A/N: Here's another installment! We have a big reveal in this chapter, so brace yourselves. Thanks to all of the reviewers who have taken the time to leave such encouraging notes. You're all very much appreciated!
Disclaimer: I own nothing except Gabriel and Scarlett!
"Dad, I'm starving," Gabriel complained as he lay pitifully across the seat in the cab. "Can't we stop by the house before we go to the doctor?"
"There isn't time," Sherlock said, his fingers working furiously over the touchscreen on his phone. "You were the one who insisted on going to your violin lesson. Besides, you're always hungry." It was true. Gabriel must be having some kind of growth spurt. He seemed to be eating everything that wasn't nailed down. He would frequently come in from school and devour the previous night's leftovers before moving on to Mrs. Hudson's flat. Of course he never gained any weight, only grew taller and taller. If anything he had lost the roundness of a small child and was barreling toward being a sharp angular teenager.
Gabriel sighed and leaned against the window, staring down at the street as it whizzed past. "I don't know why Mum wants us there. If this baby is anything like Scarlett, we'll have to go back a million times to see anything."
"Because she wants you to see your sibling, Gabe. Don't give her a hard time about it."
"I'm not. But I'm old enough to stay on my own at the flat," he said. "I could have just walked home from rehearsal and then watched the video later."
"It doesn't have anything to do with your being old enough to stay on your own."
"I'm just saying…" Gabriel leaned over to peer at whatever his father was doing on his mobile. "Who are you talking to?"
"I'm not talking," Sherlock replied.
"Texting, then."
"John."
"Oh." Gabriel scooted closer until finally he was resting against Sherlock's side. Despite his wishes to be treated like an adult, Gabriel often longed for the affection of his father. Of course, now that he was an adolescent he didn't want to admit that and wouldn't dream of asking. Luckily his father was Sherlock Holmes and pretty good about sensing these things. "Are John and Mary going to adopt that kid?"
"Which kid?"
"That little girl. Jada."
Sherlock shrugged. "I'm not sure. They keep meeting with the social worker, but I think the biological mother has turned up again. It's complicated."
"How did you get me, then?"
"Technically you weren't adopted, Gabe. You're my child and they thought your mother was dead." Molly's text tone sounded accusingly.
Don't be late. ~MH
Sherlock sighed and clicked away a response. "Anyway, it's more hassle when you have no biological connection and the biological parent comes in. Besides, Jada has been thrown from one bad situation to another, I think they're just being cautious."
"Well Scarlett and Izzy seem to think it's a done deal. You know Izzy already calls Jada her big sister. And Jada has her own room at their house and everything."
"I know."
"So what happens if they can't adopt her?"
"They'll deal with it. Don't worry so much." Gabriel shrugged and nudged his head under Sherlock's arm. "And by the way, please refrain from telling your sister all the horrors of having a younger sibling."
"What do you mean?" Gabriel tried to sound innocent but couldn't keep the smirk from his lips.
"Oh I think you know exactly what I'm talking about." Sherlock stared down at Gabriel, an eyebrow raised teasingly.
"I just said that she couldn't act like a baby anymore."
"You're right. She can't act like a baby, but we're not going to send her off to uni just yet." He ruffled Gabriel's hair and gave him a rough squeeze. "She's more than a little upset by the prospect of a sibling and as the oldest, it's up to you to put her at ease about it."
Gabriel rolled his eyes. Some days being the oldest sucked. "Dad, I tried telling her all that stuff, but I don't think she believes me. She just keeps saying 'I don't want the baby.' She's way more stubborn than I was."
"Oh I don't know about that. There was that time you asked Mrs. Hudson if Scarlett could live in her flat."
"I did not!"
"Oh yes you did. You also put up flyers in the neighborhood that had a picture of Scarlett and the caption, 'Found, One Baby. Please come 'round to Baker Street to collect.' I think that was a Gabriel and Katie Adams project."
Gabriel laughed. "And then when I put her in the wardrobe. That was pretty fun."
"Hilarious."
