A/N Written only for love- no profit- I own nothing- still not travelling to Spain...

When the couple arrived back in Baker Street, they decided they would arrange a visit to Sherlock's parents, who had purchased a flat in Kensington earlier that year, whilst keeping their home in Gloucestershire. Violet and Siger were very pleased to hear from them, and excited to see the pictures. Violet told them that they could come tomorrow - she would be fixing her roast chicken with all the trimmings - a meal that they both looked forward to eating. Sherlock asked if she would be making his favourite for pudding - banoffee pie - and grinned when he received her answer in the affirmative.

When Sherlock and John arrived, they were greeted warmly by Siger, who gave them each a hug and got them a drink - Sherlock had a gin and tonic while John had some lovely single-malt that Siger had on hand for this occasion. Violet finished her tasks in the kitchen and joined them in the lounge, sitting beside her husband on the settee.

"All right, you two - let's see the little darling!" cooed Sherlock's mother, while his dad watched with anticipation as well. Sherlock took the set of pictures that had been prepared for them from his inner coat pocket and set them down on the coffee table. Mummy took them up and looked at them eagerly, and whooped when she saw what she was looking at.

"Oh, Sherlock – John – a little girl - and she's lovely! What a nice surprise - is the surrogate, um - feeling well, and everything?" she asked, not quite knowing what to say.

"Yes, Mummy, she is doing very well, and has been cooperative to the letter with her instructions as to the pregnancy. We were fortunate to have Mycroft help us to select a suitable woman. We're both very pleased," Sherlock replied. "The scan photo is quite clear, isn't it? I didn't know we would be able to see so much detail at this stage."

"Yes, it is pretty amazing – I had no idea! So now, John, I suppose you two will have to start thinking about names and so forth... have you any ideas yet?" asked Sherlock's dad, smiling at the pictures of the baby.

"Well, no, we didn't want to start down that road until we knew for sure - and we'll still have lots of time to decide. I'm sure Sherlock has an unusual name or two from the family history to choose from, don't you, love?" John answered, smiling at his sweetheart.

Sherlock tried to look faintly offended, and sniffed. "Names other than Mary or Susan are not necessarily 'unusual', John; just not pedestrian." He completely failed once he had said this, however, as he then broke into a true grin, followed by his husband and his parents, who all thought it was perfectly 'Sherlock-y', and hilarious.

"Oh, John, you must watch him or he'll have a Brunhilda or Euphegenia in there somewhere for sure!" said Siger, wiping his eyes and catching his breath.

"Nonsense - I'm sure there are many other names which are suitable - we'll just have to start narrowing them down to a reasonable number - after all, we do have two to choose," replied Sherlock, grinning.

"Just two? Not three, like you and Mycroft?" said John, puzzled.

Sherlock answered. "John, I know you were raised in the Roman Catholic Church, but I didn't think you wanted to continue that with our child - so we don't need a third name, correct? I didn't think we'd need a christening name."

John replied, "Of course, I don't - I am not even pretending that I am a Catholic any more, really. There is no reason for a third name unless we find one we absolutely love."

"No, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't give her at least two names so that she can choose which is the least offensive to her when she is older - trust me, everyone goes through a period of hating their name," added Violet, arching her eyebrow over at her youngest son. "Though sometimes they choose the name you thought would always be relegated to an initial later on..." and she winked at Sherlock, who tried to look haughty and innocent at the suggestion.

"There are some lovely names that have not been 'popular' in a long time - we can start there," Sherlock added.

John privately thought, "Oh, my god, what devilish names will he pick out?" and had to stifle a grin. Well, at least he would also have a vote in the matter, before any certificates were written out, and he had noticed that a trend for 'older' names had been happening for some years now, at the clinic, so perhaps their daughter wouldn't stand out quite as much as he had feared. He glanced over at Sherlock, and was again struck by the look of longing on his face - every time he saw the baby, his breath caught, and he couldn't look away for several minutes. Sherlock was gorgeous any time, but when he was looking at their little girl, he was absolutely stunning.

After they had all had a good look – or three – at the baby's scan photos, everyone went into the dining room for Mummy's excellent meal, which everyone had seconds of, even Sherlock. He still managed to have a generous slice of the banoffee pie – John didn't think he had ever seen Sherlock enjoy a meal more. After Violet promised to share her 'secret' recipe for her chicken, John vowed to make it every now and again, hoping to tempt his husband to eat more - even occasionally.

On the way back to Baker Street, Sherlock suddenly said, "John - what was the name of that baby shop where we liked the clothes? Little – something...?"

"Oh, do you mean The Cabbage Patch? That was the one we really liked the best – did you want to stop in, love?"

"I'd really like to get her something, just to make a start... please, John?" He almost jumped out of the cab before it came to a stop. John paid the driver and followed his husband into the shop.

Sherlock had already sussed out the location of baby girls' clothing and was making a beeline for it. By the time John got there, he was busily searching through the clothes, and had amassed a small pile on the table in front of him. The area he was searching at present was full of sleep-suits. Sherlock had put aside ones in turquoise, pink, and peach, and was looking at others as John walked over to him, after sneaking a photo on his mobile. They ended up with a half dozen in various shades and prints, then Sherlock headed for the dresses.

John just could not believe his eyes. Sherlock, who usually hated anything to do with shopping (unless it was having new clothes made-to-measure for himself or John), was obviously having a good time with this. John began looking as well, and altogether they chose six dresses, also - in a couple of different sizes, as with the sleep-suits.

After they chose some knitted booties that were supposedly kick-off-proof, they finished this trip and paid for the merchandise. When they got back to Baker Street, Sherlock called Mrs. Hudson to come and see the baby photos and their purchases. After she cooed over them all, she wordlessly took the baby things down to her flat so that she could wash them all before they were worn. By the next day, there were baby things in many of the dresser drawers, and it felt to John and Sherlock that it wouldn't be so very long until they held their daughter in their arms.

Happy to see you are enjoying this- please leave a review if you'd like- thanks,

~joan