John kisses Caroline and baby Colin's head as he scoops up a four-year-old Rosie, heading out the door. "Bye you two, see you later. Be good for Mummy little guy."

"Byeee!", Rosie giggles and waves to them as John carries her to the car.

"What do you want to do for Daddy Date Day, Rosie?"

"Park!", she squeals happily, grinning at John. "And ice cream, and toy store, and mac n cheese!"

"Wow, that's...quite a list, Rosamund. But okay", he smiles, pecking her cheek as he clips in her car seat buckle.

"Daddy?"

"Yes, Rosie?"

"I love you."

John smiles and looks back at her as he gets in the driver's seat. "I love you too."

He drives to the park, playing some of Rosie's favorite songs on the radio, peeking at his rear-view mirror at her every few minutes. She's kicking her little feet in the air and grinning happily while looking out the window. Her blonde pigtails bounce with every turn of her head.

Once they have arrived, he unbuckles her from her car seat and holds her little hands, escorting her to the play structure. She shrieks happily as she runs around and climbs it, going down the slide multiple times.

"Daddy, watch!"

"I'm watching", he chuckles, his genuine grin slipping into a more solemn one, seeing just how much Rosie is growing up to look like Mary.

They spend about two hours at the park, as John lets her get some of that preschooler energy out, they finally head back to the car and go get some ice cream. He can't help but smile at the gleeful look on her face as she struggles on her tiptoes to see the glass counter where all the flavor tubs lie.

John grins and lifts her up enough to see all the ice creams, naming them as he points to the flavors for her. "Which kind of ice cream would you like today, Rosie?"

"Uhhhhhhhhh...choc-at!", she giggles. "And em-nems!"

"Chocolate with M&Ms?", he snorts. "You always get that kind, but alright."

Rosie cuddles him and lies her head on his shoulder as he orders himself a vanilla hot fudge sundae and pays at the register.

As they wait, he rubs her back softly and kisses her cheek. "I love you, baby girl. So much Rosie. Your mama would be sooo proud of you, she loves you so much."

"Wuv mama too. Mama an angel?"

John does his best not to tear up and nods. "Yes, lovey, mama's an angel, and she'll always watch over you from heaven. I promise."

"Y'know who else loves you very much? Mummy Caroline and your baby brother Colin."

Rosie grins toothily and nods. "Colin cries cause he's jus' a baby!"

Laughing softly, John nods. "Yeah, babies cry a lot because they can't talk yet. You're a big girl and you are so lucky you can talk, huh?"

"Yeah!"

He grabs the ice cream cups and sets her down before sitting down at the booth next to her, handing the smaller cup to her and grabbing a bunch of napkins out of the holder to place under it, knowing how messy she can get.

Eating his own ice cream (and quite enjoying it despite Sherlock's comments about his weight gain again; and damn, he doesn't want to be like Mycroft), he smiles at his little girl and feels his heart swell with pride and love, being grateful that even though he knows now that he was supposed to lose Mary, he will always have a piece of the time they were in love in his daughter.

Now he has another love and a perfect little boy as well, and he never thought that he could love like that again. Caroline has certainly proved him wrong, and he is finally at peace, knowing that Mary would have wanted him and Rosie to both be happy and loved. Caroline is lovely, as a mother, as a wife, as a nurse, and as a human being. She's just as understanding as Mary was, but fortunately without as much baggage.

"Ice cream is yummy, Daddy."

"Mmm, it is, huh? This was a clever idea, sweetie."

"Thank you!", she beams.

John keeps to his word and takes Rosie to the toy store after that, allowing her to pick out as many toys as she can, on a strict budget. He figures it's a good teaching moment as well, despite Rosie being a bit too young for advanced math quite yet.

Rosie looks around for about an hour and a half, settling on four different toys she wants, except she's a bit over budget. John lowers himself to her level and smiles, showing her the prices and showing her as he adds it up on his phone calculator.

"Look, Rosie. I allowed you thirty-seven pounds, right? See how this is more? That means you have to out one of the toys back because you can't afford to get one of them."

She tears up and her lip trembles sadly before tears begin to fall. John holds her close and wipes her tears. "Ohhh, I know. It's so disappointing. Daddy wants to get a lot of things some days, but I can't afford them either. I'm so proud of you for being so brave about it. But we do have to put one back, so which three do you want to buy, and which one do you want to put away until next time?"

Rosie sniffles and wipes her eyes. "I don't wanna..."

"I know you don't Rosie, but you don't have enough money for all of them. And if you took all of them, that would be stealing", he gasps in shock. "You don't want to steal, do you? That's what bad guys do. Are you a bad girl?"

She shakes her head vigorously and grabs one of the dolls she had chosen, carefully putting it back on the shelf where it belongs.

"I'm a good girl, Daddy."

"I know you're a good girl. Wow, I'm so so proud of you, sweetheart!", he grins and peppers her in kisses until she smiles and giggles again.

"Come on, let's go pay for your toys, okay? Do you want to pay for them all by yourself?"

