Sherlock and Joan find themselves facing a new challenge after one particular crime scene.

(Drama/friendship/family - probably Joanlock...)


Chapter 1

"You two got here fast" Gregson says handing them both a pair of gloves

"We were at the diner down the street" Joan smiles accepting the gloves before walking into the apartment

"Yes Watson and I ventured on a coffee crawl" Sherlock adds

"We haven't slept for 2 days" Joan explains walking through to check out the bedroom and bathroom

"So what happened here?" Sherlock asks kneeling down next to the two bodies before entering the bedroom

"Mr and Mrs Lawson, gunshot wounds to the head. Wealthy, nice apartment, nothing appears to have been stolen. Neighbour called it in" Bell recites

"What about the children?" Joan asks looking around the room before settling back on Gregson and Bell's confused faces

"Children?" Gregson asks

"Yes" Sherlock nods, "There are two small backpacks and two pairs of shoes behind the suitcase by the window in the bedroom"

"Next door neighbour said they had no kids although she does travel a lot, but you'd notice if your neighbours had kids" Gregson shrugs

"I'll go try the other neighbours again" Bell says making his way through the sea of people

"Both shot in the forehead" Sherlock mumbles before walking around the room. "Nothing looks out of place no?" his train of thought is interrupted by Detective Bell who rushes back in

"Neighbour says they just took in two foster kids" he sighs "Think that's what they came here for? Kidnap the kids and they tried to intervene?"

"We need to find these kids…" Captain Gregson starts, watching as Joan walks towards the bedroom, Sherlock following. Joan gets down on all fours to check under the bed.

"You think they're still in the apartment?" Bell whispers

"Perhaps they were after the children, perhaps they weren't but I would assume Mr and Mrs Lawson would have told the children to hide somewhere" Sherlock whispers back motioning to the closet

Joan gets up off the floor and walks across the room to open the closet door. It's dark but she can make out two small figures huddled together as far back in the walk-in closet as they could hide. Kneeling down she sees them more clearly, two little girls, no more than three years old.

"Hey, hi it's okay" Joan soothes inching further into the closet "You're safe now, I'm with the police" she turns her head to whisper to Bell, asking for his badge "See" she smiles sliding the badge across the floor

Joan watches as one little girl clumsily gets to her feet, toddling over to were the badge lies. She picks it up and stares at it intently before dropping it and running straight into Joan who quickly holds her arms out to envelope around the small child. She feels her small arms wrap around her neck and hold on tight. The other little girl, seeing that it was okay quickly follows in her sisters footsteps.

The girls release Joan and sit back on the floor in front of her and look up at her curiously. They are almost completely identical; the only thing enabling Joan to tell them apart is one girl has brown eyes and the other a blue/grey color. Joan looks to the first girl who approached her.

"What's your name?" she smiles moving to sit and cross her legs

"Maisy, she Libby" she says brushing her hair out of her eyes, her deep brown eyes staring back into Joan's.

Joan looks to Libby who's smiling shyly back, clearly the quieter of the two. "I'm Joan, are you two ready to come out?" she asks moving to stand up

"No" Libby grabs Joan's hand pulling her back down "Bad guys"

"They're gone, I promise" She smiles at the two who still stay seated. "Well what if my friend came in here?"

"Nice?" Maisy asks quietly

"He's very nice, he's my best friend"

"Kay" Libby smiles crawling over to Joan

Joan tilts her head back a little to see out the door "Sherlock?"

"Yes Watson?" he asks popping his head around the door. Seeing him appear within seconds she smiles "Can you come in here?"

Sherlock crawls in and takes a seat besides Joan. Legs crossed, back straight, fingers drumming against his thighs.

Maisy stares at Sherlock before letting out a gasp "My dowwy, did they take my dowwy?" she looks up at Sherlock wide eyed.

"Of course, the perks to being so young is a lost dolly situation being top priority" he thinks to himself

"I don't think so. I bet they are in your backpacks" Joan smiles temporarily soothing the girl

Maisy peeks around Sherlock to the open closet door, seeing the bedroom.

