221B Recs

Title: Raison d'être
Author: AmphigoricSymphony
Pairing: John/Mary, John/Sherlock
Length: 148,681 words
Rating: Mature
Warnings: None
Verse: Sherlock BBC
Author's summary: The missing months of His Last Vow, starting from Sherlock dropping in John's arms at 221B and carrying through the months of Hospital he endured. This is a study in emotional and physical trauma, striving to stick as close to the cannon plot as possible. At Christmas Dinner, Mycroft asks why they are even celebrating. His mother's answer, 'Sherlock is home from hospital,' leads us to believe Sherlock was in hospital the majority of the time frame of his fall from shock at Baker Street, to nearly Christmas itself. We have no explanation for what John was doing all that time, so this is an effort to fill the gap. Enjoy!

Reccer's comments: This is basically nearly 150K of angst-ridden, heavy-on-the-hurt sickfic. It picks up when Sherlock collapses following the meeting in 221B where he agrees to take Mary's case and leads into a grinding, never-ending series of complications, each one worse than the last. I honestly had no idea so many things could potentially go wrong with the human body (and mind). John isn't spared either, as he pushes himself far beyond his physical and mental limits in an effort to be there for Sherlock at the same time as his entire life has plunged off the deep end. If that kind of unhappiness, suffering, and graphic medical interventions gets your motor running (like it does mine), off you go, have fun. :)

But that's actually not the reason why I'm reccing this, because this goes way beyond being just a sickfic. The first distinguishing feature is all about Mary. This is the first fic I've read dealing with those missing months between when Sherlock gets shot and John's reunion with Mary at Christmas that actually got my head wrapped around how John could possibly consider forgiving - and reconciling with - Mary. We see John's genuine distress over what she's done crash head-on with his heart, which can't let go of her. Love is irrational, we learn, but that doesn't mean it should be dismissed. And at the same time, just because two people love each other doesn't mean they will have a happy ending, no matter how much they want or even deserve it.

( Excerpt... )

The second reason why this fic gets a special mention from me is the fantastically complex dynamic that is created between John and Sherlock. They are deeply in love with each other - and admit as much - but there isn't anything overtly sexual between them, even though they do become physically quite close and share a bed. (This might fall under the heading of infidelity, even though Mary doesn't seem bothered by it, in case that's something you'd rather not read.) They soon fall into - or perhaps were already in - a codependence that is somehow both comforting and troubling. They need each other to get better, but their fears, anxieties, and even physical well-being feed off each other, paradoxically making them both sicker the longer they are together. The depiction of their deterioration is really brilliantly done, as we see it from both inside (we are privy to both of their headspaces) and out (the reactions of their friends and physicians).

And the final reason I couldn't put this down is the subplot of what is going on with Mycroft, Magnussen... and possibly Moriarty. We don't get much more than a few teases, but it's clear that the authors have something deep and dastardly planned, including a very piquant hint at a past love interest of Mycroft's.

The ending of the fic is thus more of a pause, with a sequel underway. It ends in a good place, though, with both John and Sherlock more or less physically intact and in control of all their faculties, and a hopeful resolution to the personal matters that have been plaguing John.

Title: Getting Better Series
Author: LittlePippin
Pairing: John/Sherlock, background Lestrade/Molly
Length: 199,424 words
Rating: Teen
Warnings: None
Verse: Sherlock BBC
Author's summary: None provided for the series. Post-Reichenbach return, hurt/comfort with major injury and illness.

Reccer's comments: Oh, poor John. Poor Sherlock. The things they go through in this series. They are, respectively, shot and blown up, then endure seizures, endless vomiting, nausea, headaches, loss of bladder control, fainting, septicemia, and the flu. They are in and out of hospital so much it's a wonder they don't have a permanent reservation.

It's not just a lot of being sick, though. Each installment in the series has a unique and original case that needs to be solved, forcing the two detectives to keep up a punishing pace that pushes them to their mental and physical limits, and beyond.

And as if that weren't enough, there is their new relationship status to contend with. The series starts out with Sherlock's post-Reichenbach return, where the two are just friends, and moves slowly into a romance with deeper feelings. There is no explicit sex (see the rating), but that doesn't hinder the emotional and physical development of their relationship at all.

( Excerpt... )

The writing is no-nonsense, clear and straightforward and just a pleasure to read. The series caused me several bleary-eyed late-nighters as I devoured each installment in turn.

It actually reminds me in a lot of ways of magicbunni's fabulous Baker Street Series*, only with slash instead of gen. And more puking.

This series was originally posted on ff.net a while ago, but has now been copied over to AO3. The author is known as LittlePippin76 over there and has quite an extensive catalogue of Sherlock fics that haven't all been moved to AO3, including more sick!fic, so go check it out for more yummy hurt/comfort goodness!

*See my rec of magicbunni's series here.

Title: Vessel
Author: rhuia
Pairing: John/Sherlock
Length: 15,695 words
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: None
Verse: BBC Sherlock
Author's summary: That was the surprising bit – the way his doctor said it, eyes shining with sympathy but breathing it out, shifting it off her shoulders and thrusting it onto his, making him take it like an unwanted gift.

Reccer's comments: This is based on a prompt from the Kink Meme, but I very strongly encourage you not to read the prompt before reading the fic, as it will completely spoil it.

The premise of the story is that John finds out he has cancer. There are a lot of descriptions of medical procedures, including the effects of chemotherapy, so if this is a trigger or squick for you, then you may want to proceed with caution. It's really not all too graphic or gory, though.

There are two things I especially enjoyed about this story. The first one is how Sherlock and John deal with the diagnosis, and the subsequent treatment. Sherlock goes into investigative mode to cope, treating the cancer like a suspect in a case. This causes a split reaction in John: on the one hand, he feels that Sherlock is not being emotionally supportive, because he spends all of his time looking up articles and at the lab; but on the other hand, he begins to see how very deeply Sherlock cares about him. I felt that the author showed both of their internal emotional landscapes with great finesse and depth.

Excerpt:

Sherlock looked up at John and for a minute there was a terrible dry nothing in his eyes that John had only seen once before, at the pool, when Sherlock had looked across at him and they had both seen the jagged precipice they stood on.

And yet, John remembered, even then he had seen in Sherlock’s eyes not the fear of falling, but of how he would work it so he could catch John.

John knew if he had to see that dry nothing in Sherlock’s eyes again it would kill him before the cancer could, so he did the thing they were both least expecting: stepped in close, wrapped his arms around Sherlock and pulled the hurt, cold body against him.

Sherlock said stiffly, “Obviously I’m also investigating that aspect of things.  If someone would just –” but John, furious with himself, whispered, I’m sorry, you are, you do, I’m sorry, it’s all right, against the soft nap of Sherlock’s shirt and Sherlock went quiet, and his arms came up around John and held him back.

The other thing I liked about the story is the way in which the author brings in connections to multiple previous cases from the series. It is very cleverly done, and the clues are all there once you know what you are looking for, but of course you don't until afterwards.

I experienced grief, warm fuzzies, shock, and joy (pretty much in that order) through the course of reading this story. It delivers on all levels, emotionally and intellectually, and is just a really tightly-written, clever piece of fan fiction.