A/N: Another very long chapter. Hope you enjoy! (More notes at the bottom!)

Weeks go by uneventful. Sherlock is way too happy with his puppy to care that his mother hasn't been around at all, not even for Mycroft. John is too happy with Sherlock's happiness to notice his mother's fishy behavior.

That is, until the first Friday of March. It's the third day in a row that Harry has picked him and Sherlock up from school, and that's because Dawn's days off have ran out. Before these three days, she'd been there when John got out of school for a week and a half.

"Why are you here again?" John asks as they climb into the car. "Why's Mum been off lately, too? What's going on?"

Harry squirms in her seat, clearly hiding something. Even Sherlock pointedly looks out the window to avoid eye contact.

"Ok, what the hell is going on?"

"Look, John," Harry says. "You need to-"

"Tell me what's going on!" John yells.

"At home, alright?" Harry says, and then silently drives down the street.

Once they arrive, Sherlock tries to leave, but John asks him to stay. Sherlock just agrees and follows John into the house.

Once they're in, Harry tells John to take a seat. "It's something big, John."

John frowns. "What is it? Is Grandma-"

Harry shakes her head and pats his knee. "Grandma is fine. It's, uhm, it's Dad. He's...he's out, John."

The color drains from John's face; he turns expressionless.

"Please don't be mad at Mum for not telling you," Harry says. "She's trying to protect you."

John nods, and then looks at Sherlock. "You've known, haven't you?"

Sherlock clears his throat. "I...I may have figured it out-"

John hangs his head and runs a hand through his hair. "Oh man..."

Sherlock rubs his back.

"Obviously Mum doesn't want him near you, so she's been off for the past week so you're not alone here or even walking home alone. I'm going to stay here for a few weeks, too."

John doesn't argue. "Okay."

Harry pats his knee. "Are you ok? How do you feel?"

"Not great," John says. "It's fucked that I, like, need protection like this."

Sherlock speaks up. "Lestrade says protection like this for situations like yours isn't uncommon. He wanted to check on you himself but I told him not to. He even suggested I let you keep Mystery for a few nights."

"You don't have to do that, Sherlock," John says.

"Mum says she hasn't heard from him," Harry says. "So maybe he'll leave you alone."

John nods.

Sherlock wraps an arm around John. "I'm sorry."

"It's ok."

Harry ruffles John's hair as she stands to leave the boys.

"Are you ok?" Sherlock asks.

John nods. "Yeah. I'm fine."

Sherlock leans over and smacks a kiss to John's cheek. "I've got to go home to feed Mystery. Want to go? Maybe we can walk him?"

John bites his lip. "Considering, I don't think—"

"We don't have to walk him. Just come over, please?"

John nods. "Sure, love. Let me go talk to Harry and I'll be over soon."

Sherlock nods and stands. He kisses John once, and then leaves.

When Sherlock gets home, he meets Rebecca's lawyer leaving.

"We'll be in touch," the lawyer says to Clement, then leaves.

Clement looks distraught. Sherlock knows immediately that something is wrong, so he follows Clement back to the kitchen.

"What's going on?" Sherlock asks, getting Mystery's food out.

Clement sighs and runs a hand through his hair. "Son, uhm, I've got some news."

"Yeah?"

"Well, to come straight out with it, your mum's gone, Sherlock. She's left London and nobody knows where she is. She's been in touch with her lawyer, but not even he knows where she is."

Sherlock frowns. "What? She's gone? Since when?"

Clement shrugs. "I don't know. Mycroft says that the last he spoke to her was as soon as he got back to New York. I'm going to assume she left after she came here to talk."

Sherlock puts the dog food back in the cupboard. "That's impossible. She can't just be gone."

"If she's still in London, she's hiding well."

"That's ridiculous," Sherlock says, sitting at the island.

"I'm sorry, son."

Weeks ago, Sherlock would have blown up on Clement, yelling that it's not Clement's fault and that Rebecca should be there apologizing. But now, weeks later, he's so much calmer and accepting of what's happening, so he just says, "I know, Dad."

Clement steps around the island and hugs him. "I guess now we've got to pack Mum's things. Someone will be by Monday to pick it all up."

"Can we start now? Soon? I just…I want to get it over with."

Clement nods. "Of course."

John arrives minutes later. He goes straight to the dog as Sherlock tells him what's going on.

