Ellie's Series (sequel to Birth)
Holmes and Watson have a daughter, Ellie. Each chapter is a single picture of every day life with little Ellie, each one is a separate story.
At the end of May, London was experiencing an extraordinary hot climate and those few rich people who could leave had already departed for their country house to find some comfort. We were not so lucky. To be more precise, Mycroft had offered me and Holmes and little Ellie to spent some days in his own countryside home, but we had to refuse the offer because we both were very busy. He would had taken Ellie with him alone but when we asked her if she wanted to, once she understood me and Holmes would not had come with her, she started crying and no one could make her change her mind. So now I was spending most of the nights awake, because sleeping was impossible: not because of the weather, in fact nights were nice, but because Ellie had developed the habit of sleeping with me; actually, that was not a problem: in fact I was proud that she had chosen me instead of Holmes to sleep with. I think she did because, between the two of us, I was the one with a more regular schedule, while Holmes sometimes went away in the middle of the night leaving her alone; that times, he had to carry her to my room with the risk of waking her and if she did, I had to calm her for quite some time before we could finally go back to sleep. Me and Holmes discussed about it and decided to talk to her and to let her choose; it took a while, because, of course, she wanted both of us with her, but at the end she said she would had slept with me but added that she loved her daddy (Holmes) soooo much, so please he did not have to feel sad.
Despite the nature of our relationship, sleeping together had never been a necessity for me and Holmes. We knew each other so well that we understood that sleeping or not sleeping in the same bed would not make any difference, because our bond was solid and, plus, it was blessed by our little Miracle, Ellie, so we maintained our privacy and our old rooms. It was more convenient also, because that way, if one of us had to leave earlier, he would not had disturbed the other.
At that time, Ellie was only three years old and nothing but sweet and joyful, a little cute bundle with curly blond hair and blue eyes that I would love to hold and caress all day if I could; at night she used to cling to me like I was his giant teddy bear to hold on to and generally I found that very comforting. You can imagine what it means, after a long day in a city where people were hurrying all day, too busy with their own business to even notice the variety of different features of nature in the ocean of humanity they were swimming in, to come home and find the most beautiful girl in the world waiting for you, watching you with bright eyes, begging for you to hold her; to hear her laughing; to watch her little face becoming so serious when she pretends to understand what you're saying; to feel her little arms around your shoulder when you hug her, her only desire to be close to you because she had missed you all day. I miss her too, everyday. I enjoyed these everyday moments with my daughter with all my heart. Of course, she had another daddy and she loved him very much, as much as she loved me, but when she wanted something that she should not have normally, she came to me, not to Holmes, because she knew I had a soft spot for her and when she looked at me in a certain way, I could not deny anything to her. Of course, I did not let her do everything she wanted, that's why when I did not agree with her desires she always returned to Holmes to cry in his arms.
That evening I came home and she was with her father, sat on the chair in front of him, pretending to read a scientific book about Bugs' Life, only she was holding it on reverse. Holmes was busy too, pretending to read some articles on the newspaper, but clearly watching his child making funny faces trying to imitate him; when I entered the room, Ellie dropped the book to the floor and run towards me, I barely had time to put down my bag and catch her in my arms. I kissed her and she kissed me in return, almost purring, then put her little hands on my face, making a distressed face. I was actually hot because of the weather and the atmosphere in our apartment was suffocating. Still holding Ellie, I went to the window and opened it. Then I put her down on the couch and checked her to see if she was alright, I actually made sure she did not have a temperature using the non-scientific old method of putting my big hand on her forehead, finding her fresh and so soft. But my worry had someway annoyed my little girl, who patted my hands away and run to Holmes.
"Stop, daddy, stop. I am fine!" she said, echoed by Holmes, who gave me a warning glance. Defeated, I pretended to be offended and displayed my best "sad and hurting expression" to them, then went to sit on the armchair near the window. Not looking at them, I heard Ellie asking Holmes, in a small scared voice, if it was her fault if I was sad and the man suggesting her to come to me and try to give me a big hug and a kiss to help me. In a second I found myself in the arms of my little girl, who never left my side for the rest of the evening. Holmes accused me of playing dirty and he was right, actually.
"Sorry, Holmes, I could not resist. You should have seen your faces, though, for a second you two had the same annoyed expression. I hope she doesn't have your character when she grown up!"
"That doesn't change the fact that you play dirty, John. Shame on you!" he replied, his words rude but his tone light and quizzical.
Ellie, who was watching us but could not understand the subject of our conversation, laughed and dared us to catch her, if we could. We played hide and seek for some times and the apartment resounded of her joyful shrieks and laughs; finally Holmes announced it was time to go to bed. Disappointed but clearly exhausted, Ellie complied. Holmes carried her to my room where he helped her to wear her night dress and insisted for him to stay in the room until she was asleep.
Holmes joined me in our sitting room after a while; I spent the rest of the evening reading a novel.
Entering my room, later that night, I found the little creature sprawled in the centre of the bed, making small sounds in her sleep. I carefully laid down beside her and, as if she had sensed my proximity, she immediately came closer to me. "You little monster, why don't you let me sleep alone, tonight?" I teased her. She opened his eyes to look at me briefly, displayed a huge smile and hug me before succumbing to sleep again. I managed to sleep three hours with Ellie securely anchored on my back and when I could not stand it any longer, I got up enjoying the cold air of the night and watching my little treasure dreaming, letting her soft regular breath lulling me to a very early morning doze on the not-so-comfortable armchair of my bedroom. If my back was a little sore in the morning, she was surely worth it.
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