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John never thought he would see the day when he would wish for a case to end, especially when Sherlock would crash so spectacularly after them. The man could be annoying on his good days, but those black moods that would take him every so often actually scared John. Silence unnerved him ever since coming back from Afghanistan. It was the worse when the detective didn't talk for days despite what John did to bring him out of his mind. At the moment Sherlock was full of pain medication and resting in bed.
“Are you sure he won't mind?” Greg asked as he set down a box of Christmas decorations on the coffee table. Originally the detective inspector had called to ask John down to the pub, but the doctor hadn't wanted to leave Sherlock alone in his condition. He may have been released from hospital, but that had more to do with the young man driving the nurses away with hurtful comments than actually being ready to be home.
“He won't know until the medication wears off and he can deduce that you helped me with the decorations. Sherlock loathes helping with anything that could potentially interfere with his experiments, which leaves me to figure out the whole mess.” Greg laughed quietly as he shook his head.
“He's something else. How do you bloody put up with him?” John pulled out a string of fairy lights and untangled some ornaments that had gotten caught in the wiring. He could still remember their first Christmas together and how he discovered that the only decorations in 221B had been experimented on and thus were unusable. Honestly the things Sherlock did to everyday objects could be a bit frightening.
“Patience is a necessity, but even I can run low on it when Sherlock is in a mood. He changed my life Greg and I'll be forever grateful to him for that gift. He is an annoying dick on occasion, but there are moments when I know he sees me and it feels like his whole world is focused on me.”
“Sounds like you two have been married for years,” Greg snickered as he helped take ornaments out of the box. “But truth be told I envy you mate.” John and the inspector had been so focused on their discussion and the decorations that they didn't hear the shuffle of feet or Sherlock's hiss of pain as he tripped over himself.
“You might not want to use those fairy lights,” Sherlock slurred.. John gasped and dropped the little dalek ornament he had been showing Greg. It shattered the moment it hit the ground but was left forgotten as the doctor rushed over to the detective.
“You shouldn't be awake Sherlock,” John spoke calmly, clearly in doctor mode and trying not to show how concerned he was.
“High tolerance,” the detective shrugged. “Don't use those fairy lights.” Behind him John heard Greg drop the string of lights as if they could explode at any moment. Unfortunately it was possible.
“What did you do ?” John asked though he really didn't want to know.
“The wiring may be a bit off,” Sherlock began to sway so John grabbed his arm to steady him. He sighed and guided Sherlock back toward his bed.
“We'll just bin the lights then,” John called down the hallway to Greg. Best to be safe, especially where Sherlock and his experiments were involved.
“I didn't mean to upset you,” Sherlock mumbled while John helped him into bed. The doctor smiled and pulled the covers over the younger man.
“Greg and I will just pop down to the shops. Don't leave this bed until we come back.” The detective said something but John couldn't be sure what it was before Sherlock had fallen back to sleep.
“Rest well Sherlock,” John whispered.