Baker Street Boys

19

//NO WARNING//

Parentlock, with Rosie starting at a new school and maybe bringing someone home to meet her dads.

"Hey, Dad?"

John looked up from his laptop at his daughter, who looked that mood of too-nervous-to-be-tired.

"Hey, Rosie," he said. He knew how it was, the first day of a new high school. Rosie was starting her junior year knowing no one.

"Can you braid my hair?"

John didn't know how to braid hair. He knew how to tie knots and tourniquets, but his fingers were just not built for braiding.

But he sighed and patted his lap, resolving to give it his best shot. She perched there, the way she always did.

"This'll probably turn out horribly, Rosie. You do know that, right?" His response was greeted by her giggle, which never failed to warm his heart.

"That's alright, Dad."

Sherlock strolled from the bedroom into the kitchen at that moment, putting on the kettle and then the coffee maker.

"Good morning, Rosie. Don't be nervous, they're all idiots. Not worth worrying about."

"Thanks," Rosie said. John knew it would have come out sarcastic, but she was pale and worried.

She got up out of his lap once he had finished, and hugged Sherlock.

John smiled at the two, at how much softer Sherlock was around her.

Sherlock put his fingers under her chin and tilted her head to look at her hair.

"John?" He sounded appalled. "No, this is not a braid. You're amazing, John, at many things, but braiding is not one of them."

He leaned against the counter and started running his fingers through Rosie's thick blond hair, then carefully weaving the strands together.

"John, pass me a flower," he ordered. John obliged, and Sherlock slipped it into the braid, then stepped back as the kettle started whistling.

"Thanks, Father" she said happily, looking a little less nervous. Sherlock tended to have the opposite effect on most people, but John supposed being partially raised by him made the comments less blunt.

Sherlock smiled at her, making John smile.

Sometimes it just hit him, that he and Sherlock were together and okay and Rosie was happy and it filled him with this warm fuzzy feeling that he never wanted to dispel.

Those moments where the caring, gentle parts of Sherlock came out were John's favorite moments.

When the door closed behind Rosie, John stood up and walked to Sherlock's side, slipping an arm around his partner's waist and leaning into his warm side.

"She'll be fine," Sherlock said in a low voice, resting his chin on top of John's head.

"I know," John sighed.

When Rosie came back in the door, her cheeks were flushed and her steps were bouncing.

"Good day, Rosie?" Sherlock said knowingly. Rosie beamed at him and nodded enthusiastically. "Go do your homework," he said, ruffling her hair.

"Homework on the first day?" John asked in wonderment. "How did you know that, and why are high school teachers so cruel? It's only the first day!"

"She got her textbooks, and a new agenda book. She did writing today, with a colored pen and you know they only do work on the first day of school in math, which no one does in pen."