There were no chicken nuggets. None. Sophia didn't point out how disappointed she was though. This was Mary and John's big day and if they wanted to have awful food then they could. So she ate as much as she could, trying not to get any on her dress or face. She didn't even talk with her mouth full. She was on her best behaviour. Mary and John had let her sit at the head table. She wanted to sit next to Mary and John but she had to sit next to her dad and Janine.

After the meal she was still rather upset about it. That was until Mary and John distracted her by telling her they had an extra special present to thank her for being a bridesmaid. She thought that the colouring book and crayons lay out on her place at the table was present enough. Then again, she'd never refuse a free gift.

Reaching under the table, John handed her a purple box. It was much larger than the little purple boxes lay out on everyone elses tables. Her daddy had said that they were called wedding favours. She didn't understand it though. It was John and Mary's big day so why were they buying other people stuff? She wouldn't buy anyone anything at her wedding. They'd buy her things and they'd be happy about it.

But saying that she still happily accepted the box from John. Peering inside her eye's lit up with excitement. This was much better than a colouring book. Inside the box lay two bears. One in a bride's dress and one in a top hat and suit. She gently lifted them from the box, cradling them in her arms.

"They look just like you." She whispered. "Except bears." She stroked the groom bear's fur, knowing that they would get along great with her other toys at home.

She bears kept her distracted through the start of the best man's speech which was, unbeknown to her, was the whole idea. She knew what her dad was going to say. She had peered over his shoulder as he typed it up. She read a lot of it by herself but had to ask for help on the long words. She did her best to tell him that it was great and that everyone would love it.

When she looked up though, it seemed that she might have been mistaken. She thought that it was a good speech but everyone had started crying. Mrs Hudson was whimpering, holding a tissue to her face. Even Molly was crying and dabbing her face with a serviette. That made Sophia panic. Molly always seemed to be happy. Even when Sherlock had said something nasty to her, she pretended to be happy. She wasn't pretending now. The speech must be really bad for Molly to cry.

"Daddy..." She whispered, tugging at his sleeve. She knew that she shouldn't interrupt him but this was important. "Daddy, they don't like it." Sherlock looked down at her and then back up, staring at the guests.

"What's wrong? What happened? Why are you all doing that? John?"

"Oh, Sherlock." Mrs Hudson cooed tearfully.

"Did I do it wrong?" Sherlock asked looking down at John.

"No, you didn't." John said, getting to his feet. "Come here." He pulled Sherlock into a tight hug. Sophia watched in confusion. She had never seen John and Sherlock hug before. She hadn't found it strange up until now. You hugged people that you loved and she knew that John and Sherlock loved each other. She hoped that they'd hug more.

"I haven't finished yet." Sherlock said to John as the guests applauded them.

"Yeah, I know. I know." John said as he ended the hug. With John's arm still over his shoulder, Sherlock continued.

"So, on to some funny stories..." He started.

"Can you wait until I still down?" John asked. Sherlock nodded as John sat down and the applause faded.

"So, on to some funny stories about John." He continued. "If you could all just cheer up a bit that would be better." Sophia smiled up at her dad. She wondered if he'd tell the funny stories that she suggested. All of Sherlock's funny stories weren't really funny. Well, not as funny as Sophia's. She wanted him to tell the story about the time Sherlock let her draw on John's face when he was asleep or the time they did an experiment to see how quickly he could get out of bed in the middle of the night. That involved Sophia doing her best acting and standing in the kitchen screaming at the top of her lungs. John didn't think that was funny but she did.

"On we go. So, for funny stories one has to look no further than John's blog." Sherlock continued. He took out his phone, briefly holding it up. "The record of our time together. Of course he does tend to romanticize things things a bit, but then, you know, he's a romantic. We've tackled some strange cases: the Hollow Client.

Sophia ran up the stairs to 221B. She stumbled into the room, proud that she was the first one up. She stopped dead in her tracks at the sight that greeted her. After a few seconds she heard John and Sherlock come up behind her, stopping to stare at the scene ahead. In John's seat was a suit lay out exactly as it would if someone was wearing it. There were even shoes at the bottom.