"You only like me for my dog," Sherlock says, finishing the story.

"Yes, when I befriended you ten years ago I thought 'this arsehole kid might have a dog one day so it'd be best if I fall in love with him soon'."

"You really thought I was an arsehole?"

John chuckles and stands. "I'm kidding." He kisses Sherlock lightly, and then they go up to Clement's bedroom to help him pack.

Clement gives Sherlock a box of photos to go through. He and John set up on Clement's bed to look through everything while Clement goes downstairs to pack the books from the study.

Clement said to divide the box into piles of Sherlock alone, Mycroft alone, and the boys together, that way they can split those piles up to send and to keep. Sherlock doesn't want to give his mother any of his baby photos, but Clement says to so Sherlock does.

As they divide the pile, Sherlock tells John a little bit about some photos.

"This one," Sherlock laughs, "Ahh, this was good. Mycroft got car sick on our way to my grandparent's house, so he had to wear this t-shirt my parents bought at a rest stop. It was hilarious."

John laughs, but he doesn't sound that interested. "Sounds great, babe."

Sherlock picks up another photo. "This was the birthday right before I met you. Chocolate cake, chocolate ice cream, chocolate milk; it was pretty much a chocolate themed party."

"I wonder how you don't weigh more than you do," John mutters.

Sherlock ignores him. "I made a complete mess of myself. My mum kissed my cheek until the chocolate came off."

John looks up. Sherlock isn't smiling anymore. "You ok?"

"Just…getting sad, I guess."

"Why?"

"Because…we're packing my mum's stuff. Nobody knows where she is. It's…it's upsetting. She doesn't want me anymore. I don't even know why we're sending her photos. She doesn't care."

John takes a deep breath, trying to stay calm. "She does care, Sherlock."

"I'm sick of people saying that," Sherlock argues. "Obviously she doesn't."

John delicately sets a photo down and swallows the pain in his throat. "She does, Sherlock. Stop saying that she doesn't."

Sherlock looks at John, sensing something that's changed in John. He fights back despite John's serious look. "Why do you think that?"

"Do you want to know how I know your mother cares about you?" John sneers, sitting up on his knees on the bed. He lifts his shirt, revealing a small scar on his belly. "That's how, Sherlock." He lifts the sleeve of his shirt, showing another scar. "And this is."

"John, I—"

John shakes his head and stands from the bed. "I can't do this. I thought I could, but I can't. Not again."

Sherlock just watches him. "Do what?"

"Do this, Sherlock!" John yells. "I can't pack your mum's shit! I've already done this! And I also can't listen to you bitch about it! Jesus fucking Christ, Sherlock, it's gone so easily and so smoothly. So you don't know where your mum is, give it a fucking rest! I don't know where my dad is either, but you know what? You don't need to be freakin' protected walking home from school. It's good if your mum comes to see you. Mine will probably go back to jail if he tries to see me."

Sherlock feels physically ill. "John, I—"

"Shut up, Sherlock. Just stop bitching for, like, five minutes, please."

"Why did you even stay when I told you this is what we'd be doing?"

"For you!" John cries. "You were there for me when we packed my dad's stuff. When my mum cried for, like, a month and could only stand to be in the same room as me for no longer than half an hour at a time; when it was so relieving that I didn't even care that my mum treated me like I did the wrong thing by calling the police that night." John sighs. "Just get over yourself, Sherlock. Your shit's not that bad."

With that, John rushes out of the room and downstairs, barely saying goodbye to Clement before he runs out of the house.

Sherlock sits there stunned. John's never yelled at him, not like that at least. Not about something so real and hurtful, for John. Weeks ago, Sherlock would have broken down and cried, but now he just sits back and really thinks that John is right.

Sherlock gets done with his box of photos, not ending his thoughts about John at all. He frowns the whole time, feeling incredibly bad about hurting John so much.

When he's finished, he goes down to John's house.

They sit silently on John's bed, trying to think of something to say. Sherlock starts.

"I'm sorry."

"For what? You didn't shout."

"For…not considering how triggering all of this may be. And you're right, my shit isn't that bad."

"No, Sherlock," John sighs, rubbing a hand over his face. "Nobody should ever tell you your shit isn't that bad, even me. You didn't do anything wrong. I'm sorry I yelled."

