The Child That Sherlock Loved

by sherotterlocked

John wasn't sure what he expected when he saw Sherlock again but this was definitely not it. It was a sight that was so absurd that it made him want to laugh and cry at the same time. Sherlock Holmes had just come back to life- with a child. Parentlock (Hamish) fic leading to eventual johnlock. T because I am paranoid.

1. The Child

So this was it then, the actual Sherlock Holmes. The man beneath the hat as the papers would say. He hadn't seen him for ten months. Ten months. Ten months of waiting for his best friend to return. And here he was, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, sitting in his chair with his new born baby on his lap, in floods of heartbroken tears.

He had said nothing, just knocked on the door and walked in. John knew nothing except that the child was definitely his child, anyone could see that the starting blue eyes and soft brown curls were inherited from his father. But the mother? No one knew. It was as if Sherlock had disappeared for ten months and then just come back in a cloud of grey sadness. It almost broke John's heart to see his friend like this, but there was nothing he could do, so he sat by the warm fire and listened to the endless crackles of sound it made.

John finally had to say something when Sherlock broke. The man just burst into tears and hugged the eerily silent baby as if it was a lifeline.

"Sherlock, please tell me what happened, where you where, what you... did." There was silence for a while. "Please, Sherlock."

Not looking up, Sherlock sobbed into his coat, his death randomly clenching his collar as if he was trying to hold back tears.

"I... I.. met a ... Woman... " He choked out. "She was amazing, brilliant, fantastic. She.. was... She was.. So I .. I went away for a few months... Where no one would find us... And.. We had a baby.."

It killed John to see the pain in Sherlock s eyes as he said the next bit. Especially as he could guess the answer.

"She... She died after childbirth... Of exhaustion.. She died holding him...She...She.. " Sherlock couldn't say anymore.

Never had John seen anyone as hurt as Sherlock that day and he never would. Sherlock had lost his soul mate, the one who made him happy, the one he loved.

"How did you decide to have a child in ten months, Sherlock?" John said after a while.

The man's sadness had now reached its extreme. There were no tears now, just a paralysed face contorted by pain. Somehow he spoke:

"I... met her three years ago.. Sometimes.. Sometimes they weren't cases I went on."

That was all. John could think of nothing to say so he got up and made some tea for Sherlock. Tea that he would never drink. It would go cold like the corpse of the only woman Sherlock would ever love.