Chapter 42: An Outing as a Family
"Do we have everything?" Emma yelled across the flat to Sherlock.
"Yes!" He shouted back, exasperated. Emmaline had made him triple check Jonathon's bag even though he had reassured her everything was there.
"OK, well I suppose we can get going then." She told him.
Sherlock smiled, rolling his eyes. "Jonathon's first trip to the zoo, staring," Sherlock looked at his watch, "two hours late."
Emma frowned up at her husband. "We don't take him out often – I want to be sure he's got everything he needs."
"I volunteer to take him out all the time." Sherlock reminded her.
"And every time I've told you, you are not allowed to use the front pack to take Jonathon to crime scenes. I don't care if he technically won't remember it – you are not taking him anywhere near blood and guts."
Sherlock frowned but adjusted the front pack he wore now – which held Jonathon Holmes. Emmaline grabbed his diaper bag and declared that they should be off. The man ruffled his son's hair and kissed his fuzzy head before departing the flat and locking the door.
"I'm so excited! John's first zoo trip." Emma said happily, taking hold of Sherlock's free hand.
"He won't remember any of it."
"So? It is just something that you do. Besides it's sort of a treat – you just solved that big case and I aced that test; we all deserve a nice day out."
"To which you think a day sweating in the sun will suffice?"
Emma huffed as she got in the back of the cab Sherlock had hailed. Normally they would take her car, but it was at the garage having repair work done.
She knew her husband was being facetious, and that secretly he was pleased they were going out. It was a chance for them all to be together as a family – a rare thing.
Since Sherlock had told Emmaline it was all right for her to go back to school full time, she had. She had thrown herself into her schooling with verve, relying on Sherlock to take care of Jonathon while she was away. When she got home she had to do her homework and work on projects and when that was done it was time to feed the baby and stay up all night pumping milk before the day started again.
They were both exhausted beyond reason, and they loved it. As soon as they started thinking, they could go back, if Sherlock could just be out in cool air working on a case, or Emmaline at Cambridge with her friends, John did something making it all worth it.
They loved their little boy, and Emma loved that he was theirs. This strange enigmatic man who years ago she would not have glanced at twice, had helped her bring this little light into the world.
"What should we go see first?" Emma asked, reaching over to run a finger lovingly down Jonathon's cheek.
"Elephants." Sherlock told her matter-of-factly.
Emma smiled widely with closed lips at her husband; she never questioned his strange mind anymore, at least not when it produced thoughts such as this. She knew there would be no rational explanation and he would only try to make one up.
The cab ride to the zoo wasn't a long one, but punctuated by talk of how much Jonathon should be able to do according to the books Sherlock had read, and what he was actually capable of.
"All I am saying is," Sherlock began as they stepped out of the cab, "is that John should be able to recognize our voices, on some level."
"Sherlock, he just turned three months old a few days ago! And every baby develops differently; just give it time."
Emma bought their tickets and they stepped into the zoo, map in hand.
"OK John, daddy said elephants, and those are over here." She pointed it out on the map, showing John. He cooed and his hand came down, batting the map. "Yeah, in that general area." She said with a laugh, kissing her son's head.
Sherlock sighed before walking ahead of his still chuckling wife.
ᶓ
"Is that Greg?"
"Who?" Sherlock turned to where Emma was pointing. Sure enough, there at the zoo, was Lestrade. "Whose hand is he holding?"
"That's his fiancée, Sandra." Emma told him, whilst feeding Jonathon. "I think she's pregnant." She said, staring at the other woman from across the space.
"Should we say hello?" Sherlock wondered. "I'm not quite sure how to do these couple things."
Emma shrugged, not sure. "Don't ask me I've got no idea."
"Well it seems Lestrade has spotted us anyway." Sherlock waved back as the Detective Inspector walked over to where they were sitting.
"Well, hello. Nice to see you two out and about." He said, stopping in front of their table.
"Yeah it's nice to be out." Emma replied, holding her hand out to Greg's companion. "I'm Emmaline, Sherlock's wife."
"Sandra, Greg's fiancée." She replied cheerily.
"Oh that's lovely! Have you set a date?" Emma asked, bringing Jonathon up to her shoulder to burp him.
"Oh, and this must be little John! Sherlock keeps showing all the boys pictures, whenever he gets out of the house." Greg said, leaning over to get a good look at John. "He has your nose." He told Emma.
Emma smiled and gave Sherlock a pointed look, with a nod in Greg's direction. Sherlock understood the hint.
"Umm, Lestrade…Emmaline…and I…were wondering, she really wants to get him baptized, and I figured why not," Sherlock kept rambling, "so we were wondering if you wanted to be his, that is Jonathon's, godfather?"
"Of course mate." Greg said, clapping a hand on Sherlock's shoulder. "I would be happy to." He smiled at his friends before placing his hand on Sandra's back.
Sandra, not feeling interrupted at all, continued to answer Emmaline's question. "…so really we want a spring wedding but after the baby comes of course."
"Do you know what it is yet?"
"Well we decided we wanted to be surprised but then spur of the moment he changed his mind so now we're having a boy!"
"Oh lovely! Congratulations, Greg." Emma said, bringing Jonathon back down to sit in her lap.
"Yes, congratulations Lestrade." Sherlock offered with a false merry cheer.
Greg saw through it but saw that he was trying, and said nothing. Sandra thought Sherlock was genuinely pleased for his friend and thanked him for the well-wishes.
"Well, we've got to be off, more animals to see." Greg said lamely, taking Sandra's hand.
"See you Greg!" Emma waved goodbye, and turned to Sherlock. "Well they seemed to make a lovely pair."
"No." Sherlock said quickly, taking a bite of his chips.
"What do you mean no?" Emma asked, her interest piqued.
"She's cheating on him already. I see that being a continuing trend."
Emma raised a brow. "Well you better tell him, he's your mate."
Sherlock shook his head. "He'll figure it out. After all, how daft can he really be? Trust me, she'll be gone soon."
Emma shook her head and put Jonathon back in his front pack. "Come on, we still have to go see the lions."
Sherlock stood and took the diaper bag in hand, putting a gentle arm around his wife. "And tigers, and bears, oh my."
"You remembered something irrelevant to your case work, oh darling."
Emma kissed him happily, blissfully unaware that Sherlock remembered many things unrelated to his job as a consulting detective, and that most of them were about her.
A/N: Sorry it's not finished, and that it's now after Christmas, but a lot has been going on over on my end – I think I should have it done before February starts as I'm almost done now. Then I'm going to edit the first two to make sense and iron out plot holes, then we'll move on to the fourth book.