What Sherlock and John want and what they get are two very different things, as much when they were adults as they are when they were, and are, children. When the cab arrives back at Mycroft's manor, the man himself is not to be seen, instead Anthea has made an appearance once more and is waiting for them by the door just as if she knew precisely when they would arrive. Which given Mycroft's propensity for tracking his brother through CCTV cameras, it's probable that she did know precisely when the boys would arrive.
"Mr. Holmes is waiting for you in the study. It seems while you were on walkabout the lab called with some news regarding your... condition." Anthea says quietly and diplomatically as she can, though she smiles with a knowing look at the two boys, and perhaps more affection than she usually displays.
Upon hearing that news, at least when his brain registers it, John snaps more awake from his groggy, zombie-like state. "We'd better go, then, Sherlock." He says as he looks at his friend, then he looks back up at the personal assistant in front of them. "Could we bother to have some tea and sandwiches brought in?" The doctor asks in a rather hopeful tone.
"There should be tea waiting for you, but I'll see what I can do about some nibbles." Anthea says with a small smile, ruffling John's hair before she turns to go toward the kitchen and see what she can rustle up.
After Anthea is gone, Sherlock turns to look at the small doctor. "Shall we?" He asks before leading the way through the house to the study, lost in his own thoughts but holding the door for the other boy.
When they enter, Mycroft glances up at them from his chair and motions them inside though he is on his phone speaking softly to someone from whatever lab he had working on this project from the sounds of it. While he is finishing up the phone call, it leaves the two boys to step up to the little cart the tea service is on to get themselves a cup each before they sit in the provided chairs in front of the older man's desk.
"Thank you Doctor." Mycroft finally says before hanging up the phone and looking at the two amusingly sophisticated looking youths sitting across the desk from him. "Well, I do hope you enjoyed your tantrum. Now we have more serious matters to attend to." He says calmly as he adjusts some papers on his desk, glancing down at a folder and putting his hand on it before he speaks again. "As you may have gathered, I have heard back from the researchers looking into what happened and they believe that they have an antidote. A bit quicker than I expected of course, but they have had extensive resources, and the animals who have been tested have all been successful." For a moment he pauses to let that sink in, looking from one to the other, blonde to brunette and back again.
"Are there any side effects?" John, ever the doctor, immediately asks. He is a little skeptical about how easy it seems to have been to find a cure for this particular affliction, but then again he is not a chemist, nor does he have the type of mind that would understand how to do something like that.
"Not that they have observed. They would like to bring you in tonight, if you're amenable." Mycroft says calmly, most of his attention on his silent brother now, knowing that John will go along with whatever he decides, no matter how much he may kick and scream or object at first. When it comes down to it, the older Holmes knows that the small doctor will follow his brother anywhere.
Listening carefully to everything that is said and not said by his brother, Sherlock quietly sips his tea, finally putting the cup down before he steeples his fingers in front of his face, slowly brushing his fingers across the outside of his index fingers as he thinks. Finally, when the room goes silent and he can sense both other occupants looking to him, the young consulting detective nods slowly. "As much as I hate to entrust my safety to whatever monkeys you have working for you, Mycroft, if the science is sound and has tested well, then we must take the risk." He decides, looking at John for a moment. "We are not children, and neither of us will be happy to remain this way. Take us to your lab, Mycroft." He says as he slowly stands up, stretching a little before he looks at his brother expectantly.
Although appearing a little nervous, John gets up as well, glancing between the two brothers. "Are you sure, Sherlock?" He asks, shaking his head in exasperation at the withering look the brunette gives him. "Of course you are, how silly of me." He mutters in a heavily sarcastic tone.
"Then it's settled." Mycroft says, glancing at the door when Anthea steps in with two lunch bags. "Ah, Anthea, good. Please bring around a car for us, we'll be going to the lab."
"Of course, sir," Anthea says politely before handing the bags to the boys, each of which has bottles of water along with food in them. She smiles fondly at the two before she turns and walks back out of the room, presumably to get a car from the garage.
With a curious look at the two, Mycroft walks out of the study, leading the way back through then house to the front, only having to wait a moment before the car appears and he walks out to hold the door open for the boys before he gets in himself. Apparently Anthea knows where she is going because she doesn't ask directions, merely waiting for the door to shut before she starts off toward their destination.
