there.
Sam overreached, his hand landing in the water and splashing over the edge. He sputtered and sneezed as a drop dripped down his messy bangs and into his eyes and nose. "John! I can see that! " He brushed off his face, flicking the water off.
John's brow shot up and he blinked rapidly as he watched Sam. After drifting off in thought for the last few moments, that was far from what John ever expected to look up and see. However, a smile tugged at his lip at Sam's good news.
"Brilliant!" John approached the table with quick but careful steps, kneeling next to the table to be at eye level with the borrowers there. "How 'bout you, Elyssa? Seeing anything yet?"
Sam quickly pulled the bottlecap closer, dipping his hands in and scrubbing his face and hair to slick it temporarily back (it never lasted for long). While he did this, Elyssa frowned, her eyes looking down at the table she was sitting on.
"Uh…" She looked around, then rubbed her eyes. "Starting to…"
"Have some water," Sam coaxed while she was trying to focus. "Let it come."
He pushed the bottlecap against her side, making her jolt. "Oh!" Her hands fell on the edges, but she didn't repeat Sam's mistake. Cupping her hands, she lifted up a drop to her lips and drank.
After she was done, she pushed the cap away, blinking at the room around them and angling her head to see better. "I can see the cabinets," she said shyly.
John smiled warmly at the pair of them, glad their eyesight was starting to come back around.
"Won't be long now," he determined, carefully getting up to sit in the chair he'd taken before. "I'm gonna set up a few extra supplies for you to take home, in case you need to change your bandage, which I'd recommend after a couple of days. I've also got these antiseptic wipes that work the same as that disinfectant, and a small packet of that cream I put on it that should last you a few uses. It'll take me a minute to get some of this tape cut, but hopefully by then your vision will be a lot better. You'll be home in time for tea," John assured, speaking idiomatically without thinking.
"Oh, we don't have tea," Elyssa answered before her mind quite caught up with what John was saying. "Just water unless we find some tea bags that were discarded. That doesn't happen much, and my family usually trades what we find for better food."
Sam pushed himself to his feet, testing out his weaker leg a few steps before offering her a hand. "Maybe you could take one home with you?" he said, looking at John for approval.
"Now there's an idea," John nodded, glancing at Sam from where he was concentrating on cutting up strips of medical tape. An idea that didn't require much consideration. Somehow it didn't come as a surprise to John that tea would be a rare commodity to the smaller folk. It wasn't exactly available to them in bulk at the market. Still, it seemed a shame to go without in London, no matter a person's size. "You're certainly welcome to a bag if you'd like. We insist, in fact. It's our pleasure."
"Oh, I couldn't possibly," Elyssa demurred, trying to avoid falling further into their debt as she waved away the offer.
"It's no trouble," Sam insisted. "You can share it with your family and have some tea of your own."
Blinking at Sam, she frowned. "You two are strange for a human and a borrower," she pointed out.
"I'll take that as a compliment," John grinned, adding the last few strips of medical tape to the miniscule stack he'd been building. Setting that down near the other things he was compiling to send home with Elyssa, topping it all off with a few freshly cut strips of gauze.
Try as he might, it was difficult for John to manipulate the gauze into a more manageable state than a pile of strips without the risk of stretching or breaking the material between his fingers. After fumbling for a moment, John moved the tiny pile closer to Sam.
"Would you mind rolling these up for me?" he asked, somewhat sheepish.
"Sure," Sam said, reaching out to pull the gauze next to him.
The thick fabric responded under his touch like it wouldn't to John's. The way it was made, Sam had to be careful not to get his fingers stuck in the cloth. The holes between threads were larger and spaced out more than in normal clothing, where he might have to work to get his hands to cling to. Once he got started rolling the first up, it became easier, and Sam simply fed the second into it, rolling all the separate strips up as one to make them easier to transport.
"Does this mean you're taking me back now?" Elyssa asked.
"If you're ready, yes," John replied, carefully standing again to fetch a tea bag to cap off what was becoming a care package he was sending off with Elyssa. It seemed like a bit for the two to carry, but John was more than willing to lighten their load. It was all featherlight to him. "We'll get you back to that alley, hopefully find some friends who can help you until you recover."
A thought struck John, and he glanced back at the girl. "Do you live in that alley, or somewhere nearby? I could bring you closer to your home, that way you don't have to travel on that leg more than necessary."
Elyssa paused, clearly torn as her eyes darted from Sam to John.
To take the attention off her, Sam pushed the bundled strips of gauze to where John was collecting his items. He paid no mind to the hands close by. "There we go," he said in satisfaction.
"There's an entrance not far from there," Elyssa said slowly. "It's a bit of a walk to my home, but nothing I can't handle." She left out that she wouldn't reveal where they lived to this human and his strange borrower. Her entire family lived there, it was too dangerous.
