For SouthernBlossom who reminded me that I had yet to write this one!
Once upon a time there was a balcony on which a dreadful incident occurred. It was an incident so terrible that it nearly gave Mycroft a heart attack and prompted him to immediately move Rose's playroom from a room with a balcony to a room without one in order to avoid repeat incidents. The fact that the room changing forced Sherlock to give up his room rather than Mycroft give up his own was the only icing on the cake that day.
"If you ever climb up on this railing again for any reason whatsoever, I will ground you until you're twenty and spank you every single day in perpetuity," Mycroft threatened as he crushed the crying five-year-old to his chest. "Promise me you will never, ever do that again Rose."
"Promise! I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" the little girl repeated through her tears. It was truly the most tragic day in her entire life, having just received her very first spanking from a very displeased eldest brother.
"I know poppet, I know you are," Mycroft replied in a soft tone. Now that the smacking was done it was time for soothing, a task that he was surprisingly well equipped for. Cradling her in his arms, Mycroft carried his sobbing sister to the rocking chair in her room and sat down to cuddle her close. One hand gave her red bum a gentle rub, revealing how much of a brute Mycroft actually felt like, despite knowing it had been well earned and completely appropriate for the situation.
"Shhhh, shhh, cry it all out poppet. You'll be alright, I promise. I love you, you know that? I love you very, very much even when you do very ridiculous things," Mycroft soothed. "You're my good, brave girl, poppet." Within moments, his gentle tone combined with the rocking had put Rose right to sleep.
Three Years Later
"But I want to go!" Rose shouted at her oldest brother. "It's not fair, everyone else gets to go!"
"Well I want to lock you away somewhere far, far away from me, but regrettably, we can't always have what we want, can we?" Mycroft replied. "I also wanted to have a normal day at the office with no life threatening situations. Instead I receive a call from your school, saying they couldn't reach Mother and you and Louise were involved in a fight with three other children, could I please come retrieve you immediately."
Rose rolled her eyes. "I didn't start that Mycroft, you know I didn't! I just-"
Mycroft went from merely looking displeased and disgruntled to looking downright murderous. "So help me god if you say 'I just finished it' I will take you out to the car and spank you all the way to the office and then have my driver return you here where you will be grounded for a week and get the spanking you're owed when I get home. Does that sound like a good plan to you, two spankings and a grounding, or would you rather just shut up now and go to your room so I can return to work and not strangle you?"
"You'd do that?" Rose gasped, her eyes wide. "You'd really spank me in a moving car? Isn't that rather dangerous Mycroft? You can't be serious, surely!"
"I don't make idle threats, do I young lady?" Mycroft asked. He was gratified when she shook her head 'no' enthusiastically.
Rose bit her lower lip slightly. "But… but My," she whispered.
At the end of his limited patience, Mycroft picked Rose up and tucked her under one arm, balancing her on his hip with her bottom in prime position for a quick smacking. "Will you please do as you are told Rosenwyn Aramantha?" he asked, a hearty swat accompanying each word.
"Ow, ow, ow, ow, owww! Yes, I'll go to my room! Oww!" Rose yelled, squirming and wriggling despite her clear inability to get free. As soon as Mycroft put her down she ran upstairs as fast as she could. He was the meanest brother in the whole wide world to make her miss the party with all her other classmates. Well, she'd show him just what she thought of that.
Ducking into her room, Rose retrieved a balloon and hurried to the loo to fill it with water. It would serve her brother right to get soaked before going back to work! If she was going to get a spanking anyway, then what did it matter if she added this to her list of misdeeds? When the balloon was full she tied off the end and darted across the hallway and into Sherlock's room. Going straight onto the balcony that was above the front walk, she crawled on top of the railing and waited for her victim to emerge.
"Rose! What are you doing in my room? Don't you disturb those plants I'm growing, they're earmarked for an experiment," Sherlock warned as he came into his room.
