A/N: Here ya go! Next one will be up tomorrow...or even tonight if I'm really good! Don't bet on that though. Sorry the chapters are shorter but it's easier for me to get these out to you quickly when they're shorter. Shorter chapters = quicker chapters and in some cases, better content!

Enjoy folks!

SHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSH

Previously- The army doctor looked cross to his flat mate and tutted pointedly. Sherlock shook his head innocently. John turned and left the room, shouting a goodbye to Adaline before trotting down the stairs. Sherlock looked over and smiled proudly at his daughter who grinned back widely. "Sooo, can I touch it?"

"No."

SHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSH

"Sherlock, my laptop is password protected! How in the world did you.." "Oh please, John," Sherlock interrupted, scoffing. "It was elementary. Dare I say, second grade level work." (A/N: I have NO idea how the schools in the UK operate; not going to pretend that I do.) He then turned to his daughter who was sitting in her father's chair, making a point to look away from John. She began "whistling" but failed terribly. John continued looking at her with one raised eyebrow, and finally, she couldn't take it anymore.

"I'm sorry, Mr. John!" she cried. "I didn't want to do it! He bribed me!" Adaline pointed to her father, giving the man a fierce glare. "Traitor," he muttered, and she shrugged. Sherlock sighed. "Oh well, can't be helped. It wasn't exactly Fort Knox level of protection was it?"

John looked back and forth from father to daughter, utterly lost for words. "Right. Thank you both."

He walked over and slammed the computer's lid down. Sherlock managed to pull his fingers out of the way just in time. John took the laptop across the room and put it down on the floor beside his armchair as he sat down. Sherlock clasped his hands in the prayer position in front of his mouth as he propped his elbows on the table, looking thoughtful. John picked up a small pile of letters from the table beside his chair and frowned.

"What's wrong, Mr. John?" Adaline questioned, noticing his change in expression. John glanced up towards the girl. "Hm? Oh nothing." He paused and Adaline continued looking at him, waiting patiently. "Just..need to get a job," he finished.

"That sounds horrible," Adaline commented. At the same time as his daughter, Sherlock stated, "Oh dull." John glanced at the two, looking back at his letters for a moment. He looked back up then, and Adaline noted that he almost seemed..uncomfortable when he spoke his next sentence. "Listen, um…if you'd be able to lend me some…"

As he spoke, he realized that Sherlock was in no way paying attention to his roommate's voice. "Sherlock? Are you even listening?"

"I need to go to the bank," the curly haired man stated suddenly, and Adaline watched as her father got up from his seat at the table and headed over to the door. He grabbed his coat from the hook behind the door, quickly shrugging it on. "Adaline," he beckoned, grabbing his daughter's coat, and the girl mindfully rose from her father's chair, sliding her arms into the coat when Sherlock held it open for her.

Sherlock opened the door and the two made a move to walk down the stairs, but not before Adaline turned around to look back at John. "Mr. John?" she questioned. "Aren't you coming?" Not needing any more encouragement, John got up from his spot in the armchair, grabbed his own coat, and accompanied his new flat mates to the bank.

The trio arrived at the bank; John couldn't help but gaze around at the impressive bank foyer. Adaline gasped excitedly when she saw the escalator; she ran ahead of John and her father, jumping on to the "ride." Meanwhile, Sherlock and John calmly approached the electronic stairs, Sherlock making a point to observe as many details he could about his surrounding environment.

Sherlock walked over to the front desk, stating his name to the receptionist who nodded and began to show them to a room. She stopped though when she spotted the adorable blonde, curly haired child standing close to her father's leg. "Oh my goodness!" she gasped, and John watched, amused, as the young woman walked up to the child and kneeled down to her level. Adaline smiled politely but was obviously uncomfortable with the attention being shown to her. John couldn't really blame her for feeling that way, especially when the woman began petting the small girl's head, running her fingers throughout her curls.

Sherlock rolled his eyes. This happened almost every time they went out in public…

"Your hair is just precious! You are just the cutest little thing I've ever seen! Like a doll," the woman cooed. Suddenly, the receptionist's hand was coming towards her face and Adaline gasped, making a move to step away from the silly woman. She hated getting her cheeks pinched!

