Sherlock Holmes | His Greatest Addiction

Chapter 7

During the following night, Sherlock lays awake in bed for hours after having put Melody to sleep in her room upstairs. His phone is in the living room put on silent after getting a number of calls from Mycroft, the last person he wants to talk to. Not after what happened. His bomb is what caused Melody to lose her mother, and Sherlock his first and last girlfriend.

The longer he stays in the bed, staring at the ceiling and thinking, the more it drags him away from the moment. That shows when a loud scream brings him back. Startled, he instantly gets up to his feet and hurries up the stairs to his daughter. He comes in to see her crying on the bed.

"Melody," he says calmly and sits down and is met with her kicking legs. He puts his hands on her shoulders to hold her body still. "Melody, it's me. Your dad is here." Hearing his voice, she opens her shiny eyes and stares up at him.

"Daddy," she sobs. He gives her a half smile and wipes away her tears.

"Nightmare?" he asks and she nods. "It's okay now," he says and strokes her hair. "Try to go back to sleep."

"No," she replies and sits up to hide her face in his chest. Sherlock goes to a part of his mind palace where he's stored information about children and Melody in general. What she likes and don't, common children's diseases, her usual routine of sleep, and so on.

"I know what you need," he eventually says and stands up. He picks up Melody and places her on his hip and walks down to the kitchen. He puts her down on the high chair so she can wait with him while he puts a pot on the stove and pours some milk into it. Turning the stove on mild heat, he stands by and waits.

"Mama?"

Sherlock looks away to gather himself together as to not lose it. "She's still working," he replies fast before his voice gets the chance to break. The milk doesn't need too long before it's warm enough. He turns the stove off and puts the milk in a glass to give to Melody.

"Here. Warm milk. That'll help you sleep."

After fifteen minutes, Melody is about to drift off so Sherlock carries her back up to her room and lays her down on the bed. Before he can pull away, she takes his hand. He raises a brow. "You want me to stay?" Melody nods slowly.

"Alright," he sighs and positions himself so he lays with his head on the pillow next to her. Melody yawns and curls up to him, holding on tight to his shirt. He strokes her hair the whole time until she falls asleep. Eventually, he does too.

* * *

"Come on, work with me!"

"No!"

"Put your jacket on!"

"No!"

Melody storms out of the living room and into Sherlock's bedroom as the detective sighs loudly. It's been a week since they lost Hayley, and the mood inside the flat has been at the very bottom ever since. Sherlock has tried his best to be normal around Melody so she won't get any suspicion, but he finds it much harder than he thought it would be. He has never been so down for many years.

"It's a shame I'm not here to watch you attempt to handle this."

Sherlock lowers his head at the sound of her voice. It's not the first time it appears to him this week. "She's being unreasonable," he mumbles.

"She's just a child," Hayley reminds him. He raises his head to his side. There she is. It looks like she never left.

"She should be with her mother," Sherlock says.

"But I'm not here, Sherlock." Her words make him looks away from her and draws in a breath to try to hold back a sob. "You need to accept that. Melody needs you."