{I am updating so quickly... Eheheh...}
Sherlock looked in terror at the thing in his arms.
"It's a... Girl..." He croaked (NO! He's NOT a frog...)
John beamed.
"Oh, that's brilliant! You'll finally be able to start understanding women!"
Sherlock went three shades paler than his usual ivory.
He glared at the sleeping child.
"Can't you look after it?"
"Sherlock!" John cried.
Sherlock pouted.
"What?"
"'It' is a she. She is your daughter. What did you call her? Erin?"
Sherlock rolled his eyes dramatically.
"Aeryn. Air-WREN. Aeryn Holmes-Moriarty."
John grinned.
"She's lovely... Can I hold her?"
Sherlock's lip twitched.
"If you insist..."
He reluctantly handed the infant over.
John practically cooed with delight.
"Ooh! You are gorgeous, aren't you..."
Sherlock raised an eyebrow.
"Thank you, John."
"Oh, shut up. I was talking to Aeryn."
John gleefully cuddled the sleeping baby, Sherlock secretly jealous.
"I think that's enough now."
He reached his arms out to reclaim his tiny daughter.
John held on stubbornly.
Sherlock scowled.
They both turned as the detective's bedroom door opened.
Moriarty leaned on the door, smirking.
"Fighting over my daughter, I see?"
Sherlock half smiled, it was odd seeing his archnemesis without the baby bump he had grown accustomed to.
The criminal winked, pulling a long silver chain out of his pocket.
"Did you keep it?"
The consulting detective glared.
He yanked his own necklace out of his shirt. In love with a consulting criminal, the silver half-heart read in teasing cursive.
"You actually wore it?!"
Moriarty's face showed genuine surprise.
"How could I refuse a pregnant psychopath?" Sherlock replied dryly.
"Yes, but you could have put it in your pocket or something..."
John was amused when Sherlock gave up arguing and kissed his "babymama", as Anderson kept calling the criminal - the only reason he was still alive was that at the time, Jim had been re-wiring a bomb, and when he was working, nothing, especially not the gratingly stupid voice of Anderson, could pull him away.
Moriarty reached for Aeryn, John handed her over immediately, grinning at Sherlock's disbelief.
"You let James hold her and not me?"
Just then, the baby woke up, making a tiny gurgling sound.
Sherlock's scowl vanished, to be replaced with a look of - pride? John only saw that look when he had solved a particularly exciting murder...
Moriarty smiled genuinely, stroking the wrinkled little face, framed by dark brown baby fluff.
Aeryn blinked wide blue eyes, unfocused but unclouded, bright with intelligence. "She's gonna be our little genius, Sherley..." The criminal mastermind ran his index finger gingerly over the pale cheeks, blotchy with previously shed tears.
Sherlock bit his lip, desperately trying to contain a grin.
In the end he gave up.
Who could resist a baby genius' giggle?
Certainly not the great Sherlock Holmes...
After all, Aeryn was a force to be reckoned with.
Her name alone would strike fear into many hearts.
She would suffer, too, unfortunately. Alone, most likely.
All Sherlock could do now was to bring her up 221B style, the best childhood he could provide.
He only hoped that when she was older, she'd find her own match.
Alone protects you, of course. But thinking about it honestly, Sherlock knew he would prefer her to find her own "soulmate" - John's term, certainly not his...
{To my favourite reviewer (no one else reviews anyway, haha), it is always a pleasure to write when I know it makes at least one person happy... And I will track down that spelling mistake...}