A/N: I'm having so much fun with this! Hehe... I'm glad you all seem to like it too. This chapter has a really hilarious reveal in it, so I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Thanks again for all the reviews and love! You all rock!

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the children.

"Don't get up again, Phineas!" Molly shouted. Upon their return from the aquarium the four year old had been practically unconscious. That is, until his parents put him to bed. At that point he was wide open. In the last two hours, Finn had wanted a cup of water, narrowly escaped the closet monster, needed the loo twice, needed just one more kiss from his mummy and forgotten to tell his daddy goodnight. She blew into the bedroom for the last time and threw herself down across the bed. "You're going to have to do something about him," she growled.

"Who?"

"Finn. He's driving me up the wall with this refusing to sleep in his own bed thing!"

"Ah," Sherlock replied, not really listening.

"Scarlett never did this. Did Gabriel?"

"Only if he was ill. It's just a phase. He'll get over it."

"Well I'm not putting him back to bed again. If he gets up, you're in charge!" Molly turned off the lamp and threw back the covers. She could see that Sherlock was still lying there motionless, his hands laced across his bare chest and his eyes wide open. Something was obviously bothering him. "You okay, love?"

"Gabriel got his tongue pierced."

Molly gasped and sat up. "What? Did he tell you that?"

"Of course he didn't tell me that. He didn't have to. It's pretty obvious, isn't it?"

"Not to me," Molly said. "What tipped you off?"

Sherlock gave a snort of derision. "Good lord. I wonder about you lot sometimes."

"Preferably without the air of superiority."

"He wouldn't look at us when they came back. He barely spoke and when he did he was mumbling. Not to mention that the café they went to after the cinema is on the boardwalk right down from a tattoo shop. Simple."

Molly's jaw dropped and she jerked the lamp on. "Oh my God! What are we going to do?"

Sherlock groaned and covered his eyes against the sudden bright light. "What do you mean, what are we going to do? It's done now."

"Oh Sherlock, make him take it out," Molly said. "Today he's piercing his tongue, next it'll be tattoos and cigarettes."

Sherlock rolled his eyes and shook his head. "I'm not going to say a word about it just yet. Gabriel's the type of person that if you give him enough rope, he'll hang himself. Just wait. And besides, what's so bad about a piercing?"

Molly stared at him with an expression somewhere between anger and 'stop him before he kills again.' "Are you kidding?"

"No. It's a hole in his tongue. Who cares?"

"Gabriel is an intelligent, sweet and incredible looking boy! Not some grubby little street punk!"

"So you think that anyone with piercings is a grubby little street punk?"

"Well no… not exactly…"

"Don't forget, Mouse. I know where your secret tattoo is."

Molly smirked. "That's different. I did that for you."

"Well I'm sure Gabriel did it to show off for the two girls he was with."

Molly sighed and crossed her arms over her chest. No sleep would be happening for a while. "I can't believe you're not upset!"

"I can't believe you are. It's his body. As long as he's not hurting himself—"

"How can you say he's not hurting himself? It's a hole through his tongue! I've seen kids in the morgue that had those things and their teeth looked terrible!"

"Well I would think that being dead probably compounded their flaws…"

"I'm being serious, Sherlock! They damage your teeth and they can get really infected! Not to mention that when he gets older—what employer wants to hire someone with a thumbtack in their tongue?"

Sherlock sat up, obviously getting angry now. "What employer would be looking? Besides, I think he has several years to outgrow it! Piercings aren't permanent, you know! And I doubt that Gabriel will seek employment someplace where expressing himself would be a problem!"

"So now he's expressing himself? Before you said he was trying to impress a girl!"

"Maybe. Look, I'm not saying that he should have done it but I fail to see why it's such a horrible thing to do!" Their voices were rising in volume and soon they'd be waking the whole house. "I had them myself!"

Molly started to retort but his words smacked her in the face and she didn't comprehend at first. "Wait. What?"

"I had a few piercings of my own once upon a time."

"You can't be serious…"

"See, you all think I was born old and serious. No one seems to remember that I spent a good part of my youth being a drug addict. A drug addict that was constantly looking for some way to distract myself that wasn't with drugs. You've seen the scars on the inside of my elbow and right thigh. I wasn't in an accident, Molly. I cut myself on purpose when I was Gabriel's age. A lot."

"Jesus, Sherlock. Why would you—"

"Because my brain was either racing or I was so bored that I wanted to throw myself off a bridge. Crazy as it sounds, it helped me focus. And yes, I was hurting myself and yes, I wish someone had stopped me. But obviously that's not what's happened with Gabriel. He's the most well-adjusted person I know. So no, I'm not particularly worried about a piercing in his tongue!"

Molly sighed and sat back against the pillows. "When did my sweet little Gabriel become a broody teenager?"

"It was inevitable. But he's not stupid and he's a good kid."

"So what do we do? Just not say anything?"

Sherlock grinned evilly. "Of course not. Just enjoy watching his slow torture while he tries to hide it from us. Trust me, it will be better than any punishment or guilt trip."

Molly smiled finally and slid closer, snuggling into Sherlock's side and laying her head on his chest. They lay in silence for several minutes before curiosity got the better of Molly. "So… where were you pierced? I never noticed any holes in your ears."

"I never pierced my ears."

"Tongue?"

"God no. That's just disgusting."

"So… where?"

"Places you'd never suspect."

"Oh?"

"Mmm. Definitely. I still had them when I met you."