John gave a knowing nod. He suspected he'd meet with trepidation after such an offer, understanding the danger the smaller folk saw in allowing a human to know of their home. Though the continued mistrust was a little disheartening, he did get it.
"If you say so," John conceded. "Just let us know if you need help carrying all this stuff back." He indicated the pile of medical supplies he'd collected for her, carefully picking some of them up along with the tea bag to carefully arrange in his palm.
Once everything was in place, with plenty of room for Sam and Elyssa, John set his hand down on the table within reach of them both. "Ready when you are."
Elyssa bit her lip, but allowed Sam to help her onto John's hand, both settling in the center. Once more Sam put his arm around her shoulders to keep her stable before signaling to John that they were all set. This time she leaned into him more, welcoming his steady touch.
Sherlock was silent on the cab right back to the flat, fingers drumming anxiously on his knee the whole way. His mind was running through possible scenarios for this meeting with Lestrade.
The Detective Inspector wasn't by any means a cruel man, or untrustworthy. If there was anyone to find out about Dean, Lestrade was… arguably the most harmless. If he could be talked into keeping quiet, which Sherlock was sure he could be. And if not, he'd find a way to guarantee his silence, no matter how forcibly.
Sherlock went straight up to the empty flat, lifting a hand to his shoulder for Dean. "For the record, you won't have to bare your soul to anyone," he retorted.
Dean huffed, pushing the scarf from over his head. Unlike when they'd gotten in the cab, his vision was nearly completely clear, only a few remaining spots aggravating his sight. Which made climbing into Sherlock's hand so he could better glare at Sherlock much easier.
"Ain't that what we're doing?" Dean grouched up at Sherlock. "Inviting him over for drinks, telling him all about the strange little man in his crime scene? Which, by the way, I better get my whiskey after all this."
Sherlock rolled his eyes and set Dean down on the kitchen table. "We don't have to tell him everything, but he'll have questions," he explained, removing his scarf and coat. "I've worked with Lestrade for years, and he may be an idiot, but he's not completely devoid of understanding. If he sees how important it is for you to remain secret, we'll have no issues with him. I'd much rather do it in private, on our own terms, than out in that crime scene or in some report down at Scotland yard."
Dean stuck his lip out in what almost looked like a pout, rebellious at the way Sherlock made sense as he talked about Dean interacting with a new human.
"If I do this," Dean said, refusing to give in completely, "if, you better make sure he doesn't get any ideas about grabbing me. This size might have its perks when you need to get into small spaces, but it comes with a whole mountain of disadvantages I'd rather be without. If you agree that you'll keep him under control… I'll do it. If only because I doubt we'll be sneakin' me into any more crime scenes after today now that he knows."
Of all things, being left out of Sherlock's detective work sounded like the worst of the options.
"I can keep him in check," Sherlock assured. Even in his own skepticism about this situation, he doubted Lestrade would try something stupid like that. It wasn't like him to barrel into actions without even an inkling of a plan, and it was clear that Lestrade had absolutely no idea how to react to Dean.
Sherlock stepped out for a second to hang his scarf and coat, coming right back into the kitchen with another point. "If you'd prefer, I can do the talking. He's used to listening to me and taking my word. You'll be a part of the conversation, of course, and have first say in what he gets to know. If I get something wrong, you can correct me, and shut me up if I start to say too much."
Dean's lips thinned, but he couldn't deny the allure of having the option to shut Sherlock up. Just like John did when they were talking supernatural.
"Fine," he agreed reluctantly. "I'll let you do most of the talking and stick around to listen in and make sure you stick to the straight and narrow. So long as we crack open that bottle of whiskey you've had squirreled away since before we even lived here. I've been eyeing that up for ages."
Sherlock hummed in acknowledgement as he turned to dig through cabinets. Sherlock had once purchased a variety of liquors for an experiment. Something to do with alcohol mixed with fresh blood versus donated and preserved blood, the results stowed away in one of Sherlock's notebooks somewhere.
In any case, the whiskey and several of the alcoholic beverages had been stored carelessly around the flat once their usefulness for Sherlock ended. John had partaken in a few of the ones he could find since, but some of them, like the whiskey, were buried deep in the void that their cabinets had become. Sherlock reckoned he'd better get searching if he meant to find it before Lestrade showed up.
A/N:
TW: Alcohol and drinking will be involved with the rest of the story, including drunken behavior.
Somehow, John and Sam managed to sneak back out of the flat to bring Elyssa home without Dean and Sherlock ever seeing them!
Next: October 19th, 2022 at 9PM
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Adding in this author's note for all my followers here, and will keep it on all chapters going forward:
If the worst happens and fanfiction shuts down, you can find all my stories on both archive of our own and deviantart, posted under the nightmares06 account. You can also find our story tumblr, which contains a ton of information and answers that are only posted on that site, along with artwork for the stories and future plans we have. That can be found under the brothersapart tumblr account. I can't put links in chapters, but googling "Brothersapart tumblr" should bring it right up!