Chapter 4: about good bye
"John, hold him down." Dr. Smith commanded his new practice doctor Dr. Waston to hold down the patient that kept on screaming 'I'm going to die' whilst waving his arms around, using John's two bare hands.
Following the ambulance to St Mary's hospital, the lobby is already in chaos. Taking all the patients down from the ambulance with other people, John finally realized that this is his first day at work, and he doesn't know where to go.
Right at this time, he saw a lady in the lobby directing the patients, John walked up to her, asking "I'm sorry, it's my first day here, I don't…"
"Dr. Waston, report to Dr. Smith in ER." The female doctor directing in the lobby is a very rare beauty, but her expressions are scarce. Staring at the form in her hand, she occasionally looked up to direct the patients.
None of her attention was given to John.
John wasn't even able to get one full sentence out before Dr. Jones told him what he needed to know.
John's plan of making a conversation was killed before it could bud, he was a bit shocked. What a different woman, the clean orderly way she behaves, maybe only the Holmes brothers are able to compare.
He was shocked at the comparison he made within his mind, but John remembered this Dr. Jones.
Then he went to the ER looking for Dr. Smith, and this doctor is trying to treat the patients who were injured in the chain explosion, but this patient screams like no one before every time the doctor tries to touch his wound.
God above, this patient only had a small fragment in his leg, it just need to be taken out and the wound dressed up.
But right this moment, this patient behaved like someone is going to murder him.
Dr. Smith is very angry, there are at least 20 people outside waiting to be treated, and every single one of them is worse than this one. Dr. Smith looked despised at this person whose arm is larger than the nurse's thigh, and he can't handle pain?
John walked in at the right time, and Dr. Smith decided to use him.
"Dr. Waston?" Dr. Smith asked.
John nodded, and asked "What do you need me to do?" Everyone present looked at John; John felt strange, especially the expression on the nurses that's clearly saying help!
"Dr. Waston, can I call you John? John go keep him down, firmly." He pointed at the patient lying on the bed.
Although he doesn't understand why Dr. Smith want to do this, but John followed his command anyway. As a soldier, John's strength is not small, although he looks very frail and people tend to look down on him because of this.
So when Dr. Smith started to clean the patient's wound, he was prepared to be kicked, but to his surprise, even when the patient screamed like hell is coming for him, John was still holding him down very firmly, although his expression is not very good.
Having a higher than 140 decibel, equal to the volume of a jet plane taking off near John's ears. John felt like his brain is getting fried by the jet plane. It's enough for him to try not to look ferocious.
The good thing is Dr. Smith was quick with his hands, it wasn't long before he signaled to John that he could let go.
Right at the moment John let go of his hands, the patient finally screamed to his own limit, and lost consciousness on the bed.
"Next!" Dr. Smith told the nurse to get this annoying patient out of the room. Then he started to treat the next patient.
Just like this, one after one, John looked at the nurse standing at the door, feeling like she could bring in unlimited number of patients from out that door.
He was very grateful of Mrs. Hudson's breakfast.
At lunch break, Dr. Smith patted John's back, complimenting him as a rare 'labour force'.
What an odd compliment, John felt this could be put right behind Sherlock's "maybe you can't shine yourself, but as the transmitter of light, you have no equal."
If Sherlock is here, maybe the chain explosion case is already solved.
Subconsciously he reached into his pocket for his phone, John swore once again to Jesus, he struggles to remember the fact that he forgot to bring his phone with him today.
After lunch break.
Afternoon time, Dr. Smith introduced to John the basic situation of the ER. Normally doctors take eight hour shifts, "Once your eight hours is up, check in at the service desk around the corner, and you can go." Dr. Smith pointed at the general direction, "The nurse will tell you your next shift. We need people here 24/7, so working extra shifts is a regular thing. You should be glad you came to me, complicated patients usually don't come here; neither do the ones with severe injuries. So compared to the others, our work load is manageable. Now you can go take your shift."
Dr. Smith pushed John into one of the rooms, the sign had Dr. Smith's name written on it. "I'm going to take a break; you can continue to strive young man." He disappeared almost straight away.
Then a young nurse appeared at the door, blonde, with the standard nurse smile, holding a pile of case files in her arms. "Dr. Waston?"
"Ugh, yes."
"Can I call the patients in?"
"Ugh, yes."
The blonde nurse walked in to the room with the files and placed them on the desk, "these are the case files of the patients you are going to see soon. Once you finish one person, please press the red button next to the computer." The blonde nurse pointed at a small red button hidden in the shadow of the computer.
"Alright, I understand."
John started his shift just like that.
