The Final Chapter

Windows

*Sherlock POV*

"Sherlock, come over here and lie down."

"Pardon?"

"Come lie down, please."

Honeycomb has been pacing the floor beside me for a few hours now, not leaving my side.

"Sherlock..."

John gets up, pulling me into the bed.

"Stop struggling, lie down."

"Let me go."

"Not until you calm down. Relax, please."

He has my arms pinned to the mattress, putting slight pressure to keep me down.

"Sherlock, look at me. You need to calm down. You're going to hurt yourself if you don't stop."

"Let me up."

"Will you stay here?"

"Yes."

John slowly shifts his weight, watching me closely as I sit up.

"Come here, you need some sleep."

I fall back against him, feeling him wrap me in a blanket.

"Go to sleep Sherlock, I'm not leaving."

Honeycomb pushes himself under my arm, snuggling against my side. John holds my head against his chest, fingers running through my hair. I fall asleep soon after, listening to the steadiness of his heartbeat. Something rouses me a few hours later, Honeycomb licking my face. I sit up carefully, trying not to wake John. Honeycomb whines at me, taking my sleeve in his teeth and tugging hard. Eventualy, I get up and open the door for him. He walks downstairs, still not leaving my side.

"Do you want to go out? Is that why you woke me up?"

We walk to the door and, after I let him back inside, he runs ahead of me and into the kitchen. He sits in front of the counter, where a fresh cup of tea is waiting. I pick it up, slowly sipping the still hot liquid. Honeycomb starts whining again, jumping up at the counter across from me. I look up at the countertop, realizing something has been moved. The knife block is too far forward on the counter, much further than it was when we went upstairs for the night. We run back upstairs, though Honeycomb runs straight to the boys room instead of back to mine with me.

"Honeycomb, get back here."

He starts digging at the bottom of the door, starting to bark. I walk over quietly, trying the door handle. It is unlocked, so we bust through rather quickly. William is standing on top of his dresser, nearly falling off when we come into the room.

"What are you doing?"

He has a knife in his hand, quickly turning back to what he was doing before. Hamish is still sleeping, and Honeycomb jumps up on the bed beside him. I run over to William, stopping when I see what he is trying to do with the knife.

"Oww!"

"What did you do? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Just cut my hand a little bit."

Blood is already running down his arm, dripping onto the floor at my feet.

"Come on...get down from there."

"But look. We need to get it out of the window frame."

"Get down William. Now."

He reluctantly lets me pull him down, wrapping his arms around the back of my neck.