Fic: Lost for Words (Completed)

[awanderingbard.livejournal.com]

Title: Lost for Words
Characters: John, Sherlock (Main), Mycroft, Lestrade, Sarah, Mrs Hudson, Donovan, Mrs ('Mummy') Holmes, Violet Hunter (recurring)
Rating: R
Warnings/Triggers: swearing, blood, injuries, trauma, discussion of DNRs and of withdrawal of life support, deals with depression and PTSD, references to past drug use, features a character who cannot speak or move without difficulty, which some people may find upsetting.
Spoilers: Everything aired
Pairings: none, just epic friendship
Beta/Britpicker: My lovely ash ladies, aelfgyfu_mead and aeron_lanart. All remaining errors are mine.
Summary: Sherlock is assaulted by an unknown assailant while John is away at a medical conference, leaving him with a severe brain injury. While his intellect and personality are intact, he's lost the use of his right-side limbs and his ability to speak freely. John suddenly finds himself as the main source of support, and possibly a caregiver, to a flatmate who is struggling to do the things he loves most. And Sherlock Holmes has never been the best of patients.
Author's notes:
After some debate about where to put this, timeline wise, I've decided to place it after The Hounds of Baskerville, as an alternate ending to Series Two. I couldn't fit it in before The Reichenbach Fall and to place it after the Hiatus, when everything is back to normal for the boys, seemed very cruel. So in this AU, Reichenbach does not happen. There are several nods to it with the character beats and dialogue in this story, however, in hopes of ending up with similar character development at the end of it.

The story is completed posted, now. Links to all sixteen chapters can be found here. Each chapter links to the next, so you can read the story continuously by going to chapter one:

Lost for Words: CHAPTER ONE

You can also find the story at A03 and FF.net.