Thanks for reading guys! I promised this one would be longer so here you go! Credit to princeofthefallingangels who is the best.
"Uncle Sherlock?" Sherlock heard behind him, and he realized Alice had woken up. He turned to his side and there she was, looking at him with tired eyes. "May I please have something to eat, Uncle Sherlock?" She mumbled, embarrassed to ask, and feeling sad that nothing was just a bad dream like she made herself believe last night. Her mummy was not there to make her breakfast or care for her, it was Sherlock and The Man John. Before Sherlock could answer, Alice had walked away towards John. "Good morning, The Man John." She said as she laid out her hand politely. "I'm Alice. Mummy and Uncle Sherlock talk about you sometimes. They say you wear jumpers like the teddy bears do, is that true?" She asked, her hand still out and her head tilted slightly.
Looking up from his paper he saw the dark haired little girl with green eyes holding out her tiny hand to him. He smiled, and shook her tiny hand tilting his head, "I wear jumpers, but I have never seen any teddies that have a jumper like mine."
Alice giggled, "I used to have a teddy bear and he had a silly jumper. Maybe it was like one of yours!" She said. "My papa took him away though, but thats okay!" She smiled at John a charming smile and then walked back towards Sherlock. She leaned on the armrest of his chair and faced towards John, her arm on the armrest. She looked at Sherlock. "Can I have something to eat now please?"
Sherlock stood up moving to the front door looking at John with a smug grin, "Of course Alice, the good food is just down stairs so I'll be right back." Sherlock disappeared down the stairs running into Mrs. Hudson and asking what children like. She furrowed her brow for a moment and then went into her kitchen and got him a plate of food with toast with butter and sugar on it with a glass of milk. She just looked at him strangely, reminding him she wasn't his house keeper as he went back upstairs.
Alice had sat in Sherlock's chair while he was down stairs. She also had politely asked John for the funnies in his newspaper and he handed her the page with a small smile. She told John how she liked to practice her reading by reading the funnies, and she liked the pictures. She especially liked the one with the talking orange cat.
When Sherlock came back with the breakfast in his hands, she neatly folded the newspaper page in half and half then followed Sherlock to the messy table in the kitchen. She watched him move a few of the strange objects she didn't recognize to make room for her food, then sat down and began eating the breakfast. "Thank you Sherlock. This is yummy!" She said, after taking a few bites of the toast.
Sherlock simply gave her a small smile and went back to sit in his chair while she ate. Sitting down he looked to John with a smug smile, "I can do this, see? Simple." He tried to convince John, as well as himself.
John chuckled at Sherlock's statement. He folded his newspaper and leaned forward in his chair to be able to speak quietly to Sherlock. "You asked Mrs. Hudson for help, didn't you?" He said, loud enough for Sherlock to hear but quiet enough so that Alice couldn't.
Sherlock pressed his lips together for a moment putting his nose up looking away, "I was being resourceful John."
John chuckled again before hearing footsteps, too heavy to be Mrs. Hudson's, coming up the stairs. He silently guessed that it was Lestrade, coming to ask for help and not 2 seconds later, the door pushed open and it was in fact, the detective inspector.
"Sherlock, for gods sake, can't you answer your phone? I've called you, I don't know how many.." Lestrade began but soon lost track of what he was saying once he stepped into the room and glanced into the kitchen to see a small girl sitting at the messy table, drinking a cup of milk.
"Lestrade not now, get out." Sherlock waved his hand in the air to him not even bothering to look back, "Thats Alice, say one word and I swear, I will shoot."
Lestrade looked to John. "That's the little girl from the case." He said, and then turned to Sherlock again. "Sherlock, what did I say about taking cases without permission? You don't need to do that anymore, I let you take the difficult ones now, you don't have to go off and solve them on your own!" Lestrade sighed and ran a hand through his hair.
Rolling his eyes he looked back at him, "Did it ever dawn on you that I didn't take her for the case?" He gave a heavy breath and turned back around lacing his fingers together.
