Johnlock Oneshots

A New Arrival

Sherlock unlocked the door to 221B, holding his phone to his ear. Lestrade had called, asking Sherlock’s advice about a case. For once, Sherlock didn’t feel up to it; he had been working very hard lately.

As he walked up the stairs, Sherlock was puzzled to find that he could hear John speaking upstairs. But he didn’t sound normal; he sounded as if he was talking to a baby. He started to worry. What if John had gone out of his mind? What if there was actually a baby in the flat? If so, where had it come from?

He reached out and pushed the door open, his eyes widening as he registered the truth. There, on the floor in front of his flatmate, was a dog; an Irish Setter to be precise. There were tears in Sherlock’s eyes; he was thinking how familiar to Redbeard he looked. There was no way John could have known – was there?

“Uh…” Sherlock began, lost for words. John noticed him and glanced up from where he was smoothing down the dog’s red fur.

“Oh, hey Sherlock,” John greeted him as if nothing was different. “A friend was trying to find a home for him, so I said I’d take him, for now anyway. What do you think we should call him?”

Sherlock’s eyes hadn’t left the dog. His eyes glistened, but the tears hadn’t spilled, thankfully. “Redbeard…” he whispered to himself; he hadn’t heard John’s question at all.

“Redbeard,” John repeated glancing from the dog to Sherlock and back again. When he focused on the detective’s face, he noticed the tears that had begun to roll down over his high cheekbones. “Sherlock? Are you alright?” Silence. “Sherlock.”

John thrust himself up from the floor and made his way over to saddened friend. He guided him over to the sofa and sat him down. “Sherlock. What’s wrong?” His voice was filled with concern.

“When… when we were growing up… our parent’s bought us an Irish Setter… named… Redbeard.” Sherlock’s voice was punctured with unwelcome sobs that shook his body. John started to get worried; Sherlock never let emotions of any kind show.

“Sherlock, I’m sorry, I didn’t know. I’ll get rid of him.” Sherlock looked up at John with a more than grateful face.

John took the dog to the local rescue home straight away.