Jet Black Orbs Part I
"Oh my goodness Sherlock! What happened to your eyes?" Molly gasped at the ghastly sight of Sherlock walking into her lab at the morgue with his dishevelled appearance. His hair was a wild tangle of curls, but otherwise, he overall appearance wasn't alarming (well almost).
"Really! Come now Molly," Sherlock rolled his eyes and scoffed,"You now perfectly well what has happened to my eyes. In fact, I recall you being there from the start. In fact, I believe it was you I told first when I received my prognosis about my eyes, noting how they would cease to function as intended as time passes." He slide his hand along the wall until he came upon her working table.
"Sherlock! Stop being sassy," Molly turned off the microscope and rounded the table to stand in front of Sherlock, "Tell me though. What did you do to your eyes? Is this one of your self-experimentation? You know I forbid you from doing so." She felt anger building up, he had promised her over and over, so, should he have broken the promise, things would not fair well for him.
"Quite right you are. No Molly, I am a gentleman of my word. I would never do such a thing in fear of receiving another strike across the face, especially since now it has a ring on it. A very handsome ring if I might add." He cleared his throat and reached for her hands, pulling her small form close to him while gently fingering her beautiful diamond ring.
It was his own engraved wedding band's constant presence on his finger which made him very self-conscious of his behaviours and words. Like Mrs. Hudson had told him once on the day John wed, "marriage changes people Sherlock..."
Yes it really does. Having a wonderful person to share life with made a huge difference in how he lived and behaved.
"Observe closely Molly, what do you see?" He dipped his head toward her eye level.
Sherlock!" Molly heaved an exasperated sigh and cupped her hands around his face, peering intently at those two (currently) solid black orb that caught her heart years ago, "Why in the world would you wear contact lens that are opaque? You look like a man who has two giant black holes where his eyes should be. I hate even the thought of it, but you look like the personified form of Death, with his black hood and scythe. It's a very unsettling appearance. Please take them off. I don't like looking at them, I'd rather see your natural eye colour. They're much nicer." She gently closed his eyelids and massaged the each eye in slow circles. "Please Sherlock."
Since knowing the man for nearly a one and a half decade now, and about half of said time he started experiencing aggressive progressive vision loss.** Thus now wed three years to date, she was already well beyond expert at knowing when his pains would flare, and it had begun to set in. It was ever so slight, just a little facial muscle tremour here and there, then a little scrunch of his brow. It was hardly noticeable to anyone, but she wasn't just anyone.
They came at such strange and random times, often causing debilitating and excruciating pain from internal pressure on the lines connecting eyeball to the rest of the cranial organs. It wasn't just a headache, it was an intense aching sensation from they eye to the brain. Deep internal pain was harder to remedy than superficial ones, like a slight strain on the temporal lobes could be solved with some peppermint oil.
Her dear husband had lost consciousness quite a few times when flares would strike up, it was due to the close contact with all parts of the brain working together to compute and manage the pain sensory nerves. Overloading and overworking the cranial region caused the extreme headaches, or as Sherlock called them, "rebooting the system after it crashed."
Surgery was an option, but as with any surgery, there were some risks. Still, removal of the affected organs seemed the most plausible and beneficial action in the long-run. Yet the surgical risks included the pain not going away despite removal of the organ and/or having the pain source move further into the head which would present an even more complex issue to solve.
Additionally, the empty socket was an open invitation for all sorts of bacterium and pathogens to entre the body system. So for now, Molly had let the talk of surgery lay quiet, because he wasn't keen on loosing any organs, but she had every intention of bring it up at the right time again. It was their best option and perhaps hopefully the answer to the problem.
"I can't, it's for a case." He answered cryptically.
"Here. Come with me," she led him to her office and guided him to the big comfy rolling chair then sat crosswise in his lap,"Tell me now. Please Sherlock. I demand a good explanation for why my husband is coming to me in this unsettling state."
"Very well," he sighed in mock defeat,"You win on one condition."
"...and that is what exactly," waving her wrist in the gesture when one wanted someone else to keep speaking, "I'm not the one who pieces things together? That's your job, I perform post-mortems examinations. You can't just stop talking on a sentence like that Sherlock."
"I'll tell you after, first the case and the reason for this ruse," pointing at the obvious, "This is for the case concerning the stolen articles from the big business corporation John and I are currently working on. We have narrowed it down to three criminals who have (for us) the fortunate habit of hiding poorly in plain sight. Their attempts to blend in with a crowd have failed miserably, but unfortunately (for us) their agility makes up for their lack of intelligent thought process, thus why we have yet to actually catch them though we know the persons directly."
Molly nodded with understanding trying to connect the information she already knew from him being on the case so long already, and figuring out how that necessitated her husband the need to change his eye colour.
"So, explain to me this part then," she questioned and resumed softly caressing the area keeping the pain at bay. So far it was working, he visibly softened at her touch.
After remaining silent for some moments, he resumed where he left off, "Tonight we have much reason to believe he will make an appearance at the formal gown masquerade the neighbouring company is hosting. The three of us will pose as guests and you and Mary as our "guest and friend". Lestrade and John have both chosen very dull masques, they describe it as "typical, conservative, yet fulfils the purpose. Here, have a look," he pulled out his mobile and used the automated voice-over to locate the picture.
"I think they are some dapper gentlemen with their top hats and tuxedos. A masque doesn't have to be extravagant Sherlock, theirs is just fine. A small black velvet fabric covering around the face from nose and up is perfectly fine, and suits them well. Now, let me see yours."
"Ah. Ah. No. Not just yet," he locked the screen and pocked the mobile before she could scroll through the rest of pictures, "You'll find out tonight. After all, you promised to accompany me on this part of the case that I've been hinting toward you for the past days. These black eyes are part of the costume and that's all you'll see until you and Mary come in the limousine reserved for the event. It was Mycroft's idea, but I thought you wouldn't object to such an offer, so I accepted it on the premise you would like it. The three of us will arrive ahead of you to scope out the place and plan on how to arrest the three."
"Fine," Molly gave him a quick hug then pulled him to his feet and felt the hands on his wristwatch, "best get going home then or else you won't have time to make there early. Can't wait to be surprise."
"Likewise, Mary refused to tell me what you two went shopping for. I'll see you there in three hours. Don't be late."
Giving his wife one last hug, he exited the room and headed to meet up with the men.
A-N: Thank you for commenting and for all the new follow/favourites. I really appreciate the gestures.
It's taking me a bit longer to write up the next chapter for "Watching Over..." since my muse keeps getting distracted. ;)
**Information about Sherlock's vision loss can be read in "In Whose Eyes?" and it's sequel "Watching Over Each Other", of which the latter is currently in progress. The aforementioned stories each stand alone, it's merely a timeline of the events.
Those who have participated in the poll, please note that I will include all suggestions listed in different future stories. Thanks for submitting your ideas.