A/N: Well! Hello again, everyone! First of all, a few responses to my wonderful reviewers:
Z-SBS: Blimey. What a long review! Wow. Thankyou very much! And you're right - flames don't make me smile at all, though this review certainly did. I'm not sure what you meant by my update going "wrong", but this site has been playing up a bit lately! LOL, John Holmes is almost as good as John Sherlock - but not quite! And you're right, the two Johns do become something of a pair, with Watson taking the part of his protector - but that is yet to come. I hope you enjoy this chapter!
charles of china: Hope this sates your curiousity... for the time being! Thanks for reviewing.
Susicar: Yes, Holmes is a bit of a cad, isn't he? Many thanks for your review!
Knife86: Thanks! Hopefully this update wasn't too slow!
igbogal: You've done it again... the last line of your review gave me a bit of an idea for the following chapters! So thankyou - I hope you enjoy chapter three!
Belka: Thanks for reviewing! Hopefully you'll still want to read on after this chapter...
Procyon Marie: I didn't really think about the dates, but - more on that further down. Thanks for your comments!
amalcolm1: Hmm, but did she necessarilly "screw around"? Obviously she did with Holmes... but was it simply a one-night stand? Lol... well, thanks for making me think (its a painful thing to do!), and as far as the age of the boy is concerned I've added a little note below since other people have mentoned it as well. Thanks for your review - I hope this chapter explains (a little) more!
RL: Thanks for your review! I'm being a little cruel to Watson at the moment - he's discovered so many crazy things in the past day that I'm surprised he doesn't just give up!
dumbblonde76: Thanks for reviewing! Keep reading!
snicketfan4ever: Thanks! I hope you like the next chapter.
N.B: John Holmes' Age
Quite a few reviewers have commented that John Holmes seems a lot younger than he should, canonically, be. They are quite right. I try to stick to the canon but am not, am definitely not, good with dates. (Then again, ACD wasn't always religious about sticking to them either!) He is supposed to be about thirteen or fourteen, as I had always planned, but due perhaps to his "silent role" in the last chapter he may have seemed much younger. Also, in Holmes' times, I think that children stayed as such for a much longer time, especially if they had been born to rich families. Does that make sense? I hope this clears up any confusion, and apologies if anything in the last chapter misled!
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Now read the fic!
The Adventure of the Detective's Son
Chapter Three
I was a little caught off guard by Miss O'Doherty's callous abandonment of her nephew to my, a stranger's, care. After she had done so I stood looking at the boy in uncomfortable silence for some time before his sharp eyes caught sight of a long-forgotten chess set, high on a shelf above the almanac, and he caught my eye with a wicked grin.
"Shall we play, Dr. Watson?" The question, uttered in full certainty of its owner's victory, could have been from the mouth of my very room-mate had it not been for its childish inflections. I nodded, unable to repress a small smile.
When Holmes finally entered it was to the sight of my being beaten quite convincingly at the game, and for a moment an expression of amusement crossed his features, before being replaced by one of clear and absolute discomfort. He did not apologise for his absence, merely nodded as the boy rose, his youthful face suddenly devoid of any colour. For a moment they both stood, father and son, in silence, their features and their expressions perfect mirrors of each other. I wondered which would break the silence first.
"Good morning," Holmes said softly, looking down at the boy. A flash of puzzlement entered his eyes. "Do you know who I am?"
It seemed to me a curious question, but then I realised that Holmes would not even put it past his old love's sister to leave the boy in the dark as to the reason for his being left with a pair of total strangers. The boy's pained expression, however, left me in no doubt that this was certainly not the case.
"Yes." The boy said. "You... are my father." His grey eyes narrowed. "Do you know who I am?"
Yes, I thought, had there been any doubt before, surely this shattered it. No one but a Holmes would speak with such audacity – or with such a sharp sense for finding one's way to the very heart of a matter.
"I do." Holmes said tonelessly, and he turned away from the child under the somewhat noisy pretext of removing his coat and boots. I could tell, though, from the look of bitter disappointment on the boy's face that he was not for a moment fooled, and that this casual act – for I knew, even if the boy didn't, that an act was all it was – cut him deeper than any words ever could. Perhaps Holmes realised this, for when he turned back it was with something more akin to compassion in his eyes than I had ever thought him capable of. He seemed lost in thought.
"I am sorry." He said at last, a very faint flush appearing on his cheeks. "But your aunt did not tell me your name."
The boy looked quite unable to speak so I, reluctantly, spoke for him.
"John," I said, and the younger, smaller version of Holmes seemed to jerk out of his reverie at the sound of his name. Holmes raised an eyebrow, surprised. He was almost smiling. "His name is John."
Holmes nodded, his eyes glittering slightly. His eyes raked the boy up and down, and I could see him coming to the very same conclusion as I had, only ten times faster.
"John... named for your grandfather, I see. I do not suppose you have any recollection of him, since he died before your birth. He was a good man. I knew him well."
I grasped onto this one piece of information like a drowning man at sea. If Holmes knew his once-lover's father "well" then his courtship must have been much more than a half-hearted, desultory, secret one which resulted in a child thanks wholly to their own weakness to resist temptation. I grasped this morsel, and so did the boy.
"How well?" The boy asked, his eyes as sharp as needles. And then; "Do you have a case on?"
I started, but Holmes did not, and I realised that the boy had seen what I had not; the telegram poking out from Holmes' pocket, the flush in his cheeks, and the muddied state of his boots. He had indeed been on the chase.
"Yes." The elder Holmes said, indicating with a sweep of his hand that his son should take a seat. They both did so, Holmes taking up his pipe and John continuing to survey the room, me and most of all his father with eyes as bright as stars. Standing there in the presence of the two intellects, one sharpened by age and experience, the other still bright with youth and no small amount of natural talent, I felt a chill run up my spine. I realised then what I knew Holmes must already have acknowledged – that the greater intellect was that of the child's, and that, with honing, he could become a young man with skills of detection to rival even Sherlock Holmes.
The silence, and this sudden epiphany, pushed in on all sides for some time until it became unbearable.
"I feel I should leave." I said abruptly when I was sure I could stand no more. Both Holmeses looked up, evidently surprised, and I found myself holding back a sigh. Evidently John, much like his elder, had no difficulty at all in entertaining himself without a single word to another. Sherlock Holmes raised an eyebrow, but nodded.
"Very well, Watson. Perhaps I shall bring John up to date on the facts of the case." He quirked an eye at the boy, whose eyes were suddenly bright with anticipation. "Would you like that?"
The poor child almost tripped over his words in his eagerness to reply.
"Very much, Father!"
His utterance of the final word was met with a deafening silence, and a look of complete amazement on Holmes' face. He recovered quickly, however, and nodded curtly to me as I reached for the doorknob, before turning back to the boy.
As I exited, I heard their voices; low, hushed and most of all, excited. I shook my head ruefully. The case would doubtless be solved by midday.
888
A/N: I'm sorry that nothing much has happened in this chapter - I hope you all enjoyed in nonetheless. Please tell me what you think!