Rosie gasps and nods, exciting about acting like an adult. John takes her and the basket to the register and hands her the cash to buy her toys. He lifts her to see the worker, and when the cashier asks for the total, she beams proudly and thrusts it out towards her.

"Wow, are all these toys for you! What a lucky girl, thank you! What's your name!?"

She giggles cutely and nods. "Rosie!"

"Rosie? That's such a pretty name."

"Thank you", she grins and nuzzles John's shoulder, being shy.

John thanks the cashier, smiling, and carries Rosie and her bag to the car. "Are you sure you want to get dinner now? It's a little early."

She thinks for a moment then her face lights up. "Kitties! I wanna see the kitties! Pweaseeeee Daddy!?"

"Okay, we'll go to the pet store, and you can look at the kittens for a little while."

"Yayyy!", she squeaks adorably as John buckles her in again.

Their next stop is the pet store, and he holds her hand as they walk towards the display of new kittens that are up for sale. It's one of Rosie's favorite things to do.

John spends the next hour with her as she croons over the small cats, making note of everything they do until he can barely handle it anymore.

"Daddy they're so cuuuuteee! They're wittle babiessss!", she mewls.

"Yeah, yeah, they are cute. We should get going now, Rosamund. Do you want to go get some mac and cheese, like you wanted earlier?"

She looks a little sad but nods reluctantly. "Yeah, my tummy is hungry now."

"Okay", he smiles, leaning down and kissing her cheek. "I love you."

"Wuv you too, Daddy."

He grabs her hand and strokes the back of it softly as they make their way back to the car, and over to Angelo's. He's utterly thrilled to see them and makes Rosie laugh every time, with his loud theatrical demeanor.

Just as Rosie gets her mac n cheese, and John gets his tortellini, Sherlock and Molly walk into Angelo's looking nice for a date night. Rosie gasps, as she's facing the door and squeals out their names.

Molly turns and grins brightly. "Rosie! John! This is a surprise." They walk over to say hi to their goddaughter and friend.

Molly talks to Rosie about her day as Sherlock briefly discusses a case possibility he has for the next day with John, before going over and pressing a kiss to his goddaughter's cheek. "And how are you, little Miss Watson?"

Rosie giggles and throws her arms around his neck. "Good! Wuv you, Lock."

"Love you too Rosie."

"Well, we'd better get back to our date, and we will let Daddy and daughter get back to theirs", Molly beams. "Have a wonderful time, you two."

"Thanks, Molly. Sherlock, see you in the morning."

"See you", they reply, bidding a small farewell as they take their seats on the opposite end of the restaurant.

John eats hungrily, keeping an eye on his little girls as she happily enjoys her mac n cheese. When dinner is over, John pays for their meal and it's finally ready to go home as the sun begins to set. John smiles over at her. "Great job for eating so much, Rose. You're such a big girl now."

Rosie grins happily and nods affirmatively.

"Do you want to walk to the car, or do you want me to carry you?"

Rosie outs her hand to her chin adorably as she thinks. "Walk now and carry into house!"

John snorts, impressed by her ability to think ahead. "You've got it."

They walk to the car, and he can tell she is noticeably tired from walking around and being out all day. He smiles lightly to himself, knowing she has the stubbornness and insistence of her mother; she rarely goes back on her word, even at four years old.

When they arrive home, he carries her into the house with her bags and then sets them down, cuddling her cozily. Caroline comes out of Colin's room and down the stairs, placing a finger to her lips softly and grinning at the two of them.

"How was your day, you two?", she asks softly.

"Fun", Rosie smiles softly, and it quickly phasing into a yawn.

"Wow, it must have been. You look so sleepy, Rosie", she whispers, kissing her cheek.

John smiles and kisses Caroline. "How was the little guy?"

"He was fairly good today. Not as fussy. It was a decent day."

"That's great. I'm going to go bring Rosie up to bed and then we can relax, hm?"

"Sounds lovely."

John brings Rosie up to her room as quietly as he can and helps her change into her pj's, then helps her brush her teeth and takes out her pigtails, brushing out her blonde hair. Her blue eyes sparkle happily but droop slightly with tiredness.

"Daddy? Read me a story?"

John laughs lightly and nods. "Alright, one story. Ok? Just one. You need your sleep."

"Okay", she yawns, too sleepy to argue.

Grabbing one of her favorite books off her bookshelf, he tucks her into her bed and lies down next to her over the blanket. She cuddles up to his side and watches the illustrations of the pages as they turn, while he reads to her. She somehow struggles to stay away until the end.

"The End", John says, looking down at her and seeing she's still awake, a bit surprised.

"Night, Daddy. Wuv you."

"I love you too Rosie-girl. So much."

She smiles cutely and reaches up, pecking his lips sleepily before settling into her blankets and yawning again.

"Sweet dreams, princess", John whispers as she drifts off to sleep in front of his eyes.

He shuts the lamp off and closes her door, returning downstairs to Caroline so they can relax in silent bliss for the next two hours before they have to turn in as well.