Snow on the Lilies

by flutistin221b

When a infant girl named Lily is left on the steps of 221B who is Sherlocks, will he be able to raise her safely? Will John be able to overcome his losses to help Sherlock? Will Sherlock overcome his own demons to make sure his daughter is safe? TRIGGER WARNING: alluding to eating disorders and possible future mention of addiction/neglect. Please comment any suggestions!

1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

Footsteps. Rustling of parcels. A knock on the door. All but the last one were normal occurrences around 221B. It peaked Johns attention like nothing else ever had. It was just past New Years so they should not have cases this close after a holiday. John flashed back to four, wait make that five,years ago when he was the cause of the footsteps and near knock. His life had been grey,dull,and downright terrible. He was racked with nightmares about Afghanistan constantly and had dropped about a quarter of his weight in a very short hellish period of time. Sherlock Holmes had changed all of that.

From the moment they met color began to seep back into John's life. He felt alive again, his plaguing limp lost and his weight healthy again. Then,just as quickly as his life started to build back up,it came crashing down with the fall of a genius,a 'fake',the worlds only consulting detective, his best friend, Sherlock Holmes.

John turned back to old ways, hitting rock bottom harder and faster than he had the first time. He could feel his ribs and became a shell of the man he once was. He couldn't have started to recover without the help and support of everyone around him. Sarah allowed him time off from the clinic when he needed it and gave him flexible hours. Molly had given her ears and a shoulder to cry on. Lestrade had taken a particularly hard hit to the death and was always willing to go to a pub and drink with John and reminisce about a great genius and great friend. And then he met Mary,who added some color back into Johns life and was his first successful romance in years. Out of all the people in his life,Mrs Hudson had helped him the most. She was always there to help cook,clean,provide company and support,help him take calls and all the while foregoing her usual line of 'Not your housekeeper!' which was surfacing at the very moment as she went to answer the door and gasped as soon as she opened it.

John had forgotten that Sherlock would not be in the flat due to a case he had been solving since about three days after Christmas and would not answer the door had John not done it. He went to see what Mrs. Hudson's fuss was about and immediately saw it. A box and a baby carrier with a baby girl in it sitting in the softly falling snow on the steps if 221B Baker Street.