A/N: So this was supposed to be a new chapter on "Sandwiches" but I thought that the last chapter was left a bit unfinished, so here it is. It's a bit shorter than I had hoped, but here it is. I hope you like.

Disclaimer: I own nothing except Gabriel, Scarlett and Cat.

Gabriel, Archie and Katie sat like three pigeons on a wire, waiting for someone to tell them they could leave. The other two children had been dropped off shortly after the battle died down and had been sitting for over an hour. Scarlett's meltdown had derailed everyone's plans for the evening. Molly was trying to act like nothing much was going on, but her manner suggested that she was trying to be as unobtrusive as possible. Her voice was quiet and she moved around the kitchen carefully as she prepared dinner. "Do all of you like stir-fry?" she asked. "I know Gabriel does."

"Yes," Katie and Archie said in unison.

"Are Mary, John and Izzy coming over?" Gabriel asked. He was seeking the reassurance of a number of people together. Molly thought it was hilarious that though she shared no DNA with Gabriel and he looked like a tiny Sherlock—Gabriel was extremely emotional like Molly and tuned in to any discord in the air. He was nervous and jumpy at the thought that his sister was somewhere upstairs being destroyed. Scarlett shrieked once, but after that, they hadn't heard a peep from upstairs.

"I think so," Molly replied. She turned at looked at the three of them. "I thought you were going down to the haunted house."

"We are," Gabriel said. "But Dad said we couldn't walk down by ourselves and that he would help us get there, but I guess he forgot."

Archie rolled his eyes. "I don't know what the big deal is. It's only like a block away."

Molly smiled, remembering the timid little boy that had been in Mary and John's wedding. He certainly wasn't timid now. "But you're only ten—"

"Eleven."

"Whatever. Gabe and Katie are only ten and you can't walk down the street in London after dark by yourselves. If he doesn't come down in another ten minutes, I'll walk down there with you myself."

Katie looked worried and sighed. "We don't have to go, you know." Molly gave a sympathetic grin. She had been watching Katie since she got to the flat as they were talking about the haunted house. It was obvious that she was worried and didn't really want to go, but also didn't want to tell the boys that she was afraid.

"Oh don't be such a girl, Katie," Gabriel grumbled. "It's not real. Just a bunch of people dressed up in costumes, jumping out and trying to scare you."

Archie slipped an arm over Katie's shoulder and gave her a friendly hug. "Its okay, Kate. I'll protect you."

Gabriel's eyes narrowed to slits as he cut his glance sideways at Archie. "She'll be fine," he said through gritted teeth. Molly had to turn away to keep from giggling.

Ten minutes passed and Molly sighed. Still no sign of Sherlock or Scarlett. She pulled the vegetables off the stove and wiped her hands, looking toward the stairs wishfully. "All right. Get your jackets so we can go."

"What?"

"It's chilly out there. You'll all need your jackets." She began pulling out her own scarf and jacket as the children wrapped up. Gabriel just stood there a moment, looking up at the staircase. "Gabriel? Aren't you going to put your jacket on so we can go?" Molly asked.

"My jacket's in my room."

"Yeah. So?"

He looked petrified by the prospect of going up to his room. "I don't want to go up there."

"Why not?"

"Well I don't want to interrupt," Gabriel stammered. Was his father up there hiding his baby sister's body? Did he have her strung up to the ceiling? If he walked in on them, would he be next? Everything about his father's demeanor earlier had told him that he needed to stay away. "We can wait until they come down," he said, dropping to the couch again.

Archie groaned. "It's already been an hour!"

Molly sighed. "I'll go up and get it. I need to tell him we're leaving anyway." Before she could make it to the stairs, she heard Gabriel's door creak open and Sherlock's heavy footsteps in the hall and the low rumble of his voice. He appeared in the stairwell with Scarlett on his hip. The child looked exhausted, but was no longer upset. Her auburn curls were wild and her cheeks were still stained red with drying tears and anger, but she was calm. Sherlock seemed fairly unaffected. He whispered something in the little girl's ear and let her down. She immediately ran to Gabriel and wrapped her tiny arms around his waist.

"I'm sorry, Gabe."

