DO NOT OWN! Mary and Sherlock are a team again, and work to surprise John.
John woke to a poke on his face. Yawning he opened his eyes and looked up at the boy staring down at him, a lopsided grin on his face.
"Morning Sherlock." He said sitting up and stretching. "What can I do for you?"
"You promised tho go shopping for me." Sherlock said urgently tugging on his sleeve.
"Right, remind me again why you can't go?" John stumbled out of bed and wandered to his closet to gather his clothes for the day.
"Daddy!" Sherlock said matter of factly. "You wanthed me and Mummy tho have a day thogether, this is the day. So you go buy the sthuff and have lunch and we'll hang outh." He was bouncing on the balls of his feet, Hamish swinging gently from his fingers as he moved.
"Alright alright." John yawned again, stumbling from his room to the bathroom. He heard Sherlock's feet pad down the stairs after him. Giving a tired wave in Mary's direction, he locked himself in the bathroom and started the shower.
Fifteen minutes later, he was clean, wide awake and sitting enjoying an omelette breakfast and a strong cup of tea. Sherlock was sitting talking to himself, as he bolted down his cheese omelette. John had never realized until recently what a cheese hound the boy was. They had found out by accident when asking him what snack he would like. He'd requested cheddar cheese and apples. Confused the two parent's complied. Later they had found Sherlock curled up on the couch engrossed in Doctor Who, nearly the whole block of cheese and an apple and a half were consumed. Blinking, they had decided to stock their kitchen with the snack in an attempt to help the boy gain weight.
Standing, John placed his dishes in the sink, and kissed Mary soundly as she stood washing them. Turning he went and knelt next to Sherlock, placing a sound kiss on his forehead before hugging him, and taking the list the child presented to him.
"Mento's and Coke?" He said standing as he looked down at the list. "I'm not so sure I want to bring that home." He said looking slyly down at the boy who looked up at him and pouted.
"Buth daddy! Ith's for an experimenth!" John gently pushed on his protruding lip.
"If you aren't careful that's going to drag on the ground." Ruffling Sherlock's silky locks he continued. "Don't worry I'll get everything on the list, have a long lunch and return later this afternoon as ordered." Standing straight he turned towards the boy who had moved to stand next to Mary, and performed a salute before about facing and marching down the stairs. Grabbing his coat, he yelled goodbye to Mrs. Hudson, before stepping out into the sunlight.
Sherlock waited until he heard the door shut and footsteps down the sidewalk. Finally he turned to Mary. "Ok mummy he's gone!" He singsonged.
"Perfect love." She replied ruffling his hair. It had been a couple weeks and Sherlock and Mary had already began to patch things up and become close again.
The two of them had come together for today as they had a surprise party planned for John later that day. Using the excuse that they needed to bond on their own they had gotten him out of the house non the wiser. At least Mary hoped, Sherlock kept assuring her that John had no idea what they had planned. In fact, he had told her, Daddy didn't even remember it was his birthday the next day.
"Alright love, I'll start on the snacks." Mary said, running a hand through his hair lovingly.
"OK! Grandmum and I already made the cake while you were ath work yestherday so we justh need tho do decorations!" He ran to the stairwell and called down. "Grandmum! Iths thime!"
"Alright dearie, just give me a minute."
Satisfied the older woman was coming, he rocketed down to his room. Mary heard him digging around and smiled as she began to stir a mixture that was to be egg rolls later. A few minutes later, she listened as he padded down the hallway. Turning she noticed his arms full of many different supplies. He had his crayons, markers, colored pencils, regular pencils, and glue. Mary also suspected she saw glitter in there somewhere but Sherlock had already turned and dumped his load on the table. Hopping up in his chair, he fidgeted impatiently until he heard Mrs. Hudson's footsteps coming up the stairs.
The older woman walked into their kitchen, in her arms she carried a rolled up piece of paper, Mary was sure it was going to be made into a banner and a few loose pieces of paper.
"Alright dear, card first or banner." The two women watched awwing at how adorable Sherlock was as he considered heavily.
"Banner, I think. ITh's going tho thake longer and ith has tho be perfecth!" He announced. The two women helped him push the tables out of the way as he lay out the banner and began to work on it vigorously. It took him a couple hours before he finally deemed it perfect and enlisted the adults help to hang it up across the living room where everyone could see. THen he settled down to the table, tongue poking out as he worked meticulously on the man's birthday card. IT was an exciting day. Sherlock often asked Mary for her opinion, grinning up at her as she bustled around the kitchen getting the snacks together. About an hour before John was expected home Mrs. Hudson carted the chocolate cake upstairs. It was two layers, covered in peanut butter frosting with candy flowers all over it. On top she had written "Happy Birthday Daddy" on it. When Sherlock questioned her, she responded that since he had made the cake it should be from him.
As the clock counted down, people began to appear. First was Lestrade who set about helping them set up a couple of tables in the living room for the food and the presents. There was already three presents and a card. One from each of the adults and of course Sherlock's contribution. Then they began carting the eggrolls, cheese cubes, rye bread and dip, chips and punch out onto the food table. In the center the cake was placed. By then the rest of the guests had showed up. Harry was settled on the couch, studying her nephew who was cuddled in Mary's arms as she spoke with Lestrade. Donovan was settled in a chair speaking with Anderson. Major Shoto had been unable to attend, but Mike Stamford had made it and seated himself opposite of Harry. Molly sat in between them and looked disbelievingly at the child. Lestrade had filled her in, but she had tried to refuse to believe it. Tried because she knew with Sherlock Holmes anything was possible. But now looking at the seven year old that was sleepily laying his head on Mary's shoulder she knew there was no doubt.
