Nina - 8

Mason - 11

"Nina I really don't think you should be playing with Uncle John's gun..." Mason muttered.

"You're just nervous, you're always nervous." Nina chided, spinning the gun around on her finger, "I've used Uncle John's gun loads of times before."

"Yeah but only with dad or John around. You know we're not supposed to touch it when he's not around." Mason argued as he nervously stood by the fireplace.

Their father and Uncle were off at Scotland Yard giving statements for the case they had been on last night. Nina and Mason were the only ones in the two Baker Street homes at the moment, they promised to stay behind today to keep an eye on their fathers latest experiment. They didn't really understand much of it, only that if it started to foam they were to add the yellow liquid in the canister next to the Bunsen burner.

"They were on a case last night, it could have bullets in it." Mason pointed out.

"Nah, I was using it two days ago, full of blanks then." Nina shrugged, she'd always had a fascination with guns, not in the creepy way, just a general fascination of how they worked.

"Watch this!" She grinned, flipping the gun in the air and holding out her hand ready to catch it.

"Could you at least turn of the saft-"

BANG!

Mason had been about to tell her to switch the safety on if she insisted on throwing the gun around like a toy when the weapon landed in Nina's hand and she gripped with without thinking. It fired.

It was not full of blanks.

"You shot me!" Mason cried clutching his shoulder.

The bullet had ripped right through his left shoulder sending the boy to his knees with a yell.

"I'm sorry!" Nina yelled dropping the gun and racing over to where her brother was applying pressure to his shoulder.

"Call...an ambulance." Mason gasped as he slumped to the floor trying to hold back tears and failing miserably.

"Right uh, I don't think I've ever seen you cry." Nina replied nervously, racing around the room looking for their uncle's mobile.

"Of course I'm crying...there is a hole in my shoulder!" Mason yelled, pulling himself up to lean against the wall.

Finally Nina found John's mobile sitting behind the union jack pillow on he couch. Thank God he had forgotten it today!

"Hello emergency services." Came the voice of a woman on the phone, "How may I help you?"

"My brother, he's been shot." Nina reported, her father always told her to say as much as possible as quickly as she could in an emergency. She left out the part where she was the one who actually did the shooting. She didn't need to know that.

"In the shoulder," She added quickly before she could speak up, "221b Baker street. I think he's going into shock now. Please hurry."

Nina promptly hung up, she didn't need some air head trying to tell her what to do. Instead she ran over to her brother and applied pressure to the wound which was bleeding profusely.

"I'm so sorry!" Nina insisted, "I'm so so so sorry!"

"Told you...it was a bad idea..." Mason coughed.

"Just remember what dad told us about bullet wounds, you have to stay awake okay?" Nina's voice began to tremble.

What if he bled out? What if he died? She would of killed her brother!

"I'm...trying..."

...

"Absolutely ridiculous!" Sherlock ranted, "This is London, how is it there haven't been any cabs?"

"It must be a busy day in the inner city Sherlock don't sweat it." John shrugged, he was actually enjoying the walk, "It's only a half hour walk from the station anyway."

"It's still utterly preposterous." Sherlock grumbled.

"Come on now, we're only one street away now anyways."

Sherlock huffed; at least he had his experiment to look forward to, hopefully Nina and Mason kept an eye on it. He would be very much put out if they let it boil over. He was about to explain to John the odds of them being unable to get a cab in such a busy city when they turned the corner into Baker Street and froze.

There was an ambulance outside 221b, from the corner the two men were able to make out a small figure being worked on inside the veheicle.

Sherlock's brain ran at a million miles an hour, unlike his feet, which were stubbornly slow. He was vaguely aware of John running after him but he was more focused on trying to deduce what had happened. Had they touched his chemicals again? Hadn't he told them not to touch the experiment without gloves? He was sure he had, but they could of forgotten. Or one of the two could of fallen from the stair case, it was seventeen stairs high and made of hardwood, defiantly a high chance of injury if one of the younger children tripped.

He ignored the paramedic who was trying to block his way as the ambulance got ready to leave, he focused on the figure on the gurney.

"Mason!" he yelled, taking in the bloody shoulder.

"That's his son, let us through!" John yelled sounding frustrated.

Somewhere between the yelling and pushing they had closed the doors and John and Sherlock were squeezed inside the back on either side of the boy. Sherlock's eyes flew over the various monitors and Mason's arm, deducing that if they got to the hospital within the next half an hour he would be fine.

