A.N: Thanks for reading my First fanfic! On to chapter 2!
A thousand million thoughts went through Sherlock's mind, but at the forefront was John's welfare.
He had been sitting in a relatives waiting room for what felt like forever, his head held in his hands counting the ticks of the annoying clock in the corner, seemingly tutting at him.
Down the corridor, he could hear familiar footsteps, not like the many others that have passed his door. Quickened pace, the sound of an umbrella tip striking the ground every so often. "Mycroft," Sherlock whispered with relief and annoyance.
"Baby brother," Mycroft spoke with care and concern in his voice.
Mycroft sat down beside his completely exhausted counterpart, putting a comforting hand on Sherlock's shoulder.
"Why couldn't it have been anyone else Mycroft? I could certainly think of a few people that deserved it better than him. Anyone but him," Sherlock croaked.
"Sherlock, he will get through this. He has been through far worse, even before he met you. Remember, he fought for Queen and Country through the horror of war and came out the other side with his life somewhat intact. He then met you, fell in love with you and will spend his life with you, watching you both grow old and keep bees in our Sussex country home."
"Mycroft, I hope for your sake that he's alright. Otherwise I will disown you as my brother."
Mycroft sighed, frustrated and concerned at what this will do to Sherlock if John never recovers.
Sherlock sat back into the hard, plastic chair, leaning his head on Mycroft's shoulder.
"Thank you for coming here, to sit by me. I know you're busy starting wars, but I do appreciate the support, even though I may not show it," Sherlock said, completely vulnerable to any remarks that may be thrown his way.
"Not at all baby brother," Mycroft said, hand stroking Sherlock's hair, reminding him of the days up at the Manor when they were not fighting, just being brothers.
"I suppose I should be thanking you by the way. You don't need to ask, but I'd be delighted to accept."
"I should've known you'd be listening in," Sherlock snorted. "Your invitation may be invalid if John..." Sherlock's voice trailed off.
"Sherlock, let me put this in words of one syllable," Mycroft said firmly. "John. Will. Recover. You. Will. Be. Dragging. Him. Down. The. Aisle. And. Will. Be. Driving. Him. Insane. With. Your. Experiments. For. The. Rest. Of. Time."
Sherlock quietened at Mycroft's tone.
At that moment DI Lestrade came into the waiting room, looking at the two worried looking men stare back at him.
"Heard anything?"
"Not as yet Gregory," Mycroft sighed.
"Have you caught the bastard who did this?" Sherlock said through gritted teeth, anger beginning to creep up on him.
"Fortunately, yes. The police 'copter was in the area and managed to track him hiding in Regent's Park with the heat-seeking cameras."
"Once I am no longer needed here, I will be having an intimate chat with the perpetrator," Mycroft quipped.
Lestrade sighed as he knew his partner all too well. Mycroft would take the situation into his own hands to, as he put it 'terminate his involvement with society'.
For what seemed like forever, eventually the doctor treating John entered the relative's room. All three stood up, but only Sherlock came to stand in front of the doctor.
"Hello I'm Dr Kane. I'm the consultant trauma in A+E specialising in head trauma - "
"Spare me your credentials doctor, we both know you had to take resits-"
"Sherlock! Be quiet and let him speak!" Mycroft barked. "Forgive my brother Dr Kane, this situation does not breed good manners from my brother."
"Quite alright, Mr..."
"Holmes, Mycroft. This is my brother and partner of John Watson, Sherlock."
"Nice to meet you. Well, I'd better get down to business. Dr Watson has suffered quite a traumatic event. He has sustained extensive damage to the back of the head and neck. Such a traumatic event caused him to bleed into the space between the brain. For now we are leaving the skull temporarily broken to let the brain swell, but the bleeding we managed to fix and also had to do a decompressive craniotomy to reduce the swelling.
"Now, while doing a scan before the surgery we noticed a lesion that shows he has sustained damage to the brainstem. I cannot say for sure, but in most probability he will be brain damaged. To what extent, I am unsure. We will need to see when he wakes up as he is currently in a coma. From this type of injury to the basilar artery, we can say for certain that he will have Locked-In Syndrome meaning he will be paralysed except for possibly the eyes and eyelids. It is highly likely he will never recover and possibly decline due to complications with this syndrome.
"I will tell the nurses to bring you in once John wakes up. I'm really sorry to give you such bad news."
The doctor left the room with its three occupants staring back to where he exited in various states of shock, stress disbelief and grief on their ashen faces.