There were murmurings of voices as people talked and visited, getting to know one another or greeting people that they hadn't seen in a while. It was cozy and relaxed until Sherlock sat up, tilting his head towards the open window.
"SHH!" He called out. "It's daddy!" While he whispered, he had caught everyone's attention and they quieted, forming a line behind the tables they waited listening as the footsteps came up the stairs.
For John it had been a long day. He missed Sherlock and he missed Mary. He'd found the items with relative ease, but there were several hours to go before he could go home. Wandering down the street he had found an interesting store. Smiling brightly he had walked in. Forty minutes later he had walked out with a bag full of items. Several books on beekeeping, a small bee statue and some bee paper and pens. He also bought a large container of honey. He couldn't wait to present them to the boy when he got home.
His steps lighter he decided to stop at Angelo's but deciding he'd rather have a snack with Sherlock at home, he only ordered a small salad and some tea. Sitting he doubled checked his list to be sure he'd gotten everything. Mostly they were food items. But they were food items that were popular forms of 'science project' he was also sure he'd bought the stuff for a home made volcano. Oh well as long as the boy cleaned up after himself...
Glancing down at his watch he gauged that he could grab a cab now and still make it home on time. Nabbing his arms full of purchases he managed to flag down a cab with unusual speed. Giving the address, he sat back and sighed, rolling his neck at the tension in it.
PUlling up, he paid the cabbie and got out gathering his things. He glanced up but noticed the flat looked a bit dark. He also couldn't hear the normal chattering from Sherlock he normally could. Wondering if they had gone out to lunch on their own, he simply shrugged and let himself into the house. He didn't notice the unusual amounts of cars parked on the street, nor did he see his wife, holding their son as they peeked out the window to seem him on the stoop, holding back giggles. Huffing he closed the door and carried his purchases slowly up the stairs. Worried a couple times that he was going to drop them. As he reached the door to the living room, he shuffled his items and grasped the handle letting the door slowly creak open.
"SURPRISE! HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOHN (DADDY)!" At this John did lose the bags. Jumping back in shock and looking around all the faces who were smirking at him.
John blinked unsure what to say, and just blinked some more. It was his birthday? No it couldn't be. He counted the days in his head. Tomorrow, he guessed, tomorrow was his birthday. But he had forgotten. At this a huge smile formed on his face as he gazed around at his friends. His eyes landed on the huge banner, clearly made by Sherlock. His name was in bright blue with globs of blue glitter adding to its overall glamour. Little drawings of bee's and people were decorated around the words. John felt tears come to his eyes, as looking closely he saw the likeness of him and Sherlock sitting together looking at a book. There was a speech bubble near the drawing of Sherlock that read "I love you daddy!" Tears glistening in his eyes, he gazed around finally catching sight of his grinning wife and the boy who was smiling nervously at him.
Nodding to people as he went, he strode across the floor to stand before his family. "I have the best wife." He looked at Mary. "But I also have the greatest son anyone could ask for." He turned and looked at Sherlock, whose face went bright pink, as he chewed on Hamish's wing. John scooped him out of Mary's arm and hugged him close unwilling to put him down for a second.
"You are so amazing Sherlock. To go through what you have and be so kind and considerate." John could feel the tears returning to his eyes. "It's an honor to know you."
THe boy hugged him tighter and turned his head so his mouth was near the older man's ears.
"Love you daddy." He said simply.
After several moments Sherlock sat up, kissing his John on the cheek. That caused a wave of awe's from the crowd, which the child ignored in favor of tugging on John's collar.
"You gonna open your presenth's? An eath your cake?" His eyes were sparkling and excited especially when John nodded yes.
The rest of the afternoon was fantastic for John. He opened his presents, giggling as Lestrade, Donovan, and Anderson gave him first aid kits. They each kept glancing at Sherlock.
"Just in case." They said smirking at the man as the boy cuddled in his mommy's lap apparently oblivious.
Mike got them a family's day at a nearby theme park. Mary's present was a picture of John and young Sherlock, they were in SHerlock's bed cuddled together as JOhn read to the boy. They both had gentle smiles on their faces, unaware that they were being watched. Harry of course had given him a gift card to some tavern or other. Annoyed, he tried to hide it and thanked her. Then he opened the best last. It was a homemade card from Sherlock. There was a drawing of John as a soldier, John as a civilian, and John as a Daddy. At the top in neat printing he had written "Happy Birthday..." opening it, written was "To My Hero. I love you! Sherlock." Turning he reached over and squeezed Sherlock's hand.
"This is the best present anyone could have given me." Sherlock smiled brightly at him, sticking his tongue out as the rest of the guests booed good-naturedly.
Later they dug into the cake, Sherlock who had a huge sweet tooth they had discovered, came for seconds. As John looked around, his heart warmed. He was surrounded by his favorite people, looking down at Sherlock in particular he thought, I am blessed.
Alright, next chapter there's going to be trouble with Harry. Hope you enjoyed the birthday. I promise there will be a bad guy in this series I just haven't reached that point yet. R&R!