"It's ok, John. I needed it."

"You didn't deserve it. I just…" he looks at Sherlock. "I really can't do this again, babe, especially right now. Maybe it's better if I just…if we just…spend a little while apart, alright?"

"I…" Sherlock frowns. "Okay."

John grabs his hand. "That came out wrong. I meant…I'm just going to stay home while you and your dad pack. I didn't mean I want to stay away from you, baby, I'm sorry."

Sherlock nods.

John reaches over and hugs him tight. "I love you so much."

"I love you, too."

John pulls back and kisses Sherlock delicately. Sherlock happily returns the kiss, pulling John closer and closer.

Minutes of kissing later, Sherlock pushes John down onto his back, and John doesn't stop him until he's straddling John's thighs.

"Sherlock, stop, we can't—"

"I don't want that," Sherlock says, pulling on John's shirt until John sits up and pulls it off. "I'm sorry for hurting you."

"You didn't hurt me, babe."

Sherlock leans down and kisses the scar on John's belly. "Do you want to talk about it?"

John runs a hand through Sherlock's hair. "About what?"

"Your dad?"

John shrugs.

Sherlock reaches up and kisses the scar on his shoulder. "Do you love me?"

"Of course."

"Even though I make you upset?"

"You didn't make me upset, Sherlock. And 'make' would imply that you do it often. You don't. I just don't want to have to remember what it was like when I went through this, ok?"

Sherlock kisses down to a scar over John's ribs. "Ok."

John rubs Sherlock's head. "I'll find you a new case by Sunday night, ok?"

Sherlock nods, his face rubbing against John's smooth skin. "Sure."

John lightly pulls his hair. "Get up here and kiss me."

Sherlock doesn't hesitate; he quickly scrambles up John's body to kiss him deeply.

Sherlock leaves a little while later, after telling John he'll give him space. They agree to call later that night, but to relax away from each other for the weekend. For the rest of the evening, Sherlock helps Clement pack, and then he goes to bed early because he's sad without John.

They hardly talk the next day. Sherlock is too busy with helping Clement, and John is busy finishing homework. Declan is in the house too, because Ellery's father is in town so she's busy.

"How did meeting her dad go last night?" Clement asks Declan.

"It went well," Declan says. "He likes me, I think. They invited me to dinner tonight, but I told Ellery it's ok if she wants to see her dad alone."

"That was nice of you," Clement says.

"What about your relationship?" Sherlock asks. "You said you couldn't be official until you met her dad."

"Well," Declan grins. "We are official."

Clement cheers. "Way to go, Declan!"

Declan smiles widely. "Thank you, thank you."

"Well, if Ellery's busy, why don't you two call your friends over for a guy's night?"

Sherlock shakes his head, but Declan pulls his phone out to call their friends.

John's sitting alone in his bedroom, waiting for Sherlock to call. He wants to see Sherlock, but he knows Sherlock is busy and he still doesn't want t go over to the Holmes residence to help Sherlock.

His phone rings after a while, and he confusedly answers. "Hello?"

"John, hi!" Declan says in greeting. "How's it going?"

"Fine. How about you? Is Sherlock—"

"Sherlock's fine," Declan laughs. "Listen, I'm having a guy's night. Want to come over to watch movies?"

"Uh, at your house?"

"Yeah," Declan says. "Duke and Dane, Wyatt, and Harvey are coming over. Invite Brady! The more the merrier."

"Hmm," John says. "Well…maybe."

"Everyone's arriving in about an hour. Join if you'd like, I'm sure Sherlock would be so happy to see you."

"Yeah. Alright, thanks for the invite."

"No problem! Hope to see you soon, John!"

Declan hangs up and John sits thinking of whether or not he wants to go.

Finally, an hour later, he decides it'd be nice to get out of the house to hang out with their friends, and he wants to show Sherlock that there are no hard feelings about yesterday. He grabs his coat and goes downstairs to let Harry know that he's leaving.

Of course, she insists on walking him down there. John disagrees, saying he's not a baby, but Harry says she wants to make sure he's safe.

John gets there and into the house, Declan happily taking his coat and hanging it. John looks around for Sherlock, but he's nowhere to be seen.

"He went to walk the dog," Declan says. "He'll be back soon, don't worry."

John smiles, then follows Declan to the kitchen.

