It had been one of those days that Daddy invited strange people into the house and they'd just sit on a chair and cry. He said it was for his work. That they were giving him cases. The boring types of cases that could be solved in the flat within an hour. He had to have those cases because he said it was still too early to take Sophia outside, especially to crime scenes. She was still getting better.

Daddy said that once he got a holiday out of a case that came to the door. Sophia didn't think it sounded much like a good case though because he said that everyone got really scared and kept seeing big dogs that weren't really there.

"There was a glowing rabbit though." Sherlock added that evening as he sat at the side of the tub, sleeves rolled up as he scrubbed the shampoo into his daughter's hair. Sophia was too busy absolutely loathing having her hair washed to reply at that moment. Eyes closed, forehead screwed up tight and mouth hung open. The doctor had said there would be no long term effects from the poisoning but Sherlock was certain he could see a tiny burn mark on her lip.

"Rabbits are too small." She grumbled once the scrubbing had stopped. "Too boring. A glow in the dark dog though..." She opened one eye to look at her father, hoping it had worked. He smirked but shook his head. Sophia sighed. No dog for her. Not even a glowing dog.

Although she could only sulk for as long as it took for Sherlock to rinse the suds out of her hair. When he scooped her out of the bath and wrapped her up in her favourite fluffy towel, warm from being draped over the radiator, she couldn't help but smile. Daddy knew exactly when to put the towel and her pyjamas on the radiator so that they weren't too hot or too cold. They were just toasty. Plus, tonight he said Sophia could have a mug of hot chocolate before bed.

There was a knock on the flat's door.

"Appointments have finished!" Sherlock called only to hear another louder knock in return.

"Maybe it's John." Sophia whispered as her daddy helped her into her pyjamas. "Or Mrs Hudson." Sherlock didn't reply. He listened as the door to the flat creaked open and footsteps walked towards the middle of the room. Sophia felt herself take in a deep shaking breath. There was something wrong. Something that scared her. Maybe it was the look on her Daddy's face. He seemed to know something that she didn't. He had done that thing again. The deduction thing that made him so special.

Dressed up in her all-in-one pyjamas, Sherlock took Sophia's hand and guided her out of the bathroom. She grew nervous and began to chew on her lip. Something started fizzling in her stomach. Something not nice. Ready to explode. She squeezed her daddy's hand tightly. Scared he would let her be taken or that he would run away.

It was amazing that she didn't burst into tears when she saw who was in the living room. Her throat closed up and her tummy dropped. If she hadn't been to the toilet before she got into the bath then she probably would have wet herself right there and then. Standing near the fireplace, picking up and inspecting all of the useless junk daddy had on the mantelpiece, was the scariest man in the whole of England. Moriarty.

"Get out." Sherlock demanded, stopping at the other side of the room. Moriarty spun around on his heel and smiled over at them. After letting a whimper leave her mouth unexpectedly, Sophia jumped behind her daddy's legs.

"That's not very welcoming now is it, Sherlock?" He pouted. "You should be setting a good example for your little girl."

"I'll call the police."

"Honestly Sherlock, I'm not stupid. If you wanted the police involved you would have called them the moment I step foot on the stairs."

"Why are you here?" Sherlock asked, his voice tense and furious. "If you haven't noticed, you've come at a rather important part of our daily routine."

"Oh?" Moriarty prompted.

"It's bedtime." A smile cracked out across the Irish man's face.

"Oh, do carry on. Don't mind me. Just continue as if I'm not here at all."

"I really wish that was true." Sophia whispered, mostly to herself. There was pause. A moment of silence and stillness. Then Sherlock did something surprising. He did as he was told. Acting as if Moriarty wasn't there, he pulled Sophia along by the hand to the kitchen. She scuttled behind him in shock. Briefly she caught Moriarty's eye. He grinned like the big bad wolf in the picture book at school.

Sherlock lifted her up and sat her on the counter. Usually she was never allowed to sit this close to the stove. She guessed it probably had something to do with Moriarty being in the flat. He had followed, leaning against the door frame and watching them with his big eyes.