Having not anticipated Sherlock to suddenly appear mid-misbehavior, Rose was startled to hear him call to her and enter the room. Her precarious balance on top of the railing was shaken when she jumped, her knees hitting one of the potted plants. Rose tried to grab it but wasn't fast enough and watched in horror as it fell, landing squarely on top of Mycroft's head as he was exiting the house.
Sherlock, who had just stepped onto the balcony watched as Mycroft was hit with the potted plant, tottering on his feet for a moment before simply falling over face first onto the lawn. "Mycroft! Stop being dramatic and get up!" he called down to his brother.
"You," he said, turning to Rose. "Not good." Damn it, Sherlock thought to himself. If Mycroft didn't get up he would have to spank Rose for breaking the balcony rule. "Stupid Mycroft," he grumbled as he looked out on the still not-moving body of his brother. "Just had to go and be unconscious, probably on purpose so I had to be the mean brother." His face settled into his typical sulky look as he called to Mycroft twice more.
Damn it though if it wasn't rather hilarious! His lips twitched as he fought a smile while he turned to Rose once more. "You. Not acceptable at all."
The littlest Holmes looked up at him, a smile tugging at the corners of her lips. "You don't sound like you really believe that was unacceptable," she countered.
"That is irrelevant," Sherlock scolded. "You and this balcony have had issues before."
Rose heaved a sigh. "I was five!"
"Well now you're eight and equally ridiculous. You'd best go to your room," Sherlock decided.
"Nooooooo, why?" Rose immediately whined. Sherlock could usually be won over with a combination of whining, sad puppy faces, and tears.
Now it was Sherlock's turn to sigh. "You know why! Don't make me say it and don't make me be mean either," he half-pleaded.
"You are mean if you're going to spank me!" Rose put on her best sad puppy face, trying to gain some sympathy. Sadly, Sherlock was not responding as he usually did. How odd.
"I'm a lot less mean than Mycroft will be later, I can promise you that," Sherlock warned.
Rose paused to consider his words. "You make an excellent point," she admitted with a huff.
"Good, now go to your room. I need to go make sure he's not dead or something, because that would just be inconvenient," Sherlock grumbled as he ushered Rose away from the balcony.
"Oh my god he might be dead?!" Rose shrieked. "I just wanted to get him wet, not kill him! The plant was an accident, I swear!"
Sherlock gently gave her a push in the direction of the room. "An accident that wouldn't have occurred if you'd been on the balcony floor and not the railing. You shouldn't have even been in my room in the first place," he pointed out, giving her as stern a look as he could muster. Provided Mycroft wasn't dead or grievously injured, this would turn out rather hilarious in his view, which made it a challenge to be cross with Rose.
"But Sherlock, I can't throw as well when I'm not on top of the railing. I'm short!" Rose pointed out.
"Besides," he continued on. "I'm sure he's not dead. He's far too insufferable; couldn't possibly miss out on his chance to plague our very existence with his irritating self for the remainder of our lives." Sherlock suddenly stopped in his tracks as Rose's words infiltrated his ranting about Mycroft. "So this is not the first time you've attempted launching projectiles off the balcony then, is it? Because you wouldn't know it didn't work standing on the balcony itself if you hadn't tried it prior to today and discerned that the railing was necessary due to your stature."
Rose swallowed loudly, looking a bit like a deer in headlights as she realized that that statement hadn't helped her case. This she knew because Sherlock was giving her his 'I'm very cross with you' glare and not his 'I'm pretending to be cross' glare. "I'm going to shut up now," she said very quietly. "I think I'll wander in the general direction of my room now." A hand went behind her to protect her bum from any well aimed smacks as she turned her back to Sherlock.
"You are a menace, do you know that?" Sherlock growled, smacking the back of her thigh rather than her bum as she hurried to move away. "I'm putting some sort of gate on that railing first thing tomorrow, just so you're aware!"
