We Shall All Burn Together – Chapter Eight
Sherlock awoke to the sound of seagulls outside and the sun beating down on his bare skin. He slowly opened his eyes and found his arms to be wrapped around another person. Eve was sleeping soundly tucked up at his side, her head buried in his chest. Sherlock watched the small rise and fall of her delicate body and the occasional murmurs escaping her perfect lips Sherlock kissed so many times during the previous nights' activities.
It was a little unexpected, yes, but neither of them would ever regret it. Sherlock couldn't deny it: he never stopped loving her. He pressed a kiss to the top of her head and stroked her bare back, causing her to stir. She blinked rapidly as her eyes adjusted to the light that flooded their hotel room, then she looked up at Sherlock and smiled.
"Good morning," Sherlock's deep voice rumbled through his chest.
"Morning," Eve said groggily before stretching and reaching over the other side of the bed for her phone. She checked the time and sighed before being pulled back by Sherlock and collapsing against his front, which he then proceeded to press light kisses all over her neck and back. Eve's eyes closed in absolute bliss. The two of them just lay there for a good long while listening to each other's heartbeats and sharing sweet kisses. Eventually around half eleven Eve went to get out of bed. She sat up and sighed deeply.
"You okay?" Sherlock asked leaning over kissing her bare back. Eve chuckled quietly and turning to Sherlock.
"I'm all tired out, I don't even have the energy to get out of bed." Sherlock smirked in his victory of rendering his lover unable to move.
"You were up for almost anything last night," Sherlock noted. The two took a moment to remember the night and all of the games and numerous positions they had played around with.
He heard Eve chuckle at the memory and she turned to kiss the underside of Sherlock's sharp jaw. Before Sherlock had the opportunity to entice Eve back to bed and suggest they spend the whole day in bed, she rose and wobbled to the bathroom. He distinctly heard the tap for the shower start to run and Sherlock finally had the incentive to get out of bed and join Eve in the shower.
He wasn't sure how long they were in there, but the water ran ice cold by the time they were finished.
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Time passed. Sherlock continued on Eve's case, but often focused his attentions on the incoming clients for a couple of weeks of so, while he waited for leads on Eve's case to surface. The season's changed and before they knew it, it was Christmas. Eve and Sherlock didn't really want to go to the effort of getting a Christmas tree or decorations of any sort, John's hideous jumpers more than made up for that. John was now living at Mary's and Sherlock and Eve pretty much had the apartment to themselves. However Mrs Hudson insisted that they at least have some Christmas lights put up. So one cold winter's morning Eve sat by the open fire and watched in amusement as Sherlock attempted to untangle and put up a chain of LED lights around the window frame. It didn't go according to plan. Every few moments Sherlock would curse to himself and kick the 'stupid leads' away. One time he even tripped and fell flat on his face. Eve laughed so hard she could scarcely breathe. She eventually died down to short bursts of giggles and went to see if Sherlock was okay. She called his name and got an annoyed grunt as a reply. She bent down to check for injuries and the next thing she knew Sherlock had rugby tackled her to the ground and was pinned beneath him. The two stared at each other for a few moments, trying to determine who would strike first. Sherlock leaned down and kissed Eve's full lips. The two of them would've continued with their sexual advances, but were disturbed when they heard the familiar clearing of the throat. They both looked in the direction of the noise and saw John standing there with a bottle of wine in his hand, staring open mouthed at the sight before him.
"Ah, John! Come in!" Sherlock said still laying on top of Eve. "We were just…putting up some decorations…" John saw a tangled pile of Christmas lights left abandoned in the corner. Eve started to giggle again and wormed her way out of Sherlock's grasp.
"I'm going to change if we're having company," she said as she wondered off into Sherlock's bedroom. John noticed how Eve was wearing one of Sherlock's shirts again. Sherlock watched her go with a smirk on his face. He wasn't finished with her and she knew it.
"So…you and Eve then?" John asked to fill the awkward silence.
"Hmm?"
"You and Eve, you two seem…happy?"
"Yes. We are." Sherlock answered confused. John knew Eve and Sherlock were technically engaged, was it really so hard to believe that every now and then they would be caught up in amorous activities?
