Sophia Holmes and His Last Vow (Sherlock's Daughter Fanfic)

Chapter Five - His Last Vow Part VI

The ambulance arrives six minutes later. I feel a paramedic wrap a shock-blanket around me, but their voices are distant when they talk to me. My focus is on dad as he's lifted onto a stretcher and wheeled out of the room. 

Unable to let him go out of my sight, I try to stand but stumble. The paramedic treating me catches me and supports me as I follow after the gurney. 

It seems to take an age before we're finally out of the building and into the back of the ambulance. John is standing over dad, speaking loudly. I don't know what he's saying, but he sounds worried. They hook him up to the heart-rate monitor as the ambulance speeds away. I'm vaguely aware that Bart's is only a few streets away, but the heart rate monitor is beeping slowly. He's not going to make it.

One of the paramedics treating him rips open his shirt as another places an oxygen mask over his face as they prepare the defibrillator. As they deliver the shock, dad's body convulses, but the heart rate remains slow. Before they have chance to do another one, the ambulance draws to a stop in front of Bart's, and he's rushed off away to theatre. 

"Come on, we can wait outside," John says gently, helping me down out of the back and leading me down the corridors. There's a window looking into the theatre, with a few chairs beneath and John takes a seat as I watch them prepare dad for surgery. John dials a number on his phone and puts it to his ear before starting to tell Mary what's happened. As if she doesn't already know. 

I take my own phone out, my finger hovering above mum's number. She deserves to know. I click it and type out the message, but before I can put my phone away, the alert sounds. 

On my way x

I smile to myself as I slide my phone back into my pocket and look back through the window. She would risk her personal safety, coming back to a city where she destroyed the lives of many high-profile people, in order to make sure we're okay. 

The smile quickly fades as the heart monitor goes from reading slow beeps, to flat-lining.

"John," I say, my voice tight, and he stands and turns to look in.

"Mary, I've got to go. I think we've lost him."

John puts his arm around me, and I watch as the surgeons try a few more chest compressions, counting the seconds. After six minutes, they decide it's enough, and I turn my head into John's shoulder and start to sob. I'm not ready to lose him again. 

"Sophie!" John says suddenly, and I look up, confused. He nods to the heart-rate monitor, and I see a single blip in the readings. He's alive! It blips again, and this time I see his hand twitch ever so slightly. It's slow, but it's a heartbeat! I pull John into a tight hug of relief and watch as everyone hurries back over to the operating table and continue working on him. The blips become more frequent, more regular over a matter of minutes until eventually he opens his eyes. 

Against all odds, he's cheated death. Again.

John and I look at each other in amazement, and I let out a loud cheer. The surgeon inside says something to one of the nurses, and the nurse comes out to speak to us.

"I'm relieved to say Mr Holmes has pulled through," he says, smiling as he takes in our reactions. "He's stabilising, he'll need to stay here for a few weeks so we can monitor him and keep him on a high dosage of morphine as his wound heals up. We've had to leave the bullet inside him, but he should heal up okay nevertheless. We'll transfer him to a private ward, and then you can go in and visit him, but I expect he'll be sleeping for a while." John and I nod our understanding, unable to keep the relieved grins off our faces. The nurse turns to go back in, then looks back. "Does the name 'Mary' mean anything to either of you?"

"That's my wife's name," John answers. "Why?"

"It's the first thing he said as he woke up," the nurse replies, then heads back into the theatre. 

John looks around to me, confused etched in his brow. "Why would he say Mary's name?"

"No idea," I lie, shaking my head. "Bit offended it wasn't me he was thinking of!"

John laughs. "Yeah, I'm sure it was nothing. He's high as a kite and would have been dreaming before he woke up. Could have been any number of reasons."

I smile my agreement. Or it could have just been one.