[fic] sherlock - parallel
Title: Parallel
Fandom: Sherlock
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 1,467
Characters/Pairing: John/Sherlock
Summary: There is a world where John is dead. There is a world where Mycroft is dead. Neither of those are real.
Disclaimer: I don't own these characters.
Author's Note: In response to this prompt: "Sherlock, John, and Mycroft are in an accident. Sherlock has two realities: one in which John lives, one in which his brother survives." I was surprised by how immediately I needed to write this. Because it's so short, it hasn't undergone any external editing. Now with a lovely podfic by dreamergirl090!
Based on this fic: Beautifully minimalistic cover by Trudy
Sherlock only remembers the glare of white through the passenger window. His left eye stares into the light and his right is caught in John’s shadow. He remembers the way his chin snapped down against his collarbone, his skull against splintering glass-then, nothing.
_____
It smells like chlorine. Sherlock doesn’t have to open his eyes to trace the IV line in the crook of his elbow with unsteady fingertips. The light shines red through his bruised eyelids.
“You’re awake.”
Sherlock opens his eyes. His mouth is dry.
Mycroft has a line of stitches running up the side of his head. He looks at Sherlock from where he’s sitting in the visitor’s chair, wearing a patient gown over bloodied trousers. Sherlock tries to focus on Mycroft’s face, is halfway to a remark about doctor’s orders and what about John? when he finds his eyes slipping shut.
_____
Night time. Someone has drawn the shades of his hospital room only half closed and the light from the nurse’s station forms a long line of illumination across the foot of his bed.
Sherlock catalogues his injuries. Gauze across the back of his hand. The hair above his right ear is gone and two rows of stitches run parallel towards his temple. His ribs hurt when he breathes in and then out again.
He closes his eyes.
_____
“John?” Sherlock asks before he even opens his eyes.
“I’m sorry Sherlock,” Mycroft says.
Sherlock opens his eyes to look at Mycroft. He lets out a breath he didn’t know he had been holding.
Mycroft hasn’t moved from the chair. He has on new trousers.
“You can leave,” Sherlock says and closes his eyes again.
_____
When Sherlock wakes again, John sits in the chair that Mycroft had been sitting in. He sleeps with his chin in the palm of his hand, mouth open.
“I thought you were dead,” Sherlock says.
John jerks straight. “You’re awake.”
“I thought you were dead,” Sherlock repeats.
“No,” John says, dragging his chair closer to Sherlock’s bed, “No I’m not.”
Sherlock reaches out and John slips his hand into Sherlock’s. Squeezes it and looks at Sherlock.
Sherlock hears himself asking, “Why would my brother lie to me?”
John strokes a thumb over the back of his hand. Sherlock catches the moment of hesitation before he says, “Sherlock. Mycroft is dead.”
_____
He touches the stitches over his right ear.
He closes his eyes and opens them again.
His fingertips run through hair.
_____
“Perhaps you should stay with me,” Mycroft says, “Or maybe you could indulge mummy with your company.”
“Don’t pretend you don’t keep surveillance on my flat,” Sherlock snaps and readjusts the sling on his arm.
“You keep taking them down,” Mycroft says as Sherlock opens the car door. Sherlock climbs out and shuts it. It doesn’t close all the way. He fumbles for his keys and refuses to look back when Mycroft has to reopen the door and pull it shut again.
He head straight to his bedroom and takes off his shoes with one hand. He doesn’t take his coat off-just curls up on top of the covers and closes his eyes.
_____
John gives him honey dissolved in boiled water because they don’t keep decaffeinated tea in the flat. The mug warms his palms and the steam softens his lower lip when he blows a steady stream of air across the top. His ribs ache but he doesn’t mind-likes it, even.
John gets the post. He talks quietly to the men who stop by the flat with things for Sherlock to sign. He only sets aside the cup when John gives him a pen and a tired smile.
“Do you want to give a eulogy?” John asks quietly one day as he’s leaning over Sherlock’s shoulder, hand cupped around the back of Sherlock’s neck. Sherlock lets himself lean into it.
“No,” Sherlock says.
