Ripple
By: Raven612
Chapter 3: Bloody Hell
Summary: Sometimes Sherlock sees fit to take care of matters his own way, even if John doesn't agree.

A/N: Again so sorry it took so long to update . my fault, just been so tired lately and my computer has been a bit irky with me . anyways, onwards into the continued saga of extended babysitting. As always, reviews are much loved and can prove to be very good motivators ^.^

*Day 2 of Hell*

"Sherlock you didn't honestly bring these home with serious intentions did you?" John's voice was a schooled tone of control, but Holmes could still hear the underlying annoyance. He didn't have to look up to know what John was talking about so he continued to skim over the news article he was reading.

"Never take me lightly John," was his only reply as he set the paper on the table and turned the page. He flinched back, however, when a glob of oatmeal landed right in the middle of the page. Sherlock narrowed his gaze and looked up. His stormy grey eyes met laughing cornflower blue ones.

"Uncle Lock you didn't eat yet," Anna happily announced and scraped her spoon along the edge of her bowl in an attempt to scoop up a hefty bite for her brooding uncle.

"Brilliant," he sighed and snapped the paper shut and left it lie on the table. He raised his head to settle his gaze upon John who sat across from him with James seated on one of his knees. Sherlock shot a glare at the small child and had to fight the flame of jealousy; really, it was uncalled for.

"Sherlock," John warned, his voice was wavering dangerously now and Sherlock only smirked as his gaze finally settled on the brochures John was holding.

"It would be a logical action," he suggested with a raised brow and settled his chin on steeped fingers.

"Wha…Sherlock, really!" John was flustered now. He slapped the papers onto the table which caused James to flinch away from the sound. John sighed and leaned into the boy and whispered something comforting into the boy's ear. Sherlock glared again as he reached forward to crumple the ruined paper and ducked to avoid a spoon of oatmeal coming towards him from Anna.

"When people with dogs go on long vacations they take their pets to a boarding house, why can't Harry take the…things to an orphanage until they return?" And this statement, in all of its absurdity sounded quite logical to the world's only consulting detective.

John floundered like a fish out of water and his whole face began to turn red, oh, a bit not good…not good at all. Sherlock almost wanted to shrink back into his chair to get as far as possible from the doctor's apparent anger, but John didn't get to be angry, Sherlock did.

A fit of giggles sounded from Sherlock's immediate left, "Uncle John you're turning into a tomato," Anna observed and dropped her spoon into her bowl to clutch her stomach in a fit of laughter.

John's gaze broke from Sherlock's to light on his niece and his temper petered out as fast as it had come on. John smirked and shook his head. He lifted his left hand and rubbed it over his face, "Thanks Anna, finish breakfast now so we can get to the shops before the morning rush," he instructed her and settled his gaze back on Sherlock.

Sherlock kept his chin firmly on his steeped fingers and he smirked and titled his head just slightly to his left, "Think about it?"

John just snorted and shook his head. He shifted his weight slightly and removed James from his knee and set him on the floor. "No Sherlock and that is the absolute end of this absurd discussion," his voice held an air of finality to it and over the years Sherlock had learned to chose his battles with the doctor wisely. Sherlock huffed and sank back into his chair with a dull thud. He'd store this petty battle into his folder of things to use against John in the future and scowled.

Anna, on Sherlock's left, stood in her chair and launched herself at the detective and wrapped her arms around his neck. Sherlock made a noise and reached out and grabbed the table to settle him so that he didn't topple over in his chair. He absolutely despised children, especially ones with blond curls and blue eyes that always seemed to be watching him. He made a grumbling noise deep in his throat and turned his head to look at the little girl. According to John Annabelle had a 'crush' on Sherlock so that was why she always put herself into his space and made random jumps and grabs at him. Sherlock found it annoying and detestable. John had a grin on his face across the table where he had begun to pick up the morning dishes.

"Uncle Lock, can't you bring me to the park today?" she whined as Sherlock extricated himself from her grabby hands.

"No," he said as he grabbed his phone and turned on his heel, his blue silk robe sweeping out behind him like a cape as he walked to he and John's shared room.

John sighed, someday he knew Sherlock would come around, but it didn't seem to be coming soon enough. "Alright, come on Anna, let's clean up and get to the shops then we can go to the park," he told the girl and held his hand out for her. Anna frowned as she moved towards John and took his hand.

"Why is Uncle Lock so loony?" she asked and tipped her head back to look up at John.

John smiled fondly, "It's just how he is dear, someday he may change, but until then we just have to be patient," John told her as they entered the bathroom; James brining up the rear. John then started the process of washing up the twins and getting them dressed for the day. It was Sunday and he still hadn't quite figured out what to do with the twins come Monday when he had to go back to work. He sighed and had the frightening thought he might have to leave them in Sherlock's very incapable hands. He shuddered at the thought.

John sighed for the eighth time in as many minutes. Anna was refusing to go anywhere without her Uncle Lock along. She rooted herself next to the couch where Sherlock was curled facing the back of the sofa. Anna had grabbed a hold of Sherlock's silk robe and pulled demanding he get up and join them. Sherlock, for his part, had not moved or acknowledged her.

"Anna, love, he's not going to budge," John muttered and reached his hand out for her.

"No!" She snapped and shied away from John again and started to pull on Sherlock's robe again, "C'mon Uncle Lock, ," she had moved closer and bent herself over the detective's ear now hoping to get more of a reaction from him, and it seemed to work because he shot up like an arrow then.

