Author's note: thank you for all your lovely reviews!

Chapter 51

Lucy and Sherlock spent quite a few hours just wandering around Covent Garden and Leicester Square. The consulting detective had not let Lucy pay for a single thing while they were shopping. So far, she had gotten a new pair of black skinny jeans, several t-shirts and jumpers as well as a few bits of jewellery, along with new bits of makeup and some other necessities such as toiletries.

"Oh oh oh!" Lucy suddenly exclaimed. Sherlock looked alarmed.

"What is it?" He asked, looked around them in worry.

"Can we go in there?" The teenager asked, pointing at a large shop called Forbidden Planet. Sherlock rolled his eyes and laughed at her. The store was filled with merchandise from many tv shows, films, comic books amongst others. There was a whole section dedicated to Doctor Who from which Lucy selected a t-shirt to buy. Sherlock huffed at all the merchandise.

"Stupid tv shows," he muttered under his breath. He shot Lucy a good natured look though.

He took her to the Italian restaurant he knew of. It was a little bit away from all the busyness of the main areas of the city, but it was nice to have some peace and quiet. The restaurant had a few other customers, but the two flatmates were shown to a private booth. A candle was on the table, casting a warm glow on the two of them.

"I know the owner of this place," Sherlock said to Lucy.

"I thought that was Angelo's?"

"That place too," Sherlock shrugged. "I know a lot of people." They scanned the menu and Lucy could feel her mouth water at all the tasty sounding dishes. "I recommend any pasta dish." Sherlock said as he watched her carefully. Not long after they were both tucking into plates full of penne pasta, lamb meatballs with red pepper, garlic, and onion all in a rich tomato sauce.

"Today's been really nice," Lucy smiled at her friend. She thought back to the last time they spent time together, but it was so long ago. Her smile faltered.

"It has been," He smiled back, "But what's on your mind?"

"Nothing," She shook her head. "Any new cases?" She asked, trying to change the subject.

"Well," Sherlock sighed, "Mycroft has me on the case of a supposed imminent terrorist attack. I have my leads and who to watch for." But he shrugged, apparently not very enthralled with what Mycroft gave him to do. "It's nothing for you to concern yourself with anyway."

The next few days had been relatively quiet for Sherlock and Lucy. Or at least, for Lucy they were. Sherlock had been out and about numerous times, finally reuniting with John to solve the terrorist case. For the time being, Sherlock and John had kept Lucy out of it, which she was obviously mad about. But after their past two cases resulted in either her or Sherlock being in great danger, she could see that they just wanted her to be safe. Instead, the teenager had spent a lot of time with Mary. John had finally proposed so Lucy and Mary had gone shopping for wedding dresses. It was, in part, a way to distract the young girl, but Mary was more than happy to give Lucy something to do other than be self destructive. However, the teenager had been true to her word, doing her best to not cut as much. So far, she had made it for four days without so much as scratching herself. It was impressive when she had only gone without it for only a day the past few years.

After the terrorist case had subsided, Lucy's seventeenth birthday had come around. She had never done a whole lot for her birthday, she liked it to be quiet. Besides, the past birthday had been when Sherlock was supposedly dead, so she refused to celebrate in any way much to John's annoyance. But on this birthday, she was immediately woken early in the morning by Sherlock roughly shaking her awake.

"Wake up Lucy!" He sounded frustrated that she was still trying to sleep.

"Leave me alone," Lucy grumbled sleepily.

"Happy birthday!" He shouted in her face. Lucy laughed and blinked the sleep away.

"Thank you! What's gotten you all excited?" She sat up and rubbed her eyes.

"John said that people are meant to get excited about birthdays," He shrugged, "He suggested waking you up so I put two and two together." He looked pleased with himself at his grand attempt to be normal.

"Fine I'm up now," she giggled, "Give me a chance to get changed." He nodded before walking calmly out of the room. Sighing in disbelief, Lucy had a quick shower, brushed her teeth and got changed into black skinny jeans and a grey jumper. She dried and brushed her dark hair before doing some makeup- mainly winged eyeliner. She shook her head, it felt almost surreal to have a somewhat normal birthday that was not so far full of death and despair. Feeling surprisingly nervous, she made her way out into the living room of 221B Baker Street.

"Oh my god," She said, laughing as she saw the balloons and banners that John and Sherlock had placed all around the apartment.

"Happy birthday!" John and Mary shouted at her.

