Sherlock sat alone waiting for news. This had all been torture he thought, for John obviously, for him watching and not being able to help and now this. This was another type of torture, waiting to see if he'd been in time, if he'd actually saved John. He decided one thing, no matter how bored he got in the future he was never going to wish for a case like this again.

A short time later Lestrade entered with two cups of coffee. As he handed one to Sherlock he said "Well I've told Mrs Hudson and Molly what's going on. I also told them to stay where they are as there's nothing anyone can do right now. I said I'd them I call them as soon as we had any news. Oh and you were right about Mycroft. Robert Davis is already in his custody and I'm sworn to secrecy. National importance and all that." Lestrade grinned. Sherlock tried to smile but he didn't really manage it. He didn't feel like smiling. There was nothing to smile about. Not yet anyway.

Lestrade sat in the chair next to Sherlock and together they waited. It was a long agonising wait even though it was only about half an hour before the doctor returned. When she entered both men stood desperate for news. The doctor gestured for them to sit back down and she took a seat in front of them.

Sherlock stared at the doctor. "It's bad news isn't it?" he muttered.

"No" the doctor said "It's not any sort of news really. Like I said before it will be a few hours before we can say for certain the antidote has worked. He was in quite a bad way when we got to him you know that." She watched as Sherlock dropped his head. "However, what I can say is his temperature although still a little elevated is a lot lower than when I first saw him. His blood pressure is normal, so that's good. And the one thing I know for certain is he's a strong individual and he's fighting with everything he's got. As for his other injuries well although he took quite a beating he's been lucky really. He has one broken rib but it hasn't punctured his lung which is always a concern. He has two broken fingers as you know but the bones seem to have aligned nicely so we've strapped them and they should heal well. Other than that he has a lot of bruising and swelling but there are no signs of any other internal injuries." The doctor smiled at Sherlock and Lestrade "This really is as good as you could hope for at this stage so don't give up hope." She stood. "We've got him settled in his own room so would you like to sit with him now?"

Sherlock nodded and was on his feet immediately. "Thank you." Lestrade said as he stood too.

They followed the doctor down the corridor and into a room where John lay partially propped up surrounded by monitors, wires and tubes. "It's really not as bad as it looks" the doctor reassured them. "The oxygen is just to give him a little help. We obviously need to monitor his vital signs until we know he's completely out of the woods and we've given him pain medication to help make him comfortable. Other than that it's just time to let his body heal. I'm available if you have any questions just ask a nurse to find me. I'm Doctor Flynn." Lestrade shook her hand once more before she left the room.

Sherlock stood and looked at John. His face so swollen it didn't really look like his friend at all. His right hand was heavily strapped to keep his fingers from moving and every bit of skin that Sherlock could see was black and blue. Sherlock touched his arm gently "I'm so sorry John." he muttered.

Lestrade looked over at him "This isn't your fault Sherlock. There's only one person to blame for this and he's in the custody of your brother."

"I should have worked it out sooner. I was too slow. And John might die..."

"Stop it!" Lestrade ordered him. "I know the doctor said he isn't out of the woods yet but she also said he's fighting. So you have to be strong too Sherlock. You have to believe he will make it. You have to believe in him. OK?"

Sherlock looked at his friend "I do believe in him. But all this pain was because of me. He was taken because of something I did and I couldn't even stop him from being hurt."

"No one could have stopped this Sherlock. No one. John knows that. He would never blame you for this and you shouldn't blame yourself." Sherlock sat down beside John hoping that what Lestrade had said was true. He didn't like to think of John blaming him for this, even though he knew he'd never stop blaming himself.

The time passed slowly for the two of them just watching John lying there motionless. The nurses came in every so often, checked on him, wrote in his notes and then left again. Eventually after what felt like a lifetime the doctor entered the room. She checked on John, read his notes and then spoke to Sherlock and Lestrade. "I think it's probably safe to say that your friend is through the worst of this." she smiled as she heard the pair of them let out a sigh of relief. "All of his vital signs have been stable for a few hours now so that would indicate that the antidote has worked. Obviously we will continue to monitor him until he wakes but I wouldn't really expect that to be until the morning. He's had a rough time, his body needs rest to recover. You might be more comfortable waiting at home. We'd call you if there was any change."

"No" Sherlock replied quickly "I want to be with him when he wakes."

"OK that's fine." the doctor told him and with that she left them alone again.

"You OK?" Lestrade asked. Sherlock just nodded. "Right well I'm going to step outside for a few minutes and update everyone. Let them know he's going to be alright. You want anything while I'm up?"

"No." Sherlock answered and then hearing John prompt him in his head he added "Thank you."

"I won't be long." Lestrade told him as he left the room.