Hey, guys! This would be a little easier if you were reading my story "The Case of the Little White Flower" but it's not necessary.

Honestly something like this has been going through my head for quite a while now, which is a younger Roselock fic, which is why Callum is going to act a little differently than from how he acts in the Little White Flower. He's about 11 here and Rosie's about 13, and on top of that, puberty has started for our poor Callum Holmes and everything that comes with it. Though, I'm not going to lie, some of the stuff that I've written here was pretty fun to write! ;) So anyway this is kind of a companion story/prequel to "The Case of the Little White Flower" so I hope you enjoy!

I also want to mention as a side note, that I've started a playlist on my YouTube channel, NextGeneration19, for Rosie and Callum. It should be tilted Rosie/Callum, and I'm open to suggestions to add to it! Just nothing too sexual or with foul langue, please!

Alright, now on with the story!

The teen years had come two years early for Callum Holmes.

He couldn't help but realize it as he opened the front door to one of the local London schools.

It was almost to be expected, with his advanced intellect and way of thinking, but it still wasn't fun.

For one, it was getting harder and harder how to control how he felt about Rosie Watson. No, scratch that, he had never had any control whatsoever about how he felt about Rosie Watson. It was just getting that much harder to hide his feelings because guys left and right were asking her out and Callum had to remind himself that he was still only 11 compared to her being 13 years old and that she didn't see him that way. He just had to put up with the flirty stares, the catcalls and the occasional negative (read: positive), that she threw in response.

And on top of that, he was butting heads with his father.

Callum was two years ahead in the school system that he was in, but Sherlock knew that he was much further ahead and had brought it up on multiple occasions.

"I don't understand it, Callum." He had said to him just the day before, "You and I both know that you could be in your first year of high school right now, so why aren't you?"

Callum had just shrugged trying to brush it off, but his father wasn't known for just doing that.

"I know it's not for lack of motivation because you're bored out of your mind; your homework takes less than a half hour to do and your projects take less than 15 minutes if you don't need a steady hand. You're two years ahead of kids your age, but you're purposefully not advancing. Why? Are you afraid of children taller than you bothering you because of your advancement? Is 7th grade somehow safer for you?"

His mother who had been standing behind her husband all this time shot Callum a sympathetic smile and came up beside Sherlock.

"I think we both know why he doesn't want to ascend to any grades higher than Rosie." She took his hand, leaned her chin into his arm and gave him a knowing look.

Callum would've happily sunk into the floor and land in Mrs. Hudson's kitchen at that moment. How long had his mother known about his puppy love for Rosie? He knew he shouldn't have bought that cat for her birthday.

Sherlock gave Molly a quizzed look a millisecond before raising his eyebrows in realization.

"Oh, so you like sharing your classes with…Rosie?"

This was a nightmare; it wasn't really happening. He was going to wake up at any moment with two parents who were oblivious about the unrequited feelings he had for his best friend. He wanted to walk away and hide himself in his room, except that he felt rooted and put on the spot more than usual; by his own parents no less!

"Well, there is a spring dance coming up at the school," Molly smiled up at her husband.

"Okay, Mum can you please just shut..." He shut his mouth as his father shot him a look. Right. Don't talk to your mother like that. He reworded his sentence.

"What I meant to say, was that, uh…" Both his parents watched waiting for his response, except he didn't have one; how was he going to deny his feelings about Rosie to his father who was Sherlock Freakin' Holmes?

"Well, I've got to hand it to you, Molly; that was one deduction that I never made."

"You yourself say that you always miss something."

"Indeed; I still remember the time that I nearly missed out on the most important thing." He smiled down and kissed the top of her head while Molly giggled softly.

Okay.

Callum looked away. That was a little too much for him. He was glad that he had two parents who were madly in love with each other, but did they have to display so much PDA in front of their son? Callum could delete a lot of things from his memory, but the time he had walked in on his parents in the living room was unfortunately branded into his brain forever. Now, any hint of PDA from them brought back some traumatic graphic detail that would stay with him for the rest of his life.

He squeezed his eyes shut as he felt the beginning of a memory trigger forming in the back of his brain. He pressed a clenched fist to his forehead.

"So…"

He opened his eyes to see his parents staring at him. It was his father who was speaking.

"I know you want to stay in the same grade and go to school with Rosie, but that doesn't mean that you still can't jump ahead; you two spend all of your time after school together anyway.

"It will be different, but it's not as if you'll suddenly stop seeing her forever."

Callum had shrugged his shoulders in response to which his father raised an eyebrow. He didn't like shoulder shrugs or muttering as responses. "Proper communication" and all that.

Callum sighed.

"I know, but," He paused to resist a shoulder shrug, "I just want to see her all the time, okay?" He knew he was blushing, but he still had to honestly answer his questions.