_____
Sherlock doesn’t recognize most of the people who have come to John’s funeral. If Mycroft is standing closer than usual, Sherlock doesn’t mention it.
At the wake, Sherlock stands with Molly and Lestrade who talk to each other. But he’s listening to the group of men behind them who are trading stories about Captain Watson. They never expected him to die in a car crash, not with the way that he brazenly flirted with bullets and bursting mortar shells in Afghanistan.
Mycroft touches his shoulder. Sherlock shrugs him away and puts on his coat. He leaves and calls for a cab.
_____
This is how it happened: the truck driver was on his twenty-sixth hour awake behind the wheel and he took his eyes off the street for only a moment to adjust the radio station. Ten tonnes of metal and rubbish crushed the front of the black car and killed a minor government official.
This is how it happened: the truck driver was on his twenty-sixth hour awake behind the wheel and he took his eyes off the street for only a moment to adjust the radio station. Ten tonnes of metal and rubbish crushed the back of the black car and killed an ex-army captain.
_____
He lets John hold his hand during Mycroft’s funeral.
People tell Sherlock how sorry they are for his loss. Sherlock doesn’t speak until he turns to John and asks if they can leave.
_____
There is a black car with tinted windows parked in front of his flat. Nobody gets in. Nobody gets out. Sherlock ignores it when he walks down the street.
_____
Sherlock wakes up more often than not with the afternoon sunlight diffusing across the closed curtains. It’s been hours since John left. Sherlock goes to the kitchen and looks at the stacks of scrap paper he has scrawled on during a distant life. He turns on the microscope and the light hums into existence. He slumps in a chair. It’s the position that John will find him in when he comes home.
The crime in London doesn’t stop but Lestrade doesn’t text him. Sherlock can’t bring himself to text first.
John makes him pasta with pesto and substitutes toasted walnuts for the pine nuts. It all tastes the same to Sherlock. After dinner, John kisses him lazily in bed, thumb running lightly over the stitches at the side of Sherlock’s head. Sherlock falls asleep with his fingers in John’s hair, wrist against his neck.
_____
“Are you eating dear?” Mrs. Hudson asks as she sets a sandwich in front of him. He’s been sitting on the sofa, reading the same page in some book for the last four hours.
His phone beeps. Lestrade asked him earlier if he could swing by to look at a crime scene. Sherlock can’t bring himself to text back.
“Such a mess in here,” Mrs. Hudson adds, straightening the papers on the kitchen table, “Oh, I just remembered! Your brother was here earlier but you were sleeping. He said to ask you to call him when you were awake.”
Sherlock flips to the next page.
Mrs. Hudson hovers over his shoulder for a moment. Maybe she’s waiting for a reply. After a while, she pats his shoulder and says, “I hope you feel better tomorrow, Sherlock.”
_____
“You’ve been sleeping an awful lot,” John tells Sherlock when he shakes his shoulder to wake him. Sherlock stretches out on the sofa, surprised to find that it’s already dinnertime.
“I hope you’ve been eating lunch,” John says as he turns toward the kitchen. Sherlock doesn’t mention that he sleeps through lunchtime.
“What do you want for dinner?” John asks, opening the fridge. Sherlock doesn’t care so he doesn’t answer.
_____
“Your brainwave patterns are a bit abnormal,” the neurologist tells him. She shields the computer screen from his view.
“What, then, seems to be the problem?” Mycroft asks.
“We’re not really sure,” the neurologist says, “We’ve never seen anything like this before.”
_____
This is how it should have happened: the truck driver was on his twenty-sixth hour awake behind the wheel and he took his eyes off the street for only a moment to adjust the radio station. Ten tonnes of metal and rubbish crushed the back of the black car and killed the only consulting detective in the world.
_____
Sherlock closes his eyes.
In the morning, John wakes and when he leans in to kiss Sherlock’s temple, he presses a hand to Sherlock’s neck and finds that there is no pulse.
_____
Sherlock closes his eyes.
Mycroft’s assistant opens the door in the evening and climbs up the stairs. He takes Sherlock’s wrist only when Sherlock doesn’t wake at his name. Two minutes later, Mycroft receives a call.
_____
John stands next to Mycroft at Sherlock’s funeral. Neither man says a thing to the other.
