A/N: So this chapter was getting longish, so I decided to break it in two pieces. Before I get ambushed- I promise "Sandwiches" is going to be updated this week! Probably more than once. I just felt some urgency on this story, so here you go. I hope its to your liking so far! Thanks to all of you wonderful readers and reviewers! You're making my winter so much brighter!
On the day that Scarlett Johanna Adelaide Holmes was born there was a terrible storm. Kind of fitting if one thought about it. It began like any other. With a phone call from Lestrade. Sherlock's mobile rang over and over before Gabriel finally heard it and wandered downstairs. How odd that he had left it on the desk, but it wasn't exactly a shock. The last few days had been very trying for the little family. Molly was already a week past her due date and everyone was on edge and exhausted. When they finally got to bed at night, they slept like rocks.
"Hello?" Gabriel croaked.
"Gabriel?" Greg Lestrade's voice was practically shouting through the phone.
"Yeah?"
"Why are you answering Sherlock's mobile?"
"It was ringing. He couldn't hear it because he's asleep," Gabe replied simply.
"Sherlock's asleep?"
"Yeah. He and Molly were really tired. See, Molly can't sleep because the baby is going to come soon. I could still hear them talking at three this morning when I got up to use the toilet. They're also trying to get the nursery finished."
"I see."
"Do you need me to wake him up?"
"Sadly, yes. I hate to ask, but I really need him today. Could you get him for me?"
"Sure. Hold on." Gabriel laid the phone down and padded down the hall to where Sherlock and Molly were sleeping. His father lay propped up on many pillows so that he was practically sitting up in the bed, but his eyes were closed and his even breath revealed that he was actually sleeping. Molly was curled around him, her head on his chest and her leg thrown over his. They had slept most nights this way for the last month. Apparently this was the only way Molly could have some semblance of comfort. "Dad…" Gabriel whispered, nudging Sherlock's bare shoulder gently. "Dad, wake up!"
"Hmm?" he answered, still asleep.
"Wake up. It's Greg on the phone for you."
"I don't know anyone named Greg…" he murmured , turning toward Molly and snuggling down again.
"Dad! It's Lestrade. He needs you on the phone."
Sherlock whined, disentangling himself from Molly and stretching. He took the mobile from Gabriel and yawned. "What?" he growled into it.
"Sherlock… are you all right?"
"I'm asleep. Or I was. What do you want?"
"I need you to come down."
Sherlock threw the covers back and stepped onto the floor, ruffling Gabriel's hair as he made his way across the room to pull on a shirt. "I can't. Molly could go into labor any second. She's already a week late."
"I know. I hate to ask you, but… I'm desperate."
"You're always desperate."
"Go." Sherlock looked up where Molly had awakened, staring out through bleary brown eyes. Gabriel crawled into the warm space on the bed left by Sherlock and snuggled against her. "We'll be fine."
"Hold on," he muttered into the phone. "Molly, I don't want to leave you. The doctor said you could have the baby any time."
"He's been saying that for weeks," she said, stroking Gabriel's hair as he fell back to sleep. "I feel fine for now. Just go and hurry back. Gabe will be here with me and I'm sure that Mary will come over with the baby if you're planning to take John. We'll be fine."
"But…"
"Look, I'd rather have you here after the baby comes. Go ahead and play with the other boys." She winked, settling back against the pillows.
"Fine. I'll see if Mrs. Hudson can come up and sit with you for a bit." He couldn't help feeling slightly relieved at the promise of getting out of the house. He didn't want Molly to think that he'd prefer to be out chasing criminals, but it would be a blessing to be able to block out all of his anxiety about the impending birth for just a while. She was insisting that he be in the room with her as she gave birth to their little girl, but Sherlock wasn't sure he was up to it. It wasn't the blood or the baby itself that frightened him. Intellectually he knew that childbirth was extremely painful for the mother and he wasn't sure he could watch Molly go through that. He loved her so much that the thought of her being hurt—even by his own offspring—was almost unbearable. "Text me the address," he said to Lestrade, going into the wardrobe for his clothes. "This better be quick. And it better be at least a nine."
Molly and Gabriel dozed as Sherlock showered and got dressed. He brushed kisses across their brows as he prepared to leave and Molly opened her eyes. "Please be careful today," she whispered.
"I'm always careful," he replied.
"No, you really aren't. Is John going too?"
"Of course."
"Good. Stay with him."
OoOoOo
Sherlock leaned over the corpse that hung limply on the strange apparatus. From where he perched on the ladder, he practically had to hold onto the body itself for leverage. John and Lestrade stood at the bottom, staring expectantly up at him, like usual. Apparently they couldn't have a thought without him telling them. The body of a young male hung from what looked like a large hoop with crossbars. The man was naked, save for an odd metal and leather harness strapped around his torso and a blindfold. His pale skin was also peppered with scars and welts, some of them old, others new. Sherlock used his magnifier to look at the blackened fingernails of the corpse.
"Anything?" Lestrade called from the vicinity of his feet. "We need to get him out of here as quickly as possible. The media will have a grand time if this gets out." The inspector's urgency was fueled by the fact that the young man hanging from the cross was a prominent London businessman's son. One of those loathsome "famous for being famous" types. He frequently made the papers misbehaving with his band of poor little rich boys. If word of his death got out, the crime scene would be crawling with reporters.
John sighed, looking down at his watch. "Death by misadventure right? I mean… look at him."
"It would seem so," Sherlock began.
"Oh good. We can go then."
"But not likely. Whoever killed him wants you to think it was accidental." He slid down the ladder, pocketing his magnifier. First off, what killed him?"
