holmes ➢ sequel to athena

Chapter One

Emotions, Seeing John, and For the Love of God Shave Your Face

IT HAD BEEN two hours, only two hours, before Athena Noelle Holmes decided to call her father. Two seemed like a good number. He had been gone two years, and she felt too many feeling, and John's reaction would leave hers feeling way too mild. So she called him two hours later. The ringing traveled through her ear to her brain and knocked all the anger right out.

After the second ring passed, he answered his phone, and Athena immediately felt a sort of hopeless energy from his side of the phone. "Athena."

She cleared her throat quietly. "I know what you're about to do, Dad."

She could practically see him roll his eyes in that way of his that felt almost patronizing. "Obviously."

A bit of anger re-sparked in her brain, and her veins felt like they were on fire. "I don't think you should. John is going to-"

He laughed lightly. "John won't do anything too bad to me, honestly."

She balled his fist in her lap and pursed her lips tightly, collecting her thoughts. He was considered one the smarted men on the planet, yet he could be so dense sometimes. "Listen, this isn't about you this time, Dad. He's going out with Mary."

He sat there in silence for a moment, waiting for her to continue, and when she didn't, he closed his eyes and said, "When did you start calling me dad?"

Their conversation was becoming hesitant, as if they were walking atop eggshells. "I-I used to talk to your grave. I guess it just sort of happened."

There was a drawn out silence before he started to speak again. "Is John home?"

She stood from her place on the bed and opened her curtains to see if the car was there. "No. I suppose he's gone to 221B."

Sherlock didn't know what to say anymore, but he knew he needed to be with his daughter. "I'll be there in ten minutes."

"Okay."

∞

"Do you want to go get ice cream?" Sherlock asked once they were both seated in the back of the cab.

She kept herself from rolling her eyes and looked out the window. "I'm seventeen, Dad. You were gone for two years. I had to find other interests."

"Oh, um... Alright. Then... Let's go to the art museum you wanted to go to," he said hopefully.

Athena understood fully that the poor guy was trying, and it was sweet, but she just could not handle him at the moment. She spent so much time away from him that she didn't remember how to act when he was there. Seeing him just made her feel sort of...bitter.

"I went last summer with Riley," she said, biting her lip.

"Oh."

She glanced quickly at his crestfallen expression before looking back out the window and picking anxiously at her fingernails. "But I've never really been on the London Eye..."

Sherlock blinked. "Really?"

She nodded, still not looking at him, and bit her lip until she was almost sure she tasted blood. "Yeah. Never really had the chance to..."