"Luke, what are you doing?" A blond man stood peering down at a thin, pale boy as the child stared at a skull.
"I found this in the room you keep locked up."
"You're not supposed to be playing in there. I told you that." John sighed before deciding not to argue with his son this particular evening. "You can keep that, if you want."
The boy grinned, jumped up from where he had been sitting on the floor, and scooped up the object he had been so fascinated with. "Thanks, John. I saw a violin in there too. Can I-""No. Absolutely not. Perhaps I should remind you of when you tried to learn guitar a few months ago." John replied with a smile. "It wasn't my fault I knew more than my guitar teacher." The man nodded with a chuckle. "Of course. Now, you better go put that away and get dressed in your nice clothes. Mary will be waiting for us at the restaurant. You know how she gets when we're late." Luke didn't waste any time bounding up the steps to his room while still clutching the skull.
It had been three years nearly to the day since John's best friend and flatmate had died. John had thrown all of Sherlock's things into Sherlock's room and kept it locked. That never stopped Luke from sneaking in there. He was surprisingly good at picking locks. John still can't understand how a child that young learned to pick locks like he had been doing it for years. Ever since the day Luke had come to 221b as a foster-child, he was always curious of why John slept on the couch when there was a perfectly goof bedroom filled with stuff just collecting dust. He had learned many things about John's former flatmate, but not by John or any of the people that had known Sherlock. Luke had known all about Sherlock before he had come to live with John, though he couldn't tell anyone. That was one of his secrets he had to keep.
John stretched his arms above his head and glanced at the time as he waited for Luke to get ready. Tonight was a very special night. He was going to ask Mary to Marry him. Greg, Mycroft, and a few others had told him countless times that he was moving a bit too quickly with Mary, though he ignored them on each occasion.
A few moments passed and then Luke came rushing down the stairs dressed in a long sleeve button down maroon shirt and khaki slacks that John had laid out for the eight year old.
A short while later, Luke darted out of the cab and into the restaurant leaving John behind. By the time he caught up with the small boy, Luke had already found their table and had seated himself next to Mary. John found Luke's coat abandoned on the chair John was about to sit in. He placed Luke's coat on the back the boy's chair and smiled at Mary. "Great to see you, love. I hope Luke is being on his best behavior." John shot a look at the child who currently had a mischievous grin displayed across his face.
"Luke was just telling me all about his new skull." The woman sitting in between John and Luke replied with a faint smile.
"Of course he was. Just don't talk about it at school too much, buddy. I don't want to have to talk to the school counselor again any time soon." John smiled brightly. He loved the thought of the three of them being a family.
John had no idea that his plans for the night were about to go very wrong. As he reached for the small box in his pocket a man clearing his throat behind him caught his attention. He turned and froze at the sight. Mary narrowed her eyes at the tall curly haired man as if it was out of pure instant. Like stared up at the man recognizing him from the pictures he had seen.
"Hello John. Bad timing?"