Everything was normal today. John was riding home from his normal job at the clinic after a normal chat with Sarah in a normal taxi cab with a normal; non psychotic, non mass murdering cabby. He got out of that cab at Baker street, address 221B, and paid the fair. Yes, today seemed to be just an average day. At least, that's what John thought. When he climbed up the steps and pushed open the door to 221B, the normality of his day came crashing down on him. He heard crying.
Not just any crying, the unmistakable high pitched, wailing cries of a baby. Normal had just gone down the drain. John climbed up the flight of steps to the second landing, thrusting his key into the door and flung it open. There he saw his flatmate, perched on his leather armchair and balancing a laptop on his thighs. In the other chair however, lay the source of the crying; a small baby wearing a light blue onesie wrapped in a dark orange blanket.
"John." Sherlock greeted, not lifting his eyes from the computer screen and certainly not paying any mind to the baby that was in their flat.
"You have a baby." John murmured, stunned.
"Excellent observation."
"A /baby/!?"
Sherlock looked up now. "Yes. What of it?"
John looked at him, appalled. "What of it? Sherlock, there's a /baby/ in our flat! A real, human baby. Where on earth did you even get a baby?"
"Lestrade let me take him home."
John looked at him expectantly, awaiting an explanation.
Sherlock sighed. "I was at a case. Double murder, both parents shot in the back of the head." He said continuing to type away at the computer, which upon further observation, John noticed was his. "The home was looted, anything of value taken by the killer."
"And the baby?" John asked again, still unknowing why Sherlock had taken the infant home with him.
"Evidence."
"Evidence?"
"Yes, of course. He is the most valuable piece of evidence that the crime scene possessed."
John rolled his eyes. "What? Do you expect him to /tell/ you who the killer is?"
"Don't be absurd, I solved it within an hour. It was easy enough to find the killer, even Anderson could have managed to-"
"Then if you solved the case, why do you have the baby?"
Sherlock was quiet quiet.
John awaited his answer.
"He's part of a different case." Was all Sherlock offered, looking back down at the laptop, a hard look on his face.
John sighed. He recognized that look. That was all he was going to get out of the detective until more information was found. Sherlock hated to give assumptions.
As if he'd now decided the child was harmless, John went over to pick up the still crying baby, cradling him and hushing him until his cries turned to soft whimpers.
"Have you ever even taken care of a baby?" John asked, rocking the child as if he actually knew what he was doing. The baby stopped crying, so he supposed he was doing something right.
"Of course not." Sherlock replied, scrolling through some web page about child care.
John rolled his eyes and sighed. "I still can't believe Lestrade let you take home a baby." He murmured, glancing towards Sherlock.
"I had my reasons." The detective replied.
The tone Sherlock had used, like there was some deep, dark secret he was keeping made John rather curious, but he ignored the remark. "So," He began, "we're going to be dads for the time being?"
Sherlock's eyes flickered up to John. "What makes you think I planned to include you?"
John's lips twitched a bit into a smile. The question wasn't harsh, or even meant to be rude. It was just a simple question. "Because you left him be on the couch while he was crying, obviously waiting for me to come home and take care of it. Not to mention that bag next to his carrier only has one can of formula and three nappies. Not nearly enough, I'm afraid." John told Sherlock who looked away sheepishly. "Lucky for you I actually have a bit of experience with caring for children."
Sherlock's own lips nearly turned into a small grin, liking how John's deductive skills were slowly getting more indepth. Not nearly as mush as Sherlock would have liked, but he supposed it was some sort of progression.
"I thought child care would be right up your alley. You being a doctor."
John crinkled his eyebrows. He'd seen at least a few babies and small children at the clinic, and while he had a certain warmth in his heart for small children, that didn't mean he had any idea how to actually care for one longterme. It certainly didn't make him an expert in this certain field of work.
"But what about custody then? I mean, we're not even together, how will this work?"
"Last time I checked, two people didn't have to actually /be/ together to raise a child." Sherlock replied, and even though the detective was good at hiding his emotions, John could tell something was off.
"Then child protective services? I mean, can we even legally adopt him? Our work isn't exactly secure." John questioned.
"I had Mycroft pull some strings. Legal or not, there are papers saying that the child is officially ours."
"Ours?"
"Yes. You said so yourself, I was going to include you in the child's developpement from the very start."
"You must really want to keep him." John said.
Sherlock once again stayed silent.
Giving a small huff, John finally agreed. "Fine, alright." He said, before turning his gaze back to the baby. The idea was still ridiculous in his mind, but even now he couldn't say no to Sherlock. "So what's his name?"
"Don't know."
"What?"
"It's not like he came with a tag, how am I supposed to guess?"
John crinkled his brows. "He needs a name though."
"Can we not just refer to him as 'The Child'?"
"Sherlock..."
"Alright fine." Sherlock grumbled, thinking it over for a moment. "Hamish."
"Hamish?" John repeated. "But that's my middle name."
"Precisely."
John gave a small shake of his head, smiling just the tiniest bit. "Alright then. Welcome to Baker street Hamish."
Author's Note : Terrible beginning, I know. I suck at first chapters. Still, I hope it interests you somewhat, I've had this idea in my head for a little while and it may seem innocent now, but it's going to get a bit darker as the chapters progress...spoilers. Anyway, reviews are very welcome! A lot of the time the amount of reviews I get can influence my update frequency so if you want more chapters then gimme lots and lots of reviews =P Until next time!
~RZA
