"I take it Mrs Hudson has the boys?" John said with a disapproving gaze. He returned from work to find Mycroft stretched out on the sofa, with his head in Lestrade's lap, being hand-fed grapes as he scrolled through his reader.

"I am not being anti-social." Mycroft said with a defiant glare, reading John's thoughts. "How's Sherlock?" Mycroft said, redirecting John's anger.

"Still working on his idiotic scheme to get himself killed." John growled as he took a seat on the sofa next to Mycroft's feet.

"I'm sure no harm will befall him on the other side. He's a big Alpha and can take care of himself." Mycroft said stretching out his feet to be rubbed.

"Are we... talking about the same Sherlock?" John scoffed. "He's a giant pup!"

"He's made great strides since you've come along. He'll be fine." Mycroft assured him. "Besides, it's always the beta scouts that leave and never come back."

John whimpered nervously.

Mrs Hudson returned, looking completely worn out. George and Michael were crying so hard they were turning red.

"What's wrong?" John asked shooting up of the sofa to take George from Mrs Hudson.

"The boys saw their first canine!" She shouted over the noise.

"Where?"

"In the park!" She handed Michael over to Lestrade who placed the bowl of grapes on Mycroft's belly like a make-shift coffee table. John looked into the pram to see Jonah was unfazed.

"What are they doing outside the enclave?" Lestrade growled at her.

"It's not my fault." She said putting her hands on her hips. Michael sniffled and George began to calm down.

"What happened?" John asked as the room quieted down.

"We were walking through the park, I was pushing the boys along, past a guard post, and there was this enormous hound." She said miming out the size of the canine. "The boys weren't sure of what to make of it. Then the thing barked. George and Michael started howling and Jonah... He..." They all looked at her intently as she looked down at Jonah who had a smile on his face. "He laughed his little head off! I was just bout scared to death myself. Chilled to the bone, I was. The thing could have gobbled them up in one gulp and Jonah laughed right in its face."

John laughed as he reached into the pram and tickled Jonah's feet. "You think that's funny do you? You just laugh in the face of danger." John shook his head. "You're too much like your dad."


John took a week off of work to deal with Mycroft who had become very needy.

"Only two more months." He said grasping Mycroft's hand firmly. Mycroft groaned, lying in the middle of the floor in the reception room. His back was giving him all sorts of trouble and he couldn't lay, sit, or stand without being uncomfortable. Michael crawled over to Mycroft, grabbed a hold of his shirt, and pulled himself up to stand.

He patted Mycroft's belly and started bleating like a sheep. "Baah, baah, baah."

Mycroft whined. "I'm going to be pregnant for the rest of my life. Why is it so hot in here?" He complained.

"I turned down the heat." John said rubbing Mycroft's belly reassuringly.

Michael began to giggle and pat his mummy's belly like a drum. John laughed and held on to Michael's little hands. "Do you feel your sister in there?" He moved Michael's hands around until he felt a thump.

"My, mum-mum." Michael said excitedly. John let go and Michael fell back on to his bottom and started crawling away.

"We still haven't come up with a consensus on her name yet." John reminded Mycroft.

"What does it matter? Sherlock will rename her anyhow."

"You're sulking."

"Am not." Mycroft said rolling on to his side. "I'd just prefer my brother not referring to his nephews as the 'Serpent' and 'Rodent'."

"He means it as a sign of affection." John said looking at Mycroft with sympathy. "At least he isn't calling Michael 'it'!"

"He could call them by their given names."

"Where's the fun in that?" John teased.

"That's it! Her name is Michelle. End of discussion." Mycroft sat himself up and stretched.

"You can't have two children bearing your name."

"Why not? I carried both of them."

"Sherlock needs his name passed on, in some variant." John pleaded.

"I don't believe he'd appreciate his name being passed on to an Omega female. Besides, I can't even begin to think of names. I really don't want to think about her coming out yet!" He said nervously rubbing his belly. "We'll have four pups, all under a year old."

"It's been a busy year." John smiled at Michael and George who were interacting with each other. They kept each other well entertained, while Jonah seemed more interested in his own feet.

It appeared as if every morning, when Jonah awoke, he was surprised to see he had limbs. He was endlessly fascinated by the world around him, just not necessarily the people that inhabited it. He had his favourites, John, Sherlock, and Mrs Hudson. Those he tolerated, Mycroft, George, and occasionally Michael. Then there were the people Jonah had a strong rooted distrust of, like Lestrade and the postman.

Jonah didn't explicitly hate Lestrade, but he would never eat anything the man tried to give him. If Jonah saw Lestrade handling his bottle, he would refuse to drink it, and of course he wanted nothing to do with solid food unless it was in the hands of Mrs Hudson.

She had a way with Jonah that made John green with envy. He'd smile and coo at her, allow her to feed him, and bathe him. John could hardly get Jonah to take two bites of real food, he screamed in agony during his bath, and he rarely smiled.

Mycroft tried to comfort John the best he could, but his best was not very good.

"Jonah loves you." Mycroft said holding John's hand. "He just doesn't necessarily like you."

John moped for quite some time. He started finding more and more excuses to visit the beta-sector to take his mind off things.

He started getting used to the smell of all the domestic animals and canines. He spent an hour after school, roaming the sector, looking over all the buildings. Irene accompanied him on a few of his outings. She was becoming slightly more submissive after spending a good portion of her time in the sector.

"Their buildings are nicer than ours." She remarked as they walked past a row of shops.

