Chapter 14

"You don't think Hamish has a little crush do you Sherlock?" John teased, going into the pool. The pool itself as an art deco kind of pool, something that the original designers of the mansion obviously put in. the pool was heated, one of Mycroft improvements to the manor with a tiny Jacuzzi on the side that could fit about four people. John cautiously got into the pool, sighing at the water. The doctor said the water was good for his shoulder, something that John didn't do often enough.

He thought of the water floaties, setting both children to sit on the pools edge as he flipped water floaties on both of them, Hamish's having tiny turtles, Alex's were little ducks. As John gently lowered both of them into the water, Alex held on around his neck.

"Sweetheart, there's nothing to worry about. See? Hamish is just fine." He said, indicating to the other arm where Hamish was more than happy to be in the water.

"It's ok Alex! You're the same before! You can do it! Plus Papa and Da's here so we will be safe! Papa are you not coming into the water?" Hamish splashed about.

"I need to check a few things, might have to speak to Lestr- Uncle Greg. But as always I will observe and record. Do not worry," Sherlock reassured him as he sat in a lawn chair near the pool and began to check his files on the phone.

"You always have me worried."

Looking to the door, Mycroft had walked in and with his eyes, Sherlock saw the smallest twitches of his fingers near Shay's equally dangling hand. Mycroft was being /too/ expressionless, eyes never lied, especially growing up with each other Sherlock gained the sense of when his brother was lying.

"If you stepped off your pedestal you might see that there is less to worry about with me My," Sherlock smirked when Hamish's head popped out of the water.

"Whab is pet a stall mean?"

"Pedestal: a support or foundation or a position of high regard or adoration."

"Ummmm..."

"Basically your uncle believes he is Mister Bossy," Sherlock said bluntly.

"Oh, ok! You are the Boss Man Uncle My!"

"Quite right Hamish, I was the responsible one growing up. Someone had to be with your father running about causing trouble," Mycroft sighed as he walked to the edge of the pool, "I needed to bring order into this house or it might fall apart."

"Are you coming in too?" Hamish asked the secret couple and paddled to the middle of the pool, "It is the greatest thing ever!"

"My apologies Hamish. I have no desire-" Mycroft's sentence was interrupted when his little brother ran up behind him and tackled him into the pool with a splash. Breaking the surface, they coughed and sputtered, with the exception of Sherlock.

"I guess I am joining you Ham," smiling to his boy.

Cleaning up after the... well... activities was fun but Shay and Mycroft agreed to keep their affairs quiet, for Mycroft it was more a product of Sherlock not knowing. For Shay it was a matter of not letting Alex get attached to Mycroft. True, Alex liked Mycroft a lot but Shay didn't want her to jump to conclusions and say Mycroft was her new daddy. So with this in mind, they wanted to keep this secret. But when they cleaned up in the bathtub, it just reinforced the fact that she had never felt so loved by another person in her life, both of them somehow shy when they were getting dressed.

But the minute they left Mycroft's bedroom, they walked apart from each other to not arouse any suspicions. And now she decided to sit on the edge of the pool, laughing as she watched the two brothers play around, feeling such a sense of peace somehow. Really she was just content in all of the sense of the word. She dipped her toes in the pool, careful not to get the fabric of her jeans wet.

"Mummy, I'm swimming!" Alex called out, in John's arms trying to doggie paddle.

"Yes, and you're very good at it aren't you?" She said, reaching to the pool's edge. Shay gave a small smile at her daughter. It was so good to see the little girl so happy. Alex was grinning at her, Shay lifting her daughter out of the water, forgetting the fact that she was getting wet.

"Are you having fun today?" Shay asked, rubbing her nose against her child's.

"Oh yes mummy. So much fun. Get in the water with us." Alex begged. Shay looked over at Sherlock and Mycroft in the water fully clothed, turning back to her daughter.

"Alex, I'll come in sweetheart. But I'll make it very clear to you that from now on we have to wearing our bathing suits. We can't just jump into any ole water we like." She cautioned, slipping into the pool.

