A/N: So my goal is to update this story every day so that you have something new and fun to read every afternoon. I dunno how long I'll be able to keep that up as I have "real world" deadlines that I'm avoiding...LOL. But your reviews always make me anxious to give you more stuff. Thanks again! 3

John Watson was desperately trying to hide the fact that he couldn't keep up with Gabriel anymore. The boy was just too fast and too fit for him. Not to mention his knees were only fifteen years old and he'd never been to Afghanistan. He'd also been a lock on the rugby team for two years, ran at least two miles every day and fenced with his father weekly. It killed John to think that Gabriel was deliberately slowing down to make John feel better. It was also slightly annoying that while they were both running down the beach in nothing but their board shorts, women of all ages were ogling Gabriel, not him. When did this boy, a boy who John considered his child, become a sexual competitor? Like his father, Gabe was completely oblivious to the attention, but John noticed. The way that even college aged women were staring was upsetting. It's true that Gabriel had always been a bit more mature than other kids his age, but at fifteen he practically looked like a grown man.

And it was bloody unnerving.

"Are you okay, John? You look out of breath." Gabriel pulled up short, letting John stumble up beside him.

"I'm… fine…" John gasped.

"It's the sand. Running in dry sand is harder," Gabriel explained.

"You aren't having any trouble. And I'm a bloody soldier! I was in Afghanistan!"

Gabriel laughed and clapped John on the shoulder. "You were a doctor, mate." Gabriel sat down on the sand beside John and laid back, enjoying the sun. "I wish we could be here all the time."

"Fat chance with that. Your dad's a Londoner through and through."

"No doubt. Besides, it's much too quiet here for him. No serial killers running loose."

Before John could reply, a blonde teenaged girl ran past them and shouted, "Hey Gabe!" John smirked as Gabriel smiled and waved back to the girl.

"Who was that?"

"Some girl I met on the beach earlier when I was walking Cat. Her name's Jessica."

John nodded. "I think she fancies you."

Gabriel shrugged and pushed his heavy curls away from his face. Even knotty with sweat and salt, they were unruly. Everyone including Irene Adler, had been griping at him to cut it off. He refused and now it was nearly to his shoulders. "She's probably just bored."

"That didn't look like boredom," John chuckled.

Gabriel shrugged again. "I don't understand girls most of the time."

"That's to be expected. Given that your father has been married to your mum for eight years now and he still doesn't have a clue. And don't even get me started on your biological mum."

"Yeah, I've never asked how my dad met Irene in the first place. I get the feeling he doesn't really want me to know. She wasn't really even his girlfriend was she?"

"Not really, no. They met through a case."

"Kind of a hit it and quit it situation?"

John wrinkled his nose. "I wouldn't put it like that. But yes."

"Girls never know what they want. They always change their minds. It's exhausting." Gabriel heaved a sigh and sat up. "Like Katie, for example. Two weeks ago she was calling me a heartless, mechanical bastard and last night she was trying to crawl in bed with me."

John almost missed what he said then choked when he finally processed. "Crawling in bed with you?"

"Don't worry. Nothing happened. But it wasn't for lack of her trying. We were sitting on my bed playing cards late last night because she couldn't sleep—apparently Scarlett talks in her sleep and it freaks Katie out. Anyway, so we're sitting there playing cards and she just lunges at me and kisses me. So I like, push her away and remind her that we're supposed to be just friends and then she just starts crying. Like, for no reason at all. Saying I don't like her anymore and whining that she's hideous blah blah blah…"

"And what did you do?"

"Well I was trying to be nice. John, she's my best friend and I love her. Of course I don't want her to feel bad. So I just put my arms around her and told her that of course I still liked her and that she was the prettiest girl I knew. So we ended up kissing a little bit and then… she did the weirdest thing…"

John cringed. He wasn't sure he wanted to hear this. "Maybe you should talk to your dad about this."

Gabriel ignored him and went right on relating his story. "She kept trying to take her shirt off."

"And what did you do?" John was trying to keep his cool.

"I told her to stop it, of course! Then she got really mad and stormed out of my room. So now I don't know if I should try to talk to her this morning or just pretend it didn't happen. What do you think?"

John's mouth dried up completely. Should he be giving Gabriel advice like this? He wanted to encourage Gabe to talk to his parents about these kinds of things. "Well, I really think you should talk to Sherlock about this."

Gabriel sighed. "I will. He wasn't up before we left for our run, but I will. I promise. But for now—what would you do?"

"I think you should talk to her. If you don't want to be her boyfriend, then you need to tell her that. It's not fair to either one of you to pretend."

"Well I don't know if I do or not. I mean, Katie's the only girl I've ever kissed. Maybe I want to have dates with other girls too. Is that bad?"

"Not at all. After all, mate. You're only fifteen. As long as you're honest and responsible, I think you should do what you want. Within reason, of course."

Gabriel rolled his eyes. "Do I need to just get a teeshirt that says 'no, I'm not having sex'?"

OoOoOo

"But Mummy, why can't we have cupcakes for breakfast?" Will was obviously perplexed by this question. If it were up to Will, he'd eat nothing but cupcakes and macaroni and cheese for every meal. "When you made them for my birthday, there was eggs and milk inside. Don't we have eggs and milk for breakfast?"

"It's not the same thing," Scarlett sighed. They had this conversation a lot. "There's too much sugar in cupcakes."

"Your sister's quite right," Molly said, putting a plate of breakfast in front of Will. "And all of that fruit on your plate should be eaten."

