A/N So the lovely @TheStoryTellersPen gave me the idea for this one, so thank you sweetie!! :) this one is full of angst and pinning. Basically, after Mary was killed and John said he never wanted to see Sherlock again, Sherlock left and never came back. Rosie and her girlfriend get them back together. Enjoy <3
It was Christmas, Rosie was home from school, and everything was right. John was relatively happy for the first time in years. He walked into the living room where he saw his daughter, looking so much like her mother, curled up on the sofa with her fiancé. The two girls were laughing and looking at an old photo album, and John couldn't stop his heart from swelling at the sight.
"Hey dad, who is this?" Rosie handed him a picture that had fallen from the book and he felt his chest tighten at the man in the photo.
"Jesus, where did you find this? I haven't seen this picture in years." He sat heavily in the chair and studied the picture, feeling tears start to well up in the corners of his eyes.
"Who is he?" Skyler, Rosie's fiancé asked, turning her pale blue eyes to John. The pair looked so curious.
"This, my dear, is Sherlock Holmes. Rosie's Godfather, and my-" memories of his last conversation with the detective caused his throat to tighten. "-my old flatmate."
"That's him? I've heard Uncle Greg and Gammy talk about him before."
"Yeah, Gammy knew him first. She was like his mother, even though his mother was perfectly lovely." John smiled fondly at the picture. It had faded around the edges, making it appear as though the photographer had intended on only focusing on the huge grin that was plastered on Sherlock's face.
"What happened to him?" John took a deep breath as his heart started to break once more.
You promised, you promised you would protect her!
"He killed your mother." The words came out as a choked sob, it still hurt to say, even after all these years. It hurt because he knew it was wrong.
"But I thought Mom was killed by an assassin?" He chanced a look at his beautiful daughter, seeing the pain and confusion in her eyes. He nodded, breathing in deeply and leaning back against the back of the sofa.
"She was, but I blamed him." The room was silent for a long while, everyone lost in their thoughts.
"Tell me about him." Rosie moved to John's side, curling against him and resting her head against his chest. Skyler joined them, taking the spot on the other side of the retired doctor.
John looked at the photo in his hand, and for the first time in nearly twenty years, he talked about Sherlock Holmes.
Later that night, after John had talked for hours about the crazy detective, Rosie and Skyler were heading home. They walked hand in hand along the cold streets, neither talking, yet both lost in thought.
"Did you get the impression that your father, loved Sherlock?" Skyler's question startled Rosie, for she had been thinking the same thing.
"Yeah, you got that to?" Skyler nodded and the pair continued walking silently for a while. There was something bothering Rosie, just the slightest gnawing at the back of her mind.
"Holmes!" Her sudden realization falling from her mouth in the form of a shout.
"What? What's wrong Cupcake?"
"I know someone with the last name Holmes. He taught a few classes at Bart's last year, criminology I think. Do you remember him? He talked too fast and wouldn't take questions."