"Besides, I…kinda…"

Sherlock raised an eyebrow.

"Kind of want to see the guys she's interested in. I know I won't be with her, so I want to see that she at least gets a good bloke." He cringed at the sappy truth of it and the fact that he had to say it at all.

His mother had placed a hand over her heart in endearment as she looked up at her husband with the smile that she usually gave when something absolutely melted her.

Great. Now he had become a Nicholas Sparks novel without even trying. Or an old 1 Direction song, whichever one was worse.

His father smiled at him looking almost proud.

"You can still do that and not have to be in the building you know."

"How?"

"If she's interested enough in them, she'll bring them home, where you can inspect him. I did that with all of your mother's dates, so I can show you what to look for."

Molly shoved him playfully.

"You did that with only two of them."

"That's all I needed. I'm not sure which was worse, Jim or Tom."

Callum rolled his eyes knowing that he was losing.

"I…guess I can jump ahead, but can I at least finish this year first?"

Sherlock looked at Molly who nodded.

"I don't see why he can't;" she said, "it won't take much for him to catch up to where he needs to be."

"Alright." Sherlock turned back to face Callum. "You heard your mother; you finish only this year, but the moment the next school year starts, you will be at your own level. The last thing we need is a bored kid with your intellect on our hands."

Callum brought himself back to the present as he opened his locker that held only the basic books he needed and a picture of Rosie on the inside door. He hated dancing usually, but if this was going to be his last year that he got to spend with Rosie in school, he wanted to at least get to go to a dance with her. Not as anything more than friends, Callum knew he couldn't ask for that. But at least he could try and make the most of it.

He closed the locker with his science book in one hand and a sketch pad in the other prepared to be bored out of his mind. Well, at least he would finish his work early and get to sketch a picture that he was working on for his mother's upcoming birthday.

"Callum!"

Callum turned around at the excited urgency in his friend's voice and found Rosie walking toward him. She looked like she was holding a secret and was about to spill it at any moment.

"Morning, Rosie." Her smile had always been contagious and he couldn't help but smile back.

"You look happy this morning." He said after hugging her.

"Yup." She pulled away, "You're a detective in training; you guess why."

Callum took a good look at her and noted the glow in her cheeks, the light in her chocolate brown eyes…and the flower in one of her hands.

"Did you just get asked out to the dance?" He resisted the urge to use a deadpan tone, but felt his smile disappear.

Rosie nodded excitedly.

"Mhm. By whom?" She smiled at him coyly.

"Jack Thomson." There was only one person who could make her smile like that these days. Class president, not to mention the headmaster's son. He was charismatic, handsome, and had a flawless record as far as Callum was concerned, a record he was planning on double checking now that he was going to the dance with Rosie.

"Good job; you are your father's son."

Callum forced a smile.

"So I've been told."

"So…" she linked arms with him as they walked down the hall together, "Now we have to find you a date. Anyone you're interested in?"

This was class A torture, making it harder to keep his cheery disposition.

"No one available."

"'No one available'? So there is someone. Kara Anderson?"

"What? No. Why on earth would you think that?"

"Well, I think she likes you; she says you have nice eyes."

"Only my eyes?"

"It was a hint."

"Rosie, she's the school mean girl. Besides, her father has the tendency to lower the IQ of the entire city of London with his assumptive language."

Rosie chuckled.

"What?"

"Only between you and me," she winked, "I kind of agree with you."

Just as Callum assumed, he was done with his work long before the other students, including Rosie herself who was sitting next to him like she usually did.

Callum took great pains using the charcoal pencel to copy the photo of his parents on their wedding day. He wanted it to be perfect. This was for his mother after all. He had started yesterday and was almost done. Give or take a couple more of classes and he would have worked out all the final details.

He looked up when he saw from the corner of his eye that Rosie was watching him.

"Can I see?" She whispered.

He smiled and showed her.

She smiled as she compared the sketch with the photo.

"That's almost an exact copy." She praised.

"Mr. Holmes and Ms. Watson."

Both kids looked up to see their teacher looking at him.

"Please get back to your studies or do I have to separate you two again?"

Rosie straightened.

"No, ma'am. And it was my fault. I only wanted to see how he was coming along with his drawing."

"Very well. Proceed, Ms. Watson."

"Yes, ma'am."

One look at Callum's papers told the teacher that he had finished. It was quite common for him to sketch while he waited for the next class and the teachers in the entire building knew it. just as long as he wasn't disruptive they didn't care.

"Want to come over to my flat?" Callum asked after school.

"Sure. I'd really like to see your mum."

Callum smiled. Molly was practically her mother as well as his anyway. An unfortunate event happened to Rosie's mom leaving her motherless, which Molly filled the empty space right away, being her godmother and all. Callum oftentimes forgot that his parents were her godparents. It was a weird, but a well working dynamic.