As soon as her back was turned, Will began putting the grapes on Finn's plate. "I bet my Nena would make me cupcakes for breakfast," he grumbled.

Mrs. Hudson chuckled. "Of course I'll make you cupcakes, love. But you have to eat breakfast first."

The dining table by the kitchen was full to bursting this first morning. The girls were chattering happily on one side of the table while the twins bickered. Mrs. Hudson and Mary had taken it upon themselves to fix breakfast, buzzing about the kitchen. Molly and Sherlock were the last to come down and it was obvious that whatever had kept them sleeping in had been quite pleasant. They were more touchy-feely than they had been in months and almost giddy with happiness. Their relaxed mood had affected everyone, save for Katie Adams who sat at the end of the table brooding.

As soon as Sherlock sat down, the very sleepy Finn climbed into his lap and snuggled. "Don't you want to eat?" he asked the small boy.

"I don't like eggs," Finn declared.

"You always have before," Sherlock countered. "What's wrong with eggs this morning?"

Every family had a kid that wouldn't eat and Finn was theirs. His tastes changed daily and he often refused to eat anything. Sherlock and Molly had finally just decided to be patient with him and wait for signs of starvation. Scolding him did no good. Making him sit at the table until he ate his food did no good. When Molly mentioned this to the pediatrician on their last visit, he'd just told them that Finn would eat when he got hungry. Mrs. Hudson was a bit more cagey about the whole thing. She'd tried telling him that there was a prize in his food if he ate all of it. When he ate all of his cereals that day and found no prize, he was so mad he screamed for an hour. "He doesn't like anything," Will said through a mouthful of eggs.

"I do so!" Finn protested and scrubbed his face against Sherlock's shoulder. "I just don't want any food right now."

"Not even grapes?" Sherlock asked, grabbing one off of Finn's plate and popping it into his mouth.

"No thank you, Daddy," Finn replied.

Before Sherlock could protest, Gabriel and John returned from their run. Gabriel bounced through the door and into the kitchen to embrace Molly and drink directly from the orange juice container that was sitting on the counter. "Eeww… you're all sweaty, Gabe!" she squeaked.

"And don't drink orange juice right out of the carton, please," Mary scolded, offering him a glass. "We don't need to share your cooties."

"You used to be happy to see me," Gabriel said, feigning annoyance.

"I'm always happy to see you," Molly started, kissing his cheek. "But your sweaty body smells funky."

Jada scooted over on the bench, nearly pushing Will off the end. "You can sit over here by me, Gabriel."

He smiled. "It's okay, Jada. I'm going to go shower. I already ate breakfast."

Mary and Mrs. Hudson sighed in unison. "Three bowls of sugary cereals probably isn't the best breakfast," Mrs. Hudson scoffed.

"No worries, Nena. I ran it all off." He kissed Mrs. Hudson's cheek and took the stairs two at a time.

Finn narrowed his eyes angrily and wiggled off of Sherlock's lap. "Nobody ever makes Bre eat."

"He's old enough to decide for himself," Molly said. "When you're fifteen you can eat when you want too. But until then, come over here and eat your breakfast so we can all go to the beach." Finn grudgingly did as he was told, pushing Will aside to sit down. Molly draped herself in Sherlock's lap, handing him a new cup of tea and kissing his cheek. He wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her up tightly against him, kissing her cheeks, nose and finally her lips while everyone around them chattered.

Jada giggled, covering her mouth with both hands to hide it. Interaction between couples was very interesting to her these days. She'd started asking Mary all sorts of questions and observed her parents' relationship constantly. She was always playacting elaborate, romantic dramas with her dolls and reading fairy tales. "They're kissing," she whispered to Scarlett.

"I know," Scarlett said with a groan. "I don't know why they like doing that."

OoOoOo

Katie finally slipped up the stairs when Scarlett began asking why her parents locked their door some nights. And what had been so funny early this morning. She'd had every intention of putting on her swimsuit to go out to the beach, but when she emerged at the top of the stairs, she caught a glimpse of Gabriel coming out of the bathroom in his board shorts and a clean teeshirt. "Oh… hi," she said, brushing past him.

"Hey Katie," he said. "Are you going to the beach?"

"Sure. If you're going."

"Yeah. I just didn't want to be smelly." She could tell by the way he wasn't really looking at her that he was avoiding the subject of their kiss.

"Look, Gabe. I'm… I'm sorry about last night."

"It's okay. Really. I'm not worried about it."

Katie nodded. "I'm just kind of… confused about everything."

Gabriel sighed and nudged Katie into the room where she was staying with the other girls. "Katie, we're best friends and that's never going to change. But right now we're just…"

She nodded, trying unsuccessfully to keep her tears at bay. "I get it, Gabe. You just don't like me that way anymore."

"I didn't say that. I just think that maybe both of us should… I don't know, explore our options. We've never even kissed anyone else."

"Speak for yourself."

"What?" He narrowed his eyes, his mouth falling open.

She laughed. "Do you really think I've never kissed anybody but you?"

"Yes! You said I was the only boyfriend you ever had!"

"The only boyfriend, yes. But… I sort of… kissed Archie."

"When?!"

"Ages ago," she giggled. "And then a little bit last week. Actually, it was a little bit more than kissing." Gabriel was stunned. His cheeks glowed red and he kept balling and relaxing his fists. "Are you mad?"

"Mad would imply insanity," he said through pursed lips. "I'm going to the beach."