trashchildren | For Joan

Sherlock nods. He has indeed been thinking along those "if only" lines. If only he'd identified the killer more quickly. If only he'd realize the poison would be added after the dish left the monitored kitchen. If only they had prepared more, had antidotes to possible poisons on hand. If only...

A doctor in green scrubs and a white coat enters the waiting room and approaches them.

"Is one of you Ted Lasso?" she asks.

Ted almost jumps to his feet, but then thinks better of it the moment he puts pressure on his cast. "Yeah, doc, that's me. What's going on, is she okay?" he asks urgently, sitting forward in his chair instead.

Sherlock also straightens, hanging off the doctor's every word.

"Miss Watson is stable," she says, addressing Ted but glancing toward Sherlock as well. "The treatment that was started in the field had some side effects that had to be countered. Her heart rate and blood pressure dipped a couple times, which was concerning, but they've been steady for long enough now that we believe the immediate danger has passed. There's still some long term concerns and we'll be watching her closely, but she's been asking for you ever since she got here, so we'd like to bring you to her."

Ted visible relaxes when she confirms Joan is stable, though not completely. Stable doesn't mean fine. But she's not going to die today, which means the doctors have time to do their thing and make sure she gets better.

And now Ted does jump to his feet, but at least he grabs the crutch before he does this time. "Yeah, yeah, of course," he answers eagerly, nodding. He too wants nothing less than to be at her side right now.

He hesitates for a moment before following though, looking back at Sherlock. "What about Sherlock, can he come?" he asks. Because they're basically best friends, and it would probably reassure them both to see each other.

"Sherlock Holmes?" she asks, looking toward the detective.

Sherlock gets to his feet. "That's me."

"She has you on file as her emergency contact and designated healthcare surrogate. We've been trying to contact you. You can come back with us."

The doctor leads the two of them through the doors and down a couple corridors to the ICU.

When they enter Joan's room, Sherlock hangs back, distressed by the sight of her. "Watson..." he whispers to himself.

Joan looks very small in the hospital bed surrounded by monitors and machines. There are electrodes stuck all over her body, an IV running to her hand, and an oxygen mask over her mouth and nose. She's pale, and her eyes are closed.

Ted grabs his jacket and follows, glad they both get to go. He wouldn't want Sherlock to have to sit and wait on his own, not with how close they are.

It's a scary sight. But it's also not too different from seeing her in the ambulance, so Sherlock is probably more horrified than Ted is, seeing it for the first time. But even without the shock, it's still heartbreaking.

Ted gently grips Sherlock's shoulder for a moment, a gesture of comfort and solidarity, before heading over to Joan's side. He leans his crutch against a chair and drops the jacket over the back, before approaching the bed.

He feels like he should be quiet, gentle. The room is so still, creepily so.

"Hey, Joan," he says softly, reaching out to take her hand.

Sherlock looks at Ted, grateful for the comfort yet unable to express it properly. When Ted goes to Joan, Sherlock finds a chair in the corner and sits, watching over his partner and beloved friend.

Joan stirs at Ted's voice and touch. She opens her eyes and smiles a little when she sees him. "Hey," she says softly. "I missed you."

Ted gives a shuddering sigh of relief when she smiles at him, and he returns it warmly. "You too," he answers, stroking her hand with his thumb.

He wants to hug her, but he doesn't want to mess with the equipment, or accidentally hurt her before he knows how hurt she is.

"Sherlock's here too," he says, nodding back towards him sitting in the corner. Ted definitely has the impression that Sherlock is not good with these kinds of situations, and would rather let Ted do the comforting. And Ted's just fine with that, but he wants Joan to know that Sherlock's here, watching over them. Two people who love her dearly.

Joan looks over at Sherlock. "Hey," she greets him as well. Sherlock rises and approaches the bed, his expression hesitant and worried.

"All right, Watson?" he asks, his own voice also hushed in the imposing silence of the room.

"I'm okay," she assures him calmly, even if the visual doesn't support the assessment.

