A/N: HELLO MY LOVELIES! Did you miss me, because I sure missed you. My hiatus was refreshing and invigorating. It helped my creative well refill and I have a ton of new chapters written and am still writing like mad.
This chapter is in no short supply of fluff. I hope you like it.
It's good to be back.
Disclaimer: I do not own BBC Sherlock, those are the creations of Steven Moffat, Mark Gatiss and most importantly Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It's their sandbox and I'm just playing in it.
xXx
Sherlock groaned as he woke up, his head pounding and mouth dry. He felt John shift in his sleep beside him and quietly slipped from bed. His head was swimming when he stood up; Sherlock shook his head and took an unsteady step forward, catching himself from falling on his face with the wall.
He looked over his shoulder to make sure he didn't wake John. Satisfied to see the blonde dozing peacefully, Sherlock continued his progress to the bathroom. Halfway to the door his stomach turned and he quickly ran in, barely making it to the toilet when the contents of his stomach evacuated.
John woke up to the sounds of Sherlock retching in the bathroom. He got up and walked to the door of the ensuite bathroom, pausing when he saw the genius flushing the toilet and laying his head on the edge of the bowl.
"Sherlock, are you alright?"
Sherlock closed his eyes then got up to brush his teeth. "I'm fine John."
John crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes at Sherlock. He took in Sherlock's pale complexion and stepped forward pressing the back of his hand to the genius' forehead.
"Christ Sherlock you're burning up!"
"John I said I'm fine." Sherlock rinsed out his mouth of toothpaste and moved to leave the bathroom, when another dizzy spell hit him and he had to grab hold of the counter.
"No you're not." John slipped under Sherlock's arm and guided him to the bed. Sherlock moved to get up, but John pushed him back down. "Sherlock you're sick, that means you have to rest."
"John honestly I feel fine, there's no need for me to rest."
"I beg to differ; you're running a fever that is obviously impairing your judgment. Now listen to your doctor and lay down."
"My doctor's an idiot" Sherlock said yawning.
John scowled at Sherlock and grabbed a thermometer from the bathroom, "Well I may be and idiot but I'm you're idiot. Now open up so I can take your temperature."
Sherlock grumbled but did as he was told. John placed the thermometer under Sherlock's tongue and went back to the bathroom to get a cool wash cloth, coming back and placing it on Sherlock's forehead as the thermometer beeped.
"Now you see I was right you have a fever and are therefore sick."
"I don't believe you" Sherlock replied suspiciously.
John sighed and showed Sherlock the display which said he had a fever of 38°C.
"As a doctor I prescribe a day of bed rest and letting me take care of you."
"But John, I have cases and experiments that need my attention today" Sherlock whined.
"They're cold cases Greg gave you to keep you occupied and the toes in the cupboard will be there tomorrow, even though I have a right mind to throw them out."
"You wouldn't" Sherlock said threateningly.
"No I won't, not this time anyway" John chuckled, and Sherlock sighed in relief.
"Staying in bed all day is boring." Sherlock mumbled.
"Not if you're resting like a good patient."
"Sleep is boring." Sherlock muttered darkly.
John chuckled; Sherlock was both cute and frustrating when he had to stay in bed, whether from injury or dropping from exhaustion and starvation. Luckily since their relationship had started Sherlock hadn't needed to be hospitalized for not eating or sleeping during a case. The dark haired genius was a bit more compliant with eating and sleeping when a certain blonde doctor rewarded him for good behavior.
"I know but if you're good, I may just reward you when you're better."
"What kind of reward?"
"You'll just have to be good and see."
Sherlock pouted causing John to chuckle. He placed a kiss on the genius' cheek and went to the bathroom to take a shower.
The rest of the day was quiet, mostly. John had to chase Sherlock back to bed a few times, when the genius tried to sneak out to check on his experiment. By the fourth time John was seriously considering tying Sherlock to the bedpost. He discarded the idea after remembering the genius could slip bonds easily and hadn't fought being tied up in the past because of what John had been doing to him while he was roped to the bed.
