An Affair to Remember-Sherlock Fanfic

Rear Window

Sherlock struggled to keep his balance as he lifted John from his wheelchair to a deck recliner. “John, I think you’ve put on a few,” Sherlock said as he flopped down on a recliner beside John’s.

John laughed as Sherlock took his hand and kissed it. Though Sherlock had meant to let go of John’s hand after the brief kiss he clung as tightly to it as he did the vision of John leaning back in the recliner and for a moment it seemed as if John had not been injured. He was just a man holding his husband’s hand on a pleasure cruise. John felt relaxed, relatively free of pain and as the sun shone on his face he closed his eyes. The last thing John heard before he fell asleep was the chattering of happy passengers and the sound of the ocean as it swirled around the ship’s hull.

Sherlock lay back and held John’s hand until it became heavy with sleep and dropped out of his grasp, dangling limply towards the deck.  Then for the rest of the morning and into mid-afternoon Sherlock watched John sleep until the light shifted to the other side of the ship leaving them both in semi darkness. Sherlock shivered now that the warmth of the sun had left them but not for a moment did he leave John’s side. Motioning for a ship employee Sherlock asked for a blanket for he could tell John was cold from the way he laid curled up in a ball.

A few moments later Sherlock gently laid the heated blanket over John and smiled when he saw chill bumps come up on John’s arms. “That feels so good,” John murmured as he slowly opened his eyes.  The sun was just beginning to set and John pulled the blanket under his chin as he looked over at Sherlock, “Sherlock, I’ve slept the whole day away. You didn’t stay here the whole time did you?” When Sherlock didn’t answer John sighed, “Sherlock, you must be hungry and most likely have to go to the loo by now.”

Sherlock looked over at John, his breath catching in his throat and his voice crackling from disuse, “I’m not hungry, but I do have to pee.”

John yawned and stretched, “Me too.”

After loading John into the wheelchair Sherlock pushed him back to their cabin, pausing outside the ballroom where couples danced hand in hand and he couldn’t help but remember when he and John had danced in each other’s arms on the last cruise they had taken.

John pulled at Sherlock’s sleeve, “Sherlock, why don’t you go dancing? I know how you love it so.”

Sherlock smiled down at John and said, “Dancing’s boring.”

John smiled up at Sherlock sadly for they both knew he was lying. “Sherlock loved to dance, loved to run, loved to play,” John thought, “And he’s stuck with a cripple.”

As if sensing John’s thoughts Sherlock laid a warm hand on the back of John’s neck, “There is no music, without you John, therefore there is no dancing.”

Once they were back in their cabin and had both peed like racehorses, they ordered room service. While they were waiting for their food Sherlock looked over at John with a troubled frown, “John, I think I may have to go undercover, for everyone knows who we are, so I doubt whether our criminal will show his or her face. I’ve ran it by our client and he thinks it is a marvelous idea. However, it would mean that you would be alone in the cabin, for I would have to bunk with the crew.”

John looked quizzically at Sherlock and said, “Sherlock, do what you must, this cabin is geared towards the handicapped, I’ll be lonely but quite comfortable.”

“John, don’t refer to yourself as handicapped,” Sherlock snapped.

John rolled his eyes for they had argued about this before, “Okay, fine, I have mobility issues. Let’s not fight, okay?”

Sherlock was coiled and ready for a fight but when he looked into John’s face, his sweet face, Sherlock’s anger melted away.  “I’m just not comfortable leaving you alone with a killer on the loose.”

“It will be fine Sherlock; I’ll be like Jimmy Stewart in, ‘Rear Window’.” John said jauntily.

Sherlock frowned, “What is ‘Rear Window’, some kind of sex act?” Sherlock asked hopefully.

John laughed until the tears rolled down his face, “No, it’s a movie about a guy who is stuck in a wheelchair and he witnesses a murder. It’s a famous movie by Alfred Hitchcock.”

Sherlock glanced at John, “Who? I must say John that if you’re feeling aroused just tell me enough with the metaphors, ‘Rear Window’, Hitchcock, etc.”

John sighed and said, “Aww, Sherlock what am I going to do with you?”

Sherlock grinned back. “Let’s ponder the ‘Rear Window’ aspect,” He said in that low dulcet toned voice that drove John crazy.