"They're certainly more updated." John said furrowing his eyebrows.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing..." He stopped and turned around abruptly. "Why would they build a brand new enclave? Why not build onto an existing area... it doesn't make much sense does it?"

"I know! That's exactly what I thought! Why should they receive all this special treatment? They're betas!"

"Now, now. No need to beta-bash." John scolded.

"God, I'm so sick and tired of all these ungrateful inferiors. Look at what we gave them!" She said motioning to the small city.

"Yes and how many have been out cast because of it?"

Irene let out a puff of air and rolled her eyes. "Sheltered." She grumbled.

"I am not sheltered." John said with a frown.

"Sherlock." She said nervously pulling at John's elbow. She tried hiding behind him and John looked around for a threat.

"What is it?"

"What is that scout doing here?" She whispered. John spotted Sherlock in the middle of the town-square. He had a hawk-like gaze and a stoic expression on his face. Betas passed by him without a care, while Irene cowered behind John.

Sherlock spotted him and made a straight line for them. Irene clutched on to John's shoulder for support.

"I swear, I haven't done anything." She said to John. "You've got to believe me."

John placed a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry, I won't let him hurt you." He said chuckling on the inside at her cowardice.

"A word Mr Holmes." Sherlock said in an authoritative tone that even made John feel slightly uncertain.

"Yeah, sure. Irene." He said prying her off his shoulder. He followed Sherlock into a shop and he was led directly into the elite room. Sherlock shut the door, locked it, and placed a chair under the door handle. He started searching the room.

"Sher-" John started and Sherlock hushed him. Sherlock ran his fingers along the wall, stopped abruptly, and punched through it. John looked at him in shock. Sherlock pulled out a fistful of wires. He yanked the wires from the wall and held them in his hand.

"Right then. Now that we won't be overheard..."

John looked at Sherlock with his mouth wide open. "They were listening the whole time?"

"Mycroft isn't the only one with access to the CCTV feed."

"How could I be so dumb?" John said going blind from panic.

"You're not in any danger." Sherlock assured him. John started to sweat and found it difficult to breathe. He started remembering all the things he said to the beta children. "I leave for the border tonight."

"Sherlock, you can't." John said stepping towards him. He took two steps and froze.

"I've already established myself with the scouts. John, I'm leaving tonight." He said firmly. John started stepping away from Sherlock, cornering himself against the wall. Sherlock approached him and John felt a panic rise in his chest.

"John." Sherlock said reaching out for him. John saw a flash of gold in Sherlock's eyes. John broke out into a cold sweat and shook with fear.

"Get away." John warned with a growl.

"John." Sherlock continued to approach him.

"I said, get away!" John barked. Sherlock took another defiant step forward.

John lashed out, and clawed Sherlock's throat. Sherlock grabbed his neck and looked at John completely stunned. Sherlock withdrew his hand to reveal blood, coating his neck and the palm of his hand.

Every muscle in John's body tensed as Sherlock's eyes turned pure gold. The corner of Sherlock's mouth twitched into a sort of smirk. He breathed heavily as he stared John down. John's mind raced with fear.

The door came crashing in. Sherlock's eyes changed rapidly as two scouts rushed in and surveyed the scene. Sherlock grabbed John by the elbow.

"He's not to visit the beta-sector again, understood?" He said showing John to the scouts. The scouts nodded.

"Yes captain." They said in unison.

"Sherlock, you can't!" John protested.

"It's for your own good." Sherlock said in a stern voice. A familiar Alpha female stepped forward to hand Sherlock a collared shirt. John recognized her from the night he was almost arrested. She was the one who rescued him from the sentinel. Her name plate read 'Donovan'.

She was wearing an outfit similar to Sherlock's only less decorated and with the rank of Sergeant. He read the other scout's name plate.

Anderson.

He'd heard the name before in passing. Both were former police officers, he was certain. What were they doing working as scouts all of a sudden?

"Shouldn't be wearing your husband's shirts." Sgt Donovan said gritting her teeth. "Do you know how much trouble he could get in for this?"

John looked to Sherlock who looked ashamed of something that John couldn't quite pinpoint.

"Did he do this to you?" Anderson asked in a malicious tone pointing to Sherlock's neck.

"I did it to myself." Sherlock hissed. He straightened up and leered at the two scouts.

"Why was the door baracaded?" Anderson asked looking at the broken chair on the floor.

"Anderson, don't talk out loud, you lower the IQ of the whole street."

Sherlock handed John his old Ω pregnancy shirt. "Why can't I stay?" John said clutching the shirt in his fists.

"Go home, John." Sherlock said softly. John looked into his eyes and saw the Sherlock he knew. He felt something brush up against his hand and he clenched it tight before the object fell out of his grasp.

The scouts escorted John to the gate and past the security check-points. They placed him in a cab and sent him directly home.

When John was certain he was alone, he opened his fist to reveal the tiny piece of clear paper.

He opened it and started reading:

Hold Jonah close to your heart. I'll return for all of you in six months time. In the mean-time find M.

Eat me

John looked at the signature line and cocked his head to one side. "Eat me?" John stuck out his tongue and gave the paper a tentative lick. It stuck to his tongue and began dissolving instantly. It left a foul after-taste and John started smacking his lips.

"God, I hope you know what you're doing." John said into the air. The news settled uncomfortably in his stomach. Sherlock's eyes seemed to be burned into John's mind as he walked inside the pack's house.