It Started With Stealing | Sherlock Holmes

84 - Babysitting

In the rays of the morning light, Sherlock ran his hands through his curls, frustratedly spinning around, his tan gown flourishing as he did, to confront the demonic wailing, a manic look in his eyes.

"Please stop crying. Crying does not help me understand what you want. Use your words."

Baby Ava simply cried harder as Sherlock looked down at her, her little hands balled into tiny fists, face red and mouth wide open as she released ungodly screaming. Sherlock sighed as he looked down at her and then turned away. Why didn't these things come with an off switch?

"Everything alright in there?" Elizabeth called from the bathroom.

"Absolutely fine!"

Sherlock called back urgently, knowing Elizabeth was showering before work. He didn't want her to think him incapable of such a simple task such as child rearing of a stranger's child. And yet...he found himself grimacing at the thought: how could he leave her with this screechy human being?

As though Ava could sense his offensive thoughts, she screamed louder and Sherlock rolled his eyes looking back down at her.

"Look, if you want me to find your mummy, you need to pipe down. I can't think when you're acting like this." He said, exasperated.

And yet the child still cried. Sherlock huffed and did the next best thing he could do - approached the desk by the window and promptly put in some ear plugs.

"What in God's name is going on? Who on earth is crying?" Came John's voice as he walked into the flat.

Sherlock waved at him, not really hearing what he said. John peered around the room, trying to locate the sound of the crying when he peered over the edge of his chair and saw a baby lying there. His brow was the epitome of confusion as he slowly looked up at Sherlock.

"Sherlock, why is there a crying baby on my chair?"

"What?" Sherlock asked and then shook his head, removing the ear plugs, "Sorry, John, say that again?"

"Why is there a crying baby on my chair?"

"That is Ava," He smiled fakely, "Spawn of the devil. Her mother left her here last night and now she won't stop crying."

"Well, have you fed her? Changed her? Where's Elizabeth?"

"No and no because Mrs Hudson is currently fetching supplies and Elizabeth is getting ready for work?"

John gently picked up Ava and gently held her in his arms, bouncing her a little to calm her down. Sherlock watched this curiously as the crying seemed to become less and less until she was merely blubbering.

"Poor Ava, left with Sherlock who clearly can't look after a baby to save his life." John quietly cooed.

The detective's mouth fell agape at this statement. He found that quite harsh. He could look after children. It wasn't that hard. No different to...looking after...a puppy. Only a human puppy. Yet...he knew deep down that looking after a puppy was much more different to looking after a child.

"I - I can look after her."

John scoffed, "Sherlock, you were wearing ear plugs and ignoring her."

"She didn't listen to me. I asked her to stop crying if she wanted to see her mother again because I couldn't focus with her shrieky volumes."

"Because she's a baby, Sherlock. She hasn't yet learnt how to speak nor understand our speech yet."

Elizabeth finally came out of the bedroom, dressed and ready to go, her eyes softly falling on John and Ava. A quite 'aw' left her lips as she approached.