A/N: This story is a continuation of ficwriterjet's story The Mature Adult, but it is not required to read that story before this. Just know that in this fic Gregson and Sherlock have reconciled and that Gregson made a promise to Sherlock that when Sherlock puts himself and others in danger, Gregson will punish him. Warning: the following fic will contain spanking.

Fathers

The case was closed; Officer Reyes was taken into custody, leaving Sherlock Holmes and Detective Marcus Bell sitting in the office of one Captain Gregson. Needless to say, he wasn't exactly happy with what had transpired during the case.

"What the hell were you two thinking? No, let me answer that you weren't thinking. Did you even stop to consider that maybe trying to pursue the gunman yourselves was completely dangerous and out of line? That whoever was trying to frame Marcus had a plan if something like that should happen?"

Sherlock slouched further and further in his seat as Gregson went on. He knew that keeping the evidence was wrong, but he had merely been trying to keep Detective Bell out of trouble. He knew that had Gregson found the gun in Marcus's apartment he would have had to arrest him, even if he hadn't wanted to. This would have been detrimental not only for the case, but for Detective Bell's career. Once he had concluded that the gun was in fact the murder weapon, he knew that it being found in Marcus's apartment would have been enough to convince everyone that he was the murderer, no matter that Sherlock knew that it wasn't him that killed Curtis Bradshaw. He knew what he had done had helped Marcus's life, but the fact that Andre Bell was almost killed made sure that Gregson would not be letting this go. He thought back to a few weeks ago when Gregson had come over and made him the promise that if something like this that could have him end up in jail or hurt someone would lead to a spanking with his belt. Sherlock was not looking forward to that. The punch had hurt, the bruising lasting for days, and he did not want to see what kind of damage the Captain could inflict with multiple hits from a belt. Still, perhaps it wouldn't be so bad, Gregson had been forgiving after punching him the last time, and he hadn't ignored him like his father would have, avoiding eye contact but still bringing up the incident when he wanted to use it against him. But what if-

"Sherlock are you even listening to me?"

Obviously not wanting to explain his train of thought, and wanting to move the conversation in another direction, Sherlock, never one to understand social cues said "Sorry, Captain, I was merely calculating the amount of cases I could be solving were I not here listening to you yell at us for solving a case and bringing in a murderer."

It wasn't until after this was spoken that Sherlock realized that back talking Gregson perhaps wasn't the best course of action when trying to calm him down.

"I have had enough of you doing whatever the hell you want Sherlock, you're only allowed to be here because I say so, and you can't keep disregarding the law because it doesn't suit you. I thought we had dealt with this last time, but perhaps I'll have to make good on my promise."

At this point Marcus had heard quite enough, this was obviously between Sherlock and Gregson, not him. It was never about him. He quickly made for the door, but not quick enough.

"And just where to you think you're going Detective Bell?" said Gregson, his attention diverted from Sherlock and fully on Marcus.

"This is between you and Sherlock, Captain, so I see no reason why I should stay," he said, calmly inching towards the door, hoping to make his escape as soon as possible, before he blurted out something he couldn't take back.

"Don't stand there and pretend that you had no idea that Sherlock found the gun in your apartment. You had just as much to do with it as he did, if not more. If you hadn't brought your brother to the station, he would have never had been shot." No sooner were the words out of his mouth that Gregson wished he could have taken them back. Devastating hurt flashed over Marcus's face and he quickly fled the office.

Sighing, Gregson turned back to Sherlock, kneeling down so he was at eye level with him, and tried to calm his temper. He had made enough of a mess of things already; he didn't need to make Sherlock even more upset as well. "I have to go find Marcus okay? Joan's waiting outside for you, so you can go home while I deal with him. I'll be by in a bit okay?"

Thankful that Gregson had seemed to have calmed down, Sherlock nodded his acceptance.

Gregson smiled, and squeezed Sherlock's knee lightly before standing up. "Good, and don't work yourself up about it okay? I know from experience, its worse when you think about it too much."

"Your advice will be taken under consideration, Captain. Now I had better hurry, Watson has been waiting a bit."

Sherlock hurried out of the office, not wanting to induce the Captain's ire. Had he stopped and turned around, he might have noticed the Captain standing in his office, his hand slowly massaging his temples, wondering how the hell he had ended up in this situation.

Gregson knew he had to make things right with Marcus, but he wasn't quite sure how. His relationship was different than his one with Sherlock, yet also similar to it. He had taken the younger Detective under is wing early in his career much like he had done with Sherlock. He was smart, loyal, and good at taking orders. Gregson could even admit to himself that perhaps he had even developed a bit of a soft spot for the detective, though he had never told him so. Yet, where Sherlock practically screamed out for a father figure, as Joan had so helpfully pointed out, Marcus was more drawn in, though he supposed if he looked hard enough he could see traces of the same need to be loved that Sherlock had. Marcus was better at hiding it though, which brought him back to the problem of how he would deal with the problem at hand.

He had never had any problem with Marcus like this before, so he had never really had to punish him. He'd had to bench him early in his career for a few weeks once. He had been a hothead on the Michael's case and almost got himself killed. After the suspension Marcus had come back thoroughly cowed, and it took Gregson a week to get him to look him in the eye. It had taken a month after that for Marcus to contribute anything to the case without being asked. He had seemed so frightened to upset him [Gregson] again, and at the time he had no idea why.

But now with this thing with Sherlock, and Joan putting thing in perspective for him, it made a bit more sense. He'd read Marcus's file of course, he does his homework before letting someone into the NYPD.

As he leaned up against his desk, Gregson wondered if perhaps he should have seen this coming. Marcus didn't have the best home life; his father was a cop who was killed when he was six, and the money that the Bell's received from his death was not enough to live on. His mother had take on two or three jobs at a time to make ends meet, and his brother got involved in a gang. From there he'd worked his way through school and passed with flying colours. One of the reason's he'd hired Marcus was because he respected his ability to succeed despite coming from a bad situation.

Now though, he wondered it that's what made him so eager to please, so desperate for Gregson's approval, his trust. Perhaps he'd somehow managed to become a surrogate father for not one, but two grown men.

Crap.

This was why he didn't have children; he didn't do this touchy-feely stuff, especially not with another man. Sherlock was hard enough to deal with, but at least with him Gregson knew that he was the adult in the relationship, and that Sherlock accepted, maybe even expected, that. Marcus on the other hand was a whole new game. He had no idea how the younger man expected him to deal with the situation.

Should he approach it like he did with Sherlock, on a father/son level, or should he be the demanding boss who kept his people in line. Marcus had done well so far with the second option, perhaps seeing Gregson as some kind of rock that he could use to ground himself. But then again, this scene in his office could be a sign that a boss/employee relationship wasn't enough for him anymore.

Deciding that he couldn't spend all night wondering, he decided to just go to Marcus's apartment to try and fix things.

After all, how hard could it be?