Author: Sorry for taking so long to update this one; there's only so much angst and gloom you can write in one go before it starts to get to you. Happier times ahead, though! Also, all America-mocking is done in good humor. I myself am an American, and proud to be such.

Once the buzz of the ventilator was cut off, the silence that overcame the room was near maddening. Sebastian had thought that he wanted nothing more than for the foreboding humming to leave, but the quiet that stole over Jim's bed after it was gone was enough for him to wish it was back, to wish it was there still forcing Jim's lungs to supply his cells with oxygen. Sebastian glanced up warily at John, his concern showing in the faint lines on his brow. John cocked his head, but then gave an understanding smile.

"He'll be fine. He doesn't need it anymore. Look," he took Sebastian's hand and put it on Jim's chest so he could feel the rise of it beneath his palm. "He'll be awake in a little while. You'll just have to wait a bit longer."

"Right." Sebastian said it gruffly, pulling his hand away from Jim. John smirked at him ever so slightly, but his good humor began to dissipate as he considered what exactly Jim would be waking up to. He shifted awkwardly, knowing that he should tell Sebastian if only so he would be prepared for Jim's reaction when he awoke.

"Um, Sebastian, you do know that he was-"

"Yes. I'm not a fool." Sebastian's jaw clenched and his fingers dug into his thighs as he thought about it. He would take care of it, though, just as soon as Jim was well again.

"Right. Just...Be careful." John didn't very well want Sebastian's near-constant manhandling of Jim to set off some less-than-pleasant memories, especially when he would be in such a fragile state immediately following the coma.

"John," Sebastian looked directly at him, something which he rarely did if he could avoid it. "I've lived with him for two years now. I've seen him drugged out his mind, near catatonic with depression, and threatening to jump off the balcony because the milk went off. I think I can handle this." Strangely enough, a small smile was tugging at Sebastian's lips as he thought about some of Jim's more eccentric episodes.

"Right." Suddenly, Sherlock's propensity for destroying walls didn't seem that bad at all. "Well, I'm going down to the cafeteria. Do you want me to bring you something?"

"Will Jim be able to eat or drink when he wakes up?"

"If he feels like it. He may have a bit of nausea, but otherwise it would be fine."

"Could you just bring back a sandwich for me and a chocolate milk for him then?"

"Yeah, no problem. Be back in a bit."

Once the door had closed behind John, Sebastian propped his arms on the rail of Jim's bed and stared down at him intensely. He looked better now than he day a few days ago; the bruises on his face had faded slightly and he had regained his usual, albeit still pale, skin tone. He almost looked well; at least, he no longer looked like an animated corpse.

He continued his studious observation of Jim for quite sometime, watching intently for signs of his returning consciousness. Occasionally he could see it in the flicker of eyes beneath lids, the tick of a muscle in his neck. Slowly his lips parted, moaning a low exhale. Sebastian scooted closer to the bed, remaining close enough so that Jim could easily see him when his eyes finally opened.

"Jim?"

He received a grunt in response, followed by Jim scrunching his face up in displeasure at being awake. Sebastian smiled but otherwise remained quiet. Having spent a fair amount of time heavily drugged on pain medication himself, he knew how frustrating it was have people throwing prying questions at you when you could hardly remember your own name, much less recall that ceilings weren't supposed to be moving in undulating waves. Jim's fingers twisted into the sheets and Sebastian could see his toes curling beneath the covers. Just like Jim to test the security of the world around him before exposing his mind to the chaos.

Then, with none of the drama that the moment deserved, Jim opened his eyes.

-oOo-oOo-oOo-

Jim opened his eyes.

"Seb, I can't sleep with you sitting in the corner staring at me like that."

"Well, tough nuts. You're the one that's gone and gotten yourself a murderous arch-nemesis; now you get to deal with the consequences."

"Really, Seb, it's nothing to be worried about."

"Nothing to be worried about? Jim, someone fired a crossbow at your head today! A bloody crossbow, for chrissakes."

Jim's lips twisted into a smirk. "I thought it was amusing. And they missed, so everything's fine."

"The only reason they missed is because I tackled you to the ground."

"Yes, but that's not the point. They still missed, I'm still alive, and now we can all get over the crossbow incident and think about more important things."

"Like?"

"Like the fact that I haven't slept in a week and if you ruin this chance for me to get a bit of rest, I'm going to be very put out."

"You do realize that threatening your hired muscle is counter-productive, right? I mean, the whole reason you have me is because you're too weak to take care of yourself."

"I'm not weak."

"Right. And you didn't just have me open a jar of jam for you not two hours ago."

"It was impossible! Even you strained to open it. And don't think I didn't see that vein of yours bulging while you opened it; there's no use denying that it was difficult."

"Fine. Yes, it was harder than usual, but it wasn't impossible."

