Fight, for you may know peace- Epilogue
Fight, for you may know peace- Epilogue
Authors: Kessie
Characters/Pairings: Sherlock, Sally, Mycroft. John, Anthea, Lestrade, Moran, OCs Sherlock/John, Sally/Mycroft, forced Sherlock/Sally
Rating: NC17
Status: finished
Warnings: Warnings for mentions of non con and violence. Mention of Child abuse. And language of course. It’s Donovan. Lots of drama, but also some silliness…
Disclaimer: Sherlock belongs to the BBC, ACD, Moffat and Gatiss. No copyright infringement intended.
Summary: They knew. Knew he would try again. Knew he would never let them live their life. So they were prepared, weren´t they?
So this in the third Part in the “Changes” series. It will probably help if you read Part 1: Spero melior and Part 2: Fate, first.
All my Sherlock fics can be found here
Epilogue
John guessed he shouldn´t have been surprised as he heard little feet trampling down the stairs as loud as they could. Only seconds later Beth entered Mrs Hudson´s kitchen, wearing a deep scowl that would have made her father proud.
“Whats the matter, luv?” he asked and got a big sigh from the six year old, who now settled down at Mrs. Hudson´s kitchen table, pen and paper in hand.
“They are arguing again.” She answered, emphasizing the word argueing, clearly to show her annoyance. “It´s giving me a headache and I can´t do my homework.”
John smiled as he himself had fled down to Mrs. Hudson about half an hour an hour ago as Sally and Sherlock had started to argue about the Sailor´s case they were currently investigating.
At this time Beth hadn´t even been home from school which she had just started a few weeks ago. Anthea must have brought her here, as she did every day, before going back to work with Mycroft again.
“Ah and so you came down here to work in silence? I understand that, believe me. Want some hot chocolate?”
The girl nodded but looked rather lost which made John´s heart clench a little. “You know they are not really fighting, right? They just like to argue. Especially when there´s a case?”
Beth grimaced but nodded, watching him as he put the milk onto the stove for the hot chocolate. “I don´t like it.” She stated then and John nodded.
“ Yeah, but it´s best to simply ignore it. Wait for half an hour and they´ll be normal again.”
Beth sighed once more and started to look at her paper, not really concentrating on it, so John tried again to resassure the little girl. “Don´t worry it´ll be over soon. Sherlock is just grumpy because he didn´t sleep well.” And grumpy he was, John himself had experienced that this very morning. Damn git still wasn´t a good talker, he became rather foul mouthed or avoiding when something bothered him.
That seemed to spike Beth´s interest. “Why?” she asked.
“Ah, you know even adults like your daddy get bad dreams sometimes.” He told her and smiled once more, thinking back to the night. It was just the time of the year again. It didn´t even matter it had been over 6 years ago, the memories still lingered and John of all people understood that.
It wasn´t like he himself sometimes didn´t struggle with memories of Sherlock´s fall or Afghanistan. And the beginning of the year was Sherlock´s and Sally´s bad time. Some years it had seemed to be getting better and some it had worsened again, often depending on the cases they were working. But all in all both, his husband and Sally, had remained strong and became even stronger working through it. He was proud of them both because of this.
Still, there were always traces that remained after traumas like this and last night had been such a trace.
“What did daddy dream about, uncle John?” Beth asked then and got him out of his thoughts again. “Mummy sometimes dreams bad things, too and then she comes to me to cuddle. She says I make the bad dreams go away. Maybe I can make daddy Sherlock´s bad dreams go away as well?”
It took all of John´s willpower not to tear up at this. If she only knew how much she had made the bad dreams go away for them all. Elisabeth Holmes-Donovan was really a treasure, more than she probably would ever realize. They had decided though she´d never know how exactly she came to be if they couldn´t help it. Just because it would probably would make her feel like a mistake, and that she sure as hell wasn´t.
It was just like Sally had said back it then: they would do it again if it meant that she would be the outcome. And Donovan was right about it.
They were a strange family anyway, with Elisabeth having two fathers already, not to mention that there were him and Anthea, and then their occupations and therefore the risks that came with them. But for Elisabeth having two dads, an uncle John and uncle Greg who could be also counted as fathers, having three grandmas including Mrs Hudson, who of course always insisted she was the landlady not a babysitter, thank you very much- only then to spoil Beth graciously and watch her anyway.
Well, it sure as hell was a bit complicated, but so far everything was working really really well.
