Thank you for the almost no response to my first chapter :P But you are forgiven, as I am bored, therefore here is a second.
'Sherlock I have an interview, all you need to do is watch her for half an hour without something disastrous happening.' John pleaded. He had scheduled an interview for another GP practice that did not require him to start until next month, so he will not be working in the duration of Anna's stay with them.
'John, I am perfectly capable of looking after a small baby with nobody else to help if a disaster occurs, the only question John, is are you willing to let me?' Sherlock asked in a monotone voice, wearing a poker face.
'Oh no Sherlock, you are not playing your mind games on me today.' John huffed, grabbing his coat and phone. He had laid out on the kitchen table, everything Sherlock could possibly need. He ran through the items, checking them off his mental list.
Nappies
Baby wipes
Bottles, made up with microwave instructions attached
Toys acquired from Lestrade
Baby mat
A note with the emergency services number written on.
John bid them both farewell and hurried out of the door, in the hope that the sooner he left, the sooner he would return, leaving Sherlock and Anna alone.
Anna had been watching a documentary with Sherlock in a bouncer that Lestrade lent to them,(which used to belong to his son) when John left and she was quiet. He guessed that the colours of the chemicals were soothing her. 5 minutes after John left, the program ended and Anna started to cry, much to Sherlock's dismay.
'Shhhh!' he hissed on impulse. Sherlock disliked children generally, he knew they couldn't help it, but all they did was cry and cause distress for everyone around them, but then he remembered that the child had to be approached with care, otherwise Mrs. Hudson will have been right. He entered his mind palace.
Subject: Babies
Area: Opinions
Existing babies met
Health and well being (selected)
Topic:
Illness
Not eating
Crying (selected)
Reasons could include:
Fatigue
Nappy needs changing
Illness
Hungry
Discomfort
Unhappy/lonely
Sherlock mentally crossed off fatigue and illness, Anna slept like a log and John had given the baby a thorough examination after a scare the previous night. Sherlock looked at the crying baby, she didn't look uncomfortable, she had been sat there for the past hour and a half quite happily. Sherlock really didn't fancy checking for a dirty nappy and she had been fed by John before he left. So Sherlock decided that she must have been unhappy or lonely. He sighed and picked up the screaming baby into his arms, proud that he could now hold Anna as a baby should be held as apposed to dangling her by her armpits at arms length. The detective awkwardly bounced the child in his arms, anxious of dropping her and stressed by the fact that it was up to him to stop her crying, yet Anna only seemed to scream louder. 10 minutes of tears went by, shed by Anna and almost Sherlock before he put her back in the bouncer, still screaming at the top of her lungs.
John was sat in the waiting room for his interview when his phone vibrated in his jacket pocket.
She hates me, I picked her up because she was lonely and she just screamed more. – SH
Just pick her up again, but stop being stressed, babies can sense distress, which causes them to be upset. – JW
That's ridiculous, it will never work.- SH
Just try, I'm going into my interview now, have fun!- JW
Sherlock huffed, it would be just like John to leave him at a time like this. Well it doesn't matter, there was no-way something as feeble-minded as a baby can deduce the distress of the one holding it. Sherlock moved over to the table on which John had laid supplies. He picked up a toy telephone and removed the batteries from it so that Anna could play and he would not be disturbed whilst predicting the Jeremy Kyle outcomes.
5 minutes later Anna was banging the telephone into the telephone holder repeatedly and then she pushed the entire toy off the tray in front of her. Sherlock sighed and bent down to pick it up, straining to hear the television. A few seconds after sitting down, Sherlock was forced to get up, as she had pushed the phone down again. Anna had made a game of this and Sherlock was not going to be pulled around like a puppet on a string by an infant, therefore the phone was taken off her, and the waterworks began again.
Sherlock sighed and looked back over to the toys on display. All of them were either musical, or interactive or made some sort of noise. He sighed, but then had an idea. Up in the top shelf of his wardrobe, Sherlock had a fluffy teddy bear that he kidnapped from Mycroft when he was seven. He went and got it to give to Anna. She took it wilfully and smiled at the large, fuzzy, brown bear.
Success Sherlock thought. A moment later there was a knock on the door. Sherlock peered out of the window to see who it could be, it was John, who must have forgotten his key. The detective ran downstairs to open the door.
'Where's Anna?' asked John, clearly worried about the child's whereabouts if not with Sherlock.
'In the bouncer upstairs.' Sherlock replied, before proudly adding 'she is quiet, and I didn't even need to hold her.' The two men made there way upstairs and into the living room where they both looked at Anna in the bouncer, Sherlock smiling, John scared and running towards her, snatching the teddy away from her.
'SHERLOCK YOU CAN'T GIVE A BABY A FUZZY ANIMAL! SHE COULD CHOKE ON THE FUR!' he exclaimed angrily over the cries of Anna after the removal of her bear.
'Sorry! But it kept her quiet, and she doesn't have any teeth yet!' Sherlock fought back as the baby between them started to scream louder.
'I told you to comfort her, not give her a choking hazard!'
'Babies can't deduce fear.' Sherlock stated offhandedly.
'It's instinct Sherlock! Try it, consider it an experiment.' John challenged.
'Fine.' Sherlock picked up the screaming baby, after taking three deep breaths to calm himself down. The baby cried in his arms for a few moments, before the screams turned into gurgles, then gurgles into silence. Sherlock smiled.
'Wow, you can be good!' he cooed, giving her a gentle bop on the nose, causing her to giggle. 'Do you like that?' Sherlock asked before bopping her nose again, causing her to laugh a little louder. 'John, come and look at this.' Sherlock instructed.
John walked over next to Sherlock and into the babies view and sure enough, Anna began to cry. John looked shocked, as he had been the favourite over the past two days.
'What did I do?' he asked, looking slightly grumpy that she cried upon seeing him.
'You took her teddy away, insulting her intelligence.' Sherlock explained.
'Intelligence?'
'She isn't stupid, she knows not to eat a bear. Anna is a genius child, not like those common babies you have in the hospital.' Sherlock said bopping her on the nose one more time, causing her to giggle once more. John just sighed.
'Don't tell me you have let a baby effect your emotions.' He teased accusingly.
'Correction, a genius baby is acceptable. I thought you would be pleased, is this not what you wanted?' he asked once again confused by the sociology of the situation.
'Yes, it is.' John sighed 'I just wish that she didn't have to dislike me to like you.'
'She'll come around, here, try holding her again.' Sherlock moved Anna towards John and she screamed. 'Come on, Uncle John isn't that scary.' The detective said, placing his arm on John's shoulder, whilst passing her to the doctor with the other. Anna went willingly, facial expression still slightly displeased, but no longer upset.
'How did you do that?' John asked.
'She is a genius baby and can sense upset, so a placed my hand on your shoulder to show that we weren't fighting anymore, so she wasn't as scared.' Sherlock explained.
'Yes, I'm sure she is the only baby who realises this.' John muttered sarcastically, but then he repeated Sherlock's action of bopping her gently on the nose, triggering a grin, the second causing her to gurgle happily, much to Johns amusement. 'So I'm uncle John then? Are you uncle Sherlock?'
'Of course we are, I'm not sure when Mrs. Hudson calls herself though.' Sherlock said.
At that moment, both men had the same thought.
I'm going to get her to call me dada first.
Hey! Next chapter will be Sherlock and John trying to teach her to say 'dada' whilst the other isn't around! Please review!