The detective and the nanny (Drabbles)

by PlutoCookie

Following Mary's death, John is also murdered. Sherlock is in mourning and in his grief, becomes determined to adopt Rosie, to honour John and Mary. He fights Mycroft on the subject and devises the plan to have a live-in nanny in 221B that will look after Rosamund while he works. After a series of nannies that leave because of Sherlock's quirks, Mycroft recruits a resilient one.

6. Chapter 6

A shrill scream resounded from the kitchen of flat 221B. Sarah stood with her mouth open in horror as she gaped at the contents of the food cupboard. Or rather, the cupboard where you expect to find food but she somehow managed to stumble upon an array of dangerous chemicals and beakers. Sherlock huffed in annoyance from his place on the couch.

"What is it?" he called out with feigned concern. Sarah knew he knew what she had seen, but the brilliant detective would of course see nothing wrong with it.

"Sherlock, you have a child staying under your roof. Fair enough she can't exactly walk right now, but when she can, you're going to need to child-proof the entire flat. That means NO SCIENCE EXPERIMENTS IN THE KITCHEN!" she exclaimed as she stomped over to him. Fingers poised in a steeple above his chest, he glared up at her.

"You're here to mind Rosamund and make sure she is looked after. I also asked that she be stimulated to allow for exemplary neural development. I don't think that a lack of scientific experimentation from the comfort of home ever hurt anyone?" he sneered up at her. Sarah quirked an eyebrow at him and placed her hands on her hips defiantly.

"Karl Scheele" she replied.

"….."Sherlock's arrogance slipped for a moment. Carl William Scheele. A Swedish pharmaceutical chemist that taste-tested his discoveries and died from mercury poisoning. She was implying that Rosie would soon begin to explore her world through her mouth and could accidently consume something poisonous.

"What am I supposed to do with the equipment so that it is 'Rosie-proof'?" he relented begrudgingly. Sarah sighed and folded her arms in thought.

"I suppose if you either renovated the flat to include a work-space for yourself-".

"I work here in this space" he pointed out.

"Or, maybe ask Mrs Hudson if the unused flat in the basement can be used as storage? That way if you so desperately need to experiment, you get what you need, but clean up as soon as you are finished" her tone was more forceful on the last point. She was not volunteering to clean up any remains of his little science projects. Sherlock nodded and closed his eyes, as if to say 'I'll think about it'. Rolling her eyes, Sarah made her way back to the kitchen.

"So where do you keep Rosie's food?" she asked over her shoulder.

"Mrs Hudson!" Sherlock called, loud enough for the landlady below to hear.