It was that moment that Sally and Sherlock choose to come into the kitchen, obviously having noticed the absence of their daughter. John couldn´t help but notice the tiredness around Sally´s eyes as well. He guessed that Beth´s so soothing cuddling session couldn´t have been that long ago either but he elected to say nothing about it.
Sally and Sherlock would come and talk to them if it was necessary, so much they had learned. Forcing them or trying to get them to therapy hadn´t helped- it had rather started a big fight.
Both of them were just too stubborn about it and therefore he and Mycroft as well had let their lovers decide if they wanted to talk.
Before he could even say another word the door opened again and Mrs. Hudson entered the room, obviously back from running errands. She was carrying a bag with groceries and smiled at everyone as John and Sherlock both immediately went over to help her.
It didn´t take long for the groceries to be unpacked but having done so, Mrs. Hudson didn´t look that happy.
“Oh dear, I could have sworn I had two packs of flour in there.” She sighed. “I have no idea where my mind is lately.”
As Sherlock tried to reassure Mrs. Hudson, that forgetting things sometimes was all right and totally normal, John caught the worrying glance of his lover and tried to resassure him as well. So far Mrs. Hudson wasn´t showing any real signs of Alzheimer´s although things like this today had them worried sometimes. Still John believed it was just age showing a bit which, since she was nearing 80 now, was no surprise.
“Don´t worry Mrs. Hudson, I was just about to get something to eat anyway and there´s a Tesco next to the deli. I´ll bring 2 packs of flour for you so you can make us that delicious apple pie you were about to bake.”
That was Sally and John had to grin as it really sounded as if Sally was just doing it for the pie. Of course he knew better, because Sally liked the pie yes, but not as much as she was pretending right now.
Still it made Mrs. Hudson laugh again and that was the most important thing.
“Well I suppose I could make you some pie if you want it that bad.” Mrs. Hudson responded and soon Sally was on her way, Beth in tow, who had wanted to come with.
Watching Mrs. Hudson put her groceries away while she chatted with Sherlock, he poured himself the hot chocolate instead since there was no way he was about to let it go to waste.
Beth could have hers later with Mrs. Hudson´s apple pie instead.
#
Sally couldn´t help but smile as she watched how her daughter happily chatted away about her day, swinging the plastic bag with the flour from one side to the other.
They were just on the way to the indian takeaway two buildings further, where Sally had ordered lunch before getting the flour at the supermarket. She was glad she was finally getting to eat something soon as she was starving, having had no time for breakfast again.
But again fate was having different ideas, this time in shape of Mr. Sailor, a thuggish shop owner and suspect of the current case. Stepping in from god knows where he suddenly appeared in front of Sally and Beth and blocked their way, another thug in tow.
“You should have talked to me.” he barked and Sally rolled her eyes before gently pushing Beth behind her.
“There was nothing to say. You should have been glad I haven´t arrested you yet. But...” She didn´t get any further as Mr. Sailor jumped her immediately and she had to fight him off. Having no other choice but to defend herself she watched in horror as the other thug went for Beth.
“Leave her alone.” She screamed, getting a good hook on Sailor, which sadly didn´t knock him out. “She´s just a kid.”
The thug of course ignored her and Sally had to duck a punch from Sailor as she heard Beth scream. Panic rose inside her and she fought harder, trying to get to her daughter, who was fighting as well. She was still trying to evade the thug’s arms and Sally tried to get between them while still fighting Sailor. Suddenly the other thug cried out, before going stiff for a second. Throwing another kick she managed to hit Sailor on his solar plexus and he finally went down.
She just turned around to see Beth swinging the bag of flour at the thugs face, who was still holding his balls and Sally went in to punch him as well. Three seconds later both bad guys were unconscious on the ground due to a mother- daughter effort.
Making sure the guys were really out she turned and took Elisabeth into her arms and then proceeded to call Mycroft. Even though this had been a Yard case she would let Mycroft deal with them because attacking her daughter just went a tad too far.
She was sure Mycroft would have a field day telling these guys what he and the others of the family thought of that.
Beth in her arms was trembling, obviously in shock, and Sally looked her over just to make sure she wasn´t hurt.
Luckily for the guys she seemed unhurt, otherwise she would have considered killing them right on the spot. So instead she took her daughter into her arms again and tried to calm her down.
“Shhh it´s all right, Beth. It´s all right. Mummy is very proud of you, you know that right?”
