Molly sat and watched Sherlock stare at the picture. She didn't know if he realized it, but he was gently caressing it, and the image he presented almost brought Molly to tears. She hadn't realized that the past half year of keeping her secret had weighed her down so much. She felt lighter.

"He's beautiful," Sherlock murmured, and Molly smiled widely.

"He is." She contemplated the man before her. "He has your nose."

Sherlock smiled, his eyes still trained on the photo of his son. "He does."

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you about him as soon as I confirmed it." Molly leaned forward, eager for Sherlock to know how sincerely she meant that.

"I assume Mycroft had a hand in it," Sherlock said with a scowl on his face.

Molly hesitated. "Recently, yeah, he suggested I not tell you because of the danger from Moriarty, but before that, I just... I don't know. I was afraid. Afraid of how you would react. Afraid you would reject Archie an-"

"I would never reject my son," Sherlock interrupted vehemently. He seemed slightly angry at the suggestion, and Molly tried to give him a reassuring smile.

"You're a good person Sherlock, and I know you would never purposely hurt a child. But this is my child - our child," she corrected at his sharp look. She stifled a smile at his already proprietary hold on their son. "And I was just scared. Irrational maybe, with no real evidence of your interactions with children, but I'm a mum. We get irrational sometimes when our children's hearts are on the line."

Molly closed her eyes and thought about the little boy that would be joining them in a little under two hours. "I am truly so sorry Sherlock."

She felt a hand on her arm and opened her eyes. Sherlock was leaning into her with an intent look. "You gave me a son Molly. A beautiful little boy who is lucky to have you. You have nothing to be sorry for." He leaned in and kissed her on the cheek. Letting go of her arm, Sherlock leaned back and sighed. He turned his eyes back down to the the photo in his hand. "What do I say to him? How do I interact with him?"

Molly smiled and reached across the divide to pat him on the knee. "Archie is clever and quite perceptive. He's a miniature you," she chuckled. "Just imagine yourself at his age and you'll be fine."

Sherlock picked up the telescope and examined it. "Mycroft?" He questioned with a raised brow.

"Mycroft," Molly confirmed with a nod of her head.

"I suppose we could play pirates," he said slowly with a glance at the Lego pirate ship. "I always did like playing that when I was his age."

"I know," Molly smirked, and Sherlock snorted.

A look Molly couldn't identify crossed Sherlock's face. "We can't tell him."

Molly frowned and felt anger flood her. "What do you mean we can't tell him! Sherlock, Archie needs to know who you are!"

Sherlock hung his head. "Don't you see Molly? Haven't you been paying attention recently? I am a criminal. I'm dead. I have to leave and go take down everything Moriarty built up, so that my friends... so that you and Archie will be safe." He looked up at Molly, who relaxed when she realized he wasn't rejecting their son. "I won't be here. I'm leaving in five days and he'll have met me to only lose me again. I can't do that to him. I don't want to break his heart."

Molly finally gave into her urge to hug the man and threw herself at him. Molly held onto him even though she could feel the telescope digging into her stomach. Once she had ascertained that Sherlock would not bolt, she let go and moved to sit back down on the sofa. "Sorry," she sniffed, realizing for the first time that she was actually crying. "Just... what you said was just wonderful." She took a moment to steady her nerves while Sherlock looked uncomfortable. She barked out a laugh at how he still held the telescope pressed into his chest where she had smashed it into him.

Molly finally felt herself settle down. "Archie is smart Sherlock. He understands genetics. We will make him understand about all of this," She said firmly with a stern look as she stood up. "And Archie's birthday is in three days. You are not missing another one. Okay?"

Sherlock let out a breath and stood up as well. "Okay."

"Good, now I'm going to give you the grand tour and show you everything there is to know about your son. He will be here in a little under two hours and you will feel better if you're prepared with some research." Sherlock looked down at her in surprise at her statement and Molly quirked an eyebrow. "We've been working side by side for a while now in the lab. I know how much you love research and experimentation."

Sherlock grinned and followed her to Archie's room to begin the tour.

Sherlock was in Molly's room, out of sight of the front door, as Mrs. Carlton dropped off Archie.

Archie began talking about his favorite game he played at Mrs. Carlton's, called 'Silence,' and how he had gone ten whole minutes before he lost. Molly laughed at the various ways Mrs. Carlton had for getting Archie to settle down, while she steered him to the sofa.

"Baby, mummy wants you to meet someone I brought here today." At this Archie looked around the sitting room in confusion.

"But mummy, it's just me and you," he said, tilting his head at her.

Molly blew out a breath. "No baby, he's in my room waiting for me to bring him out."

Archie frowned. "Is he your boyfriend mummy?"

"No sweetheart." Molly shook her head. "He's someone very special. He never knew who you were until I told him today okay? And mummy just found out who he is as well."

"Okay mummy," Archie said seriously. Perceptive as ever, he understood that what his mother was telling him was very important.

"Your daddy is here." Molly braced herself. With Archie, it was sometimes hard to judge how he would take difficult news.

"My daddy's here!" He shouted excitedly, "but why are you hiding him mummy? I've never got to meet my daddy before."

Molly smiled at her son as he bounced excitedly on the sofa. He had never even mentioned wanting to know his father, but he took it all so well. "Sherlock!" Molly called out. She hoped everything went as well as Archie seemed to take the news.

Sherlock slowly walked out of the hallway that led to the bedrooms. A look of apprehension was on his face, but it quickly vanished and became a smile as Archie rushed at him and threw himself at Sherlock's legs, much the same way Molly threw herself at him earlier. But with Archie, Sherlock reached down and picked up the small boy. Molly started to cry as Sherlock held his son tightly to him for the first time. Archie held him right back, and Molly cursed herself for not having her mobile ready for a picture.

Sherlock made his way over to the sofa and sat down with Archie still clinging to him. Finally, Sherlock reluctantly loosened his hold and let Archie lean back. Just as Sherlock's eyes roved over his son's face taking in every detail, Archie stared intently at Sherlock like he was a particularly interesting bug specimen. Molly couldn't wipe the grin off her face as father and son just took each other in.

"I like pirates, do you like pirates too daddy?" Archie asked, a look of excitement on his face.

Sherlock laughed and hugged the boy to him again before letting go. "I love playing pirates. It was my favorite game when I was your age."

Archie crawled out of Sherlock's lap and kneeled in front of his Lego pirate ship. "Come on daddy. We have to learn how to play together."

Molly watched as Sherlock got on the floor and began to play with their son.

After three hours of playing, well past Archie's usual bedtime, he had finally fallen asleep in Sherlock's lap. Sherlock put their son to bed for the first time and made his way to the sitting room with Molly. They stood staring at one another for the longest time. Sherlock took a step closer to Molly until there were only a few inches between them. He lifted his hand and caressed her cheek.

"Thank you for our son Molly. I- I love him." He leaned down and kissed her gently before pulling away. "Thank you for our son."

'Our son,' Molly thought, and she smiled. She wasn't alone anymore.

AN: So there will be more to come. I'll be writing at least 3 one-shots to immediately follow this, then a multi-chapter fic based on series 3. And then like the show, I'll probably take a two year hiatus.

You can either follow me or the story. I'll make sure to post an update about any one-shots onto this fic. I also have this published on AO3, so feel free to follow it there as well.