"So you two are in a good place..." John was obviously trying to get at something, but Sherlock was too distracted to play this game.
"John if you have something to say just say it,"
"Sherlock, she's been with you a while don't you think it's time to move things forward again?"
"What are you talking about?" John sighed in frustration and put the bottle of wine on the coffee table, to punctuate the point he was about to make.
"Are you going to marry her or not?!" John asked a little too loudly. Sherlock's eyes widened. Marriage. Well that was the original plan, but things had changed, the circumstances were different. However there was something in Sherlock that said getting married to Eve was the logical option. Not very romantic he realised, but then again Eve was well aware Sherlock Holmes was not the most romantic man in the world.
Sherlock offered no response, just stared blindly at him. The sound of the phone ringing saved the second bout of awkward silence. Sherlock found the phone under a stack of papers and answered it.
"Sherlock Holmes? ...Oh hello Jenna, yes we're both fine thank you, how are things your way? …Good…and Violet? Oh that's very sweet of her…"
John stood in amazement. Was Sherlock Holmes really engaging in small talk over the phone? And who was this Jenna, WHO WAS VIOLET?! John's thoughts screamed at him. 'This is all too weird…' John concluded.
"Yeah, hang on one moment…EVE!" Sherlock called through the flat.
"Yeah?" Eve said as she emerged fully clothed, fresh faced and was just finishing off her hair.
"It's Jenna, she says she has a little favour to ask you," Eve smiled and took the phone from Sherlock.
"Hi Jenna…I'm good thanks…oh he's as festive as ever…" Eve shot Sherlock a sly look and he assumed they were talking about him. "…uh huh…oh wow, okay…y-yeah, just hang on one moment…" Eve lowered the phone and looked at Sherlock, she looked worried.
"What is it?" Sherlock asked stepping towards her, concerned.
"Jenna and Dave are going away on a cruise for the holidays…"
"And…"
"They can't take Violet with them…Jenna's asking if we'd have her for the holidays," she whispered, whether it was from excitement or nerves Sherlock couldn't tell. Sherlock remained stone faced for a moment before breaking out in the biggest smile John had ever seen on Sherlock before.
"Please can we have her?" Sherlock asked almost begging.
"Sherlock, where would we put her?" Eve asked worriedly.
"John's room."
"Oh it's nice to know I'm missed," John commented quietly.
"But what about…" Eve was about to list off a whole wealth of problems, but Sherlock pressed a closed mouth kiss to her lips to silence her.
"We will have this place ready for when she comes over, I promise I will remove the specimens from the fridge and hide the weapons…and the harpoon, please Eve…didn't you say you'd always wanted to have a family Christmas?"
"Okay the specimens and weapons are not exactly reassuring me, Sherlock…"
"Eve!" he whined and sunk to his knees pressing his forehead against her belly, gripping her thighs so she couldn't escape. "Please?" he looked up and gave her his best puppy dog eyes.
"Sherlock…" she whined back.
"I promise you it will be fine." He said seriously. Eve sighed and once again rose the phone to her ear.
"Jenna? …yeah, we'd be happy to have her. Uh huh, okay yeah next week should be fine, that's fine…yeah text me the details later, okay…send our love to Violet, okay talk soon, bye." She hung up and tossed the phone onto Sherlock's chair. She still couldn't move because Sherlock had a vice like grip on her. Sherlock looked up at her expectantly. "They'll be here next week some time." Sherlock jumped up and pulled her in for a deep kiss. "But I swear to God Sherlock, if anything happens to her you are going to answer to Jenna,"
"Nothing bad is going to happen, she's going to be just fine," Eve finally relaxed and exhaled before hugging Sherlock tightly.
"We're getting our baby for Christmas!" She said excitedly.
"…Sorry who is Violet?!" John said not being able to stand much more of this. He felt like he had slipped into a parallel universe, he didn't understand anything that was going on. Sherlock and Eve broke away from their embrace and where both so ecstatic they both continued to grin like fools, even when John looked like he was about to punch something.
"John," Sherlock began. "Violet…is our daughter."
'WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?!' John's head almost exploded with the number of thoughts whizzing around in his brain.
