Disclaimer: I don't own BBC Sherlock. Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss are the creators.

Chapter 4: Settling In

Mrs Holmes gives Sherlock his old baby stuff; he manages to leave after looking through his baby album and pictures of him and Mycroft in a bath together.

"Yup. Bye."

Sherlock closes the flat door and exhales.

"Well that was horrid."

"What happened?"

"I was made to look through younger photos of me and Mycroft."

"Remind me to ask your mum for those."

"There's no way in seven hells are you going to see those."

"Try me."

Sherlock glares at John who smiles arrogantly at him.

"Who were you saying bye to?"

"My mum insisted of helping to bring them across."

"Why didn't you invite her in?"

"Really John? When she comes in here and finds Hamish it's not that hard to connect the dots."

"Alright. Anyway, what do you have?"

Sherlock goes downstairs to bring up the boxes left by the stairs. He places 3 boxes by the sofa and empties a box marked 'clothes' onto the floor. John picks up a pale blue onesie and smiles to himself.

"What's with that face?" Sherlock commands startling John.

"Oh, er, what?"

"Your face, you were smiling."

John rolls his eyes but answers, "It's funny imagining you in something this small."

John reaches for Hamish who has been playing with a teddy bear Mrs Hudson gave him. He undresses him and puts him in Sherlock's baby onesie. When he is dressed again Hamish looks about at the two men and then starts patting himself. He gurgles happily at his new outfit.

Sherlock and John both smile at Hamish. Sherlock shakes his head, discarding the emotions that are suddenly there and continues looking through the other boxes. John finishes folding the rest of the onesies, tops and trousers and puts them on Sherlock's bed.

The second box is full of dummies, bath toys, bears and shoes. The dummies are distributed between the living room and Sherlock's bedroom, the bath toys go in the bathroom, John surrounds Hamish with the bears and the shoes are left in the box since he can't walk yet.

The third box if full with baby books; some to read to Hamish such as 'The tiger who came to tea' and the rest are similar to 'How to look after your baby.' Sherlock picks up the first book on the pile, Peter Pan. He opens the cover and inside is an inscription just legible; William Sherlock Scott Holmes, age 5 and there's a drawing of himself in a pirate hat sailing a boat with a dog sitting behind him. Sherlock sits on the sofa, the book hanging loosely between his fingers. John looks over at Sherlock who has suddenly stilled and sees two emotions covering his face; sadness and happiness.

"Come on Redbeard we need to find the treasure."

Sherlock jumps from his bed and runs out of his room holding a treasure map which his dad made him.

Pass the room of the grumpy monster but do so at your own peril!

Sherlock tiptoes past Mycroft's room and plants himself against the wall as he passes.

"Good boy." He whispers and Redbeard joins him.

Next take 5 steps north into the lake. On the lake is a puzzle. Ye must complete it to continue ye quest.

Sherlock looks up and see's the bathroom.

"1, 2, 3, 4, 5."

He opens the door and looks in the bath; a toy octopus sits on a dog biscuit on a toy boat. A note is stuck to the wall above the bath. Ye must recover the treasure but ye cannot touch the octopus and the boat must stay afloat. To the left of them is a toy fishing rod which hooks onto a rig on the octopus' head. Sherlock picks up the rod and tries to hook it octopus. His tongue pokes out of his mouth in concentration and within 3 minutes he hooks it and tosses it into the water.

"Come here Redbeard."

Redbeard looks over the bath, using his hind legs to stand.

"Careful." Sherlock whispers as he waits for the biscuit to be retrieved. Redbeard opens his mouth and grabs the biscuit. The boat rocks and tilts into the water slightly but when Redbeard comes back down on all-fours the boat hasn't sunk.

"Yay!" Sherlock shouts.

"Sherlock!" Mycroft yells and storms to the bathroom.

"The monster!" he gasps and crawls through Mycroft's legs. Him and Redbeard run downstairs and stop in the hallway. He looks at the last message on the map.

Follow the smell and ye will find the treasure.

Sherlock sniffs and smells 3 distinct scents but doesn't know which smell to follow knowing two will be fake. One smells like his mother's perfume, the second smells like biscuits and the third smells like fish. He sighs and turns the map over reading a clue. Trust your gut instinct.

Sherlock looks up smiling and dashes to the kitchen where he sees a plate full of biscuits in the shapes of treasure chests and pirate hats all decorated with icing and are surrounded with chocolate coins. There is a plate full of dog biscuits too. He walks up to it but he is picked up by a large pirate.

"Not so fast matey. I have to see whether ye passed the test."

"Redbeard, drop."

Redbeard drops the biscuit at their feet.

"I see ye passed the test. Congratulations ye found the treasure."

Sherlock is placed back onto the ground and they all sit around the kitchen table. The large pirate takes off his hat and fills two cups with milk.

"Did you have fun?"

"I loved it dad! I accidentally disturbed the monster but we just survived."

Mr Holmes laughs and gives Sherlock his milk. They eat their biscuits made by Mrs Holmes and Sherlock feeds Redbeard his prize too.

"Can we play again tomorrow?"

"Sorry Sherlock I have to work tomorrow, today was my day off. I can play again in two weeks hopefully."

"Ok." Sherlock says sadly. Mr Holmes picks him up and spins him around causing him to laugh.

"There you go, now you're happy again. We still have the rest of the day to play together."

"Can we watch TV?"

"Sure."

Sherlock quickly eats his last biscuit and drinks his milk. He takes his dad's hand and they walk to the living room.

John walks over to Sherlock and places a hand on Sherlock's shoulder.

"Are you ok?"

