The Science of Starting Again//Book Five

Chapter 19~ Scars and All

Teddy's P.O.V

The first thing I was able to register when I woke was the smell of flowers. It wasn't overpowering but it was uncomfortable, filling my nostrils and making me feel like I was trapped in a garden. My eyelids fluttering open I scanned the room, staring at all the different flowers filling it. The distraction of seeing who had given what- a bunch from Mrs Hudson, another from Molly, a rose and a card stamped with a single 'W', and countless others- was good for awhile until a throbbing pain took over, my head feeling like it was fit to burst. I groaned, raising a hand to tentatively touch the large bump on my head. It had to be the size of an egg and sitting right on my temple. I could only imagine how hideous it looked. To top that pain off, though, I found that my other hand had been wrapped up in white bandage. It reminded me of a boxing glove, making me frown slightly. I couldn't remember how I had ended up here. It was around this time that the door opened and a figure appeared, interrupting my thoughts.

"You're awake," Greg said, a small smile on his face that was partially hidden due to the new bunch of flowers he held in one hand.

"Am I in hospital?" I asked groggily as he put the flowers down on my bed and took a seat beside it. He handed me a control that allowed me to make the bed sit up, making it easier for me to talk to him.

"Yeah, you are," he told me when I was comfortable. "You remember what happened last night?"

"I..." I frowned, the memories returning to me slowly, as though floating through my mind on a lazy river. I saw Sherlock, John, and I in the elevator, and then Janine on the ground. I remembered Sherlock disappearing upstairs and John and I following soon after. I remembered-

"Sherlock," I gasped, staring at Greg with wide, frightened eyes, a flash of pain passing over me. I winced but ignored it, the thought of my injured brother too overwhelming. "Greg, he- he got shot. Someone shot him, oh God. Is he okay?! He didn't-" I couldn't even finish off my sentence, my heart tightening in pain and my eyes seeing red, his blood, my brother...

"He's okay, Teddy, really," Greg assured me. "He's in a different room but he's fine. He's still asleep but the doctors say he'll pull through. It was close but... well, it's Sherlock. He's stubborn."

I let out a breath I didn't realize I had been holding, relaxing slightly. My head was still throbbing and I frowned, touching it again.

"Why am I in hospital?" I asked, looking up at Greg.

"You fell and cracked your head open outside the building, knocked yourself out. Observers saw you come out screaming your head off -your hand bleeding and full of glass- before you fell, so they called the ambulance. Your hand will be fine and your head wound isn't a deep cut, but both bled a lot and you've got yourself a nice bump on your head now. Doctors wanted to keep you in for observation just in case. You should be discharged this afternoon, though."

"Same can't be said for Sherly, though, right?" I said softly. Greg nodded, eyebrows drawn and lips pinched tight.

"He won't be working for awhile."

Suddenly I felt very grim and dejected, a wave of self-hatred passing over me. My brother had been shot and I hadn't even realized. I had been downstairs. I should've gone up with him, stopped him from getting shot. I knew how it felt to feel a bullet force it's way through your body, to feel it ripping through you as though you were made of tissue paper. To imagine him feeling the pain I had felt all those years ago...

"Have you caught the shooter? Magnussen, he must've seen who it was-" I asked, before Greg interrupted.

"Mr Magnussen didn't know who it was. The person knocked him out. There's a chance that Sherlock would know who it was seeing as he was shot in the torso, but we won't know until he wakes up."
Greg frowned slightly, tilting his head to the side as he looked at me before speaking once more.