The Baker Street Daycare

by WhatLocked

Summary:

Mrs Hudson runs a daycare centre on Baker Street.
The usuals suspects attend.

Notes:

• Inspired by Toddles and Love by ImmortalVal

This was a little something that popped into my head after reading Toddles and Love by ImmortalVal.
There is no actual story line, just little one-off chapters when I get the time and inspiration to write them.
Hope you enjoy and feel free to leave comments about what you'd like our little rascals to get up to.
NTW

Chapter 1: The New Kid.

John Watson joins the Baker Street Daycare

~~~~~~~~~~

John watched his mum leave through the glass door and willed himself not to cry.  He was a big boy now, his mum had said.  He needed to be strong, like a soldier.  

He was not going to cry.

“Now, now” the older lady said, crouching down in front of him, blocking his view to the corridor that his mother was walking down. “No need for tears.  She will be back in a few hours.”  

Apparently John was crying, because the woman was now gently brushing away the tears that were on his cheek, with a scrunched up tissue.

“In the meantime” the woman continued.  John tried to remember her name, his mum had told him.   Mrs H….. ?  It didn’t matter.  Hopefully, he wouldn’t be coming back again after today. “Why don’t I get Mike to show you around.”

Mrs H then stood up and, gently holding John’s hand, directed him to a chubby little boy with glasses.

“Mike, could you show John around, let him see the fun things he can do while he is here with us.”

Mike beamed at being given such an important job and instantly stood up.  

“Hi, I’m Mike” Mike said, waving at John, a huge grin on his face.

“I’m John” John said, miserably.

Mrs H seemed appeased and left the boys to it.  Mike took no time in starting the tour.

“Over there” he said, pointing to the far corner where the desks were, “Is where the older kids sit.  They are a bit bossy, but they also make sure everyone is looked after.”

John looked to see a boy, a few years older than him, with a big dopey grin and brown hair chatting to another boy with orange hair and for some reason was wearing a suit.  He scowled when he saw John looking, so John looked away.

“That there is the cooties corner” Mike said, his face scrunched up with disgust.  “Phillip and Sally are always there and they always have cooties, so don’t let them touch you.”  

John nodded gravely.  His older sister had told him all about cooties.  He most definitely did not want cooties.

“That is where the girls play” Mike said, indicating towards the windows where a big doll house was set up, several monster trucks parked in front of it alongside a pink convertible and a green army helicopter.  Three girls were milling about chatting and playing with dolls.  The one with the short blonde hair looked up at John and smiled.  John felt his cheeks heat up and thought if he kept looking, he would get cooties and have to sit with Sally and Phillip, so quickly looked away.

“And you don’t want to go over there” Mike told him in hushed whispers, pointing towards the door leading to the kitchen.  “The bullies like to sit there.”

John looked at the bullies.  There were two boys.  One was about Johns height and blonde, like himself.  He had a tiger on the front of his t-shirt.  The other one wore all black and had his hair combed very neatly.  He looked like he had just swallowed a bug.

“What about there?” John asked, pointing to a corner that had drawings on the wall, the biggest one being a big yellow happy face.

“That is the naughty corner” Mike told him, seriously.

“There is someone sitting there” John said and there was.  He had his back to John and Mike, but John could clearly see that the boy had his arms crossed and from the way his shoulders were very straight, John knew he had an angry look on his face.

“Sherlock exploded the milk jug in the microwave again” Mike said with a sigh.  “It’s the third time this week he has had to go to the naughty corner.”

“But it’s only Tuesday” John stated, a frown above his eyes.  Mike just shrugged and John felt himself smile, just a bit.  Exploding the milk jug sounded like a lot of fun and once Mike had finished the rest of the tour, John found himself heading towards the naughty corner.

~o~

“Gregory, why is someone sitting next to my brother?”  Mycroft had stopped listening to the other older boy prattle on about Star Wars and focused on what was going on over in the naughty corner.  

Greg turned and looked where Mycroft was looking.  He shrugged.  “I dunno.  Never seen him before, maybe he doesn’t know that that is the naughty corner, or ‘ Sherlock’s Spot ’ as it is more likely known.”

Mycroft just frowned.  “I need to find out who this new boy is.  We have a kidnapping to orchestrate.”

Greg groaned.  “Again” he whined.

~o~

Sally nudged Phillips arm with her own.  “Look” she said.  “The new boy is trying to talk to Sherlock Freaky Holmes.”

Phillip looked up from where he was playing with his dinosaurs, to the Sherlock's Spot.  Sure enough, a new boy was sitting with Sherlock, trying to talk to him.

“He’ll soon learn”Phillip said and used his t-rex to stomp on his triceratops.

~o~

Mary giggled as she looked at the new boy again.  

“Why do you keep giggling, Mary” Irene said with a scowl.  

“The new boy” she said.  “He’s so dreamy.  I’m going to marry him.”

Irene and Molly looked to where Mary was looking.  Irene huffed out a laugh.

“Looks like Sherlock might marry him first.”

Sherlock, who always had a frown, was smiling at the new boy.

Molly broke out in tears.

~o~

“Who.  Is.  That.” James seethed, looking over to the naughty corner where Sherlock, his Sherlock, was laughing with another boy.

Sebastian looked to where his friend was looking.  “I heard Mrs Hudson say that his name was John.  He started here today.”

James hissed.  “I think we need to teach John what he is allowed to play with and what is not his.”

Sebastian smiled.  He liked a good fight.

~o~

Sherlock smiled at the boy who had sat down and actually asked how he had got into the kitchen to explode the milk jug.  Sherlock had told him.  The boy had laughed and then said he was brilliant.  

Sherlock couldn’t stop the grin.  Nobody said he was brilliant.  

John asked him what else he could make explode.  Sherlock made himself comfortable.  This was going to be a long chat.

~o~

John didn’t want to go.  He had been having a good time at Daycare, despite being put in the naughty corner for pushing over Jeff, who had been trying to give Sherlock a lolly that had been stuck up Sebastian’s nose.

“Oh, don’t worry dear” Mrs H told him as he tried to drop to the floor, rather than let his mum walk him out of the room, but her grip on his hand was tight and he just sort of ended up hanging from her hand.  “You can come back tomorrow and all your little friends will be here then, too.”

John seemed mildly appeased with that and only agreed to stand up properly when his mother confirmed that, yes, he would be coming back again tomorrow.

“Bye John” Mike waved cheerily as he walked out the door.  

John turned and waved back, a toothy smile on his face, knowing that he would definitely be coming back tomorrow.

Chapter 2: A Kidnapping & An Ambush

Summary:

It's going to be a busy day for John.