Finally after chasing Sherlock back to bed for the seventh time, John made a deal with the dark haired genius. If Sherlock could beat him in a game of riddles John would let him work on cases. Sherlock had accepted the terms, confident he could beat the former army doctor.
Almost an hour later, John had barely been able to answer Sherlock's last riddle correctly and was struggling to come up with a new riddle when one he learned recently came to mind.
"No matter how hard you look, you'll never find me, unless you have a telescope to help you see. I was once called a planet, but not anymore. Now I'm just a 'Dwarf Planet,' but too important to ignore."
"That's cheating; you know I've deleted everything about the solar system from my mind palace!"
"I would have thought you educated yourself on the solar system seeing how it helped save the boy Moriarty had strapped to a bomb."
"That was a one time thing, I didn't delete the information pertaining to that case but I see no need to clutter my mind with useless information."
"Alright, so do you concede?"
"Never!" Sherlock reached for his phone, but John batted his hand away.
"That's against the rules Sherlock."
"So is using a riddle you know I could never solve."
"I don't remember making that rule when we started, however we both agreed that we couldn't use outside sources to solve the riddles."
"How else am I supposed to solve it then?"
"Maybe you're not supposed to solve everything dear." Sherlock huffed in response causing John to chuckle.
They sat there in silence for 10 minutes before Sherlock scowled and muttered "Fine you win" before turning over and pulling the sheet over his head.
John smiled and left the room. He came back a few minutes later, placing the folder of one of the cold cases Greg had left the day before on the bed next to Sherlock. He placed a kiss to the messy curls peeking out of the top of the covers before leaving the room again.
It was early evening before John checked in on Sherlock again. He smiled when he saw the consulting detective sound asleep, the case file spread out on the bed next to him.
John silently walked over to the bed and felt the sleeping genius' forehead. He brushed the curls out Sherlock's eyes satisfied that the fever had finally broken. Sherlock half opened his eyes at the feel of John's hand.
"Shhhh, go back to sleep. I was just coming to check on you."
"No, I'm awake." Sherlock said sleepily.
"I know but you really should sleep."
Sherlock yawned, "Maybe just for a bit." John smiled to himself when Sherlock closed his eyes and was soon snoring softly into the pillow.
John started gathering the reports and putting them back in the folder. He felt Sherlock's hand against his wrist.
"You can leave them there" Sherlock mumbled.
"You don't need them out while you're sleeping Sherlock." John said putting the last report in the folder and closing it.
"Fine, I've solved it anyway. The fiancée's mother killed the victim because she was taking away her son."
"Ah"
"Will you let Lestrade know?"
"Of course Sherlock, go back to sleep." John said placing a kiss on Sherlock's forehead, then leaving the room.
It was early morning when Sherlock woke up next. He stretched his long limbs and was puzzled when he didn't feel John beside him. He hopped out of bed and was opening the bedroom door when he saw John walking down the stairs rubbing sleep out of his eyes.
John paused when he saw Sherlock in the doorway.
"I was just coming to check on you. How are you feeling this morning?"
"Never better; How come you didn't come to bed last night?"
"You were sleeping soundly and I didn't want to disturb you. I figured my old room would be more comfortable than sleeping on the couch."
"Ah. It was…..disconcerting to wake up without you there." Sherlock said hesitantly.
John smiled and pressed a kiss to Sherlock's cheek.
"Lord knows I didn't sleep well last night."
"Oh?"
"The bed was too cold and it was weird not to feel as if I'm being pushed off the bed by long limbs." John chuckled.
"Sorry about that."
"Its fine, lets me know you're there. Now if you're hungry I thought I'd make us some breakfast."
"I'd like that." Sherlock said slipping his hand into John's.
xXx
So I have a confession to make, I was watching the Hobbit when I wrote this and Frankie compelled me to include the game of riddles.
I'd love to hear what you think of the chapter. If you don't want, it's ok. See you next Thursday.
