trashchildren | For Joan

"Hey, so.. I'm not sure how everyone's gonna be taking it, especially Rebecca and Higgins, so will you make sure they're alright for me?" he asks softly. He's sure they're putting on brave faces of support for Ted, not to mention that it's going to take a little bit to process it fully.

He knows he's not in the best position to look after them right now, not just because he won't be present most of the time, but he needs to focus on Joan, and he himself has been through a lot lately.

"I'll keep an eye on them, don't worry," Beard responds just as softly. He figures Ted wants to balance his concern for the effect this is having on his friends with his need to rest and recuperate with Joan, and Beard is happy to assist. "Take care of yourself. And take care of Joan."

"I will," Ted promises. He gives Beard another hug, before he gets into the cab and asks the driver to head back to the hospital. He sends both Sherlock and Joan a text letting them know he's on his way back.

Joan still doesn't have her phone, but Ted gets a text back from Sherlock.

Thnx

When Ted gets back to Joan's hospital room, he finds her being examined by a doctor. He's testing her eyes with a penlight, then having her follow his finger. Sherlock is sitting on the couch, looking on. He hears the sound of Ted's crutches coming down the hall, and looks to the door as the man arrives. He nods in greeting, then turns back to watching the doctor examine Watson.

Ted smiles in greeting but doesn't say anything, instead just sitting down on the couch next to Sherlock. He gives Joan a little wave when she notices him, but he's waiting till the doctor's finished to, not wanting to interrupt.

He's also... a little nervous whenever Joan is being examined. Like they'll discover some dire aftereffects of the poison or something. He doesn't really know much about it to know what could be possible.

Joan notices him and smiles, then turns her attention back to the doctor. He has her squeeze his fingers, then hold out her arms and stop him from pushing up and down on them. She's not able to, and her arms are trembling. He has her touch her nose and then his finger as he moves it side to side, then up and down. Joan frowns in consternation as she's unable to accomplish the task, her hands shaking.

"Miss Watson," the doctor begins as he writes on her chart, but Joan finishes for him.

"Bilateral strength deficit and substandard fine motor control." She gives the doctor a wry smile when he looks up in surprise. "I used to be a doctor," she tells him.

"Oh. Well. On the plus side, your cognitive skills don't appear to be affected, although you might experience things like mild aphasia. And you will probably recover your strength and fine motor skills. But you're likely going to need help at home for a while."

Ted frowns with worry, watching her. He didn't know she was that weak, and it hurts his heart to watch. He's relieved when he says her brain doesn't seem affected, and that she'll probably get better over time. He imagines if it had messed properly with her head, that would've been the worst for her.

"That's alright, doc, we can help with that," he speaks up. They haven't really spoken about what they're doing after this, but Ted has every intention of spending as much time as possible with Joan, probably as much as he can before she gets annoyed at him hanging around all the time.

Both the doctor and Joan look over at Ted, Joan giving him a small yet grateful smile. Sherlock glances at Ted, noting the "we" in his statement. There are a number of implications to that that they will need to discuss...but he's not entirely adverse to those implications.

"Yes, well, that is good." The doctor is clearly trying to suss out exactly who these two men are who are going to be taking care of Joan, but in the end he gives up. As long as they're going to help take care of her, what does it matter? "I will have the nurse talk you through the discharge instructions," he says to all three of them.

Ted nods, and as the doctor seems to be finished with the important stuff, he gets to his feet and limps to Joan's side, to give her a hello kiss and sit down next to her. Just on the edge of the bed though, not getting in properly.

She kisses him back, then leans against him, resting her head on his shoulder.

"All right," the doctor says, backing toward the door. "I will let the nurse know I approve your discharge. It might take a little while, but they should be in sometime in the next couple hours." He nods to Joan. "Nice to meet you. Good luck."

With that he leaves the room.

Joan sighs, closing her eyes, just enjoying his closeness.

Ted wraps his arm around her, leaning against her too, and lets her just sit there in silence for a moment.

"How you doing?" he asks softly, giving her shoulders a gentle squeeze.

"All right," she answers softly. "Tired. Ready to get out of here." She frowns faintly. "Not sure what's going to happen when I do."

Sherlock rises and approaches the bed.

"Whatever you need, Watson," he says. "Perhaps you can stay with Ted. Or perhaps Ted can stay with us."

"Oh, I don't mind staying with you guys," Ted says immediately when Sherlock suggests it. "I don't have an extra bed, so if you want both of us around, that's probably easiest. Plus, I can't be running around all the time anyway."

Joan can't help but smile, feeling so warm and so very loved. But she does have to make one objection.

"I'm not sure you want to live at 221B," she says to Ted. "We frequently have things around that are related to cases. Things you might not want to randomly find."

More than once those things have included severed body parts.

"Oh. Well, what do you suggest then?" he asks, looking between the two of them. He just knows he wants to be close to Joan, and he's willing to work around stuff. He's fine with staying at his place, of course, he just assumed Sherlock would want to be on hand as well.

Having Sherlock around is important, but Joan just doesn't want Ted to be traumatized by their work, which is unavoidable at 221B.

"You could move into 221A," Sherlock suggests. "My father owns it as well, and it's been vacant for some time now. It's close enough where I can be there as often as you need me without concerns over Ted being over-exposed to our work."

"That could work," Joan says. She looks at Ted. "What do you think?"

Ted blinks. Of course they just own the neighboring apartment. He shouldn't even be surprised.

"I mean, sure, yeah!" Ted agrees happily. "Best of both worlds. After we get you home, I can stop by my place, grab a few things, and then head back up."

He's already got a couple of things he needs right here in the bag from Beard.

"I shall have it prepared for your arrival," Sherlock says, pulling out his phone. He looks up a number as he heads out into the hall.

With Sherlock gone, Joan gives Ted another soft kiss. "How did it go at the club?"

Ted sighs. "Alright, I guess," he answers. He still feels kind of anxious about it, worried about his friends, and... worried about everything, honestly. The whole thing's emotionally exhausting. Even physically exhausting to a certain point. "They all send their love though."

"That's nice of them," she says with a smile. "They're really a great group of people."

She can hear the exhaustion in his voice. She kisses his cheek, then carefully moves over so he has room to climb into bed with her.

Ted gratefully climbs in next to her, cuddling up against her.

"They all took it pretty well, all things considered," he says. "Roy even gave me a hug," he adds with a soft smile.

Joan snuggles up against him as well with a sigh. The news about Roy surprises her, and she laughs a little. "Are the four horsemen of the apocalypse showing up sometime soon?"

"Right?" Ted agrees with a chuckle. "I'm gonna stop by there tomorrow as well, tell the team before they hear too much in the news."

He still hasn't checked the news, so who knows what's out there.

"That's a good idea." Joan hasn't checked the news either, and doesn't plan to anytime soon. She knows at some point they're going to have to help work toward making sure Rupert is behind bars for the rest of his life, but until then her focus is just on the both of them getting better.

"Everything is going to be okay," she murmurs, reassuring both him and herself.

Ted nods in agreement, kissing the top of her head, then takes her hand and laces their fingers together.

He's still so worried about Joan, but he tries to focus all that worry just into looking after her.

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