Chapter 2- The Man in the Park

John Watson was at his wit's end. Elspeth simply would not sit down! He had given her many different things to do, but she continued being loud. Running around, screaming, everything. It was awful. He even let her watch telly, which he rarely does, but nothing seemed to be working to calm her down today.

Then, suddenly, it was quiet. John listened suspiciously for a few minutes, then breathed a sigh of relief. Unfortunately it wasn't to last. About 20 minutes later, tangled curls everywhere, she ran in with a homemade slingshot of all things. She instantly began slinging small pebbles at the spray paint smiley face. At that sudden reminder of her father, he realized the problem- she was bored.

"Elspeth!" he barked.

"Yes, Daddy?" she replied in a preoccupied voice.

"Don't shoot the smiley face. Get your shoes, we're going to the park."

"Really?" her little face lit up from within, "Yay! And I was just trying to see if I could hit the holes in the wall," she reported.

"Never mind the wall," John smiled at his daughter, "Let's get you out of here before your boredom brings the wrath of Mrs. Hudson down on us!"

Elspeth giggled and complied. In sort order, John was carrying the four year old on his good hip and they were on their way to the park.

"Daddy," she began, then stopped.

"Yes?" he prompted.

"Daddy, will you tell me what I do that's like other Daddy? I want to try not to do those things so that you don't look so sad," she looked down.

"Oh, Elspeth," he stopped and held his daughter close, "you do so much like him, I don't think you could stop. But I wouldn't want you to, sweet, I love that about you."

"I just don't wanna make you sad anymore," she said in a small voice.

"You don't make me sad," he smiled at her, "It's thanks to you that I can be happy."

"Okay, Daddy," she said, snuggling close for the remainder of the walk. When they got to the park, she wriggled out of his arms and ran off toward the playground.

Sighing in relief, John finally sat down to get some work done. She was so much like Sherlock! Always getting bored… Luckily, she loved the playground that was down the street from the flat. Now if only she could make friends…

Elspeth sang a little song to herself as she pumped the swing higher and higher. She largely ignored the other children, they didn't like her very much. She didn't even understand why either. But she was content to watch them and learn about them. She didn't know why people couldn't understand. Even Daddy really didn't understand what she did. From the hints that he'd dropped, she knew that her other Daddy would have understood. She had figured out that he knew things too. Elspeth wished she could have met him. Lost in her thoughts now and no longer swinging, Elspeth almost didn't see the new man walk up to her and kneel down in front of her.

The man was impossibly tall. He was wearing black pants, a purple shirt, and a big coat. He had dark, curly hair like hers and bright blue eyes.

"Hello," he said to her, "What's your name?"

"Daddy said I'm not s'posed to talk to strangers," she said, scrutinizing the man.

"He's right. But if you tell me your name, we won't technically be strangers anymore," the deep voiced man argued.

"Hmmm," Elspeth considered it, then giggled, "Okay! My name's Elspeth Molly Holmes-Watson!"

To her surprise, the man looked sad at her pronouncement.

"That's a beautiful name," he said gravely.

"You're sad," she stated, "You're sad like my Daddy's sad. Like when I do things like other Daddy used to do and make him sad by accident. You just got back home because you've been far away, but you're finally home. You miss someone, and have since you've been gone, but you won't go talk to them. You didn't sleep last night, you walked around outside instead. You're worried about someone? Probably the person you won't go see. Why not just go see them?"

The man stared at her with wide eyes.

"Sorry," she whispered, "I shouldn't have said that. I should have waited to see if you want to be friends first."

"No, no, no!" the man exclaimed, "That was brilliant! Especially for someone as young as you!"

"Really?" her face lit up and her eyes began to dance,"You like me? Even though I know all about you without you saying it with your words?"

"Of course! Do the other children not like you?"

"No," she shook her head, "They yelled at me because I told Timmy to tell his Mummy about his Daddy hurting him. They all yelled at me and Timmy pushed me down. I got a scraped knee, but I didn't tell Daddy. He would have made a fuss."

"Aww, poor Elspeth," he said sadly, "poor lonely baby."

"I'm not lonely!" Elspeth insisted, "I have Daddy and Doctor Molly and Mrs. Hudson and Mr. Greg and Uncle My-My. And my 'spiraments."

"Experiments? What sort of experiments?"

"Well, I was trying to see if worms go boom when you microwave them, but Daddy got mad," Elspeth frowned slightly, "Well, not mad, just sad. I do a lot of things like my other Daddy, and Daddy gets really sad. I try not to, but he keeps on being sad," she looked up into the stranger's face with tear-filled eyes, "I hate making Daddy sad," she insisted.

"I bet," the stranger said, sadly, "You're such a sweetheart that it would be majorly hard for you, huh. Keep your chin up, sweetie, I'm sure it will get better."

"Okay," she sniffled a bit more, then smiled at him. Suddenly, they heard a familiar voice.

"Elspeth! Time to go home!"

"Okay!" she called. Then she spoke to the man, "Will you be back tomorrow?"

"If you'd like," the blue eyed man suddenly smiled at her as she went to run off. "Oh, Elspeth?" he said after her. She stopped. "When you put worms in the microwave, they do explode," he said to her. She grinned at him before running off after her father.

"Who was that?" John asked his daughter.

"My new friend!" she replied, still grinning.

John worried more than a little bit at those words. His baby was friends with a strange man at the park. Somehow, his instincts were not screaming against it. He decided to let it go and allow his daughter her happiness. She needed friends.

"Well, what was his name?" John asked.

"I dunno," Elspeth frowned.

"Well, perhaps you can have him over for tea sometime?" John offered.

"He said he'd be back tomorrow so that we can play together again!"

"Alright, we can go back to the park tomorrow if it's not raining," John said.

"Yay!" cheered Elspeth.

Inside, John worried further, but was determined to get to the bottom of this mystery man.