~~~~~~~~~~

Mycroft stood in the middle of the almost empty shed and waited patiently.  It wouldn’t be long now before they arrived, Gregory and his...guest.

The play equipment shed was the perfect place for the meeting.  It was currently empty, quiet and his brother had already explored it and found it to be ‘ boring ’.  There would be no interuptions.

Just then, the door of the shed swung open and Gregory walked in, with John Watson and they were laughing .  Eventually, closing the door behind them, they came to a stop in front of Mycroft, both smiling at their prior joke.

“Mister John Watson, if you wouldn’t mind waiting here” Mycroft said with a fake smile and then, without waiting for an answer, grabbed Gregory and dragged him over to the corner.

“What are you doing” he asked in an unimpressed whisper.  Gregory looked at him with a confused expression.

“You told me to get John and bring him here, so I did.”

“I told you to kidnap him, not laugh and make jokes.”

“Well, how am I supposed to know how to kidnap someone.  I’m only seven and Mrs Hudson is just outside, plus you saw how John took down Jeff yesterday.  He may be small, but…”

“Excuse me.”

Both Mycroft and Greg jumped at the voice that was right behind them.  Quickly they both spun around to face John Watson.

“Can I go now, it’s just, it’s almost morning snack and I don’t want to miss it.”

Mycroft, with an intimidating frown on his face, stepped forward.  Much to his chagrin, John didn’t seem intimidated.

“John Watson” he said smoothly.  “I noticed yesterday that you were very friendly with Sherlock Holmes.”

At the name, Johns faces broke out into a huge smile.  “Yeah, he told me how to turn Harry’s shampoo into glue without her knowing.”

Mycroft rolled his eyes.  He had learned the hard way that his brother had mastered the fundamentals of Chemistry and the art of treachery at the age of four.

“Tell me, John, what are your intentions with Sherlock?”

John looked confused.  “What?”

“Your intentions” Mycroft repeated.

There was silence for a bit.  “I don’t know what you’re saying” John finally admitted.

Mycroft sighed and Greg sniggered.  Mycroft had a feeling it was at him, and not at the limited vocabulary of John.  It didn’t help his mood.

“Why are you friends with Sherlock Holmes?”  He asked instead.  “Who put you up to it?”

Again, John looked confused.  Mycroft was getting very frustrated.  

“I like him?” John replied slowly, not sure if this was the right answer.

“Nobody likes Sherlock.” Mycroft replied, suspicious.  It was true.  James had a weird obsession with the boy, but it wasn’t exactly of a friendly nature.   His brother was more of an outcast than Mycroft himself.  

Johns smile grew.  “Nah” he said.  “Loads of people like Sherlock.  There is Molly and Irene and Mike.  I think Mary likes him too and Mrs Hudson called him charming.”

“That was sarcastically” Gregory muttered quietly and Mycroft ignored him, because, again, it was true.

“Other people don’t like Sherlock” Mycroft repeated because it was fact.  There was no proof that they had ever wanted anything to do with him.

