Title: A Messy Business - 21 of 30(ish)
Characters: Sherlock, Lestrade, John, will include Mrs. Hudson, Mycroft, etc.
Rating: G
Word Count: 221B each (the drabble format I invented for the ACD Holmes fandom years ago)
Warnings: crack fic, fandom trope (see full prompt at link and below), basic episodic spoilers, basic ACD canon spoilers, speculation
Summary: Drabble series fill for for the sherlockbbc_fic meme prompt John is turned into a toddler/young child. He doesn't remember who he was, but he does know that he trusts and loves Sherlock. He likes Mrs. Hudson and Lestrade and, much to Sherlock's annoyance, he even likes Mycroft... Title comes from Prompt #1: Beginnings are always messy.
"I assure you, Sherlock, that I never suggested using John as a test subject, nor did I sanction such."
"Then clarify, brother dear," he snapped, though he hadn't given the man time to explain…
John hiccupped, wide-eyed, and looked so utterly startled by it that he laughed.
"…Am I amusing you?"
"Hardly, Mycroft."
"Sherlock, the laboratory is a high-security facility, used for societal rehabilitation."
"You're rehabilitating less desirable members of society into children?"
"With their full consent, Sherlock; do stop trying to twist this into a Frankensteinian television program. Those worst offenders are given the choice of life imprisonment or governmental rehabilitation. If the latter, they are regressed to a child and worked into foster care."
He froze. "Then this is permanent?"
"Usually. But in this case, my staff merely took security precautions. Any unidentified trespassers are temporarily…incapacitated, until they can be dealt with. Had you not brought the NSY down, I would have been called an hour later."
Well.
"My staff were over-eager, and disregarded protocol in regressing John without seeking my authorization first," Mycroft continued. "They have been dealt with."
"How?" he asked curiously, snatching the last scone.
"That melodramatic little institute in Cardiff does not have a monopoly on controlled memory loss, Sherlock. I assure you, I do not tolerate repeated incompetence. They have paid for their blunder."