Fragile

18

*5 Years Later*

"Alice could you possibly leave John's laptop alone? God knows what you might find on there..." Sherlock grumbled as his 5 year old daughter fiddled with the laptop.

"But I'm so bored Da" the child whined

Sherlock chuckled.

"Da, can you teach me how to solve crimes?" Alice pleaded, putting on her cutest 'pretty please' face.

"When you're old enough"

"When will I be old enough?"

"Not today"

"But Daaaaa"

"Alice"

"Listen" Sherlock sighed. He walked over to Alice and picked her up, he twirled her around in his arms. "If your mother found out I was taking you to solve crimes with me at 5 years old, she'd murder me in my sleep, and then there would be no detective to solve any of the crimes now would there?"

"But you're not the only detective in the world are you Da?" Alice giggled

"No...But I'm the only good one"

"Daaa" Alice started to say

"Yep" Sherlock replied, popping out the 'p' in 'yep'

"Isn't my mum dead?"

Sherlock looked up at his daughter, and he felt a pang of pain in his heart that quickly dissipated.

He sat down, cross legged on the floor next to Alice.

"Yeah, she's dead" Sherlock said softly "But she's watching over us right now, you know"

"How do you know?" Alice asked, quickly looking around the room.

"Because before she died your mother promised me that nothing would ever separate us. Not truly"

"Can you tell me about her?" Alice asked sweetly

Sherlock looked at his daughter, who was growing and looking more and more like Margo each day.

Sherlock remembered the first time they'd met, bumping into each other on the street and Margo not really wanting to talk to him. He remembered their first date, their second date, their third date and their twentieth date. He remembered the yellow flowers he used to take her and he remembered the strawberry shampoo that she used to use. 

"Your mother was an amazing woman. She taught me how to love, she taught me how to be happy, she taught me that when you truly meet the love of your life, you'll do anything to make them happy because its not just about you anymore. But what's more important than all of that-"

Sherlock took a deep breath.

"She taught me how to be brave. Courage is about being scared to death, and doing the right thing anyway. That's what your mother did"

"She sounds cool" Alice beamed

"She was"

Later on that night, Sherlock lay in bed after lulling Alice to sleep. He lay there alone, thinking about the way it used to be when he could wake up and Margo would be lying next to him.

"No matter what, we'll always find a way back to each other"