“Nope” John sang happily.  “You’re wrong.  But, I’m gonna go now, ‘cause your brother told me that if I don’t hurry up and get a morning snack before you, then you’d eat them all.  Bye” and then Mycroft was alone, in the shed, with a giggling Gregory.

Mycroft was furious.

~o~

James watched as Watson made his way to the bathroom, probably to wash off the paint he had on his hands.  He had made quite a mess, unlike himself and Sebastian, who took care with their work.  But then again.  John was rather common.  Another reason why he had to get him away from Sherlock, lest he make the small genius just as boring.

With a small tip of his head towards the bathroom door, James indicated that Seabstian should follow him.

John didn’t hear him enter the bathroom.  He was too busy washing his hands, very thoroughly.

“Clean hands are healthy hands” John was repeating quietly to himself, as he rubbed his hands under the running water, with far too much soap than was necessary.

James stood and observed the boy, trying to see what Sherlock saw.  For the life of him, he couldn’t see anything special.

After a few seconds of observing John quietly, Sebastian entered the bathroom.  The noise of the bigger boy entering got John’s attention and he looked up from where he was still cleaning his hands.

Much to James’ annoyance, John didn’t seem too bothered and he looked away from the two of them to do a final rinse of his hands and then turned the tap off, making sure it was tight and the spout wasn’t dribbling.  He then made to step towards the door, but stopped when Sebastian moved forward.

“Not so fast, Watson.  We want a word with you” and without warning, Sebastian bustled John into the toilet cubicle, pushing John back far enough that James could follow them in and shut and latch the door.

“Let me out” John demanded, angrily.  Sebastian just laughed and stepped as much to the side as possible to allow James to step closer to John.

“You have been playing with things that aren’t yours” he said to John, looking down at the shorter boy.  John didn’t look perturbed.

“Well, duh, none of the toys belong to anybody.  They are all Mrs Hudsons.”

James hissed, baring his teeth.  “Sherlock.”

“Yeah, he plays with ‘em too.  We all do.  Mary and Molly and Greg.  Not Mycroft though.  He just sort of sits there and…”

“Not what I mean, doofus” James yelled and then stopped, cocking his head.  He thought he had heard something, but now there was nothing but the breathing of the three boys.  He turned back to John.

“Sherlock is not yours” he spat, poking John in the chest.

John swatted James’ finger away.  “Yeah, I know.  Again, duh .”

“Then stop. Playing. With. Him.”  James was now leaning over John, a manoeuvre that caused the other children to start shaking and made their bottom lip start trembling.  Not this stubborn idiot.  This idiot leaned back towards James, making him straighten up.

“No” he said.

James was just deciding whether he should push back or let Sebastian deal with him, but a small voice from the floor stopped him.

“Yeah, no.”

All three boys looked down to see Sherlock’s head sticking under the gap in the wall that separated the cubicles.  He didn’t look at all impressed.

“Sherlock, you can’t come in here” John said, pushing himself further to the back of the cubicle, sitting up on the closed toilet seat, so he didn’t accidentally step on Sherlock’s head.  “You won’t fit.”

Unfortunately, Sherlock never made it a habit to listen to good advice and instead somehow managed to pull himself into the cubicle and stood up, squeezing himself in with the other three boys.

This caused James to step back, which caused Sebastian to step back, pushing him up against the door, the lock digging into his back. It was very cramped indeed.

“Can we do this outside?” John asked.  Sebastian grunted in agreement.  Both Sherlock and James ignored them, both staring each other down.

“John can play with me if he wants” Sherlock stated stubbornly.

“No he can’t.  Only I play with you” was James’ reply.

“I don’t want to play with you.  I want to play with John” Sherlock shouted back, his hand coming up to push James, but due to the limited room to move, he ended up smacking John under the chin.

“It doesn’t matter what you want, Sherlock.”

“Yes it does” John snapped.  “He can play with whoever he wants to.”

“Stay out of this” James snapped over Sherlocks shoulder, glaring at John.

“Can we please get out of here” Sebastian yelled over the arguing.  “The lock is digging into my back and everytime one of you move it pushes me back even further.”

James managed to swivel his head around enough to glare at Sebastian.  How dare he interrupt James.

“I’ll be able to punch him for you if we get out of here” Sebastian offered.  This appeased James and he gave a curt nod.

“Fine.  If you’ll just open the door.”

There was a brief tossle as Sebastian, who was by no means a petite boy, tried to turn around.  When that didn’t work, he tried reaching behind to reach the lock, but his arms were too short.

“Oh, let me” Sherlock huffed, reaching over James to try and reach the lock, but while his arm could reach Sebastian’s shoulder, it couldn’t reach behind it to where the lock was.

“This is your fault” James sneered at Sherlock.  “If you hadn’t wiggled in, we’d have room to move.”

Sherlock stuck his tongue out at James.  “I’ll just wiggle out again.  No need to get your knickers in a twist.”

