A/N: Hey guys! I want to thank you all for the reviews and for those who subscribed to this story. You guys have made me really happy! I think this is one of the best responses any of my stories had so far. Sorry for making you all wait. I was extremely busy last week and didn't get the chance to work on this. I've already got chapter three outlined in my head so I'm hoping to update again soon. I hope you enjoy this!
Chapter Two
The next morning, Sherlock felt a tiny hand pressing against his cheek. He opened his eyes and saw Ariadne patting his face. John had insisted that Ariadne slept in Sherlock's bed that night, though Sherlock didn't understand why Ariadne couldn't just sleep on the couch.
"Morning." He muttered. Ariadne stared at him with curious eyes and he sighed. Sherlock didn't know much about babies other than the fact that they were supposed to cry a lot and make fusses. Ariadne just kept watching him with grey-blue eyes identical to his and Sherlock found it a little unnerving.
He got off the bed carefully, trying not to jostle the bed too much and picked Ariadne up. She immediately started burrowing her face in the crook of his neck.
As they entered the living room, Sherlock smelled something strange coming from Ariadne. "John! There's something wrong with her!" He called, setting Ariadne down on the couch. John, who was in the kitchen, rolled his eyes.
"What is it now?" He asked as he walked into the room. Sherlock's nose was scrunched up and he looked disgusted.
"Ariadne's making strange smells. Is she sick?" Sherlock inquired seriously. John coughed down a laugh. Sherlock may be a genius but when it came to dealing with things normal people dealt with in their normal lives, he was utterly clueless. Then again, this wasn't exactly a normal situation.
John walked over to Ariadne and sniffed near her. He made a face as he realized what 'smell' Sherlock was talking about. "Er, Sherlock. Her diaper's full. That's what's making the smell." He explained. Sherlock looked at Ariadne disdainfully and sniffed.
"Does she do this often?" John decided not to answer that question. He picked Ariadne up and laid her down on the sofa seat.
"Can you pass me a diaper?" He asked, trying not to make a face as he slowly peeled down the stickers holding the diaper together. Sherlock handed him the plastic bag and winced as the smell from Ariadne's diaper filled the air.
"Good grief, that's disgusting." Sherlock said, pinching his nose as he peered over John's shoulder. John laughed and cleaned up Ariadne's mess before slipping on a new diaper on her.
"There you go." He said, looking pleased. Ariadne stared at him, her eyes filled with wonder. Sherlock coughed loudly.
"Where did you learn to change diapers?" He asked. John smiled ruefully.
"I used to babysit my younger cousins a long time ago. Of course, Harry was supposed to help but I ended up being the on who changed diapers and cleaned up their messes."
"Do babies eat?" Sherlock asked. John stared at him.
"Are you seriou- Never mind. I've got milk ready for her." He said pointing to the bottle sitting on the coffee table. Sherlock grabbed it and handed it to Ariadne. She stared at it and dropped it, sending it rolling onto the floor. John stifled a snicker. "You're supposed to be the one holding the bottle." Sherlock looked flustered and waved him off. He sat Ariadne down on his lap and held the bottle to her lips.
Ariadne's tiny hands clasped the bottle loosely and she began drinking from the bottle happily. Sherlock looked relieved and watched her for a bit. John smiled as he watched Sherlock and Ariadne.
"She's getting used to you." John noticed. Sherlock glanced at him and smiled a little.
"Yes, I suppose."
The rest of the morning was spent trying to clear up some room and making the flat safe for Ariadne. Sherlock managed to lull her to sleep by playing the violin for her. She ended up sleeping back in Sherlock's bed while John and Sherlock baby-proofed the flat.
Sherlock had to clear away anything that might be dangerous for her. Reluctantly, he had to move all of his experiments and equipment into the spare room and had to throw away various body parts that were swimming around in jars.
"Do I have to?" Sherlock asked, looking like a petulant child. John sniggered.
"Yes. Ariadne would probably get scarred mentally if she saw all those fingers and eyeballs." Sherlock frowned and dumped the jars into a bin.
"Why do we have to do this again?" Sherlock asked grumpily.
"Ariadne might accidentally end up eating or playing with something dangerous." John sighed, as he explained for the fifth time that morning. "Here, throw these out will you?" He shoved the trash bags into Sherlock's arms. Sherlock scowled and dragged the bags on the floor, not bothering to carry them.
Once he returned, John patted him back.
"See? That wasn't so hard, was it?" Sherlock scowled and threw himself on the sofa.