"Thanks guys," She smiled. "I wasn't expecting any of this."

"It was Sherlock's idea." Mary winked.

"No it wasn't," Sherlock muttered, embarrassed.

"Well thank you who ever did it." Lucy smiled.

"Come on sit down," John gestured to the sofa. Lucy followed his orders. Suddenly, John held out a present and a card.

"What," Lucy looked shocked.

"It's your birthday, you get presents." John laughed.

"Thank you," Lucy grinned as she accepted it. She smiled as she read the card from John and Mary, and proceeded to open the present. Inside, was a beautiful, and very soft burgundy jumper as well as a Pandora charm bracelet. "Wow," Lucy breathed, shocked that she was given such nice gifts. "Thank you both so much." She hugged both Mary and John, trying not to get too emotional.

"Here," Sherlock murmured as he passed her a gift bag before plonking down on the sofa next to her.

"Thank you," She smiled at him and she opened the gift bag and took a look inside. The teenager took out one present and opened it to find the latest model iPhone.

"Your one is too old," Sherlock simply said.

"Thank you Sherlock," she grinned happily before taking out the last present. She unwrapped it to find a picture frame. Inside the frame was a picture of herself and Sherlock smiling at the camera.

"John took it a while ago," Sherlock explained.

"It's perfect," she smiled at the photo. "I didn't even know we had any pictures together." She turned and wrapped her arms around the consulting detective in a big hug. "Thank you Sherlock."

They spent the day playing board games, which was excruciating given Sherlock's tendency to moan about the rules of every single game. It was even worse when he lost a game and sulked. But it was still the perfect day for Lucy. Mrs Hudson had come up to give Lucy a present of homemade cookies as well as a gorgeous light grey scarf. Later on, Sherlock, John and Mary took Lucy to Angelo's restaurant for a birthday meal. But the teenager was very surprised to see Mycroft and Lestrade waiting for them when they arrived. They wished her a happy birthday, and gave her gifts. Greg got her a couple of charms to go on her new Pandora bracelet, whereas Mycroft had gotten her a range of CDs from her favourite bands as well as some classic books. She hugged them both. But most of all it made her laugh how Mycroft managed to remember all of the bands she liked. They all sat around a large table, eating Italian food and having a great time. It was a strange feeling of normality amongst the normally crazy life they led, and Lucy was certainly glad of the break.

In the evening, after being stuffed with good food and birthday cake, it was just Sherlock and Lucy back at the flat. They had sat down on the sofa together, watching random telly that neither was particularly interested in.

"Thank you for today Sherlock." Lucy smiled at him.

"It's your birthday, you deserve a good day," he murmured, picking up his violin. After a moment of silence, he started to play a beautiful melody. It lulled Lucy to sleep as she got lost in the music.

She awoke the next day in her own bed. The teenager was confused as to how she got there, but assumed that Sherlock must have tucked her into bed as she still had her clothes on from the previous day. Glancing at her new phone, she was startled to see that it was already midday. She groaned as she rolled out of bed. She quickly got ready for the day, dressing in ripped black jeans and her new burgundy jumper. She sauntered out into the living room to find it empty. There was a note on the kitchen table written in Sherlock's neat handwriting, it said 'new case, had to leave, text me when you're awake.' Lucy sighed and sent Sherlock a text, letting him know she as up. He replied almost immediately saying that Mycroft would be round shortly. Feeling confused, she called him.

"What's going on Sherlock?" She asked as soon as he answered the phone.

"New case," he muttered.

"Why is Mycroft coming to fetch me?" Lucy asked, trying to keep her cool.

"Well, new criminal on the loose, it's not always safe."

"Funny." Lucy said humourlessly. "What is going on Sherlock?" There was a pause.

"People are being murdered." He said quietly.

"That always happens in your line of work," her voice was clipped, she knew he wasn't telling her something. She heard Sherlock sigh.

"Teenagers are being taken. They are being tortured. They are being murdered." Sherlock eventually said. "They are being taken from their own homes, from school and from the streets. It is not safe."

"It's never safe." Lucy retorted.

"We aren't going to take that risk with you." Sherlock murmured softly.

"And you know how much I hate being controlled."

"Don't run off."

"You know me too well." Lucy smirked.

"I'm serious."

"As am I."

"Why do you do this?" Sherlock sounded exasperated. "I'm trying to keep you safe."

