Work Text:
The day after the bullet grazed his thigh, Watson noted that the wound was red and puffy and commented on it to Holmes.
Two days after, he sickened.
Within three days Watson was feverish, sweating and shivering equally. Holmes waited at his bedside, following the instructions given to him when Watson was conscious and reasonably lucid. He bathed the wound frequently, but it was progressing to a greyish violet in places, and blisters were forming. When he pointed this out to Watson the doctor paled further, and requested that he contact a surgeon.
On the fifth day Watson was in the Royal London Hospital. Although he was by now barely aware of his surroundsing, ether was administered until he dropped into a deeper unconsciousness. The bullet wound was debrided, taking with it the surrounding dead and infected purple tissue from skin and deep into the muscle. The rest of the leg was spared.
On the day of the trial Holmes rose early in the upstairs bedroom, collected his revolver and slipped away before Watson could emerge from the room that had once been Holmes’ but now saved him the extra stairs. As the forger was led before the bench, he gripped the cool handle inside his jacket and prepared, as he had promised, to repay Watson’s injury with a return bullet.