Rosie was in kindergarten when the bullying began. Lyssa and John had spent weeks looking at primary schools trying to pick one with excellent academic standards as well as good extracurriculars. Sherlock had suggested sending her to a private school but John had insisted she attend a public school until Middle School. When Rosie started going to school all day Lyssa had thought her role would be reduced but both John and Sherlock had been quick to reassure her that she was still a full time member of the household, she did start working on her own hobbies however to fill the extra time. She was at the curb every day at 2pm waiting for Rosies bus and every day Rosie would fly off the bus bursting with all the new things she'd learned and done that day. Every day except this one.
Lyssa watched Rosie climb down the steps and walk to her so subdued that Lyssa hurried forward worried that the child was sick. "Rosie?" She asked softly crouching down to get a better look. "Are you feeling ok?"
Rosie nodded and tucked her small hand into Lyssa's. Lyssa gave her a concerned look but walked up the stairs to the flat with her and set out a snack, Rosie perked up fairly quickly and chattered happily about her class and what she'd learned that day. Lyssa brushed her worries aside and passed the evening with Rosie, John and Sherlock. But when Rosie returned from school the next day and the day after with the same subdued attitude she started to worry for real. She tried getting it out of Rosie but the girl kept insisting that she was fine and she always perked up quickly after returning home. Lyssa wondered if it might be low blood sugar and started sending her to school with bigger lunches hoping that it was just fatigue from a long day.
About four months into the school year Sherlock and John ended up taking a case in France and were gone for several days when it all came to a head, Lyssa watched the bus pull up and Rosie trudged down the steps and onto the sidewalk. Lyssa felt her stomach drop at just how beaten down the little girl looked but what clinched it for her was when Rosie rushed into her arms and started crying. Lyssa knelt on the sidewalk and looked the girl over with her heart pounding in her ears at the bruise on her chin and the patch of hair behind her ear where a hank of hair had been yanked out. She picked Rosie up and carried her upstairs where she checked Rosie over for other marks. "Rosie, who did this?" She asked but Rosie simply shook her head and refused to answer.
Lyssa called the school and asked to speak to Rosie teacher who denied any such injuries while the girl was in class, Lyssa tried the headmaster and was given the same answer, she called the bus driver and was again given the same answer. Rosie was sitting at the table picking at her food and Lyssa felt a sense of helplessness at the beaten look on the girls face. After thinking how she wanted to handle the situation Lyssa decided to take Sherlocks favorite tactic with the girl and speak to her as if she were much older. Rosie liked that her papa treated her like a big girl so Lyssa fixed two cups of tea and set one down in front of her before sitting across from her. "Rosie. Can we talk?" She asked reasonably.
Rosie bit her lower lip then nodded and picked up her cup of tea. Lyssa took a sip of her tea before she started. "You have been in kindergarten for nearly five months now. Do you like school?"
Rosie nodded enthusiastically. "I love school. I learn lots and lots and my teachers let me read anything on the shelf and I get lots of answers right. And I get to take care of the turtle every day."
Lyssa smiled running her finger along the edge of the cup. "That's really cool Rosie. What about your teachers? Do you like them?"
Rosie nodded and drank some of her tea trying her best to look like a grown up. "Mrs McNielle says I'm the best at numbers and letters and Mr. Caffrey says I'm the fastest runner."
Lyssa nodded. "Did you tell Mrs. McNielle that your daddies taught you your letters and numbers?"
"Uh huh! And I can name all kinds of aminals and fishes. And Papa has been teaching me french!" She grinned happily and Lyssa wondered if maybe she'd jumped the gun on her fears, Rosie seemed genuinely happy about school.
Lyssa decided to ask her last question which she was sure would tell her whether she needed to be really worried about Rosie and her bruises. "How do you like the other kids? Do you have any friends you want to bring over?"
Rosie stopped smiling and looked down at her teacup running her little fingers over the handle. She shook her head. "I don't have any friends."
Lyssa pressed her lips together and took a deep breath. "None at all? How come sweetie?"
"They say I'm a smartie pants and a teachers pet." Rosie said softly. "They say I talk too much and that papa is weird so I'm weird and…"
She sniffled and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. "And they call me a cry baby."
