Face the Odds

Chapter 4: Charlie

"What-?" The DI began, but Sherlock didn't even move.

"Nevermind." Lestrade sighed, just as the front door opened downstairs.

He glanced back to see John walking up the stairs, and he greeted lightly: "Hey."

"Afternoon." John replied cheerily. "He says you've got a good one, Greg?"

"Oh, yeah." Lestrade agreed, just as Marie walked in.

"Oh, hello, you two." Marie greeted, nodding at Lestrade and John. "Sorry I didn't come out earlier, the babies-"

"No, it's fine, we just got here." John reassured, and Marie asked: "Either of you want a cup of tea?"

"No thanks, I've got a case." Lestrade explained, and Marie nodded at Sherlock's pose in his armchair as she said dryly: "Yes, I can see that. He's doing his thinking pose."

"It's not a pose." Sherlock murmured, finally moving enough to speak, and Marie chuckled: "Of course it isn't."

Turning back to the other two, she gestured for them to sit as she moved to grab Lestrade a chair, but he said quickly: "No, no, I've got it. You shouldn't move around too much when you're a new mother, and with twins, too."

She raised a brow, but just smiled and let Lestrade pull up his chair while John pulled a chair for her – he'd long learnt to stop trying to offer his seat to Marie, for she would never take it. Instead, he passed over the comfortable dining chair to Marie before settling in his armchair as Lestrade sat in his own

Marie settled in her chair beside Sherlock, as Lestrade began the strange tale: "It was David Welsborough's 50th birthday."

**********

"God, 50!" David Welsborough murmured as he kissed his wife lovingly while the party went on in the room behind them. "Where does it go? I know for a fact I was only 21 this time last week."

"Yeah, well, that's impossible." His wife, Emma, teased as she pulled him closer, drawing him into the sitting room and away from the crowd for a quiet moment. "That was before you met me."

"Well, no, no," David protested, "there never was..."

"There never was such a time." His wife finished with him, smiling as he kissed her again.

"She's looking at me disapprovingly again." Emma murmured, glancing to the side jokingly to look at the bust of Margaret Thatcher on one of the sitting room display tables, and David disagreed: "No. She's just jealous."

"Yeah, well, I think we both are." Emma teased, and they grinned at each other when his phone suddenly vibrated.

"Oh..." He started, reaching into his suit for his phone while Emma protested: "No, no, David. Come on, you promised."

"No, it's..." David answered absently as he pulled out his phone and checked it. "Oh, no... Oh, it's a Skype call."

"Oh! Then it must be Charlie." Emma said, perking up. "At least he's phoning, I suppose."

David frowned, focusing on trying to answer the call, before he brightened as his son's face appeared on the screen.

"Oh, look! Hello!" David called, and Emma also smiled as their son, Charlie, grinned back.

"Hey, Dad." Charlie called back. "Happy birthday. Sorry to miss the party, but," his son moved the phone to show them the mountains in the background on the camera, "travel broadens the mind, right?"