She looks back to Ted. "We might need to put off that cuddling nap just a bit," she teases gently.

Ted lets out a soft chuckle. The relief at seeing her calm and teasing and smiling is starting to fill him, making his heart lighter. There's still that underlying deep worry, and that's not going to go away for a while. But it's getting easier to believe that she is going to be okay, and not just something Ted believes out of pure stubbornness and hope.

"We've got time," he answers. That's the important part.

"I'm so happy you're okay," he adds, almost breathless with emotion for a moment. There's tears in his eyes again, but this time they're tears of relief and emotion.

Joan knows that she's not out of the woods yet. That there's still plenty to worry about. But she is determined to lessen Ted and Sherlock's worry as much as possible. It's the best she can do to take care of them.

She sees those tears and her heart aches. Trembling with the effort, she lifts her other hand, the one with the IV, and cups his cheek, gently brushing his tears away. She doesn't have a lot of strength, so she lowers her hand, still smiling.

"Everything's going to be fine," she murmurs.

Edited 2021-08-07 15:25 (UTC)

Ted can tell she's using what little energy she has to comfort and protect him, and he loves her so much for it. He leans down and kisses her forehead, then hugs her - not a full body hug, even if he really wants to - just resting his hand on the back of her neck and putting his head against hers, burying his face in her hair. Just to be close for a moment.

"I love you," he whispers into her ear.

It takes him a very long moment before he pulls back again, clearing his throat a little. He looks around for a chair, letting go of Joan's hand just for a moment to pull up the chair and sit down, before taking her hand again. He plans to leave this spot as little as possible.

Now that he's no longer actively panicking about Joan, he realizes he has very little idea of what actually happened near the end of the gala there, so he turns to Sherlock again.

"Um. Is everyone else alright?" he asks. That's obviously his number one priority.

Joan leans her head against his in turn, her eyes closed. It feels good to be held by him, however awkwardly. She lifts a hand to settle it on his waist.

"I love you," she whispers back.

She smiles as he pulls the chair over, giving his hand a slight squeeze when he takes hers. She knows he's here for the long haul, and she's so grateful.

Sherlock sits as well in the chair further from the bed, there to look after Watson without getting between her and her beloved. When Ted addresses him he looks up, straightening.

"Yes," he answers. "The assassin was careful to only poison your plate. He also used a form of cyanide that had to be injected to be toxic, so that he would not be poisoned through skin contact."

Ted nods. That's good at least. He can imagine everyone is a bit rattled, given everything, but as long as no one's hurt, they should be okay.

"Don't suppose you've got our phones on you?" he ventures. He wouldn't necessarily expect him to carry them around, but it's worth a try. He assumes there are a lot of people trying to get hold of him right now.

"I do not." Sherlock can very much understand why Ted would want his phone. There were plenty of people who surely had plenty of questions and concerns. "If you like I can have them fetched." He'd offer to get them himself, but he has no intention of leaving Watson. "Alternately, you may use my phone to contact whoever you wish."

"Beard?" Joan suggests softly. He'd definitely want to know they're okay, and would be able to contact the others.

Ted nods at the suggestion of calling Beard, but using Sherlock's phone makes no sense to him. "Well, I don't know his number," he points out, looking between the two of them. Right, they probably do memorize phone numbers, don't they? Ted doesn't really have any reason to.

Sherlock pulls out his phone, types in a number, then offers it to Ted. Ted might recognize Beard's number. At very least he'll recognize the Kansas area code.

Joan raises her eyebrows. Sherlock glances at her. "Don't look so surprised, Watson. I needed a way to reach Ted in case he wasn't answering his phone."

Ted blinks at the phone, then lets out an amused huff. "Yeah no, that would probably be an effective way," Ted agrees. They do spend a lot of time together.

He presses the call button and leans back in his seat.

"Hey, Coach.. Yeah, we're okay, yeah," he says, making an effort to sound calm and reassuring, and not like he's emotionally and physically exhausted (which he is). "Yeah. How about there, is everyone alright?" he asks, nodding as Beard quickly summarizes - the gala got wrapped up pretty quickly, as smoothly as Rebecca could manage, and mostly everyone's just confused and worried.

