Sherlock wakes up on Saturday morning to his phone ringing. He immediately recognizes a hand on his face, so he swats it away and reaches for his phone. He answers without opening his eyes.

"Hello?" he slurs.

"Good morning, Holmes."

Sherlock's eyes dart open.

"Ben."

Ben laughs. "Oh, you have much to learn."

"What does that mean?"

"Meet me Monday afternoon at The London Library and I'll tell you."

"Why do you want to tell me?"

"I will tell you when we meet."

"How do you know I'm going to meet you?"

Ben laughs. "Because you will. Ta, darling."

The line goes dead. Sherlock looks at his recent calls to see that Ben's number was blocked. There's no way he could reach him again.

Sherlock sighs and turns onto his back. John snuggles closer to him and Olive's hand falls from the bed again, once again landing on his face. He pushes her away again and she stirs above him.

He hears her wake up, so he sits up on the air mattress to look at her face.

"Were you just on the phone?" she whispers.

Sherlock nods. "It was Ben."

"Ben?"

"Ben!" he cries. "You know, the guy!"

"Oh," she replies. "What'd he say?"

"He said to meet him."

"When?"

"Monday afternoon."

"Are you going to?"

Sherlock shrugs.

"He's a murderer, Sher."

Sherlock doesn't comment on his shortened name. He knows she's tired and he's surprised she's making complete thoughts.

"I know," he says.

"Are you going to tell John?"

Sherlock looks down at John. "I don't know. He'll insist I don't go."

"Maybe you shouldn't."

"Maybe I should."

"Mmm," is all she says. She slowly closes her eyes again.

"Go back to sleep," he whispers to her.

"You too," she says.

Sherlock lies back down, snuggling deeply into John's arms and kisses him once before closing his eyes and going into a very unsatisfying nap.

Sherlock goes home around ten o'clock, after Duke and Olive are gone from John's. He doesn't tell John anything that happened the night before, he only leaves John to go back to sleep to rest away his hangover.

When he gets home, Clement and Mycroft are both up and ready for the day. They invite Sherlock to brunch, so Sherlock decides to go with them.

After brunch, he takes a long nap because he starts to make himself sick over Ben's phone call.

By dinner time, he's a worried mess. He hardly eats his dinner and hardly pays attention to Mycroft and Clement. That is until Clement has a very random idea.

"I want to go out."

Sherlock and Mycroft look at each other.

"Come again?" they say at the same time.

"Out," Clement says into the refrigerator, where he's putting away leftovers. "Take me to a pub. A club!"

Sherlock quickly forgets about Ben.

"What?!" he and Mycroft both cry simultaneously.

Clement returns to the island. "I want to meet someone, boys. Your mum's getting married. I'm certainly not getting any younger. Come on. What's wrong with that?"

Mycroft takes a deep breath, readying himself to be the sensible one. "Well—"

Sherlock cuts him off. "Because the people you want to meet are not the people you meet at pubs!"

Clement laughs.

Mycroft gets his attention again. "Listen, Dad—"

"You can't go to a pub to meet someone!" Sherlock yells.

Clement laughs again.

"I'll take you somewhere, Dad," Mycroft says.

"You will not!" Sherlock tells his brother.

"Yes, I will. Dad wants to meet new people, we can take him somewhere to meet new people."

"Where?!" Sherlock cries.

Mycroft reaches over and whispers in Sherlock's ear the name of a gay bar that even Sherlock knows.

Sherlock smiles. "Oh. Then maybe that place will be good."

"Where?" Clement asks.

"Nowhere," Sherlock says.

"It's a surprise. We'll go tonight. Dress nice."

Clement smiles. "Great."

They get ready to leave at seven. Sherlock is glad to go because it's taking his mind off the call from Ben, so he doesn't argue when it's time to go.

They get to the club and sit at the bar with Clement. Mycroft orders a simple drink, Clement orders a beer, and Sherlock gets water. The barman smiles warmly at Clement, and when he leaves Clement turns to his sons.

"This is a gay club, isn't it?"

Sherlock laughs.

"Well, Dad, lots of people come here. Not just gay men."

"Yeah, Dad," Sherlock says. "There's a woman."

"Son, she's making out with another woman."

Sherlock laughs again.

"You said you wanted to meet someone," Mycroft says. "Go ahead."

"You know what?" Clement retorts. "I will. Maybe I'm gay, too. Maybe you got the gene from me."

"Dad, you're not gay—"

"Ssshh," Clement says. "And don't call me 'dad'. That bloke doesn't need to know how old I am."

Mycroft and Sherlock both bury their faces in their hands out of embarrassment.

They finish their first round of drinks, and by the time they're done, a man comes up to Clement.

"Hey," the guy greets in a sultry deep voice.

"Oh god," Mycroft mutters to Sherlock.

"Great idea," Sherlock sarcastically says.

"I didn't think he'd actually find someone here."

"Well he did."

The boys look over at their dad and see that the guy is very, very close to their dad.

"If they kiss I'm leaving," Sherlock says.

Mycroft downs the last sip of his drink. "I'm with you."

The evening progresses with more drinks, even one for Sherlock. The boys scoot further down the bar, away from their dad and the man, but they still watch.

Clement and the man get much, much closer, and to the boys' shock, their dad is completely cool around the guy. He doesn't look nervous because it's a man, he looks natural.

Suddenly, the man kisses Clement.

"Oh my god," Mycroft mutters.

"Way to go," Sherlock tells him.

The barman comes up to them to ask for another order. "Problem, boys?"

"That's our dad," Sherlock tells him.

"He looks happy," the barman says.

"He shouldn't be," Mycroft says.

The barman looks confused, but doesn't say anything.

"He isn't even gay," Sherlock says.

The barman looks more confused.