Before she could move though, Sherlock stepped in, finally deciding to take pity on his daughter. He hurriedly reached out and caught the woman's wrist in a gentle but firm grasp. "I'm sorry, we're kind of in a hurry," he told her, and the receptionist look at him with an affronted look. "Could you stop fawning over my daughter long enough to show us to a room?"

The woman, feeling her cheeks heat up with embarrassment, quickly snatched her hand away from the daunting man in front of her. She stood up from her position and readjusted her outfit before clearing her throat and gesturing the three of them forwards. "It's that way." "Thank you," Sherlock nodded politely and made his way towards the room, Adaline trailing behind him.

John looked at the obviously very flustered woman, feeling a bit sorry for her now. He threw her a kind smile which she half-heartedly returned, and then proceeded to walk towards the meeting room. When he walked in he saw a man in a business suit shaking hands with Sherlock.

"Sherlock Holmes," the man greeted, Sherlock's hand clasped in between both of his own.

"Sebastian," Sherlock returned shortly.

"Howdy, buddy. How long's it been? Eight years since I last clapped eyes on you?" Sherlock looked at Sebastian with marginally disguised dislike. Sebastian glanced down for a second, and then did a double take, as though he had just noticed the tiny human standing next to Sherlock.

"Who's this then?" he said loudly, and for the second time that day, Adaline forced a very fake, polite smile onto her face. "This is my…" Sherlock started, but before he could finish Sebastian interrupted. "Don't tell me. She's your niece."

"…daughter." the detective concluded. Sebastian threw a surprised look at Sherlock. "Daughter?" he repeated, clear disbelief in his voice. "Who would've thought that Sherlock Holmes was capable of being a father?" Adaline looked up towards the men, and for a split second, she saw something flash over her father's face at Sebastian's words.

Concern filled her and she opened her mouth to speak, but suddenly, the man's face was in front of her own. "What's your name love?" Her dislike for the business man only grew when she recognized the tone his voice had adapted upon addressing her. Adaline liked to refer to this voice as the "dummy voice." Well, she'd solve this problem right away.

"Is that a new watch?" she asked simply. "What?" he countered, looking taken aback. His breath blew into her face and she grimaced. "Your breath stinks," she said bluntly, and the man's eyes widened in surprise now. He quickly stood back up, taking a step away from the girl. Sherlock didn't even bother holding in his snort of amusement. John however, looked down at the girl disapprovingly, even though he too wanted to laugh. Adaline had never sounded more like her father than she did in that moment.

Sebastian turned to John, but not before sending a glare down at the small human who was now smiling at him innocently. "John Watson," John offered, take a step forward to shake the man's hand. "He's a friend," Sherlock provided. "Friend?" Sebastian repeated, one eyebrow rising up.

"Collea…" John started, and then made the mistake of glancing down at Adaline, who was peering up at him trustingly with her wide, green eyes. John made a split decision then. "Friend," John said firmly, looking back at Sebastian. "I'm a friend."

Both of Sebastian's eyebrows rose then, and he looked to Sherlock as if to say, Is this a joke? John knew at that moment that he had made the right move switching his answers, for he very much disliked this man. Sherlock threw him a grateful look and Adaline beamed up at him, and he felt warmth build up in his chest.

"Well," Sebastian said, clearing his throat. "D'ya need anything? Coffee, water? Juice for the tiny tot?" "We're fine," Sherlock said, putting a hand on his daughter's shoulder. He knew that the man was trying to rile her up, and as funny as it would be for a child to put such a pompous idiot in his place, it would also be rude, and as a father he shouldn't encourage rudeness. Sebastian nodded, throwing himself into his chair and gestured that they all sit down as well. As there were only two seats, Adaline sat in her father's lap, playing with hand when he wrapped it around her stomach.

"So, you're doing well," Sherlock started casually. "You've been abroad a lot." "Well, some," Sebastian admitted. "Flying all the way round the world twice in a month?" John frowned in confusion at Sherlock's words, and Sebastian laughed loudly and pointed at Sherlock.

"Right. You're doing that thing." He looked at John. "This guy here had a trick he used to do."

"It's not a trick," Sherlock said quietly, and Adaline glared fiercely at Sebastian. "We were at uni together. He could look at you and tell you your whole life story."