Fandom: Sherlock
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 1,467
Characters/Pairing: John/Sherlock
Summary: There is a world where John is dead. There is a world where Mycroft is dead. Neither of those are real.
Disclaimer: I don't own these characters.
Author's Note: In response to this prompt: "Sherlock, John, and Mycroft are in an accident. Sherlock has two realities: one in which John lives, one in which his brother survives." I was surprised by how immediately I needed to write this. Because it's so short, it hasn't undergone any external editing. Now with a lovely podfic by dreamergirl090!
Based on this fic: Beautifully minimalistic cover by Trudy
Sherlock only remembers the glare of white through the passenger window. His left eye stares into the light and his right is caught in John’s shadow. He remembers the way his chin snapped down against his collarbone, his skull against splintering glass-then, nothing.
_____
It smells like chlorine. Sherlock doesn’t have to open his eyes to trace the IV line in the crook of his elbow with unsteady fingertips. The light shines red through his bruised eyelids.
“You’re awake.”
Sherlock opens his eyes. His mouth is dry.
Mycroft has a line of stitches running up the side of his head. He looks at Sherlock from where he’s sitting in the visitor’s chair, wearing a patient gown over bloodied trousers. Sherlock tries to focus on Mycroft’s face, is halfway to a remark about doctor’s orders and what about John? when he finds his eyes slipping shut.
_____
Night time. Someone has drawn the shades of his hospital room only half closed and the light from the nurse’s station forms a long line of illumination across the foot of his bed.
Sherlock catalogues his injuries. Gauze across the back of his hand. The hair above his right ear is gone and two rows of stitches run parallel towards his temple. His ribs hurt when he breathes in and then out again.
He closes his eyes.
_____
“John?” Sherlock asks before he even opens his eyes.
“I’m sorry Sherlock,” Mycroft says.
Sherlock opens his eyes to look at Mycroft. He lets out a breath he didn’t know he had been holding.
Mycroft hasn’t moved from the chair. He has on new trousers.
“You can leave,” Sherlock says and closes his eyes again.
_____
When Sherlock wakes again, John sits in the chair that Mycroft had been sitting in. He sleeps with his chin in the palm of his hand, mouth open.
“I thought you were dead,” Sherlock says.
John jerks straight. “You’re awake.”
“I thought you were dead,” Sherlock repeats.
“No,” John says, dragging his chair closer to Sherlock’s bed, “No I’m not.”
Sherlock reaches out and John slips his hand into Sherlock’s. Squeezes it and looks at Sherlock.
Sherlock hears himself asking, “Why would my brother lie to me?”
John strokes a thumb over the back of his hand. Sherlock catches the moment of hesitation before he says, “Sherlock. Mycroft is dead.”
_____
He touches the stitches over his right ear.
He closes his eyes and opens them again.
His fingertips run through hair.
_____
“Perhaps you should stay with me,” Mycroft says, “Or maybe you could indulge mummy with your company.”
“Don’t pretend you don’t keep surveillance on my flat,” Sherlock snaps and readjusts the sling on his arm.
“You keep taking them down,” Mycroft says as Sherlock opens the car door. Sherlock climbs out and shuts it. It doesn’t close all the way. He fumbles for his keys and refuses to look back when Mycroft has to reopen the door and pull it shut again.
He head straight to his bedroom and takes off his shoes with one hand. He doesn’t take his coat off-just curls up on top of the covers and closes his eyes.
_____
John gives him honey dissolved in boiled water because they don’t keep decaffeinated tea in the flat. The mug warms his palms and the steam softens his lower lip when he blows a steady stream of air across the top. His ribs ache but he doesn’t mind-likes it, even.
John gets the post. He talks quietly to the men who stop by the flat with things for Sherlock to sign. He only sets aside the cup when John gives him a pen and a tired smile.
“Do you want to give a eulogy?” John asks quietly one day as he’s leaning over Sherlock’s shoulder, hand cupped around the back of Sherlock’s neck. Sherlock lets himself lean into it.
“No,” Sherlock says.
_____
Sherlock doesn’t recognize most of the people who have come to John’s funeral. If Mycroft is standing closer than usual, Sherlock doesn’t mention it.
