This Is Real

Chapter Seven

"Daddy! It's our song! Come," Olivia bundles over to him, bouncing on her feet excitedly. "Dance!"

Evelyn turns towards the pair. "Daddy's still a bit sore–"

"No, no, I'll dance," Sherlock took his daughter's hand, allowing her to pull on his arms. "It's our song, we have to." Evelyn watched him, cautious, knowing he was still in some pain from the day before. He smiled reassuringly, winking, but she couldn't help noticing the slight limp he still walked with. "I'm okay."

It had been a difficult conversation to have with their daughter about the night before. She was brazenly clever, advanced in every aspect of her education, and still managed to have a large capacity for empathy. 'That's from you' Sherlock had said to Eve one evening, 'The effort to be kind.' And it was an effort for her sometimes, being of a higher intelligence while surrounded by other children the same age proved to have its challenges, but she had so much patience and understanding. Despite all of those facts, Olivia Holmes was still a mere three years of age, and she deserved a full and rich childhood. It was never going to be a normal one, but her parents never wanted her to grow up too fast, not if it could be helped.

So, trying to explain without too much detail what had happened to her father, plus the constant influx of questions from her, proved difficult. Sherlock and Evelyn agreed a long time ago there would be no lies within their family, including their children, but there were certain aspects of life that a small child should still be protected from, to be honest without traumatising them.

Olivia had seen enough, and she had been scared. Sherlock, at first, couldn't tell if she was afraid of him or for him, but it broke his heart nonetheless. They'd told her how he had a case that went differently than he'd hoped, that someone had hurt him, but he was okay. The questions came ten to the dozen, some of them harder to answer than others, but it concluded with her asking if his bruises would fade soon, praising her mother for 'fixing Daddy', and cuddling into him tightly.

That was this morning, this is now, and Olivia was beautifully back to herself. She was eagerly leading her father into the living room, hoisting her brother to his feet once she reached him. Evelyn watched them bouncing on the rug, Olivia twirling around Sherlock happily, singing along to the lycrics while Matthew clapped, squealing and giggling. The sight was overwhelming, not even twenty four hours earlier she was fretting for her husband's life, and now her whole family was dancing around the living room.

"When did this become a thing then?" John asked.

Evelyn turned towards him, snapping out of her thoughts. "He started playing it to cheer her up when she was still a baby, when I first saw him do it I was so surprised by the song choice I didn't even bat and eyelid at him rocking our four month old around the flat, singing to her," she smiled fondly at the memory. "I knew his consumption of music did actually stray away from Mozart and Yo Yo Ma, no idea why he's always hid that, keeps the reputation in tact maybe, but it just seemed so bizarre."

"Is a bit of an instrument heavy choice to soothe a baby."

She laughed, shrugging. "It worked, and he kept it up, she loves it. She knows every word."

John nodded towards the speaker, one of the three spaced evenly between the kitchen and living area currently blaring Sweet Child O' Mine. "Is this a specific playlist? Is that something you guys do, make playlists?"

"Actually, yeah. This is Sherlock's home playlist. We leave it on in the background most days, unless it's dance party time, of course. Volume gets turned up quite a bit then," she picked up her phone and handed it over to their friend. "I think you'd be surprised by what's on there. Don't change the song though, Livi will kill you."