The ride is relatively silent, with both John and Sherlock occupied with their food, and under the watchful eye of Mycroft who is probably more concerned with the upholstery than anything else. Each of them are mostly caught up in their own thoughts about what could happen that night and everything that has happened in the past few days. For Mycroft, he will have to deal with his brother as an adult again just when it seemed that they could be repairing a little of their relationship. For John, it is going back to his normal more serious life, dealing with Sherlock closing up again and not being quite as carefree. And of course for Sherlock, he hopes to get back to his experiments, but he also hopes to not lose the increased bond he has formed with John during this incident, even though he may have resisted at first, it has been fun.
When they finally arrive at the rather nondescript building with shaded windows but obvious lights on inside, Mycroft gets out first and then waits for the others, before he looks at Anthea. "I don't think we'll be needing the car again tonight, Anthea. You can go home." He says as he watches the woman for a moment, before he looks up at the sky, watching the light fade for a moment before he looks down at the Sherlock and John who are standing by them. "Well, let proceed then, shall we?" he asks with a faint, fake smile, before heading toward the double doors, pulling out a badge that he swipes at the entrance before he goes inside, being waved through security until they get to an elevator which takes them down a level.
When they exit the elevator again, it looks like they just stepped out into a hospital, the same white corridors with rooms leading off to either side at varying intervals. It seems that Mycroft knows where he's going through as he leads the way down to one of the rooms which has been set up with two beds in one side of it, hospital gowns laid out on each, glass along one wall that shows a smaller laboratory. Inside the room a man around Mycroft's age is waiting, holding a clipboard. He smiles when he sees them holding his hand out to him. "Mr. Holmes, a pleasure." He says with a little smile before he takes a deep breath. "Everything is all set, we just need them to change into those hospital gowns, since they will rapidly grow.. we're going to sedate them before administering the antidote, because it seems to be a very painful process." He says before he looks at the two boys. "There are privacy curtains you can pull around if you want." he says as he motions to them.
"Painful. Right. Failed to mention that." John notes with a glower at Mycroft before he goes over and yanks his curtain closed in order to change, not exactly keen on the whole idea of a night or more of torturous pain. Hopefully with the sedatives they won't notice, but John has never been fond of sedatives in general.
Sherlock snorts a little. "There is always something my brother is hiding, John. You should learn that." He says before he, too, pulls closed a curtain so that he can change, pulling it open when he's don, laying his clothes on the little table sitting between the beds.
After they change, the two are settled in their respective beds and the doctor goes from one to the other, expertly putting in an IV, first administering the sedative and watching the two fall asleep before he goes to the lab part of the room and comes back with a vial of blue liquid. "By morning they should be right as rain.." The doctor says before he uses a needle to inject a dose into both of their IV's. "Now we just have to wait. If you want, I can show you more about this in my lab, while we wait." He offers with a smile as he looks at Mycroft, heading back into his lab and waiting for the other man to follow.
The night does not pass silently, both boys being checked on often as they thrash in their beds, not awake and hopefully not conscious of the pain they apparently are going through. Their bodies change and grow, unfortunately with their hair growing as well which means they will once again need haircuts. Unfortunately once again things do not go as planned, resulting in the doctor returning to the labs early in the morning to try and figure out what went wrong.
John is the first one to wake in the morning, aching and feeling sore all over, to the point where he barely feels like he can move his arms. He does notice the bag of nutrients which is feeding into his IV, and the fact that his hair is longer. Slowly, he turns his head and looks over at where Sherlock is laying, frowning as hi mind tries to comprehend what his eyes are seeing. Not until he looks down at himself and his hands does he really understand what happened. "Bloody hell." he mutters as he realizes the antidote did not fix them all the way, but instead merely aged them about 5-6 years, leaving him looking 16ish if he had to guess. Finally he sighs and looks back up to the ceiling again.
"Well. Looks like we're going shopping again."
Tadaaa! Plot twist! Well, maybe not so much a twist as a turn. :) This should allow things to progress a little in the direction I want. Hehee.
Hope you all enjoy!
Reviews/comments welcome!