"What?" John gasped out.
"John I understand this is probably a lot to take in, but you have to know this isn't a joke…" Sherlock started.
"Oh this isn't a joke, even you wouldn't joke about something like this."
"John I…"
"NO! No! I mean why would you tell me that you just HAPPEN to have a daughter, I mean it took you long enough to tell me that you had a fucking fiancé! Why bother telling me that you had a bloody daughter?!"
"Because I only found out a few months ago myself!" Sherlock shouted back at him. Eve hung back and watched as John and Sherlock argued for a good five minutes. Eventually Eve stepped between them and calmed John down.
"Okay John, I understand that this may be difficult for you, but you have to know. Before you knew Sherlock, he was a completely different person. And although his nickname may be 'The Virgin' I can certainly assure you he is not. We met at university and got engaged after graduating. We lived together and Sherlock started to solve crimes to pay for household bills. After I left he became the man you are now…or were…familiar with, please John…"
John seemed unconvinced.
"John?" Sherlock started. "John, you know what it's like when you fall in love. You're whole life changes. Look what happened with you and Mary…"
John seemed to simmer down and looked, truly looked at Sherlock and Eve. John had never seen Sherlock so happy in his life. He supposed he was angry because he'd never expected that cold icy exterior to melt away. Seeing Sherlock now with his arm wrapped around Eve's waist his lips pressed to her forehead, and seeing Sherlock so excited to be having his daughter stay for Christmas; Sherlock had never been excited for any visitors, much less children. So John didn't know everything about Sherlock Holmes, maybe he never would, but he was sure as hell wasn't going to ruin this seemingly perfect arrangement Sherlock had found with Eve.
"Okay." John said finally. "Okay…" Sherlock smiled and went to the kitchen.
"Sherlock? What are you doing?" Eve called.
"Clearing up old body parts!" he called back.
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Jenna and Dave arrived the day after Boxing Day with Violet bounding up the stairs and running straight for Eve.
"Mummy!" she called out elated. "Merry Christmas!"
"Merry Christmas to you too, darling," Eve hugged her daughter tightly and released her just as Sherlock was coming through the kitchen.
"Sherlock!" Violet ran at Sherlock's legs and unintentionally ran head first into his groin. Sherlock groaned but hugged Violet as best as he could anyhow. "Merry Christmas, Sherlock!"
"Merry Christmas, Violet," Sherlock gritted out, still in pain from being basically punched in the genitals.
Eve watched the sight before her and melted a little. She briefly spoke to Jenna and Dave about their cruise and what time Violet should be in bed, et cetera. Everyone said their goodbyes and soon it was just Eve, Sherlock and Violet alone together at last.
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"Tell me again, why I agreed to this?" Eve moaned as Violet moved her counter around the board. They were playing Cluedo. Eve thought it would be fun and had agreed to play, but she hadn't anticipated just how poor Sherlock would be at it.
"I don't know, this game makes no sense," Sherlock sulked. He had only managed to cross off about two people from his list and hadn't even made a start of the room and weapons list.
"Sherlock you're a detective, how can this be so difficult for you?" Eve asked amused, but exasperated.
"Because! This game is too simplistic!" Violet giggled and prepared herself to ask her question.
"Have you got…Colonel Mustard, in the library…with the wrench?" her bright eyes turned to Sherlock expecting an answer.
"…no." Sherlock sink further in his seat and Violet then turned to her mother. Eve smiled and showed Violet one of her cards. This irritated Sherlock further, who was now completely lost.
"Sherlock, your turn." Eve grinned at him, clearly enjoying seeing Sherlock looking like a lost puppy.
"Umm…" Sherlock moved his counter and began looking rigorously through his sheet. "Okay." He finally said looking like he knew what he was doing. "Professor Plum in the study…with the rope."
Eve and Violet shared a look before bursting out laughing.
"Sherlock! You do realise that Professor Plum is the victim, right?"
"Wha- how do you know that?"
"It was at the beginning of the game! And we know the room, we're just looking for the weapon now…"
"Which room?!"
"Oh for god's sake…" Eve gave up and went to get a drink from the kitchen. Violet giggled at Sherlock, then looked over her sheet again.