Sherlock twisted to slide back onto the floor again but was pulled to a stop.  

“What now” James groaned, when Sherlock hummed out an “ Ummmm .”

“My shorts seem to be caught on the toilet roll holder” he said, looking behind him.  After much twisting and pulling and wriggling about, it was clear that Sherlock was not going to be able to pull himself free.

“You’ll have to wiggle out of your shorts” James stated as a matter of fact.

“I am not taking off my shorts:” Sherlock replied back, shocked at even the idea.

John let out a sigh.  “Maybe” He suggested, looking up.  “If Sherlock holds still, I can climb on his shoulders and over the wall to the other side.”

The other three boys looked up.  There was a gap between the ceiling and the dividing wall, plenty big enough for John to fit through.  

“Okay” James decided for all of them.

Awkwardly, John got his legs up under him and went to stand on the toilet seat to lever himself up onto Sherlocks shoulders, but then, there was the loudest crack, followed by a yelp and a splash as John fell through the toilet lid, which wasn’t made strong enough for a person, no matter how short, to stand on.

“Well, damn” John said, looking down at his feet, ankle deep in thankfully flushed toilet water.

~o~

Mrs Hudson taped the final laminated sign to the last toilet door.

‘ Only one person, in each stall, at a time. ’

Honestly, what in the world would four boys need to be in one stall for.  She shook her head.  She didn’t think she would ever fully understand kids these days.

~o~

John sat with Sherlock, on the mat, barefooted while his shoes and socks dried.  They had been told, by a very flustered Mrs Hudson, that they were not to leave the mat.

That didn’t bother John, at all.  He was happy to sit there, colouring in with Sherlock.  James on the other hand, wasn’t so happy.  He sat on the other side of Sherlock and everytime Sherlock took Johns crayons, instead of James’, John would look up to see what shade of red the other boy was when he glared at John this time.  

The third time this happened, he was stopped from poking his tongue out at James, over Sherlock’s head, by Mycroft stopping in front of him.

“That is a very interesting choice of colours” he said, looking down at Johns picture.

“Thank you” John said, the same time Sherlock said “Go away, Mycroft.”

Mycroft ignored his brother and instead gave John a small smile.  “No, thank you, John” and then he wandered back over to where Greg and Irene were sitting, at the big kids table.

John shrugged off Mycroft’s comment, not sure what he had done to be thanked, and continued colouring, pushing his crayons closer to Sherlock, grinning at the angry hissing that was coming from the other side of his friend.

Chapter 3: The Nurse

Summary:

John helps Greg to the nurses office and falls in love.

Notes:

I haven't forgotten about this little fic, I have just been oober busy with RL and other fics. (It's my own fault for having multiple ones on the go.)
Anyways, here it is, chapter three of the Baker Street Daycare and I promise that soon, they will stop becoming so JohnCentric and I won't promise it will happen but I will promise to at least try to have other chapters up quicker than this one took to get posted!

~~~~~~~~~~

It is going to be one of those days , Martha thought to herself as she sent Sally to the naughty corner.  It was truly a rare day that someone other than Sherlock (and lately, John) was sat there.  In the meantime she had to get this mess cleaned up.  There were small drops of blood on the tiles, which was freaking Mycroft out, yet intriguing both Sherlock and James and there was water quickly dribbling from the cracked fish bowl that had been hit with the ball after it had bounced off of Greg’s face.  On top of all of that, Sebastian was trying to get Sally into even more trouble by pretending to be traumatised even though the ball that was thrown at him had hit Greg after he had unknowingly walked in its path.  

Mondays were always the worst.  Sometimes she just wished she had stayed the wife of a drug lord.

~o~

John was proper miffed at having to stop building his lego space pirate ship to take Greg to the nurses office, but Mrs H had asked him super nicely, so it was the least he could do.  He was just glad Greg wasn’t being a dawdling dandy, as his mum liked to say, because if he didn’t get back soon, Sherlock would turn his masterful creation into just a pirate ship.

It didn’t take long to get to the nurses office even though John had never been there.  He knew there was a nurse.  Mary had to have a crayon pulled out of her nose, just last week, but he had never been there himself.  It was just past the toilets and down the back hall.  

The whole time, Greg muffled through his tissue about how his mum was going to be super angry that he got hit in the nose.  Again.  It wasn’t like it was his fault.  He just always seemed to be in the wrong spot at the wrong time.  

John just nodded in agreeance and encouraged Greg to continue quickly.  Captain Bucky Shooting-Star’s transport depended on it.

Only, when he reached the nurses station, all thoughts of space pirate ships and lego fled his mind.  As soon as that door opened and that voice said, “ Oh, dear.  What have we got this time? ” John fell in love.

~o~

James was thrilled.  Elated.  Ecstatic.  Ever since he had taken that idiot, Greg to the nurses office, John had hardly paid Sherlock any attention at all.  It had been wonderful.  He must remember to slip Sally an extra cheese stick at snack time.

~o~

Mary was fuming.  If she wasn’t five years old she would adamantly be denying the fact that she was jealous, but the truth of the matter was, it had been over a day and John hadn’t said more than three words to her.  He had spent all of yesterday afternoon and all of this morning, mooning at the corridor and drawing pictures with love hearts and that horrible lady in it.  It was unacceptable.  He was so in love with that despicable woman, he wasn’t even paying any attention to Sherlock, let alone Mary!

It wasn’t fair.  The nurse used lollipops to win his affections, she just knew it.

~o~

It had gone too far.

John had just strolled into daycare, his hands clutching a bunch of daisies and sour sobs that he had clearly picked from his backyard.

Sherlock had been excited, hoping John had brought them in so Sherlock could experiment on them but his his excitement had soon turned to complete and utter displeasure.

The flowers were for Nurse Sawyer.  

It had been three days now and John was still chasing after that...that... that woman . It was repugnant.  And it needed to stop.  Instantly.

Not only had John, since meeting that woman, not been paying attention to Sherlock, but James had been paying extra attention to him, which at times was interesting, but on a whole was just irritating.

John needed to stop pining and pay his attention back to Sherlock.  He was Sherlock’s friend.  Not Nurse Sawyers.

~o~

Greg couldn’t help giggling.  Sherlock had never pouted as hard as he was pouting now, in the entire time that Greg had known him and that had been forever.  What made it even funnier was the matching pout that was on Mary’s face who was sat next to him, both of them glaring at John who was at the crafts table making something out of pink paper and red glitter.

To top it off James was going through cycles of being absolutely thrilled at Sherlock and John being seperated for once and then throwing a tantrum because Sherlock was still not paying him any attention.

Irene was sat at the big kids table, next to him, also enjoying the spectacle before them.  

“We can probably expect a happy announcement any day now” she said with a smile that spelled mischief.  

“About what?” Greg asked and he could feel the eye roll coming from Mycroft.  

“Irene has been giving tips to John about his budding romance with Nurse Sawyer” he said sulkily, sounding a lot like his younger brother.  “She has been feeding his ideas of love to the point where he is going to come to the conclusion that he wants to marry the woman.”

At this Greg laughed again.

“The problem with all of this” Mycroft said, clearly unimpressed with everything, “Is that everyone is missing one very important detail.”

“What detail?” Greg asked.  

Irene just smirked.  Clearly she already knew what the detail was.

“You look, Gregory, but you do not observe.”

Greg grumbled at that saying.  He hated it.  He didn’t know what Mycroft meant when he said that.

“With all the times you have been patched up by Nurse Sawyer, I thought you would have noticed by now.”

Greg thought back to all the times he had been to the nurses office, and it had been many times, but he had no idea what Mycroft was on about.  One look at the other boy was enough to tell him that if Greg didn’t figure it out on his own, then Mycroft wasn’t going to inform him either.

“I at least thought my brother would have noticed” Mycroft huffed and that was clearly the end of that conversation.

~o~

It had been five glorious days since John had fallen in love.  Today had been the day that he was going to ask Nurse Sawyer to marry him.  He had a bag of heart shaped candies and a ring he had won (after five tries and  £3.75) from the little machine out the front of the greengrocers, in his pocket. All he had to do was sneak away when Mrs H wasn’t looking.  

It was after afternoon snack time that John saw his opportunity.  Mrs H was distracted by pulling Sally and Sebastian apart after another fight when John made to sneak off towards the door that would take him past the toilets.  He had just made it to the door of the girls toilets when he was stopped.

“Oh, Dean, is it that time already?”  he heard Mrs Hudson ask and John, being John, let curiosity get the better of him and he turned his head to see a man standing by the front door, smiling in a very friendly way at Mrs Hudson.  

“It’s that time already” said the man.  He was very tall and John could see that he had very muscly arms and very white teeth that sparkled when he smiled.  

“He is sooo handsome” Molly whispered from the left of him and John looked at her to see that she was talking to Irene.  Irene just nodded, her eyes not leaving the new mans face.

“I will just go and get Sarah” Mrs Hudson said to their visitor and John realised, as he saw Mrs Hudson heading towards him, that he had lost his chance to sneak off to Nurse Sawyer.  He would just have to wait until this man and Sarah, whoever she was, had left and chaos ensued once again in the daycare centre.

“The green door, John, not the orange one” Mrs Hudson said as she passed him, turning him so he was directed back to the boys toilets and then she continued her way up the corridor.

It was just then that Mike came out of the toilets and looking up, he smiled at the newcomer.  “Hi Dean” he called, waving his chubby hand in an over enthusiastic greeting.

“Good afternoon, Mike” the man replied, smiling and waving at Mike.

“Who is that?” Molly asked, in a low whisper, coming over to get the gossip on the apparently very handsome man.  Personally, John agreed that he did look rather dashing.  

“That’s Dean” Mike told her.  “He helps my dad work on his car.”

“But why is he here?” John asked, getting in on the whispered conversation.  Behind him, he heard Mycroft groan in frustration, but John ignored him.  He was always frustrated.

“Probably to pick up Sarah” Mike replied.  

“Who?”  This was asked by John and Molly at the same time.

“Nurse Sawyer.  Her name is Sarah.”

John ignored the fact that it never occurred to him that Nurse Sawyer had a first name and instead got to the important fact.

“Why would he do that?” John asked, no longer whispering and feeling a little bit angry.  Why would this man want to talk to Sarah (and what a lovely name it was, too).  

“Because he is her husband”  Mike replied simply.  “And I heard him tell dad last night that they were having their first ultrasound today.  Not sure what it is, but it must be awesome if it is ultra, right?”

John didn’t answer.  He was too busy wondering why it felt like his stomach was now down at his feet.

How could it be possible?  How had someone already married Nurse Sawyer?  John was going to love her and live with her for the rest of his life.  But not now.  Now this man, this... Dean was taking her away to something so awesome it was ultra.

Just then, Mrs Hudson and Nurse Sawyer bustled past, chatting happily and John slipped his hand into his pocket and wrapped it around the ring that was there.   He almost squeezed it hard enough to break it, just like his heart was doing right then.

“John” came the quiet voice of Sherlock as the younger boys hand slipped around the one that wasn’t in his pocket.  “Are you okay?”

John gave a nod, but the tears in his eyes said otherwise.  “You can marry me if you want” Sherlock offered.

John was about to ask how Sherlock knew he was going to ask Nurse Sawyer to marry him when he was yanked the other way by Mary looping her arm around his and pulling him towards her.

“He can’t marry you Sherlock. You’re a boy.  He is going to marry me!”

Instantly, John was pulled back the other way.  “That’s just stupid, Mary.  John can marry who he wants and he is going to marry me!”

“No he’s not” Mary argued, pulling John back to her.

This went on for sometime until John felt like his arms were going to be pulled off.  Eventually Mary was happy to accept the ring that John was going to give to Nurse Sawyer with the promise that he would think about marrying her and Sherlock was happy hugging John tight against his chest and glaring at Mary over Johns head.

And through it all, John forgot about Nurse Sawyer and his broken heart also forgot to feel broken while he got into a contest with James over who could stick their tongue out at each other the furthest.  It was difficult with Sherlock’s arm wrapped around his head and Johns cheek squished up against his chest but John managed and even considered himself a winner when James started crying because he stuck his tongue out too far and got a cramp.

~o~

It was Monday again and things were back to normal at the Baker Street Daycare.  Nurse Sawyer was in her room, Sally was trying to throw things at Sebastian again because he said Phillip wore girls knickers, James was advising Sherlock about the sneakiest way to pour paint into Mycroft’s briefcase.  Molly and Mike were making people out of playdough and pipe cleaners while Mycroft recounted his weekend to Greg who was having a hard time looking interested and John, well, John was getting his toe nails painted by Irene and was most definitely not in love anymore.

All in all, it was a good start to the week.

Chapter 4: Dressing For the Occasion

Summary:

It is dress-up day at the daycare centre.