Office worker whose shoulder dislocated for no reason, a primary student who faints every time she catches a cold, a housewife who gets fevers no matter what fruit she eats, a salesman who wounded his leg because of a dog, a supermarket clerk who got hit by a cargo…
All the patients have some kind of reason to come to the ER.
John treated every single one of them, answering their queries, telling them to take their medicine on time, and with some cases that he couldn't be sure of, telling them to go have a checkup.
Time always pass very quickly, when John finished all the files on his desk, the clock on the wall point to 5pm.
John sat there for a while, writing down his thoughts from today's work, he saw that the nurse is not taking any more patients in, he thought maybe it's time for him to change shift.
Dr. Smith walked in right at this time, surprised that John is still here, "John, why are you still here?"
"I can go?" John is too unfamiliar with this hospital, even with Dr. Smith's introduction.
"Of course, go check in with the nurse at the service desk, oh, show them your pass." Dr. Smith sat down at where John was sitting, and started to type into the computer.
John walked himself to the service desk, handed over his work pass, and considered what he need to say, "Um, I think can I maybe…go."
"Of course, Dr. Waston. Please come take over Dr. Smith's shift tomorrow morning at 6. I'm the head nurse of ER Mabel Green, you can call me Mabel." The head nurse is a traditional English lady, she introduced herself to John.
"Alright, Ms. Mabel. Um, then I'll see you tomorrow morning."
John went to get changed in the changing room, and walked into Joan. That guy is still lively, without a trace of tiredness from a day's work, he said hello to John. "Oh, John, I heard you went to work under Dr. Smith, such bad luck, it's going to get harder later. Today is only a start."
John had no strength to talk to the lively Joan, all he wants to do now is to get home, he want a hot bath and food.
After biding Joan good bye, John went to that Chinese restaurant and brought some dumplings for supper tonight.
When he arrived at 221B, he was surprised that the light upstairs is on.
Mrs. Hudson's upstairs? A flick of uncertainty flew past.
He searched for his keys to open the door, and saw Mrs. Hudson holding a dinner plate, filled with all sorts of sweets, "Mrs. Husdon, are you preparing afternoon tea?" John felt that afternoon tea at this time is not a bright idea.
Also he discovered that Mrs. Hudson had changed, she's not wearing the same one as this morning when he left. So John asked again, "Mrs. Hudson why did you change?"
But Mrs. Hudson is looking to happy, she seemed like she want to clap to celebrate something with John, but she was holding a plate, so she pushed John with her elbows, telling him to go upstairs, "Oh, John, you will not believe your eyes, come on, go up."
John doesn't understand what's so abnormal upstairs that he will not believe his eyes.
He looked up to the door upstairs, it's closed. But he can somewhat make out the sound of a violin, playing "Don't you forget."
John was scared to here that song in the times right after Sherlock's death, the female voice repeatedly sang: "Don't you forget about me, don't you forget about me. We were soft and young, in a world of innocence. Don't you forget about me, don't you forget all of our dreams. Now you've gone away, only emptiness remains."
The conversation between the boy and girl, John sometimes felt like it's talking about him and Sherlock, even promises can't fight with reality, so farewell became the final ending.
John hoped that even in the world of the dead, whilst chasing after the truth, Sherlock will still remember that in the human world there is a friend who is thinking about him.
That's why he kept on repeating in front of his grave, "Don't you forget about me."
However this is not a song suitable for the violin, but obviously the person playing this song upstairs is very skillful; the song is filled with vicissitudes of time.
John could feel his legs starting to shake as he walked up the stairs; Mrs. Hudson's eyes filled with tears while she smiled seem to be a very good indication.
John opened the second story door as his hand shook uncontrollably, under Mrs. Hudson's encouragement.
A man dressed in dark blue silk dressing gown, with curly black hair, stood with his back towards John in front of the window, is playing the violin.
"Oh, Joan. When did you get back? I thought you said you have a surgery to do" John tried to be calm, talking to the person standing by the window.
From the back, Joan resembles Sherlock a lot. But John thought he won't fall for it again.
Sherlock of course plays the violin, but obviously don't have such great skill, normally the only reason he plays the violin is because a high class case had fallen into his hands.
So – "Joan, can you stop this joke now?"
John is getting angry.
Mrs. Hudson coming up with her plate of sweets looked at John weirdly, "John, what madness are you talking about, that's not Joan, I don't believe you can't tell who he is."
The hidden message in Mrs. Hudson's words had already pointed out the absolute truth.
But John still couldn't believe it, don't want to believe it.
The person playing the violin turned around; to John he showed his trademark arrogant smile, "Hello! John."
At this moment, like Mrs. Hudson had said, John couldn't believe his own eyes, he couldn't believe that the person standing right in front of him is real.
Jesus! It's Sherlock!
John is screaming inside!
