A/n: thank you everyone for the input as always! I don't own any of these characters. I just had an idea.

Chapter 2

A week later they had several appointments about cases in the afternoon. So far Sherlock had only accepted one out of three. At the moment John was finishing up pushing the third rejected man out the door while he continued to complain that Sherlock couldn't possibly be implying he had an affair. After he finished that rant he continued if Sherlock didn't know the Earth moved around the Sun, he wasn't intelligent enough to help him get his money back anyway.

"John you have to stop including these unimportant details in your posts. They only prove to add fuel to the fire." Sherlock complained as the man continued to rant at him. John just rolled his eyes at the detective hoping that Sherlock would get up and actually help him shove the large man out the door. After trying to politely guide the man out, John finally unceremoniously pushed the former-potential client out onto the landing and shut the door in the man's face as he continued to spew nonsense out of his mouth.

"Nice one there Sherlock. Could you try not to offend the last of our possible cases today?" John begged as he tried to catch his breath. Sherlock hadn't moved from his chair as John had bullied the man out of the flat.

"He was cheating on his wife, obvious by the suit condition and the soap he used, but he wanted me to help him get his money back from her parents? Really John, I think you and your strong moral principle would have objections to me helping with that particular venture," Sherlock scoffed. He moved over to look over John's shoulder as he sat down at his computer again. John had started to type out the blog post for their most recent adventure that he was calling The Cake Walk. Sherlock continued to comment and correct him as he typed. "It was lemon cake not vanilla. That dog actually had a breed? They breed dogs to look like that one?"

"I'm just saying you could have just told him no rather than pointing out all those things about him, his weight and his mother." John sighed as he rubbed his eyes and ignored Sherlock's remarks about the blog.

"Hmmmm," Sherlock did not agree or disagree. Neither one spoke for a few moments and the only sounds in the flat were John's slow typing and the muted sound of London traffic. John thought now might be a good time to question Sherlock. The man had brought up Sherlock's lack of knowledge about the solar system and brought his own questions about the matter to the front of his mind.

"Sherlock, if you wanted to be a pirate as a child why don't you remember anything about the solar system?" When Sherlock looked at him curiously, John added. "Because the sun and stars were important for navigation. If you were interested in piracy, I would think you had learned something about navigation as well."

"I don't know when Mycroft decided to be nostalgic and share information about my childhood goals with you, but I don't remember having that particular aspiration. I remember very little about my childhood John, and the things I have deleted were not essential to the work and not essential for my well being so if you don't mind I think we can see our next appointment." He guestured at the door while he glared at John.

"You just deleted your childhood dreams?" John asked incredulous. Sherlock turned to face him and sighed.

"John, what career path did you aspire to as a child?" Sherlock asked impatiently as he stared at John who rolled his eyes. He suspected he was about to be chastised.

"Doctor," John answered. It was all he had ever wanted to be. He had always wanted one of the white coats at least, but helping and healing people had always been a dream for him.

"Then you are a rarity because many people do not know what their childhood dreams will eventually involve when they are children. I am one of millions of children who flung aside childish dreams for reality. As I've told you before, I only keep the essential information. If I wanted to be a pirate as a child, it doesn't matter now and it was a very silly waste of time," Sherlock told him impatiently. John nodded because for once Sherlock actually seemed to have a normal explanation for his behavior.

"Of course it was. You were eight," Mycroft Holmes stepped into the room with an umbrella in hand.

"Oh, what do you want?" Sherlock scowled at his older brother, but Mycroft continued to recount the story to John.

"He ran around the estate claiming to be Captain Sherlock Holmes. Once he kidnapped the neighbor's dog for a ransom and went out on a small boat in the pond with the poor creature. I don't think I've ever seen an elderly lady hand out milk and cookies so fast, not even our own grandmother," Mycroft smiled at the memory. It was the same kind of smile he had worn the day he told John about The Woman's death. The smile was on his face, but it didn't reach his eyes or have any warmth to it. It was a sad sort of half smile that looked awkward on his face. It reminded John of why he thought there was more to Sherlock's memory lapse than choosing a real occupation and growing out of dreams.

"Are you here only to tell John stories about my horrendous deeds as a child or do you have more pressing matters?" Sherlock interrupted Mycroft's storytelling. John suppressed a chuckle.

"Of course I have something for you to work on. I am your next appointment. I was just filling in some gaps for John. This case is urgent, of course. I will need you to start on it as soon as possible. I would judge by the shouts of the man who just left you do not have another pressing case... "

"And I'm sure it is a matter of national security. John don't schedule him in the future. I refuse to work with him," Sherlock picked up his violin and began walking around the room.

"Do not blame John. I had my assistant set up the appointment under false pretenses for precisely that reason," Mycroft began to explain what he needed from the two of them. Sherlock eventually became frustrated with his brother and left the meeting. John however did take the case file and wrote down the details. With only one case to work on, Sherlock would be bored after a few days and would probably work on this to get rid of his mental energy even though he hated to help Mycroft. As John finished writing down some of Mycroft's instructions, he paused and looked at Sherlock's older brother.

"Whatever happened to Captain Sherlock Holmes?" John hoped Mycroft would be more willing to explain Sherlock's disdain for his childhood than the man himself was. Mycroft sighed.

"The same thing as he said. He grew up and gave up on the dream then deleted it as something unimportant. I believe by the next summer he was preoccupied with chemistry and experiments. He hasn't changed much since then."

"He gave up on childhood imagination and everything...completely in one year?" John wondered out loud. He remembered clinging to moments like that as fiercely as he could. He remembered getting in a wrestling match with Harry when she tried to tell him Santa wasn't real when he was eight. He doubted he was alone in that kind of behavior.

"Sometimes children are required to," Mycroft told him. The answer only made John more suspicious. He stared to ask another question but Mycroft cut him off. "I trust you and Sherlock will work on that as soon as possible."

He turned and left the flat quickly. Sherlock came down the stairs at the sound of the door closing.

"I was sure he was going to be bothering us for hours. What did you say to make him leave?" Sherlock asked smirking.

"I don't know." Sherlock shrugged and continued to play the violin while John pondered this latest development.

A/n. Input is always appreciated.