Disadvantageous

Chapter 25

A large smile grew across Lydia's face as she awoke the next morning, remembering how it felt to awake in the strong, protective arms of Sherlock. She nuzzled into his chest wrapping her leg around his, hoping to catch a few more minutes of sleep.

However Sherlock pressed a kiss to her temple and asked, "shouldn't we be getting up, Lia? We do need to go pick up Willow."

"Just a few more minutes," she mumbled, keeping her eyes shut.

"Lia," Sherlock spoke as he brushed some lose hairs out of her face. "John's meeting me at the flat to start cleaning up the wreckage and I had rather hoped to see my daughter before I had to disappear for the rest of the day."

This caused Lydia to raise up a bit, her lips downturned slightly, "I don't have to be at the theatre until this evening, why don't we spend the day with you?"

"I didn't think you'd want to have Willow there, there'd be far too many hazards."

"I'm sure Mrs. Hudson would love to watch her while we worked. That way you can still spend the day with us, even if she won't always be in the same room."

"Do you think she'll be ok with that?"

Lydia gave him a smile and assured him, "she'll be ecstatic to see you and then she'll get pampered by Mrs. Hudson, I'm fairly confident that is her description of a perfect day."

Sherlock nodded, "Mrs. Hudson will have Rosie as well, I believe. John mentioned that she and Willow get along well."

"They're almost like sisters." Lydia rolled onto her back, stretching out her limbs as she heaved a sigh. "Well, you've succeeded in fully waking me up. I suppose I should go shower before heading out. Feel free to search my kitchen for something to eat, if you don't find anything, I'll just cook us up some eggs."

With that, she placed a kiss in Sherlock's cheek then climbed out of bed. Sherlock watched her as she collected a set of clothes for the day and then left the room, wondering why observing her doing such a mundane task made him so happy. But she had forgiven him, he could kiss her again, hold her close to him. He missed that affection, no matter how much he had shunned it before she had come into his life.

After breakfasting, he and Lydia left for Zoe's flat, Lydia's hand resting comfortably in Sherlock's. The physical contact made Lydia beam; she had greatly missed Sherlock's little displays of affection like handholding and she was thrilled by how quickly he had jumped back into them.

Lydia knocked on the door of Zoe's flat, prompting her boyfriend, Peter, to open the door. He gave Lydia a warm smile, "hey Lia, Willow's almost ready to go home. She was a bit determined to not wear trousers today."

"Well, that certainly sounds like her," Lydia smiled, stepping inside of the flat. "Thank you again for watching her for the night, I just needed a break for one night."

Peter caught sight of Sherlock, who trailed in uncertainly after Lydia, and commented, "yes, it appears you really just wanted a break. Had nothing to do with a certain ex of yours showing up at your doorstep."

"It certainly was a result of my actions, but not because I had shown up at her flat. In fact, I only went over last night in a desperate attempt to fix the pain I had already caused," Sherlock explained, taking in Zoe's flat and no doubt analysing every crevice.

Peter frowned at Sherlock's words, rather confused as to what had happened before asking, "do I really want to know?"

"It's quite the story to tell, actually. Essentially a psychopath tried to manipulate Sherlock's emotions and he came over to apologise and confess that he still cares for me."

"It's more than that, Lia, I still love you."

"Bloody hell, clearly I've missed something," Zoe spoke as she entered the room with Willow in her arms, only to find Sherlock professing his love to his ex in her sitting room.

Before either Sherlock or Lydia had a chance to explain, Willow caught sight of Sherlock and let out a delighted squeal before crying out, "daddy!"

Sherlock's smile grew upon seeing his daughter and he stepped forward to take her in his arms, "hello darling, I know it's been so long since I last was able to visit you, but I've solved the case and now we can be together again. That is, if you and your mum will still have me."

Willow responded by burying her face in Sherlock's neck as she clung to him as tightly as she could. Sherlock kissed the top of her head, grateful to have his daughter back in his arms. He had never thought that he would have wanted children, had Lydia ever asked him he would have most certainly said no. But Willow amazed him and had quickly weaselled her way into his heart, much like her mother had.

"You didn't tell me Sherlock was back in the picture," Zoe muttered to Lydia, watching Sherlock interact with his daughter.

"Wasn't really expecting it, honestly. I was hoping to spend the night wallowing in self pity, then he showed up at my door, professing his love for me," Lydia explained, her heart feeling almost weightless knowing that her family was together again. But this time there were no barriers, no reasons they had to hide their feelings.

"Thank you again, Zoe, for watching her, but I suppose we best be heading out, we're meeting John at 221B," Lydia turned to her friend once again, bringing her into a hug.

Zoe smiled in her friend's embrace, "of course, just make sure you keep me up to date on you and Sherlock."

Lydia rolled her eyes, "of course, Zo."

Throughout the entire ride to 221B, neither Sherlock nor Willow let go of each other, happy to finally have time together after so long apart.  The sight made Lydia smile, knowing that years ago Sherlock shunned any kind of affection, yet here he was being a loving partner and father.

As they opened the door to the block of flats, they found Mrs. Hudson coming down from Sherlock's flat with a bag of debris. Sherlock frowned, "you haven't already started cleaning up, have you?"

"Just a bit, there were some boys in here yesterday while you were at that awful prison and they assured me that the building is all still structurally sound. Figured I'd help clear some of the debris for you, though. I wasn't quite sure when you'd be returning. And look, you've come back with Lydia and Willow!"

"Hi, Mrs. Hudson, sorry it's been so long since our last visit," Lydia apologised sheepishly.

"Oh, you needn't apologise, my dear. I'm just glad you and Sherlock have made amends. I always knew you two would find your way back together. Hoped it wouldn't take this long, though. Here, let me just take this out to the bins then I'll bring Willow into my flat so you two can get started cleaning."

"Thanks, Mrs. Hudson," Lydia smiled at the old landlady, grateful that she and Sherlock had such a strong support network. It was impressive for him, in particular, who claimed that he could rely only on himself alone.

While Mrs. Hudson had stepped outside, John and Mary arrived at the flat, John only looking a little worse for wear. However his eyes did light up upon seeing Lydia standing in the foyer with Willow in her arms. He pulled her into an embrace, knowing that she and Sherlock must have made up. It was enough for John to know that even that little bit of good came out of the torture he, Mycroft, and Sherlock had to endure, not to mention the numerous other victims of Eurus.

Lydia felt her heart break feeling how John slumped into the hug, realising how exhausted and defeated he was. Partly too afraid to know and partly out of respect for Sherlock, Lydia had refrained from asking Sherlock for more details of what happened with Eurus, but it was clear that her boys had gone through hell. She was tempted to even ring up Mycroft and invite him over to help just so she could see how he was faring.

-

(A/N): And thus the repairing of the relationship begins! I hope that you enjoyed this chapter!