Molly went silent again, rolling over and pulling the duvet over her shoulder. She tried to close her eyes and go to sleep, but finally the curiosity got the better of her. "Okay, Sherlock," she said, sitting up and throwing the duvet back. "Where the hell were you pierced?"

"I'm not sure that's any of your business."

"Really? I've had your penis in my mouth. I bore three of your large-headed children through my vagina. I think that entitles me to know everything about you. So cough it up, Sherly."

Sherlock smirked and shook his head. "One of my nipples and my cock, okay?"

Molly gasped. "Oh my God! You have to let me see!"

He laughed and batted at her hands that sought to pull the covers away. "No! There's nothing to see. The nipple totally healed after I took it out."

"But not your penis?"

"I don't know. Probably not but I haven't looked since I took it out." Molly only paused a second before diving under the sheets. Against his weak protests she managed to pull his pajama trousers over his hips and down until she could get to his cock. "Since you're down there," he joked.

"Oh my God, Sherlock!" she gasped. "There's a hole there!"

"Uhm… you're a doctor, Mouse. I assumed you knew there was one."

"No! I mean… another one… in not… the right spot."

"No shit…" His voice trailed off as he bit down on his lip. After all, she was manhandling him.

Molly was still reeling from this revelation. Sherlock had told her many things about his past, but this was the most shocking. If only because suddenly it was such a turn on. "Why did you take them out?"

"I grew up. And when Mycroft had me arrested and thrown in rehab, I decided to get rid of them."

"Wow. I am just… stunned. To think I had you on this pedestal…"

He rolled his eyes. "All right, Mouse. Let's not be rude."

"You should totally get it redone."

Sherlock stared down at her. "Why? So everyone will think I'm a grubby little street punk?"

Molly blushed. "It could be our little secret. Like the tiny little magnifying glass on my belly." She said belly, but it was situated just over the hood of her sex. "Does John know?" she giggled.

"No! And he better not unexplainably find out either."

OoOoOo

"You have a piercing where?!" John Watson exclaimed as he burst through the bedroom door the next morning.

Gabriel cringed at the volume of John's voice. He couldn't say he was surprised to see the doctor. He should have known that Katie couldn't keep things to herself. When he woke up this morning and his tongue was still swollen three days after the piercing and he could barely talk, he'd asked Katie what he should do. She had immediately urged him to tell his father, but that was out of the question. "My tongue," Gabriel mumbled.

John sighed and shook his head. "Let me see it."

Gabriel obediently stuck his tongue out.

Katie, as in all stressful situations, was a mess. She'd been weeping ever since she told John what was going on. She had promised not to tell anyone that Gabe got his tongue pierced the other night, but after Googling what could happen to an untreated infection she got scared and told John. Gabriel's tongue was a red and purplish color and so swollen that one could barely see the small metal barbell. It was also so sore that he nearly cried out every time his teeth brushed against it. "Is it going to fall off?" Katie asked, sniffling.

John sighed once more. "Of course it's not going to fall off. But it is infected." He tipped Gabriel's head back so he could get a look at the damage under the light.

"What are you going to do?" Gabriel said, his speech comically garbled. "Take it out?"

"No, I'm afraid we can't take it out because of the swelling. Not yet anyway. We're going to clean it out as best we can and you, my good man get to rinse your mouth with saltwater." Katie, go and get some ice so we can reduce the swelling a little bit." She nodded and hurried down the hall.

"Are you going to tell my dad?" Gabriel asked.

"I think it's hilarious that you think he doesn't already know." John nudged him to sit down on the end of the bed. "But no. That's between you two."

"Thanks."

"So what possessed you to pierce your tongue?"

Gabriel shrugged. "I guess I wanted to impress Jessica. See, that guy that she set Katie up with—her cousin Mark—he's like seventeen. And we're walking down the boardwalk and he says he's going to get his ear pierced. Katie said I should do it too and I refused. But then Mark started teasing me about being scared and stuff, so I just went in and did it. I knew Dad would see the earring right away, so I thought if I got my tongue pierced…"

"Then no one would see it."

"Right."

"Well mate, it sounds like you were trying to impress Katie, not Jessica." Gabriel started to reply, but his mouth snapped shut as he considered this. He didn't have much time, as Katie came back with a cup of ice water.

"Sorry, your mom was in there so I had to get a glass of water."

"It's fine," John said. "Just go and pour the water out and bring a washcloth so we can wrap it up." She did as John instructed and they made an ice pack for Gabriel. "Now hold this on your tongue while I go and get my bag. I'll try to get the salt without anyone seeing me."

As soon as he was gone, Katie threw herself against Gabriel and hugged him tight. "I'm sorry, Gabe! I just got scared that something really bad would happen and I had to tell John! Please don't be mad at me!"

"I'm not mad," Gabriel said.

"Why did you let that guy pierce you in the first place? Even Mark pussed out!"

Gabriel shrugged. "I don't know. It seemed like a good idea at the time."

Katie smiled and laid her head on his shoulder. "We're still friends then?"

"Of course. It would take more than a fucked up tongue to keep us from being friends. That being said, I don't like your friend Mark."

Katie giggled. "Why not? He's pretty cute."

"He's pretty stupid," Gabriel replied, mimicking her voice. "And I don't like the way he looks at you."

"How is that?"

"Like you're something to eat."

Katie smiled. "Well you're going to be disappointed when we all go out again tonight."

"Assuming I'm not going to be grounded for the rest of the summer. And assuming that my tongue doesn't fall out."