Sherlock flat-out refused to come down to dinner that evening. He wasn't hungry, he said, and leave him alone! The little kid who had been sent to interrupt him - he introduced himself as Charlie - only stuck out his tongue when Sherlock said that and ran downstairs to report to Mrs Hudson. Sherlock wasn't sorry to see him go, and he was relieved when no one else came upstairs.

After dinner was a different matter, though. He heard Mrs Hudson come up the stairs, down the hall, and finally stop at his door to knock.

"Go away!" he yelled. Instead, she opened the door. He scowled at her; it had about as much effect as it had had the last time.

She didn't say anything for a few minutes and he could practically hear her building up to shout at him for not coming down to dinner. He stiffened in anticipation, though he kept his chin up.

He waited for something that never came.

"Is there anything I can do for you?" said Mrs Hudson. "Do you need help settling in?" He stared at her, confused. This was precisely the opposite of what he had expected.

"What?"

"What can I do for you?" she asked.

"Nothing," he said. He didn't need anything from this woman.

"Are you sure?" she asked, closing the door and coming over to sit at the foot of his bed. He refused to answer her. "Well, if you're sure you don't want my help, then I'll let you be alone. But if you ever need anything, or if you just want to talk, you come see me, okay?"

"Sure," Sherlock said shortly. He waited for her to leave; she was taking her own sweet time about it, lingering in the doorway. Finally, she left, leaving him to his solitude.

The next morning he was woken up bright and early by John, of all people. He bounced into the room with what was entirely too much vigor for that time of day - Sherlock thought it must be six, at least. He refused to look at John, instead burying his head beneath the covers and trying to block out his incessantly cheery chatter.

"It's time to wake up! Aren't you excited for the day? We can swing on the tire swing and climb up the tree in the front yard, and Rob said there was a stream out back, just a little one. We could play in it and wade! This is a good day, Sherlock, already! And we had pancakes for breakfast with a funny kind of syrup - it was kind of purple-y and it tasted really good. There's still some breakfast left downstairs if you want to come and et it. We left it out for you because we all ate ages ago but Mom said to let you sleep in if you wanted because - "

Sherlock sat up and fixed a horrible glare on John.

"Did you call her Mom?" he demanded. John took a step away from his bed, surprised by his anger.

"Well, yes, because she is our foster mom - "

"She's not Mom! She's not our mother, she's just taking care of us until Mom comes back and she isn't our mom!" He was shouting by the end, fierce and angry and enough to make John quail away from him.

"I just meant - "

"Get OUT!" Sherlock shouted as he threw a pillow at John. "Just because Mom and Dad are gone for a while doesn't mean this is our family at all! Just because you like them better and you want to stay here and just because you don't know what our family is, it's just you and me and Mycroft and not these people!"

"Mycroft said - " John began, but Sherlock all but leapt out of bed and shoved him towards the door, slamming it behind him. He threw on his clothes, which he still hadn't unpacked, and stormed out to the balcony in fury. It was perfect, really - too easy. Not four feet from his balcony was a tree, or a tree's limbs at least, that if he jumped he could just reach and climb down. He climbed up on the railing of the balcony, arms windmilling furiously for a moment as he got his balance, then he jumped as hard as he could and -

WHAM

he hit the ground, landing squarely on his left foot. The shock ran up his leg and into his waist and he bent reflexively, his hands and knees hitting the ground a moment later as he tipped forwards. After the initial shock came a dull, throbbing pain and, worse, the realization that he had missed the tree by almost a foot and a half. Excellent.