IngridNixie has been at it again! It's… yay!

I'm contemplating what to do with Adele… I have stuff planned, but no one seems to be paying attention…

DECSICIONS!

Enjoy and please review! Thanks!

Adele could hear, but there weren't any voices. She could hear the beeps of the surrounding machines, the general buzz of the hospital, but there was no one beside her. Not a talking someone anyway. If she could, she would scream in frustration. She wished she could scream. She wished she could sigh. A sigh would be good. She remembered what it felt like, to sigh, to scream. But something didn't work, had come loose, and her body wouldn't do what she wanted it to. She knew she must be breathing. But still the only movement she could feel was her hand. She thought about how the little scar on her wrist had acted as her grip on reality, and now the hand attached to it was the only thing that linked her to the outside world. She felt like she would have laughed if she could. And was normal. Consciousness was easier when there were no exterior conversations to pay attention to. And then.

'Can I see her?'

The voice was a small, quiet and female. She sounded… raspy, as if the question had been forced.

'I… I'm not um, certain…' It was Molly again. 'I'm not even sure if I should've let you in- Maybe we should talk to Sherlock-'

'No.' The voice was sharp this time. 'I mean… I don't want to bother him.'

'Well, err, he'll probably show up in a bit.'

'I know. Could you, maybe, go?'

Adele was almost having trouble telling them apart now. Someone coughed, and then a door was shut. She heard footsteps, presumably from the non-Molly person, coming toward her. She heard the creak of the person sitting down beside her.

'Hi.'

She recognised the voice, but could not place it. Stupid fuzzy memory bank.

'It's Eliza, by the way.'

Eliza. Oh. Curiously, she didn't sound at all nervous or freaked out by the experience of talking to someone who wasn't going to answer back.

'I spoke to Sherlock. Well, I mostly stood there while he and John argued about whether you could hear them. I didn't say anything. I know you can. And I'm not being a stupid little wishful thinker. I actually know.'

Adele wished Eliza would elaborate, but the girl went off on another tangent.

'I don't think either of them particularly cares, really. They just can't stand the whole situation, and are arguing to stop themselves thinking about it. Adds weight to your whole lover's dispute theory, actually.'

Eliza was silent. Adele was fully aware that this was the longest she had stayed alert, and was not about to go back under. She willed Eliza to speak again. After a few seconds that took forever, Eliza started up again.

'Do you want to know what you look like? It might help to have a whole visual picture thing. You've got a ventilator- that's like, a machine to help you breathe, although you probably knew that. Anyway, that's connected through two tubes in your nose. You've got a heart monitor, obviously. There's a drip for drugs in your left arm, a drip with blood for your right, and one for nutrients and stuff in your neck. You're actually pretty lucky, really. Kitty has to have a whole big tube in her mouth when she's asleep.'

Eliza's voice broke a little, but she continued.

'Kitty's my sister.' She answered the question that doubtless would have been asked, had there been anyone else able to speak in the room.

'You know, the one I have to look after sometimes? Well, she's not younger than me. She's… Well, she's older actually. She's seventeen. And I have to look after her, because my Mum has to work a lot.' She took a shaky breath, but when she spoke again her voice was void of emotion. 'And my Mum works a lot, because we need money. We need money to pay for Kitty's carers, and her treatment. Because Kitty's not really… normal. It isn't her fault though. It was, my um, my Dad's fault.'

Adele could feel her brain becoming fuzzy, but she forced herself to stay awake. She was not going to black out without hearing everything Eliza had left to say.

'My Dad left when I was four.' She said with a sigh. 'We coped, you know. We were okay for a while. But then he came back, and… well, stuff happened. Nothing great unfortunately. And Kitty… Well.'

She should have been crying… Why wasn't she crying?

'That's how I know. I mean, that you can hear me. She wouldn't have survived if she couldn't hear us. If she didn't know just how much we needed her to. She was so,' Eliza paused. 'She was strong. Really bloody strong. That's one of the reasons I'm worried about you, Adele. You're tough, and you're clever, but you're not brave. Not like Kitty was, anyway. And she did it, but she wasn't… the same. And it killed Mum. And me, obviously. I can't, show it, though. I don't, for them. Everyone always says how strong I am. How much "courage" I have.' She laughed. 'Sometimes I feel like I've forgotten how to cry.'

Adele wished she could roll her eyes. She wanted to stop listening, to kick herself for becoming emotionally invested in the problems of this silly little girl. But at the same time, she wanted to know. Everything.

'And the reason I'm telling you this,' Eliza continued. 'Is so you'll understand. One, why I even made friends with you in the first place, and two…' She coughed. 'Adele, I'm not strong, and I'm not courageous. I'm weak. Hammet- he had them, with, I don't know, assassins, and I-!' Eliza broke off, her voice seeming cloaked in tears. 'I couldn't save you!' She was whispering, but to Adele's ears it sounded like a scream. 'And he- He just kept hitting her!'

Adele wasn't sure who she was talking about now, or when.

'And me! I just, stand there, every time! I let it get to me, I can't ever-!'

A sob erupted from the girl. Adele didn't want to care. She wanted to hate her. But she just… she didn't. It was frustrating, to say the least.

'I told him.' Eliza said eventually, her voice hard once more. 'Where you were, where Sherlock might be, how to find you. And I'm sorry, but I couldn't lose them. And I know you know how that feels. It's funny. They don't even know how close they came to death. One gunshot, all it takes. Easy.'

There was a pause.

'And that's why you've got to survive, Adele. Not because Sherlock Holmes will become a vegetable if you don't, not for your friends, or your family. If I tell you to survive for the people you love, I know you won't. You've got to survive, so you can put a bullet into that filthy bastard's brain and show him just how easy it is.'

Adele's mind was still reeling when Eliza's chair screeched as she stood up.

'How long have you been standing there?'

'Long enough. How is she?'

John's voice.

'If there was any change, you'd know. And he'd be in here going insane over it. How is he by the way?'

'If there was any change, you'd know. Still just sitting there, staring at the wall. Listening to the little voices. The usual.' Adele heard the smile in his voice. And the concern following it. 'What are you doing?'

'Checking.' Eliza replied. 'Sometimes there's feeling. Usually in the upper body. Kitty said she felt it whenever I kissed her forehead. She may have been lying though.'

At that moment, Adele felt a hand hold hers. She wanted to grip onto it, hold it there, damn whoever's it was as long as she could move. It was over all too quickly, and Eliza's hand was gone. Adele felt just a little bit sick at the thought of her kissing her forehead. Things were getting swimmy, and Adele knew she'd already been conscious for far too long

'Get him to hold her hand a bit.' Eliza was saying. 'She'd like that.'

'You want her –Adele, I mean- to kill Hammet?'

'He almost killed me, my only friend, my family and hers.'

The last thing Adele heard was Eliza's voice, cold and hard.

'I'm not fussy.'