"I'll see you later." Lucy muttered after hanging up. She went to her room and grabbed her keys and wallet. She walked out of the door of Baker Street to see Mycroft's car already parked outside. The teenager paused, glaring at it. After a moment of consideration, she decided to ignore it and start walking to her favourite coffee shop. From behind her, she heard a car door open and close. And in no time at all there was a firm hand on her shoulder.

"You'll want to be careful Mycroft, after all these killings, I don't think the public will take too well to see a man taking an innocent teenager into his mysterious car." Lucy said loudly before turning to face the older Holmes' brother. His face was stern.

"Are you really going to play this game Lucy Patterson?" He said in a hushed whisper. Mycroft did not sound happy. Lucy flinched at hearing her last name and glared at him.

"If you are that bothered about me, feel free to accompany me while I go and get a drink." Lucy raised her eyebrows.

"You really do remind me of Sherlock sometimes." He muttered, "You fit in well with the family." Mycroft let go of her shoulder and she started to walk off, but this time with the British Government walking beside her.

"Why do you have that umbrella again?" Lucy frowned at him. "It's not even raining." Mycroft just smirked at her and gave no reply. She led him into the coffee shop where she promptly ordered a skinny vanilla latte. Mycroft ordered tea and paid for them both.

"Now will you come with me?" Mycroft asked as they walked along the streets with their drinks.

"Don't you have a country to run?"

"I do that most of my life, if anything is urgent I will be contacted, but until then I am entirely free."

"Wonderful." Lucy rolled her eyes, "I love these part time politicians."

"Amusing." Mycroft raised an eyebrow at her. She stopped walking and turned to look at him.

"Look I'm sorry Mycroft," she sighed, "I'm just a little annoyed that Sherlock is being touchy about me being involved in his cases." She took in a deep breath. "I can see why he does it but it does really piss me off sometimes. I just want to be involved. I enjoy doing what he does."

"I understand," Mycroft said softly. A black car pulled up beside them and they both promptly got in. The older Holmes' brother looked at her as they finished their drinks in the car. "I noticed earlier that you didn't seem too pleased about being called your full name."

"How observant," Lucy sighed. She ran a hand over her face before scratching unconsciously at her arms. "I despise the name if I'm honest. Patterson," She spat, "Was my parents' last name and as you can imagine I don't particularly wish to be associated with them."

"Of course," Mycroft nodded. "Would you like to change it?"

"Really?" Lucy looked up at him in surprise.

"As you, John and my little brother so often say, I am apparently the British Government, it is easy for me to change your last name."

"Oh of course," Lucy laughed nervously. "Well in that case yes please."

"Very well, leave it to me."

Lucy ended up spending most of the day at Mycroft's. Together they watched the movie Jane Eyre, upon Mycroft's recommendation. And it even got so late that they ended up cooking dinner together. The older Holmes' brother showed Lucy how to cook a lamb meatball pasta bake from scratch. It took a while but the results were worth it. Once again, Lucy and Mycroft both had wine and talked about all sorts.

"Do you have any baby pictures of Sherlock?" Lucy asked as they sat in the living room, playing chess. "Or any pictures of him as a child."

"I'm not sure," Mycroft shrugged. "If you'd like I can dig some up and bring them round next time."

"That would be great!" Lucy smirked, "I'd definitely like to see them."

"I'm not sure if Sherlock has told you yet," Mycroft started hesitantly, "But our mother and father will be coming down for the weekend soon."

"What your mum and dad?" Lucy laughed, "I've never met them! They weren't even at Sherlock's funeral."

"Yes well, they were in on it." Mycroft told her with a tone of regret in his voice.

"Don't you want them to come down?"

"They are forcing me to take them to see Les Miserables." Mycroft huffed.

"That's funny!" Lucy giggled, "But no, Sherlock has never mentioned them I don't think."

"Well in that case we best introduce you to them when they come down." Mycroft smiled. "Of course they know all about you."

"Of course." Lucy shook her head, laughing. "Mummy and daddy Holmes, who would have thought it."

After losing many times at chess, Lucy was relieved when Sherlock finally came and picked her up. Mycroft sent them home in one of his fancy Mercedes. Sherlock refused to talk about the case a whole lot. It was obvious he wanted the teenager involved as little as possible. But Lucy was having none of it, whether Sherlock liked it or not, she couldn't be supervised all of her life and eventually he would have to either take her with him or leave her on her own. Instead of continuously pressing the issue, Lucy instead decided to ask Sherlock all about his parents. She was excited to meet them after all.