The babysitter

Author's Note:

I decided to upload this as an attempt to find my way back into the world of writing after years of writer's block so bear with me please. (Also I'm not completely happy with it so I may rewrite it sometime in the future too)

I am not an english native speaker so I am open to criticism grammatically or otherwise as long as it is constructive.( I might have more to say in the future but for now here we go):

„No."

„What do you mean, no?"

"No"

"Could you clarify that?"

"..."

"I take that for yet another no..."

"..."

He took a deep breath and urged himself to at least pretend he had the patience necessary for this.

"Joanne Sherley Elizabeth Marian Kate Watson why by all the jewels in the crown won't you put your coat on?"

The two-year old frowned at the dark-haired man.

"Because"

"Because what?"

The blonde girl just crossed her arms and continued to stare at him.

"Don't wanna"

„That is both grammatically incorrect and unreasonable."

She just pouted and kept her arms crossed.

He sighed:" You know you look like your mother when she doesn't make sense but refuses to see it." Realizing his mistake he hastily added: „Don't tell her I said that."

The girl didn't even flinch and with the patience of a small child refusing to back down she remained where she was.

„Look if we don't get on with this faster all the good body-parts will be gone when we….." Sherlock tilted his head and tried to assess if it had been a mistake mentioning this but then shrugged and continued "...get there."

The little girl tilted her head as well, in an imitation of the man opposite her and had a thoughtful expression on her face, looking like she was seriously considering his words now.

Sherlock frowned.

"You're not taking this very seriously are you?"

Sherley blinked.

The man sighed and sat down beside the girl who was sitting at the bottom of the stairs in the hallway. Sherlock sighed again and looked longingly towards the door that would lead them outside….if they ever got that far of course. He looked at the girl beside him who seemed to be studying him intently and noticed she had uncrossed her arms.

"What?"

Sherley reached for his coat and started running her hands over the material repeatedly.

"Oh are we doing patterns again?"

Sherlock remembered how the girl had recently spent hours going over every surface she could get a hold of, apparently fascinated by the different materials and patterns. Suddenly an idea came to him making him jump up and bellow: " ! „

The child was far too used being around him to be startled by the sudden movement or volume of his voice so she just looked at him curiously. The door to 221A opened and he grabbed the approaching woman by her shoulders:" those carpet and curtain samples you were shoving in my face two weeks ago, do you still have them?! „

„Well yes but what do you…..", answered the woman slightly taken aback but he cut her off mid-sentence.

„Get them."

tried again:" I thought you were babysitting, I have….."

"DO IT !"

She rushed off mumbling something about having to have a word with his mother again and came back a few minutes later „I'm glad you're finally taking an interest in….."

He snorted:" Oh please, don't be ridiculous, I couldn't care less about what this house looks like, this is about a far more important matter."

„And what ist hat?", the good-natured woman asked.

„Body parts."

She blinked confused and started: „But what…..".

A few minutes later she could only shake her head at the retreating form of the man, far too used to his behaviour to wonder too much or actually be angry and closed the door behind him and the girl who was happily clutching the samples he had handed to her, after which she willingly had put on her coat within seconds.

When they were sitting in the cab and were headed towards Bart's Sherlock watched the little girl beside him torn between studying the surroundings they were passing and the samples in her hand.

He couldn't help an unvoluntary smirk which immediately vanished as his phone started buzzing and he noticed the Caller-ID.

„What John?", he snapped.

„Hi there, just wanted to see how the babysitting is going, is Sherley….."

"Still in one piece,yeah ", he rolled his eyes at the girl who had looked up at him at the sound of her father's name and mouthed: "Always worrying."

"I shall hope so but what are you two up to...is that a car?"

„Yeah we're in a cab and we're actually busy so could you…"

„ Busy? She's two years old and you're babystitting her what do you mean busy?!"

He held the phone a bit further away from his ear as John's volume had increased significantly and he could hear Mary's voice in the background telling him to calm down.

"That's right listen to your wife and calm down. She's fine,she's got a car seat, she has her coat on, she's eaten, she's clean, she's all happy so don't worry.", he said in a slightly annoyed tone.

"Right and why on earth are you out and about at this time of night?! "

"It's 7p.m."

„She's two."

„Soooo?"

„Sherlock !"

„Yeah alright John I get it, I'll put her to bed right when we get back now would you excuse us we're needed somewhere"

„What do you mean needed…you're not taking her to a crime scene are you?", John's voice was beyond alarmed now.

"Don't be silly of course not"

„Right, where are you taking her too then?"

"The morgue."

"SHERLOCK !"

He held the phone at arms length away now decided it was better to end the call and leave it to Mary to get her husband to calm down. John could be so unreasonable sometimes.

He leaned towards his godchild and murmured: „I know you did that coat-thing on purpose by the way but as I would have forgotten to take something along to occupy yourself with …. shall we call it a draw this time?"

Please review if you like it and/or have some constructive criticism.