Chapter 55

Disclaimer: I Don't own Sherlock or anything.

Author's note: Please review, thank you!

Sherlock sat on the sofa one evening reading a book on bumble bees when Hamish walked in from his room and sat beside his papa. Sherlock wrapped an arm around him and Hamish leant his head on Sherlock's shoulder. They sat in a comfortable silence for a few minutes before Hamish said "Papa?"

"Mmm?" Sherlock hummed, responding to the question.

"Pa?" Hamish whined slightly as he knew he didn't have his full attention as he was still reading.

Sherlock rolled his eyes and put the book down then said "Yes, pumpkin?"

"Don't call me pumpkin, I'm not a child." Hamish scowled.

"Get on with it, Hamish. What did you want to ask me?" Sherlock said.

"Well… George has like three siblings and they seem to have loads of fun together… why don't I have any siblings? Did you and dad not want any more kids? Or was I too much? Or what?" Hamish bit his lip in worry.

"Well…" Sherlock pondered his son's question for a moment, in truth he and John had never really talked about it themselves, they had always just got on with it, "Well if I'm honest… if me and John were able to have children the easy way, like most men and women can, you probably would have had more siblings, not because we would have planned, I don't think, more because we wouldn't have been particularly careful. Not when we know what a joy it is to have children and how we are able to support a family bigger than this one. But anyway… we can't have children easily, but that isn't really the reason… when me and your dad decided to have you we really wanted a baby, a family, that was a big decision and took a while to get the process going, it was a big risk going about having a child the way we did, the chances of you making it were relatively okay but the… experiment we were involving ourselves in was one we didn't know for sure would work. You could have never been conceived, or the lady could have miscarried, or you could have been still born, or there could have been complications where you had some problems…. But we were lucky and you were fine. And me and your dad have loved being your parents, it's been the best thing that has happened to the both of us. I personally would have been fine with having another baby, as I think John would have been too. But the thing is neither of us thought about it too much. I suppose… we just never got bored of you." Sherlock smiled fondly at his son and stroked his hair gently, Hamish smiled back.

"Really?"

"Yeah, our lives are so busy, and we were enjoying every stage of your little life, we didn't have much time to think about making another baby. As I said, if the process was easier and we didn't have to get so involved in the science and medical side maybe we would have had more children, but me and your dad were just quite content and were fine as our little unit. Us three have had a wonderful life, don't you think?" Sherlock said.

"Yeah." Hamish smiled.

"You… you don't… you're not upset that we didn't give you siblings, are you? You've never been lonely, have you?" Sherlock worried.

"No, gosh, papa, no! No, I've always had you two and you're entertaining and all your friends and some of their children and school and stuff, I've never felt lonely. I was just at George's earlier today and the thought crossed my mind that you and dad had only ever had me and I was wondering if there was a specific reason for that." Hamish explained.

"Ahh, okay then." Sherlock settled back down.

The front door opened and they could hear John carrying the shopping in.

"Hello, boys! Oh, don't worry, you two just relax, let dear old dad struggle with all these heavy bags, it's fine, as long as you two are comfortable that's all I care about." John said sarcastically as he came through the door and saw them on the sofa.

"Go and help dad unpack the shopping." Sherlock nudged Hamish.

"Why me, why not you?" Hamish asked.

"Because I've got grey hair and you don't." Sherlock referenced the silver hair that ran down the sides of his hair, the top of his head was still black with only a few silver streaks nestled in the curls, but his sides were slightly more interspersed with silver.

Hamish rolled his eyes and got up "Dad is more grey than you… he should be the one sitting down…" Hamish grumbled.

"Yes, but he needs to keep those joints moving." Sherlock quirked a smile.

"I'm not that old, thank you, Sherlock!" John had heard their conversation and was giving Sherlock a very disapproving look from where he stood in the kitchen with a can of beans in one hand and his other hand on his hip.

Sherlock giggled mischievously.


Sherlock and John lay in bed that night, Sherlock cuddled up to John's side, John had his arm wrapped around Sherlock's waist.

"Hamish asked me about why we didn't have more children today." Sherlock said.

"Did he? Why?" John asked.

"Oh, George has a few brothers or sisters and it got Hamish wondering. He said he hasn't been lonely, which is good." Sherlock reassured John.

"What did you tell him?" John asked.

"That we never really thought about it. That we never got bored of him. And that we probably would have had more if it were easier for us." Sherlock explained.

"Would you have liked more?" John asked "Honestly? Would you have liked to have had another baby with me?"

"I… I'd be happy to have another baby with you, but I am also equally as happy to just have Hamish." Sherlock said.

"Ditto." John said and stared into Sherlock's bright eyes then pressed a gentle kiss to his lips.

"So… have we missed the boat, do you think?" Sherlock asked "Do you think we are too old?"

"Well I'm forty six… and you're forty five… that's not too old, if it was an issue of putting our body through the stress of pregnancy or something like women have to deal with it'd be something to consider, but overall I don't think we are too old… but when the baby is eighteen, hypothetically speaking, we will be sixty four and sixty three… but with the age of people dying going up that isn't as old as it once was… I don't know… are we too old? I don't know…" John admitted.

"Me too. In some respects I think we could do it, but in others I think we might be a bit too old… I just… I don't know." Sherlock said "I hate not knowing."

"Maybe we should think about it?" John said "Like we did when we had Hamish, weigh up our reasoning."

"Good idea." Sherlock said, they lay in silence for a bit then Sherlock sat up and opened his bed side table drawer then got out a mini photo album he kept, he flicked through the first few pages and stopped at one of Hamish in a car seat, snuggled under a blanky, barely a week or two old, he lay back beside John and looked at the picture "I would like another baby." Sherlock said "I… Hamish is fifteen now, I don't know when he will move out but… what if it's soon? I'm not ready for our family to become more distanced… even if it is in a few more years."

"Me too." John sighed and stroked the little picture of Hamish.

"He was adorable, wasn't he?" Sherlock grinned at John.

"The most adorable baby I've ever laid eyes on!" John smiled then his smile softened to a gentle one, he stroked Sherlock's cheek "I want another baby around too, but is our chance over? Will Hamish be the next person to bring a baby into our family? Or can we? I… think we might be able to."

"Let's sleep on it, think about it." Sherlock said, put the photo album back and turned his light off, plunging the room into darkness, they cuddled together and both tried to get to sleep, but had so many thoughts in their heads it took ages!

Author's note: Right, well, I'm not entirely sure whether I want to add another baby to the family, so I'm going to leave this up to you guys, and also see how I feel in a while.

To give your opinion vote in my poll! Another baby or not? I have a poll on my profile page, it will be near the top :)

Thanks guys! Please vote! Or leave a review! Or both ;D xxx