Gabriel looked down at her like she was some new and interesting species of bug wrapped around his knees. He looked up at Sherlock for assistance who nodded. "It's… okay?" It was more of a question, but then he hugged the little girl and let her kiss his cheek.

She pulled away from Gabriel and went to Molly, stretching to be picked up. "I'm sorry, Mummy," she said with a sniffle, scrubbing her eyes against her mother's shoulder.

"It's all right, precious," Molly started, snuggling the little girl tightly and kissing the tiny tears from her cheeks.

"Okay, let's not baby her," Sherlock said, pulling Scarlett away from Molly and setting her down on her feet before she could start whimpering again. As soon as her feet hit the ground, she scampered over to where Cat was lying in front of the fireplace. She squatted down in front of her in that way that only small children can accomplish and patted her head.

"Good puppy," Scarlett said, giggling as Cat licked her fingers.

Molly watched them for a moment, pulling her jacket off. "Well she doesn't seem any worse for wear," Molly remarked as she went back to the kitchen.

Sherlock turned to the three older children, pulling his scarf around his neck. "Are you ready, Gabriel?"

"Finally," Archie sighed.

Sherlock smirked and shoved Archie playfully as he crossed the room. "Go get your jacket, Gabe." Sherlock made his way into the kitchen and embraced Molly from behind, kissing the side of her neck affectionately. "Hello," he murmured against her ear.

She pressed her cheek against his and he could feel her smile as she added spice to the mix of vegetables in the pan in front of her. "Are you okay, my fearsome warrior?"

He laughed and felt Molly relax. Evidently his row with Scarlett had been troubling her. "I'm fine. Though I admit that for a moment I thought she'd shattered my collarbone."

Molly giggled. "John will have to put that on his blog. 'Sherlock Holmes bested by three year old girl'."

"Don't even joke about such things."

"Should I even ask what happened? I mean, I'm relieved to see that she's still alive." Apparently the horrors had been forgotten, as Scarlett was still kneeling on the floor petting the dog and cooing quietly at her. "She won't have any permanent scars will she?"

Sherlock shook his head, leaning on the counter. "Of course not. Though, she may not sit on the couch too comfortably this evening."

"Well look out," Molly continued. "I think there's about to be trouble over there." When Gabriel returned with his jacket, he observed as Archie helped Katie into hers. He glared daggers at the older boy. As he passed by his friend, Gabriel made a point to smack his shoulder into Archie's on his way to the coat rack. His snarl and impatience with his friends had not gone unnoticed by his parents. "I think our Archie is getting a bit too close to Miss Adams."

Sherlock rolled his eyes. "For God's sake, Molly… they're only ten."

"Archie's eleven."

"Whatever. Aren't they a bit too young to be fighting over girls?"

"Oh come on, Holmes," Molly giggled. "Don't you remember being that age? You were aware of girls but trying to ignore them? Tugging their pigtails and calling them names to show you liked them?" Sherlock's gaze was blank. "Oh of course not. You didn't notice the opposite sex at all until just a few years ago."

He looked affronted. "That's not true! I had several experiments in sex and dating at uni. I just couldn't be bothered to get involved."

"Boring," he and Molly said together, then laughed. "But mark my words, Gabriel's going to explode before the night's over." Before Sherlock could reply, the door downstairs opened and John, Mary and Isabel could be heard in the foyer.

Sherlock pinched the bridge of his nose. "It is exponentially louder in this flat than it used to be."

"You love it."

"Mmm…" Sherlock hummed. "Child thing!" Sherlock called. "Get your friends and let's go."

Gabriel ran over and took Sherlock's hand. "You'll go through the house with us won't you?" he asked as they started down the stairs.

"I thought you didn't want anyone to know I was even there."

"I changed my mind," Gabriel grumbled, squeezing his father's hand tighter.

"Uhm… okay…" Sherlock said and then shouted over the din of noise as Mary chased Isabel up the stairs, "John! You're coming too!"

"I am? Where am I going to?"

"The haunted house!" Archie and Katie replied as they nearly bowled over everyone in their path to the door.

John shrugged and followed. It's what he was best at.