Lyssa reached over and patted her hand gently making Rosie look up at her. "Did they give you that bruise? And did they pull your hair?"
Rosie's face crumpled and she started to cry, Lyssa pulled her into her lap and rocked her gently letting her cry it out. "They steal my lunches and push me around and call me names." Rosie whimpered into Lyssas shoulder. "And when I cry sometimes they laugh at me. Today I tripped at recess and hurt my chin and Donny Gerald laughed at me and pulled my hair."
Lyssa rubbed her back and made soft shushing noises until Rosie had calmed. She leaned back and looked at Rosies face. "Honey why didn't you tell me you were being bullied?"
"Papa says that sometimes people say mean things about him and he doesn't care… He says it doesn't matter what people say…" Rosie swiped at her nose and Lyssa grabbed a tissue mopping the girls face.
"Rosie. Papa is a grown up, he's had a very long time to learn who is being a bully and who is just afraid of him. And papa doesn't think like everyone else. He doesn't think like you or me, and sometimes he forgets that you're a little girl and not a grown up girl. It's not ok to be bullied, or to be a bully no matter who you are or how old you are and you have to tell us when someone is being a bully." She smoothed Rosies bangs back.
"But sometimes people are mean to daddy too. Papa says mean things to him sometimes…" Rosie scrunched up her nose.
"And I'm going to talk to papa about that. For now until you're bigger if someone says mean things to you or hurts your body you have to tell a grown up ok?"
Rosie nodded and Lyssa kissed her forehead. "Ok. Finish your tea, Daddy and Papa will be calling on skype before bedtime."
Rosie finished her tea then went to play while Lyssa made a few phone calls to the Headmaster and the teachers to set up a face to face meeting the next morning. She checked the clock and started dinner. By seven she was wondering why the skype call hadn't come in yet, she checked the computer frequently but by seven thirty there was still no call and she was getting worried. John and Sherlock had been away for four days and they hadn't missed a bedtime call yet. She decided to get Rosie started on her bedtime routine "Rosie, please pick up your toys?"
Rosie did as she was asked and Lyssa got her into her pyjamas and still there was no skype call. She sighed and sat down cross legged on the floor beside Rosie who was reading one of her books while she waited. "Rosie honey, I don't think daddy and papa are going to be able to call tonight. Would you like to stay up a little longer and read a book with me or do you want to go right to bed?"
Rosie pouted and Lyssa tapped her protruding lower lip. "A little bird is going to land on that lip."
Rosie giggled and covered her lips. "Can we go see Mrs Hudson before bed instead?"
Lyssa nodded. "I think that's a good idea. Go put your slippers on."
Mr Hudson was happy to see Rosie and they sat on her little couch while Mrs Hudson read her stories. Rosie was yawning and half asleep when Lyssa decided that it was well past her bedtime and picked her up carrying her up to her bed. She was still worried about John and Sherlock missing the bedtime call but she was too worried about her morning meeting at the school to really think about it too much. By ten pm she had fallen asleep on the couch a book resting on her chest and didn't even hear the soft sound of the key in the lock. John and Sherlock crept into the flat and smiled at each other seeing Lyssa asleep on the couch. John carefully covered her with a blanket and plugged her phone in next to her before they went to their own beds.
Lyssa woke the next morning to Rosie's excited squeals and Johns laughter. She struggled up and looked around. Rosie rushed over and hugged her. "They came back, they came back!"
Lyssa smiled and got up as Sherlock strode into the room. "Rosie what did we say about waking Lyssa?"
"But she was already up." Rosie said.
"She was." John confirmed as Lyssa levered herself off the couch with a smile.
Lyssa checked the clock and winced, she'd apparently slept through her alarm. "Rosie, you need to get dressed for school, the bus will be here in ten minutes, quick quick like a bunny."
She darted into the kitchen and grabbed Rosies lunch out of the fridge and started looking for Rosies school bag. Rosie darted into her room and came out a few minutes later dressed. "Hug your daddy and papa quick."
Rosie gave them each a hug and a loud kiss on the cheek before they ran down the stairs just in time for Lyssa to get Rosie on the bus. John and Sherlock watched them go and Sherlock gave John a light smile before he went into his kitchen and began pulling out his beakers and chemicals. When Lyssa came back up the stairs she greeted them both with a smile and a quick hug. "What time did you get in?"