"Yeah, listen, it's a long story, but I promise I'm going to explain everything," he says. "Um, how about tomorrow, if you can round up everyone. Not the team, but, the Diamond Dogs and the gals. ..Okay, thank you. ..Yeah, thanks, that'd be good. ..Yeah, no, my phone's at Sherlock's place, but I'll be at the hospital. ..Alright. Bye now."

Joan listens, smiling faintly, fondly, as Ted goes out of his way to be reassuring. It's definitely not always the healthiest of impulses, and Joan knows to not always take it at face value, but it's still borne of his need to take care of people, and she loves him all the more for it.

From the expression on his face Joan would guess everyone is okay, which is a relief. Ted talks about explaining tomorrow, and when he's off the phone she squeezes his hand slightly.

"Are they coming here?" she asks, meaning in her hospital room.

He shakes his hand a little, handing Sherlock back his phone. "At the club," he explains.

He doesn't want to put Joan through having that many visitors, who will no doubt be fussing and worried, while Ted tries to explain everything that's been going on. Besides, he thinks it might sound better coming from him alone. If any of them have any misgivings or questions they might not want to say in front of her.

"Beard's coming by though, and I'm sure everyone will want to visit," he adds. (Whether that's true will probably vary. Not everyone will want to intrude, since they don't know Joan that well, but Ted just assumes they'll want to.)

After a moment Sherlock will get a text from Beard, offering to pick up their phones, since he's already fetching other things.

"Okay," she says softly, tiredly, closing her eyes. "That's good." All things being equal she would have wanted to be there, but she definitely doesn't have the energy. She also doesn't know what state she'll be in tomorrow, and she doesn't want to alarm them.

Sherlock texts Beard back, asking him to stop by the hospital to pick up the key.

Ted looks at Joan sadly, his heart aching for her and the pain she's going through. He lifts her hand to give it a soft kiss, then just sits there slightly leaned against the hospital bed, stroking her hand with his thumb. He doesn't want to exhaust her with talking either, but he'll sit here and keep her company for as long as she needs.

Eventually Beard arrives, though he doesn't enter the room, not wanting to disturb, instead just texting Sherlock that he's outside the room. For now he's just brought them some coffee, water bottles, and some wrapped up food and snacks that they can eat whenever they need. He assumes their appetite won't be the strongest at the moment.

Joan drifts off, her chest gently rising and falling with each breath, the monitors beeping softly with each beat of her heart.

Sherlock steps out of the room to meet Beard, give him the key, and receive the supplies. He tells Beard exactly where the phones can be found.

Beard of course offers to pick up anything Sherlock might need. Especially given Sherlock is still dressed as a waiter, which Beard can only assume has something to do with the arrest of Rupert Mannion, though he doesn't ask.

Ted hadn't exactly eaten much at the gala, so he appreciates the supplies. He's so tired - not sleepy, and the tiredness isn't just in his body, but his entire being.

Eventually Beard returns, not just with the phones, but with various things Ted might need. He accurately predicts Ted will want to stay the night, so he's brought a change of clothes, some toiletries, his laptop and chargers, and even a blanket and pillow so the hospital room couch will be marginally more comfortable.

This time Ted does go out to greet him, since Joan is fast asleep, mostly so he can get a good hug from Beard. It's one he sorely needs.

Once Ted returns to the hospital room, he goes to check his phone - there's dozens of texts and missed calls, as expected. There's also a text from Michelle, and Ted sags with relief once he checks it and realizes she hasn't seen the news.

"I'm, uh, just going to make a call," he tells Sherlock quietly, before leaving the room again to phone Michelle.

When Ted goes out to meet Beard, Sherlock moves to sit next to Watson, so that someone will be there if she wakes up. When Ted says he needs to make a phone call, Sherlock merely nods, his eyes on his partner.

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