We meet Again

Olivia was wiping the counter with a rag as her husband helped close the shop for the evening. She took off her apron and placed it on the hook before checking the cash register to count money from the sales before locking it.

"What a day." Her husband spoke, wiping his forehead with a rag. "Business has been booming lately."

Olivia smiled and giggled. "All thanks to your brilliant mind, Harry. You come up with great ideas for toys that you know children will love."

"And you have a lot of faith in me." Harry responded to his wife's comment. "Hard to believe I started out as an apprentice to becoming a toymaker full time."

Olivia never forgot the day she meet Harry after some time since the great mouse detective rescued Olivia and her father from the nefarious Professor Ratigan. She remembered seeing the gray mouse boy who was desperate for money and had no luck finding a job to support his family. In desperation, he resorted to stealing. He would've gotten away with it too if she and her father hadn't stopped him. Her father was considering turning him over to the police until he learned about his struggles with his family. Instead, he decided to take the boy under his wing as his apprentice once he learned about his ability to take things apart and put them back together.

During that time, Olivia and Harry became best friends, and they learned together how to make toys. Olivia hoped to one day run the shop so her father can rest, and Harry was happy to help. They noticed that as they got older, they developed feelings for each other and started to fall in love. Once Olivia became an adult, Harry proposed to her and she happily accepted. Shortly after they got married, they ended up having two boys who were two years apart from each other, and life has been busy since then.

Olivia did a final inspection in the shop to make sure all the doors and windows were locked. Her father had put more locks on the doors and windows for more security since the night he got kidnapped by a peg-legged bat all those years ago. Even though the event was traumatizing to her father, he was still the same doting father she knew.

Once she finished her inspection, she and her husband opened the door to the family room where she heard sounds of laughter. They walked in to find their two sons, Basil and David, reenacting the story of Basil of Baker Street with their grandfather, Hiram. Hiram has aged after all those years for he was having gray streaks in his red hair and creases under his eyes.

Olivia smiled fondly as she watched her two boys play. Basil, the oldest, resembled Olivia greatly with his light brown fur, black eyes, and a messy tuff of brown fur on the top of his head. He wore a white button shirt, green shorts, green socks, and brown shoes. David, the youngest, is a gray mouse with a white muzzle and looked to be a carbon copy of his father. He was wearing the same outfit as his brother, only he had on blue shorts and socks. If other mice were not paying attention, they would not notice that those two were related and named after the two mice men who saved their mother and grandfather from the nefarious Professor Ratigan. That's right, Olivia named her two boys after Basil of Baker Street and Dr. David Q. Dawson.

As the two boys continued playing, their father approached them and got down on the floor.

"Hey boys, I got something for you." Harry greeted as he dug his hand into his pant pocket.

The boys excitedly stopped their reenactment and rushed their father, much to Hiram's joy. Harry pulled his hand out of his pocket to reveal a brown ball with a key at the top.

Basil asked excitedly, "What is it? What is it?"

Harry turned the key a few times before setting the ball on the floor to watch it unfold into a shape of a familiar detective. The boys' eyes lit up as they watched the figure walk across the floor as if looking for clues.

"Did you just make that, Daddy?" Basil asked. "That is amazing."

David commented, "How did you do that?"

Harry explained, "With your grandfather's blueprints and time tinkering with it. Since you two like listening to your mother talk about The Great Mouse Detective, I thought you two would like a toy to play with. You two must share, especially you, Basil."

Olivia couldn't help but laugh at how her oldest son pouted in response. Sharing was a concept that she will have to continuously work with Basil as he demonstrated that being selfish by keeping toys to himself, to his brother's dismay. That resulted in David feeling left out and constantly going to his mother to help him sort things out with his brother. Unlike Basil, David was shown to be more timid and not confrontational at all, whereas Basil was more confident and outgoing.

The boys went to their mother and asked her to tell them a story as they reached for her hands and pulled her to a chair.

Basil requested, "Tell us a story about the Great Mouse Detective and how he defeated the bad guy. Please, Mommy."

Olivia replied, "Boys, I told you this story many times. You want me to tell it again?"

"Mommy, this is always our favorite story and we like hearing how the good guy defeats the bad guy." Basil responded with puppy eyes. "Please."

"Please." David pleaded and copied his brother's face.

Olivia shook her head. "Alright, I will tell you the story. After this, it is bedtime."

Olivia told the story about the Great Mouse Detective that started with her father being kidnapped by a peg-legged bat to the battle at the Big Ben that resulted in Ratigan's demise. By the time she finished her story, her sons were already sleepy and ready for bed.

Hiram coaxed, "Come on, boys. Time for bed."

Basil and David stood up and allowed their grandfather to take them to their rooms. Meanwhile, Olivia was putting the toys away in the family room. She glanced up at the wall to see newspaper clippings that she collected over the years about the cases solved by Basil of Baker Street and Dawson. She had not seen those two men for a long time since Ratigan's demise, and she began to wonder how they were doing. Could they still be around?

"You should go and visit them." Harry chimed in, wrapping his arms around his wife. "I bet they will be happy to see you."

"You think so?" Olivia asked, glancing over at her husband's face. "Who will take care of the shop?"

"I can run the shop by myself while you visit." Harry answered. "Besides, I think the boys would like to meet their namesakes."

Olivia smiled and gave her husband a peck on his white muzzle. "I appreciate that, Harry. I will go see them first thing tomorrow."

Next Morning.

Olivia was walking on Baker Street with her two sons, adorned in their winter attire. Basil and David were confused when their mother woke them up to take them on a short trip. When they questioned it, their mother didn't give them a clear answer.