~~~~~~~~~~

Every now and then, Mrs Hudson would bring out the big box of dress-ups that she kept in the office.  The children loved it when she did this, but you had to be quick to get the costume you wanted.

~o~

As soon as the box was placed on the floor, Molly rushed forward.  She was not going to be the fairy princess again.  They always made her be the fairy princess and while at first, she had felt pretty in the pink dress, glittery wings and shiny tiara, it soon got boring because the fairy princess always had to wait around to be rescued.  Well, this time, it wasn’t going to be her.

For once, she reached the box first and triumphantly pulled out the pirate hat.

Today, she was the feared pirate, Cap’n Hooper.  

Sherlock was not at all happy.

~o~

James only had to send a glare at Mike and the chubby boy dropped the dragon mask.  The dragon was James’.  No one else could have it.  

Picking up the mask from where it had fallen, he pulled the wings and the tail out of the box and took them to his corner by the kitchen door to get dressed.

He’d soon be ready to burn everyone to a crisp.

~o~

Mary wrapped the black mask around her face, silent like the night.  

She liked being the ninja.  Her mother told her that the father she had never met was really a secret spy and Mary liked to think that one day, she would follow in his footsteps, but there was no secret spy costume so ninja would have to do.

It also made her feel a little bit like a black cat all graceful and quick. A perfect disguise when trying to get close to your enemies.

~o~

Phillip dug through the box, almost falling in twice, looking for his costume.  He didn’t have to worry about anyone else taking it first because no one ever wanted to be the dinosaur.  Apparently the floppy white hat with the red roses in it made it look too silly.  