"So..." Sherlock's voice boomed, filling up the previously silent kitchen as he poured a bit too much milk into the saucepan. Sophia would never be able to drink that much hot chocolate. "Any particular reason you're here?"

"I heard little Sophia has been ill." Moriarty replied his voice full of fake worry and his bottom lip sticking out. "And I..." He paused, reaching into his suit coat. Sophia's felt her eyes widen. Whenever they did that in the movies, they'd pull out a gun and then BANG BANG somebody would be dead. "I got her a get-well-soon present."

In a few large steps he was in front of her. Daddy took a large side step, putting himself in between them and eyeing Moriarty suspiciously. The man raised his arms in a sort of surrender, opening a hand to show him what lay there. Sophia couldn't see. She tried to peek over her daddy's shoulder but it was no use. Then, with a sigh, he took a step to the side. Back to the saucepan. Leaving Moriarty to take another step forward so he was far too close for Sophia's liking.

In his hand wasn't a gun. It was too small to be a gun. Sophia frowned and sucked in her lips, watching as the big bad wolf man offered her the gift. It was a droopy, grey toy mouse wearing a little mustard coloured jacket. The mouse looked sad and tired. As if he'd been alive for longer than anyone Sophia knew but had never ever had a hug before. It dangled from Moriarty's thumb and forefinger, being held only by the ear.

"I saw him and he reminded me of you." He said, his voice quiet and light. As if he was singing her a song. "He's so small and weak and helpless." She needed the little mouse. She needed to love him and hug him and kiss him. He needed to know that he was loved. She stuck out her cupped hands, hovering below the mouse. "He keeps getting passed about." Moriarty dropped the mouse into her hands. "Nobody really wants him and one day he's going to run out of people to be passed to."

"Ignore him, Sophia." Sherlock hissed, shooting a glare over at Moriarty who just smiled.

"I love him and I'm not going to pass him around." Sophia snapped, pulling the mouse to her chest. "And daddy loves me and he's not going to pass me around again. He said so." Moriarty shrugged. The type of shrug that made Sophia feel silly. As if he knew better because he was an adult. She wanted to kick him in between his legs. She didn't know why it was so important that the kick landed there but daddy told her once that if she needed to get away from a man kick him right between the legs and then knee him in the face. Actually he said a lot of stuff about 'self defence'. He said when she was taller he could teach her more. It was difficult to teach someone self defence when they could barely reach someone's chest.

Sherlock carried a tray with three mugs of hot chocolate on into the living room. Sophia leapt down from the counter with a bang and scuttled after her father. He sat down in his seat. Sophia scrabbling onto his knee quickly, as Moriarty sat down in John's seat. Sherlock gestured for him to take a mug of chocolate. Strange, Sophia thought. Why was he being so nice to Moriarty? He was a bad man.

"You solved my puzzle." Moriarty declared, his eyes locking with Sophia as he reached forward for a mug. His finger grazed against the handle of the mug nearest to him. One with the smiling face of Queen Elizabeth II plastered on it.

"No! That's my special mug." Sophia snapped, wanting to rip it away from him but not really wanting to go any closer to him. He raised his arms in surrender. She took the chance to carefully and slowly reach get off of her father's lap and retrieve her special mug. "Did you enjoy it?" Moriarty pressed as she scuttled back to her daddy's lap. "My puzzle? You guessed it before anyone else didn't you?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." She mumbled before taking a long sip of her hot chocolate only to spit it back into the mug because it was far too hot.

"You found the little girl." Moriarty replied. Sophia's lips formed a small 'o' as she realised what he meant. The little girl who was at her old house. It was so long again she had forgotten about it. There were more important things that had happened since then. Like the time there was a spider in the bathroom or when a homeless man in the street told Daddy he had three days to live.

"That was really mean." Sophia mumbled, her lips still hovering over the rim of her mug. "That little girl wasn't yours to take and she was probably really scared. You shouldn't do that."

