A/N: Many thanks to Phish Tacko for her help beta'ing this!
Marie's First Steps
John had just finished up with a patient when the receptionist paged him yet again.
"You've got another phone call," She explained. "Fourth one in the past half hour."
John sighed. He knew it was Sherlock calling. He tended to keep his mobile off while at the hospital out of respect for his patients. Sherlock could always call him through the work line if there was an emergency, anyway. If he was calling this often, something must have happened.
"Transfer it to room 141," John told her.
"Will do."
The line was quiet for a moment before he heard Sherlock's voice.
"John! I've been trying to reach you for ages!"
"You mean for the past thirty minutes."
"…Well, it felt like a long time," Sherlock replied.
John pinched the bridge of his nose. It had been a long day, and he really wasn't in the mood for games.
"Well, what is it, Sherlock? Need help with a case? Is Marie being colicky again?"
"No! No, that's not it at all. You must come home, John. It's urgent!"
"What is it?"
"Just come home!"
And with that, the line went dead.
John rolled his eyes as he hung up the phone, pulled his coat on, and informed the nurses that he would be taking lunch. If there ended up being some emergency, he'd call back in and tell them he wouldn't be returning.
Thankfully, he managed to hail a cab fairly quickly. Being midday, the roads were pretty quiet, too, so he made it back to 221B within a few minutes.
After paying the driver he got out and took a deep breath, mentally preparing himself for whatever might be in store for him.
00
"John! I'm in the living room!" Sherlock's voice rang out before John had even closed the door. How the he had heard him all the way upstairs, John had no idea.
"Coming," He called back.
He walked upstairs, opened the door and saw Sherlock, who was on his knees and holding his iPhone like a camera.
"John! Come look!"
John made his way over and finally saw what all the fuss was about. Marie had one hand on the couch and was slowly walking along.
Occasionally, she fell, but when she did, she got right back up as if it were nothing.
"Oh, wow," John said, watching as Sherlock helped his daughter back up.
"That's a good girl," Sherlock told her. "Daddy's so proud of you!" Then he turned to John. "John, take the camera!"
"Um... Alright," John answered, taking the phone from his friend.
"Make sure you get this on film!"
"Okay…"
Sherlock moved so that he was directly facing Marie, then held out his arms.
"Marie, darling, come to daddy!"
The little girl looked at him for a moment, as if deciding whether or not the command was worth her efforts, before slowly putting one foot in front of the other. Carefully, she made her way over before falling into her father's arms.
"Did you see that?!" Sherlock asked, excitedly.
"I did."
"Marie's first steps! And at ten months! That's fairly early!"
The look of pure joy on Sherlock's face made it impossible for John not to smile.