"John put me in this though." Alex countered, Shay swimming over to John.

"Did you know?" She asked calmly, silently thanking him for letting Alex swim.

"I did in fact. And Alex is becoming a wonderful swimmer." John noted, letting Alex doggie paddle over to him.

"Thank you John. I'm glad you're teaching her. It's just, it's very important that she learns and well... in the past I haven't been able to teach her." Shay noted, thinking of before Alex was born.

The day Shay learned that Jim and Seb's experiment worked and she was pregnant she had bolted out, the security on her not yet tightened. She had run through the streets of London, trying to escape from Jim and Seb, her hair streaming behind her as she ran, her footsteps pounding the pavement in the middle of the night. She had no plan. All she knew was the faster her legs could carry her, the more distance she put between herself and them. They had cornered her when she got to the river, Jim and Seb both standing there, telling her not to move. And she decided to jump into the River Thames rather than face them both. But the thing was Shay couldn't swim. With the rough current of the river and the ice cold water, she was struggling to keep her head above water.

She ended up getting pulled out by a bystander with a cane, pulling her in with his cane. As she came out of the water dripping and sputtering, Jim had run over, the bastard pretending to be her boyfriend. He gave her his jacket and made a show that she slipped while they were taking a walk together, scolding her for getting so close to the edge. The worst part of it all was a newspaper reporter just happened to be there, photographing a shivering and cold Shay with her rescuer and Jim, Jim using the title Richard Brook at the time in the article. By the time they were quickly interviewed for the article, Shay gave in and stayed with the story.

"I just, I was looking over the edge and I- I slipped." She had said to the reporter, mentally screaming for this hell to end. She had been struggling to breathe at the time, not even able to beg for help. So she was dragged back to the manor, locked up in her room for about three months, only allowed to leave the room with heavy security on her, anything she could possibly use to give herself a miscarriage taken away from her.

"Mummy, are you okay?" Shay snapped out of her thoughts, looking down at her daughter, who by now swam from John to her, gripping on to her mother's arms.

"Yes sweetie I'm fine. Did John teach you to float on your back yet?" She asked, pushing an errant hair out of her daughter's face. Alex nodded, Shay smiling at her child. "Then wonderful." She pulled her daughter closer, noticing Sherlock and Mycroft in the water, fighting. "Do you think they know how to swim?" She whispered. Alex shook her head. "I didn't think so either sweetie." She said, kissing her daughter's cheek.

"Uncle My, I think Daddy needs air," Hamish paddled and bobbed near his uncle who was holding his younger brother under the water.

"Actually Hamish, your father does not need air to breath, instead his ego allows him to continue on living."

"Unc-uncle My..." Hamish began to tear up as his father's arms flailed and reluctantly Mycroft let him resurface, coughing and sputtering, "Apologies Sherlock, shall we call truce?"

Nodding, the two clasped hands and then Sherlock suddenly punched him, the man falling in with a huge splash.

"Never let your guard down Hamish, never trust the enemy."

"Is it because he is your arch nemesis?" Hamish was biting on his tongue in an attempt to not laugh, seeing his serious uncle act so silly.

"Mhm," Sherlock reassured and climbed out, slumping into a pool chair exhausted and sore. His child paddled over to his friend and poked into her arm. Blinking to Shay all he could do was smile, Shay was so pretty to him, a true criteria of what a Mummy should be. Then he remembered that a mummy had to love her children, feed them, help dress them, read to them, and help them when sick. He concluded that Sherlock and John were his mummy but both of them were boys, so they were his dads... the more he thought of it he became slightly confused. Maybe Sherlock and John were mummies and daddies?

At the same time... shrugging his shoulders he asked Alex to play Marco Polo with him, his mind already concentrated on more important matter. Da was once a soldier and had to use all of his senses to be the bestest doctor. Eyes, well no eyes since he had to close them, and Hamish listened for Alex moving around. Smelling the air all he could detect was pool and the taste was just pool water, yuck, not helpful.