"ALRIGHT, all bloody right!" he snapped and pulled his robe out of her fingers and shot her a murderous glare.

Anna grinned and stepped back, "Yay," she clapped and then returned to John's side. The doctor chuckled and shook his head, God help him.

James fidgeted on John's other side and cocked his head to watch Sherlock's tall and muttering figure go into the bedroom to change, "Does he have to come?" the little boy asked with a frown, his head tipped back and looked up at the doctor.

John forced a smile and ruffled his fingers through James' short dirty blond locks, "Don't worry, I'm sure your sister will have him more than occupied," John reassured; the poor little boy was frightened of the stoic detective and John really couldn't blame him given James' more timid disposition.

It was thirty minutes later that found the group finally leaving the flat and stepping out into the mildly chilled early April air. John grinned as he pulled a deep breath in through his nose and, without looking, reached over and slapped Sherlock's phone shut. He didn't turn his head to look at the detective because he could feel the glare the pale man was shooting at him. Sherlock muttered under his breath as he stepped forward, Anna mirroring his moves, and hailed a cab. Sherlock raised a brow and turned his head to look down at her; she beamed up at him.

"Joh-"

"No," John said quickly as he ushered the kids into the cab, but before Sherlock could bend in John pulled him down and pressed a quick kiss to his lips, "thank you," he whispered quickly before getting in.

Sherlock, despite his sour mood, smirked and flicked his tongue out to gather the remaining tastes of John clinging to his lips. He was sure John knew that later tonight he'd be showing Sherlock just how thankful he was. So it was, with these thoughts, that Sherlock was able to survive the majority of the day with one of the two terrors.

Sherlock knew that he should have stayed home, he knew it and yet he didn't. He was seething inwardly while Anna skipped a few paces ahead of him. He was royally pissed off when John took James and a shopping list down one sidewalk while he gave Sherlock a smaller list and ordered him and Anna down another path. Sherlock looked down at his list. It didn't consist of much, and actually it was a list of his own things he needed to pick up; dry cleaning, various chemical cleaners for an experiment, some lab equipment, and a new scarf.

"Uncle Lock, how come you and Uncle John don't have kids?" Anna asked as she came skipping back to him and forced him to take her hand.

"Because I find them distasteful," he muttered and pulled her into the dry cleaners.

Anna giggled and swung his arm, "No you don't Uncle Lock," she shot back.

Sherlock didn't want to get into it with her so he ignored her comment and went up to the counter to collect his things. He let her hand go and generally didn't pay her any mind as he dealt with the woman behind the counter. Sherlock was just gathering his shirts together when a loud crash sounded behind him. He hunched his shoulders and closed his eyes with a sigh. The girl behind the counter blinked wide eyes and slowly turned her gaze onto Sherlock. Sherlock closed his eyes and took a deep breath as he turned to face the little girl who was covered completely in white powder. Anna blinked then sneezed.

"Right…we'll be going now," he muttered and marched towards the door leaving the little girl covered in washing detergent to scramble to catch him.

"Uncle Lock," she whined as she tried to brush the hideously scented soap from her hair and clothes sneezing again.

Sherlock ignored her and pulled his phone out again and glared at it. He'd sent Lestrade a text earlier that was practically begging the DI to bring him into any case…any case at all, but the Detective Inspector hadn't responded to him. Sherlock could not remain in the flat much longer with the twins and keep hold of the very little sanity he even had to begin with. Only the thought of what he would make John do to pay him back for these two weeks kept Sherlock following the skipping figure of Anna as they made their rounds to the rest of the shops.

It was early evening when the two groups met up again. By this point Sherlock had removed himself from the present to deal with the hyper girl and her incessant babble that it was a miracle he didn't grab John and pin him against the nearest wall for a quick shag. It was a wonder how much just an afternoon made Sherlock miss his partner. A smile did ghost over his lips when he saw John and James coming towards them, but John's attention was on James who had a quickly melting ice cream cone. Sherlock glared and steeled his shoulders preparing for what was sure to happen next.

Anna honed in immediately on the fact that her brother had an ice cream cone, she reached up and grabbed Sherlock's arm with both of her hands and tugged, "Uncle Lock, James got ice cream, how come I didn't get one?" she whined; just as Sherlock knew she would.

He didn't acknowledge her; instead he focused a glare on John just as he looked up and smiled at them. Sherlock allowed himself a small moment of gloating when he saw the doctor's smile falter upon seeing his glare.

"How did it go?" John asked as he and James finally approached the duo.

Sherlock gave him a look, "Horrid," he muttered and stepped around the trio to hail a cab.

John frowned and looked down at Anna who had a glare on her face, "I don't like him any more Uncle John, you're my favorite," she announced and held her hand up for John to take.

John chuckled and shook his head, "I'm sorry to hear that love," John tried to comfort her a little, then his nose wrinkled as he caught a whiff of an overly sweet odor, "Sherlock," he turned to the detective as a cab pulled up to the curb, "what is that horrid smell?"

"No need to bathe Anna tonight John," Sherlock said and flashed him a smirk as he bent his tall frame into the cab and left a baffled John on the curb with two small children. Oh…John would spend his remaining lifetime paying Sherlock back for this; of this Sherlock was sure.

A/N: So there it is day two, day three shall be more exciting because it is the first day Sherlock will have the twins all alone and day three I shall start making hints of what is to come in the next few chapters because Moriarty is not sleeping, oh no, he's still there…just hiding and biding his time. Please review and let me know what you think…I have no beta and no one to Brit-pick soooo I hope it's okay :/ Let me know!