221b Baker Street was remarkably calm for a Saturday afternoon. Sherlock and Dominick were at the kitchen table, the consulting detective showing his son skin cell samples under the microscope. Molly was sitting on the floor, Isabel in her lap and a small pile of toys in front of both Hooper-Holmes girls. Lucy Watson sat in her father's old chair, a book in her hands that she wasn't paying much attention to.
The 10 year old had been dropped off earlier that day to spend the weekend with her extended family as she often did when John and Mary were working. Usually she'd be following whatever experiment Sherlock and Dominick were in the middle of, or be downstairs helping Mrs Hudson with her latest batch of baking. But today the youngest Watson was troubled. It had started the day before, when Lucy had overheard her parents having a discussion - that's what her dad had called it, her mum had called it an argument - It hadn't been a very serious argument, it never was with her parents but that hadn't changed what Lucy had overheard. With an expression that mirrored both of her parents when they were on a mission to find something out, Lucy shifted in her chair, peering round into the kitchen.
"Uncle Sherlock..."
"Hmmm?" Sherlock answered vaguely, not looking up from the slide Dominick had just placed under the microscope for him.
"Why did my mum shoot you?"
Sherlock's head snapped up from the microscope so quickly he could have given himself whiplash. He looked to Molly, unsure of how to answer the child. Molly merely shrugged from her spot on the floor, the smallest hint of a giggle on her lips at the sight of her husband's bewildered face. Lucy waited for an answer while Dominick looked from his father's face to his mother's and back again.
"Auntie Mary shot you?" An awed grin broke across the boys face. Of course Dominick had seen the bullet scar on his father's chest but had only been told it had happened on a case Sherlock had been working on.
It took Sherlock a full 30 seconds to contemplate both John and Mary's reaction to their daughter knowing what had occurred that day in Magnussen's office. Of course he wouldn't tell her anything of Mary's past that might upset the child - he didn't much fancy another trip to hospital at the hands of Mary Watson, or her husband for that matter - but the direct circumstances leading to his shooting couldn't cause too much harm. With that decided the detective turned to the young Watson and launched into the story.
"Well, I was working on a case involving a man named Charles Augustus Magnussen..."
2 days later, approximately 45 minutes after John had collected Lucy and taken her home, Sherlock answered his mobile to hear a somewhat threatening, but also amused Mary Watson on the other end.
"SHERLOCK BLOODY HOLMES IF I WASN'T ALMOST CERTAIN IT WOULD DEVASTATE MOLLY I WOULD THROW YOU OFF BARTS ROOF MYSELF!"