The cab came to a halt in front of the doctors' office just as Molly and Scarlett were strolling up the sidewalk. Sherlock observed how the two of them looked like a perfect ad for a maternity store. Molly's baby bump was very prominent now in her flowery top that was an almost exact match of the dress Scarlett had chosen to wear today. Except Scarlett wore a pair of bright pink high topped canvas trainers and a pair of enormous, movie star style sunglasses. Her hair was a ginger tangle of curls that blew in the wind, much to her giggling delight. "Daddy!" she exclaimed when she spotted Sherlock climbing out of the cab. She waited until he had paid the cabbie and was well out of the street before breaking away from Molly and throwing herself against his legs.
"Hello Peaseblossom," he said, lifting her up and kissing her cheeks. "You look positively radiant today."
"I wear Mummy's glasses!"
"I see that." He kissed and squeezed her once more before letting her down.
She immediately grabbed Gabriel's hand and kissed it. It was an odd gesture that she reserved just for her brother. "Hi Bre! I can carry your violin?"
"Just don't drop it," he said, handing it off and hugging Molly with the free arm. "Hi, Mum."
"Dear Lord, you're taller than you were this morning," Molly sighed, kissing the top of his head. "Stop growing!"
"Yes, Mum," he replied, leading Scarlett through the doors and into the foyer of the office building.
Molly linked arms with Sherlock and followed them toward the elevators. She was nervous, he could tell. She clutched his arm just a little too tightly and her hands were cold. They hit the twelve week mark a couple of weeks before and she had finally decided to relax a bit. Of course, the ultrasound could reveal any number of problems. "Stop it," Sherlock said in her ear.
"What?"
"You're over there going over all the things that could possibly be wrong with this child in your head. Everything will be fine, silly Mouse."
"I know," she sighed. "Oh, Scarlett's otologist said she's fine. She hasn't gained any hearing back but she hasn't lost any either. And he changed out something on her hearing aid so it would fit better. He also showed me how to fix it so she couldn't turn it off anymore."
"That's a relief."
"Of course it won't stop her from completely removing it, but it's a start." They approached the reception desk so that Molly could sign in. The nurse gave her a thin-lipped smile, but she quickly changed her demeanor when she caught sight of Sherlock. She grabbed the nurse next to her and pulled her over. Both tried to conceal their blushing and tittering, but Molly was very aware. "Not that I blame you, but do you think you could stop ogling my husband for a moment to take my information?"
"Oh! Well, I…"
"Whatever," Molly sighed, signing the appointment log. Her hormones were raging and she had gotten used to this reaction. Sherlock was oblivious and rolled his eyes whenever she mentioned it. "You might try not being so attractive when we go out," she grumbled, sitting down.
"What?"
"Those two morons in the window nearly went blind staring at you."
Sherlock shook his head. "They just recognize me from the papers."
She snorted and pulled out a baby wipe to scrub at the smudge of peanut butter on Scarlett's cheek. "That was not recognition I saw. There was drooling involved."
"Don't be ridiculous."
She cast a murderous glare at him as she chased Scarlett's face around with the wipe. "Hold still, Scarlett!"
"I clean, Mummy!" she whined.
Finally, Gabriel took the wipe from Molly and scrubbed at his sister's face. "Hold still or I'm going to lick you," he said with a giggle.
"It's no wonder, really. Look at me! I'm hideous. Two young girls like that probably can't figure out why on Earth you'd be married to this disgusting mummy blob."
"Molly—"
"I'm wondering myself, really. I'm lumbering toward enormous at breakneck speed. Twice as fast as I did with Scarlett. My clothes always seem to have bits of Scarlett's food all over them. I'm tired, I smell like peanut butter and formaldehyde and the thought of having sex is abhorrent. I wouldn't want to be married to me right now."
Sherlock just stared at her dumbly. As if his big brain had malfunctioned at her outburst. This weird hormonal shift didn't make any sense. He remembered Molly's depression after Scarlett was born, but it was awfully early for such a thing. She seemed to be angry with him, but he couldn't quite pinpoint what he'd done wrong. Admittedly he wasn't the best at gauging emotional responses, but he was truly dumbfounded this time. Finally he leaned in, lowering his voice. "What the hell is wrong with you?" he finally blurted, then flinched as the little John Watson in his head thumped him in the frontal lobe.
"Pardon?" Her tone was a dangerous calm.
If he was going to die he may as well go all in. "What the hell is wrong with you? You've known me all these years and still think that the way you look has any bearing on how I feel about you?"
