An Affair to Remember-Sherlock Fanfic

Christmas Eve

John watched the snow falling out of the window of the medical clinic as the last of the carolers left, and even though he couldn’t possibly hear their laughter, he could swear he heard them, high pitched, and joyous full of hope for the future. John smiled sadly for he didn’t know whether to envy or pity them. His pain was severe and John shifted his weight in the wheelchair in a futile effort to get comfortable. After a few moments of twisting, grimacing and grunting, John gave up and just sat back and waited for a medical transport van to take him home. As he was waiting the head nurse came up and bent down on one knee so that she was eye level with John. John knew the gesture was meant to make him feel at less of a disadvantage, but all it did was make him feel like a baby in a stroller.

“John, are you sure you don’t want to spend Christmas Eve with my husband and I?” The brown skinned nurse asked John. Her liquid brown eyes stared into John’s deep blue eyes and for a moment they absorbed his grief, then her expression shifted and her mind moved on to happier things-Christmas things.

John smiled at her attempt, “No, I’m good for a warm quiet night at home is what I have been looking forward to.”

The nurse nodded sadly for they both knew he was lying, as John smiled in assurance at her the nurse wavered for a moment or two and then with a gentle nod from John she bolted away from him, lest she become too immersed in his world of sadness, for no one wants to be reminded that his or her life could become tragically altered in a second. John watched her scurry past the window, through the falling snow, her figure briefly illuminate by the red tail lights of the medical transport van. A young man bounded in through the front doors, looked around for a few moments and then as soon as he spotted John he came trotting over.

“Are you waiting for the medical transport van?” He asked cheerfully.

John wanted to say, “No, I was just about to go bungee jumping.” Instead all he said was, “Yes, thank you.” Then like a helpless infant John let himself be wheeled up the ramp and into the van. The ride home made John feel like he was in a snow globe looking out, his own world a transparent imitation of the world he observed through the fogged over windows of the van. Soon the van was pulling up to the curb in front of his flat, another ride down the van ramp and another ride up the ramp to his flat, then after a few moments of John fumbling for his flat keys, the young man wheeled him inside. The flat was cold and John shivered as he rolled over and turned on the lights, a small Christmas Tree that his neighbor had put in the corner of the room, winked pathetically at John as he rolled over and switched on the multi-colored lights. John then let the young man settle him on the couch, and then he wheeled the chair on the other side of the couch, so that John could easily reach it, but so that he wouldn’t have to look at it.

The young man looked around, anxious to be off, “Well, sir is there anything else I can do for you?” He asked and John smiled at the impetuousness of youth, for he could see that the young man’s muscles quivered urging him to move on.

“I’m fine, thank you,” John said as he sat up straighter in his chair.

“Right then, Merry Christmas,” the young man said as he practically ran out of the dismal flat, leaving John to face the coldness of the flat alone.

John had just started to get warm when the doorbell rang. “Who the bloody hell could that be?” John thought angrily as he reached for the remote button that would unlock his door.  Not bothering to ask who it was John pressed the button, the click of the lock slid open as John called out, “Come in.”

John had assumed it was his good natured neighbor come to tuck him in like a child, but Jesus it wasn’t the neighbor; it was… it…was Sherlock.