Basil asked, "What are we doing here on Baker Street?"

"Yeah, why are we here?" David asked as he clung onto his mother's cloak as it were a security blanket.

Olivia smiled softly at her boys, and she explained, "We are going to see old friends of mine today. We're almost there."

The boys looked at each other momentarily and continued walking.

At a certain house on Baker Street, Basil was smoking his pipe and looking out the window as Dawson was pouring tea on a nearby table.

"Is something on your mind, Basil?" Dawson asked as he mixed a spoonful of sugar into his cup of tea.

Basil sighed. "I am just wondering about Olivia Flavhammer."

"Flaversham." Dawson corrected.

Basil waved his pipe. "Whatever. I wonder how she has been doing since I last saw her. Probably all grown up, married and have children."

"Probably so." Dawson walked up to his friend and looked out the window with him. "After all, it has been several years since the case got closed."

Basil inhaled through his pipe and blew smoke out of his mouth. He decided to take a seat in his green chair and fiddle with his violin. He had gotten a new violin after his old one got destroyed from sitting from it, and he made sure to never put his violin in his chair again. He smiled fondly at the memory of the time he was trying to reason with Olivia to not go with him and Dawson to Toby's place, only to accidently sit on his own violin. He thought for sure he was going to scream at the girl, but she proved to be very stubborn and ended up going with them anyway.

A knock was heard at the door, causing Basil and Dawson to look at each other. Dawson went up to the front door and opened it to find a woman and two boys standing on the doorstep.

He greeted, "Good morning, Madame. May I help you?"

"Yes, is Basil here?" The woman answered, looking down at the ground with her hood concealing her face. "Does he still live here?"

Dawson replied, "Why, yes it is. May I ask what is troubling you?"

"Would it be considered trouble if I came to see old friends…" The woman pulled her hood off. "Dr. Dawson?"

Dawson gasped when he saw the face of Olivia as a grown woman. She was no longer the little girl they met years ago for she became taller, gained slightly sharp features, and adorned in a blue dress covered by her cloak. One thing that didn't change was the bow in her hair.

"Hello Dawson." Olivia greeted. "It's been a long time."

"Indeed." Dawson then gestured to the door. "Please, come in. I cannot wait to tell Basil."

Olivia and her sons entered the house to see that the place still looked the same after all these years. Papers were everywhere, various machines were running, and the painting of Ratigan was still on the mantle along with the bell.

Dawson called, "Basil, you would not believe who is here."

"Who would be here at this time?" Basil called back. "It's early."

"I think you will be in for a surprise." Dawson commented as he walked into the room with the family behind him.

Olivia greeted, "Hello Basil. Long time no see."

Basil gasped in surprised and carefully put his violin down as he took in the appearance of Olivia. He carefully stood up from his chair and made his way over to the mouse woman. He made quick observations on the woman to notice that Olivia was married due to a ring on her left ring finger and had two children standing on either side of her.

He greeted, "My, it is great to see you again, Mrs. –"

"Green. Olivia Green." Olivia replied. Then she gestured to her two boys. "These are my sons, Basil and David. Basil and David, meet Basil of Baker Street and Dr. David Dawson."

The two men stood in awe in realization that the woman named her two sons after them. They were flattered at the thought of someone naming their sons after them.

Dawson knelt down to the boys' level and spoke, "Nice to meet you two. How old are you?"

"Six." Little Basil replied.

David shyly held up four fingers to indicate that he was four as he buried his face in his mother's cloak. The doctor and detective could already tell that David was shy one while little Basil was the more outgoing type.

Little Basil commented, "The Great Mouse Detective looks old."

The two men chuckled slightly while Olivia did not find her son's statement amusing.

"Basil, be nice. This is the man who saved your grandfather and I from Ratigan." Olivia scolded. "Apologize to him."

Little Basil looked up at his namesake and apologized. "Sorry, Mr. Basil."

The detective smiled as he knelt down to the boy's level, and he told him, "Thank you. But you are right about me being old. Remember, your mother was about your age when I saved her."

Even though several years had past, the detective hardly aged a bit with the exception of gray fur around his muzzle and creases under his eyes. Dawson definitely aged tremendously for his once blond mustache and eyebrows became white, and he developed wrinkles around his eyes and cheeks.

Little Basil pleaded, "Can you tell the story how you defeated the bad guy? Pretty please."

The detective looked at Olivia who just shrugged and mouthed 'tell him.'

Basil smiled and replied, "Certainly. I can definitely tell that you live up to your name since you like to tinker with gadgets, judging by the callouses on your hands, and you like to go on adventures due to the scuff on your shoes."

The little boy looked at his hands to see callouses on them from tinkering with gadgets and then his shoes to see scuff marks. He looked up at the detective and was already impressed by his observation skills.

Then the detective turned his attention to David, who was still hiding behind his mother's cloak.

He observed, "You are a little timid, yet you still crave for adventure like your brother does because you don't want to be left out. Am I right, David?"

David relaxed a little and nodded.

"Now then. " Basil stood up and moved to sit in his chair. "Come here."

The boys went over to the mouse man, who then picked them up and set them on his lap.

Basil started, "I will tell you the story about how I defeated Professor Ratigan in my perspective. It all started…."

The boys began listening to the detective tell the tale in excitement while the other adults just sat quietly in their seats with Dawson sitting in the chair across from his friend and Olivia sitting down on a footstool. They have a feeling that there will be more visits from this day forward.