Hidden Depths

Fanfiction
Title:	Hidden Depths
Author(s):	Susannah Shepherd
Date(s):	2002
Length:	7165 words
Genre(s):	slash, hurt/comfort
Fandom(s):	Sherlock Holmes
Relationship(s):
External Links:	on AO3
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Hidden Depths is a Holmes/Watson story by Susannah Shepherd.

Summary

Watson inadvertently lets slip that his war injuries are far more extensive and crippling than he has formerly admitted. Holmes encourages him to confront his fears and find new hope. (Author's summary)

Author's Comments

This story was written in response to a challenge put forward by Cress on the Holmesslash list to write a hurt/comfort story, based on the premise that Watson's war wound was not where he claimed.

The challenge was:

First, remember that Watson first says his wound is in the shoulder, then in a later story says it's his leg? One Sherlockian theory is that Watson was actually wounded midway between, in his groin, rendering him sterile and/or sexually dysfunctional. Thus he's so embarrassed he'll make up any lie to avoid telling the public the truth, and it explains why Watson never mentions having children with his wife (or wives).

So the challenge:

A hurt/comfort tale

The above theory is true; Watson has been wounded sexually. He feels he is not a whole man any more and is privately ashamed. In an unguarded moment, he torturously confesses the truth to Holmes, along with his feeling of being like "half a man". He's also frustrated and jealous of Holmes, who is whole, but chooses not to have any women in his life.

Holmes (in love or not) decides to cheer Watson up and combat his insecurities by showing Watson that he is still desirable and can still have pleasure despite his injuries. Guess how he does it? Yep, straight to bed...

Recs and Reviews

I was a small child when my fascination for S. Holmes story´s began. It never stopped, only is sleeping sometimes. With Holmes/Watson is no difficult to see them as lovers.

Now I want to rec a fic, which I think is one of the best ever written in this fandom. Watson is hurting, big time. He suffer from an old war wound and don´t feel like a male anymore. But Holmes will do everything that Watson isn´t hurting anymore. You see a side in Holmes, you don´t read often in the original storys (its´more in the background). A loving, caring person with a big heart, who puts his need beyond this of his friend. Susannah descried Holmes so "in character" that I see him before me.

Ah. and browie-points for ultra hot sex scenes! (and this is a big compliment out of my mouth. Because mostly I don´t like to read sex scenes.).

I read this story back when I was discovering Holmes/Watson fanfiction and was struck by the mix of delicacy and realism on the author's part. They did a wonderful job with voices and tone, notably at the beginning: that Holmes discovers the true nature of Watson's wound not through deducing, but because of ill-applied levity and sarcasm felt very much in character. The author's choice to show Watson as entirely straight makes his trust in Holmes, along with his decision to test his own limits by letting Holmes accede that most intimate secret, all the more...touching, indeed. The reader will find no Healing Cock trope here, no miraculous conversion, merely an open ending - all judicious choices to me. The bittersweet, yet profoundly tender atmosphere of the whole piece gives it a very special charm and makes it one of my favourite h/c fics.

(An excellent slashfic based around Watson's war wound is Susannah Shepherd's Hidden Depths.)

...I've even seen the most unlikely candidate, medical terminology, work in a Sherlock Holmes slashfic by Susannah Shepherd where the narrator was the medical doctor, Watson.