Sherlock jumps at the contact and closes his eyes nodding. He opens his eyes and closes the book. His face is almost expressionless again but John can see the pain in his eyes that remembering his childhood has brought him.

"You don't have to keep things bottled up."

"It's for the best."

"Your eyes are sad yet there's a faint smile on your lips..."

Knowing John wants an answer he decides to open up briefly.

"My dad would read me this book most nights. It was one of my favourites. Whenever he had a day off work he would make me a pirate map directing me to puzzles throughout the house, once they were completed I could find the treasure. Redbeard, my dog, was always involved and there would always be a reward for him too. Anyway to answer your unasked question, yes I am sad as Redbeard was the closest thing I had to a bestfriend while I was a child and his death destroyed me but playing with him and my Dad...it is one of the few happy memories I have from my childhood."

John can see that Sherlock is still hurting so he sits next to him, closer than usual but he doesn't initiate anything. Sherlock moves closer and rests his head on John's shoulder. He knows that this is becoming a habit but contact with John calms him.

"The more we do to look after Hamish the further into our own childhoods we will go."

"I know…." Sherlock whispers and drifts off.

"My childhood wasn't perfect either. Harry was expelled from numerous schools for being drunk on school premises so we moved a lot meaning I didn't have many friends. My dad left us briefly because she wasn't heterosexual and my mum didn't talk or do much after that. I grew up practically fatherless…" John stops talking as his voice starts shaking. He clears his throat. Sherlock sits up and holds John's hands."

"Well you're not alone now and neither am I."

"You're awfully human since we found Hamish"

"Is that a bad thing?"

"It's weird but it's nice you opening up to me for once."

"Hmmm. So you like that I show my emotions even though I don't want to and that I'm more physical?"

"I just…I like that you trust me. Anyway, we should finish unpacking"

"Ok." They stand up still holding hands then let go as they go about putting stuff away.

"Oh."

Sherlock opens a box full of baby food, milk formula, plastic plates, plastic cutlery and clear plastic beakers. On top is a note. A month supply of food for your child. Good luck brother dear. – MH

"What?" John asks.

"Mycroft is sticking his nose into business that does not require him again."

"You know we should thank him."

Sherlock glares at him.

"Ok, I'll thank him."

"Where is Hamish?"

They stare at each other having forgotten about the child which all this is for. They look about the living room to where he last was. Movement comes from under the pile of teddies laid on the floor earlier. They remove some and find the boy wriggling about the soft toys. He looks at them and smiles. Sherlock picks him up and holds him against his chest.

"Ok. We need to always know where he is."

"Deal."

"It's been 2 days since he's eaten or drank anything relatively nutritious."

John picks a bottle of baby food, sweet squash and chicken, out of the box and places the tub of milk powder on the side. He makes up the milk and warms up the food in one of the plastic bowls.

"Could we order takeaway tonight?"

"So you're finally going to start eating?"

Sherlock rolls his eyes but replies, "I don't have a case and although I'm bored out of my skull I won't be taking any for a while. I might as well eat. It gives me something to do."

John smirks and calls their usual Chinese takeout. Sherlock picks up the bowl with the blended food and starts spooning it to Hamish. Hamish's eyes go wide as he a familiar taste enters his mouth. He looks at Sherlock as if he's a stranger.

"I know the last time you ate it was your mother feeding you. I am not your mother but you are under our protection and I will make sure you're fed and that you're warm and that you're safe."

Hamish looks at Sherlock, he's not vacant and it seems what he just said Hamish understood. He opens his mouth and Sherlock spoons in another mouthful of the yellow mush. When the bowl is empty he hands Hamish the beaker with milk and he starts drinking it. Sherlock sits in his chair, still cradling Hamish and picks up one of the 'How to look after your baby.' The rest of the evening passes by quickly; they eat their dinner and John joins Sherlock reading the parenting books, they differentiate between who holds Hamish.

John stretches and looks at his watch.

"We should put Hamish to bed."

Sherlock checks his phone, 9:30pm. John puts down his book and holds Hamish close to his chest as he walks to Sherlock's room. He lays Hamish on to bed and wraps a blanket around him before kissing his forehead and exiting the room.

9:40pm

Loud cries echo through the flat and John and Sherlock sit up immediately. They look to each other and then run to Sherlock's room. John keeps a hand on his gun in his back pocket thinking there's an intruder but when they enter the crying stops and Hamish stretches his arms to them.

"Isn't he tired?" Sherlock asks yawning.

"I don't think he likes being left alone."

"Oh." Sherlock yawns again and rubs his eyes.

"Well you are tired so go rest. I can look after him until he goes back to sleep."

Sherlock nods and goes to lie in his bed. He picks up Hamish and hands him to John.

I'm never tired…why am I tired?

"John?" Sherlock calls drearily.

"Yes?"

"I think I'm ill…I'm never tired."

"You haven't taken a case in weeks so you're not using your brain as much. Keeping a constant eye on Hamish and settling him into a regular routine means that you are settling into that routine too like an ordinary person."

"But I'm not like ordinary people…" he says quietly.

"Well you haven't slept adequately for a long time so this is your body catching up."

Sherlock just nods and falls to sleep immediately.

"Now I have two children to look after."

John places Hamish on Sherlock and drapes a blanket over them. He looks at them both. It's funny how similar they are; Hamish could be mistaken as Sherlock's biological son despite his blue eyes.

Sherlock shifts slightly and drapes an arm across Hamish. John smiles adoringly and returns to the living room to put all the books and toys away before he heads to his own bed and surrenders to a serene sleep.

A/N – Thanks for all the lovely reviews :) Next chapter will be uploaded on Friday 8th xox