I'm not perposefully neglecting this fic, I've just not been very well and so have been focusing more on my Doctor Who one when I have the energy. Hopefully this is okay in the meantime, because nothing really happens it in :)

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Bella didn't like him. Well, the moment she first saw Sherlock she'd promptly burst into tears and clung to her mum like she was about to disappear. They were both instantly reminded of the little girl from St Aldate's, who had screamed when Sherlock walked into the room. Sherlock just stared, alarmed as Faye stood up, bouncing the little girl as she paced, rubbing her back.

"Hey, there's no need for that, sweetheart." She tried to calm her down, talking in a soft tones as her daughter only screamed louder. Faye looked over at Sherlock.

"Go get her meerkat, will you?" She asked him, "It's in her cot." Having no other idea of what to do to help, and feeling rather rejected by the crying, he did as she asked. He swiftly entered the bedroom and froze, his lip turning up in disdain at the two shelves above the cot which were full of stuffed meerkat toys that now lined his bedroom walls. That didn't seem right, weren't little girls supposed to have pink teddy bears? In any case, he reached into the cot and picked up yet another meerkat, spotting another meerkat on the floor.

"This obsession with meerkats seems troubling." Sherlock drawled, "Should I be worried?" Faye laughed despite her daughter's cries and shook her head.

"Oh no, it was Mycroft. He took her for an afternoon and came back with a load of meerkats in a bag. Every time she comes back she had a new one." She shifted the crying baby in her arms, trying to get her to look at Sherlock, "Hey, look who has Mickey for you?" Sherlock cocked an eyebrow, amused.

"'Mickey'?" He asked and she nodded as Bella seemed to calm down slightly, reaching out for the toy.

"He wouldn't tell me what the meerkats were all about, and he hates that nickname so it seemed appropriate." She stepped forward, but Bella shied away from Sherlock even more, "She's just shy. She doesn't really like people she doesn't..." Faye trailed off, suddenly feeling rather sad.

"People she doesn't know." Sherlock finished and she nodded with a sad smile. They stood in silence, Bella sniffing the only thing breaking it up, as Faye thought on just how much they'd missed with him jumping off that building. Sherlock wasn't giving anything away, even now he looked disinterested instead of hurt, or annoyed, or happy, or sad. If she didn't know him as well as she did, well, as well as she hoped she did, she'd think he didn't care. But she caught the tightening of his grip on Mickey and she'd seen the pictures of his phone of the little girl, so she took charge of the situation. She quickly shoved Bella at him, keeping a grip on her just in case he didn't catch her. He did, of course he did, but was obviously taken by surprise. He looked at Faye, questioning her silently as he balanced Bella on his arm as Faye held her around her waist.

"What are you doing?" Sherlock asked as Bella scrunched up her face, ready to cry again.

"Shush." Faye replied, reaching down and grabbing his hand. She held it up in front of Bella's face, using it to wave the meerkat in her face. Bella, like most babies, changed her mood straight away, giggling and gurgling happily at the dancing stuffed animal, "See? She loves this thing." She let go of Sherlock's hand, letting him continue on his own, "I'm going to the bathroom." She quickly left, shutting the door and standing there with a huge grin on her face.

Sherlock continued to make the meerkat dance until Bella tore it out of his grasp. She felt heavier than he was expecting, but then again he didn't have much experience with children so he wasn't sure what he was expecting. He pulled her closer, taking a deep sniff, using what he knew to try and work out the little human in his arms. She smelt of baby powder with an edge of antibacterial wipes, from Faye cleaning her up after eating, perhaps. It wasn't unpleasant, it wasn't fantastic either. It just was.

Bella giggled again as his hair tickled her nose, still content in shaking the meerkat up and down. Sherlock wasn't sure what he supposed to be doing, which was rare. She was too young to talk to about anything intellectual, and he couldn't just leave her while he went and did something more interesting.

"You are quite the conundrum." He told the girl bluntly, "Perhaps I should have waited until you were a bit older before revealing myself as your father." Bella looked up at him, obviously confused by the noises coming out of his mouth and he sighed in annoyance, "Yet again, someone who does not understand basic English." The confused look stayed, although unlike most of the people he came across, at least the seven month old had an excuse not to know what he was saying.

Then she giggled, an unrestrained grin filling her face, stunning him completely. She had his eyes, but that smile was definitely her mother's. The same smile he'd spent so long trying to bring out of his Mary, the one he swore he'd see again, was there for anyone to see on her daughter's face.

And it was the most beautiful thing he'd even seen.

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"Hey soul sister, I don't wanna miss a single thing you do tonight." Faye sang quietly, smiling at her sleeping baby. Her little fists were by her head, Mickey abandoned but in reach in case she wanted him. Uncle Mycroft was so vocal at his hatred at the name, but it was staying even if Faye had to tell Bella it had been her choice all along.

Faye switched the monitor on and left the bedroom, closing the door quietly behind her. As she reached the end of the tiny hallway, she saw Sherlock had relocated to his chair from the sofa, reclining as if he'd never left. She leant on the partition wall, arms crossed and a smile on her face. He looked so natural there, like he'd never left. For one moment she could pretend that he'd never died, that she'd not found herself pregnant and without her other half and that John was about to walk in, complaining Sherlock hadn't moved for the entire day and that he'd been food shopping, and cleaned up his experiments and that he wasn't his maid. She wanted to tell him this, to tell him she'd give anything to go back to that time.

Instead, she settled on, "Comfy?" He nodded once and she headed to John's chair, sitting across from him, "Well, don't get used to it." He frowned in confusion.

"Why not?" She shrugged.

"John's moving out." She told him, "I can't afford to live here without him, so I'm going to have to move out as well. I'm thinking of asking Mrs Hudson if I can live back downstairs and give her my benefits as rent."

"No, that's not acceptable at all." He replied, sitting up straighter, "You have to stay here to ensure I can move back once I finished the mess that Moriarty left behind. Get Myrcoft to pay for the rent, he has more money than sense as it is."

"No. I'm trying to do this on my own, Sherlock. You don't live here anymore, you're not paying any rent so if I have to, I'm going to move." Huh, apparently she was more annoyed at him than she realised. She crossed her arms and leant back in the chair in a sulk, watching him pointedly not look at her, in a mood of his own. They really were like a pair of teenagers, when it came down to it. Neither of them had grown up past that last day in school together. And here they were, two decades later, with a daughter and in a secret relationship that was only a secret because he was supposed to be dead. She shifted slightly, smirking to herself as she thought back on all the times they could have made a baby. In that chair, in fact.

"You've gone flushed." Sherlock pointed out, leaning forward in his chair, his fingers steepled, "What are you thinking about?" She stood up slowly, pushing him back with one hand as she climbed onto his knee.

"About the last time we were sat in the chair together." She replied huskily, pressing her lips against his.