Pride and Deduce

Archie

I lied. This will be the last chapter until the Christmas episode. I couldn't resist having a chapter where they adopted a child. 

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Things were going smoothly for Alexandra and Holmes. All was quiet and peaceful for them. One evening, Alexandra was reading by the fire while Holmes did a little work for a case. Both of them were in the study. Holmes finished his work and sighed.

"Alexandra, dear?" He said.

"Yes, darling?" Alexandra said, looking up. Holmes rarely called her by her first name, so she knew this was important. "What is it?" 

"I feel like we're...missing something here." Holmes said.

"What would that be?" Alexandra asked, her heart beginning to race.

"Children." Holmes said. 

Alexandra started shaking. She was reliving when she had told her old husband that she didn't want children and he had beaten her within an inch of her life. She put her hands on either side of her head and tried to steady herself. She was now numb to everything around her. She didn't want to feel weak like this. It was frightening. 

Holmes had taken notice of his wife's state and was holding her in his arms. He knew what she was thinking about. He rubbed her back and shushed her.

"Alexandra, breathe." He said urgently. Alexandra finally looked up at him.

"I'm sorry." She said. "I lost control."

"I know." Holmes nodded. "It's not your fault, dear. The fault was mine. I should not have brought up a touchy subject so quickly."

"It's quite alright." Alexandra said. She did not leave her husband's arms, though. "So, you were saying about children?"

"We can talk about it later." Holmes said.

"No, we might as well speak about it now." Alexandra said. 

"I was thinking that we could adopt since you do not seem to want to have your own children." Holmes said. 

"I like that idea." Alexandra said, nodding. "It's not that I don't want to have my own children, it's that I'm frightened of it. I don't want to die from childbirth."

"I see." Holmes nodded. "When you married Mr. Akson...was that the reason you did not want children with him?"

"Partly. That and I felt I was too young." Alexandra said. "Also, I did not love him. If I'm ever going to have biological children, I want it to be with the one I love." 

"That would be me." Holmes said. Alexandra laughed quietly. 

"Yes, darling, that would be you." She whispered, kissing his cheek. "Well, when should we start looking for children?"

"I was thinking we could go to an orphanage tomorrow." Holmes said. "Would you like a boy or a girl?"

"I do not know just yet." Alexandra said, yawning. "Sorry, Mr. Holmes, that was unladylike."

"I do not mind." Holmes said. "You look tired. Let us go to bed." 

Holmes let Alexandra change into her nightgown first and then he changed into his nightclothes. He laid down beside his wife and noticed that she was already asleep. It was understandable since he had needed to put out the fire and all the candles in the house. He blew out the last candle in their room before pulling her into his arms and closing his eyes. He fell asleep listening to Alexandra's breathing.

The next morning, the two went to an orphanage that was ruled out almost instantly. Most of the children were in their early teens and neither Alexandra nor Holmes wanted that. They went to another orphanage. It had both boys and girls, but the two genders were in two different buildings. Alexandra and Holmes decided to look at the girls first and saw no one that caught their eye. When they went to the boys, however, there was one that Holmes saw and stopped dead.