All of their friends arrive, Harvey with the pizza, so they all sit in the living room and dig in. Duke selects a movie (JurassicPark), so they start it while they eat.

Half an hour later, the door opens, and Mystery's footsteps are heard at the entrance.

"Sherlock!" Declan calls, "Come sit down and have some pizza with us!"

"No thanks," Sherlock says, stepping to the sofa anyway. "I'm just—" He pauses when he spots John. "Oh."

John smiles, but then frowns. "Hey, baby."

Sherlock purses his lips, not taking his eyes off John. "I've got homework. See you guys later."

Sherlock turns and rushes up the stairs, and they all look back at John.

"Dude, what'd you do?" Dane asks.

Duke shoves him. "Shut up."

"It's alright," John says, moving to stand. "I'll be right back."

He follows Sherlock up the stairs and goes straight to Sherlock's room, knocking lightly before he opens the door. "Can I come in?"

Sherlock shrugs. "Sure."

John goes in and shuts the door, then sits on Sherlock's bed. "Can you come over here to talk to me?"

Sherlock makes no noise as he sets his pen down and goes to the bed.

"Are you upset that I'm here?"

Sherlock shrugs.

John sighs. "Fine, I'll just go home."

Sherlock frowns.

"Talk to me, then," John says. "You're upset that I'm here. You're upset because…"

"Because you're not…" Sherlock pauses and sighs. "You're not here to see me."

"I am!" John cries, grabbing Sherlock's hand. "Declan sold me on coming over here when he said 'I'm sure Sherlock will be so happy to see you'."

Sherlock looks at him. "Really?"

"Yes, duh. I still feel bad about our fight, and I want to see you in a setting where we don't have to worry about things, where we can just enjoy our friends."

Sherlock falls over and rests his head on John's shoulder.

"Is that ok?" John asks. "Should I still go home?"

Sherlock shakes his head. "No."

John smiles at kisses his head. "Do you want to go downstairs to watch JurassicPark with us?"

Sherlock rubs his thumb against John's hand. "Will you hold my hand the whole time?"

John chuckles. "Of course."

Sherlock sighs. "I have an experiment I want to finish."

"Ok," John accepts. "Would you like to have sex before I go back down there?"

Sherlock nods again. "Yes, please."

John laughs. "I wasn't serious!"

Sherlock sits up and smiles. "Do you think you can spend the night tonight?"

"I can ask."

Sherlock leans over and kisses him.

"I love you," John says.

"I love you, too."

John kisses him one more time, and then stands from the bed. "You don't want to come downstairs?"

Sherlock shakes his head. "You go ahead."

John kisses his forehead, and then goes downstairs.

The boys sit around and watch JurassicPark, not talking much about anything else. The movie gets a third done before something happens; the doorbell rings.

"Who else did you invite?" Duke asks Declan.

Declan moves to answer the door. "I didn't—"

Loud footsteps run down the stairs.

"It's for me!" Sherlock calls, sliding to the door.

The boys on the sofa laugh and look back to their movie.

John watches Sherlock open the door and smile widely.

"Hello," Sherlock says. "Come on, I've got—"

"You invited someone else over to do experiments?!" John calls from the sofa.

Sherlock steps aside, and Olive walks in.

"You invited Olive?!" John shouts.

"Shut up!" Sherlock yells to him. "Come on, I have—"

"Hey guys!" Olive says, going to the sitting room instead. "Sherlock, you didn't say the boys were here."

"Yes, well, they're far less important—"

"Even this one?" Olive says, standing behind John to ruffle his hair.

Sherlock steps next to her and physically moves her with his hip. He places a hand on John's shoulder. "Yes," he says, "Even this one."

John laughs and kisses Sherlock's arm.

"Now come on," Sherlock says. "I need you to—"

Olive groans. "I want to watch JurassicPark!"

"There's plenty of pizza, Olive," Declan says.

Olive looks at Sherlock. "Pleeeeease."

"I want to do my experiment!"

Olive rolls her eyes. "Fine!"

Sherlock just smiles and runs up the stairs.

"Save me some pizza," Olive says.

"Good luck!" Declan tells her.

"Be careful," John warns. "He yells!"

Olive laughs, and then follows Sherlock up the stairs.

Olive silently holds Mystery on her lap as she watches Sherlock do his experiment for twenty minutes before she asks why he made her go over.