Sophia let out a giggle. "Daddy, he might just be really skinny."

"The poison giant." Sherlock said. Sophia frowned. She hadn't been allowed to go on that case with Sherlock and John. Mrs Hudson had looked after her. When they got back though they were exhausted. So exhausted in fact that they let Sophia order in a take-away as long as she rang up and ordered it herself.

"We've had some frustrating cases." Sherlock continued.

No one noticed that Sophia had taken a handful of biscuits. John was busy with his blog and Sherlock was busy staring at a tiny matchbox. Sophia dropped herself down into John's seat and stared at her dad for a few seconds.

"What's that?" She asked, spraying biscuit crumbs across the room.

"A French decathlete found completely out of his mind, surrounded by one thousand, eight hundred and twelve. All empty except this one." Sherlock answered.

"And what's in that one?" John asked, looking up from his mug of tea and his blog. Sherlock looked at the matchbox, slowly pushing it open. Whatever was inside glowed bright gold, illuminating Sherlock's face. He grinned the biggest grin Sophia had ever seen. "The inexplicable."

"Is that a type of light?" Sophia asked after a few moment of silence.

"Touching cases." Sherlock said with a roll of his eyes.

"If she walks away then I get a McDonalds meal for dinner. That's the deal." Sophia said seriously. She stood on one of the dining table chairs looking out of the window with John. Both of them staring at a young woman who hovered outside the cafe below, looking at 221B's door.

"If she comes in then I'm allowed to pick what's on the television for the whole day." John replied, his tone equally as serious.

"Deal." Sophia nodded. "She's going away."

"Oh, no. She's going to ring the doorbell." John commentated.

"She's changed her mind." Sophia mumbled.

"No, she's gonna do it."

"No... she's leaving."

"Oh, she's coming back."

"She's a client. She's boring." Sherlock said from where he lay sprawled over his chair, his face pointing towards the ceiling and his eyes closed. "I've seen those symptoms before. Oscillation on the pavement always means there's a love affair."

"And of course we need to mention the elephant in the room." Sherlock said.

It was one of the 'safer' cases that Sophia was allowed on. The cases when there was no real risk of her seeing a body. These were the cases she was allowed to follow John and Sherlock on as long as she kept a tight hold onto their hands at all time unless told otherwise.

They walked along the blue corridor, Sophia between John and Sherlock. She clung to their hands and did her best to stay quiet. Sherlock liked it when she stayed quiet during cases. They eventually came to the door that they were intending to go into. They stopped, staring into the room with wide eyes. Sherlock's mouth fell open. Sophia was frozen in shock, eyes wide. Standing right there in the room, right in front of them, was an elephant. It trumpeted loudly.

Sophia was the first to move. She turned very slowly to look up at dad. He slowly turned to look at her, eyes not leaving the elephant until his head was totally turned to her. They looked each other in the eyes for a few seconds before Sophia spoke. "Daddy, can we keep it."

"But we want something... very particular for this special day, don't we?" Sherlock asked. He looked down at the phone briefly before his eyes raised again to look at the crowd. "The Bloody Guardsman."

With a small frown Sophia let herself think back to that day.

It hadn't started off very well. She was fed up. She sat on the sofa with her arms folded across her chest and watched her father. He stood in front of her but not paying her any attention. He was more focused on the wall he had previously set aside to display paperwork. There was everything on that wall. Lists, maps, photographs, essays, post-it notes, pictures printed out from the internet. There was even one or two drawings that Sophia had kindly donated to the cause.

"Need to work on your half of the church, Mary. Looking a bit thin." Sherlock announced. Mary just smiled, looking over at him.

"Ah, orphan's lot." She replied. "Friends- that all I have. Lots of friends."

"Schedule the organ music to begin at precisely 11.48." Sherlock said.