"Yes, I've seen him do it," John said, face blank.

"Put the wind up everybody. We hated him." Sherlock turned his head away then and looked down. Adaline looked at her father worriedly. The ignorant man continued, "You'd come down to breakfast in the Formal Hall and this freak would know you'd been shagging the previous night."

That was it. Adaline couldn't take it anymore. "Don't call my dad a freak!" she shouted, and Sebastian whipped his head towards her. "He's not a freak and it's not a trick! It's called a deduction you idi-" At that moment, Sherlock's hand closed around her mouth, ending her rant towards the now speechless man. "Calm down," Sherlock whispered to his daughter, tightening his arm around her waist. She looked up at him angrily but nodded, and Sherlock released her, adjusting her in his lap once more.

"I simply observed," Sherlock now addressed Sebastian. "Now, if you don't mind, I'm sure you called me here for more than just a chat." Sebastian looked at Adaline for a bit longer and then met eyes with the detective. "Like father like daughter…" he mumbled, and John fidgeted a bit, trying to fight off the urge to follow Adaline's lead and shut the man down.

"Yes," Sebastian confirmed. "I do have something interesting for you. We've had a break-in." He got up then and walked across the trading floor towards another door, the trio following. "Sir William's office-the bank's former chairman. The room's been left here like a sort of memorial. Someone broke in late last night."

"What did they steal?" John questioned. "Nothing," the man said. "Just left a little message." He held his security card against the reader by the door in order to unlock it, and walked inside. Hanging on the plain white wall behind a large desk was a framed painted portrait of a man in a suit. Adaline presumed this was the late Sir William that Sebastian spoke of. On the wall to the left of the portrait someone had sprayed what looked like a graffiti 'tag' in yellow paint. The tag looked vaguely like a number 8 but with the top of the number left open, and above it was an almost horizontal straight line. Across the eyes of the portrait itself was another almost horizontal straight line that had been sprayed.

Sebastian led the way towards the desk and stepped aside to allow Sherlock a clear view of the wall. John moved to stand on the other side of Sebastian, and Adaline took her spot beside John. The business man looked at Sherlock expectantly while the detective starred at the graffiti in fixed concentration.

"Sixty seconds apart," Sebastian told them after they were back in his office looking at the security footage of the office from the previous night. The man flicked back and forth between the still photograph which was taken at 23:34:01. The photograph showed the paint on the wall and on the portrait, and then showed where a minute earlier -23:33:01 – the wall and portrait were still clean.

"So someone came up here in the middle of the night, splashed paint around, then left within a minute."

"How many ways into the office?" Sherlock asked.

"Well, that's where this gets really interesting."

The trio walked with Sebastian back to the reception area and were now studying a computer screen which showed the layout of the trading floor and its surrounding offices. Each indicated door had a light against it showing its security status.

"Every door that opens in this bank, it gets logged right here. Every walk-in cupboard, every toilet." "That door didn't open last night," Sherlock stated.

"There's a hole in our security. Find it and we'll pay you-five figures. The business man reached into his inside breast pocket then, pulling out a cheque. "This is an advance. Tell me how he got in, there's a bigger one on its way."

"I don't need an incentive, Sebastian," Sherlock scoffed, walking away. Adaline, on the other hand, snatched the money away from the business man, who looked at her with surprise but then rolled his eyes and followed Sherlock.

Adaline then turned to John. "Here ya go, Mr. John." She placed the cheque in his hand and smiled at John, who looked down at the child with wide eyes. "Ada, what.." "You said you needed a job," she answered simply, shrugging. "Your card didn't take at the store so you probably don't have a lot of money right now. This might help."

"Ada, I…" John started. "Thank you," he ended, and smiled at the sweet little girl. "You're welcome!" she chirped, and grabbed his hand, leading the two of them towards Sherlock and Sebastian.

SHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSH

A/N: Ahhhhhhh! Adaline and John's relationship is just so adorable. Sorry if I'm doting on it too much, but I just can't get enough of it. Anyway, please, please review! I love all of them! I'm going to respond to those of you who've reviewed in the next chapter, which will be up either tonight (fingers crossed) or tomorrow. I've almost finished it. Thank you guys so much for reading!