Greg Lestrade strode into the flat and dumped a brightly coloured booklet between them on the kitchen table where Sherlock had the crime pages of that day's paper spread out and Erin was sorting photos into her album.
"What's this?" Erin asked, reaching for the booklet.
"Butlin's." Sherlock announced, without looking up
"Yes, I can see that. I meant, why?" Erin looked up at her father with an inquisitive expression on his face. He smiled at her.
"Because we've not had a half decent holiday in a while, and because you're both being so good, and because Sherls deserves something after sitting his exams, and… well, because we all deserve a bloody good holiday."
Erin grinned, jumping up to hug him "When, when?!"
"Thursday to Thursday. Late bookings equals cheap holiday. Good idea then?"
Before Erin could reply, Sherlock answered for her "Brilliant idea!" he was grinning too, and even allowed himself to be dragged into the hug, something he never normally allowed. It had been a great day all round.
Butlin's had been truly wonderful. There was a photo on the fridge at home of the three of them arm in arm on the Promenade, wearing silly hats and massive grins.
She and Sherlock had shared a bedroom that looked out onto the resort's beach. They'd woken each day to the sounds of the waves and the gulls. Though technically, the first day, she'd been woken by Sherlock just as the sun was coming up and urged to put on her swimsuit and go with him. After that, they'd climbed out of the window and slipped through a hole in the fence onto the beach for an early morning swim every day they were there.
They'd found caves and hidden in them, playing at being pirates and smugglers for hours. She'd been surprised at Sherlock's willingness to play pretend with her, thinking his age would make him reluctant. To be fair, at 13, she'd been too old to be playing pretend really, but it had been magic, and Sherlock had turned out to be the very best pirate she'd ever seen. He had the voice and the swordsmanship down to a fine art. Captain Holmes, the skurge of the seven seas, (or at the very least, the skurge of the rock pools) and his daring young first mate, Erin the Evil, the only lady ever to make his crew.
She'd ridden her first rollercoaster, despite being terrified of heights, just because Sherlock had held her hand the whole time. She remembered wishing she'd known him longer, because then she'd always have a had a big brother to hold her hand when she was scared.
And right at that moment, she wished he was here, holding her hand even though he was as scared as she was. Where was he? Why had he- She closed her eyes against the tears, but found the TV had used this three hours to get inside her head.