#
It was late afternoon when Lestrade got the shipment of Mr. Sailor and his thug Howard Wright, both of them looking a little worse for wear and fully inclined to admitting the murder of Mr. Sailor´s business partner Tim Capenter.
Sherlock had just had a few minutes alone with Sailor in the car and the criminal looked like he was about to piss his pants.
Good for him, Lestrade thought, as it sure as hell would teach him to never attack a kid ever again. Not that he would get out of a cell anytime soon, the inspector supposed, and cuffed the two criminals and let Anderson lead them away. The forensic scientist had heard of the incident and looked like he wanted to have a go as well. Greg knew he liked the little girl as much as he did and he wouldn´t say anything if there was something happening to the guys on the way to the cell.
Hell some people deserved to hit the ground sometimes, didn´t they?
Since he was sure the criminals were in capable hands he went over to Sherlock and Sally, who had insisted on delivering the thugs personally.
“I can´t believe you have been teaching her Kung fu again. She´s only six, Sherlock.” Sally was ranting and Greg nearly turned around to make sure he didn´t get caught in the discussion as Sally´s voice soften all of the sudden. “Anyway, thanks Sherlock. You did a hell of a job, maybe you should teach me as well? Seems like I´m getting a bit rusty. It took me nearly a minute to take Sailor out.”
“Well given that he is about 20 centimeters bigger and nearly twice as heavy...” Sherlock started and Greg couldn´t help himself and started to laugh.
That made Sherlock stop and Sally watch him a bit uneasy as well.
Still laughing Greg tried to catch his breath. “Sorry, I know that´s no laughing matter but you two are hilarious. And it´s really no surprise that Beth is your daughter. There´s really no mistaking her, with these two parents she is supposed kick ass like this.”
For a second Sally looked like she was about to say something but then she joined in and laughed as well. To Greg´s surprise Sherlock followed soon thereafter.
“You should have seen Carpenter´s face when she kicked him in the balls for second time, just a moment before I knocked him out.” Sally giggled.
Greg tried to do so and laughed more as well. Elisabeth Holmes-Donovan sure as hell was a special kind of treasure, just like her parents and the rest of her family.
Bad guys would never know what hit them.
The End
#############################
So yep, that´s it. Hope you´ve enjoyed the ride. My never ending thanks goes to my beta seven percent and to the people who commented. ;-)
Thanks for reading!
Authors: Kessie
Characters/Pairings: Sherlock, Sally, Mycroft. John, Anthea, Lestrade, Moran, OCs Sherlock/John, Sally/Mycroft, forced Sherlock/Sally
Rating: NC17
Status: finished
Warnings: Warnings for mentions of non con and violence. Mention of Child abuse. And language of course. It’s Donovan. Lots of drama, but also some silliness…
Disclaimer: Sherlock belongs to the BBC, ACD, Moffat and Gatiss. No copyright infringement intended.
Summary: They knew. Knew he would try again. Knew he would never let them live their life. So they were prepared, weren´t they?
So this in the third Part in the “Changes” series. It will probably help if you read Part 1: Spero melior and Part 2: Fate, first.
All my Sherlock fics can be found here
Epilogue
John guessed he shouldn´t have been surprised as he heard little feet trampling down the stairs as loud as they could. Only seconds later Beth entered Mrs Hudson´s kitchen, wearing a deep scowl that would have made her father proud.
“Whats the matter, luv?” he asked and got a big sigh from the six year old, who now settled down at Mrs. Hudson´s kitchen table, pen and paper in hand.
“They are arguing again.” She answered, emphasizing the word argueing, clearly to show her annoyance. “It´s giving me a headache and I can´t do my homework.”
John smiled as he himself had fled down to Mrs. Hudson about half an hour an hour ago as Sally and Sherlock had started to argue about the Sailor´s case they were currently investigating.
At this time Beth hadn´t even been home from school which she had just started a few weeks ago. Anthea must have brought her here, as she did every day, before going back to work with Mycroft again.
“Ah and so you came down here to work in silence? I understand that, believe me. Want some hot chocolate?”
The girl nodded but looked rather lost which made John´s heart clench a little. “You know they are not really fighting, right? They just like to argue. Especially when there´s a case?”
Beth grimaced but nodded, watching him as he put the milk onto the stove for the hot chocolate. “I don´t like it.” She stated then and John nodded.
“ Yeah, but it´s best to simply ignore it. Wait for half an hour and they´ll be normal again.”