"Lestrade texted. He says there's a new case." He said, looking like his old self again.
"No. You can't go on another case until Ariadne settles down properly. We still need to get her clothes and food and whatever else she needs." John said, shaking his head. Sherlock crossed his arms once more.
"Why don't you go and buy Ariadne's things and I'll go solve Lestrade's case." He suggested.
"No, Sherlock. She's your responsibility and you need to take care of her." John said firmly. They were interrupted by the soft wails of Ariadne coming from behind the door to Sherlock's room. Sherlock sighed and stood up. John watched him as he picked up Ariadne and calmed her down.
"Shhh…" Sherlock muttered. Ariadne's cries died down and she snuggled against Sherlock. He carried her back to where John was standing.
"I suppose getting Ariadne clothes and toys are… Important." Sherlock decided reluctantly. John hid a smug smile and shrugged.
"Fine. We'll leave after lunch. But Ariadne's got nothing to change into and she'll freeze just wearing that old dress." John said worriedly. Sherlock smirked.
"Don't worry, I can take care of her."
An hour later, John and Sherlock left Baker Street carrying Ariadne wrapped up in Sherlock's scarf. The top of her head peeped out and Sherlock smiled at her. Originally, John had been against the idea of wrapping Ariadne in scarves. He feared the poor infant would catch a cold but the second he started unraveling the scarves Ariadne started crying loudly.
"Great. It's not even been a day and she's already taken your side." John had told Sherlock grumpily.
Sherlock hailed a cab and soon, the three of them sped off to the nearest department store.
"Ariadne, no." Sherlock said firmly. She was tugging on Sherlock's hair and was attempting to taste it. He gently pulled her hands away from his head and sat her down on his lap. She reached back for his head but Sherlock shook his head.
"She's very stubborn." Sherlock said. John hid a smirk. Like father like daughter. He thought to himself. Sherlock looked out the window of the cab and sniffed indifferently as the department store loomed over them.
"I hate going to malls. The store assistants are annoyingly nosy." Sherlock said disdainfully.
"That's their job." John pointed out. Sherlock gave another sniff and turned away from the window. When they arrived, John paid the cabbie and they entered the mall. The colorful clothes instantly captured Ariadne's attention and she started reaching for them. Sherlock looked around, his face clearly saying how much he didn't want to be here. John guided Sherlock to the map of the store.
"Third floor is where we'll find what we need." Sherlock didn't respond. John supposed it was better this way. He really didn't want to hear another one of Sherlock's rants.
"You have to be kidding me." Sherlock said flatly as the arrived at the third floor. Baby clothes were everywhere and there were so many mothers carrying their children around. Sherlock felt so out of place and many of the sales assistants were eyeing him curiously. John also felt the same and almost decided to turn around and leave until Ariadne's face changed his mind. Her eyes were filled with wonder and she kept making excited noises and pointing.
"We'll start with the clothes first. Is that alright?" John suggested. Sherlock gave an indifferent shrug and turned to the nearest rack. Sherlock looked very clueless as he pawed through the baby dresses. Several mothers were shamelessly watching him and trying to catch his attention.
Have these women no shame? They're married for crying out loud! John thought exasperatedly. Sherlock pulled out several dresses and leggings from the rack. He even managed to find her a little coat to match the one he wore along with a small scarf for her. Ariadne reached out for the scarf and when Sherlock gave it to her she promptly started drooling on it.
"John, I think I'm getting the hang of this." Sherlock said, keeping his eyes glued to the baby girl in his arms. John smiled but could feel the mothers glaring daggers at him. He took Ariadne from Sherlock and laughed as she held the now wet scarf out for him.
"I'll go pay." Sherlock said quickly, bustling off. John kept walking around and looking at the clothes displays but didn't really pay attention to them.
"Be patient with him." He told Ariadne. "He's new to this whole thing." Ariadne stared at him but her eyes looked like she understood what he was saying. It creeped him out a little but then again, this was Sherlock's daughter he was holding.
"I suppose you're about six months?" He continued, feeling slightly foolish for talking to an infant. "Lestrade might be able to find your birth certificate. We'll find out when you were born. We'll even throw you a birthday party, if you wanted."
"She's not going to talk back to you." Sherlock's voice said cooly. John whirled around and saw Sherlock standing behind him carrying a bag filled with Ariadne's clothes. John rolled his eyes.
"I know." He said. Sherlock smirked and started walking away. "Do try to keep up, John. The faster we get this shopping done, the faster we can go home." He called over his shoulder. John shook his head and steadied his grip on Ariadne before following Sherlock to the toy section of the department store.