"Around midnight. We wanted to surprise Rosie." John replied and fixed a cup of tea.
Lyssa made some toast and they sat at the table eating. So how was the week?" John asked after a minute.
Lyssa set her toast down and cupped her chin in her hand debating what to say. She decided to just spit it out. "John… Rosie is being bullied at School."
Sherlocks head snapped up. "What?"
John looked like he'd been slapped and Sherlock abandoned his set up to come sit at their table. Lyssa sighed. "She's been coming home the last few month very subdued but I thought it was just low blood sugar or a busy exhausting day at school, she's only five and school can be very demanding, so I started packing her more food and making sure she got more sleep but yesterday she came home in tears with a patch of hair torn away. I managed to get her to talk about it."
"Who?" Sherlock asked his pale eyes hard.
"I have already called her school and arranged a meeting with the headmaster and teachers for later today." Lyssa said avoiding the question.
Sherlock would not be ignored however and pressed the issue. "Who has been bullying her?" His voice was low and hard.
"According to Rosie, all of the children." Lyssa replied with a sigh.
John squeezed his hands together. "Why wouldn't she say anything to us?" He asked quietly.
Lyssa rested a hand on each of theirs and they looked at her a little surprised. "Because she thinks it's ok."
Sherlock stood up fast and the chair clattered over. "Why would she think that?!"
Lyssa stood and righted the chair. "Sherlock please sit down."
He shook his head and paced the kitchen angrily. "I knew this would happen. Children are cruel little creatures."
Lyssa looked at John who had a sad, tired look on his face. She chose to address John since he seemed like he was in a more receptive mood. "She said she thought it was ok because Sherlock gets called mean names all the time and he doesn't seem to care and because Sherlock sometimes says mean things to you." Her quiet statement fell into the kitchen like a bomb and Sherlock sank into the chair abruptly his eyes wide.
John took a breath and let it out slow. "So… she's been trying to be a grown up… like us…"
Lyssa nodded. "She idolizes you two. Her daddy and papa who solve crimes and can do anything. She tells anyone who will listen that her daddy was a soldier and her papa is the worlds best detective. She's told everyone at Tescos." She smiled a little. "She's very proud of you two and proud to be your daughter."
Sherlock was sitting so still Lyssa wondered if he was even breathing, she kept going knowing he could hear every word and would file it away in his mind palace. "I've told her that from now on if she is bullied she has to tell a grown up. And like I said I'm going to talk to the school about this."
"What do we do about it here?" John asked wrapping his hands around the cup of tea in front of him.
"I don't really know…" Lyssa said softly. "You and Sherlock banter, it's part of who you are and I don't think you should change that and Sherlock lets insults roll off his back… at least in public…"
"What do you mean in public?" Sherlock asked suddenly.
Lyssa gave him a reproving look that made him want to duck his head. "Sherlock, you can act like it doesn't bother you when Donovan calls you a freak, you can brush off what the press says or what the public says but I know it hurts you. I've been living with you for nearly four years and I know the little signs that your feelings are hurt. And Rosie is too little to understand what she's observing, she doesn't know it hurts you, she only knows that your shrug it off. You're the yardstick that she measures herself against, you both are and she wants to be just like you."
Sherlock and John exchanged glances, they had both underestimated Lyssa and her own powers of observation. Sherlock looked down at his hands and Lyssa reached over to cover his hand with one of her own small hands. "I'm not asking you to change Sherlock. You are who you are for better or worse and Rosie loves you the way you are. Just… help me explain to her that she needs to tell someone when she's being hurt. At least until she's older."
Sherlock turned his hand over and wrapped his long fingers around her hand. John reached over and curled his big hand around theirs. "We can do that." He said softly.
They all sat like that for a long moment, united as a family. When Lyssa got up to get ready for her appointment with the school John and Sherlock joined her. The Headmaster never knew what hit him when Rosies father and her only mother figure showed up as a united force for the good of their little girl. The bullying didn't stop completely but Rosie did start coming home with more of her usual cheer.
