John walked back into the lab to see Molly busy at her desk and Sherlock fiddling with various chemicals. He attempted to ignore his growing discomfort at leaving the twins with little success, the worry that something could happen to them was slowly growing. He walked up to Sherlock, readying himself for the argument he knew was coming.
"What exactly do you think you're doing?" John asked Sherlock accusingly.
"Paternity test." Sherlock stated simply. Molly spluttered behind them, shocked at the possibility of Sherlock being a father.
"You know that's not what I mean. Besides when exactly did you get a chance to get any of their DNA while you were completely ignoring them."
"While they were sleeping." John was very much struggling not to shout at Sherlock.
"Do you realise what an invasion of privacy that is? Sherlock you can't do stuff like that."
"Yes well it's an urgent matter." John huffed in annoyance.
"Sherlock, even if they turn out not to be yours the way you've been treating them is awful. You can't just ignore them. They've obviously been through a lot and you're not helping I mean...I heard them talking about running away."
"Good. Let them." John was truly baffled by Sherlock's disinterest.
"How can you say that!"
"They have nothing to do with me why do I care."
"Shabnam looks just like you!" Sherlock looked at John in desperation. However John had never seen Sherlock truly desperate so interpreted his facial expression as being one of derision.
"That doesn't mean she's mine, people can look like each other without being related."
"God you're frustrating." John said as he sat on a seat near Sherlock, his arms angrily crossed. Sherlock continued with his work, becoming less convinced that the children weren't his. Molly had watched the entire scene unfold with shock and slight horror. Sherlock being a parent was not something she had ever thought possible. She'd had a crush on him for a while now, but when fantasising about their future never once had she considered children as the idea seemed so ridiculous she couldn't even bring herself to imagine it. It wasn't that Sherlock wasn't caring, she'd seen how loving he could be in his own way, it was just that he had a tendency to be harsh. Nonetheless, she had hope that he would rise to the challenge and be a good father if the children were his, which she thought incredibly likely considering the resemblance.
"Its not all bad, they've got free tea." Shabnam rolled her eyes at her brother. She was in a foul mood, she felt sick of being treated like such a burden. She'd disagreed with Sohail that morning about just leaving but she was really starting to see the appeal. Sure John had been very apologetic but being dumped in some shitty waiting room was not her idea of a good time, she supposed it was better than going back home though...not that there was much of a home to go back to.
"They might as well have let us stay in bed. Do you reckon they're ever coming back? They've been gone forever, I think they've decided to abandon us here." Sohail chuckled at his sister's dramatics.
"It's been like half an hour, relax. Besides he's probably gone to do a paternity test and that's gonna take some time."
"Yes I know that but they could hurry it up a tad."
"Divorced." Sohail said with a smile. Shabnam turned to see the man he was looking at and signed dramatically. "Desperately single too."
"I don't want to play." Sohail nudged her with his elbow.
"Only because you know you'd lose." Shabnam gave him a determined look, figuring she had nothing better to do.
"Not that desperate, he had sex last night." Sohail looked at her confusedly.
"What? No he didn't!"
"With a guy." Sohail looked closer and reluctantly realised she was right.
"Shit. You win." She smiled smugly, but the joy of her victory was brief once she remembered how incredibly bored she was.
"Orphans." The twins turned around to see where the statement had come from. They saw a boy around their age slouched a few chairs away from them, his hands stuffed into the pockets of his baggy hoodie.
"What did you say?" Asked Sohail in shock, they'd not said it out loud yet and to hear it said by a stranger was irrevocably painful.
"Was I right?" The twins shared a pained look, they didn't want to be dealing with this right now.
"Who even are you?" questioned Shabnam.
"Guess." the boy said as he turned to face them.
"You're such a dick." Sohail exclaimed with a smile. Shabnam immediately rushed over and pulled the boy into a tight hug, much to his surprise.
"Alex where the fuck have you been? Do you know how hard we looked for you, I really hate you right now." Alex patted her awkwardly on the back.
"Traditionally you don't hug people you hate." Shabnam pulled back from the hug and swatted his arm lightly. She beamed at him, excited to see her old childhood friend.
"No but really, where did you go? You just vanished, it was like you never even existed. Honestly, if it wasn't for some pictures Mum took I'd have thought we'd imagined you." Sohail looked at Alex seriously, as much as he had missed his old friend his re-appearance was very suspicious.
"My dad showed up, things got pretty hectic after that. I tried to get back in contact but...I dunno...I figured you guys would probably be busy and stuff." Shabnam frowned at him. She saw his discomfort and it pained her. Alex had always had low self-esteem, they'd constantly had to reassure him that he was their best friend and that they genuinely liked him. It seemed likely that once he'd left he'd have convinced himself they were glad he was gone, which couldn't be further from the truth.
"Alex, we missed you loads. You're still our best friend, you know that right? Besides we could never be too busy for you." Alex looked awkwardly at the floor, he struggled to hide his emotions.
"Yeah but you had school and stuff, I didn't want to get in the way." Alex was trying his hardest not to let himself cry. It had been so long since he'd seen them, and he greatly regretted everything that had happened between them.
"School's such a bore," Sohail said, walking over to sit on the other side of Alex, "besides you're the only one that could keep up with us."
Alex chuckled and wiped a tear from his eyes, happy to be with his friends once again. "As if! You were the ones keeping up with me." The friends laughed together, all feeling young again. "I'm sorry about your mum, she was really nice. I missed her a lot when I left...I can't believe she's gone."
Shabnam rested her head on Alex's shoulder. "She used to think of you as her honorary son you know, she left you some stuff in her will, she always hoped you'd come back. God she'd be so happy to see you...not sure she'd recognise you though you though, you've got so tall!"
"Yes well puberty tends to do that to you." They laughed together and continued to catch up over the next few hours. Alex told them about why he had disappeared and the twins told him all about the last few years.
Alex had been living with his grandmother since he was a baby, his mother had died in childbirth and his dad hadn't been able to cope and had run away. Alex had always been a strange child and didn't get on with other children, they often bullied him for his quiet and strange ways, it got so bad that him and his grandmother had to move away. Luckily for Alex his new neighbours were just as strange as him, and he became good friends with the twins. They would spend every day together, playing and having fun. This all changed when they were 12 and Alex and his grandmother completely disappeared. Their house was completely empty, no one knew where they had gone. Alex told them that his dad had come back and they had all moved to Paris, because it was all very last-minute he hadn't had a chance to say goodbye and he'd felt too nervous to get back in contact. The twins understood this, but still felt that Alex was hiding something from them. They didn't push the topic though, just glad he was back in their lives. They were sure Alex would tell them when he was ready.