John actually felt slightly relieved. Sherlock managed to pick out Ariadne's clothes without making much fuss and he hoped that Sherlock wouldn't cause any trouble for the rest of the day.
When they arrived on the fourth floor, Sherlock looked around disapprovingly. "I don't approve of these useless toys." He said.
"These 'useless toys' will keep Ariadne distracted, Sherlock." John said, trying to stop Ariadne from knocking one of the display toys over. Sherlock sighed.
"If we are going to get her toys, I don't want her to play with any of those noisy, obnoxious toys. I think its better if we find things that will help stimulate her mind."
"Sherlock, are you planning on letting Ariadne have fun in her childhood?"
"Oh shut up, John."
"Tell you what. I'll take Ariadne around to take a look at the stuffed toys and you can be in charge of buying the so called 'mind stimulating' toys." John offered. Sherlock looked disinterested but gave a slow nod.
"Fine. But don't take too long." He called as John turned and walked the other way. He sighed and walked around, randomly picking up toy boxes and placing them back on the shelves. He never did like toys, even when he was a child. He found them to be useless pieces of plastic that made noise and broke easily. The only toy he actually enjoyed playing with was a toy car Mycroft had given him for his fifth birthday. Sherlock had conducted various experiments with that car and even took it apart and put it back together himself.
"Hey! You're blocking my path, mister!" A small voice exclaimed. Sherlock glanced down and saw a small boy glaring at him. He was holding a remote control of some sort and a blue car was ramming itself against Sherlock's foot.
Ah, remote control cars.
"Mister, can you move?" The boy said irritably. Sherlock frowned as he noticed the boy putting too much pressure on the car that clearly wouldn't move Sherlock's foot no matter how hard it tried.
"You're not doing it properly." Sherlock said, reaching for the remote control. The boy squealed in protest as Sherlock plucked it out of his hands.
"Give it back!" He shouted. Sherlock ignored him and fiddled with the controls slightly. To his delight, the car moved backwards and spun around. He flicked one of the joysticks and the car lurched forward.
"I should get myself one of these… Ow!" His musings were interrupted by a sharp kick to his leg. He looked down and saw the little boy hitting him and kicking him as hard as he could.
"GIVE IT BACK!" The boy shouted. Sherlock shook his head.
"Only good boys get to play." He said. The little boy gave up kicking Sherlock and started bawling. Sherlock looked around and saw many other parents shaking their heads and looking at him disapprovingly. "Oh dear, I didn't mean to…"
He trailed off as someone, probably the boy's mother, came and calmed down the crying child. She glared at Sherlock and turned her head away sharply as she led her son away from Sherlock.
"Honestly, Sherlock." John said as he walked up behind him. Sherlock turned around and looked slightly embarrassed.
"I didn't mean to make him cry. He was the one kicking me." He said indignantly.
"Did you manage to find something?" John asked. Sherlock glanced around and grabbed a set of picture books from the shelf.
"If we can find her some puzzles then I think- OH!" He broke off and rushed over to a pile of boxes on the other side of the store. John followed him wearily and stopped as he saw Sherlock holding the box towards him. Ariadne clapped happily while John shook his head.
"No. Sherlock, she's not old enough for this!"
"But it's a perfect microscope set for her!" Sherlock protested.
"For crying out loud, Sherlock she's not even a year old!" They both looked at Ariadne who was chewing on one of the stuffed animals John picked out.
"I think she's ready for this." Sherlock insisted stubbornly.
"Fine, it's your money we're spending anyways." John said, knowing it was useless to argue with him. Sherlock smiled triumphantly.
A few minutes later, they were in a cab speeding back to Baker Street. John ordered a crib to be delivered tomorrow morning. Sherlock refused to carry Ariadne around in a strap on carrier so John bought a pram for her.
When they got home, Sherlock raced up the stairs to their flat and shut himself in his room. John was left to bring Ariadne and the rest of the shopping bags upstairs with no help. He cursed Sherlock silently as he dragged the bags into their flat. He dumped them near the couch and glanced at Ariadne. She had fallen asleep on the way home and was now drooling slightly on his arm.
John pushed the door to Sherlock's room open and found Sherlock fast asleep as well. John shook his head and placed Ariadne next to Sherlock. She whimpered but didn't wake up.
As John shut the door to Sherlock's room, he heard someone walking into the flat. He whirled around and his eyes widened as he saw who it was.
"Hello, Doctor Watson."