"Anyway, this doesn't solve the underlying issue of me needing to sleep. I can't do it; not if you're hovering in the corner doing your best impression of the Oogie Boogie man."

"Oogie Boogie?"

"Yes, Oogie Boogie! And trust me, you're doing quite well with your impression."

Sebastian heaved a long sigh, staring up at the ceiling in exasperation. He was very aware that Jim needed sleep; he had just come off a rather long bout of insomnia and was beginning to look run down even beneath the fastidious grooming. "Fine. What do you suggest we do, then? Because I'm not leaving you in here alone."

Jim remained quiet for a long moment before grinning and tossing all his pillows to one half of the bed and scooting over, patting the space he had vacated. "You can lay here. It'll be like a sleep over!"

"Jim, adults don't have sleep overs."

"Well, I never got one when I was kid, so I want it now."

He stared at Sebastian with the same expression he wore when ordering him to knock a man's teeth out, thereby eliminating any possibility of this being a joke.

"Fine." Sebastian pushed himself from against the wall and laid stiffly across the bed. He shifted around uncomfortably, suddenly very aware of how intimate sleeping in someone's bed is, whether or not you're in a relationship. He supposed that, in a way, this was better, though; he would have a better opportunity to throw himself over Jim to protect him from any danger in this position.

"Much better." Jim gave a contented sigh and curled onto his side, practically disappearing in the stack of pillows piled all around himself.

-oOo-oOo-oOo-

Jim opened his eyes.

"I've got it."

"Mm." Sebastian simply flicked over to the next page in the paper, barely glancing above the page to raise an eyebrow at his boss. The man had been pacing around his office for over three hours now, murmuring frantically to himself and occasionally stepping over to the white board on the wall to scribble furious little equations across it. He had finally lapsed into a near-catatonic state, standing in the center of the room with his eyes closed and face turned upwards as if praying for divine inspiration.

"I've got it, I've got it, I've got it! It's so obvious! It's all so clear now, why didn't I see it before? Of course, my mistake is so obvious!" He ran back over to the white board and began furiously erasing it before uncapping a marker and scrawling across the board in a complex system of numbers and letters, all the while giving ecstatic little exclamations and flailing his non-dominant hand to draw attention to an area of particular genius. He was practically hyperventilating as he finished the equation with a final flourish of his marker. He gasped, his face alight and eyes wild as he checked his work for any errors. There wouldn't be any, of course. Once Jim solved a problem, it was done perfectly.

"It's beautiful..."

Sebastian finally tossed his paper aside and rose to stand next to Jim, raising an eyebrow at the jumble of nonsense on the board.

"Okay, then. What problem have you solved now?"

"The American budget crisis! Look, I even left them with a profit of two trillion by 2025! Genius, isn't it?" He smiled at his work rapturously, stroking his fingers between a set of numbers. "Although it would require that they sell a third of the population under the age of eighteen into slavery. But only the bottom third; I could even design a program for them that determined which children should be sold, based on educational merit and talent."

"Of course." Sebastian shook his head, trying to fight off laughter at Jim's proposal. "So are you going to write it up in a report for them and ship it off to Congress, then?"

"No," Jim smirked. "Let them drive themselves into financial ruin. Maybe that will stem the tide of terrible movies they insist on producing."

-oOo-oOo-oOo-

Jim opened his eyes.

"Seb?"

"I'm here, Jim." He knelt next to him, gently placing his hand on Jim's shoulder to show that he was close.

"How much longer?"

"The doctor said he couldn't be sure because he doesn't know what dosage they gave you, but it should only be a couple of more hours."

"Break his nose later, yeah?"

"Yeah." Sebastian smiled, pulling his hand away from contact on Jim's arm. Abruptly, though, Jim flailed his hand outward until he smacked Sebastian's shirt and his fingers curled into the fabric.

"Don't."

"Okay." Sebastian moved his hand back onto Jim's arm while Jim's eyes roved unseeingly over Sebastian's form.

"Want to have another sleep over?" His voice wasn't weak, but it was certainly more quiet than usual, lacking the jovial sing-song quality it normally had. And he was speaking in his English accent, never a good sign.

"Yeah, sure. Should I go get some popcorn?"

Jim's mouth twisted in contemplation, obviously debating the pros and cons of popcorn. "Yes, but I'm coming with you." He sat up and spun around on the bed, his bare feet hitting the carpet below.

"Jim, I don't think-"

"Really, Sebastian, it's my own flat. I'm not going to get lost. And if it will make you happy, I'll hold your arm until until we get into the kitchen, and then I'll sit like a good boy on the stool while you make the popcorn."

"Fine." He let Jim wrap his hand around his bicep, smiling as Jim's eyes widened in surprise while he squeezed the muscle curiously.

"You're beefy."

"You've seen it before."

"Yes, but I haven't touched it. Do you feel like this all over?"