Beth sighed once more and started to look at her paper, not really concentrating on it, so John tried again to resassure the little girl. “Don´t worry it´ll be over soon. Sherlock is just grumpy because he didn´t sleep well.” And grumpy he was, John himself had experienced that this very morning. Damn git still wasn´t a good talker, he became rather foul mouthed or avoiding when something bothered him.
That seemed to spike Beth´s interest. “Why?” she asked.
“Ah, you know even adults like your daddy get bad dreams sometimes.” He told her and smiled once more, thinking back to the night. It was just the time of the year again. It didn´t even matter it had been over 6 years ago, the memories still lingered and John of all people understood that.
It wasn´t like he himself sometimes didn´t struggle with memories of Sherlock´s fall or Afghanistan. And the beginning of the year was Sherlock´s and Sally´s bad time. Some years it had seemed to be getting better and some it had worsened again, often depending on the cases they were working. But all in all both, his husband and Sally, had remained strong and became even stronger working through it. He was proud of them both because of this.
Still, there were always traces that remained after traumas like this and last night had been such a trace.
“What did daddy dream about, uncle John?” Beth asked then and got him out of his thoughts again. “Mummy sometimes dreams bad things, too and then she comes to me to cuddle. She says I make the bad dreams go away. Maybe I can make daddy Sherlock´s bad dreams go away as well?”
It took all of John´s willpower not to tear up at this. If she only knew how much she had made the bad dreams go away for them all. Elisabeth Holmes-Donovan was really a treasure, more than she probably would ever realize. They had decided though she´d never know how exactly she came to be if they couldn´t help it. Just because it would probably would make her feel like a mistake, and that she sure as hell wasn´t.
It was just like Sally had said back it then: they would do it again if it meant that she would be the outcome. And Donovan was right about it.
They were a strange family anyway, with Elisabeth having two fathers already, not to mention that there were him and Anthea, and then their occupations and therefore the risks that came with them. But for Elisabeth having two dads, an uncle John and uncle Greg who could be also counted as fathers, having three grandmas including Mrs Hudson, who of course always insisted she was the landlady not a babysitter, thank you very much- only then to spoil Beth graciously and watch her anyway.
Well, it sure as hell was a bit complicated, but so far everything was working really really well.
It was that moment that Sally and Sherlock choose to come into the kitchen, obviously having noticed the absence of their daughter. John couldn´t help but notice the tiredness around Sally´s eyes as well. He guessed that Beth´s so soothing cuddling session couldn´t have been that long ago either but he elected to say nothing about it.
Sally and Sherlock would come and talk to them if it was necessary, so much they had learned. Forcing them or trying to get them to therapy hadn´t helped- it had rather started a big fight.
Both of them were just too stubborn about it and therefore he and Mycroft as well had let their lovers decide if they wanted to talk.
Before he could even say another word the door opened again and Mrs. Hudson entered the room, obviously back from running errands. She was carrying a bag with groceries and smiled at everyone as John and Sherlock both immediately went over to help her.
It didn´t take long for the groceries to be unpacked but having done so, Mrs. Hudson didn´t look that happy.
“Oh dear, I could have sworn I had two packs of flour in there.” She sighed. “I have no idea where my mind is lately.”
As Sherlock tried to reassure Mrs. Hudson, that forgetting things sometimes was all right and totally normal, John caught the worrying glance of his lover and tried to resassure him as well. So far Mrs. Hudson wasn´t showing any real signs of Alzheimer´s although things like this today had them worried sometimes. Still John believed it was just age showing a bit which, since she was nearing 80 now, was no surprise.
“Don´t worry Mrs. Hudson, I was just about to get something to eat anyway and there´s a Tesco next to the deli. I´ll bring 2 packs of flour for you so you can make us that delicious apple pie you were about to bake.”
That was Sally and John had to grin as it really sounded as if Sally was just doing it for the pie. Of course he knew better, because Sally liked the pie yes, but not as much as she was pretending right now.
Still it made Mrs. Hudson laugh again and that was the most important thing.
“Well I suppose I could make you some pie if you want it that bad.” Mrs. Hudson responded and soon Sally was on her way, Beth in tow, who had wanted to come with.
Watching Mrs. Hudson put her groceries away while she chatted with Sherlock, he poured himself the hot chocolate instead since there was no way he was about to let it go to waste.
Beth could have hers later with Mrs. Hudson´s apple pie instead.
#
Sally couldn´t help but smile as she watched how her daughter happily chatted away about her day, swinging the plastic bag with the flour from one side to the other.