It was only after Mason was being treated in the A&E that Sherlock finally noticed that Nina had not been with them. As predicted Mason spent a few hours in surgery, which Sherlock spent pacing, before being moved into a private room. Sherlock suspected Mycroft's influence there but he didn't care.

When Sherlock was finally told he could go and see him he ranted and raved then entire way there, only this time John didn't complain.

"I'm his guardian for goodness sakes, I should have been allowed in earlier!"

"You can say father you know." John sighed as they neared the room.

Mason smiled when they entered, he had a bandage wrapped around his torso securing the bandages around his wounded shoulder. Aside from being particularly pale he seemed fine.

"How do you feel?" Sherlock asked taking the seat by the bed.

"Fine now, I figure I should be allowed home in a few days since Uncle John's a doctor." Mason smiled, "Dad did you know the chief surgeon is cheating on his wife with the head nurse?"

Sherlock chuckled.

"You're lucky the bullet was closer to your arm and not your chest or you'd of been in trouble." John cut in, "You will have a scar though."

"Like yours?" Mason replied.

"Not quiet as bad." John smiled as he reviewed the chart, "Yours was close range but the bullet was heading upwards slightly it didn't hit any vital organs or bone, just muscle."

"Good." Sherlock nodded before turning serious, "Mason, how did this happen, who shot you and where is Nina? I assume she is not in danger or you would of said something by now, meaning she was either out at the time you were injured or ran away."

Mason went quiet and fiddled his fingers in his lap. Interesting.

"Actually…Nina phoned the ambulance and stayed with me till they loaded me up, I dunno where she went after that." Mason said.

"Who shot you?" John asked again, even he could tell the boy was hiding something.

"Nina…" Mason replied.

Sherlock felt his jaw slacken a little. Nina shot Mason?

"It was an accident!" Mason cried, "She was playing with John's gun and I told her to be careful but she said she knew what she was doing and then it went off and she thought it was fully of blanks but it wasn't!"

The long spiel left the boy panting for breath.

"I've told her a thousand times not to play with my gun!" John cried, "Even if it IS full of blanks!"

Sherlock pushed his fingers together under his chin. Obviously Nina was worried about seriously injuring her brother and once she knew he was in good hands decided to run and hide out of fear of what he would say. The question is where would Nina hide, he already went through this with Clara he didn't want another runaway on his hands.

"You'd better go find her dad." Mason spoke up, "I'm fine, I'm not angry at her."

Sherlock nodded, "John will stay with you."

"Come on mate, we'll compare scares." John joked as Sherlock left the room.

Thinking carefully Sherlock narrowed down the list of places where Nina was likely to be hiding. By the time he'd hailed a cab he knew exactly where to go.

…

He hardly ever came to The Irregular Hotel anymore since the children had moved to Baker Street, it had begun to gather dust. Not being patient enough to pick the lock the tall man clambered up the wall and slipped in through the first floor window. He stayed still and listened for a few moments before, sure enough, the sounds of sniffing reached his ears. He hated it when they cried; he was so awkward when it came to comfort.

He followed the sound until he found her, curled up in a ball sitting on a cloth covered couch by a window in a spare room.

"You shouldn't run off like that." He said steadily, deep voice breaking the near silence of the room instantly and making Nina jump.

"Dad…I…Is Mason okay?" She said finally, whipping her face in an effort to stay calm.

"He will be fine in a few days, the wound will scare but it could have been much worse." Sherlock replied, still practically emotionless.

"I'm really really so very sorry Dad." She mumbled looking at her shoes, "I know I'm not supposed to play with John's gun."

"Then why did you do it?" Sherlock asked seriously, now standing in front of her.

"I don't know, it's interesting and I though it was empty. I didn't think to check."

"That's right. You didn't think." Sherlock scolded, Nina flinched.

"I teach you to observe, to think every action through perfectly." Sherlock continued, "You need to be more careful! I thought I taught you better than that."

"I know." Nina whispered on the verge of tears again.

Sherlock sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Nina you could of really hurt somebody today. If things had been different, you might of lost a brother." Sherlock breathed.

"I...I'm sorry." Nina sobbed.

"You're just a child, I can't expect you not to make mistakes." Sherlock shook his head and sat down next to her on the couch, "But you have to promise me you will be more careful."

"I do! I promise I will!" Nina replied straight away, despite the tears there was determination in her eyes.

Sherlock smiled lightly.

"Come on then, let's go home."

Wow this is a long chapter! I was going to split it in two but decided I needed a longer one to make up for the two shorter ones before this.

I think I will write profiles on each of the Irregulars and once this is finished I'll post them as a kind of epilogue. They will probably go on my Tumblr blog first though.