"You go?" she looks up at him, innocent face with puppy dog eyes

Sherlock looks to Joan and Libby who is sat in her lap. Hesitantly he reaches his hand out towards Maisy "How about… we go together?"

Joan momentarily surprised turns to stare at Sherlock before too nudging Libby slightly indicating to get up. Taking her hand they follow Sherlock and Maisy into the bedroom.

"People here?" Maisy asks taking Joan's other hand, looking over to the sea of police officers that are in and out of the apartment

"They're the police, they're going to find the bad guys" Joan smiles down at the young child

"They gots badges?" she frowns looking at them cautiously. Joan lets out a small laugh at her serious expression "Yes, they have badges"

"Good" she nods "MY DOWWY" she squeals running over to Sherlock who holds a backpack in one hand and a tatty rag doll in the other. Sherlock hands the doll over to her and watches as she clutches it close to her.

Taking a seat on the bed Joan pulls Libby up to sit in her lap "Hey sweetheart, how old are you?" she asks sweetly brushing Libby's brown locks away from her eyes

"Lady say we nearly thwee" Maisy grins holding up three fingers in Joan's face whilst struggling to climb on to the bed to get to the older woman, admitting defeat she turns to Sherlock and holds both arms up.

Sherlock looks down at her dumbfounded and turns to Joan. "She wants you to pick her up" she whispers. He awkwardly lifts her up and goes to place her on the bed when she wraps her arms around him and lays her head on his shoulder.

Captain Gregson walks in to the bedroom and notices Sherlock, raising his eyebrow he sends the consulting detective an amused smirk. "Living rooms clear. We can bring them back to the station now"


Back at the station Sherlock, Joan and Detective Bell have been asking the twins questions for the past 20 minutes. Bell nods to Sherlock and they both step out.

"Anything?" Gregson asks as the two enter his office

"They were in the bedroom with Mrs Lawson when they heard banging on the front door, she pushed them into the closet and told them that they were going to play hide and seek and to stay as quiet as possible" Bell sighs "Uh… which is the brown eyed one?"

"Maisy" Sherlock nods, not noticing the smile Gregson sends his way

"Maisy said she could here shouting but the banging had stopped. The shouting got louder then came the 'big bangs'."

"Now there was no forced entry, so the best guess is that Mr and Mrs Lawson opened the door for them, but why?" Sherlock wonders

"What were these people up to? We need to look in to the girls background, find out why they where placed with the Lawsons" Gregson murmurs

"They have clearly had experience with the police before as they knew that the badge confirmed we are not a threat" Sherlock adds

"I'll get right on that" Bell nods writing in the small notepad

"Now what to do with the girls, normally we would hand them over to CPS but given the situation they could be in danger and we can't guarantee their safety there" Gregson sighs

"Well considering the children have taken a rather strong liking to Watson they can stay at our home" Sherlock says rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet

"You? You want two little girls living in your house?" Bell smirks

Sherlock looks at Bell pointedly "I believe that is what I just said yes"


Closing the front door of the brownstone behind him, Sherlock walks into the living room, bag of take out in hand, not seeing any sign of Joan. Hearing laughter from above him he ventures upstairs, finding the three in the TV room. They're watching Tinkerbell, snuggled up on either side of Joan. She gets up to get them both a drink when she spots Sherlock leaning against the wall watching them intently.

"What are you doing stood there? Sit down they don't bite" she smirks walking closer to him

"That's you"

Joan scrunches her face up in confusion "What's me?"

"The fairy… the water fairy to be exact" he nods "Silvermist I do believe"

Joan raises her eyebrow "I'm the fairy?" she laughs walking past him, hiding her smile she walks down towards the kitchen.

"Well not you, just your voice" he calls after her


Review?

I'll try and get the next chapter AND the second chapter of Unfortunate Fortune up in a couple of days.