"But the rehearsal's not for another two weeks." Mary pointed out, sounding rather tired of it all by now. "Just calm down."

"Calm? I am calm. I'm extremely calm." Sherlock replied. He sounded rather offended that anyone would think otherwise.

"Let's get back to the reception, come on." Mary said, nodding towards the table. Sherlock did as he was told, walking over to the dining room table. Sophia decided to make herself useful. She wanted to help but mostly she wanted some attention. She wanted someone to look at her. She loved the wedding, of course she did. She was so excited but part of her couldn't wait for it to be over. Everyone, especially her daddy, was far more interested in the wedding than her. No one cared about her drawings or how well she had done in school. They cared about Mary's dress and what colours the bridesmaids would wear.

"John's cousin." Mary announced, handing Sherlock a RSVP card. "Top table?" Sherlock looked down at the card. He didn't seem so certain. Sophia craned her neck to get a glance at it. She didn't understand the whole 'RSVP card' business. Wouldn't it save a lot of money and effort if they just emailed Mary and John to tell them that they were coming? Sherlock said it was a tradition. She had heard that word far too much lately.

"Hmmm. Hates you." Sherlock replied. "Can't even bear to think about you."

"Seriously?" Mary asked, looking up at Sherlock.

"Second class stamp. Cheap card." He paused to sniff it. "Bought at a petrol station. Look at the stamp. Three attempts at licking. She's obviously unconsciously retaining saliva."

"Well, that's not nice." Sophia grumbled. She looked down at the 3D model of the reception. She let her small fingers be guests, sitting in their seats and then moving to another.

"Let's stick her by the bogs." Mary said to John. Sophia giggled slightly and let her fingers walk over to the table nearest the toilets. "Who else hates me?" Mary asked as she leant closer to Sherlock. He sat down on the seat behind Sophia. He pulled himself and the chair forward, knocking into his daughter who happily jumped up onto his lap.

Sherlock produced a list on a light blue piece of paper, handing it to Mary. She took it with a small frown, glancing over the names. "Oh great. Thanks." She mumbled. Sophia leant over the table and placed a hand on Mary's lower arm.

"I don't hate you." She assured her. Mary smiled and ruffled Sophia's hair.

"Priceless painting nicked." John said from his place in his seat. Sophia looked over at him. He was staring down at his phone. "Looks interesting." Sophia looked back down at the table. It didn't sound very interesting. That was one of the safe cases that Sophia was allowed to go on. Most of the time it was stolen by someone the person knew. Sherlock would tell them and then they'd cry. It all made Sophia feel very awkward. She was always expected to give comforting hugs and be cute to cheer them up.

"Table four..." Mary mumbled, looking down at the paperwork on the table.

"Done." Sherlock answered.

"My husband is three people." John said with a chuckle.

"Clones." Sophia answered simply. She was getting the hang of this detective stuff. It was so simple it made her wonder why everyone was so impressed by Sherlock when he did it. She looked over at John with a smug grin and nodded her head once. He held back a laugh. Smirking before returning to look at his phone.

"Table five." Mary said.

"Major John Sholto." Sherlock said, looking at a list he held in front of Sophia. "Who he?"

"Oh, John's old commanding officer. I don't think he's coming." Mary answered.

"He'll be there." John said firmly.

"Well, he needs to RSVP." Mary reminded him.

"Or he could just email or text you." Sophia suggested. "It would save a lot of money."

"My husband is three people." John tried again, reading from his phone. Sophia looked over at him, wondering why her clone theory hadn't pleased him enough. "It's interesting. Says he has three distinct patterns of moles on his skin." Sherlock took Sophia from his lap and got to his feet. He placed her back down on the chair and began to walk towards the coffee table.

"Identical triplets." He said in that quick voice he used when he had 'deduced' something. "One in a half million births. Solved it without leaving the flat. Now serviettes." He squatted down by the coffee table, pulling out a tray from underneath it. There lay two serviettes both folded into different shapes. "Swan or Sydney Opera House?"