Phillip didn’t care.  He just wanted to be the dinosaur.

~o~

Sally held up the blue hat and the red bodysuit, weighing up which costume she wanted to wear.  She didn’t understand why there couldn’t be a Batman costume.  Batman was truly, the best superhero.

Deciding that Ironman was closer to Batman than a police officer, Sally dropped the blue cap and then reached in and pulled out the Ironman mask before John or Sebastian got to it first.

~o~

After being scared off by Jim (and that was before he became a dragon) Mike had scuttled closer to the back of the group, which meant that not only did he not get to be a dragon, but the Ironman costume had also gone.

With a sigh, he riffled through the box until he found something he hadn’t worn yet.  In no time, he had the white coat on and the stethoscope slung around his neck.  He was fairly certain that there was a Barbie who needed it’s arm reattached.

~o~

With a self satisfied smirk, Irene placed a crown on her head and tied the fur lined cape around her neck.

If anyone was going to rule this unruly lot, it was going to be her.

Pulling out a bundle of shiny black fabric out of the box, she turned to John.   “Here, put these on”

~o~

John took the black hat and dress from Irene and looked at it, horrified.

“This is a girls costume” he said.

Irene didn’t answer, but Molly piped up, laying his fears to rest.

“Not always” She said.  “If a girl wears it, it is a witches costume.  If a boy wears it, then it is a wizard costume.  Mrs Hudson said so.”

This seemed to sooth Johns agitation at wearing a girls costume and he put it on.

“Watson’s wearing a dress” Phillip laughed.

Mary kicked him.  

“It’s not a dress, it’s  a robe.  Do your research” Sherlock said, in Johns defence.

~o~

Greg ignored the debate over witches and wizards while quickly sneaking into the box and crowing with joy when he finally got a hold of the blue hat, shirt and silver plastic handcuffs.

He was almost devastated when he had seen Sally with the policeman hat earlier but knew he would have to get in quick before Sebastian got the costume again.  That boy really did make a dirty, rotten cop.

~o~

Sebastian shoved Sherlock out of the waying, knowing that there was only one decent costume left, and damned if he wasn’t going to get it.

There, in the bottom of the box, covered by pink frills and glittered wings, was the stetson and he knew that underneath would be the fringed waistcoat and gun belt.  

He quickly pulled the items out of the box, before Holmes could beat him to it.

“Yippee ki yay, mother…”

“Don’t you dare finish that sentence, young man” came the admonishing tone of Mrs Hudson.

~o~

Sherlock didn’t want to be the fire princess and he stomped his foot when he saw that it was the last costume left.

“But you will make a lovely fairy princess, Sherlock” Irene told him, placing the small plastic tiara on his head.  “Your hair is so soft and pretty, the tiara sits in it just right, and the colour of the jewels match your eyes perfectly” she said, fluffing his hair up around the small crown.

Sherlock thought about her words.  He did have pretty hair and she was right.  The blue and green stones on the crown were the same colour as his eyes.

He looked to John.  John smiled back at him.

“Fine” he grumbled.  “But I’m not wearing the dress!”

~o~

Mycroft looked down on all the other children, from his his usual perch at his desk and huffed out a sigh.

Dress-ups were terribly pedestrian and extremely childish.  He would expect such behaviour, as what he was currently witnessing, from the younger children, such as Molly and Sherlock and John, but he would have thought that Gregory, and even Irene would have shown a bit more restraint.

Honestly, this was worse than making macaroni necklaces.  At least Mummy gushed words of praise over those.

~o~

Mary sidled up next to John and smiled down at him (it still miffed him that he was the shortest kid there).

“Our costumes match” she said, bumping her shoulder into his.

John looked to hers and then down at his, thinking wistfully that he would have liked to have had the ninja costume.

“They’re both black” she said when John didn’t reply, too busy caught up in what could have been, had he only been quicker.

John didn’t get to answer her because at that moment a high pitch squeak came from Sherlock followed by a deafening roar from James.

“No one can get to the fairy princess unless they come past me and I will burrrrrn anyone who tries, ROARRRRRR .”

Sherlock looked a mix between terrified and annoyed.  “You never stop anyone from saving Molly when she is the fairy princess.”

He was met by a growling hiss from James, and shrunk back to sit on the bean bag that was apparently reserved as the guarded tower.

John’s face scrunched up in anger.  “I’ll save you” he called out and, hiking up his dress robe (as it was too long), he set forward to charge the evil dragon, to slay it with his magic wand, only to be stopped when Phillip stepped in front of him.

“You can’t save him Watson” he said matter of factly.  “You are the wizard.  You put him in the tower in the first place.  That is what the wizard does.”

John went to open his mouth to protest but was stopped by a tugging on his arm.  It was Mary.

“He is right, John.  Let’s go see if we can capture the queen to go with the fairy princess.”

