sherlockbbc_fic | Prompting Part XXXV

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Prompting Part XXXV

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Things continue steadily after that. Robbie goes about his day to day, bringing food to the patients, and, on occasion, chatting with Sherlock. It’s clear that Sherlock’s already fragile health is inexorably declining, but neither of them mentions it.
A couple of months pass and one day Robbie is bringing lunch to Sherlock who today does not acknowledge him. Robbie doesn’t think much of it, it’s happens from time to time and he doesn’t take it personally, but as he is leaving, Sherlock quietly calls his name. Robbie turns and stands by Sherlock’s bedside.
“Robbie,” Sherlock whispers “May I ask a significant favor of you?”
“Of course” Robbie says “anything you want.”
“I am an old man, and my health has been bad for some time, but I don’t believe that I’m going to make it through the night. I understand that it is a lot to ask, but I don’t want to die alone. Will you sit and wait with me tonight?”
Robbie is taken aback and at a loss for words, but he nods dumbly and Sherlock looks grateful and relived. In his time at the home, Robbie has discovered that when a resident says it is their time, they are usually right, and so he goes about his tasks with a heavy heart.
That evening when his shift has ended, he returns to Sherlock’s room to find him sitting. as always, in his bed staring out the window.
“Thank you” Sherlock says quietly. “I was wondering if you’d be willing to read to me from his blog? Some of the earlier entries I should think, so that I may remember a happier time”
And so Robbie does. He reads to Sherlock well into the night, but finally pauses to take a sip of his coffee and sees that Sherlock has drifted off to sleep. Robbie promised that he would stay, so after a quick trip to the toilet, he settles back in the chair and continues silently reading through the blog entries one by one. Eventually, Robbie dozes off. He is awoken sometime later by a hoarse, panicked whisper.
“John? Is that you John?” Robbie opens his eyes to see Sherlock watching him with half-focused eyes. After a moment of indecision, Robbie answers “Yes, Sherlock.” and impulsively reaches up to take his hand. Sherlock stares at their John hands for a long moment before looking back at Robbie.
“John – I “ and for a moment, Robbie is worried that Sherlock is going to start raving again, but he just sighs and says “I missed you terribly. It’s been so hard here without you. I can’t stand it.” and he continues on like that for awhile; rambling at length about the tragedy of his life after John’s disappearance, but every once in awhile touching on some fond memory of their too brief time together. Throughout his ramblings, Sherlock dips in an out of coherency, but it’s clear that he’s always talking to John. After an indeterminable amount of time, Sherlock swerves into permanent incoherency mumbling his slurred thoughts and scattered memories. He drifts off again from there, and Robbie is soon to follow.
When Robbie wakes in the morning, the hand in his is cold and lax, and he takes a deep breath and wills himself not to cry.

Sherlock had no living family or friends, so the nursing home arranges a small memorial service. It’s sparsely attended and Robbie wonders if he’s the only one here who’d ever even spoken to Sherlock. Robbie has a moment of rage over the paltry event: Sherlock had deserved so much more than this.
With the exception of one woman a few years older than him, Robbie recognizes everyone there as either a patient or staff from the home. She’s staring silently at the photographs that the staff had arranged for the event. Most of the pictures depict Sherlock weathered and unsmiling, but there’s one photograph of Sherlock standing next to a short blond man who Robbie realizes must be John because they both look so blindingly happy that it brings tears to Robbie’s eyes. This is the photograph the woman is staring at. He takes a deep breath an approaches the her.
“Did you know him?” he says.
The woman looks briefly startled, but then composes herself and replies “Not really. He used to steal body parts and conduct experiments in the morgue where my mother worked. I wasn’t there often, a morgue really isn’t the kind of place for a kid so I only met him a couple of times.”
“Was John ever with him?” Robbie asks
“Once.” She says slowly “The first time. I remember Sherlock being happy and a little odd but friendly. He showed me the experiment he was working on and explained it to me, and John said something, I don’t remember what, but I remember Sherlock laughing and just looking at John like he was his whole world. Sometime after that, John disappeared and it was like Sherlock was a whole different person. He was cold and closed off and I remember being quite afraid of him.”
“But they’re together now, at least.” Robbie says
The woman looks uncomfortable for a moment “Oh, well, I don’t believe in-“
“They have to be!” Robbie interrupts, suddenly quite convinced of this “That can’t just be the end. It can’t just be the unanswered question where they never see each other again. They have to be together now. And before he died– They just– There’s no other way it makes sense.”
The woman stares at him for a long moment, and then as if humoring a child replies “I suppose you’re right.”

My thoughts exactly.

;________________;... My heart is broken now.
I really hoped they would possibly learn what happened to John back then. So saaaaad! :'(

An yet, the most important case in Sherlock's life remains unsolved. =(

Was John in a bad place for years or died shortly/immediately after his disappearance? Who's responsible for it? It feels awful not to know. I'd be so grateful for some sort of an epilogue.

I really enjoyed reading this tragic story! Thank you so much for sharing. I'd love to know if you're going to post it on AO3.

Thank you! I'm not sure if I'm planning on an epilogue, but I've been toying the the idea of an alternate ending of sorts that takes place way before the main body of the story in which John comes back, but we'll see. I'll definitely post a link if it goes up on AO3.

Such a devastating ending. Poor Robbie really wants to believe, doesn't he?..

SA

I really love this brilliant, well-written story! <\3

oops, meant to write "joined hands" not John hands this needs some major editing. My bad.

Me too, Robbie

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