Sleep
The hospital appointments were becoming part of their every day routine for Joan and Sherlock. It didn't mean she hated them any less. Sherlock knew the signs, she was angry her body had let her down. Even young Arthur had become accustomed to 'Aunty' Kitty minding him when Joan and Sherlock were at the hospital. It still amazed Sherlock how the young boy was able to take everything in his stride. The pre-schooler still asked questions with almost alarming regularity but he had accepted Sherlock without any problems. Sherlock sighed as he thought of the young boy currently running around the children's play area with Kitty's young son, Archie.
"They seem to be getting along well." Kitty sat next to her old friend and mentor. Sherlock smiled slightly.
"They do."
"Archie likes him. He talks about visiting you and his Auntie Joan all the time. I think if he were old enough he would have bought himself a ticket to get here without me."
"He's six."
"I know. Arthur is what? Four?"
"Four years, six months and thirteen days. As he is want to tell anyone who asks." He sighed as Kitty smiled slight. Her son waved to her as he flew down the slide. Arthur followed him a moment later.
"I'm glad they get on."
"How long are you planning on staying in America?" Sherlock turned to her as Kitty smiled. He knew the younger woman well enough to know that she probably wasn't planning on returning the England anytime soon.
"Not long." She avoided his eyes. "Just as long as I am needed. I told you, I wanted to see you all. Archie needed to meet his godparents again and he certainly seems to have made a new friend in young Arthur so there is no reason to run off." She turned to him slightly. "Plus, I have given Joan Margaret's phone number so if I am busy or unavailable for any reason you have childcare."
"Why wouldn't you be available?" He frowned.
"I have a life, Sherlock. Here. In New York. Look, Margaret is a former Navy Officer, a black belt in four different martial arts and a trained Nanny. I assure you Arthur would be more than safe with her. I trust her with Archie and you know how few people I say that with." Sherlock nodded. He knew she was being honest.
"I think we had better get back."
"The point of us all coming to the park was to let Joan sleep. She's just."
"I am well aware of the need for her to rest. I went to the hospital with her. I saw her go through the chemotherapy. I watched the nurse put the cannula in her arm. I saw the treatment. I saw it all."
"Hey." Kitty squeezed his hand. "I know."
"The doctors think we are married."
Kitty smiled as she thought of the couple. She knew neither of them had any plans to marry, Joan seeing it as unnecessary while Sherlock thought it an outdated practice.
"In every sense other than the legal you are."
"Home." He got to his feet as Kitty called for the boys to follow her.
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Joan lay on her bed staring out of the window at the blue sky. She had to admit chemotherapy was draining and the nausea was horrendous but it would be worth it. The day she saw Arthur graduate from university or achieve whatever he decided to aim for she knew it would be worth it. Now she just wanted to block the world out and protect her son, Sherlock and everyone she cared about from the reality of what she was going through. Her favourite hat and new wig sat on the dressing table as she thought about her conversation with Tommy earlier. The former Captain had a way of making her think. At work that was a good thing, a new perspective on a case could send them off in a direction they had not thought of. Now, it just made her think about Paige and everything her friend had lost. She knew Sherlock had talked with him in the early days of her cancer diagnosis but now she wondered if he was coping. A few words from her friend made her think he wasn't. Sighing she pushed herself off the bed, feeling lightheaded and slightly odd she decided to head to the kitchen to get some tea and ginger biscuits - a gift from Kitty when she had returned from England. Her vision swam as she gripped the upstairs bannister. Before she knew it her knees had given way and the world was black.
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"MOM!" Arthur yelled as he stepped through the front door with Archie. Sherlock and Kitty were a few steps behind.
"Shit!" Kitty vaulted past the children as she realised Joan was unconscious at the bottom of the stairs. "Sherlock call 911. Now." She knelt next to her friend as Sherlock seemed to be catatonic. "NOW. AMBULANCE. THE BOYS."
"Yeah." He shook himself as he pulled out his cell phone, relieved that Joan at least seemed to be breathing. Arthur knelt next to his mum as Archie stayed with Sherlock, sensing the adult was in shock the six year old decided to keep an eye on him. Kitty touched Joan's skin, her hand pulling back as she felt the heat radiating from her friend. Sherlock ended the call as Kitty called Joan's name.