"Oh so I am hideous?"
"No! Don't try to trap me, Molly Hooper Holmes," he hissed. "On your worst day you're the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. And the mere thought that you are carrying my child inside you enflames me with a love and desire that is almost dangerous in its ferocity. So just sit there and shut it!" He wiggled his eyebrows teasingly at her until she giggled and both of them relaxed.
"Mummy, I have to go to the loo," Scarlett whispered with a loud hiss that really just announced it to the entire waiting room.
"All right," Molly sighed, standing and taking the little girl's hand. "Let's hurry. They're going to call us to go back."
OoOoOo
Twenty minutes later they were all crowded into a bright white room. Molly lay on the table trying not to look nervous. Gabriel was being an absolute treasure, keeping Scarlett entertained by showing her all the instruments and posters all over the room while they waited for the ultrasound technician to arrive. Sherlock was insisting on giving her a play by play of Lestrade and John's findings as they perused a crime scene and sent him pictures and video. "I swear to God, Sherlock. If you show me that man's intestines one more time I'm going to shove that speculum over there into a very unpleasant orifice."
"No need to be rude," he replied.
She started to reply when the tech came in. "Mr. and Mrs. Holmes?" She looked up and immediately choked back a giggle. The tech was a very attractive man in his early thirties. He flashed Molly a winning smile and pushed past Sherlock to grasp her hand as he spoke. "Congratulations, Mrs. Holmes—"
"Molly, please."
He grinned. "Molly then. I'm Aaron and I'll be your tech today. This is obviously not your first baby, but just to refresh your memory. We're going to do your ultrasound today. We'll look at everything and try to determine the sex. I'll be sure to point out anything of interest so that big brother and sister can see too, all right?"
"Thanks, Aaron."
He winked and buzzed about preparing Molly and making jokes with Scarlett. At no time did he even acknowledge Sherlock except to give a quick smile as he slathered the goo over his wife's midsection. He glared at the tech, but he held his tongue, knowing that Molly was already on edge and annoyed. Deducing simple facts such as the tech's internet porn habit and drinking problem would just make her angry. So he endured the flirting with clenched fists.
"All right, Mrs. Holmes, I'm just going to pass the wand over your abdomen. Kids, just watch the little screen." At first there was nothing discernable, only this moving black mass in the middle of the screen. Suddenly, a strange alien-like creature came into grainy focus. It was obviously a tiny human with a large head and a body so transparent that they could see the spine and the pulsing dark spot of its heart.
"Oh!" Scarlett gasped, pointing at the screen and trying to climb into Sherlock's lap. "Baby! Look Daddy! It's a baby!"
"I know, Peaseblossom!" Sherlock exclaimed, squeezing Scarlett affectionately. "What kind of baby do you think it will be? Boy or girl?"
"I hope it's a girl like me!" Scarlett said.
"God… please no," Gabriel sighed. "One Scarlett is enough."
"Well actually," Aaron said, turning the wand. "There's two."
"What?" they all said in unison.
"There's two babies. Mrs. Holmes, you're having twins!" Sherlock and Molly looked at one another in utter disbelief.
"But you—"
"It can't be—"
"How did this—"
They tried three more times to speak before finally giving up and laughing until tears were rolling over their cheeks. Gabriel and Scarlett looked at their parents as if they had suddenly sprouted tentacles. Finally they shrugged and watched as Aaron showed them the babies' hearts and eyes and fingers. "See here, Gabriel? The babies are in one sac so they're probably going to be identical."
"Wicked," Gabriel said, picking Scarlett up so she could see the monitor.
"Would you like to know the sex?" Aaron asked.
"Of course," Molly said, dabbing at her eyes.
Aaron rolled the wand over her abdomen with one hand while poking and coaxing with his other. "Come on, babies. Turn around and show us your bits." After several minutes, the first baby shifted and its tiny legs opened slightly. "Wow, well baby number one is definitely a boy," the technician chuckled, pointing out the sexual organs. "And he seems proud of it."
Molly giggled. "Already taking after you, Sherlock."
"Funny."
"And with just a turn… there we are. Baby number two is also a boy."
"Oh dear God… two boys?" Molly giggled.
"Yes! Finally! We're going to outnumber them, Dad!"