A gentle hissing sound came from the desks, where Irene was sitting with Mycroft.  “If you even think about ruffling my garments, I’ll have you whipped.”

“Blocks?” Mary asked John instead.  

John looked back to Sherlock.  He was now looking very annoyed, with his arms crossed across his chest and a pout on his lips.  Clearly, he didn’t want to wait to be rescued, but the rules of the game said he had to.  John gave him a reassuring nod to let him know that he would think about a way to get him out of the tower, before letting himself be pulled away by Mary.

As the two made their way over to the blocks Phillip let out a roar, only half as terrifying as James’.

“What do you think you are doing, Anderson?” James sneered, putting himself right in front of Phillip.

“Helping you guard the tower, so the fairy princess doesn’t escape” he stated.

Both looked back to Sherlock who had dramatically thrown himself back over the bean bag, limbs splayed, head back, wings getting squashed out of shape and Tiara only hanging on because the clips were tangled in his curls, desperately tired of waiting to be saved. “ Borrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrred ” he groaned, slowly and painfully.

James and Phillip ignored him and went back to staring each other down.

“I don’t need the help of a boring, ordinary, little dinosaur” James stated, baring his teeth.

“Dinosaurs aren’t boring” Phillip replied, getting angry at the disrespect towards his most favourite animal.

“Dull” James sid flatly.

Phillip went to reply but it was about then that Sebastian decided to step in.

“Hey, Dorothy, I do believe the dragon told you to back” and here he pushed Phillip in the chest.  “Away.” Another push.

“Oi, moron” Sally yelled, barraging up to put herself in between Phillip and Sebastian. Her voice was muffled by the Ironman mask, but was loud enough that every word of her next threat was understood. “Touch him again and I’ll kick you in the goolies.”  

“I’d like to see you try, you little twirp” Sebastian replied with a push to Sally.

Sally never got a chance to react because Molly saw her chance to prove she was indeed a dreaded pirate to be feared and ran up to Sebastian and jabbed him in the side with her sword, before pulling it back and whacking him in the back of the knees with it.

“Take that, you scurvy dog” she yelled as he dropped to the ground.  Sally took that as her opportunity to leap onto his back and start pulling his hair.  Sebastian’s arms flailed wildly as he hit at the crazy girl attached to his back.

Greg grinned.  This was his opportunity to prove that he could be a great copper.  Quickly, he rushed in and pulled Sally off of Sebastian’s back, but not before she got a good yank of his hair in.

“You are under arrest” he said to Sebastian, clinking the set of plastic handcuffs around Sebastian’s wrist.

“Why me?” Sebastian roared, outraged.

“Because, you hit a girl and my dad always said it was a crime to hit a girl” Greg informed him, attaching the other end of the cuffs to the painting bench.

“She hit me first” Sebastian groused.  “She’s crazy.”

Greg wasn’t listening to him though.  He was patting down his pockets, wondering if he had actually had the key to the handcuffs before or if he had just thought he did, because he certainly didn’t have them now.

Meanwhile, back at the protected tower, James was roaring in outrage as blocks came sailing at him from the play mat.  

John had enlisted Mike to help him make slingshots to shoot the blocks at the dragon so he could rush in and rescue the princess.  

At first, Mary had sulked as that was not what she had meant when she asked John to play blocks with her but when she saw how much fun the doctor and the wizard were having, she couldn’t help but join in, showing the boys how better to aim, to hit James in the head.

Sally and Molly were helping Greg look for the lost key, while Sebastian yelled at them to set him free. Mary, John and Mike were having fun, firing blocks at James and James was furiously trying to swat blocks out of the air so they didn’t smack him in the face.

In the meantime Phillip was back in the cooties corner, playing on his own with his toy dinosaurs, forgetting all about guarding the fairy princess.

Throughout it all,  Sherlock had fallen asleep, curled up on the bean bag, his misshapen wings acting as some sort of protective blanket across his shoulders.

Mrs Hudson was wondering if any of the parents would mind if she took her herbal soothers before the kids went home.

Irene sat elegantly on the desk, her legs crossed like a proper lady. “Look at all this mayhem” she cooed happily, only loud enough for those close to her to hear.  “Isn’t it wonderful.”

Her happy mood obviously didn’t have any effect on Mycroft.  He just let out a frustrated huff.

“This is exactly what happens when you don’t have a proper structure of government” he said, wincing when a shrill cry, followed by a loud crash came from the other side of the room.

~o~

Mrs Hudson placed the last item of dress-up in the box, closed the lid and placed it back in her office.  Today was the perfect reminder as to why she didn’t leave it out all the time.  

With any luck, Sebastian’s ‘ goolies ’ wouldn’t bruise and thankfully, Mrs Holmes had been sympathetic about the chunk that had been cut out of Sherlock’s hair in order to remove the tiara.  

Dress-up days were more aptly described as stress-up days.

At least the wand had been easy to remove from Johns nose.