"He's just doing this to prove a point," Sherlock adds.

Mycroft sips his drink and says, "Shut up, Sherlock."

The barman looks a bit offended. "You can't help who you like, son."

"I know," Sherlock says. "Which is why I'm so happy with my boyfriend."

The barman backs off a bit. "Oh."

"This is just a weird phase."

The barman looks offended again.

"Dad only belongs with women—"

"Oh my god," Mycroft stops Sherlock. "Shut up."

Sherlock blinks as if realizing he's talking aloud. "Oh. Sorry."

"Mhm," the barman mutters, then leaves to get them refills.

Mycroft turns to him. "You're offending our people."

"Dad isn't gay!"

"You can't say that to people! You can't say he's 'going through a phase'!"

"Why not? People say it to me all the time."

Mycroft sighs and rubs his forehead. "Just shut up."

Sherlock looks over at Clement again.

"What would be the problem if Dad meets a bloke anyway?" Mycroft asks. "It's obviously fine if he is, you know, not entirely straight."

"Well, no, that's fine. I don't care who Dad likes."

"You just…care that he likes someone."

The barman returns with their drinks. He gives them an annoyed look, then goes away.

Sherlock chooses not to comment on what Mycroft said.

Mycroft doesn't let it go. "Why don't you want Dad to meet anyone?"

Sherlock shrugs.

"No. Why?"

"Can't you figure it out?"

"I could, but I'm told it's 'normal' to actually talk about things."

"Men are always trying to change their significant others, aren't they?"

Mycroft laughs. "Yes, I suppose so."

Sherlock smiles.

"So?" Mycroft asks again. "Tell me."

Sherlock shrugs. "I don't know, I just…I like it just the two of us. And you, when you're here. And Dec, I guess. And John. I just…I don't want any of Dad's attention to go to some woman or man, who isn't worthy of all of our time. It's not just Dad entering a relationship. It's me, too. Us, actually."

"I understand," Mycroft says.

"You do?"

"Yes, of course. You don't think I'm okay with this, do you?"

"Well…I guess not."

"I don't want him to date, either."

Sherlock looks at Mycroft. "Do you think he still belongs with Mum?"

"I…I don't…" Mycroft frowns. "I hadn't thought about it." He looks at Sherlock. "Do you?"

Sherlock shakes his head. "No. She hurt him."

"She's our mother."

"She hurt me."

Mycroft stares at his brother, but he slowly nods and turns away.

Sherlock looks back at Clement, who is still in deep conversation with the man.

"At least that man is attractive."

Mycroft follows Sherlock's gaze. "He looks like Mum."

Sherlock laughs.

They finally get up to leave a while later. Clement goes with them, leaving the man sad and disappointed.

They all walk down the street instead of getting a cab right away. The boys are itching to ask questions, to talk about everything they just saw, so finally Clement tells them to.

"How was it?" Sherlock asks.

"Itchy," Clement answers. "He had two days growth of beard. I never realized how itchy it could be. To be honest, I feel bad for your mother. I don't shave every day."

Sherlock and Mycroft chuckle.

"Other than that," Clement continues, "It was nice. Wonderful. Kissing is brilliant. But...I don't think it was for me. If it's all the same to you two, I'll stick to women."

"That's okay, Dad," Mycroft says.

"We're a prestigious club anyway," Sherlock says.

Clement laughs and wraps an arm around his shoulders. "I couldn't be more proud of you two, but…I'm good."

"That's good," Mycroft tells him.

"And," Clement says, "I'm not sure I'm ready to meet anyone quite yet. Maybe a bit more time."

"Thank god," Sherlock mutters.

Mycroft reaches behind Clement and smacks him in the back.

"Hey!" Sherlock cries.

Clement laughs. "No, no, it's okay. I'm not ready. I know you two aren't either."

"I just want you to be happy, Dad," Mycroft says.

"Oh, shut up," Sherlock says. "Just an hour ago you were saying you want him to be single."

Clement looks at Sherlock and examines his eyes. "Sherlock, are you drunk?"

"Mmm," Sherlock answers.

Clement laughs. "My baby boy is drunk."

Sherlock rubs his face. "Oh, shut up, Dad."

Clement laughs again and kisses his head, then he steps away from them to hail a cab.

Sherlock still doesn't tell Mycroft about Ben, because he's still in doubt that Mycroft will believe him. But since he slept a lot during the day, he stays up to talk to Mycroft all night. They talk about a million things and nothing at all, then he ends up falling asleep at the foot of Mycroft's bed.

Mycroft doesn't let Sherlock go to the airport the next morning. They say their goodbye at home, then Sherlock reluctantly lets him go.

Sherlock goes to John's house while Clement is gone. John welcomes him excitedly, but he can tell Sherlock has something serious to talk about.

"I have to tell you something," Sherlock starts. Then he tells John the whole story about Ben.

"You're not going to the library," John says once he's done.

"Why not?"

"Because he's going to fucking kill you, you idiot."

"Why would he?"

"Because he knows you know who he is!"

"No," Sherlock says, "Well. Maybe. But he's not going to kill me."

"How do you know?"

"He wants to meet in a public place."

"Libraries can be private."

"It won't be."

John sighs.

"I'm going to meet him," Sherlock says.

"I can't stop you," John says back. "I can tell you how much I don't agree with your decision, but I know you don't care."

"I do care," Sherlock tells him. "I just—"

"You're going to go anyway."

Sherlock bites his lip.

John grabs his face and kisses him deeply. When he pulls away, he looks into Sherlock's eyes. "I love you, you idiot. Be careful."

Sherlock shallowly nods and kisses John again.

A/N: stardiva asked if Clement is gay, too. I got to thinking. Apparently he's not. He still had fun, though. Thanks for reading, please review!