Sarah used the knocker on the door of the London townhouse to announce her arrival and request entry. To her surprise, a woman answered the door, not the famous detective that she had been expecting.
"Oh hello dearie. Are you the new nanny?" she greeted with a heart-warming smile. Sarah beamed back at her and held out her hand.
"Indeed I am. Sarah Farrell".
"I'm Mrs Hudson. I'm Sherlock's landlady. Oh do come in. His apartment is just up the stairs. I'm down here if you ever need anything" she fussed and ushered Sarah into a narrow hallway.
"Thank you" she said politely, and made her way upstairs to meet her new clientele.
The first thing she noticed when she entered the flat was that it was incredibly cluttered and dusty. After that, the most peculiar objects became salient to her, such as a skull on the mantle piece, bullet holes in the wall, and….a jar containing human ears. What she failed to notice was the man leaning idly against the window sill with a violin poised to be played, though he remained still to examine her.
"Ah yes well-" he began to speak but startled Sarah out of her pondering and she let out a yelp. Eyes locked onto Sherlock, she let out a shaky laugh.
"Oh jeez, I hadn't noticed you there. You're Sherlock Holmes then?" she asked, smiling shyly. He gave her a final once over, before brushing passed her to make towards Rosie's bedroom.
"And you are then new nanny, sent by Mycroft. In here" he called for her to follow, which she promptly did. Inside, the room was simple. Aquamarine wallpaper with a dresser full of baby clothes, an oak crib with pink baby set blankets, and several soft toys dotted here and there. Sherlock bent over the crib and eased a gorgeous little baby up into his arms. She let out a noise of protest at being disturbed, but brightened when Sherlock brought his face close enough to hers to make a silly face. Face resuming a neutral expression, he turned to Sarah. "This is Rosamund Watson. Rosie for short. Her mind is still in its early stages, so I expect you to encourage much stimulation, provide the basic needs á la Maslow and so forth. You will not do anything to harm or endanger this little girl, or so help me I will make you rue the day. Is that clear?" he prattled on. Sarah was too taken with the innocent little bundle in his arms that was clearly not feeling very supported as she teetered dangerously away from Sherlock's body.
"If I may?" she said it out of politeness, but was intent on taking the girl into her arms to be held in the proper manner. She bounced Rosie on her hip, held her finger out to be grasped, and smirked back at Sherlock.
"You should hold her more so like this, in order to provide enough support to the upper body while allowing for her need to explore the environment. I'm sorry. You were saying something about keeping her safe? Check" she chirped childishly. Sherlock watched the two females before him. All other nannies had told him to sod off or given him disagreeable looks for questioning their capabilities after he gave them the introductory speech. But none of them had sought to correct the way he held Rosie or even managed to smile a genuine smile at him in response. He had a feeling that this nanny would last much longer.