Unwilling to back down from a challenge, and thus far not taking her coming spanking from Sherlock particularly seriously, Rose merely snorted and replied, "Yeah, I'll just climb it."
"Excuse me?!" Sherlock shouted.
Rose spun around as she heard Sherlock stalking towards her. "I meant to say that I could climb it, but that I would never, ever do such a reckless and potentially dangerous act. That would just be silly." She yelped as he smacked the back of her thighs again.
"Isn't everything you do reckless, potentially dangerous and incredibly silly?" he accused.
"Hey! That's unfair Sherlock! You're the one that melted a hole in the oak hardwood floor last week and tried to cover it up by moving the sideboard like no one would notice you rearranged the dining room!"
"That was done in the name of science and sacrifices must be made in order to have breakthroughs," Sherlock replied, glaring at her.
His defiant little sister snorted once again. "That's a load of crap if ever I heard one. No, owie owie!" She squealed as Sherlock swatted her bum twice.
"Language! Clearly you want a very good spanking from me, don't you? Am I going to have to give it right here in the hallway, Rose? Because we can do that if you insist," he threatened.
"No! I said crepe!" Rose insisted. "Because I love pancakes. And it's relevant… and… things." Her hands went behind her to rub the rising sting from her bum while giving him an epic pout.
"Mmhm. I think your sense of self-preservation has deserted you. I highly suggest you go to your room as I told you to before I decide this is too much work and turn you over to Mycroft, provided he ever regains consciousness." Sherlock rolled his eyes as Rose stomped all the way into her bedroom with a heavy dose of unnecessary drama.
"I HAVE THE WORST BROTHERS IN THE WORLD!" Rose shouted dramatically as she flopped onto her bed. "How will I ever survive you two?"
"No, you don't. Cain killed his brother, so clearly Abel had the worst brother in the world," Sherlock called back as he headed for the stairs.
"Or maybe Abel was really, really mean and Cain was doing the world a great favor by saving people from his utter meanness!" Rose retorted.
Since he was out of Rose's sight, Sherlock smiled and even chuckled a bit under his breath. "I'm ignoring you now in favor of ascertaining Mycroft's health!"
Maud Holmes returned from the doctor's to a home in utter chaos. Exiting the vehicle she saw her two boys on the lawn, one on his face being slowly turned over by the other. "How in the name of… What happened? Sherlock, what did you do to your brother?!" Maud demanded.
"Why do you assume it's my fault?" Sherlock asked, looking up at his mother with a frown.
"Well, statistically dear…" Maud began. "And I fail to see how Rose could have caused Myc to black out on the lawn. She's rather small. Mikey? Mikey, its Mummy, are you alright dear?" She knelt down beside her eldest child who was slowly but surely waking up.
Mycroft gained consciousness slowly, his head throbbing and tender even as his mother gently touched his brow and called him that ridiculous nickname. He reached out for his mother and brother. "Where is Rose? Is she safe?" he asked with a groan. "What's the blast radius? Is the house destroyed?"
Sherlock snorted. "Hardly. The baby hit you with a potted plant. I think she's making up for lost time and missed opportunities. However, I can assure you that all the things she's been up to that I, naturally, have not taught her or encouraged her in any fashion. Though it was rather amusing watching you fall over like a felled tree right onto your face. Your nose didn't break, which is really unfortunate. It might have improved your looks."
"IS HE DEAD OR NOT?!" Rose shouted from the balcony. Her feet were still technically on the balcony itself as she stood on her tiptoes, trying to see if Mycroft was still among the living. She froze when Sherlock looked back at her with a look that did not bode well for her bum.
"He is not dead, but you're about to be! Your room, now!" Sherlock shouted with an air of authority that took even Maud by surprise. He was highly gratified as Rose hurriedly disappeared from the balcony.
Mycroft groaned again, Sherlock's shouting seemingly reverberating in his head. "I think I need a holiday from our dear sister," he murmured.