At the wake, Sherlock stands with Molly and Lestrade who talk to each other. But he’s listening to the group of men behind them who are trading stories about Captain Watson. They never expected him to die in a car crash, not with the way that he brazenly flirted with bullets and bursting mortar shells in Afghanistan.
Mycroft touches his shoulder. Sherlock shrugs him away and puts on his coat. He leaves and calls for a cab.
_____
This is how it happened: the truck driver was on his twenty-sixth hour awake behind the wheel and he took his eyes off the street for only a moment to adjust the radio station. Ten tonnes of metal and rubbish crushed the front of the black car and killed a minor government official.
This is how it happened: the truck driver was on his twenty-sixth hour awake behind the wheel and he took his eyes off the street for only a moment to adjust the radio station. Ten tonnes of metal and rubbish crushed the back of the black car and killed an ex-army captain.
_____
He lets John hold his hand during Mycroft’s funeral.
People tell Sherlock how sorry they are for his loss. Sherlock doesn’t speak until he turns to John and asks if they can leave.
_____
There is a black car with tinted windows parked in front of his flat. Nobody gets in. Nobody gets out. Sherlock ignores it when he walks down the street.
_____
Sherlock wakes up more often than not with the afternoon sunlight diffusing across the closed curtains. It’s been hours since John left. Sherlock goes to the kitchen and looks at the stacks of scrap paper he has scrawled on during a distant life. He turns on the microscope and the light hums into existence. He slumps in a chair. It’s the position that John will find him in when he comes home.
The crime in London doesn’t stop but Lestrade doesn’t text him. Sherlock can’t bring himself to text first.
John makes him pasta with pesto and substitutes toasted walnuts for the pine nuts. It all tastes the same to Sherlock. After dinner, John kisses him lazily in bed, thumb running lightly over the stitches at the side of Sherlock’s head. Sherlock falls asleep with his fingers in John’s hair, wrist against his neck.
_____
“Are you eating dear?” Mrs. Hudson asks as she sets a sandwich in front of him. He’s been sitting on the sofa, reading the same page in some book for the last four hours.
His phone beeps. Lestrade asked him earlier if he could swing by to look at a crime scene. Sherlock can’t bring himself to text back.
“Such a mess in here,” Mrs. Hudson adds, straightening the papers on the kitchen table, “Oh, I just remembered! Your brother was here earlier but you were sleeping. He said to ask you to call him when you were awake.”
Sherlock flips to the next page.
Mrs. Hudson hovers over his shoulder for a moment. Maybe she’s waiting for a reply. After a while, she pats his shoulder and says, “I hope you feel better tomorrow, Sherlock.”
_____
“You’ve been sleeping an awful lot,” John tells Sherlock when he shakes his shoulder to wake him. Sherlock stretches out on the sofa, surprised to find that it’s already dinnertime.
“I hope you’ve been eating lunch,” John says as he turns toward the kitchen. Sherlock doesn’t mention that he sleeps through lunchtime.
“What do you want for dinner?” John asks, opening the fridge. Sherlock doesn’t care so he doesn’t answer.
_____
“Your brainwave patterns are a bit abnormal,” the neurologist tells him. She shields the computer screen from his view.
“What, then, seems to be the problem?” Mycroft asks.
“We’re not really sure,” the neurologist says, “We’ve never seen anything like this before.”
_____
This is how it should have happened: the truck driver was on his twenty-sixth hour awake behind the wheel and he took his eyes off the street for only a moment to adjust the radio station. Ten tonnes of metal and rubbish crushed the back of the black car and killed the only consulting detective in the world.
_____
Sherlock closes his eyes.
In the morning, John wakes and when he leans in to kiss Sherlock’s temple, he presses a hand to Sherlock’s neck and finds that there is no pulse.
_____
Sherlock closes his eyes.
Mycroft’s assistant opens the door in the evening and climbs up the stairs. He takes Sherlock’s wrist only when Sherlock doesn’t wake at his name. Two minutes later, Mycroft receives a call.
_____
John stands next to Mycroft at Sherlock’s funeral. Neither man says a thing to the other.