"Mummy, I think I have it!" Violet said excitedly. Eve came back into the room and settled down next to Sherlock. When she was sure she had Eve and Sherlock's attention she started. "Was it…Mrs White...in the lounge…with the knife?"
"Have a look honey," Eve prompted. Violet opened the envelope and saw that she was right.
"YAH! Mummy I did it!" she bounced up and down and put the cards down on the table to show them.
"Yeah, you go Violet…" Eve turned to Sherlock. "How could you not get that?"
"Well I was preoccupied trying to determine the motive." Sherlock said indignantly.
"You were ousted by a seven year old!" Eve stated. "Maybe she'd make a better detective than you, when she's older…"
"How could Mrs White kill Professor Plum, he's like twice her height!" Eve rolled her eyes and winked at Violet.
"Come on sweetie it's time for bed." Violet nodded and came up to Sherlock who was still ranting about the 'impossible murder'. Violet silenced Sherlock with a peck on the lips and Sherlock stopped immediately.
"Goodnight daddy," She said sleepily. Eve almost had a heart attack. Did Violet just call Sherlock 'daddy'?! She looked at Sherlock wide eyed and led Violet upstairs to John's room. Once she had tucked her daughter in she gave her a kiss on the forehead and closed the door quietly behind her.
When Eve came downstairs, Sherlock was packing away the board game. When he turned to face her, he rose his arms up in surrender.
"I didn't tell her." He started.
"I know," she smiled and plumped herself down on the sofa. Sherlock went to join her and Eve rested her head on his shoulder. "In a way, it would make it easier if and when we do finally tell her,"
"Hmm." Sherlock tilted Eve's chin up to meet her eyes and kissed her soundly while his other hand went to play with the bottom of her skirt. Eve moaned quietly and tried to inch herself closer to him. Sherlock chuckled and pulled away. "I have something for you…a sort of late Christmas present." He rose and went to his drawer and took out of box.
"Sherlock I thought we had agreed not to both getting each other gifts this year," Sherlock came up to Eve and kneeled in front of her handing her the box.
"But this isn't a gift. It's yours, it's been yours all along." Eve gave him a querying look, but opened the box anyway. She almost started to cry. Inside the box was a beautiful ring. Her engagement ring, the one she had left for him.
"Oh my god…Sherlock this…why have you given me this?"
"I told you it's yours."
"Yes, but…" Eve tried to formulate a response. "What does it mean?"
"Eve, I'm never going to find someone like you again, and I'd rather you have it, so you can hand it down through your family. Rather than it just sit in a cupboard somewhere gathering dust."
"Oh." Eve frowned slightly. She was hoping for something a little more romantic, but then again, this was Sherlock…
"And if you'd accept to being my wife that would be fine also…" Sherlock said nearly as an offhand comment.
Eve's eyes shot up and Sherlock grinned like a Cheshire cat. She'd been quite easy to fool around with. Eve really was speechless, eventually Sherlock took the ring from the box and held it out in front of her.
"Eve Huntingdon…will you be my wife…again?" Eve chocked back a laughing sob and hiccupped as she took his face in her hands.
"Yes, yes a thousand times yes!" She laughed and kissed him. He slipped the ring on her finger and kissed her deeply before scooping her up in a bridal carry and taking her to the bedroom.
They didn't sleep for the rest of the night.
Author's note: SOOOO Sorry! Don't kill me :S been busy blah, blah, blah. Let me know what what you thought about this chapter. If it seemed rushed, I am sorry, it's just that I've had new ideas that contradict with this story and I wanna try and link it in to series 3, without Janine! (Grrrrr) anyhow, let me know and if you have any suggestions that would be good. But hold on to your hats I have a chapter coming up that made me physically ill to write…so look forward to that ;) I love you guys, your awesome. OOH! I have a Star Trek story a Khan/Marla one (Marla was a character from the original series if you didn't know) if you don't know then just imagine her as an OC, because I've rebooted her to make her less of a pushover :3 so yeah check that out if you like that sort of thing. It's called the Minnow and the Trout : ) okay bye guys hopefully I'll update soon :3.
