Chapter 3

Welcome to 221b Baker Street

I practically leap out of the cab as it stops in front of my new home. In front of me looms a large, black door, with an elegant knocker, slightly askew. '221b' stares at me, glinting golden in the sunlight. I stand, rooted to the spot for a moment in nervousness. Sherlock makes his way past me, and pushes open the door. He takes a step in, then turns around when he realizes that I'm not following. "Come on. We haven't got all day, you know." he says impatiently. I unfreeze and walk towards the door. I step into a hallway, with a staircase to my left, and a door to my right. "Mrs. Hudson!" Sherlock calls. Mrs. Hudson…his landlady. He mentioned her a few times while we were talking.

An elderly woman stands in the doorway to my right, looking at me with a bemused and inquisitive expression. "Sherlock…" she asked, confusedly. "Who…"

"Mrs. Hudson, this is Lucy Ferrier, my recently adopted daughter." Sherlock said briskly.

Mrs. Hudson's eyes widen, and then she smiles. She positively beams, her eyes shining. "Sherlock, this is wonderful!"

Sherlock looks slightly nervous at Mrs. Hudson's displays of emotions. I decide to ease his nervousness a little bit by formally introducing myself to Mrs. Hudson, because she looks about ready to hug Sherlock, and I know for a fact that he will not be as lenient with her as he was with me.

"Hello." I say quietly, stepping towards her.

She bends down slightly to come eye to eye with me, and then gives me a big hug. "Hello, dear. It's lovely to meet you." Then she looks up at Sherlock. "Where will she be sleeping?"

This is a good point. I hadn't thought of that fact.

"I was thinking she could take John's old room. If that's okay."

"Of course it is, dear."

"Excellent." Sherlock looks at me. "Lucy, come with me."

He hurries up the stairs, and I follow him eagerly. We speed up two flights before he comes to a halt. "Here." He pushes open the door, and I step inside a plain and simple room. It looks as though it hasn't been lived in for a while. Sherlock sets down the suitcase containing my things in the middle of the room. "I'll leave you to unpack." he says.

He turns and strides briskly out of the room, without a backward glance. I walk towards the bed and sit down. I wonder about the man who lived in this room, before I did. John Watson. Sherlock didn't mention him a lot, but I know that the two of them were best friends. Or maybe they still are. I don't know. I get up of the bed, go to the suitcase, and begin to unpack.

Sherlock's POV

Lucy Ferrier. My daughter. The word is foreign to me, unknown. A lot like her. Unknown. A wild card, an anomaly. She is one of the two people who has managed to worm their way into my heart. Whatever Sergeant Donovan says, I do have one. But it scares me. The feeling of sentiment.

Love.

Love is one of those things I don't think I can ever completely understand. Sure, The chemistry is very simple, but feelings, emotions, are a lot harder. Caring is not an advantage. Mycroft drummed this into my head from a very young age. But still, sometimes, human instinct takes over. My heart opens, and I am overwhelmed. And afraid. Everything cascades over me at once, and things go wrong. The last time I let emotions control me, I killed a man. This time, I've adopted a girl. An extraordinarily intelligent girl, with wisdom beyond her years. Who knows what will happen next.

Lucy's POV

I walk down and open the door to the living area of the flat. Sherlock is sat in an armchair by the fireplace. I take a moment to look around the flat – my home, now. It is different to my home before, but in in a good way. I quite like it. Then I take a closer look at the mantelpiece.

"Is that a skull?"

"Yes." Sherlock regarded me with a look. "Honestly. Don't you know basic biology?"

"Of course." I say, slightly insulted. I wonder, for a moment, how Sherlock got a skull. But I get the feeling that I probably won't want to hear the answer. I cross over to the armchair opposite Sherlock, and flop down. He tenses. "What?" I ask.

He hesitates. "Nothing."

"Are you sure?"

He looks at me in the chair again, almost sadly. "Yes."

I look at him, and then he sighs. It is quiet for a while.

"It was where John sat, when he lived here. If you really want to know." he blurts.

I get up and sit on the floor. "Then I won't sit there. It can stay his."

Sherlock stares at me. He looks so surprised, it's almost funny.

"What was he like? John, I mean." I ask.

"He was a doctor in the army, invalided out of Afghanistan with a wound in the shoulder when I met him." He spoke matter-of-factly. "He came into Bart's morgue, and the very first thing he did was offer me his phone. Next day, we had moved in with each other and we were solving crimes together."

"That was fast." I remark.

"Yes." He smirks at me, and I grin back. Then, we both burst out laughing simultaneously for absolutely no reason, other than the fact it feels good. We laugh and laugh, until we hear a knock at the door. We both freeze instantly. "Sherlock! It's John."

Sherlock cursed under his breath. I couldn't hear it completely, but I'm still shocked (Sherlock, swearing!). He hurried to the door and thrust it open.

