Fic: Kindness: Gen
Nov. 6th, 2022 03:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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holmes_minorTitle: Kindness
Rating: Gen
Length: 500
Summary: Lestrade does Watson a kindness after the deaths of Mary and Holmes
The bell on the front door jangled.
“I’m afraid I’m not…”
“Too busy to see an old friend?” said Inspector Lestrade with a wry smile as he lumbered in. I saw at once his arm was in a sling.
“You appear to have already had medical attention,” I noted, trying to keep my tone light.
“You should see the other fellow, who happens to be a ladder.” He looked about the empty surgery.
“Not keeping you from anything?”
“No,” I replied without elaboration. After the deaths of Mary and Holmes, my patients had abandoned me for a physician who keep more reliable hours, meaning one who kept hours at all.
“I’m interested in hiring you,” said Lestrade, “as paid companion if you won’t consider the title an insult.”
“Paid companion?” I echoed. “For you?”
“Yes, I had already booked a fortnight fishing expedition in a loch which is said to be brimming with fins, but alas, I need some assistance,” he made a gesture to the sling, “this being the good arm. I contacted the organiser, and they’ll allow a second party free of charge as my condition requires it.”
I stared at him, my mind whirring. There was nothing keeping me in London. Indeed, the metropolis seemed to be populated with nothing but painful memories and reminders of all I’d lost. I proved myself decidedly useless to my patients for so long that they’d left me for more professional professionals, and the opportunity to be useful, to be needed, even in such a banal way, was as attractive as the prospect of fresh fish for supper.
“I’ll be more than happy to help.”
“Wonderful! We leave in the morning. I’ll need some assistance packing. If you want to come round for supper, at my local, of course, then you can give me a hand, or two, with my things. My treat.”
“I’ll help you, of course, but I can’t impose...”
“This first reunion, let me oblige. Going forward….”
“Very well. I’ll ready my things today and close up shop, such that it is.”
When Lestrade had left, I did something I hadn’t done in a long time.
I cleaned my surgery. I organised my papers. Then I went back to my room and cleaned it. Both operations took some time as the layers of dust and neglect were thick, and apathetic chaos accustomed to reigning.
I went to the barber. I paid my astonished landlady in advance.
I joined Lestrade for pie and pints, and then helped him to pack his things.
The following morning, we were on a train traveling.
I kept my eyes on the changing landscape, and my heart grew lighter by the hour.
The host was genial. The cabin was rustic but serviceable, the boat equally so. There were cigars and stories and fish for supper.
At the end of the first day, after wiping tears of laughter from my cheeks, I said,
“Thank you, Lestrade, for your kindness.”
He smiled. “My pleasure, old friend.”
Rating: Gen
Length: 500
Summary: Lestrade does Watson a kindness after the deaths of Mary and Holmes
The bell on the front door jangled.
“I’m afraid I’m not…”
“Too busy to see an old friend?” said Inspector Lestrade with a wry smile as he lumbered in. I saw at once his arm was in a sling.
“You appear to have already had medical attention,” I noted, trying to keep my tone light.
“You should see the other fellow, who happens to be a ladder.” He looked about the empty surgery.
“Not keeping you from anything?”
“No,” I replied without elaboration. After the deaths of Mary and Holmes, my patients had abandoned me for a physician who keep more reliable hours, meaning one who kept hours at all.
“I’m interested in hiring you,” said Lestrade, “as paid companion if you won’t consider the title an insult.”
“Paid companion?” I echoed. “For you?”
“Yes, I had already booked a fortnight fishing expedition in a loch which is said to be brimming with fins, but alas, I need some assistance,” he made a gesture to the sling, “this being the good arm. I contacted the organiser, and they’ll allow a second party free of charge as my condition requires it.”
I stared at him, my mind whirring. There was nothing keeping me in London. Indeed, the metropolis seemed to be populated with nothing but painful memories and reminders of all I’d lost. I proved myself decidedly useless to my patients for so long that they’d left me for more professional professionals, and the opportunity to be useful, to be needed, even in such a banal way, was as attractive as the prospect of fresh fish for supper.
“I’ll be more than happy to help.”
“Wonderful! We leave in the morning. I’ll need some assistance packing. If you want to come round for supper, at my local, of course, then you can give me a hand, or two, with my things. My treat.”
“I’ll help you, of course, but I can’t impose...”
“This first reunion, let me oblige. Going forward….”
“Very well. I’ll ready my things today and close up shop, such that it is.”
When Lestrade had left, I did something I hadn’t done in a long time.
I cleaned my surgery. I organised my papers. Then I went back to my room and cleaned it. Both operations took some time as the layers of dust and neglect were thick, and apathetic chaos accustomed to reigning.
I went to the barber. I paid my astonished landlady in advance.
I joined Lestrade for pie and pints, and then helped him to pack his things.
The following morning, we were on a train traveling.
I kept my eyes on the changing landscape, and my heart grew lighter by the hour.
The host was genial. The cabin was rustic but serviceable, the boat equally so. There were cigars and stories and fish for supper.
At the end of the first day, after wiping tears of laughter from my cheeks, I said,
“Thank you, Lestrade, for your kindness.”
He smiled. “My pleasure, old friend.”