They were just on the way to the indian takeaway two buildings further, where Sally had ordered lunch before getting the flour at the supermarket. She was glad she was finally getting to eat something soon as she was starving, having had no time for breakfast again.
But again fate was having different ideas, this time in shape of Mr. Sailor, a thuggish shop owner and suspect of the current case. Stepping in from god knows where he suddenly appeared in front of Sally and Beth and blocked their way, another thug in tow.
“You should have talked to me.” he barked and Sally rolled her eyes before gently pushing Beth behind her.
“There was nothing to say. You should have been glad I haven´t arrested you yet. But...” She didn´t get any further as Mr. Sailor jumped her immediately and she had to fight him off. Having no other choice but to defend herself she watched in horror as the other thug went for Beth.
“Leave her alone.” She screamed, getting a good hook on Sailor, which sadly didn´t knock him out. “She´s just a kid.”
The thug of course ignored her and Sally had to duck a punch from Sailor as she heard Beth scream. Panic rose inside her and she fought harder, trying to get to her daughter, who was fighting as well. She was still trying to evade the thug’s arms and Sally tried to get between them while still fighting Sailor. Suddenly the other thug cried out, before going stiff for a second. Throwing another kick she managed to hit Sailor on his solar plexus and he finally went down.
She just turned around to see Beth swinging the bag of flour at the thugs face, who was still holding his balls and Sally went in to punch him as well. Three seconds later both bad guys were unconscious on the ground due to a mother- daughter effort.
Making sure the guys were really out she turned and took Elisabeth into her arms and then proceeded to call Mycroft. Even though this had been a Yard case she would let Mycroft deal with them because attacking her daughter just went a tad too far.
She was sure Mycroft would have a field day telling these guys what he and the others of the family thought of that.
Beth in her arms was trembling, obviously in shock, and Sally looked her over just to make sure she wasn´t hurt.
Luckily for the guys she seemed unhurt, otherwise she would have considered killing them right on the spot. So instead she took her daughter into her arms again and tried to calm her down.
“Shhh it´s all right, Beth. It´s all right. Mummy is very proud of you, you know that right?”
#
It was late afternoon when Lestrade got the shipment of Mr. Sailor and his thug Howard Wright, both of them looking a little worse for wear and fully inclined to admitting the murder of Mr. Sailor´s business partner Tim Capenter.
Sherlock had just had a few minutes alone with Sailor in the car and the criminal looked like he was about to piss his pants.
Good for him, Lestrade thought, as it sure as hell would teach him to never attack a kid ever again. Not that he would get out of a cell anytime soon, the inspector supposed, and cuffed the two criminals and let Anderson lead them away. The forensic scientist had heard of the incident and looked like he wanted to have a go as well. Greg knew he liked the little girl as much as he did and he wouldn´t say anything if there was something happening to the guys on the way to the cell.
Hell some people deserved to hit the ground sometimes, didn´t they?
Since he was sure the criminals were in capable hands he went over to Sherlock and Sally, who had insisted on delivering the thugs personally.
“I can´t believe you have been teaching her Kung fu again. She´s only six, Sherlock.” Sally was ranting and Greg nearly turned around to make sure he didn´t get caught in the discussion as Sally´s voice soften all of the sudden. “Anyway, thanks Sherlock. You did a hell of a job, maybe you should teach me as well? Seems like I´m getting a bit rusty. It took me nearly a minute to take Sailor out.”
“Well given that he is about 20 centimeters bigger and nearly twice as heavy...” Sherlock started and Greg couldn´t help himself and started to laugh.
That made Sherlock stop and Sally watch him a bit uneasy as well.
Still laughing Greg tried to catch his breath. “Sorry, I know that´s no laughing matter but you two are hilarious. And it´s really no surprise that Beth is your daughter. There´s really no mistaking her, with these two parents she is supposed kick ass like this.”
For a second Sally looked like she was about to say something but then she joined in and laughed as well. To Greg´s surprise Sherlock followed soon thereafter.
“You should have seen Carpenter´s face when she kicked him in the balls for second time, just a moment before I knocked him out.” Sally giggled.
Greg tried to do so and laughed more as well. Elisabeth Holmes-Donovan sure as hell was a special kind of treasure, just like her parents and the rest of her family.
Bad guys would never know what hit them.
The End
#############################
So yep, that´s it. Hope you´ve enjoyed the ride. My never ending thanks goes to my beta seven percent and to the people who commented. ;-)
Thanks for reading!