"Well, that's unfortunate, because you're the mean brother so you can't leave," Sherlock informed him in a firm tone. "Knowing Rose your holiday would only last about two days, if you're lucky, before she'd cause chaos massive enough to require you to be summoned home. Besides, I'm not being the mean brother for an extended period of time merely because you decide to be lazy. Besides, you'd just eat cake all day anyway." Despite his taunts, Sherlock helped his older brother to sit up without reacquainting himself intimately with the lawn once again.
"You two are going to kill me one of these days," Mycroft said with a resigned sigh. "Also, I blame you both for my receding hairline."
Sherlock snorted. "God, Mycroft, might as well add your expanding waistline to the list of things Rose and I inflict upon your poor beleaguered person. Although I personally have no memory of ever shoving cake in your face, as amusing as that would be. Therefore, you're wrong." He smiled brightly at this pronouncement. Sherlock was always very joyful when he was right and Mycroft was wrong!
Twenty minutes later Sherlock climbed the stairs with grim determination. The first time he'd spanked Rose, Sherlock had been convinced he'd hurt her and felt like an utter brute. In the time since then, three years to be exact, he'd got over that to a certain extent. He knew he wouldn't hurt her, though sometimes he still felt like a brute. He really much preferred to be the fun brother, but that just wasn't always possible sometimes, like now for instance. Mother was exhausted, having got back from a visit to the surgery, Mycroft was still mildly incapacitated from the potted plant falling on his head and needed to return to work as soon as possible, which left only him to deal with Rose. And deal with her he would.
Though it had been very amusing to see Mycroft fall face first into the lawn, the reason for such amusement happening was not a good one. Rose knew better than to be on the balcony railing and shouldn't have even been in his room in the first place! This wasn't her first run-in with the balcony in question, so that had to be factored in as well. Add her sass, bad language, and general inability to do a damn thing he said throughout the fiasco and Sherlock quickly found himself ready, willing and able to teach his sister a good lesson.
After knocking briefly on her door, Sherlock let himself into her room and shut the door. He tried to prepare himself for the onslaught of begging and pleading that was going to come his way when Rose spotted the wooden ruler he had in three…two…
"Noooooo, Sherlock please," Rose whimpered. "You don't need that, I promise, I'll be very, very good. I don't want that!" She grabbed her teddy, oh-so-creatively named Teddy, and buried her face in it.
With a sigh, he crossed the room and sat down beside her. He was relieved when Rose readily traded Teddy for a cuddle from him. Setting down the ruler, Sherlock gathered her up in his arms and held on to her tightly. "I know you don't. I'm not any happier about having to use it," Sherlock admitted. "Do you know why I have to?" He gently rubbed her back as he held her close.
Rose shook her head no, but before Sherlock could respond she lifted her face from his chest and looked up at him. "Is My ok?"
Sherlock kissed her forehead. "Well it didn't make him any less insufferable by any means, but yes, he's fine. The same old Mycroft we've always had around to plague us."
The little girl let out a sigh of relief before pressing her face against his chest once more, clearly giving up on any meaningful discussion that involved her participation. "If you don't want to talk that's alright, I can do all the talking. You can just nod. Nod for me if you understand." Sherlock smiled as she nodded.
"You, Rosie, have had quite the day. Now, I'm not doing anything at all about the issue at school, that's all Mycroft's territory. I'm just concerned with what you did here at home. Safety is the number one rule always in the house, isn't it?" Sherlock asked.
"Not when you're experimenting," Rose pointed out as she lifted her face from his chest. "I did say you made that hole in the floor and that's not very safe."
"You're too clever Rosenwyn," Sherlock told her, gently poking her nose with a finger. "But we're not talking about me, we're talking about you. Now I know that you know, because you're so smart and clever, that you aren't allowed on the balcony in my room or any room in the house. We don't want you to fall and get hurt and every time you're on a balcony you get up on the railing." He smiled a bit as she buried her face once more and merely continued to rub her back. "You understand that don't you?"