"I just…needed you…"

"You're jealous."

"Of?!"

"You're jealous that Watson didn't come here to see you. He's downstairs with Declan."

"I am not."

"You wanted to prove you have a friend, too."

Sherlock glares at her. "So?"

"You're such a baby! Just go downstairs and sit with the guys!"

Sherlock pouts. "I don't want to."

"Then can we please do something fun? At least talk to me."

"Fine," Sherlock says, directing his attention back to his notebook. "How's it going?"

"Oh, it's going well. How about you?"

"Same," Sherlock says.

"How are things with your mum?"

Sherlock shrugs. "She's gone."

"Gone?"

"Yeah, nobody knows where she is. And now John's dad's out of jail, so I feel guilty talking about—"

"Watson's dad was in jail?"

Sherlock slowly blinks his gaze to her. "Uh, yeah. Don't tell anyone."

"I won't," Olive agrees. "But…for what?"

"I can't tell you," Sherlock says. "It's John's privacy."

Olive nods. "I understand. But…wow, that's crazy."

Sherlock nods. "We got in a fight yesterday."

"Did you?"

"Yeah. I was complaining about all of my stuff and he just flipped out, telling me my shit isn't that bad."

"Well…" Olive frowns. "I don't really feel like anyone should tell you that."

"That's what he said when he apologized. So…" Sherlock shrugs. "I guess we're over it."

"Are you upset with him? Is that why—"

"No, that's not why I'm up here. To be honest, I don't like Dane that much."

"What?! Dane?! Why?!"

Sherlock shrugs. "He's not the same as when I first met him. I think it's because of Margo, but…I don't know. He seems odd. He's kind of a dick now. He doesn't treat Duke very nicely."

"Huh," Olive mutters.

"Anyway," Sherlock says. "Can we talk about something else? I don't want to talk about John anymore."

Olive nods. Her phone begins to ring in her pocket, so she fishes it out and smiles. "I'll be right back, ok? Think of something fun we can do."

Sherlock agrees, so she gets up and leaves the room.

He can hear her talking in the hallway, but her words are muffled and he doesn't know who she's talking to. He silently moves to the door to try to eavesdrop, but he still can't understand her.

Sherlock listens the entire time she's on the phone, which is only a few minutes, before she pushes the door open, hitting him in the face in the process.

Olive lets out a loud laugh. "Holmes! You ok?"

Sherlock rubs his nose and forehead. "Ow!"

"Were you listening to me?!"

Sherlock scowls at her. "Hardly. These doors are too thick."

Olive crosses her arms. "Why were you trying to spy on me, Sherlock?"

"Because…" Sherlock shrugs. "I was just curious."

"If you must know, it was my dad."

Sherlock eyes her, noting her left eye squinting slightly, something he's figured out she does when she's lying.

"I can tell when you lie," he says.

"And I can tell when you lie," she tells him.

"How—"

"Your eyebrows wrinkle," she says.

His eyebrows wrinkle. "No they—"

"They're doing it now!"

He rubs his face. "Shut up."

Olive grabs his arm. "Let's go downstairs!"

Sherlock sighs dramatically. "Fine!" He grabs a book before following Olive out the door.

Olive drags Sherlock down to the sofa, where she pushes the boys aside to sit down right in front of the television.

"I thought we said no girls!" Dane cries.

"You're right Sherlock," Olive says, grabbing some pizza. "Dane's turned into a real dick lately."

Dane's jaw drops and the boys all begin to laugh loudly.

"I didn't—" Sherlock begins to blush. "I didn't say that!"

Dane crosses his arms and pouts at the end of the sofa. Olive just grins and eats her pizza.

"Besides," Declan says. "We said no girlfriends."

"Good for me," John says, leaning in to kiss Sherlock.

"That means keeping your mouths to yourselves," Duke stops him.

"Fine," John agrees, but kisses Sherlock's cheek anyway.

After a while of silently watching the movie, they start to talk about how prom is coming up in a month.

"Who are you guys taking?" Wyatt asks.

"I'm taking my girlfriend," Declan proudly says. "And if you guys don't know who that is, it's Miss Ellery Westbrooke."

"We know!" Duke says. "And Harvey's taking his girlfriend Miss Lily Fox, and Brady's taking his girlfriend Miss Jenna Darling."