John still remembered the first time he went to the cemetery for Sherlock, he said to the gravestone.
"Please, there's one more thing, one more thing, one more miracle, Sherlock, for me, don't be…dead. Would you do that just for me? Just stop it. Stop this."
Although John's inside is in chaos, but he still tried to keep a straight face, picking up the paper bag that fell to the floor out of shock a few moments ago.
Sherlock put down his violin, winked his nose and inhaled heavily, then said cheerfully, "Oh, John, I can't believe you brought dumplings back. You know when I found out you didn't take your phone with you, I was ready to put up with Mrs. Hudson's scorns. (Mrs. Hudson: what do you mean by put up! Sherlock the first thing you do when you come back is belittling my cooking, the great Mrs. Hudson made cookies for you, you should eat them with appreciation, you know I'm not your housekeeper, I'm just a landlady!)
Sherlock was not going to ask permission of the owner of the dumplings, he opened the bag and started to dig into them.
John saw that the black sofa welcomed back his owner, and it's not empty anymore opposite him, for some reason he felt safe.
His stomach grumbled, John sadly could only grab the forgotten scorns, and used them to fill his empty stomach.
And Mrs. Hudson? She went downstairs a long time ago.
Suddenly, all that's left in the upstairs lounge is the sound of eating.
After Sherlock finished his dumplings, he looked at John, narrowed his eyes, and with a voice filled with injustice said, "Come on, John. Don't be a little girl, and stop pretending. I already knew, you hand bowl into a fist when you are nervous. Although you try to cover it by holding a piece of scorn, and a tea cup in your hands, but that tiny shake already told me you are not calm at all. And the way you sit, John. As a bright soldier, I need to point out that your conditional reflex so easily seen through; you sit like a soldier whenever you are nervous. And your eyes, you looked through every single corner in this room, except me. And most importantly –" Sherlock suddenly stood up from his sofa, putting his face in front of John, very closely, so close that John could feel Sherlock's breath on his face. His grey eyes locked on John's face, "most importantly, why are you afraid of looking at me?"
Sherlock afterwards showed an "of course" look, "are you not happy that I came back?" but suddenly with a tiny hint of bewilderment, "is it because of that Joan so you are not happy?"
John signed, putting down the tea cup and the unfinished scorn back into the plate; he inhaled slowly, trying to calm his mood.
He looked at Sherlock, "First of all, it has nothing to do with Joan. Secondly, the reason I'm not happy is obvious, Sherlock."
"Obvious? Where is it obvious!" Sherlock scratched his head out of frustration, and started to walk in circles. "The way Mrs. Hudson behaved, that's obvious. Oh, say it, what's your relationship with Joan! My Blogger! In the times that I left, someone is trying to steal My Blogger!"
Sherlock thought that although John brought dumplings back for him out of consonance, it's not enough to calm his anger, his anger is going wild.
"The smell of sterile water, don't need to guess, it must be the hospital. I texted you around 10am, you didn't reply, you must be out. Oh, visiting a patient, don't need to be out so early. So that Joan is not ill. Mrs. Hudson said you found a job, hmm, job, sterile water, and you are an army doctor, ha, and even with my toes I can say for sure it's a hospital job. Oh, which hospital, it's only 6pm, you can come back this early, and I saw your work pass in your pocket, St.M, oh, so obvious, St. Mary's hospital, yes, so that Joan is your colleague. It's not me John, whoever calls himself Joan, 10% are migrants, 30% are low class workers, 20% are fake names, and the last 40% aren't likely to have any good endings, you want to hear? And he is obviously male, I still remember aren't your targets all gentle intelligent beauties?"
John after hearing Sherlock's unstoppable firing, held his head, it's been a long time since he was last attacked by such Sherlock words, it's nauseous. But the first thing he needs to do is put things straight "Joan and I are just colleagues, plus he was the one that gave me this work opportunity. But—"
"Ha, so it's the old Chinese way of marrying your savior!" Sherlock couldn't wait for John to finish, he hurriedly cut him off.
"Sherlock!" John suddenly raised his voice, and pulled his most serious face out, "To the fact that you are still…alive, I'm very happy of course, Sherlock. But! How could you! You jumped off that building in front of me, then appear in front of me again with that obvious 'I'm alright, I'm fine' face! Did you know, that time, I was very, very sad, you were my best friend! Best Friend! The only one! And now you stand in front of me, like how I prayed in the past few weeks. But, you made my sadness, the hard times I went through in the past few weeks all a joke! Like an idiot! So stupid!"
After that, John buried his face in between his hands, and hid all his expressions inside the shadows
A/N: alright, here I present you chapter 4 of cross my heart, Sherlock came back, the story is walking onto the right track! It will be more exciting from here onwards. please R&R