Sherlock Fanfiction: Immunology

[saki101]

Author: Saki101
Genre: Slash
Rating: PG
Length: ~3500 words
Warning: AU, episode-related, post-The Reichenbach Fall
Disclaimer: I don't own BBC's Sherlock and no money is being made.
Author's notes: This is a continuation of The Other Experiments Series which forms an AU frame for the Experiments Series. Immunology is set after Locked

Comments

[saki101]

Good afternoon!!

Thank you so much for re-reading this part. I'm going to answer anything that doesn't involve spoilers. Then the question will be, was enough of that information present even though not totally clear or is information missing that should be presented at this point.

John and Sherlock have a reaction to each other after their inhaled contact at the cemetery? Yes.

Meaning not all of Moriarty's cells have been destroyed? Exactly.

And if John's scent is temporarily unhealthy for Sherlock, why is it OK for him to have John's jersey? John's scent is making Sherlock feverish, but it isn't unhealthy. By this stage in their fusion process, from their regular close proximity and direct physical contact, Sherlock has a fair amount of John's cells in his system. So when Sherlock is up on the roof and Moriarty assaults him, it is John's immune system which defends Sherlock. (As it had been in the first forty-eight hours after Moriarty had grasped his hand, Sherlock’s immune response had been inactive.) Why might that be? Sherlock speculates, as no earlier notes exist about this process.

Is it a case of the dead cells in a fabric vs. what microorganisms can travel through moist human breath? No. It's because the number of John's cells in Sherlock at the point of Moriarty's attack have been depleted and not all of Moriarty's cells had been eliminated. Because Sherlock is in hiding and John being convinced of his demise is part of Sherlock's cover, he has not had the opportunity to replenish John in his system through their usual close contact. Having "absorbed" a little of John at the cemetary, John's new cells continue their fight to eradicate Moriarty's "infection" from Sherlock. Their effort produces feverish symptoms. So, John's cells having an effect like an antibiotic, but their mechanism is like a natural immune response in that it produces feverish symptoms. John's jersey was a "booster shot", as it were. Sherlock assumes that the whiff of John he had at the cemetary is insufficient to complete the task. He's also worried that John's exposure to him will produce an immune response as well and he doesn't know how strong the response will be, so he sends Mike to check.

(Part I of this reply.)