Hey guys! Just wanted to thank my AMAZING beta Kiali for helping me with this chapter! Enjoy!
"No!"
John blinked at the sudden, yet decisive outburst from the detective. He had unconsciously stopped in front of an elementary school on their way back to their flat. He couldn't for the life of him remember what part of their conversation would have sparked such a reply from Sherlock. He just waited for the explanation that was bound to escape his friend's lips.
"We are not adopting a child, John."
"What?" That was not what he'd expected at all. John finally relented and displayed his complete confusion.
Where had this come from? He hadn't even been thinking about doing such a thing, let alone considering asking Sherlock to do it with him. Though, it wasn't a bad idea...
"I saw it on your face just now. Staring at the playing children on the playground, the smile, that lonely look flashing across your face because you don't have any of your own. Then you looked at me with those pleading eyes. But still no."
"That's what this is about?!" John burst out laughing, making Sherlock give an indignant face in return, "Sorry, but the genius detective completely missed the ball for once. I can't believe it!" He tried, but John couldn't stop laughing. Sherlock just stood there shocked and...slightly embarrassed, the gears in his head obviously on overdrive trying to figure out where he'd gone wrong. John finally stopped laughing, noticing his friend's unusual behaviour. The blogger just looked at his muse quizzically, waiting to see if he'd figure it out on his own or if he would have to resort to asking.
"Uhhh!" Sherlock groaned in frustration, "So this is what it feels like. Being you." John ignored the insult and just smiled.
"Would you like a clue? That always seems to help me." The detective just looked away and nodded, obviously disappointed in himself, but too curious to give up. "I was thinking about the past, Sherlock, not the future." John felt pretty clever, for once knowing more than his flatmate.
"Of course! It was so obvious! You were reminiscing about your younger days. The smile was for the remembrance of a particularly funny memory and the loneliness was because of the loss of those days and your advancing age now! How could I have missed it...?" Sherlock's eyes were lit up like a child's on Christmas day, content with solving this particular "case". "Then why did you look at me? That's the one clue that doesn't fit, the one that threw me off."
"Well, Sherlock, some people, when they get to know each other better, share stories from their childhood days. I was just wondering what kind of memories you had, if your childhood was different from mine... though adopting a child doesn't sound like a bad idea, Sherlock..." John smirked in a joking way, but apparently to Sherlock it looked pleading, because instead of a witty joke, John received: "No. Not yet." What? He wasn't blowing off the entire idea, simply putting it off.
Interesting... Sherlock was obviously not himself today, and John was determined to find out why.
"Not yet?"
"What? I didn't say anything of the sort."
"You definitely did. And you definitely meant there are some circumstances in the future in which we will adopt a child?" At this point, Sherlock started walking faster, his coat fluttering along behind him.
"Sherlock! What's up with you today? You're all over the place, did something happen that I don't know about? Sherlock!" His flatmate just kept on walking, even slightly increasing his pace, so that John had to start jogging to keep up with the detective's long strides.
"I have a case to solve, John. I don't need your distractions right now," was all he said as he quickly crossed Baker street to their flat, 221B. John quickly followed Sherlock across the street without thinking, just worried about what had gotten into his friend.
He didn't see the green Volkswagen buggy heading straight towards him.