Lestrade grunted and shut the door. He sat on the coffee table to the side and put his face in his hands for a moment, then looked back up at Sherlock. "We've been searching for her all night, Sherlock. We thought she was dead." He mumbled.
Alice left her plate and cup at the table, seeing the sink was already full of something she didn't even want to think about and feeling that the last thing she wanted to do was upset her Uncle Sherlock or The Man John. She heard the other man, and knew it wasn't her Uncle Mycroft, so she guessed that it was The Man Lestrade that her mother used to say "gives Uncle Sherlock the puzzles" and is "something like a policeman." She felt that it was safe, and she quietly walked back into the main room.
"Well she is very much alive, and not dead." Sherlock said to him motioning to her as she walked back into the room. "Alice, this is Lestrade. Lestrade be nice."
Alice smiled, and walked over to Lestrade with her hand out "Hello The Man Lestrade" she said.
Lestrade gave her a confused look for a moment then shook her tiny hand, "Hello Alice." He hesitated to look back at Sherlock, "You do know I'm going to have to take her in and probably arrest you?"
Alice looked at Lestrade with squinted eyes and tilted her head. "A- arrested-ed? What does that mean?" She asked Lestrade curiously
Lestrade looked back at her gently, "A very bad thing you never want to happen because a copper will come and put shiny bracelets on your hands so they can't move and take you away to a place where you can't go home."
Sherlock looked to Lestrade, "I thought I said be nice."
Lestrade turned back, "I was. Now you're coming with me Sherlock." He snapped. "I swear to god, every time." He muttered.
Alice's eyes went large in realization. "Wait! you can't do that to Uncle Sherlock!" She turned around and walked over to stand by Sherlock's chair and leaned on his legs. "He saved me, he didn't do anything wrong, he's okay. Right? Uncle Sherlock?" She said, defensively against Lestrade and giving Lestrade a mad looking face. She felt tough and brave and that she had to save her Uncle Sherlock because he had saved her. She thought about it while eating her breakfast, that she could be gone like her mummy, but she wasn't thanks to her Uncle Sherlock. So she felt protected by him, and didn't want to lose him.
Sherlock looked to Lestrade, "Her mother was my cousin and I took her out of the burning house, I should be getting a medal."
Lestrade rolled his eyes going closer to Sherlock's chair, "Yeah, for hanging around a child this long, not losing her, damaged her, broken her, driven her mad, or gotten her killed by now. But I can't just let her stay here. With you, none the least. Come on, Sherlock." Lestrade said simply to him, standing in front of Alice. He kneeled down, "Your uncle isn't a badman, but we have to bring him in or I will get in big trouble."
Her bravery fading and wearing thin, Alice looked down. "Can I go too?" She asked softly, taking a second to glance up at Sherlock, who had walked out of the room and went upstairs.
John stood up and looked at Lestrade when he stood back up from kneeling. "Sherlock won't let Mycroft take care of her, he doesn't want her being brought up the way he was. He wants to take care of her, and we'll obviously help. Maybe we can find a way for him to get custody and not her father." John sighed. He looked down at Alice, who was then looking down. "Alice?" He said. She looked up with big green eyes.
"Yes?" She said quietly, bringing her hands together and up towards her face.
John reached his hand out for her to hold it, and once she took it he continued. "It'll all be okay. Sherlock didn't do anything wrong, so he will be okay. But when we get to where we need to go, a lady will ask you questions, and you need to answer them truthfully okay?" John tried to be as kind and gently as possible in efforts to help her be less nervous. But then he realized that everything going on for her must be upsetting, if not traumatizing. He frowned at this and his heart went out to her. "Hey, when we are all done we can get some ice lollies! How about that?"
Alice's face lit up into a smile and she gripped Johns hand tightly. "Okay!" she said excitedly as she did a small jump of anticipation. Just then, Sherlock came back in a fresh suit, his scarf in hand and his hair looking more tamed than it did before. He grabbed his coat and put it on before his scarf, giving a small glance to John before looking to Lestrade. "We'll take a cab, Lestrade." he said before going downstairs. John and Lestrade exchanged a look before following him down the stairs and out of the flat.