Mrs. Hudson does magic too
(Part 8 of Little Sherlock)
John and William were on their way home from an afternoon walk. William enjoyed these walks. He loved to meet people and animals, liked to touch trees and collect stones. On that point he definitely was a smaller version of his flat mate and he behaved like every other child. He was a very curious child and John took him out as often as he could, to show William his London.
As the sky got darker and the announced rain started they finished their round through the park quickly with a short cut and headed home. They didn't want to get wet or, better, wetter than they would be if they took the usual route home. William jumped into the growing puddles and enjoys the splashing of the water. He was wearing wellies and John didn't mind the child getting a bit dirty. He was a child after all. They could have a bath at home and clothes could be washed. He really wondered why parents were always insisting on their children staying clean.
William headed for the next puddle but slipped and fell down. John ran to him and hoped he wasn't hurt or starting to cry. He still couldn't handle that part of Sherlock's temporary personality. "Did you hurt yourself, William?" John helped William up and checked him over with his doctor's eyes. A few scratches on his hands from stopping his fall and it looked as if his right knee was bleeding under the fabric of his trousers. But the child didn't answer or cry or react in any way to John's question. Instead a fear John couldn't understand appeared in William's eyes. "William, does it hurt?" The child turned a bit and walked away from John to his plush toy that the doctor hadn't taken stock of until now.
William's shaking hands reached for the stuffed bee and as he looked at it he finally started to cry. "William, nothing happened, we can fix everything. Is Mr. Bee hurt? Does he need a doctor? I'm a doctor. I can help him." John knew that he was rambling but William's tears had to stop. He couldn't take it when the child was unhappy or sad.
"Please don't take him away from me." John looked down at the bee in William's hand.
"Why should I take him away? If he is hurt I will make it better and you can stay with him the whole time the treatment is done. You can hold his hand while I make him better so that so Mr. Bee isn't lonely."
"No, I know you will take him away from me now because he is dirty and I didn't take care of him." William sniffed." Mummy says that when I'm not able to mind my toys they will be taken away. And getting them dirty is not minding." Another sniff. "But I didn't mean to let him fall. I'm sorry. Please don't take him away from me; he is my friend." Sensing the problem, John lifted William and carried him.
"William, listen to me. I will not take your friend away. He is yours and I will never take him, not as a means of punishment or when he falls to the ground or any other reason I can't think of right now. Mr. Bee stays with you and you both stay with me. Understand?" William who had tightened his grip on Mr. Bee and held his friend close to his chest started to listen. John was nice and he would never lie to him.
"But Mr. Bee is dirty. How can we fix him again?" Good question. John did not have a lot of experience in cleaning stuffed toys, especially old ones. He didn't want to damage the loved toy any more than necessary.
"We will ask Mrs. Hudson. She is really good at this kind of things. Maybe she even has a bit of the chocolate cake you like left." John tried to sound positive but the brown muddy spot on the brilliant yellow didn't look too good. He hoped the toy was not ruined beyond repair and that William's fear that it could be taken away because the bee was dirty could be made to vanish.
"Don't want any cake. I want Mr. Bee to stay forever." William grumbled into John's chest without looking up. They arrived at Baker Street a few minutes later and John let them in with the key. Handling William in one hand he opened the door with the other hand. He walked straight to Mrs. Hudson's door and knocked.
She opened the door and saw John with a really upset William in his arms. "Hello dears. What happened? Come in. I will make us some tea and I think I have still some of that cake for you William." She let them in and after John offered to help and got rejected, he sat with William in his lap at the kitchen table.
Mrs. Hudson placed tea and cake on the table. "What can I do for you?"
John tried to get William to look up or to move at all and to show her the bee but the child wouldn't move from John's chest, fearing someone could take his precious toy away. John sighed. "We had a little accident on our way home and now Mr. Bee needs a good wash. But we don't know how we can get him really clean again." He was talking more to William than to Mrs. Hudson but she understood.
"Oh dear. Good that I can do a bit of magic myself." She winked at John before William's head shot up and looked at her with huge eyes.
"You can fix Mr. Bee so that he doesn't get taken away from me?" Mrs. Hudson smiled at him.
"Of course my dear. I am an expert at making things clean again. Who do you thing cleans your flat upstairs… well let's say makes it less life threatening?" She smiled and stretched out her hand so William could give her his bee.
"You really won't throw him away, right?"
"No darling. I will make him as good as new. Like the person who fixed him before. The wing for example." William looked down at Mr. Bee who was still safe in his arms. After another minute of thinking he gave the bee to Mrs. Hudson, who had a close look at the work she had to do.
"My brother fixed him. So he wouldn't look damaged. Mycroft is good at fixing things." William told her proudly. John couldn't imagine Mycroft fixing the toy. Not that the man wouldn't do everything for his little brother but the whole needle and sewing thing wasn't something John could create a picture of in his head.
Mrs. Hudson was working on the toy with some cleaning liquid and a brush while William was watching her closely. Not trusting her 100% that she would not get rid of the bee. It took a few minutes and a quick wash under the water in the sink but when she turned around and presented the bee to William again. It looked better than it had before the whole accident. No mud, no other spots of food, paint or other things that had come into contact with the toy.
"He is clean again." William shouted and jumped up from John's lap. "Thank you. Thank you. Thank you." He hugged Mrs. Hudson's legs. "Thank you for fixing Mr. Bee, Mrs. Hudson."
"My dear boy, you are very welcome. You need to let him dry though before you two can have another adventure but I am sure that while you eat a piece of cake Mr. Bee will have enough time to get dry and ready."
She lifts the boy up onto her lap after she had placed the bee next to them. William held one of Mr. Bee's thin arms while with the other he ate the chocolate cake. Smiling and happy again.