Sorry this has been along time in the pipeline, but it's been a bad week.
Thanks of course go to LittlePippin who allowed me to borrow Scarlet for the fic.
When we lived in London we had an allotment, which began life as an overgrown potato field lol, it's the only thing I miss about London.
I own nothing! Except the goat, who is mine and called Branwyn and lives in our field when not chewing the bottom of Sherlocks coat!
Sherlock knew lots and lots of people, John knew this, and John had got used to the times they had been out to dinner only to discover that they it was on the house because Sherlock had solved some mystery for the proprietor. John was even getting used to the inexhaustible supply of manual labour Sherlock could call upon when something really needed doing, recently that was the four large men who had helped carry up the stairs then assemble Scarlet's new big girl bed. However today John was really impressed with the sheer range of his lover's connections.
When Sherlock had run upstairs, John had been feeding Scarlet from her high chair. Sherlock had been out on a case, and being a lazy Saturday John had been wondering what he and his daughter could do that would be fun for them both.
"I've got great news" Sherlock bounded in shouting happily causing Scarlet to giggle in excitement and throw her breakfast over John.
"SHERLOCK!" John admonished; milk and cheerios dripping down his shirt. "Don't get her excited like that".
"Oh John, I've got a present that's just as much for Turnip as it is for you!" he was waving a large iron key and a letter in his hands. He bent over and kissed John then ruffled Scarlet's hair. "Get changed, we're going for a walk," he looked at Johns quizzical expression, "all 3 of us!" Then he bounded off downstairs again, like a puppy desperate to make use of the garden.
It took a while for John to get Scarlet ready to go out, with Sherlock he never knew where they were going to end up, and planning trips with a 2 year old was not easy at the best of times. It was November and John had dressed her in hat scarf mittens and welly boots. When they got downstairs, Sherlock was waiting with her buggy and nodded approvingly at the tot's attire.
"Excellent John, just what I had in mind, you look perfect Turnip" he kissed her lightly and helped John strap her into the pushchair. They trotted off down the street, with Sherlock pushing Scarlet and John still in the dark following on in their wake. The walked through the outer circle of Regents Park and after about half an hour ended up on Augustus Street. Outside the large metal gates of the allotments, Sherlock fumbled for the key he'd been playing with earlier and unlocked them swinging it wide.
"We're looking for plot 15" Sherlock told Scarlet "Look they have little numbers on them, can you find me 15" John still pushing Scarlet's chair followed the tall figure through the neat little rows, until he stopped by number 15, making the tiny tot squeak. "So John, Scarlet what do you think?" Sherlock turned to them gesturing at the plot with a wide sweep of his arms. "Will it do?"
"You've rented an allotment?" John asked confused, after Sherlock, now carrying Scarlet had showed them around the plot, the broken windowed greenhouse, the leaking shiplap shed, and the rows of untidy over grown vegetables.
"Well actually sub-let it" Sherlock explained. "I had a case a few weeks ago, and an old man and his wife killed by their lodger. Well this plot was the lodgers, he's gone away for life, very little chance they'd let out to work his allotment."
"So you offered to work it for him?" John asked.
"Well actually I'd read in one of your parenting books that children need open spaces, and gardens and things and I looked into getting an allotment for Scarlet. Well even with Mycroft's help the waiting list is nearly 40 years long, and when this case came up I thought here was our chance." He was beaming brightly, but John was shaking his head.
"What do we know about gardening?"
"I've bought a book!" Sherlock answered earnestly.
Two weeks later found John stripped to his waist digging a bed that at once contained potatoes. Scarlet giggling everytime he found a red overgrown spud and through it into the bucket beside her. Covered in mud, she had spent at least a part of every day either with John or Sherlock down at the allotment, one of the other plot holders, had given her a small trowel and she was happily digging away. Sherlock had acquired Polycarbonate sheets and repaired the greenhouse, and had been consulting his now considerable collection of gardening books daily for things to plant. The walls of 221b were covered in planting schemes, and growing dates. John was worried this might just be a phase that would wear off but he had to admit it did seem good for Scarlet. John looked up from his digging to see a familiar head bobbing along above the other allotment plots, and waved.
"Sherlock's here Scarlet" he told his daughter "What do you think he's brought us today?"
"New Shed roof" she announced Sherlock had been promising one for two days, but John was unsure what Sherlock believed that would entail.
In the end it was clear Sherlock hadn't brought a new shed roof, but he was shifting guiltily and as John walked down the plot, Scarlet's hand in his, he could see the detective was hiding something behind his coat.
"Oh Goodness, What have you brought now?" John asked in exasperation
Sherlock's face lit up, and Scarlet squealed with happiness, as he dragged the length of chair, round from the back of his body to the front, and proudly displayed his wears.
"It's a goat John!"
Hope you like it.
Please review!
Jas xx