"I'm going to get ya!" Then again, if Papa and Da were his daddies did he ever have a mummy? Was he supposed to have a mummy? Then he remembered all the fun he had with them, so why would he need a mummy, they were... doubly better than any other mummy! Also Shay was his mummy, now he could have three people watch him!

Shay watched the family playing with Alex in her arms, smiling contently as she watched them. Oh Mycroft, so hurt from so many people being cruel to him over the years. She had a lot of healing to do and so did he. And even now, all she wanted to do was cross the pool and give him a hug, especially when Sherlock punched him, making her gasp.

"SHERLOCK, Stop." She called hitting him as she went to see if Mycroft was okay. She looked over at his jaw, seeing there was no permanent damage.

"Are you okay?" She asked, gently pushing his hands away to look at it.

"If it could be prevented, I think it would be best Alex remain as an only child, I feel it would be to her benefit so she might grow up to be a lady of grace and sensibility," Mycroft grumbled as he glared at his brother, rubbing his jaw. Sometimes he forgot how strong Sherlock would be, even as kids, then again, Mycroft was not one to climb trees or rough house, and if caught he was the blame always seemed to fall on him.

"You can be a rather offensive man Sherlock!"

"I still win," he answered childishly and looked to his husband to see that he was giving him a disapproving look, "Bit not good?"

John had been folding his arms, glaring at Sherlock. This was something he often did but now it was serious.

"And I ask you, what role model are we showing to Hamish if we say punching people is okay?" He asked. Sure Sherlock was nasty to Mycroft at times but usually not in front of Hamish. "Sherlock, apologize to your brother." John ordered, Alex watching, swimming back to her mother.

"Daddy punches Mummy all the time." Alex blurted out. Shay visibly stiffened. Shit. She didn't think that Alex saw her get beat up often. She always made sure she was in another room. But there must have been one time where she was peeking through the door.

"Alex, let's not talk about that. It really hurts to talk about." Shay said, getting out of the pool. Suddenly she didn't feel like swimming anymore, grabbing a towel to wrap around herself. She looked over to the three men, giving a small smile.

"I asked you to come home early... Shay, shay, shay my dearest dear shut it or I will shut it for you. You do not talk back to me like that," the sound of the crack echoed in the room, "And if you keep trying to run away like that I can guarantee you will never see your child do you understand me?"

"Come on Shay speak up, we know you can open your mouth."

"Very good Sebastian, as he said."

Shay lifted her head, her hand up to her forehead to stop the blood.

"I-I'm sorry." Is all she could say, keeping her head down. The quieter she was, more obedient she was, the faster this would get done and over with. She looked down, secretly praying that Alex was on the other side of the mansion just so she couldn't hear what was about to happen.

"That's the past now. I'd really rather not talk about it." She said.

"But you have to-"

"John, please, not now." She said, trying to keep her voice calm so as not to scare Alex. She looked back at them. "What happened, happened. It's not something I want to revisit, ever." she said, visibly shaking at thinking about it. The grave look that set in Shay's face made Sherlock immediately regret what he had done and reaching an arm out he helped Mycroft out of the pool.

"Mycroft... I- I," he began.

"Sherlock... I know, I forgive you," Mycroft replied quietly and the two locked eyes, the small sibling of understand was shared.

"Papa..."

"Yes! Um, Hamish," Sherlock spun around to find Hamish nibbling on his lower lip, already having caught Alex a few times, and was holding onto her hand.

"I don't think I want to swim anymore."

"Of course, I'll get you-"

"No!" Hamish shouted suddenly and the small outburst caught everyone's attention, "I... can Da help me out instead?"

John looked to Sherlock, giving him a sad smile as he lifted Hamish out of the water, taking Alex out as well, giving the little girl to Shay.

"It'll be alright Sherlock" Was all he said, going towards their bedroom to get him and Hamish changed into some dry clothes. Shay looked over to Sherlock as well, carrying Alex to her room, a mutual understanding between her and John that Mycroft and Sherlock needed to be alone for a moment.