"I don't know, Jim. I don't make a point of feeling myself up."

"Now we both know that's not quite true," Jim smirked.

"Shut up. And you need to learn to knock."

"It's my flat; I shouldn't have to knock."

"Yeah, well I'm living here for your protection; you could at least give me a bit of privacy."

"I'll start giving you privacy when you start adequately protecting me, then."

Sebastian grew quiet, his eyes roving apologetically over Jim's fresh bruises and sightless eyes. "Sorry."

"It's not a problem." Jim tossed his head as if shrugging off something as insignificant as receiving scalloped potatoes when you ordered au gratin. "Just try to get there before the actual torturing starts next time, yeah?"

"There won't be a next time."

"Even better." Jim beamed as Sebastian directed him to the stool. "Make it extra buttery, too. And salty! And put some chocolate chips in."

Sebastian heaved a long-suffering sigh but began pulling the necessary ingredients out of the cupboards. Of course Jim couldn't be content with the popcorn from the bags. He just had to have it special made. Going to the cinema was a nightmare with him.

After a bit, they were settled back on Jim's bed with the bowl of popcorn tucked between them and some movie flashing across the television screen. Sebastian had worried about this arrangement drawing Jim's attention to the fact that his vision still had yet to return, but he seemed largely unbothered by it. In fact, he was more frustrated by the fact that he couldn't quite get his aim for the popcorn bowl right and therefore kept plunging his hand into nothingness instead of food. He gave an angry grunt before making a second attempt, this time snagging a handful of popcorn and chocolate chips which he then crammed inelegantly into his mouth. Sebastian gave an amused chuckle, entertained by Jim's violent crunching and puffed-out cheeks.

"Problems?"

"Yes!" Jim whined. "You keep moving the popcorn bowl."

"I haven't."

"You have, and I don't like it. It's not nice to abuse this, and I want you to stop."

"Alright. Fine. Whatever you say."

Jim made a grab for more popcorn, but this time just ended up groping Sebastian's thigh. He gave an angry howl and flopped his head back against the pillow in frustration.

"I just want some popcorn," he whimpered to the ceiling, his chest heaving with repressed sobs. Suddenly, Sebastian realized that this was about much more than just a late night snack. He watched as Jim struggled to glue himself back together, praying that the tears which were clouding his eyes didn't actually spill over onto his cheeks. In the years he had worked with Jim, he had only seen the man cry twice, and neither were experiences he wanted to relive again. He waited as Jim danced along the edge of a total breakdown, knowing that to interfere now would only tip him over. This was one of the moments when Jim needed to work on his own.

Finally, Jim's eyes dried and he simply stared blankly up at the ceiling, as if he could force the drug out of his system through will power alone. Sebastian waited a moment longer before scooping some popcorn into his fingers and nudging at Jim's lips. His eyes flicked over curiously, but he obediently opened his mouth and allowed Sebastian to feed him the popcorn. After a couple of more bites, he sat back up and scooted next to Sebastian such that his head was nestled against Sebastian's shoulder while he fed Jim the snack. They kept this up until the bowl was empty, and then Sebastian merely held Jim, letting him fall asleep with his head on Sebastian's chest and arms splayed over his waist and shoulder.

-oOo-oOo-oOo-

Jim opened his eyes.

"Hey," Sebastian leaned closer, running his thumb over Jim's knuckles. "You back with me?"

Jim's eyebrows knitted in confusion. "Did I leave?" His voice was hoarse and choked, but John had told Sebastian to expect this. Intubation usually had this effect.

"For a bit, yeah." He reached onto the nightstand and retrieved a cup of water from the pitcher John had left there. "Here." He eased his hand under Jim's head, careful of the knot still on the back of his skull, and raised his head so he could take a sip from the glass.

Jim stared blearily up at Sebastian, his eyes making a concerted effort to draw the man into focus, but the drugs were still weighing heavy on his system and dragging him back into sleep.

"Seb..."

"Yes, Jim?"

"I want popcorn."

Sebastian smiled, brushing his fingers through Jim's hair. He was too dopey to remember it later, anyway.

"When we get home, I'll make you all the popcorn you want. With chocolate chips, too."

"And marshmallows?"

"If that's what you want."

"And a milkshake with chips?"

"That too."

"Good." Jim sighed, finally giving up the battle against sleepiness. His head rolled to the side, and his mouth fell open as if in anticipation of all the treats to come.

-oOo-oOo-oOo-

Author: So, I'm a bit torn. Obviously, this story is headed in the direction of Jim/Seb, but the question stands: To (Sweetly) Smut, or Not To Smut? There's a couple of ways I'm considering ending this, and whether or not Jim and Seb start a physical relationship kind of determines which one I choose. Anyway, cast your votes in the reviews; I'll take them into consideration when writing later. Thanks to all who have reviewed, alerted, or favorited; you all are wonderful!