Brady and Harvey grin, then high five each other.

"Well done on getting such a wonderful girlfriend," Harvey tells Brady.

"And you, my friend," Brady replies.

Olive nudges Wyatt. "Who are you taking?"

Wyatt looks at her. Sherlock watches them over his book, and he would think that they're flirting. The way Wyatt looks at her is fond, and Olive looks at him as if he's actually interesting, a look she hardly gives anyone.

"I, uh," Wyatt says, "I don't have a date."

"We'll find you one," Olive says, patting his knee.

"Who are you going to take, John?" Duke asks. "Or are you just going to take Olive again?"

"Well," John says, "I thought I'd ask this really hot guy at school."

Sherlock drops his book and his head whips to look at John.

"What?!" everyone shouts at the same time.

John laughs. "I was talking about you, genius," he says, looking at Sherlock.

"Oh…" Sherlock sighs relieved, lifting his book again. "I thought you meant—"

"Who else is possibly hotter than you?" John asks.

"Oh, shut up!" Olive cries.

John laughs, and then kisses Sherlock's cheek.

"Sherlock's not even going to want to go," Brady says. "Would you even dance, Sherlock?"

"Yeah," Harvey agrees. "We'd have to get you out on the dance floor."

"Contrary to what I'm assuming to be popular belief," Sherlock says into his book, "I happen to love dancing."

"What?!" everyone asks.

Declan laughs. "It's a Holmes family curse. Everyone has to have at least two years of dance training. I had four years, but Sherlock, you had—"

"Six," Sherlock says. "From age six to twelve."

"Why did you stop?" Duke asks.

Sherlock shrugs. "It got to be too much. It was too competitive. I just liked doing it."

"Did you know about this?" Olive asks John.

"Yes, I did," John says.

"And that's not a bit off-putting to you?" Dane asks.

"Mmm," John grins. "It's not off-putting if you knew how flexible it's made him."

Sherlock blushes and covers his face with his book.

Everyone else just kind of mutters, "Ew…"

John kisses his shoulder.

"Duke, you need to take a boy to prom," Olive tells him. "You need a man."

"I don't need a man," Duke argues. "But I sure would like one."

The boys laugh.

"Who else at school is gay?"

Everyone looks at John and Sherlock.

"What?!" John cries. "Like we know?!"

"Blake Irwin is," Sherlock mutters.

Duke excitedly looks up. "He is?!"

"Either that or he stares at my arse for no reason," Sherlock says.

"Blake is cute!"

Sherlock shrugs. "Some would say he is."

"Blake is pretty cute," Olive agrees.

"No!" Duke yells. "Mine!"

Olive holds her hands up in a surrendering position. "You go for it, mate."

Everyone laughs.

The movie ends not long after, so they decide to watch another. They talk about many different things, including school and other people. Basically, the boys and Olive gossip through the entire movie, while Sherlock just tries not to tell everyone the things he's picked up about their peers.

He does notice that Olive discreetly texts the rest of the night, and it annoys him that he doesn't know who she's talking to. He's grown a bit protective of her over the past few weeks that they've talked more, and he just wants to make sure whoever she's talking to is worthy of her time.

After everyone leaves later that night, Sherlock and John go up to bed because Clement said John could spend the night.

"I'm sorry we fought yesterday," John says, snuggling into the bed. "I'm still sorry I shouted."

"I know," Sherlock says. "I'm sorry for making everything about me."

John wraps his arms around Sherlock and pulls him close. "Don't apologize, babe. I want to help you through this."

Sherlock nods.

John captures Sherlock's lips with his own. He slowly pulls Sherlock on top of him. "I love you."

"I love you too," Sherlock sighs against John's lips, and then dives in for another kiss.

They fall asleep a while later, John holding Sherlock tight and Mystery at their feet.

A/N: Alright, in a review a few chapters ago, PadfootsMarshmallowArmy asked about a flashback chapter from when John's parents got divorced. I do drop a lot of hints as to what's going on there, but I'm not sure about coming right out with saying what happened there. So this chapter had a bit of what happened. I hope you guys can connect the dots. And for the dancing bit! Sherlock (and Mycroft) dancing has been a headcanon of min and I'm so freakin' glad it's canon. Anyway, hope you liked that bit. Thanks for reading! Please review!