Remembrance

[leone]

Title: Remembrance
Author: leone
Rating: PG-13
Character(s): Watson, Mary Watson, Mrs. Hudson, Holmes
Summary: The triumph of Culverton Smith
Warnings: AU, character death
Author's Notes: AU ACD-verse. Fill for July 29th prompt: "Illness, in a location where little to no help is forthcoming.."
Word Count: 221B

 

When Watson opened his eyes, he could not remember what had angered him. He recalled the deception, the cruel flippancy with which his presence had been forgotten. His rage should have been directed at Holmes, but it seemed focussed upon himself.

He remembered the walk back home from Baker Street; he had been fuming at Holmes then. At dinner he had told Mary of Holmes’s subterfuge, and still his rage had not been self-directed. But the next morning he had awoken. Something about Holmes’s breathing had been off, inconsistent with inanition, beeswax, or belladona. He had tried to get up, but could not move. He had heard in his own breath the wheeze that his conscious attention had finally associated with Holmes. He had tried to wake Mary, but he could not remember succeeding, and then there was nothing.

When he was finally strong enough, he returned to Baker Street. The door to the flat stayed locked now. He talked with Mrs. Hudson about the upcoming trial and both of them avoided discussing his recovery or mentioning Holmes’s name. If he had not been alone . . . but to say that would make it real, realer than the sealed door, as real as it had been for Mrs. Hudson when she discovered what Smith’s infection had left of Holmes’s body.