"Well… isn't this sort of thing usually asphyxia?" Lestrade asked, trying desperately not to look at the body. He was clearly uncomfortable with the implied circumstances of the murder.
"Usually. But do you see any signs that he was strangled? There's nothing around his neck. Not even any marks. I looked in his mouth and there wasn't anything there either. So obviously he wasn't strangled."
"Unless," John started. "Unless he was given some kind of drug. That can cause suffocation like that. But you'll need a post-mortem to be sure." Sherlock nodded and moved the ladder, letting the forensics crew by so that they could begin pulling the corpse down and transporting it to the morgue.
"Was it murder, do you think?" Lestrade pressed. Sherlock replied with a grunt and pulled his mobile from his coat. He flipped through the message screen quickly, not paying any attention whatever to them. "Sherlock?"
"Yes, yes! Murder. Whatever. Maybe a scorned lover."
"What makes you say that?"
"Look at how he was found. Strapped to a St. Andrews Cross, completely naked with obvious signs of sex games. The murderer wanted to be sure we found him like this. He or she wanted to humiliate him. Look at the dust on the floor. He was dragged in here and hung up."
"Could a woman do that?"
"With help."
"So we're looking for two?" Sherlock nodded, still engrossed in his phone, and wandered out.
Lestrade looked at John, giving him a helpless shrug. "Is that it?"
"He's a little distracted. You can hardly blame him." John shrugged and sprinted down the stairs to catch up with his friend. When he reached the sidewalk, Sherlock was already hailing a cab. "Hey… are you all right?"
"I'm fine."
"Look, its okay to be worried about Molly."
"I'm not worried."
"Yes you are."
"Why would I be? Mary and Mrs. Hudson and Gabriel are with her. She'll be fine." The cab screeched to a halt in front of them. Without another word, Sherlock climbed into it, barking directions to the cabbie. His eyes never left his mobile.
OoOoOo
The rumble of thunder jerked Molly awake. She was still lying in bed, the morning sun dimmed by the cloud cover. Gabriel made soft noises as he slept on, not bothered by the thunder or the sudden movement just yet. She looked down at his face and smiled. Though his cheeks still had the roundness of a young child, he was beginning to take on more of Sherlock's angular features and it made Molly smile to herself. She could hear Mrs. Hudson and Mary moving around in the other room, and then the gurgling giggled of John and Mary's baby, Isabel. It was time to get up.
"Gabriel," she whispered, kissing the little boy's temple. "Wake up, little one." He groaned and rolled over, trying to avoid the bright light of day. "Aww… come on, Gabe. It's time to wake up." She kissed his forehead and his cheeks until he was growling playfully. "Such a growly bear."
"Nooo… I want to stay asleep."
"But I think Mrs. Hudson has breakfast out there. Tea and toast with jam… your favorite." She laughed as he threw the covers back and stretched. "You're growing out of your pajamas, Gabriel." She pointed out how his feet and ankles stuck way far out of the ends of his trousers. "We'll have to get you more."
"But I like my skully pajamas," he whined, snuggling against Molly.
"I've noticed. I think you've had them since you moved in haven't you?"
"I got them like… the second day I was here. But I'm wiry. They'll fit."
"They'll be shorts soon," she giggled, pinching his shoulder.
Gabriel yawned once more. "Molly… do you think the baby will come today?"
"I don't know, sweetie."
He nodded and sighed. Molly could tell that there was something burning in his brain. She could almost see the little cogs turning and whirring around as he thought of how to say what it was he wanted. "Molly, when the baby comes, do you think she'll like me?"
"She'll adore you, Gabe! You'll be her hero."
"You think so?"
"I guarantee it. You'll get to teach her how to do everything. She'll want to follow you around and she'll ask you a million questions. Whenever she gets into trouble, it won't be your dad or me that she goes to first for help… it will be you. And you'll have to take care of her." Molly squeezed him tight. "You'll be an excellent big brother, I'm sure."
"I'm not so sure."
"Of course you will! You're a pretty amazing little boy. How could you not be an amazing brother?"
"How will she even know that I'm her brother? What if she looks like you instead of dad? She might not even recognize me!"
Molly giggled. "Well, I'm sure that she'll catch on when you live here with her all the time." She realized that he still looked serious. Evidently her answers were not doing much to assuage him. There was more. "Why so glum? You don't look happy about having a baby sister."
He chewed on his lip, looking for the right words. "Well… I'll be the odd one, you know. The one that doesn't know who my mum is. I'll just be her half-brother. Won't she think it's weird when I call you Molly? And what if you and Dad get married? Then it will be really weird. I'll be nobody."
"Gabriel! You could never be nobody." She kissed his forehead once more and took his little hand in hers. "You know, you're just as much my child as this one," she said, patting her belly. "I can't imagine not having you around."
Gabriel smiled and threw his arms around Molly's neck, "I do love you, Molly."
"I love you more, Gabe," she replied, scooting to the edge of the bed, trying to get up with as little discomfort as possible. The baby was evidently awake and kicked her firmly in the ribs. "Oof… well good morning, baby," she giggled.
Gabriel helped her up, cooing at his little sister while bent close to Molly's bellybutton. "You shouldn't kick mummy so hard." Once she was on her feet, he started toward the bathroom. Then he stopped and turned. "Molly?"
"Yes, Gabriel?"
"I think I'm going to call you mum from now on. You know… just so the baby won't be confused."
Molly blushed and nodded. She could feel the tears burning the corners of her eyes, but she didn't want to seem mushy about the whole thing.
