Disadvantageous

Chapter 14

John was the first person she found that she knew, he was sat in a seating area in the ER, no doubt waiting to hear news on how Sherlock's surgery had gone. Deflated by the information that Sherlock hadn't gotten out of surgery yet, Lydia took the seat beside the army doctor and placed her hand on his.

"No news yet?"

The exhausted man shook his head and sighed, "no, they've been in there for a while."

"Well, Sherlock's been through far worse, I'm sure he'll pull through," Lydia tried to provide some words of encouragement, but she knew that she herself was struggling to remain positive. "Now, tell me what happened. You mentioned Janine? Where is she?"

"She's left. Got the all clear from her doctor, the head wound she suffered wasn't bad."

Lydia frowned, "but isn't she worried about Sherlock?"

"God no," John replied in disbelief before realising that Lydia had no idea what had transpired. "Oh, right, sorry. Forgot you weren't there. Well, er, you might want to brace yourself because Sherlock's really managed to outdo his stupidity."

"I'm not entirely sure that's at all possible. He did jump of a roof to make us all think he was dead."

"Yeah, well, turns out he was only dating Janine because she works for this really powerful news editor named Magnussen, who apparently has the British government in his pocket. Proposed to her last night so she would let him into his office, don't think she's too happy with him now."

Lydia let out a low whistle, but was secretly a bit relieved, "that is a low bar, even for him."

"I couldn't believe it myself. You know, for a moment there, I actually thought he was trying to propose. I mean, that's how he'd do it, isn't it? Dragging me along to her place of work and popping the question while she watched from the security footage. Never did have a grasp on the romantic side of things."

To this, Lydia shrugged, "I wouldn't say that. Yeah, he struggles a bit with emotions, but I think he secretly likes the romantic things. Besides, he did manage to woo Janine, didn't he? She doesn't seem as forgiving of his temper as I was, so he must've been doing something right."

The two fell into silence after that, John sensing the awkwardness that surrounded the conversation of Sherlock's love life. He knew that she wasn't over him, hell he was sure most everyone who saw her around the detective knew. He had not been at all surprised to hear that she and Liam had broken things off, he had just wished they had had better timing. Perhaps if she and Sherlock had gotten back together before the wedding, none of this business with Janine would have ever happened. Or perhaps it would have, John wouldn't put it past Sherlock to cheat on his girlfriend for a case.

But John knew better than to speak any of these words aloud, so instead they just sat there in silence, their hands clasped in one another's, as they waited for anyone to tell them how Sherlock was doing. The doctor didn't emerge until nearly three in the morning, but the look on his face caused Lydia relax into her chair.

The poor doctor looked exhausted, yes, but her face showed none of the signs of worry or bracing necessary to tell someone that their friend hadn't made it. The bastard had pulled through.

"Mr. Watson? I'm Dr. Ellis, and you must be Mr. Holmes's girlfriend?" The woman spoke, offering the two a kind smile.

Lydia quickly jumped to correct her, "oh no, we're not- I'm just- er, he's- we're just friends."

"Oh," Dr. Ellis replied in a way that made Lydia doubt she believed her to be telling the truth. Though to be fair, Lydia had gotten quite flustered by the question. "Well, anyway, I've come to let you know that Mr. Holmes is stable. There's always a chance he won't pull through, of course, but he's made it through his surgery. We actually thought we lost him for a moment, but he's clearly a fighter."