"Do you know why I did it, sweetheart?"

"You're the bad guy." Sophia answered firmly. "You want to take over the world or you're really sad but you won't tell anyone." Moriarty grinned at her. Sophia didn't like it. She looked back down at the little mouse that he had given her and began to stroke it's head. It must have been scary, she thought, for that little mouse living in Moriarty's pocket for so long.

"I wanted to see if you really are your daddy's daughter." He said in a stage whisper, leaning forward in his seat. "I wanted to see if you could solve my puzzles like your daddy can." There was a small pause. Sophia frowned and sank into her father. She wanted to bury her face into his neck, fall under his skin and hide there forever. Moriarty couldn't get her there. "Because I've been having doubts." He continued.

"Why?" Sophia whispered. The image of the photograph Sherlock kept on his bedside table flashed in in Sophia's mind. The photo of them together at the wedding. "We look the same."

"Oh, but I've been taking a peek at your files." Moriarty smiled. "You're not exactly the brightest crayon in the box, now are you?"

"Sophia, go to bed." Sherlock suddenly demanded but she didn't move. She wanted to know what Moriarty had meant but it wasn't long until Sherlock gave her a shove. Her bare feet hit the ground. All of her attention was focused on the man sitting opposite her.

"Party pooper." He frowned, sticking out his bottom lip. The chair behind Sophia squeaked as her father stood up. His hand came down to rest on her shoulder and he began to guide her across the room.

"It's past her bedtime." He explained, his voice angry and tense. It made Sophia worry that she had done something wrong. Moriarty smiled and leant back in the seat that had once been John's.

"Routine is the secret to good parenting." He said, a wave of his hand letting them know that they were excused. Sherlock didn't reply and instead ushered Sophia out of the room, down the hallway and into her bedroom as she tried not to spill her hot chocolate.

Tucking her into bed was done silently. Sherlock looked so annoyed and angry that Sophia didn't risk asking for a bedtime story. Not even one of the boring books that Sherlock chose like the ones that weren't made up or the one's that were made up but were set a long, long time ago. Sophia found those books tedious and Daddy always got annoyed with her anyway because she'd offer solutions to their problems. Admittedly the solutions were for the main character to use a mobile phone or search up the answer on google. It was hard for her to comprehend a time before technology was so advanced.

Sherlock perched on the edge of her bed beside her stomach and looked down at her. It was clear he was trying not to look angry but it still showed through. You could still see that underneath everything he was tense.

"Stay in your room." He whispered, leaning down so that his breath danced over her face and tickled her cheeks. "And go to sleep."

"You should phone the police." Sophia whispered back. "You're not allowed to come into people's houses and be nasty."

"Then he won't tell me why he's here and what he wants." Sherlock replied. "If I can find out what he wants then I can make him go away." He got to his feet. The conversation was over. Sophia was a child and, as usual, children didn't get the last word. Instead she watched as her father straightened his shirt. "Besides, calling the police would be pointless. He'd just escape."

Sophia sucked in her bottom lip, looking her father straight in the eyes with a furrowed brow. He reached forward and tucked a curl of her still damp hair behind her ear. "Trust me." He whispered. "When you wake up this will all be over. I promise." Sophia nodded and watched silently as her father got to his feet and left the room.

Of course there was no way that Sophia would go straight to sleep. Her and the mouse would stay up, straining their ears as hard as they could to hear what the men were talking about.


A/N: THANK YOU FOR READING MY LOVELY LOVELIES! I'm sorry for the delay!

Have you all had a nice few weeks? Any big news in your lives? Tell me! I want to know.

So anyway, I decided, I'll go ahead and follow everyone who follows the EveryBit Tumblr page! It'll probably on my personal page. How creepy will that be? You'll get a follow from a strange, blog. It could also be creepy if you go through my tumblr, find my photos, find my name, find out tons of things about me and stalk me.

please don't stalk me

SO, for a follow and the eternal love of an author, follow everybitDOTtumblrDOTcom

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