A Whole New Chapter

by destielkills

John and Sherlock have been married for four years when they decide to adopt a child. They meet Anastasia, a two year old orphan born to a teenage orphan who died during the birth, leaving her to grow up in the orphanage. Since she was never named the other children call her Sweetie, but when John and Sherlock decide to adopt her they name her Anastasia.

2. The First Night

A/N: Surprise! Two in one night! Don't forget to head over to the tumblr, a-whole-new-chapter!

Disclaimer: I don't not own anything but the plotline, and all original characters (and even those are in collaboration with my best friend so I still can't take full credit)

The first night with Anastasia home was the hardest. They discovered right away that they were extremely under-prepared and had to go shopping for things to baby-proof the house; rubber corners for the counters, locks for the cabinet doors and drawers, and outlet covers.

Then John discovered he had no idea how to feed a two-year-old when the vegetables ended up on the floor, the pasta sauce in her hair, and the milk all over her dress (though how it had gotten out of the "spill proof" sippy cup was beyond John.)

But none of that was as disastrous as the first time she cried. It started when John got water in her eye during bath time.

"Make her stop that incessant noise I can't hear myself think!" Sherlock shouted from where he was curled in his armchair.

"She's your daughter too, Sherlock. You'll have to get used to it." John responded from where he was toweling Anastasia dry and trying to soothe her. The crying didn't stop until a long while later when she had cried herself to sleep. If you asked Sherlock about the incident he would deny having stabbed a couch cushion out of frustration, but if you flipped the middle cushion over you would see the small line of stitches holding the rip from the knife together.

Things did get better from there, surprisingly fast. A week later Sherlock was significantly more comfortable around Anastasia and didn't get quite so angry when Anastasia cried. He was even comfortable enough to bathe Anastasia while John made dinner. Sherlock had yet to be completely alone with her in the apartment, but John was just thankful to have seen the amount of improvement they'd had so far.