Rose nodded, her little hands winding into his shirt. She'd done that for as long as he could remember and he always found it particularly endearing. He would not, however, let that deter him, Sherlock silently vowed.
"And because you broke the rule about balconies, Mycroft ended up getting hurt. But more importantly you could have been hurt. That wasn't the only problem though, was it?" Sherlock waited for her to nod, knowing it was done quite reluctantly when she did so. "I don't often order you around like I did today, I know. That's Mycroft's milieu as the mean brother. But when I do tell you to do something, like go to your room and stay there, you do need to listen. I have reasons-"
"So I have to listen because reasons?" Rose whined a bit, peeking up at him once more.
"Yes. When you've misbehaved, you need to listen to me. I don't tell you something just to hear myself speak-"
"Sometimes I think maybe you do," Rose interrupted. "I know Mycroft does for sure."
Sherlock couldn't help but think that this talk was starting to get off track. "Rosenwyn, it's time to listen," he said. "Not to make commentary about Mycroft, even if it is true. Now is the time to listen. Are you going to listen or do you need to spend time reflecting in the corner?"
Rose sniffled and buried her face once more, promising to listen- or at least that's why Sherlock thought she said through the fabric of his button-up. "Good girl," he praised. "It's important that you listen to me when I tell you to do something, especially when I'm being quite stern about it and the more you resist, the more trouble you get in. It's not nice to be sassy with me and stomp and have bad language just because you don't appreciate what I'm telling you. I know you can behave better and I know you know that too. Am I right?"
Another little nod, just enough that her curls bounced slightly but her head itself seemed not to move at all.
"So do you understand why you're having a spanking and why I brought the ruler with me?"
"Yes, but I don't have to like it very much," Rose answered, once more through his shirt.
"No, you don't," Sherlock agreed as he hugged her tight. "I think we should get this done now, so that we can cuddle more. I want you to stand up and unbutton your trousers and go across my knee." He braced himself for the sniffling that he knew would accompany this part. Sure enough, as Rose slid off his lap and onto her feet, she began sniffling earnestly.
"Should I hold your hand?" Sherlock asked as he helped her over his lap. He made quick work of pulling down her trousers and pants and held his hand out for hers. When Rose put her hand back, he took it in his and held it gently against her side, both as a precaution for keeping it out of the way and to help her be brave.
Taking a deep breath, Sherlock picked up the ruler. It was light, but would definitely sting. He tapped it lightly against her bum, almost a little unsure of himself. He'd never used an implement on Rose before and he nearly faltered when she whimpered. Raising the ruler up a bit he brought to down sharply across the crest of her cheeks, wincing in sympathy when a pink line was left in the ruler's wake.
"Ow! Sherlock no more!" Rose pleaded.
"Yes more," Sherlock replied. "I don't ever, ever want you to climb on a balcony railing again so this is going to be a spanking to remember." Despite his stern words, his left hand squeezed the tiny one he was holding. The ruler smacked down twice more, each swat below the one before it, slowly painting her cheeks pink.
After the third swat of the ruler, Rose burst into tears and began squirming over his lap. Sherlock didn't blame her a bit and, in the interests of getting it over and done with for them both, sped things up a bit. The ruler snapped down several more times and he drew the spanking to a close with three sound swats across her sit spots. Rose broke down in sobs, her free hand, grabbing onto his trouser leg for dear life.
"Alright, we're all done now," Sherlock soothed. He let go of her hand and began rubbing her back soothingly. "You'll be alright."
"No I won't!" Rose sobbed. "Owie, owie, ouch Sherlock!" She couldn't see it, but her tears made her big brother cringed.
Sherlock quickly righted her clothing and then cuddled her to his chest, rocking her gently. "You did so well Rosie. I know that was hard and your bum stings, but it'll feel better soon, I promise. You're a good girl. I love you very much," he said in a soft, crooning tone. "You'll be alright, I promise. You'll even live to misbehave another day."