They took the bus to Baker Street and entered the apartment complex.

Callum took his keys out of his coat pocket and inserted one of them into the lock and opened the door. They turned the corner into the room and Callum stopped dead in tracks when he found his parents kissing in the kitchen.

"OH MY SKULL!"

Rosie looked away but giggled at his reaction.

Sherlock and Molly pulled away from each other when they heard their son's loud exclamation.

"Oh, Callum; you're home." Molly fixed her mussed up hair.

"How was school?" Sherlock asked sticking his hands in his jacket pocket.

"The same." Callum knew he looked as traumatized as he felt but didn't care.

"Hey, Aunt Molly." Rosie greeted breaking the ice by walking across the room to hug her.

"Ah, hello, Rosie; I haven't seen you a while." Molly pulled her in a tight hug rocking her back and forth, "How has my girl been?"

"Alright." Rosie pulled away, "I got asked to the school dance."

"Did you now?" Molly glanced at Callum impressed while Sherlock shot him a thumbs up.

Callum dully shook his head in response.

Sherlock looked surprised.

"No?" He mouthed.

"No." Callum mouthed back.

"Jack Thomson asked so I'll be going with him."

"The headmaster's son; that was nice of him." Molly shot Callum a sympathetic look.

All Callum could think of was grabbing a few of those chocolate biscuits cooling on the table, snatching Rosie and disappearing into his room for the next couple of hours to breeze through his homework and help her with hers until dinner. Preferably at her flat with her father who knew nothing about his infatuation with Rosie.

In fact, he was going to put his plan into action right now.

He walked into the kitchen and grabbed two plates from the cabinet and grabbed three biscuits for each plate as he listened to his mother and Rosie talking about something dealing with a dress.

"Missed your window, I see?" Sherlock muttered to him.

"Something like that." He really didn't want to talk about this right now.

"I thought that happened with your mother and I, but it was just delayed for a while."

He used all of his willpower to not shoot his father a look as he turned around with both plates in his hands.

"Ready for homework?" He did his best to smile in the awkward circumstances.

"Yeah, I guess I'm going to have to be. Can we go dress shopping later?" She asked Molly.

"Absolutely." Molly took both of Rosie's hands in hers and squeezed them.

"Thank you."

Callum handed her a plate as they headed to his room.

The moment the door was closed behind them he breathed a sigh of relief.

"That was awkward."

"You would hate it more if they fought all the time and you know it." Rosie sat crossed legged on the floor and started to nibble on her biscuit.

"Yes, but I also don't need to be reminded daily of how I came into being! 'Look, son, just in case you forgot, we're married!'" He threw his free hand up in the air as he set his plate down on his desk.

Rosie laughed.

"I guess that's true; I wouldn't know from experience." She set the plate on the floor and unzipped her backpack and took out her homework. "Are you okay though? You seem a little tense today."

"Tense? Why would I be tense?"

"I don't know; you just are." Rosie looked up. "Is there more going on than what I saw back there?"

He could tell her in part without telling the whole of it; that would throw her off his scent. He sighed and sat down on the floor across from her.

"Dad wants me to skip a few more grades."

Rosie nodded.

"I always thought you were capable of more than what you did at school. I always wondered why you just didn't go ahead and go to high school."

"Well…I wouldn't have any friends there."

"Who says?"

"My experience in this school. They don't want to becomes friends with me because I'm a couple of years younger. I can't imagine that going away if I were five years younger."

"Since when did you care about having friends, though? You've only had me."

"You've always been enough."

"But," Rosie reached over and took his hands into hers, "I don't have to be. Besides, you'll always have me; though I will miss sharing classes with you.

"But we can still see each other after school, like we're doing right now; we do it practically every day."

Callum smiled and squeezed her hands. Already they were becoming smaller as his were growing larger.

"I know; which is why I'm going to skip a few grades just as soon as I'm through with this year."

"See?" Rosie let his hand go and leaned back, "Your problem is solved. Was that all that was bothering you?"

"Oh, just some stuff."

"What kind of 'stuff'? Girl stuff?"

Callum cringed inwardly, not wanting to lie to her; it was the one thing he had vowed never to do to her.

He shrugged.

"Just some stuff."

Rosie looked at him thoughtfully for a few minutes.

"Alright." She picked up her pencil. "I'm here if you need me."

Callum smiled sadly.

"I know."

One of Rosie's character flaws was that she could be entirely oblivious, and that oblivion was the reason why she was blind to the fact that he was falling head over heels for her. But at the moment it was to his advantage.

The last thing he needed was for her to find out anyway.

So what do you think? Like it? Hate it? Please let me know by reviewing and commenting! But please no character bashing and/or foul language.