Dealing with the Unexpected

Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Sherlock stopped in his tracks, a deafening silence filling the air. He turned around slowly and Lestrade walked up to him.

"When she was in labour, she was weak. She had been quite ill recently, that's why Mr Grey looked so tired, it's because he was taking care of her." Lestrade spoke quietly this time. "As soon as she'd given birth to her son, she was told of her husband's death. She had a heart attack and died." Lestrade sighed sadly.

John had to remember that he was a soldier and to keep in the tears. It was too upsetting to hear and he could see the pain on Sherlock's face.

Suddenly they both came to the same realisation.

"The baby!" They both shouted.

Everyone was showed to the ward with the baby in and no one spoke the whole way there. They entered the little room and John took in his surroundings, which only made his sadness grow. On the walls, a countryside had been painted, with a clear blue sky and rolling green hills. There was a cot for toddlers in one corner and a table for nappy changing at the side. The floor was scattered with toys and there was a pile of teddy bears in the other corner. But what John payed attention to the most was the tall-standing cot in the centre of the room.

Sherlock made his way over to it slowly and looked at the darling baby boy sleeping in the little bed. He was small and quite chubby, with dark hair and wearing a blue romper suit.

A nurse walked over and picked up the sleeping infant and he started crying, probably because he was woken up so suddenly. She rocked him in her arms and made small cooing noises but none of them worked.

She looked over at Sherlock and then to John, who was standing a bit behind him.

"He cries all the time," she said sadly. "He can probably tell that I'm not his family. Will you hold him while I go and fetch his milk?" She asked Sherlock.

John hadn't expected Sherlock to say yes, but he nodded quickly and walked over to the nurse. She placed the crying baby into Sherlock's comforting arms and almost straight away, he stopped crying. The nurse stepped back, obviously shocked.

Sherlock rocked the baby boy gently and he looked over to John, silently beckoning him to come over. John made his way over to the two boys and placed a hand on Sherlock's back, looking over his arm at the little boy. Suddenly the baby opened his bright blue eyes and Sherlock and John couldn't help smiling down at him as he took in his surroundings and laid in Sherlock's arms, staring up at them. He reached out a little hand and John used his free hand to hold onto his. He stroked the baby's soft skin and soon the little boy was holding onto John's pinky finger with a vice-like grip. John and Sherlock both laughed. Soon after, he let out a big yawn and closed his eyes, and Sherlock began to rock him gently again, sending him off into a peaceful sleep.

They heard someone sniff behind them, bringing them back into the real world, and they turned around to see the police officers looking at them in shock and the nurse crying silently.

"Please adopt him," she whispered.

John looked up at Sherlock who was staring lovingly at the baby boy in his arms. He remembered how Sherlock had mentioned adopting a few months back, but were they ready yet? Sherlock looked at his doctor, a pleading look in his eyes. John made up his mind straight away. He looked back over at the nurse.

"Where do we sign?"