"Where'd you learn to do that?" Mary asked happily.

"Many unexpected skills required in the field of criminal investigation..."

"Fibbing, Sherlock." Mary said. Sophia looked over with a grin. One of the many reasons she loved Mary was because she could tell her daddy off. It was always hilarious to Sophia to see her father being treated like a child younger than her.

"I once broke an alibi by demonstrating the exact severity of..."

"I'm not John." Mary interrupted again. "I can tell when you're fibbing."

"He learnt it on youtube." Sophia said, earning a glare from her father. She smiled back at him sweetly.

"Opera House, please." Mary replied. "Oh, hang on. I'm buzzing." She reached into her pocket, pulling out her phone and lifting it to her ear. "Hello? Oh, hi, Beth!" She got to her feet, walking towards the kitchen. John looked over at her before getting to his feet himself.

"Actually, if that's Beth it's probably for me too. Hang on." He said as he also left for the kitchen. Sophia felt herself frown. Something wasn't right. She climbed from the seat quietly.

Sherlock was busy doing whatever he was doing with the serviettes. Sophia had long since stopped being impressed by his paper folding. It was good at first but then he wouldn't watch television with her and the paper folding began to annoy her. He didn't notice her leave. He didn't notice her leave yesterday either. She went downstairs to see Mrs Hudson just to see if he'd notice. He didn't.

"You need to run him, OK?" Mary was saying to John quietly. "Show him it's still the good old days." She stood between them but they still hadn't noticed her. She looked from John to Mary and back again.

"You don't have a friend called Beth." She announced. They looked down at her, shocked to see that she was there. She glanced down at Mary's hand and then back up at her. "You're not even on your phone. Why are you lying?"

Mary nodded her head towards the door. Gesturing for John to leave and talk to Sherlock. Eventually she gave him a quick shove. Sophia stayed staring at her. She wanted an answer and she wanted it now. Mary smiled down at her, resisting the urge to pat her on the top of the head.

"Important, boring, adult stuff." She said with a quick shrug. Sophia didn't seemed convinced. She continued to glare at Mary for a few more seconds before letting her shoulders drop. She sighed dramatically and closed her eyes.

"Everything is important, boring, adult stuff." She whined, tilting her head back to the ceiling. Mary smirked and gave her a quick pat on the back.

"Sorry." She apologised. Sophia opened her eyes and stared up at Mary. She frowned. "Not much longer now." Mary continued. "The wedding will come and go before you know it."

"I wish I had a little sister." She mumbled. "Or a twin sister."

"I don't think your daddy could handle another one of you."

"Could you?" Sophia asked quickly. "If daddy couldn't handle me would you look after me? Just me!"

"Pardon?" Mary asked with a hollow laugh. Sophia shifted in her place slightly. The whole situation with the man outside the school and in the wedding shop was still getting to her. She had tried to block it out with the wedding but it was still there. Right at the bottom of her stomach, it still wiggled and nibbled at her.

"If daddy didn't want to look after me any more. If daddy put me out on the street because I had been naughty or he just didn't want me anymore? Would you be able to look after me?"

"Your daddy will never put you out." Mary said, crouching down so she could be eye level with Sophia. "Your daddy loves you even if he doesn't show it like most other daddys. He'd never ever leave you."

"Yeah but what if?" Sophia urged. "Just pretend!"

"Of course." Mary said. "Of course, I'd take you in." She pulled Sophia in for a hug, her arms wrapping around her small body. Sophia smiled and buried her head into Mary's hair. For the first time since seeing Jim in the wedding shop, she felt truly safe. No one could get her when she was in the arms of someone she loved.

/

MySadCaptains: Hello my wonderful little humans! I hope you enjoyed that chapter. Thank you for reading and favouriting and reviewing and alerting! I love you all!

Please review, I try my hardest to reply to all of the reviews. I'll answer any question unless its something like 'where do you live'' or 'what's your pin number'

Anyway, I hope you all have a wonderful day. i love you all.