Rose shook her head and held onto him as tight as she could with one hand while the other reached back to rub her bottom. "No I won't, I don't want any more spanking, oww!"
"I know sweetheart, I know," he soothed. "Hold on to me as tight as you want, I won't let go until you're ready." Sherlock kissed the top of her head. "I love you Rosie. Please just be safe. I don't want to lose you." This he whispered in her ear, the words for her and her alone.
"Can I go tell Mycroft I'm sorry that I hit him with the pot?" Rose asked after several minutes of cuddles and soothing whispers had dried up her tears. "And I'm sorry to you too, because that was your plant and now it's probably dead. I bet Mycroft's head cracked the pot open."
"Well, he does have a hard head," Sherlock admitted with a laugh. "But I think it would be very nice if you found Mycroft and apologized. That's a very grown up thing to do," Sherlock praised. "Take this back to him as well." He put the ruler in her hand and almost laughed again at the look of horror on her face. "It's not going to start smacking your bum of its own accord Rose! Just bring it back to Mycroft and he'll put it away."
Somehow Sherlock knew this would not be the last time that ruler was used to give her a sound spanking for one thing or another. She would always keep them on their toes. With a last kiss to her forehead, Sherlock put Rose back on her feet and watched as she hurried out of the room in search of Mycroft, holding the ruler delicately with as few fingers as possible. Shaking his head, he followed her back downstairs, happy the unpleasant part of things was done with.
The first person Rose ran into downstairs was Maud, who happily took the ruler away from Rose and hugged her little girl close as Rose entered the sitting room. "Be careful baby, we only have one of you," she murmured, kissing the top of Rose's head.
Thank god for that, Mycroft couldn't help but think as he lay on the couch in the sitting room. The world wouldn't survive more than one Rose Holmes.
The little girl sighed happily and snuggled close, breathing in her mother's perfume. "Sorry Mummy," Rose said sincerely. "I didn't mean to hurt My."
Maud kissed Rose's cheek. "I know darling, I know," she soothed. She even gave Rose's bum a gentle rub, knowing her littlest had had quite a spanking and though it was well deserved, that didn't mean she couldn't help make it better just a bit.
"Mummy, Sherlock spanked me around a hundred times and I'm very sore," Rose whined, looking for sympathy.
"Twelve. It was twelve, not even close to one hundred," Sherlock corrected, rolling his eyes at his sister's antics.
Their mother chuckled and released her littlest, watching as Rose crossed the room to where Mycroft was lying on the couch.
Without even a second of hesitation, Rose joined her oldest brother and cuddled close, giving him a kiss on the cheek. "I'm really sorry My," Rose said sincerely. "I didn't mean to hit you with a plant. I was just going to throw a water balloon at you and that wouldn't have hurt at all, but that didn't work out well. But I mean it, I'm very sorry I hurt you."
Mycroft gave her a small smile, wrapping his arms around her. "Oh, I'm quite sure you are very sorry indeed. I heard your wailing from all the way down here, sister dear."
Rose's face flushed red. "I did not wail," she whined. "I take back my sorries. Sherlock was right; you're just as insufferable as always. The pot didn't change you at all."
"No amount of potted flora would make Mycroft less insufferable Rose," Sherlock responded. "You'd have better luck getting him into your dancing gear than making him less of an irritant." He paused as his mind conjured a visual of that comment. "Dear god, that's horrifying. I'm deleting that mental image in order to preserve my sanity."
"That's not fair, I can't delete that from my mind and that was a horrid picture," Rose replied, scowling at him. "And look at Mycroft, he looks very distressed and that's not nice at all."
Mycroft refrained from shaking his head and settled for rolling his eyes while he held Rose a little closer. "My life," he murmured.
"I think I broke him," Rose whispered. "Is he broken? He didn't even say anything nasty to you and he always does, even when Mummy is here."
Sherlock looked at his brother and smirked. "One could only hope Rose; one could only hope."