Sherlock was sitting in the kitchen studying the bacteria in his microscope when he was suddenly surrounded by children and a kiss was pressed to his cheek.
He looked up from the microscope when he felt a tug on his jacket sleeve. Hamish was there hazel eyes bright and a jar in his hands.
"Yes Hamish?" Sherlock asked.
"Look what I caught at school today Papa!" Hamish replied holding the jar in front of Sherlock's face. Inside was a spider was trying to crawl up the clear sides
Sherlock smiled at the boy, "That's quite a catch, what do you plan on doing with it?"
"I want to observe its behavior in captivity. Can I keep it Papa?" Hamish asked eagerly. Before Sherlock could answer Alice popped up on his other side and tugged at his sleeve.
"Papa nooooo, don't let Hamish keep it! It's icky!" Alice pleaded her blue grey eyes wide.
Torn between his two children Sherlock looked up at John who was stifling a chuckle on the other side of the kitchen. Sherlock smirked slightly and John stared in horror once he realized what his partner was about to do.
"Why don't you ask daddy Hamish." Sherlock said with a mischievous glint in his eyes. Before Hamish could ask John if he could keep the spider, Alice ran over to him tugging on his shirt.
"Daddy, don't let Hamish keep it. He'll release it in our room and I don't want to find a spider in my room!"Alice begged, crocodile tears welling in her eyes. John saw straight through his little girl's act, the tears were produced to garner John's sympathy. They would've worked had she used them on Sherlock, but John had learned to steel his heart to these false tears.
"I'm sorry sweetheart, but it's only fair that Hamish is allowed to keep his spider since we let you keep those worms for your last experiment." Alice pouted, but John noticed the slight narrowing in her eyes. It was something he had seen Sherlock many a times, proof that the genius had a hand in raising the kids.
To prevent the oncoming sulk, John quickly added, "How about this Hamish keeps the spider in the lounge that way he can't release it in your room."
"Ok daddy!" Alice replied, perking up immediately with a smile. Sherlock gaped at John, still baffled at how well his partner could come to a decision that would make everyone happy.
Hamish walked out of the kitchen and flopped down on the couch staring at his spider. Alice followed her little brother out of the kitchen grabbed a book off one of the shelves and sat in John's chair reading.
John smiled at Sherlock's baffled expression and moved across the kitchen, wrapping an arm across Sherlock's shoulders.
"How?" Sherlock asked, wonder in his voice.
"How what?" John replied nonchalantly.
"How do you make a decision that makes the both of them happy?"
John rubbed Sherlock's arm as he answered, "I don't know, the answers just comes to me. Maybe it's experience from growing up with an older sister. I mostly ask myself what would Mum do?"
Sherlock nodded thoughtfully.
"Further evidence that my upbringing wasn't normal" Sherlock said after a pause. John pressed a kiss to Sherlock's temple.
"It's alright. You wouldn't be the man I love if you had grown up any other way." John replied.
Sherlock smiled and turned on his stool. He pulled John close to him and kissed him gently. John returned the kiss reveling in the stolen moment.
It was interrupted with a squeal from the lounge. They broke apart John resting his forehead against Sherlock's his eyes closed, hoping the squeal was his imagination. That hope was soon dashed.
"Daddy, Papa. Make Hamish get it out of my face!" Alice screamed.
John and Sherlock looked into the lounge to see Hamish pushing the jar into Alice's face. Alice was leaning away from Hamish, using her book as a shield.
"Hamish even I know it is impolite to make others look at our experiments when they don't want to." Sherlock admonished.
"Yes Papa" Hamish replied moving away from his sister.
"Very nice" John praised which made Sherlock smile.
"I learned from the best."