A short man with grey-blonde hair and a woolly brown jumper + jeans stood in the doorway, holding a baby in his arms. "Hey, Sherlock, I thought I'd visit with Willow." The man –John- spoke in a free, open way with Sherlock. He jiggled the baby gently up and down. Sherlock hesitated a moment, then waved John in.

John was halfway in the room before he noticed me, and stopped short. "Sherlock, who is this?" he said, scarily calm.

"Oh, John, this is Lucy, my daughter."

"Your daughter?!" The look on John's face was comical.

Sherlock rolled his eyes. "Yes, John. Why else would I have a child in the flat?" John opened his mouth to retort, but Sherlock got there first. "Don't answer that."

"You…actually…" John coughed. I don't understand what it means, but Sherlock looks scandalized, then embarrassed. "NO!" he yells, far to loudly.

I salvage the situation. "I'm adopted."

John looks half relived, half shocked. "I need to sit down." He flops down into his chair with such familiarity, it is strange to me. Sherlock sat down in his chair with slightly more grace. The two regard each other carefully. I feel like I could cut the tension with an imaginary knife.

It's a long moment before anybody speaks. Then, John practically jumps up. "I can't stand this! I'm making tea. Can you hold Willow?"

Sherlock tries to stutter out a protest, but John gently places the baby –Willow- into his arms. "She's not a nuclear bomb, Sherlock! Holding her won't kill you!" Sherlock almost protests again, but then Willow coos softly. His expression softens slightly, and he settles into a more comfortable position. John looks both satisfied and triumphant, and bustles off to make the tea. I crawl over to Sherlock's armchair to get a better look at the tiny baby. I take in her mop of pale blonde hair, her bright, surprisingly intelligent blue eyes, and her minute fingers. "She's gorgeous." I breathe.

Sherlock smiles a little wider.

"Why, thank you." says John, as he comes back towards the armchairs with two steaming mugs of tea. I giggle, as Sherlock looks affronted. "Yes Sherlock, besotted as you are with her, she is not your daughter. Although," he added, as Sherlock looked even more offended, "if you carry on like this, she might as well be. She's even named after you, for God's sake." I look confused for a moment, so he elaborates. "This idiot's full name is William Sherlock Scott Holmes, and the gorgeous little girl in his arms is named Willow Scarlett Sherlock Watson."

"Ohhhhh." I say, and then grin. "That makes sense."

Sherlock glares at John. "I am not an idiot; I am the complete opposite of an idiot."

John coughs. "Ninety-nine percent of the time."

Sherlock looks half ready to strangle John, so I say quickly "Can I hold her?"

John smiles. "Of course." He goes over to Sherlock and pries Willow out of his arms. She lets out a short cry, and squirms a little. "Hey, hey." John whispers, as he bounces her up and down. "Shh." He gently bends down and helps get her comfy in my arms. When we've found a good position, he stands up and gets back into his chair.

I've never held a baby before - being an only child, I've never had any younger siblings to fawn over. Holding Willow feels strangely nice, comforting, even. I lose track of time as I coo over her and pull faces to make her giggle. It seems like only a few minutes (but in fact it is much longer) before John sighs and says "I had better get home to Mary." Reluctantly, I let him take Willow from me.

"Well," John smiles, fussing over Willow, "it was lovely to meet you, Lucy."

"It was lovely to meet you too." I say.

"Thanks. See you soon, Sherlock." John calls, as he opens the door and hurries down the stairs.

I close the door behind him, and turn to look at Sherlock. "I like him. I'd like to meet Mary too, someday."

Sherlock shrugs. "You'll definitely meet her soon, if John's 'social calls' turn out to be a regular occurrence – which, judging by his manner, is what he hopes." He mutters under his breath darkly - something along the lines of 'not a child anymore' and 'haven't taken anything since the last time they caught me!' I don't know what this means, and I don't ask. I glance over at the window. "It's getting dark outside. I should probably go to bed." Sherlock only goes "Mmmm." in response. He has settled into an odd position, leaning back in his chair with his hands pressed together, as if he's praying, but I somehow know he's not. "Sherlock?" I ask quietly. He doesn't respond. I sigh quietly, and go upstairs to bed without an answer.

3rd person POV

James Moriarty leaned back in his plush office chair, beaming psychotically. "Oh, Sherlock. You still manage to surprise me. And yet, I've got the upper hand. I will finally get to burn your heart, with the help of my little trap." He dissolved into a fit of mad, awful laughter.

A/N: Hello again. (smiley face). It's been a while, but this chapter took longer to write than I had anticipated. Also, I'm going away on holiday, so I probably won't get to update until I get back.

Thanks to Kura06 for spotting my typo, and thanks to 16magnolias for reviewing once more!

I hope you all enjoyed reading, and I will see you next time!